The area was originally a feng shui vortex that gathered malevolent energy. With so many corpses within, a vast amount of death qi had accumulated. Especially with the celestial body named "Tiangong" approaching Earth and the resurgence of spiritual energy, the area had undergone a mutation.
Zhang Caifeng, standing nearby, was delighted by the situation.
"So, we've found the root cause here. As long as we uproot it, the village's crisis will be resolved, and we can withdraw!"
However, after Zhang Caifeng finished speaking, she noticed that neither of them paid her any mind and had instead fallen into deep thought.
After a while, both of them spoke almost in unison.
"Something's not right!"
"There's something fishy!"
Ouyang Feiyang gestured for Ling Tian to speak first.
"I've encountered natural feng shui malevolence before. Not long ago, I dealt with one in Sichuan Province.
But even with the feng shui malevolence, and even with the large number of corpses in that cave, the concentration of Yin煞 here is too astonishing. This simply doesn't align with common sense!
I suspect someone used a formation to alter the flow of spiritual energy here, causing the Yin煞 to be released, which resulted in the deaths of everyone in the village!"
"Ling Tian, your insight is remarkable, and what you said makes a lot of sense.
However, my deduction comes from a different angle. These zombies, they aren't ordinary zombies, or rather, they shouldn't have formed naturally!
Even if people die and are then invaded by Yin qi, it's possible for them to turn into zombies, but not this quickly, not in just half a month to become like this!
Also, the forms of those zombies, even their attack movements, why do they seem so similar to descriptions in Taoist texts..."
Ling Tian also nodded, "That's right, your analysis is correct. These things really don't resemble ordinary zombies, but rather iron corpses!"
In ancient Chinese legends, among cultivators, there were some evil cultivators whose attack methods involved refining zombies.
These zombies were classified into four levels based on their strength and rank: gold, silver, copper, and iron. Among them, the iron corpse was the weakest of these reanimated corpses.
Of course, the term "weak" here is only relative. At the very least, an iron corpse could easily handle over a dozen ordinary people.
As the saying goes, the deceased should be respected. Those evil individuals who used the bodies of the deceased as weapons naturally became like rats crossing the street, hated by everyone.
And every time these evil cultivators were brought to justice, those who coveted the corpses were always on the kill list.
Who would have thought that after several hundred years, these fellows would resurface and cause such great harm, resulting in so many deaths!
This immediately escalated the severity of the situation beyond what a few of them had anticipated.
What they were about to face was not just this bizarre natural environment, but more terrifyingly, a dangerously cunning enemy was lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike!
"Ling Tian, what are your thoughts?"
"Heh heh, as the saying goes, to shoot the rider, first shoot the horse; to capture the thief, first capture the king!"
Let's just go directly and dismantle whatever this guy is using to cause trouble. I don't believe he won't show himself. As long as he dares to appear, it will be his demise!
However..."
"However what?" Ouyang Feiyang asked anxiously.
"Our opponent is likely far more troublesome than we imagine!
Didn't you notice that among the zombies we killed, only a very small number were adult males!
This means that what we've seen is just the tip of the iceberg, and the enemy we're about to face is even more dangerous than the zombies we've dealt with so far!"
"With so many iron corpses being this powerful, do you think we might encounter copper corpses or silver corpses!"
"Heh heh, Ling Tian, you're overthinking it. Since we've already confirmed that the villagers are all dead, we don't need to hold back.
Eliminating the culprit doesn't require us to personally venture into danger.
There's no evil spirit that cannot be resolved with a thermobaric bomb. If there is, then use two!"
Ling Tian couldn't help but stick out his tongue. This was simply too insane.
A thermobaric bomb is a terrifying weapon, with some even calling it the most powerful bomb below a nuclear weapon.
Also known as an air-fuel bomb, this bomb explodes in two stages. The first stage is the detonation, which disperses the combustible agent from the munition in all directions.
Then, the second stage is ignition, which ignites these combustible agents.
These combustible agents burn instantaneously in the air, releasing a massive amount of heat and depleting all the oxygen in the air.
Some people attacked by a thermobaric bomb, located at the center of the explosion, even had their bodies vaporized.
"Brother Ouyang, isn't this scene a bit too much? Isn't this like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?"
"You're mistaken, Brother Ling Tian. For the ferocious opponents we are about to face, no matter how extreme our methods, it will not be excessive!
The celestial body Tiangong has brought too much uncertainty to this world!
This is not the time for misplaced kindness; when action is needed, we must act!"
"Alright, when do you plan to make your move?"
"I'll submit the application to the higher-ups immediately."
"Fine, but before that, I still need to go into the village!"
"What are you going to do?" Ouyang Feiyang was very surprised.
"I want to go in and collect more data. After all, we've never encountered changes like this before. I want to study it and see if there are any unknown changes within!" Ling Tian said firmly.
"Ling Tian, I'll go with you!" Zhang Caifeng quickly added.
"I'm sorry, Caifeng, this matter is non-negotiable. I'm going alone!
If you go in, I'll have to be distracted by taking care of you.
Don't you trust my skills? Even if there's danger, I can escape immediately. But if you're by my side, I won't be able to escape as quickly!"
"Alright!" Zhang Caifeng pouted. Ouyang Feiyang was surprised. This girl, who had always been so cool, seemed to have never shown such a girlish expression.
It seemed that Ling Tian's charm was indeed irresistible to women!
The night passed without incident. The next morning, Ling Tian plunged headfirst into Yinlonggou Village.
He searched the village and encountered some zombies. His conclusions were similar to Ouyang Feiyang's analysis: the majority of these zombies were formed from the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.
As for the young and strong, they had all vanished without a trace.
Ling Tian believed that this incident was not a natural phenomenon but man-made, a man-made disaster!
Ling Tian exited the village and headed towards the mysterious forest.
Just then, a ghostly figure, lurking on a large tree, stared greedily at Ling Tian!
In this forest filled with Yin煞, there were no living creatures. However, the thing on the tree was clearly a leopard!
It's just that this leopard's fur had turned black, like a black panther, and its body was covered in rings of gray spots!