CHAPTER 239: CHAPTER 239: ENCOUNTERING DAOIST JIU ZHEN AGAIN

The next day, Yan Hongxia first followed Liu Qingyan to Renxin Hall for consultations. In the afternoon, when they had free time, the two women went together to Yu Ling Garden to listen to opera, while Lu Zheng tidied up and set off for Shaotong Mountain.

Zombie sightings were found in Tonglin County, so they needed to report it to the sect.

"Zombies?" Daoist Mingzhang stroked his beard, finding no leads, "Zombies are actually quite common. Those who transform into corpses are mostly stiff and extremely weak. Ordinary people can slay them easily and burn them."

However, according to what you said, this zombie can turn a martial artist into a corpse puppet. It must have at least a hundred years of dao practice, and the martial artist must not be too strong."

"Only a hundred years of dao practice?" Lu Zheng blinked. Is it that weak?

Daoist Mingzhang glanced at Lu Zheng, "With your current cultivation, you can easily vanquish a little demon or ghost that is wreaking havoc in one place. There’s no need to seek aid from the mountain for everything."

Daoist Mingzhang vaguely knew the extent of Lu Zheng’s strength. So when Lu Zheng hurriedly sought aid from the mountain today, Daoist Mingzhang was startled, suspecting that some great demon had descended upon Tonglin County.

His own cultivation is just over three hundred years, not necessarily able to handle it!

Was it just a zombie whose shadow they haven’t even seen?

Lu Zheng blinked, since this isn’t an unexpected situation, he’s just habitually calling for help...

"Master! Master!"

Outside the courtyard, Yuan Ning’s voice sounded, "Senior Brother Yuan Jing is back, he’s injured!"

With that, Yuan Ning and another daoist helped Yuan Jing into the courtyard. They knew Lu Zheng was seeking Daoist Mingzhang, so they were unconcerned about interrupting Daoist Mingzhang’s cultivation.

Daoist Mingzhang remained seated, a flash of divine light in his eyes.

Lu Zheng immediately moved to the trio, reaching out to support Yuan Jing.

Yuan Jing’s daoist robe had four long slashes across the chest. Although the bleeding had stopped, a faint stench lingered. His face was dark blue, his lips purple. With each breath, wisps of black gas faintly emerged from his mouth.

"Corpse Qi!" Lu Zheng said solemnly.

At this moment, Yuan Jing was concentrating on resisting the corpse poison within his body. Hearing this, he looked weakly at Lu Zheng and clicked his tongue, "Cough cough, I was a bit careless..."

Lu Zheng nodded. If he could say that, it meant things were not too serious.

Daoist Mingzhang was beside Yuan Jing in a flash, grasping his wrist as True Qi surged in, intending to expel the corpse qi from Yuan Jing’s body.

"Hmm?" Daoist Mingzhang’s gaze sharpened, looking inexplicably at Yuan Jing, "You got lucky this time."

Lu Zheng raised his brow, "Could it be..."

"This zombie is not simple."

Daoist Mingzhang didn’t consider whether this zombie might be others because such a formidable zombie is unlikely to appear twice simultaneously.

"Help him sit down."

Daoist Mingzhang instructed, holding onto Yuan Jing without moving. True Qi surged continuously into Yuan Jing’s body, thick and pure from decades of painstaking cultivation, quickly improving Yuan Jing’s condition.

Streaks of black qi drifted from Yuan Jing’s chest wounds and mouth, thinning from dense to nearly nothing.

"Is he alright?" Lu Zheng asked.

"Not alright," Daoist Mingzhang frowned, "There is still a deeply hidden corpse qi attached to Yuan Jing’s heart vein, which resists being expelled."

With that, Daoist Mingzhang turned to Lu Zheng, "Do you still have any Stalactite Essence left from the cave?"

"None left," Lu Zheng shook his head, "But I can go retrieve some."

Daoist Mingzhang nodded, "Go and get some, probably need ten... twenty drops."

"Alright, I’ll go immediately." Lu Zheng nodded, not wasting words, asked Yuan Ning for a porcelain bottle, then turned and left.

...

Half a day later, Lu Zheng returned to Shaotong Mountain with half a bottle filled with Stalactite Essence, nearly a hundred drops.

"No incident along the way?"

"No incident along the way!"

"That’s good!" Daoist Mingzhang did not hesitate, directly administering twenty drops to Yuan Jing, then coordinated True Qi operation, finally expelling the corpse qi from his body.

Thereupon, he spewed a mouthful of black blood.

Eyes brightened, spirit revitalized, Yuan Jing finally recovered, "Thank you, Master! Thank you, Junior Brother!"

"Hmm, tell me, what happened?"

Daoist Mingzhang also caught his breath, handed the porcelain bottle to Lu Zheng, who casually placed it on the table beside the meditation room.

Daoist Mingzhang saw this, nodded, remained silent.

Though the corpse qi had been completely expelled and the True Spirit and Divine Soul were not eroded by corpse poison, enduring the prolonged struggle had left Yuan Jing quite weak.

Thus, Yuan Jing unceremoniously drank a large mouthful of Reishi Mushroom Wine.

"Yesterday, returning from Yuhe County, disciple passed by West County Jiaotian Town. As a result, heard about the north of the town, twenty miles from there in the mountain area, a tomb was breached by tomb raiders, discovered by farmers heading to fields in the morning."

Tomb raiders never operate in daylight, so the farmer assumed they had already left. Thus, the farmer ventured inside to see if he could find anything valuable.

After walking only a few steps, he suddenly felt dizzy and quickly rushed out, fainting in the field. Then his family rescued him and called a doctor to treat him.

The townspeople decided to report to officials the next day. Thinking the tomb might contain some sinister things affecting ordinary people, I went to check. If there was, I would eliminate it."

However, just stepping inside, having walked only a few steps, a zombie lunged at me, smacking me aside and charging out of the cave, vanishing."

"It went out?" Daoist Mingzhang frowned and asked.

Yuan Jing nodded, "It left. I felt the zombie wasn’t targeting me, only because I blocked its way..."

"No wonder." Daoist Mingzhang nodded, "I was surprised that you faced a zombie with at least three hundred years of dao practice and still returned alive."

Yuan Jing, "..."

"Alright, you rest first. I will go check it myself." Daoist Mingzhang stood tall, "If the zombie still remains in the tomb, it’s fine. If it went out, things might get troublesome."

"Master, I’ll go with you." Lu Zheng said.

Daoist Mingzhang nodded, "Alright."

...

The two descended Shaotong Mountain, applying Divine Movement Technique to their bodies. Their pace swift as the wind, they quickly hurried towards Jiaotian Town in the west of Tonglin County.

When they reached the tomb twenty miles north of Jiaotian Town, it was already dark. However, the tomb area was illuminated by torches, indicating at least a hundred people present.

"Ridiculous!" Daoist Mingzhang shouted angrily, hastening to the front, seeing apart from Chief Liu of Tonglin County leading a group of constables and governmental officials, there were also an old and young daoist accompanying them.

"Eh?"

"Ah? Young Master Lu!"

"Daoist Jiu Zhen, why are you here?"