Chapter 9: The Demon's Evil

  "What on earth is this thing? Are zombies supposed to grow up like this?"

  Su Mueran walked up to Xiao Xuan, one hand covering her chest and the other wiping away the blood from the corner of her mouth. She asked, still recovering from the intense battle with the female corpse earlier. Although Su Mueran had suffered severe internal injuries that didn't show on the surface, she was well aware of her current condition. Every breath she took made her chest ache, but at the same time, a cool sensation spread through her body, as if it was helping to repair her internal wounds. This must be the effect of her spiritual physique, which, although not comparable to that of vampires, still far surpassed that of ordinary humans in terms of vitality and regenerative abilities.

  "This is a yao xie, a different form of zombie." Zhai Jie answered before Xiao Xuan could speak up, pointing at the female corpse hanging from the tree. "A corpse that meets the conditions for jiangshi and certain wild animals combine in a strange way to be reborn together, the corpse comes back to life but has taken on the appearance of a wild animal, this is what we call yao xie in the industry."

  "Yao xie? Why haven't I heard of it before?" Su Mo Ran was still somewhat perplexed, because her understanding of zombies came from the same source as most people - the Hong Kong zombie movies that were popular in the 80s and 90s. The explanations in those films must have had many limitations and certainly wouldn't be able to explain zombies as thoroughly as a textbook.

  "There are many such things, for example, the wall paintings in the ancient Egyptian pyramids have also appeared with images of animal heads and human bodies. Totems from all over the world also have this kind of image, with faces being various animals but their bodies being human. These should be the earliest understanding and records of the ancestors' perception of evil spirits, they worshipped these evil spirits as a kind of terrible god." Zhai Jie continued to explain.

  "For example, Zhu Bajie." Xiao Xuan spoke up, and as soon as he did, Su Muran and Zhu Biyu in the distance couldn't help but laugh, while Di Jie could only scratch his head, thinking carefully, indeed Zhu Bajie was that kind of demon.

  "What's going to happen to this thing, just hanging her here all the time? The rope may not be able to hold out for too long, although this rope is quite thick." Su Zihao had already tied the rope and then pointed at the female corpse hanging above.

  "She won't last much longer, once the corpse energy in her body disperses, she'll end on her own." Zhai Jie replied.

  "I didn't ask you, I asked Xiao Ge." Su Zihao was not impressed with Zhai Jie's analysis. Earlier, Zhai Jie had confidently said that the corpse would not come back to life, but it did in just a few minutes, which made him feel like he had been "slapped in the face". Moreover, as a newcomer, Zhai Jie seemed too eager to show off in Su Zihao's opinion, giving him a sense of crisis.

  "Use fire to roast, and drive out the corpse energy from her body." Xiao Xuan made a decisive decision. As a magician, he could feel the cold corpse energy in the female corpse's body. This corpse energy should be suppressed and driven away with things that have positive yang energy, such as rooster blood, peach wood sword, or Wàn rén qián (a type of Chinese coin). However, these items were not available to the small team in China, so they could only use the most primitive method: fire roasting!

  In fact, the effect of roasting with fire is even better than that of Gong Ji Xue Tao Mu Jian and the like. The reason why this method is rarely used to deal with zombies is that it's very difficult to grab a zombie and wait patiently for you to make a good fire to roast it during a battle against zombies.

  "I told you to burn the coffin during the day, didn't you disagree? How come...” Zhai Jie felt that Xiao Xuan was making a big fuss over nothing. If they had listened to his suggestion and burned the coffin directly during the day, then there wouldn't have been so much trouble at night. Just dealing with the female corpse earlier had put everyone at great risk.

  "Day is day, now is now. In the eyes of the main god, we are just pawns that it has placed in this task world. As pawns, we must act according to the main god's way. The side quest had us guard the Righteous Manor for a night. Since we were guarding the manor, it was naturally impossible to 'steal from ourselves' and voluntarily burn all the coffins inside the manor, which would have broken the rules set by the main god. However, when we were guarding the manor at night and encountered the corpses in the manor turning into zombies, we controlled them and then burned them, which conformed to the rules. In short, we need to treat ourselves as actors filming a movie. Even if you know what will happen later, you still have to pretend not to know and continue acting. Do you understand?"

