Chapter 27: Pursuit in the Snowy Night

“Huff…”

All at once, every female corpse spewed a cloud of ghostly green miasma from their mouths and snapped their eyes open.

My whole body tensed like a drawn bow, my heart trembling faintly.

The corpse energy radiating from these women was leagues beyond the nine reanimated bodies in the forensic building. Those were little more than false resurrections—these were true, cultivated undead.

Gulp.

I swallowed hard, exchanged a glance with Gu Li Jinsha, and then shouted, “Run!”

We spun around and bolted for the exit.

Behind us, more than twenty female corpses unleashed ear-splitting shrieks and sprang at us like coiled springs.

“Up!” I suddenly accelerated, darted in front of Gu Li Jinsha, and dropped into a crouch.

She stepped onto my back and vaulted up into the cellar above.

“Qin Feng!” Gu Li Jinsha called down, just in time to see the horde of undead closing in on me, nearly engulfing me. Her heart clenched, but there was no time to hesitate. She pulled out a talisman and tossed it down.

A flash of spiritual light, and the twenty-odd female corpses froze in midair, dropping to the ground like stones.

Gu Li Jinsha then tossed down a rope, which I grabbed hold of and swung myself up.

“Damn, why didn’t you use that right away?” I asked, clutching my wildly pounding heart.

“That was my trump card, for emergencies. Besides… I forgot, all right?” Gu Li Jinsha had felt a surge of gratitude earlier, but now it had vanished completely.

Just then, the immobilized corpses began to stir again.

I tried to shut the metal trapdoor, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Forget it, go!” Gu Li Jinsha urged.

We bolted from the cellar at full speed.

Astonishingly, the zombies clambered out after us, trailing close behind.

“Do you have any more of those talismans?” I called as we ran.

“That was the only one,” she replied.

I glanced back at the relentless undead, then set my sights on Zhang Family Village. First, I needed to catch that old demon, Zhang Xiao.

But at that moment, I sensed a wave of terrifying ghostly energy surging toward us from the direction of the village.

“Damn it!” I cursed, grabbing Gu Li Jinsha’s hand and veering off into the dark, snowy forest.

I didn’t know how long we ran, but eventually I noticed only two zombies still in pursuit. I pulled Gu Li Jinsha to a stop, gasping, “Just two left. Can we each handle one?”

“N-no… problem…” she managed to say, then suddenly collapsed.

I caught her just in time and realized she was icy cold.

Now, all thoughts of fighting the zombies left my mind. Hoisting her onto my back, I ran on.

My legs grew numb, snow caked my clothes, but eventually the two undead fell behind.

At last, the snow stopped, the wind died down, and the sky began to brighten. I had to find warmth—her breathing was growing fainter, and I worried she might slip away at any moment.

Fortunately, before long, I found a cave.

I built a fire and began searching for the reason she’d suddenly collapsed.

First, I checked her wound—she’d injured her arm fighting the fierce ghost earlier.

As I undid her black robe, I was surprised to discover it was no ordinary garment, but full of hidden mechanisms and pockets stuffed with various talismans and charms.

“What an invention. I wonder if I could get one custom-made. This robe is so unfashionable, though—what a country girl,” I muttered, though my hands were careful as I cut away the fabric around her wound.

I froze at the sight of the greenish flesh.

Corpse poison!

I recalled how the female corpses had spewed green mist as they attacked. Her wound must have been infected, but the true cause was likely the miasma she’d inhaled.

So why hadn’t I felt any effects myself?

Confirmed as corpse poison, I knew what to do. I always kept a few antidote pills on hand for emergencies like this.

I pried open Gu Li Jinsha’s mouth and popped a pill in.

Then I took out a small knife and carefully excised the poisoned flesh around her wound. She twitched in pain, even while unconscious.

Once fresh blood flowed, I ground another pill into powder and pressed it onto her wound, then tore a strip from my own inner garment to bandage her arm.

Her breathing steadied, her heartbeat grew stronger, and at last I sighed in relief.

…

Zhang Family Village lay shrouded in gray dawn.

Usually, by this time, the village would be stirring—women preparing breakfast or gossiping by the well.

Today, however, a deathly silence reigned.

Inside the ancestral shrine, dozens of young and middle-aged men stood in a grim, packed crowd, each holding a rifle.

“Search the back mountain. If you come back empty-handed, don’t bother coming back at all,” Zhang Guang ordered harshly.

The men strode out, murder in their eyes, and disappeared into the forested hills.

Zhang Guang’s face was grim as he sighed and retreated to the hall of ancestral tablets, where generations of Zhang ancestors were enshrined.

