Chapter 82

In the dark cave, which was dim and damp, the air was filled with a pungent odor of decay. On the ground, rats occasionally darted by, quickly disappearing into the darkness. Jiang Chen's eyes were sharp, seeing through the darkness as if it were daylight. He walked slowly, looking around, searching for the zombie.

"Goodness, it turns out this cave is a place where yin energy gathers. No wonder the zombie in the story evolved so significantly after lying here for just a few days." As Jiang Chen walked, he couldn't help but exclaim. He even noticed that this place was clearly an excavated tomb.

The flat ground, the distribution of the cave, and the scattered pieces of round wood on the ground all clearly indicated a significant amount of human intervention. It was certainly not naturally formed.

People dig holes in the ground, but even if they want to live in them, they wouldn't go in while they were still alive. After all, not everyone is as peculiar as Wang Chongyang, who dug a tomb for himself before he died.

However, what surprised Jiang Chen was who had the nerve to build a tomb in a place where yin energy gathers, clearly intending to turn themselves into a zombie!

"Zombie, that's it. Someone must have been practicing necromancy here. It must be so!" Jiang Chen thought for a moment and immediately guessed the reason.

He remembered very clearly that zombies in the East can generally be divided into two types: hair zombies and armor zombies. Hair zombies are mostly formed naturally from the corpses of the dead, while armor zombies are cultivated by practitioners using secret techniques in harmony with the environment.

Some practitioners, in pursuit of great power, even specifically seek out places where yin energy gathers, then kill people to create zombies, hoping to cultivate powerful zombies.

However, places where yin energy gathers are rare and cannot be used continuously. After all, even in such places, the amount of yin energy is limited. Once it is heavily consumed, it takes a long time to recover. Therefore, it is normal for this cave to be left vacant.

In fact, although the zombie transformed from Old Master Ren should be classified as a hair zombie, wasn't he also cultivated by a feng shui master? It's just that the feng shui master didn't cast any spells on Old Master Ren, so he could only be considered a half-finished product.

But even this half-finished product was quite powerful. If he were to kill Ren Tingting, his ferocity would greatly increase, making it much harder to subdue him.

Thinking of this, Jiang Chen hurriedly quickened his search. He even summoned the female ghost Dong Xiaoyu to help him search.

After all, the weather was already very dark, with no sunlight, and the cave was extremely dark and a place where yin energy gathers, making it very suitable for ghosts to move around.

The cave system, with its many passages, formed a vast network underground, making the search difficult. It took a whole half day for Jiang Chen and Dong Xiaoyu to search the entire cave, but to Jiang Chen's surprise, they found no trace of the zombie.

"How can this be? I clearly remember..."

Remember what? Remember that the zombie transformed from Old Master Ren was hiding here? The story might have been like that, but now, due to his intervention, many things have changed. So, it's not strange that the zombie is no longer here.

Jiang Chen couldn't help but show a bitter smile. He had been too confident in the plot he knew. This incident served as a reminder to him!

Each cycle world is a complete and real world. The plot he knew could only be considered a reference. If everything followed the plot, he would surely die a terrible death one day!

Sighing, Jiang Chen was about to leave with some disappointment when Xiaoyu said, "Master, this cave is filled with yin energy. I want to stay here for a while to absorb it. My cultivation will surely improve."

"Stay here and cultivate. When you finish absorbing the yin energy, come back to me." Jiang Chen, feeling a bit disheartened, gave Xiaoyu a calm instruction and left the cave, returning to the mortuary alone. At this time, Wencai was soaking in a tub of glutinous rice water, enjoying Ren Tingting spoon-feeding him glutinous rice porridge. Uncle Kiu was lying in a chair, flipping through a secret manual of Mount Mao techniques, looking for better ways to defeat the zombie. As for Qiusheng, he wasn't in the mortuary. After all, the mortuary wasn't large, and Jiang Chen didn't see him or sense his presence.

"Little brother, you're back." Seeing Jiang Chen enter the mortuary, Uncle Kiu casually put the manual on the table. "How did it go? Did you find anything?"

"No." Jiang Chen shook his head and replied, "I don't know where the zombie is hiding. I couldn't sense it with my spiritual awareness, and the Eight Trigram Compass was completely useless. Ah Wei and the others also searched the dark caves and tunnels near the town but found no trace of the zombie."

"That's strange." Uncle Kiu frowned. "The zombie was injured. It shouldn't have gone far. We must have overlooked something."

"You're right." Jiang Chen agreed with Uncle Kiu, but agreeing didn't help find the zombie's hiding place. He could only change the subject and asked, "Where's Qiusheng? I haven't seen him."

"I sent him to the town to buy more live chickens and a black dog." Uncle Kiu sighed. "You know, the zombie transformed from Old Master Ren will only get stronger. We need to prepare more tools to deal with it."

Jiang Chen said, "Brother, you're right. I'll also take this time to cultivate more. Every bit of improvement counts."

"Go ahead." Uncle Kiu waved his hand, letting Jiang Chen go. He then saw Wencai, who was enjoying himself, and couldn't help but give a cold snort.

Wencai was in a dreamlike state, enjoying himself, when he suddenly heard his master's stern snort, which scared him. Instinctively, he stood up from the tub, splashing water everywhere, revealing his almost naked body.

"Ah!" Ren Tingting screamed. The bowl of porridge fell and shattered, and she covered her eyes and turned away.

Wencai realized he had scared Ren Tingting and quickly retreated into the tub. He looked at Uncle Kiu with a resentful expression, "Master..."

"Ah, truly blinded by lust!" Uncle Kiu sighed helplessly, grabbed the Mount Mao manual from the table, and left. Out of sight, out of mind. He might as well spend more time reading and cultivating like Jiang Chen to prepare for the zombie.

Similarly aware of the severity of the situation, Qiusheng, who was unusually diligent, bought several live chickens and a black dog and returned to the mortuary before dinner.

Uncle Kiu didn't waste any time. He immediately slaughtered the chickens and the dog, took their blood, infused it with his spiritual power, mixed it with ink and cinnabar, and made magical ink to draw talismans, which would enhance their power.

Jiang Chen watched and remembered, gaining a deeper understanding of the techniques of Mount Mao. Although his spiritual power was not weaker than Uncle Kiu's, his experience was still far behind.

For the next three days, everyone prepared actively. On the third night, at the place where Old Master Ren was originally buried, a sound suddenly came from the unsealed grave. Then, a figure in tattered clothes jumped out of the grave, clearly the zombie transformed from Old Master Ren. The zombie's aura was surging, spreading everywhere.

"Roar!"

Bathed in the moonlight, the zombie let out a wolf-like roar. Then, it moved, no longer jumping stiffly but stepping forward, one step at a time. Just as Uncle Kiu and Jiang Chen had predicted, the demon that awakened at night had undergone a transformation. He had evolved.