Flying zombies were the most terrifying of all. They could soar into the sky and land straight onto the ground. Even those Perfected Persons that had ascended into the State of Foundation Establishment were not their match. The second most terrifying would be the hairy zombies, whose whole body would be covered by black fur and whom had copper skin with iron bones. They could even resist spell attacks to a certain extent. In short, they were terrifying monsters.
As for the green zombies and white zombies, they were a little easier to deal with.
“Corpse cave…” The atmosphere surrounding Tang Hao was growing heavier. He immediately dived into his mind’s pocket dimension and checked the number of jade talismans he had.
There were about 70 pieces of jade talismans altogether.
‘These should be enough! If it’s not, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!’ Tang Hao decided as he discreetly thought to himself.
Then, he said to the master, “Alright then, I’ll be there today. I’ll contact you once I’ve arrived.” With that, he hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong?” Qin Xiangyi asked.
“Master bumped into some sort of trouble, and he needs my help.” Tang Hao got up and speedily put his clothes back on.
“Alright then, but be careful!”
After leaving the villa, Tang Hao went straight to the bus station.
Clear Water District was also in Province Z. It was separated by several cities, and it would take about two to three hours by long-distance coach. He bought the ticket and got into his ride, and the bus departed after a short while.
Before leaving Westridge District, Tang Hao had sent a message to Han Yutong stating that he had left the district today. Also, if she had any work-related issues, she needed to wait until he returned.
After more than two hours, the coach finally reached its destination.
Tang Hao then took a minivan to the station and headed toward Bronze Sparrow Ridge.
The driver was an older uncle, and he was taken aback when he heard that Tang Hao was going to Bronze Sparrow Ridge.
“There’s a spawn of evil in Bronze Sparrow Ridge, young man. It’s always haunted there, and I heard that a few people died there just a couple of days ago!” The uncle driver said to Tang Hao whilst he was driving.
“Oh? What happened there?” Tang Hao asked in surprise.
“A couple of backpackers went into the mountains for fun, but they never came back. So, they dispatched a few people to go and look for them, but they only found corpses. Everything was broken and scattered around. It was a tragedy.”
The driver paused for a moment before continuing.
“I’d say. They were perfectly fine before, so why’d they had to run into mountains and the wildernesses. People nowadays are just looking for trouble when they’re bored!” The uncle driver shook his head, his expression filled with sorrow.
Tang Hao thought to himself that since the matter was happening in Bronze Sparrow Ridge, it had to be related to that corpse cave.
After driving for half an hour, they arrived at a mountain road ahead of them. For the next ten minutes, the road was bumpy as the scenery around got more and more desolate.
Suddenly, he noticed a black car parked on the mountain road in front of him. Two people were standing in front of the vehicle, and one of them was none other than Taoist Master Chang Qing.
“Stop!” Tang Hao exclaimed.
The uncle driver was stunned and asked in astonishment, “You wanna stop here?”
“It’s fine. Someone’s here to pick me up!” Tang Hao then took out two hundred Yuan and handed it over, “Keep the change.”
“Hey! Thank you so much, young man!” The uncle driver said with a big grin on his face.
Once he got out of the minivan, he saw Taoist Master Chang Qing walking toward him. Then, he shouted, “You’re finally here, Fellow Cultivator Tang!”
“Come here, let me introduce you two. This is one of my former brothers, Taoist Xuan Ling’zi,” The master pointed at another person and said to Tang Hao.
Tang Hao’s eyes scanned him over as he looked at him from head to toe.
This Taoist Master Xuan Ling was dressed peculiarly. He was wearing a grey robe that looked somewhat dirty and extremely scruffy. His face was dark and swarthy, and the hair on his head was in a complete mess, such that it looked like a birds’ nest.
He carried several pouches on his body like Taoist Master Chang Qing and had a peach wooden sword on his back.
At first glance, Tang Hao could only describe him with a single word—shabby.