  “Hmph…” Jie was still unable to fully understand Xiao Xuan’s words, but deep down he had a certain degree of trust in Xiao Xuan’s choice. Moreover, he began to feel that the man in front of him, whether it be bravery, martial skills or wisdom, far surpassed himself. This made Jie involuntarily feel a sense of defeat.

  "Find something that can be burned, don't touch the windows and door frames of the Yi Zhuang, and don't leave the Yi Zhuang either. Otherwise, your side quest will be considered a failure." Xiao Xuan instructed.

  "Can these be used as fuel?" Zhu Yuanyu held up a straw cushion, which was filled with dry hay and highly flammable.

  "Alright, there are also some cushions over there, bring them all here. And on that side, there are some long stools, bring those over too. Don't move the long stools that are supporting the coffin, try not to disrupt the overall layout of the mourning hall." Xiao Xuan pointed to several places as he spoke.

  Dai Jie and Su Zihao immediately ran over to fetch those things, while Zhu Biyu also collected all the rush mats in the Yi Villa.

  "Which of you has a lighter?" Su Zihao asked.

  "Are you out of your mind? Could lighters have appeared in the Republic of China era?" Zhu Yuanyu sneered.

  Su Zihao's face revealed a flustered expression, he had forgotten that the main god strictly prohibited anything that exceeded the technological level of the Republic of China from appearing in this task world.

  "There are matches in the drawer of the supply table." Jie said as he turned around to get the matches.

  "It's useless." Xiao Xuan's palm spread out, and a fireball flew out, hitting the couch, which immediately caught on fire.

  "Wow, that's amazing! This move looks even better than the magic you used before." Zhu Yuanyu exclaimed on the side.

  "It's only good for starting a fire or hitting someone, and even then it just sparks a bit when it hits the person, not much harm done." Xiao Xuan used a wooden stick from the long chair to lift up the cushion, and brought the burning cushion close to the female corpse, using this very primitive method to roast the female corpse.

  Su Zihao and Zhai Jie, the two men, also followed suit, placing a cushion on top of a long chair, lifting it up, first "borrowing" fire from Xiao Xuan's place, then holding it to roast the female corpse.

  It must have been the intense corpse aura and extreme coldness of the female corpse that made it impossible to ignite her clothes, despite the numerous balls of fire surrounding her. However, the effect was still quite evident. The female corpse, which had been hanging and struggling all along, suddenly became quiet, and water began dripping from her body with a loud "drip-drip" sound. This water carried an extremely heavy stench, accompanied by a putrid smell of rotting flesh.

  "Ugh... what a terrible smell!" Zhu Yuanyu, who was originally helping on the side, couldn't stand the stimulation of this smell and covered her nose to retreat.

  Su Mu Ran also furrowed her brow, but she could still hold it in, after all, she used to be a criminal police officer and had seen many disgusting scenes.

  "Ugh." Su Zihao couldn't take it anymore and vomited, but he still hadn't forgotten to continue holding the long-handled torch in his hand.

  "It's fine as long as the flavor comes out, roast it for a while longer and this female corpse will probably become rotten meat."

  Xiao Xuan held her breath and continued to move the flame of the incense stick closer to the female corpse. Gradually, the hair on the female corpse began to burn, which was a sign that the corpse's internal energy was starting to dissipate. Previously, the female corpse had been extremely cold, and fire couldn't be lit on her body at all.

  The female corpse's hair burned quickly, and the cat face was completely exposed. At this time, the cat face twisted, giving people an extremely frightening feeling. Di Jie and Su Zihao held back their gaze and continued to hold the torches to roast it.

  It lasted for about two more minutes, and the woman's corpse began to burn. The entire body then started to melt into a puddle of pus and rotten flesh, which dripped onto the ground, accumulating a layer of foul-smelling liquid that was extremely torturous.

  "Bang!"

  The woman's skull and body were completely separated, falling to the ground. The skull burst open like a watermelon when it hit the ground, with the contents already dark and rotten to the bone. The face was also smashed into a pulp of meat, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was human or feline.

  The female corpse was finally handled, and everyone let out a long sigh of relief. At this time, Xiao Xuan suddenly stumbled and his body fell backwards.

  Xiao Xuan!