The attack came without warning. Following Yun Xi's shout, Yu Qingcheng and the others instinctively leapt backward. Once they had retreated from the swampy area, Liu Haotian immediately said, "This is bad. Yun Xi is trapped."
The marshland they had just exited was now sealed beneath a crimson barrier.
Yu Qingcheng drew her sword in a flash. A streak of fire sliced toward the blood-colored shield, but the strike was absorbed without leaving a mark.
Xia You asked, "Liu Daoyou, what's going on?"
Liu Haotian didn't answer at once. He was already forming hand seals. A moment later, he called out, "Follow me. We need to target the formation's weak point. Let's hope Yun Xi can hold on until we break it."
A cold glint flashed in Yu Qingcheng's phoenix eyes. Her figure vanished in a blink as she shot forward. Xia You followed closely behind.
Inside the formation, Yun Xi was furiously swinging her staff. She could feel her spiritual energy draining away at an alarming rate. Still, she dared not stop, instead channeling even more power into her Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff. She had to destroy all nine coffins buried beneath the ground.
The formation not only imprisoned her, it was actively siphoning her spiritual energy to feed the corpses sealed below. This was clearly a trap laid by an evil cultivator. Even if someone discovered the place, the formation was designed to prevent any escape.
Yun Xi had only reacted fast enough because of Dian Dian's warning. Unfortunately, while her teammates had escaped, she alone remained trapped.
"Master, what do we do? Dian Dian's spiritual energy is draining too."
Though Dian Dian didn't want to burden Yun Xi, the situation had reached a critical point. It had to speak up.
Yun Xi could feel it as well. With every passing second, the formation accelerated its draining of her energy. The evil cultivator who set this trap had done so with cruel precision. Any living being that entered would become nourishment for the corpses.
"Dian Dian, I'm sending you into the space first."
"Master, is there anything I can do to help?"
Before Dian Dian could finish its sentence, Yun Xi had already sent it into her storage space.
She had been trapped in plain sight. Disappearing completely would raise suspicions, so escape wasn't an option. She had to endure. Yun Xi believed the others were already trying to break the formation. If they failed, only then would she consider hiding within the space.
Since gaining access to the space-linked chat group, Yun Xi had tried to avoid relying on it too much. Over-dependence could be dangerous.
She had read about spatial arts in the sect's library. If she ever encountered a high-level cultivator proficient in spatial laws, they could easily seal off all surrounding space. At that point, she wouldn't even be able to enter her own storage space, let alone flee.
When that day came, she would die without even knowing how.
So unless she had no other choice, Yun Xi would never run from battle.
Teeth gritted, Yun Xi poured half her remaining energy into the next strike, bringing her staff down with all her strength. Finally, the ground cracked open. A flash of red peeked through—the lid of a crimson coffin.
"There you are."
She quickly swallowed a top-grade second-tier Spirit Recovery Pill and summoned the Ziyu Panlong Cauldron. Controlling it with her divine sense, she hurled it toward the exposed coffin lid. She had to destroy them before they drained her dry.
The loud bangs echoed in her ears, but Yun Xi didn't let up for a second.
The Ziyu Panlong Cauldron, likely never imagined by its creator to be used for smashing coffins, slammed down again and again alongside the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff.
After three combined strikes, the runes etched into the coffin lid shattered. The lid split open, revealing a woman's pale face, covered in fine white hair. She wore a crimson robe.
In that instant, Yun Xi's memories surged forward.
This was the woman who had appeared in one of the fragmented visions during her Foundation Establishment breakthrough. Though there had been many flickering images at the time, Yun Xi remembered this woman clearly. Her eyes had been filled with sorrow, like she had a thousand things she wanted to say, but not a single word could escape her lips.
"Why... is it her?"
Just as Yun Xi hesitated, the woman's eyes snapped open. She rose straight out of the coffin, staring directly at Yun Xi with those black, glassy eyes.
Yun Xi swallowed the pill she had held under her tongue and gripped her staff tightly, preparing to strike.
Then the woman spoke. Her voice was hoarse and broken, the words halting and strained:"Kill... me. Don't... let me... become a monster."
Yun Xi tightened her grip on her staff. She had never seen a low-level zombie with self-awareness.
She remembered the records from the library. Zombies were classified into nine ranks. The lowest were purple zombies, followed by white zombies—the state this woman was currently in. The rest, from weakest to strongest, were black, green, hairy, flying, roaming, crouching, and finally, unrotting bone.
A zombie that reached the level of unrotting bone would have regained memories of its past life. Its strength would rival a Mahayana cultivator. Even without ascending, it would possess an immortal body.
Of course, all this was just theory Yun Xi had read in jade slips. She didn't fully understand their cultivation system, only the general idea.
But one thing she knew for certain: white zombies did not possess the ability to express their thoughts. They acted purely on instinct, driven by the desire for power and flesh. They consumed, evolved, and rose in rank.
And this one had clearly been cultivated under controlled conditions by an evil cultivator. No way would they let a young zombie break free of their control.
"Kill... me."
The woman tried again, her voice scraping through the air like broken glass.
Just then, Yun Xi felt the formation shudder slightly. The others must have found the weak spot. With Liu Haotian leading them, she was confident they were making progress.
She infused her staff with thunder-element spiritual power and began attacking the ground again. Only one coffin had been exposed. Eight remained.
The crimson-robed zombie stood in place, seemingly torn. Her eyes shifted between black and white, the alternation eerie and unsettling.
Yun Xi kept her focus. She kept swinging her staff at the earth while keeping one eye on the strange zombie.
Three more strikes. Her energy drained once again, forcing her to pause and swallow another pill.
The white zombie seemed to have resolved its inner struggle. The blackness in her eyes dominated now. As Yun Xi paused, she turned stiffly, returned to her own coffin, and smashed it apart with a single punch.
Then she began digging. With brute force, she dragged out a pitch-black coffin and tossed it at Yun Xi's feet.
Yun Xi instinctively stepped back and brought her staff down hard. The strike emptied the last of the spiritual energy in her dantian, but the coffin lid shattered.
Inside lay another white zombie.
Despite the pale fur covering its face, Yun Xi recognized him instantly.
It was Li Cangyuan, the young city lord of Shuangshan City. He was even wearing the same execution robe from the day of his sentencing.
Even without thinking, Yun Xi knew exactly who was behind this. Either the evil cultivators—or more likely, City Lord Li himself.
Yun Xi leaned toward the latter. What father would let outsiders defile his own son's corpse? If the man had become an evil cultivator specializing in corpse refinement, though... it would explain everything.
The crimson-robed zombie spoke again, "Kill... me. And him. Or... you die."
Yun Xi drew a sharp breath. Things were getting worse by the second. If City Lord Li was nearby, she might not leave this place alive.