Chapter 141: A New Lease on Life

Out of necessity, he could only extend his sword to parry. However, swords are not suitable for direct clashes with heavy weapons. The dark, ominous weapon in his opponent's hand clearly looked extraordinary, so he used a deft move, employing the 'deflecting' technique from the Thirteen Forms of Beginner Swordsmanship to flick the weapon aside.

Even so, he still felt a tremendous force transmit through his hand. It seemed the opponent's strength was comparable to his own, and with the advantage of their weapon's weight, he found himself at a slight disadvantage.

He rolled on the ground, dodging the zombie's subsequent attacks. Looking at the large craters dug into the ground, he finally got a clear look at the weapon in its hand.

It was a hoe!

His gaze shifted rapidly. Most of the zombies he had encountered on this path carried weapons like wooden clubs or carrying poles. Others had hoes, sickles, or choppers, and only a very small number wielded weapons like swords, daggers, or spears.

Why did they look so much like refugees?

Zu'an suddenly recalled something. Initially, when he saw their tattered clothes, he assumed they had been corroded from prolonged time underground. But now, it seemed highly probable that their clothes were inherently this worn and ragged.

The scene before him strongly resembled the surging refugee tides he had seen in historical dramas.

Whether they were refugees or ordinary citizens, they were all zombies now. Zu'an dared not be distracted further, focusing all his energy to employ the Sunflower Phantasm technique to evade attacks from all directions.

Originally, he had intended to run out of the valley. The golden-furred strange rats earlier had proven that was a viable escape route, and by common sense, these zombies should only be active within the valley.

Unfortunately, when the golden-furred strange rats escaped just now, they had attracted too many zombies to the valley entrance. The area was densely packed, and despite several attempts, he was blocked repeatedly, finding himself in precarious situations instead.

With no other choice, he had to flee deeper into the canyon.

He knew very well that if this area was already so dangerous, the depths of the canyon might be even more perilous. However, facing attacks from all sides, even those wielding hoes were roughly on par with him in strength, not to mention those with swords and blades, whose power was clearly a notch above his.

Normally, in a one-on-one fight, with his Sunflower Phantasm, he would not be afraid at all. But with so many enemies, he was like being on a battlefield, exhausting all his energy just to protect himself, let alone launch an attack.

It was also thanks to his strange movement technique that he could nimbly dodge within the crowd. Otherwise, even someone stronger from the academy would likely have been overwhelmed by this tide of zombies long ago.

In the valley, Zu'an's frustrated curses echoed. Several times, he tried to use provocative phrases like "What are you looking at?" to distract the zombies. However, they merely stared at him as if he were an idiot, completely unaffected.

It seemed this 'What are you looking at?' tactic only worked on sentient, speaking beings. These zombies, being undead creatures, were clearly immune to it.

After running for an unknown amount of time, Zu'an was finally cornered. The Sunflower Phantasm, after all, had its limits. With zombies jostling shoulder to shoulder in the valley, no matter how agile his movement technique was, there was nowhere left to dodge.

With his back against the mountain wall, watching the zombies surround him in a semicircle, Zu'an nervously swallowed. He wondered if this was where he would meet his end today.

Damn it, the seal had yet to be broken; dying now wouldn't even make him a complete man.

At that moment, he finally understood the obsession of the palace eunuchs – to retrieve their 'treasures' before death, no matter how dangerous, to be buried with them.

What in the world was he thinking about?

A chill ran down Zu'an's spine as the group of zombies eagerly rushed towards him. He immediately summoned Da Feng, and a phantom image of a strange bird appeared before him, flying to a tree on the cliff. His body then teleported there as well, clinging tightly to the tree trunk, suspended in mid-air.

The zombies, bewildered by his sudden disappearance, were then alerted by one of their own pointing in his direction, emitting a shrill sound from its mouth.

All the zombies looked up, and many near the cliff face began to climb, their movements astonishingly nimble, like monkeys.

Zu'an was greatly alarmed. Aren't zombies supposed to be slow? How could they be so skilled at climbing?

He looked around. With his increasing cultivation, he could now summon Da Feng twice. However, everywhere his gaze fell, there were zombies. Even if he moved to another spot, the outcome would be much the same, so he decided to save his last Da Feng summon for a true life-or-death situation.

In this brief moment, some zombies had already climbed halfway up the cliff, making their way towards him along the tree trunk.

Zu'an snorted. His long sword darted and twisted, quickly knocking these zombies down from mid-air.

Seeing this, his spirits lifted significantly. He now held a geographical advantage. The tree was thick enough, its roots hadn't been gnawed by the golden-furred rats, and being on the cliff, the zombies couldn't destroy it quickly.

Since only a few could climb up at a time, their 'sea of zombies' tactic was ineffective. Could he not hold out here indefinitely?

