Chapter 215 – True Disciple of the Demonic Sect
"It seems that demonic cultivator doesn't intend to let us leave." Ming Yueyue eyed the approaching man, her voice tinged with eager anticipation.
"Be careful. Something's very off about him."
Ding Shiyan's gaze was fixed on the demonic cultivator. Facing the four of them alone, the man remained calm and composed—clearly, he had confidence in his strength.
"Don't worry."
Though Ming Yueyue might seem a little reckless, when it came to combat she was an expert. The total number of battles Gu Mo and the other two had fought probably didn't even match hers.
With that, the bamboo sword in her hand turned into a spirit snake, slicing toward the demonic cultivator at an extremely tricky and unpredictable angle.
Clang!
When the bamboo sword struck his body, the sound it made was that of metal on metal. Ming Yueyue's strike hadn't been able to break through his defense.
"Hm!"
Her expression grew serious. For someone to take her sword head-on without a scratch—this was no ordinary demonic cultivator.
"Is that all?"
The man's tone was flat. "If you can't find a way to amuse me, then you'll all have to die."
"Arrogant!"
Ming Yueyue snorted coldly. In the next instant, a thin flying sword, no thicker than a finger, appeared—her true life-bound sword.
"Dance of a Thousand Swords!"
As soon as she summoned her life-bound sword, she unleashed her ultimate move. In a flash, the thin sword split into countless afterimages, raining down on the demonic cultivator like a storm.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
In moments, the sound of blades piercing flesh filled the air, and the demonic cultivator's body was riddled with holes like a hedgehog.
But before she could celebrate, his hoarse voice rasped out: "Not bad… but still not enough!"
In a blur, a shadow lunged at her, and a fist radiating terrifying force came crashing toward her.
"Not enough, huh? Then how about this!"
Staring at the incoming fist, Ming Yueyue's eyes glinted with madness. At once, extremely cold sword intent burst from within the man's body.
Each strike from her flying sword carried her Extreme Yin Sword Intent. As the blades had pierced him, they had embedded that sword intent inside him like buried bombs.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sword intent erupted, making the man's body swell and tear apart. Yet, as if immune to pain, he pushed forward through the internal explosions and drove his fist toward her.
"What?!"
Ming Yueyue's eyes widened in disbelief. Even that hadn't stopped him. There was no time to dodge, so she gathered her sword intent once more, ready to strike back.
"Fall back!"
Just then, a green lotus bloomed in front of her, intercepting the fist for a brief moment. Ming Yueyue seized the chance to retreat quickly.
It was Ding Shiyan—seeing the danger, she had intervened in time to pull Ming Yueyue out of harm's way.
"You're a true disciple of the Corpse Yin Sect."
Once they had put some distance between themselves and the enemy, Ding Shiyan studied him carefully. From her earlier observations, she had already guessed his identity.
After all, he had just displayed the Corpse Yin Sect's inherited divine ability—Corpse Ghost Transformation.
This technique could only be cultivated by the sect's true disciples. It was said that the Corpse Yin Sect possessed treasures that aided in mastering it, resulting in many of their true disciples learning this power. It was one of their signature inheritances.
By using Corpse Ghost Transformation, one could directly transform into a zombie, gaining the creature's terrifying strength, defense, and regeneration, along with powerful resistance to poison, curses, and death itself.
In this state, a Corpse Yin Sect true disciple was, in theory, already dead—and thus could not truly be killed.
Unless the soul hidden by the transformation was destroyed, even shattering the zombie form completely could not kill them.
Such was the might of this divine ability.
"You're Zero—ranked third on the Demonic Path's Heaven's Chosen list!" Ming Yueyue exclaimed as the realization struck her.
Since she was set to participate in the Heaven's Chosen Battle a year later, she had studied every name on the Demonic Path's rankings. The Corpse Yin Sect had only one true disciple on the list, and that was the man ranked third—Zero.
"In that case… you can rest easy as you become my cultivation fodder, can't you?"
Zero's mouth split into a grotesque grin, stretching all the way to his ears. He loved the look people gave him when they recognized his name—terror dawning in their eyes—because only those who died in fear could produce the highest quality wraiths.
"How laughable. Just you alone?" Ming Yueyue's voice was cold, though her hands clenched tightly, betraying the tension she felt.