Tang Hao was slightly surprised after he took a closer look. Taoist Master Xuan Ling’s cultivation base was in the middle period of the State of Qi Channeling, almost approaching the late period.
As he scrutinized the other party, the other party was likewise also looking at Tang Hao.
Soon enough, Taoist Master Xuan Ling frowned. He could not see the cultivation base of this Fellow Cultivator Tang.
How could this be?
Could it be that this little baby that was still wet behind the ears had a more profound Taoist attainment than he did?
He frowned and let out a groan of disbelief.
He was adopted by his master when he was young. Then, he entered Mao Mountain and had been cultivating for over 50 years to reach his current Taoist attainment level. How old was this little baby?!
“Come here, let me have a test, little baby!”
Taoist Master Xuan Ling said in a cold tone. He suddenly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to grab onto Tang Hao’s wrist.
Tang Hao did not dodge, and merely let the other party do as he pleased.
In a split second, a surge of Qi started bubbling out of the other party’s palm.
This shabby and old Taoist Master obviously wanted to investigate his cultivation base.
Tang Hao smiled indifferently as the Qi inside his body vibrated slightly. The vibration made the shabby old Taoist Master croon out loud and let go of his hand. After this, he took a few steps back, an extremely horrified look on his dark and swarthy old face.
“What… What the…”
The old Taoist Master was stunned for some time and almost wanted to curse out loud.
This baby’s Taoist attainment was actually higher than his, and he had entered the late period of the State of Qi Channeling.
“You, you, you… you stinking brat! How on earth did you cultivate? How is your Taoist attainment higher than mine? Motherf*cker, this is depressing!” The old Taoist Master swore out loud as he spoke. There was a bitter look on his face.
Taoist Master Chang Qing, who was observing from the side, almost laughed out loud.
Chapter 105 - Fighting Zombies
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“May I ask your age, fellow cultivator?
“Tell me, have you been taking rejuvenation elixirs so that you look so young? You look quite handsome too!”
Shabby Taoist Master mumbled as he circled Tang Hao.
Tang Hao rolled his eyes and said, “I’m eighteen this year! I haven’t taken any elixirs.”
“I don’t believe it! You must be lying!” Shabby Taoist Master was so angry that the ends of his handlebar mustache curled upward.
Taoist Master Chang Qing saw that and came over. “Senior Brother, Fellow Cultivator Tang is really eighteen years old. He had a fortuitous encounter.”
Shabby Taoist Master turned around and glared at Taoist Master Chang Qing.
He understood what he was saying, but his ego stood in the way.
“Let’s focus on serious business, Senior Brother. We should get going! Otherwise, the sky will turn dark soon, and things will be a lot trickier at night,” Taoist Master Chang Qing said.
“Alright, alright! Let’s go. With this kid around, we might just be able to wreck the nest those old wretched things,” Shabby Taoist Master grumbled and went into the car.
“Let’s go, Fellow Cultivator Tang!” Taoist Master Chang Qing said to Tang Hao. Then, he sat in the driver’s seat.
The car drove off after Tang Hao got into the car, heading toward Bronze Sparrow Ridge.
“Not bad, kid! You’re a pretty advanced cultivator. I haven’t seen a kid as outstanding as you are for a long time.” Shabby Taoist Master spoke like a veteran as he looked at Tang Hao.
“Right, which sect are you from? What is your tenet? Who is your master? I might have heard of them before! The cultivation world of Huaxia isn’t too big or too small, and I know many of the old masters.”
“I don’t have a master. I’m also not sure which sect or tenet I follow,” Tang Hao said.
Shabby Taoist Master nearly did a spit take.
“You… don’t have a master?” His eyes were bulging.
“Yeah,” Tang Hao said calmly.
“Ahem!” The elderly Taoist master coughed to regain his composure. “Haha! I was overreacting earlier. It’s no big deal that a practitioner doesn’t have a master, isn’t that right?”
