If any sect in Huaxia possessed the most experience in dealing with zombies, Longhu Mountain would be second to none, and no other sect dared to claim first. Therefore, Xie Chong did not doubt Zhang Ziying's judgment.
The expressions of the two were extremely solemn. The appearance of these zombies meant that those villagers were all dead. One must realize that the nature of dozens of people going missing and dozens of people dying was entirely different!
"Damn it, this is not an accident at all; this is man-made disaster!" Zhang Ziying cursed. He had encountered such situations more than once. Whenever there were supernatural events, it was often due to people with malicious intent or unorthodox practices causing trouble behind the scenes.
"Little Zhang, there's no use talking about that. How should we deal with these things?"
Although Xie Chong had heard of zombies, he had never actually seen one before.
"Chop off their heads, or violently strike a walnut-sized spot on their chest!" Zhang Ziying said quickly.
In essence, zombies were not a form of life but more like a machine. After death, if the corpse did not completely rot and was placed in a place with extremely strong Yin energy, over time, the human body could potentially turn into a zombie.
Of course, naturally formed zombies were extremely rare. Most zombies were catalyzed by various secret arts by people with ulterior motives.
If a person did not rot after death, their heart would shrink and eventually become a ball-sized object. This ball-sized object was the power core that drove the zombie machine, and it was called the Yin Nucleus.
Zombies collected Yin energy from their natural environment through this walnut-sized Yin Nucleus.
A zombie's brain would also shrink into a walnut-sized object, called the Brain Nucleus. This object was like the CPU of the machine.
Generally speaking, zombies acted based on instinct. They were fond of killing, liked to suck the hot blood of living beings, and consumed their hearts. These would be converted into energy and injected into the Yin Nucleus, making the zombie more powerful.
As for those who refined zombies, they used secret arts to influence the zombie's Brain Nucleus, thereby controlling the zombie to perform a series of actions.
Zhang Ziying's explanation was based on the conclusions drawn by Longhu Mountain over nearly a thousand years, mainly by damaging the zombie's Yin Nucleus and Brain Nucleus.
Once the chest was pierced and the Yin Nucleus was destroyed, the zombie would lose its power source and thus perish.
Alternatively, chopping off a zombie's head severed the connection between the Brain Nucleus and the zombie's body. This way, the zombie would lose its drive and pose no threat.
Furthermore, the Brain Nucleus served another purpose for zombies: it acted as a sensory organ.
Zombies had no sight, no hearing, no sense of smell, and not even touch. Therefore, zombies were not afraid of pain. Even if their arms or legs were cut off, they would still be ferocious and lethal.
However, zombies could sense the temperature of surrounding living beings through their Brain Nucleus. This function was somewhat similar to a snake's pit organ or a thermal imaging night vision device. Therefore, when encountering zombies, unless one stayed far away or concealed their temperature, methods like obscuring line of sight and moving quietly would not allow one to escape their pursuit!
As they spoke, the group of zombies had already reached them. Facing this eerie scene, Xie Chong could no longer hold back. He was the first to swing the short saber in his hand and charge towards the nearest zombie.
The zombie sensed something approaching and swung its arm, which shot out like a club towards Xie Chong.
Xie Chong's short saber was only a little over half a meter long, but it was made of alloy and was incredibly sharp. He mustered all his strength and slashed at the zombie's arm.
"Crack!"
A tremendous force was transmitted. The zombie's arm snapped off with a crisp sound. Xie Chong's hand also went numb from the impact. He felt as if his saber had struck a solid wooden stick.
Looking at the severed end of the zombie's arm, the internal tissue structure had become somewhat like cured meat!
In the blink of an eye, Xie Chong immediately withdrew his saber and, with a backhand strike, directly chopped at the zombie's neck.
"Crack!"
An awkward scene occurred. Xie Chong had expected his full-strength strike to sever the zombie's head, but in reality, the short saber only cut halfway through the neck before getting stuck in the zombie's spine!
After death, and after being catalyzed by secret arts to become a zombie, the density of the body would increase significantly.
The longer a zombie had been formed and the longer it had been modified by Yin energy, the harder its body would become.
Those who refined zombies into different ranks, such as bronze, iron, silver, gold, and corpse kings, with higher ranks possessing greater body strength.
The zombies in front of them, having been transformed for a short period, had a body strength even less than that of bronze zombies, yet they already possessed such physical hardness.
Xie Chong struck twice, one blow disarming an arm and the other cutting halfway through the neck. He felt that zombies were not that terrifying. Their speed was not much faster than ordinary people, their joints could not bend, but their strength was much greater than ordinary people. This was still acceptable.
The zombie in front of him swayed precariously. Xie Chong withdrew his saber, preparing to deliver another blow. However, at that moment, he heard a shout: "Careful!"
In the blink of an eye, the zombie, which was about to collapse, suddenly lunged forward and bit Xie Chong's thigh. Xie Chong was greatly alarmed and quickly raised his saber, severing the zombie's remaining half-neck.
This time, the zombie's corpse completely fell to the ground, but its head was still clamped tightly onto Xie Chong's thigh.
Xie Chong grabbed the zombie's head and yanked it downwards. With a tearing sound, his pants, along with a piece of flesh, were ripped off.
"Damn it, Xiao Zhang, does this thing have any zombie poison?"
"Brother Xie, you must be careful. Zombies, if you don't completely sever their heads, no matter how badly they are injured, even if their lower body is gone, they still have offensive capabilities! I have medicine in my bag..."
Before he could finish speaking, several zombies were already only three to four meters away from them. In the next moment, these zombies were about to swarm them.
Seeing this situation, Zhang Ziying gritted his teeth and drew a fire talisman from his backpack, injecting his true essence into it!
"Hurry!"
A fireball shot towards the approaching zombies.
"Boom!" The fireball exploded instantly upon contact with the zombies, and a fierce flame instantly engulfed these zombies.
The shockwave of the explosion sent several zombies tumbling to the ground, and the three zombies in front had already caught fire.
Zombies were aggregations of negative energy, and fire was one of the few things that could restrain them. These three zombies rolled and writhed on the ground, eventually becoming still!