Three skeletons and five zombies were locked in fierce combat within the forest. The skeletons moved like streaks of white light, impossibly fast, leaving a trail of afterimages as they circled the five zombies. Their bone claws struck the zombies' bodies with dull, thudding impacts.
Xiao Chen watched in astonishment. What he was seeing defied belief.
Though the zombies were less agile than the skeletons, their resilience was extraordinary. The skeletons' bone claws, which could pierce through thick trees, could barely harm them. Only when the skeletons aimed for their eyes did the zombies recoil in fear.
A dreadful swamp—dead things battling dead things...
After observing for half an hour, Xiao Chen noticed the skeletons gradually losing ground. One-on-one, they were stronger than the zombies, but they were outnumbered three to five, and the disadvantage was clear.
As dawn approached, the corpse miasma in the swamp thinned until it nearly vanished.
Xiao Chen considered for a moment, then held his breath and stepped into the swamp. He shot forward like a bolt of lightning, his palms glowing faintly, lustrous as jade, and struck with all his might.
*Bang!*
One zombie was sent staggering back several steps, but its body did not shatter. Xiao Chen felt as if he had struck divine iron; his palms ached, while the zombie remained completely unharmed. Truly a powerful dead thing.
Up close, Xiao Chen could clearly see the zombies' features. All five were tall and hideous, with yellow hair and green eyes. Their clothes had long since rotted away, and their appearance was utterly terrifying.
The zombie he had struck swung its stiff arm and lurched toward him. Its movements were mechanical but not particularly slow.
Xiao Chen moved like light and fire, targeting only the zombie's eyes, forcing the dead thing to shield them in panic.
With Xiao Chen's intervention, the pressure on the three skeletons eased dramatically, and soon they gained the upper hand. Their bones were as hard as iron, no less durable than the zombies', and their greater speed gave them an increasingly clear advantage.
The longer Xiao Chen fought, the more alarmed he became. If his cultivation had not reached a substantial level, he would have certainly died against these dead things. Though his injuries prevented him from fighting at full strength, the fact that he could not finish the battle after half an hour of struggle was startling enough.
Finally, when he struck the eighteenth palm blow at the same spot on the zombie's chest, the towering dead thing toppled like a collapsing mountain, crashing into the swamp. Its body shattered into pieces.
By the time Xiao Chen engaged another zombie, the three skeletons had gained overwhelming dominance. They displayed a level of power that even Xiao Chen found frightening—three streaks of white light, afterimages trailing, six bone claws aimed unerringly at the zombies' chests and eyes. The claws moved so fast they tore through the air with a terrifying whoosh.
*Shluk!* A bone claw plunged into a zombie's chest.
*Crack!* A bone claw snapped a zombie's neck.
...
With Xiao Chen's help, the five zombies were utterly defeated. An hour later, the battle was over. Xiao Chen had dispatched two zombies, while the three skeletons had torn apart three. The scene was cold and brutal, but such was the law of their existence.
Dawn was near. The corpse miasma had almost completely dissipated.
The three skeletons stood before Xiao Chen, their jaws clacking a few times. Then they silently walked to the five zombies and retrieved five glittering crystals from the shattered remains.
All five crystals were a pallid green, exuding a chilling, yin aura. Their eerie light was unsettling, especially against the snow-white bone claws, making the sight even more cold and forbidding. Yet the energy radiating from them was powerful—even stronger than the dozen or so crystals Xiao Chen carried.
Xiao Chen watched them quietly. To his surprise, they extended two of the green crystals toward him, offering them. Interesting skeletons. He waved his hand, declining their generosity.
The three skeletons' eye sockets flickered with light. They stared at him for a moment, then withdrew the two crystals. They divided the five crystals evenly into three portions, each skeleton tucking its share into its eye socket to absorb the pure energy.
Pale green light, like luminous mist, enveloped the skeletons' bodies. Their joints crackled and popped as the energy circulated, flowing and seemingly strengthening their bones.
When the green light faded, the skeletons' frames were noticeably smoother, now bearing a faint luster.
By then, dawn had fully broken. The sky was growing light.
Xiao Chen wanted to see what secrets this mysterious swamp might hide, so he ventured deeper into the woodland.
At first, the three skeletons followed silently behind him. But when they neared the central area of the swamp, they suddenly grabbed his arm. The cold touch of their bone claws startled him.
The skeletons showed no hostility. Instead, they seemed anxious, pointing toward a region dense with yin energy, frantically shaking their bone claws to warn him not to proceed.
Xiao Chen could sense their fear. Some master of the dead lurked ahead.
He did not insist. He retreated along the same path, though he did not leave the swamp entirely.
Daylight had arrived. A new day had begun. He felt this place could serve as a decent defensive position and decided to make this foul land his temporary refuge.
Xiao Chen was confident that the "clues" he had left behind would keep his pursuers busy for most of the day. Many of them would likely become food for the savage beasts.
If they moved swiftly, they might reach this place by nightfall. By then, the swamp might prove useful.
Morning waves lapped the shore. The dawn scattered countless fragments of gold across the sea.
The massive body of the Eight-Armed Malignant Dragon thrashed in the ocean, stirring up great waves.
Guluo, the brown-haired man, watched the fearsome ancient beast with a furrowed brow. His ship had come from north to south and would likely appear in this area. If reinforcements landed on this beach, they might face annihilation.
He had already raised a tall bamboo pole atop a lofty coconut tree, hanging a large animal skin dyed red with beast blood. But he wondered if the arriving allies, despite such a conspicuous flag, would notice the signal in time.
The sun had climbed high. The Eight-Armed Malignant Dragon had swum into the distance, seemingly vanishing into the sea. At the same time, two large ships were sailing toward the island.
No comments:
Post a Comment