6 Tombstone

The gloomy forest was filled primarily with withered trees, and a thick, heavy fog permeated the air, carrying an inescapable stench of rot. Amidst the decay of the forest floor, individual figures stood upright. Some were clad in rags, while others were missing limbs, yet they remained standing in stiff, awkward postures, as if driven by some inexplicable curse.

"What are those things?" Su Yu asked, looking at the ink-like dots in his field of vision. "Is something floating?"

"!" Zhang Fugui looked at the corpses with severed limbs and, to his surprise, found himself agreeing. The "crane stance" of the corpses did look a bit like they were floating... But never mind that; he felt like he was the one about to float away!

Dense, dark fog billowed, leaving the mountain forest nearly pitch black. In the darkness, the rot of the soil seemed to come alive as pale, withered bones clawed their way out of the earth, swaying and staggering in ever-growing numbers.

A terrifying thought crossed Zhang Fugui's mind. He recalled rumors he had heard from ghost companions while wandering Nanying Mountain: the Graveyard of the Living.

The seal on Nanying Mountain had existed for a very long time. It was said that centuries ago, an evil cultivator had stumbled into the mountain. Because his cultivation method was perverse, it harmonized with the local wandering yin energy, turning the place of his death into a cursed land. Rumors claimed that any corpse not consumed by malevolent ghosts, or any cultivator who wandered in and died there, would become a "living corpse."

Thinking of this, Zhang Fugui retreated in terror. "Wait, Daoist, these look like living corpses..."

Living corpses? Su Yu looked at the ink dots in his vision—these dots were 'people'?

As Su Yu turned his gaze toward them, their lifeless eyes locked onto him. The next moment, all the living corpses lunged at the man and the ghost.

A fierce wind swept toward them. Zhang Fugui didn't hesitate to bolt. "Run, Daoist, run!!!"

The living corpses in the forest were startled, moving almost in unison as they charged toward the only living human present. Su Yu only saw the ink dots in his vision converge toward him. Instinctively, he stepped back, feeling a rush of wind sweep over his head, accompanied by a chaotic, bustling noise.

An intense sense of crisis enveloped Su Yu’s consciousness. He had only taken a few steps back before he collided with a withered tree. At that moment, a living corpse lunged and bit into Su Yu’s arm. Fangs pierced his skin; Su Yu pulled back in a hurry, tearing away a chunk of flesh.

Blood sprayed out!

The nearby living corpses seemed to catch the scent and shifted their direction, charging toward Su Yu.

Zhang Fugui had not run far before he realized he couldn't move; the chain around his ankle held him back. He was forced to turn around, only to see Su Yu trapped in the withered forest.

How could he have forgotten! The Daoist was blind; he couldn't escape!

Seeing the other living corpses pouncing on the Daoist, Zhang Fugui turned back without a second thought to help. During his long stay in Nanying Mountain, he had gained guidance from other malevolent ghosts and managed to cultivate his soul form. He barely managed to mobilize the yin energy in his body, stepping in front of a living corpse before it could bite the Daoist.

The strength of the living corpses was far greater than Zhang Fugui's. He had barely blocked two of them before his yin energy began to wane. He managed to sweep aside the creature in front of him and was just about to hoist the Daoist onto his back when his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

"Daoist?!" Zhang Fugui was startled.

Su Yu stared at Zhang Fugui’s arm, unblinking. "What is this?"

"Ah...?" Zhang Fugui realized the Daoist was asking about his arm. "The Diamond Iron Arm?"

This was a technique taught to him by a ghost companion—condensing yin energy into the arm to increase its strength, allowing one to face three opponents at once. It was said that the great masters of the cultivation world liked to add prefixes to their proudest techniques, so they called this "Diamond Iron Arm."

"Do you recognize this technique, Daoist?" Zhang Fugui asked.

Su Yu replied, "No."

The white, misty figure stood before him. The previously scattered white smoke seemed to have solidified, especially around Zhang Fugui’s arm, where Su Yu could see the yin energy condensed significantly.

Su Yu looked inward at his own sea of consciousness. The yin energy that had previously remained dormant was still scattered near his dantian. He attempted to channel that energy once more, trying to control it around his own arm...?

Just then, more and more living corpses discovered them.

Zhang Fugui turned his head and saw countless heads charging at them. Now was not the time to talk about Diamond Iron Arms; even a wall of copper and iron couldn't stop so many living corpses. These creatures felt no pain and knew no life or death; even if they were just a severed head, they would still pounce to kill.

The living corpses had no senses or feelings; they only obeyed the obsession of the graveyard’s master, the evil cultivator, to turn all living intruders into living corpses.

As Zhang Fugui pondered which direction to run while carrying the Daoist, two figures suddenly leaped from the crowd of living corpses. They looked as if they hadn't been dead for long, still wearing relatively intact clothing... He immediately went to defend, and the searing heat on his arms made him gasp.