His face bore an awkward expression even though he said so.
“Are you renowned in the cultivation circles, Taoist Master Xuan Ling?” Tang Hao asked.
“Haha, isn’t that so! I’m the spokesperson of Mao Mountain! Who doesn’t know about me?” The elderly Taoist master said gleefully while slapping his chest.
“So… what is the cultivation world like?” Tang Hao asked curiously.
“Well! The cultivation world in Huaxia is quite complicated. There are official sects and there are also hidden ones. It’s hard to explain everything in brief.”
“That many?” Tang Hao was a little shocked.
“Isn’t that so? You ought to know the size of Huaxia. Even if there are many sects and tenets, it’s nothing compared to the cultivation world in ancient times.
“You ought to know the past glories of the Huaxia cultivation world. Now, even the animist shamans from Nanyang dare to bully us, and let’s not even mention those Westerners.” (TN: ‘Nanyang’, or literally ‘southern seas’, generally refers to the regions to the south of mainland China bordering the South China Sea, and Southeast Asia.)
“Westerners?” Tang Hao was surprised.
“Of course, there are Western cultivators! Of course, their methods of cultivation are different from ours.”
“I see! That makes sense!” Tang Hao mumbled.
“Alright, we can elaborate on that next time. We’ll have to wipe out that bunch of dumplings now.”
“Dumplings?” Tang Hao was clueless.
“Zombies! Haven’t you heard that term before? It’s all over the Internet.”
Tang Hao was speechless.
He had heard of the term before. However, the elderly Taoist master in front of him did not look like someone who would use the Internet, much less use Internet slang.
“Fellow Cultivator Tang, my senior brother is a lot more trendy than me! He frequents social media websites and is a famous blogger!” Taoist Master Chang Qing said.
Tang Hao was the one to be taken aback this time.
“Bet you didn’t expect that, kid!” Shabby Taoist Master smiled. He looked awfully proud of himself.
“Ahem! Alright, let me briefly explain the situation at Corpse Cave.
“In our preliminary investigations, Corpse Cave should originate from the Ming dynasty. It’s at a place where negative qi gathers, and there are negativity seal formations around the cave. It is a place of great blight.
“We only managed to scout a short distance into the cave before we were attacked by dumplings and had to escape. We don’t know the layout of the cave’s interior, and we don’t know how many dumplings are waiting for us within.
“The ones that attacked us were white zombies and green zombies. There were roughly a dozen green zombies and we barely made it out of the cave.”
As he spoke, Shabby Taoist Master’s expression became grim.
“Green zombies are still within our capabilities. I’m just afraid that in this big Corpse Cave, there will be a hairy zombie. That’s why I looked for help.
“With you in the party, I believe that the three of us should be able to handle a hairy zombie.”
Tang Hao nodded when he heard that.
Hairy zombies are a powerful type of zombie. A typical hairy zombie’s power was equivalent to a cultivator in the late period of the State of Qi Channeling. Certain unique hairy zombies were even as powerful as masters of the State of Foundation Establishment.
With only two Taoist masters, their odds of winning against a hairy zombie were slim.
“Right, I’ve heard from Junior Brother Chang Qing that you know how to craft jade talismans?” Shabby Taoist Master said, sounding rather surprised.
“I know a little!” Tang Hao said.
“That’s incredible. With the decline of the cultivation world, there aren’t many people alive that know how to craft potions or talismans. Quick, let me see how many talismans you brought.”
Tang Hao opened his backpack and retrieved a huge bag of jade talismans.
Upon seeing the bag of jade talismans, Shabby Taoist Master trembled with excitement. His eyes were sparkling.
“Oh my god! That’s a lot of jade talismans! No…. Wait, what are those talismans? I’ve never seen them before. The runes on the talismans are all weird too,” Shabby Taoist Master picked up a talisman and furrowed his brows when he took a closer look.