On the Righteous Path's Heaven's Chosen list, she was only ranked twentieth. She wasn't even the Yin-Yang Sword Sect's true disciple. Facing someone ranked third—also a true disciple of a top-tier sect—naturally brought heavy pressure.
"Yueyue, let's attack together," Ding Shiyan sent via sound transmission. "Senior Brother Du, Junior Brother Gu, you two provide support."
"Got it!"
They all nodded.
The enemy was strong, but they were all Heaven's Chosen. Alone, they might lose—but together, surely they wouldn't be crushed.
Swish! Swish!
The two sword cultivators, Ming Yueyue and Ding Shiyan, charged at Zero first. Du Jinpeng then released his trump card—the Roaring Ancient Tree—from his spirit beast pouch.
A sound-gathering vine bearing trumpet-shaped flowers wrapped around the tree.
Roar!
The tree let out a deep roar, and with the vine's amplification, its power surged.
Corpse Ghost Transformation had extremely high resistance to most attacks, but against spiritual and sonic assaults like that of the Roaring Ancient Tree, its resistance was low.
The roar made Zero's body pause for a brief moment. Ming Yueyue and Ding Shiyan seized the chance to strike with full force.
However, Zero's defense in Corpse Ghost form was formidable, and with his terrifying regeneration, only overwhelming power could truly harm him.
The two sword cultivators also had to remain wary of his attacks—one hit from him would leave them gravely injured.
Fortunately, while transformed, Zero couldn't use demonic arts—only his body. Ming Yueyue and Ding Shiyan could maintain a safe distance with sword control, and with Du Jinpeng's tree harassing him, he couldn't overpower them outright.
As for Gu Mo, he didn't make a move. His role in the team was support—and most of his attention was on a faint, hidden aura in the distance.
That was their true threat.
Zero was strong, but even if they couldn't defeat him outright, together they could at least hold their ground.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you just became my fodder willingly? Why resist?" Zero's voice grew slightly irritable as he realized he couldn't quickly take them down.
"Forget it, I'm done playing with you."
Suddenly, the irritable Zero fell completely silent.
Ming Yueyue and Ding Shiyan exchanged puzzled glances, unsure what he was planning, but both kept their guard fully raised.
"Hm!"
Gu Mo, who had been focused on the faint, concealed aura in the distance, suddenly narrowed his eyes. That aura was moving toward them—fast.
"Fall back!"
He called out to Ming Yueyue and Ding Shiyan ahead of him.
"What?"
The two women froze for a heartbeat at the seemingly random order, but they both trusted Gu Mo enough to obey without question, retreating at once.
And just then, a figure appeared in the exact spot where they had been standing moments ago.
It was a young man—his features delicate, his skin pale to the point of looking inhuman.
"Zero—you're Zero!" Ming Yueyue exclaimed in shock.
This was Zero's true appearance. They had all assumed the one they had been fighting earlier was simply a disguised form of his, but now it was clear—that hadn't been him at all. The real Zero was standing here now.
"You've done well, lasting this long against my corpse puppet." Zero's gaze swept over them, calm and detached.
Since he had infiltrated righteous territory to gather demonic resources, he naturally wouldn't expose his true body. Instead, he let his corpse puppet fight while he stayed hidden behind the scenes. That way, no matter what happened, he could retreat unharmed.
"What?!"
The revelation stunned Ming Yueyue. They had struggled to deal with just a corpse puppet—how terrifying, then, would the true third-ranked Heaven's Chosen of the Demonic Path be?
"Still… this battle has made too much noise. I can't afford to linger here. So—why don't you all become my cultivation fodder? I promise I'll put you to good use."
His tone was as gentle as a frail, sickly neighbor, but his words dripped with cruelty.
"You think you can keep us here?"
Ming Yueyue pulled out a sword talisman. As a Heaven's Chosen, she naturally carried life-saving trump cards. This particular talisman could unleash a full-strength strike from a Nascent Soul Sword Sovereign—her master had given it to her.
Ding Shiyan and Du Jinpeng also had their own defensive treasures, while Gu Mo had a movement talisman for escape.
"It won't help you."
Zero's gaze flicked to the talisman in her hand. In the next moment, his deathly pale complexion turned ashen-blue, and two long fangs pushed out from his mouth.
