Chapter 26: The Crisis

Zhu Chen raised his sword, blocking the claw the zombie had thrust toward him. However, the zombie possessed immense strength, and he could only watch helplessly as those black fingernails drew closer and closer to his face.

"Don't you see, the waters of the Yellow River descend from the heavens, surging toward the sea, never to return!"

A jet of water erupted from the side, slamming into the zombie and knocking its body sideways. Zhu Chen seized the opportunity to scramble up and catch his breath. Realizing the two were not easy to deal with, the zombie turned and lunged toward the villagers who had not yet managed to escape.

"Argh!"

A villager with limited mobility was seized by the zombie. Its hideous, oversized face loomed large before them, and its mouth, reeking of decay, bit fiercely into their neck. A wail erupted from the victim, but before long, their struggling arms went limp, and all sound ceased.

"Gulp."

The zombie swallowed greedily, the crimson light in its eyes flaring intensely as its frame grew a size larger.

"The Decisive Strike!"

Zhu Chen lunged forward, his sword carving through the air, the fierce energy of his strike cleaving directly into the zombie!

Hong Qi hurriedly shouted, "A thousand-year-old zombie is impervious to blades and spears! Your swordsmanship is only at level one; you can't possibly hurt it. You should use what Wu Lei gave you—"

Before he could finish, the sword energy had already struck the zombie, leaving a wound deep enough to expose the bone!

Zhu Chen: "What did you say, brother?"

Hong Qi: "...Nothing."

"I just didn't expect a dignified thousand-year-old zombie to be so lacking in prestige..."

The zombie shrieked in pain, touching the wound on its arm, on the verge of tears. Was it its fault that it had become a thousand-year-old zombie? It was all Xia Wulei's fault! Besides, when it was a ghost, it felt nothing when it died; why did it hurt to be injured now that it was a zombie? Was this what it felt like to have a physical body?

Seeing how weak the zombie was, Zhu Chen became emboldened, unleashing one sword strike after another. Hong Qi did not fall behind; he pulled out the prepared sticky rice, red beans, garlic, and a bag of rooster blood, splashing them all over the zombie.

The zombie's body began to hiss and sizzle as if it were being burned, causing it unbearable agony. However, it could only emit "ho-ho" sounds, stumbling about in pain and crushing every table and chair it touched!

While the two were locked in a back-and-forth battle with the zombie, a vastly different scene was unfolding inside the Mountain God Temple.

"Wuwuwu... my poor, suffering child..."

Yu Huaiyu was hugging a pillar in the temple, wailing loudly. Though Chu Wei was not as uncomposed as Yu Huaiyu, she too was shedding tears of sorrow in a corner. Only Xia Wulei stood there, holding a cup, looking bewildered.

What was going on? After the door was locked, the two had intended to drink, but Xia Wulei had snatched the cup away, and then they had started crying in the corner. It looked as if they had fallen into some kind of hallucination.

Yu Huaiyu felt heartbroken, as if she had truly lost a child she had raised for many years; a heaviness pressed upon her chest, making it hard to breathe.

"Mommy, Mommy..."

Several children, some older and some younger, suddenly crawled out from the shadows. With timid expressions, they approached Yu Huaiyu and Chu Wei.

"Children! My children!"

Yu Huaiyu scrambled up, ready to rush forward and pull the children into her arms. Although Chu Wei was somewhat hesitant, she could not control her impulse to shower these children with affection.

However, before they could get too close, Xia Wulei kicked each of them to the ground.

"Are you two crazy?"

Xia Wulei was incredulous. In her eyes, these were clearly monsters crawling on the ground! These humanoid monsters were pitch black with withered, gaunt skin. Their bald heads had blank spaces where eyes and noses should have been, featuring only a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth.

"Hiss—"

Xia Wulei roughly counted eight of them. Seeing Xia Wulei blocking their path, the monsters hissed at her before continuing to crawl toward Yu Huaiyu and Chu Wei, as if, in their eyes, the two women were the most delicious prey. Yu Huaiyu and Chu Wei were also scrambling toward them—a mutual dash—and even if Xia Wulei wanted to stop them, she couldn't.

"Chu Wei, after giving birth, your figure lost its shape, you developed stretch marks on your abdomen, joint pain, loose pelvic floor muscles, and you gained weight!"

"Yu Huaiyu, if you ever have a child, it can only be Huwang!"

At the critical moment, one had to rely on the power of the tongue! As a heartthrob, Chu Wei cared most about her appearance. Almost as soon as Xia Wulei finished speaking, she shuddered and snapped back to reality.

"Damn, you're so vicious," Chu Wei said, uttering her first-ever swear word.

Xia Wulei smiled sheepishly. "If I didn't do that, how would you wake up? Don't just stand there, come help me hold back Yu Huaiyu."

Chu Wei had woken up, but Yu Huaiyu was still muddled, only feeling that the name "Huwang" sounded familiar.

The three were cornered. A monster, unable to restrain itself, opened its mouth and spewed a stream of fire toward Chu Wei.

"Ah Shui!"

A figure instantly appeared before the three. Ah Shui raised a hand, and a torrential downpour instantly descended, drenching the monsters.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

The four monsters immediately curled up, trembling on the ground as if it were acid, not rain, falling upon them.

"These are the four girls!" Chu Wei said quickly. Xia Wulei nodded. The attributes of male and female were different and countered each other; the girls were fire-aligned and feared water, and she could handle them with Ah Shui, but the boys were not so easy to deal with.

The remaining four monsters seemed to enjoy the moisture, becoming more agile.

"Oh my god, what is this, it's so terrifying, I'm going back!"

Ah Shui was startled by the sight of the monsters and hurried back into the space before Xia Wulei could stop her.

Xia Wulei pulled out her hoe and swiped at the monsters approaching Yu Huaiyu, but their skin and bones were incredibly hard; the impact of the hoe against their bodies made her hand go numb. The monsters were completely unfazed; every time they dodged Xia Wulei's hoe, they would turn back and grin at her, as if mocking her.

Xia Wulei: ...These little brats!

Xia Wulei put away the hoe. Chu Wei was wondering what she was doing when she saw her pull out a bamboo switch.

A bamboo switch???

Then, she saw Xia Wulei holding the cup, gritting her teeth, and draining the liquid inside in one gulp.

"What are you doing?!" Chu Wei was shocked. Now that she was sober, she knew the liquid in that cup was nothing ordinary, yet Xia Wulei had just downed it?!

The liquid was colorless and odorless, not hard to swallow, but once it hit her stomach, the effect was immediate. Xia Wulei's pupils dilated, a wave of dizziness swept over her, and her body felt as if it were stuffed with cotton; her legs turned to jelly.

However, this feeling lasted only a moment. When Xia Wulei looked up again, she saw four bald little boys blinking their eyes at her.

"Mom, Mommy?" a young boy tentatively asked.

A surge of unfamiliar emotion welled up; Xia Wulei almost couldn't stop herself from crouching down to embrace these little rascals. Instead, she curled her lips into a smile, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, put one hand on her hip, pointed the bamboo switch at the children, and roared:

"Alright, you little brats, I've finally caught you!"