At the border of the Umuo Kingdom.
This small nation is only a few days’ journey from the Xuanling Sect. For cultivators, the travel time would be even shorter.
The elders from the Xuanling Sect who arrived earlier have already set up a temporary base in the Umuo Kingdom’s military camp. All disciples from the sect must report here upon arrival.
Disciples seeking the path of cultivation come from various backgrounds, so they find the unique atmosphere of the military camp quite interesting.
Especially for someone like Shui Qiu, who is naive, innocent, and can be easily tricked into bed with just a few words.
“Please come in, Immortal Master.”
The guarding soldier bowed respectfully.
“Thank you.”
Even to mortals, Shui Qiu responded with great politeness.
Following behind her, Tang Xin nodded continuously.
Such a girl brings a healing presence just by being around.
“Hey,” Su Ling whispered, “why did you include her too? Are you planning to make a move on another cute and kind junior sister?”
When Shui Qiu approached them in the sect, Tang Xin hesitated for a moment.
Mainly because she wasn’t sure if it was the right time for Shui Qiu and Su Ling to meet.
According to the plot, these two were supposed to become partners later on, face numerous trials together, gather the Seven Heroes, and defeat the villain boss, which is her.
Tang Xin didn’t know how they met before, and she worried that pairing them up now might negatively affect the future.
That was what Tang Xin thought initially, but… Shui Qiu’s sparkling, innocent eyes were too persuasive, making it impossible for her to refuse cruelly.
“Don’t be jealous,” Tang Xin said, “We should all get along peacefully.”
【Current Shyness Value: 2.2222】
Su Ling gave her a look that said, “Who the hell are you?”
She’s really a tough girl to deal with…
“I’m also a direct disciple, so I won’t drag you down,” Tang Xin had to seriously explain. “You should also make more friends. Elder Linghua is very worried about your social skills.”
“Mind your own business,” Su Ling huffed. “The line of people wanting to be my companion stretches from the foot to the peak of Xuanling Sect’s mountain!”
【Current Shyness Value: 4.4444】
“Sister, sister,” Shui Qiu turned her head with a smile and said, “The elder is in the biggest tent ahead, let’s go together!”
“Are you that happy to come out?”
Tang Xin stepped forward, asking with a smile.
“Yes!” The girl with blue eyes blushed, stammering a bit, “It’s just, just that, as long as I’m with sister, anywhere we go…”
“Let’s move, let’s move,” Su Ling also stepped forward and shouted, “The Kingdom of Wumeng is waiting for us to save it!”
The three of them made their way to where the elder was stationed, passing by other disciples of Xuanling Sect.
“Sister Tang actually came here!”
“We shouldn’t stay here long!”
“Otherwise, we’ll fall into her clutches!”
The elder in charge of the affairs in the Kingdom of Wumeng, a Golden Core realm external elder, was very polite upon seeing Tang Xin’s party of three.
In terms of status, although elders are always above disciples, direct disciples are almost destined to become the mainstay of the sect’s future, with potential far greater than that of ordinary elders, and thus are usually treated specially.
Moreover, among these three, one is the chief disciple, one is the “famous” Seventh Elder’s direct disciple, and one is the Grand Elder’s recently accepted direct disciple, making them even more special than other direct disciples.
“Currently, the areas with zombie outbreaks mainly include three locations.”
The elder explained, pointing at the map.
“From the information we have, the left area has the highest number of zombies, mainly ordinary zombies, with a tendency to spread in other directions, requiring a large number of people to prevent the situation from worsening. The right area has quite a few mutant zombies, for unknown reasons. And the middle area, we only confirmed recently, and we still can’t provide an accurate description of the situation.”
“What exactly is a zombie outbreak?”
Tang Xin observed the map and asked.
Xuanling Sect is quite cautious in assigning tasks, daring to let disciples enter the Kingdom of Wumeng to handle the situation, naturally, they have done some research.
This outbreak of the undead is said to be caused by a mysterious “corpse qi”. Anyone who comes into contact with this corpse qi turns into a “living corpse”.
Ordinary living corpses possess strength and speed several times that of a normal person, their ability to sense “living humans” is greatly enhanced, and as long as they come into contact with a living person, they can turn them into one of their own kind.
In this infection, some living corpses undergo special transformations when they change, possessing various strange abilities. So far, abilities such as spewing fire, water, screaming, and backflipping have been discovered, some of which are extremely lethal.
As for the Corpse King, it is an entity that can command ordinary living corpses within a certain area, and is very powerful.
It is roughly estimated that the number of living corpses in the Wumeng Nation could reach tens of thousands. If the Xuanling Sect hadn’t sent people to control the situation in time, it would have already spread throughout the territory.
“Do you have any research on corpse qi?”
Su Ling frowned slightly.
This girl is simple-minded on ordinary days, but in terms of values, she is a very traditional “righteous” person.
In the face of such “inhuman” evil, she naturally cares more than ordinary people.
“It’s somewhat like a complex variant of the demonic arts of poison and puppetry,” the elder said. “Similar incidents are also recorded in the sect’s archives, but they are all on the scale of hundreds or thousands of people, not as severe as this time.”
“Does this corpse qi affect us?”
Shui Qiu also asked.
“It does have some effect,” the elder said. “But it won’t cause immediate transformation into the undead. The higher one’s realm, the longer they can resist, and as long as the poison is promptly removed, there won’t be any problems afterward.”
“Of course, these are just summaries based on initial investigations and reports from the disciples. The existence of mutant living corpses means that any kind of change inside is not surprising.”
The strategy of the Xuanling Sect is to control the spread, reduce the number of living corpses through the disciples, find the root cause, and solve the problem completely.
This is a standard answer for a major sect dealing with such incidents.
【Main quest triggered.】
【Find the source of the undead outbreak and resolve the crisis in Wumeng Nation.】
【Quest Reward: Technique “Corpse Poison Art”】
So they’re going with this kind of grim reward, huh…
“After dealing with the zombies, leave behind a bit of hair or fingernails, and come to me to confirm your contribution points. I will regularly summarize and send them back to the sect, and then you will be able to freely exchange them,” the elder explained carefully. “The three of you are teaming up to go, right? So, which of the three areas do you want to go to?”
The left area with the highest number of zombies? The newly discovered middle area? Or the right area with the most mutant zombies?
Shui Qiu and Su Ling both looked towards Tang Xin.
“Shouldn’t this be decided by playing rock-paper-scissors?” she complained. “Not going to lie, whenever I choose, I always feel like we’ll run into some weird stuff.”
“I’ve been pretty unlucky lately…”
“Let senior sister decide!”
【Generating options……】