Zu'an couldn't help but sigh. Too bad this wasn't a game; killing these monsters yielded no gold and no equipment drops.

The zombies, one after another, attempted several charges but were all struck down by Zu'an, who utilized the terrain advantage. The zombie horde no longer tried to scale the cliff face as before.

Zu'an breathed a sigh of relief. He wondered if the zombies had given up. If he could just hold out until dawn tomorrow, he could reunite with Ji Xiaoxi. He had risked his life to save her this time; even if she didn't offer herself in return, her favorability towards him would surely reach its maximum.

Suddenly, a commotion arose among the zombie horde at the bottom of the valley. The zombies automatically parted, and dozens of new zombies arrived at the valley floor.

"Oh, these zombies are much cleaner," Zu'an noted. After seeing so many hideous creatures with festering flesh and pus, this new batch, clean and tidy from head to toe, almost looked pleasant to his eyes.

However, the smile on his face quickly froze. He watched as these new zombies drew longbows from their backs, each one nocking an arrow and aiming at him.

Zu'an cursed inwardly.

He almost wanted to scream. Zombies actually had archers?

This was no refugee group; this was clearly an army!

Just then, the archers unleashed a volley. Hundreds of sharp arrows whizzed through the air, and Zu'an, terrified, immediately hid behind the large tree.

Thwack!

Zu'an trembled, painstakingly shifting a short distance forward. He looked back at the several broken arrowheads protruding from the tree trunk, each stained with a trace of fresh red blood.

Damn it!

Only then did Zu'an realize his carelessness. This was a world of cultivation, and these weren't ordinary zombies. How could arrows shot by them be stopped by a mere tree?

It was all the fault of those 'divine' TV dramas from his previous life, where people could block bullets by hiding behind car doors during gunfights. Weren't those just setting bad examples?

He was suffering from a lack of proper knowledge!

He wondered if tetanus existed in this world. Moreover, these zombies were full of putrid flesh and pus; who knew how many viruses and bacteria they carried? Their arrows certainly wouldn't be clean either.

The thought sent shivers down Zu'an's spine, but a new volley of whizzing arrows left him no time to ponder. He quickly turned back, no longer daring to rely solely on the tree to block the arrows. Instead, he tried his best to deflect the arrows in the air with his sword.

Because he had been seriously wounded by several arrows in his back just now, his strength and agility had increased somewhat compared to normal. Even so, facing wave after wave of arrows, he felt himself faltering.

Though he could block the arrows aimed at him, he couldn't block all those aimed at the tree. His wrists were growing numb from the impact of the arrows. Given the force behind these arrows, it wouldn't be long before the tree was severed, and he would still fall to his death.

In this moment of distraction, one arrow slipped past his guard, striking him directly in the shoulder. The immense impact nearly sent him plummeting from mid-air.

Fortunately, Zu'an managed to cling tightly to a branch, stabilizing himself.

Was he going to die here today?

Just then, a desolate yet majestic horn blast echoed from afar, as if possessing an inexplicable magic that made one's blood boil.

Zu'an, however, couldn't feel happy. Having watched so many TV shows and movies in his previous life, he was familiar with this sound: the call of a war horn in ancient battles.

He had suspected it before, but now he was certain: these zombies were indeed an army!

He was finished. He couldn't even handle this current group, let alone their reinforcements.

"Huh, wait, why aren't they shooting arrows anymore?"

Zu'an looked down, astonished to see the zombies that had been targeting him uniformly turn their heads to face the other side of the valley.

Although the zombies couldn't speak and barely had any flesh left on their faces, Zu'an could still sense their tension and solemnity from their 'expressions'.

What was going on?

Zu'an was taken aback. The unusual behavior of the zombies below greatly surprised him, but he dared not delay. He immediately seized the opportunity to take out wound medicine and apply it to his injuries.

He didn't use the 'Believe in Brother Chun' item drawn from his keyboard system; that was reserved for life-saving situations. Using it for these injuries would be a waste, and he already regretted using a bottle earlier for what was merely a wound from the 'Whip of Wailing'.

The wound medicine he was currently using had been given to him by Ji Xiaoxi earlier – or, more accurately, they were gifts from classmates trying to curry favor with Ji Xiaoxi, which she had then passed on to him.

He wondered, "Those people wouldn't be so devious as to deliberately give her poison to harm me, would they?" His mind raced. If someone had guessed Ji Xiaoxi would pass the gifts to him, they might indeed have tampered with them.

However, he shook his head, dismissing the thought. Firstly, he doubted those people were that clever. Secondly, he trusted Ji Xiaoxi; she had likely examined the medicines when they passed through her hands, and with her medical skills, she would surely distinguish if there was anything wrong with them.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

A series of uniform footsteps approached from the distance. Zu'an's expression changed; these synchronized steps seemed to make his heart pound along with them, creating an inexplicably profound sense of dread.