"It’s over! These living corpses were cultivators in their past lives!"

With Zhang Fugui’s level of cultivation, he could handle a few pathetic, ordinary living corpses, but facing cultivator corpses was like throwing an egg against a rock! He had never heard that there were so many cultivator corpses in the Graveyard of the Living before!

Suddenly, the surrounding living corpses surged forward again, an overwhelming, unavoidable wave.

As the claws of a living corpse swung toward his face, Zhang Fugui relived his decades of life as both a man and a ghost in a few short heartbeats. Suddenly, he was yanked hard by the person behind him, and the claws scraped past the side of his face.

"Daoist!" Zhang Fugui exclaimed.

Su Yu had just pulled Zhang Fugui back when he hit the withered tree behind him, blocking his path.

Clear sounds of attack rushed into his ears, and the ink dots in his vision closed in from all sides. Su Yu endured the pain in his back; the pain in his broken leg made every inch of movement difficult, while the wind in his ears grew closer, accompanied by the sounds of running, only a few steps away.

Zhang Fugui fell backward, looking up with lingering fear, his heart turning cold.

High up on the withered tree where they stood, a living corpse emerged. Its body was horribly rotted, its head half-flesh and half-bone, and the teeth in its open mouth were exceptionally sharp. It crawled among the withered branches like a vermin, its hollow eyes locking onto the prey right before it, and it lunged down from the tree.

Zhang Fugui shouted urgently, "Daoist!! Above you!"

No! It’s too late!!!

Su Yu caught the sound of the fast, fierce wind, but his body seemed to react faster than his conscious mind. The blood in his meridians seemed to freeze for an instant, and the yin energy in his dantian flowed rapidly. Subconsciously, he raised his hand. His arm collided head-on with the descending living corpse, the pressure from above causing his body to sink suddenly.

The sharp fangs of the living corpse pierced his skin, and a sensation of numbness and pain spread from his arm. He could clearly feel the teeth against his skin, sinking in, but they did not break through.

Su Yu was startled. The elbow between him and the fangs was covered in yin energy. The pure yin energy from his dantian had gathered in his left arm, which now felt like it was淬 (tempered) with a thick barrier, blocking the fangs.

Zhang Fugui half-covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers. Wait? It blocked it...?

The living corpse failed to bite through and opened its mouth again, biting down with all its might.

However, the previously soft prey seemed to have turned into a hard stone. It failed to bite through, and on the next attempt, there was only a crisp, faint "crack."

Zhang Fugui watched in shock as something fell at his feet—a gray-black stone that looked like a fang from the living corpse... The tooth?? It had broken off???

Sensing a claw attack from the side, Su Yu swung his arm hard, throwing the living corpse away, and used his backhand to block the next attack.

Zhang Fugui no longer cared how many teeth the living corpse had broken. In the chaos, he only heard a gust of wind, and when he looked again, the living corpse had been thrown dozens of steps away by the person beside him. He stared wide-eyed at the youth, seeing two living corpses hanging from his arm, their mouths wide open, their saliva dripping onto Zhang Fugui’s face.

Su Yu said nothing. One living corpse was manageable, but two pressing on his arm made it hard to lift. He struggled to use the living corpses on his elbows to sweep away the many ink dots gathering around.

"Daoist! Cultivators!" Zhang Fugui shouted.

Su Yu snapped back to reality at Zhang Fugui’s cry. This time, he saw several strange points among the ink dots in his vision.

The dots approaching rapidly were not pure black; instead, faint red spots lingered on them. He wanted to look closer, but in an instant, he sensed a surge of heat.

No! He blocked with all his might, but the entire force of the fiery claw strike pressed him backward, slamming him into the withered tree behind him.

The palms of the cultivator-corpses carried scorching flame energy; this person had been a fire-element cultivator in life. Now, the palm fire hitting the Daoist's arm felt like it was evaporating. Zhang Fugui was dumbfounded—his own moves were nothing compared to this; this was what a real Diamond Iron Arm was!

"We have to run out quickly!" Zhang Fugui said.

Su Yu felt the strain. With every defense, he could feel the soreness and discomfort in his arm. His previous injuries made him gasp for air. He squinted his eyes at the ink dots gathering around, seeing the mottled ink dots unique to the living corpses he had just fought.

Pure ink dots were ordinary people... these strange ones were cultivators?

The more ink dots that appeared in his vision amidst the swirling yin energy, the more exhausted Su Yu felt in his sea of consciousness. He seemed unaccustomed to using his eyes for so long, or perhaps he had never used these eyes much at all; the more he used them, the stronger the subtle sense of dissonance became.

His injured leg sank into the rot, and the sharp pain from the fracture pulled Su Yu back to reality. He realized with alarm that the ink dots in his vision were becoming blurry, and his physical fatigue was rising.