“That’s the Talisman of Righteous Lightning!” Tang Hao explained.
Shabby Taoist Master gave it a close examination and said, “Kid, looks like your chance encounter was indeed fortuitous!”
He thought of something, then continued, “Kid, do you want to sell these goodies? You can sell more of them to me! How about that?
“Five thousand yuan per talisman, no, no… How about ten thousand yuan? Hm, that seems too cheap. Thirty thousand yuan then. Thirty thousand yuan per talisman sounds good, right?”
“Alright! Next time then! You can take these for now,” Tang Hao passed the two people the jade talismans as he spoke.
“Oh my! These are rare items!”
The two Taoist masters looked incredibly excited as they clutched the ten or so jade talismans in their hands as though they were treasure.
About ten or twenty minutes later, the car stopped at some level ground on the mountain range.
Then, the three people got out of the car and went into the mountains on foot.
The surroundings were deathly silent. An aura of negativity permeated the area.
Tang Hao channeled qi into his eyes and opened his third eye. He could see negative qi permeating the mountains like thick black smoke.
They reached the cave after half an hour of walking.
The cave was flat against the mountain wall and was pitch-black. The intensity of negative qi pouring out from the cave was shocking.
“That’s it!” Shabby Taoist Master pointed at the cave.
Then, holding his peach wood sword in one hand and a stack of yellow paper talismans in the other, he led the way in. (TN: Swords made out of peach wood are the Taoist master’s weapon of choice for performing exorcisms.)
The temperature abruptly dropped once they stepped into the cave.
The three of them walked along the narrow cave. Suddenly, they heard something in front of them.
Then, in the darkness, they saw blood-red lights. Those were the glowing eyes of the zombies.
“They’re here!” Shabby Taoist Master roared, then jumped into battle with the white zombies.
Tang Hao scanned the area and estimated that there were thirty to forty white zombies. They all emanated a terrible corpse stench.
He walked ahead and flicked his wrist. A jade talisman flew out from his hand.
Boom!
The jade talisman exploded, burning a white zombie into ashes.
White zombies were the weakest type of zombie. They were afraid of ligh
t and fire and were very easy to defeat.
Talismans flew from the cultivators’ hands and they soon eradicated the horde of white zombies. The three cultivators joined forces and, with some effort, cleared the cave of green zombies as well.
Chapter 106 - Wang Changsheng
“Phew! I’m spent!” Taoist Master Chang Qing fell sitting on the ground. He looked fatigued.
His cultivation level was the lowest among the three, and the intense battle had tired him.
Tang Hao and Shabby Taoist Master had higher cultivation levels and therefore did not feel the strain. They regained their strength after taking a breather.
“That’s a lot of dumplings! I counted about forty of them. Even at such a place of blight, it should still take hundreds of corpses to produce this many dumplings.” Shabby Taoist Master said as he scanned the area.
The cave floor was a mess, covered with charred, disfigured zombies.
Tang Hao’s jade talismans possessed a lot of power and could burn a zombie to a crisp. However, the two other Taoist masters’ talismans had lesser power and could only disfigure them.
Of course, after being burned by talismans, the zombies became deader than dead.
“Let’s go further in! I want to know which wretched being constructed this place,” Shabby Taoist Master said as he led the way.
“Rearing corpses is one of the biggest taboos in the cultivation world. Only heretical sects will do this, while the typical cultivator would shy away from such practices. Of course, there are people with sinister intentions in this world. You’ve got to be more careful in the future, kid. Who knows when you might meet someone like this.”
Tang Hao nodded.
The corpse stench became more intense as they went further down the narrow path. The stink in the air almost felt sticky.
The three people’s expressions changed.
“This intensity of corpse stench… There’s something fishy!” Shabby Taoist Master’s eyebrows were locked together. He looked grim.
The Mightiest Little Peasant c1-799 Page 51