Before the altar stood a silver-haired elder, leaning on his cane.

Behind him, four sons, nine grandsons, and eleven adult great-grandsons stood in absolute, breathless silence.

One great-grandson, Zhang Lei, knelt pale-faced on the ground. He’d been dragged out at dawn, with no idea what was happening.

Why did no one else look confused? It was as if everyone knew something he did not.

At that moment, the old patriarch, Zhang Xiao, turned slowly. His face was a web of wrinkles, but his gaze was hawk-sharp.

“Zhang Lei, where is the ring you’ve worn since childhood?” Zhang Xiao rapped his cane on the floor, voice cold and severe.

“Great-grandfather, I… I lent it to a friend to look at. He… he’s in the village, you can ask him,” Zhang Lei stammered.

“What? You gave the ring to that person? Fool!” Zhang Xiao exploded, smashing his cane down on Zhang Lei’s head.

Blow after blow rained down. Blood streamed from Zhang Lei’s face, but his own father and grandfather stood by, indifferent. The rest of the clan looked on with even colder eyes.

“Why?” Zhang Lei suddenly grabbed the cane, teeth clenched. “Why do you all shun me? Why treat me as less than human? Am I not Zhang blood? Am I not one of you?” He gripped the cane and forced himself to his feet.

But in that instant, Zhang Xiao’s seemingly feeble hand flicked, and the cane snapped from Zhang Lei’s grasp.

“You are Zhang blood, and because you are, you must be prepared to sacrifice everything for the clan.”

A chilling voice rang out.

At the center of the altar, the blankest ancestral tablet glowed blood-red. An instant later, the ghost of a man in a yellow military uniform materialized.

“Commander!”

All at once, the entire Zhang clan fell to their knees—even old Zhang Xiao. Only Zhang Lei remained frozen, gaping in terror, unable to speak.

“The day you were born, I chose you. I entrusted you with the Ring of Ten Thousand Spirits, which I spent decades refining. It absorbed your life essence for nurture. When the time came, I would offer your living soul in sacrifice and be reborn. And you… you lost the ring! Unforgivable!” the Commander’s voice thundered.

With a cry, Zhang Lei spun and ran.

Yet his body turned, but his head did not. His limbs twisted at a grotesque angle.

As if in slow motion, his body paused in midair, then crashed to the ground, lifeless, eyes wide open.

His corpse emitted a wisp of bitter spirit, which the ghost swallowed in one gulp.

“All of you, withdraw to the Valley of the Shadow Spirits. Now!” the Commander screeched.

Four generations of the Zhang clan rose and left the altar chamber, heading for the valley as ordered. The Valley of the Shadow Spirits was the very canyon where the Zhangs had once discovered the warlord's hidden base.

“Fools, the lot of them—all useless,” the Commander spat.

At that moment, the earth burst open and a giant rat emerged from the hole.

“Eat his heart and liver—fresh. Then send your offspring to hunt down those two,” the Commander ordered, pointing at Zhang Lei’s corpse. He had paid a steep price to raise this rat demon in Zhang Lao Liu’s skin, though it was still far from reaching its full power.

The rat’s eyes glinted red as it tore into Zhang Lei’s corpse, devouring the heart and liver, then vanished back into its tunnel.

The Commander’s ghostly form flickered, his voice echoing coldly, “My spectral avatar was destroyed, and the Nine Yin Corpse Rebirth Array has been broken. If not for that, would I let those two gnats act with impunity? No matter—she has returned, and I still have the Valley. There is still a chance to turn things around.”

…

I dozed against the cave wall, exhausted in body and soul after a night of deadly pursuit. Yet in such a precarious place, how could I truly sleep?

So, when Gu Li Jinsha awoke, I was already half-alert, though I feigned sleep a little longer.

Her gaze on me was like pins and needles, and at last I had to open my eyes.

The moment I did, she looked away quickly.

“You’re okay now?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she replied.

I fished a crumpled pack of cigarettes from my pocket, lit one, and drew in a deep drag.

“Gu Li,” I said, “don’t you think this is all too strange? Even a ferocious ghost wouldn’t know such dark arts as corpse refinement, would it?”

“Don’t call me ‘Gu Li.’ My surname is Guli, a sacred name. Don’t insult it,” she glared.

“All right, Guli it is. What’s your take?” I shrugged.

Guli Jinsha thought for a moment. “Unless there’s someone manipulating the ghost—or perhaps, the ghost itself is a skilled onmyoji, and a powerful one at that.”

I was about to reply when I heard my makeshift alarm spell outside the cave trigger. I rushed out.

No one was there, but within the spell’s boundaries, I found a freshly dug hole in the ground.