He was running out of strength.

If this continued, he would be skinned alive by this group of living corpses.

"You said these are all affected by the master of the tomb?" Su Yu asked.

Zhang Fugui nodded. "Yes."

He didn't know which great master the evil cultivator had been, but he couldn't rest even in death, encircling this patch of land in Nanying Mountain. There was no other way when one stumbled into the Graveyard of the Living; one had to find a way to leave the area. The living corpses affected by the tomb master would not leave; as long as they left the graveyard, they would be safe.

More and more living corpses in the distance were gathering toward them. Su Yu looked up at the distant ink dots; most were on their side, while the ones further in were becoming fewer... as if they only wandered the perimeter and would not go further in.

Before Zhang Fugui could finish speaking, he saw the Daoist walking further in.

He stood there stunned. He had seen people running out, but why was the Daoist charging further in?!

The chaotic ink dots swarmed toward Su Yu. He could not distinguish directions, so he relied on instinct to dodge the dots.

As he walked further in, the surrounding soil became soft and damp.

"Wait, Daoist!! In front of you!!" Zhang Fugui shouted.

The young Daoist in front slammed into a tree.

Zhang Fugui covered his eyes.

The surrounding living corpses seemed not to expect this person to run into a tree. Seeing this, they immediately pressed in. But at that moment, the youth swept away the withered tree in front of him. The broken branches were flung out, knocking back the few living corpses that had charged at him.

Zhang Fugui: "..."

Is this how all blind people walk!

The living corpses charged again, and Zhang Fugui hurriedly followed. This time, he shouted early: "Daoist, to the right!"

The youth in the distance heard Zhang Fugui’s voice and narrowly avoided the tree before hitting it. He seemed to have grasped the technique of moving forward, leaning on the withered trees to alleviate the pain in his injured leg.

The further in they went, the fewer living corpses there were, but the troublesome cultivator-corpses increased.

The ink dots in Su Yu’s vision spread slightly. The soreness in his eyes made him blink repeatedly. He looked inward during the gaps in his defense, and at that moment, he suddenly noticed a patch of empty space in the center of these scattered ink dots.

An empty space was rare. The uniform ink dots in his vision avoided that spot, as if they were deliberately circling around it, or perhaps deliberately surrounding it.

The living corpses seemed to have discovered the persistence of the intruder. More and more surrounded Su Yu. Soon, blood appeared on his body again; his previous wounds had not healed, and his broken leg made movement difficult.

Zhang Fugui had no choice but to carry Su Yu on his back. As soon as he lifted him, the living corpses lunged. At that moment, Su Yu’s left arm blocked the front of Zhang Fugui. The living corpse bit into his arm, and the yin energy condensed there exploded, sending the corpse flying dozens of steps away.

Zhang Fugui: "Diamond Divine Arm..."

Su Yu looked into the distance and said coldly, "Run east."

The yin energy within Su Yu seemed to become active after being mobilized, rushing wildly through his meridians. The totem lingering in his dantian rotated a little faster, and more and more yin energy condensed on his arm.

Zhang Fugui watched as other living cultivator-corpses approached. With him carrying Su Yu, his own body was burned with several holes. It was not easy to cultivate a soul form; his decades of cultivation were being burned away!

Su Yu felt as if the meridians in his arm were about to explode, and lifting his arm became increasingly difficult. But he had no time to worry about this. His eyes searched for the gaps in the scattered ink dots—

There!

At the critical moment, Su Yu jumped forward, bracing himself on Zhang Fugui’s shoulders. The chain on his ankle pulled Zhang Fugui, yanking him forcefully forward. Both man and ghost fell hard, the stench of rot filling their noses, and the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

The surrounding living corpses remained on the perimeter, watching them with greedy eyes. Zhang Fugui shrank inward in fear, his hand suddenly touching a rough stone. He looked down and saw half a fallen tombstone buried in the soil.

What is this? Zhang Fugui brushed the rotted soil off the tombstone. The inscriptions were mostly worn away, but one could vaguely see—

This was a tombstone.

"They aren't coming over," Su Yu said.

Zhang Fugui looked at Su Yu with trembling hands. "Daoist... underneath! The tombstone!!"

A tombstone! They were sitting on a tombstone!

Su Yu touched the uneven surface beneath his hand. He did not withdraw the yin energy from his arm; he pressed down on the edge of the object, and with a faint, sharp sound, the gray-black stone surface immediately cracked with several clear lines.

The surroundings were deathly quiet; the clawing, pouncing living corpses froze instantly.

Zhang Fugui opened his mouth, unable to say a word.

At that moment, the weathered tombstone seemed to suffer a heavy blow; the cracks intensified instantly. With a final, shattering sound, a corner was broken off by Su Yu.

Su Yu frowned. "Something broke."

Zhang Fugui: "!"

Living Corpses: "!!!!"