This was the true Corpse Ghost Transformation. The "corpse puppet" from before had simply shed its disguise—at its core, it was a peak Core Formation zombie.
Because they didn't understand the Corpse Yin Sect's signature divine ability, they had mistaken it for Corpse Ghost Transformation.
"I see…"
Watching Zero activate the technique, Gu Mo finally understood. No wonder something had felt off before—even making him suspect Zero was a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator. Now the mystery was solved.
With Corpse Ghost Transformation unleashed, Zero's aura now surged to the Nascent Soul level.
That meant he had cultivated the ability to the proficient stage. At the entry level, the transformation only produced a zombie of the same realm. At proficiency, it could raise the form by one whole realm.
Zero, at peak Core Formation, could thus transform into a zombie with Nascent Soul-level power.
This was his trump card—the reason he was confident he would make his name at the upcoming Heaven's Chosen Battle. With victory there, and the resources that came with it, he could prepare to break through to Nascent Soul.
Once he reached that realm, the proficient Corpse Ghost Transformation would let him take the form of a mid-stage Nascent Soul zombie—putting him among the stronger cultivators of that tier.
"We're done for…"
Feeling the oppressive might of Zero's aura, Ming Yueyue's face paled. Against a Nascent Soul-level zombie, her sword talisman no longer had any deterrent effect.
Ding Shiyan's and Du Jinpeng's defensive trump cards would fare no better—they could block a few hits, but not for long.
Only Gu Mo's movement talisman offered any hope of escape—and even then, against a fourth-rank zombie, it was slim. These weren't like the clumsy third-rank ones.
"Junior Brother Gu, you have a movement talisman. You go first—report what happened here." Ding Shiyan's eyes swept to him, her voice low and firm.
"Huh?"
Gu Mo was momentarily taken aback. Inwardly, he was grumbling—if he was forced to reveal his strength now, there would be a lot of explaining to do later. But given the situation, there seemed no other option.
A fourth-rank zombie was strong, yes, but not beyond his ability to deal with. Still, before he could speak, Ding Shiyan had already told him to flee.
"Alright. I'll draw him away—use that chance to run."
Her words lit up a spark of inspiration in Gu Mo's mind. If he lured Zero away and killed him, he could later claim that a righteous Nascent Soul expert had happened to pass by and slay the foe chasing him.
"No—"
Realizing Gu Mo had misunderstood her intent, Ding Shiyan quickly tried to stop him. But by then, he had already activated his movement talisman and shot away like a streak of light.
"Trying to escape?"
Zero sneered. Now that his trump card had been revealed, how could he possibly allow Gu Mo to leave? A pair of fleshy wings unfolded from his back, and in a flash he became a streak of light, giving chase.
The corpse puppet remained behind to keep Ding Shiyan and the others pinned down.
"Damn it!"
Ding Shiyan cursed inwardly. Her decision had only put Gu Mo in greater danger. But with the corpse puppet charging again, she had no choice but to set aside her regret and focus on the fight.
Two streaks of light tore through the sky, one ahead and one behind, covering a 300+ miles in the blink of an eye.
"This should be far enough."
Gu Mo scanned the surroundings. No sect strongholds nearby, no mortal cities—perfect for eliminating an enemy.
"The talisman's power is fading!"
Seeing Gu Mo slow ahead, Zero's heart leapt. The movement talisman—clearly a high-grade one from Hou Chunyu—would have been impossible to catch otherwise. If Gu Mo hadn't willingly cut it off, Zero would never have caught up.
And if he went any deeper into righteous territory, he'd have to think twice—after all, though there was an agreement between righteous and demonic factions not to target Heaven's Chosen, it only applied to not entering the other's territory to strike first. If the other side's Heaven's Chosen came to you, there was no such protection.
Fortunately, the talisman's power had run out here—and this was the perfect place to kill him.
"…Huh?"
A sudden unease prickled at Zero's senses. The timing of the talisman's failure was too perfect. And right here, of all places?
"Could this be a trap?"
He quickly sent out his divine sense, probing the surroundings with caution. All the while, he never considered Gu Mo himself a threat—after all, what danger could a mere early-stage Core Formation cultivator pose?
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