They had no time to rescue and could only watch as Awei’s heart was pierced by the zombie.
“Why hasn’t the Soul Catcher Lord made a move? Is he just going to watch his disciple die at the hands of the Jiangshi?”
Seeing that Shi Jian in the carriage still hadn't acted, Fan Wujiu’s face showed a look of confusion.
The Soul Binding Rope had already snapped into two pieces. Black and White Impermanence were powerless to stop the Jiangshi’s advance. Like Mao Xiaofang and Li Xuyan, they could only watch helplessly as the Jiangshi succeeded.
In the critical moment, Shi Jian, who was inside the carriage, made his move. With just ordinary thunder magic, he sent the Jiangshi flying a thousand meters away. It then fell to the ground, its life unknown.
“Xiaofang, you truly did not disappoint your master!”
At some unknown time, Shi Jian’s figure had already appeared outside the carriage. He hovered in mid-air, like an immortal descending to earth, looking down at everyone present, his presence reaching its peak.
Not far away, Mao Xiaofang and the other two, seeing the familiar figure, shouted in unison, “Master!”
Before Mao Xiaofang could speak of catching up, the Jiangshi that had just been blasted away by Shi Jian charged towards them again.
“This evil creature, to survive a blow from the Soul Catcher Lord, truly lives up to its reputation as a Jiangshi, existing outside the Three Realms and beyond the Five Elements.”
Seeing that the Jiangshi was not yet dead after being hit by the thunder magic, Xie Bi’an couldn’t help but praise from the side.
Zombies lack the three souls and seven spirits, cannot be converted by Buddhism or Taoism, and cannot reincarnate. Therefore, they are not under the jurisdiction of the Underworld.
Even when they caused trouble in the mortal world, no one specifically dealt with them. Occasionally, when ghost messengers were on soul-collecting missions, they would deal with any zombies they encountered.
“Evil creature, it would be best to chain you at the Ghost Gate to deter wandering souls.”
As an official of the Taiyi Golden Immortal rank in the Underworld, dealing with a Jiangshi was incredibly easy, let alone trapping it before the Ghost Gate.
With just a little magic, Shi Jian collected the Jiangshi into his sleeve. In terms of cultivation realms, the Jiangshi was equivalent to the early stage of Earth Immortal.
He was four major realms higher than the Jiangshi. Even if the Four Great Corpse Ancestors came, he could easily eliminate them.
The Four Great Corpse Ancestors were merely the primordial spirit and physical body of the Hou, who was Guanyin Bodhisattva’s mount. At most, they were at the early stage of Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
“That evil creature was just taken in by the Soul Catcher Lord like that?”
Seeing the Jiangshi so easily subdued by Shi Jian, Xie Bi’an was dumbfounded. After all, the difference in cultivation realms was too great.
It was normal for Black and White Impermanence, who were at the Ghost Commander realm, to be unable to defeat the Jiangshi.
“Your Excellency’s cultivation is at the early stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal, not much inferior to the Ten Yama Kings. Perhaps the Soul Catcher Lord’s name will be among the next Ten Yama Kings.”
Because the official positions in the Underworld were not fixed, and the capable were self-appointed, as long as one’s cultivation reached the required level, they could be appointed as one of the Ten Yama Kings by the Netherworld Empress Houtu.
This included the Great Emperor of the Northern Yin Fengdu and the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, neither of whom had fixed candidates. Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu were the fifth generation of Black and White Impermanence in the Underworld.
Therefore, Shi Jian had a high probability of becoming one of the next Ten Yama Kings.
“Yes, yes, we will have to rely on the Soul Catcher Lord’s care in the future.”
On the side, Mao Xiaofang and the other two saw how respectful Black and White Impermanence were towards Shi Jian. They roughly guessed that their master had become a high-ranking official in the Underworld.
Being able to command the ten great Yin Commanders meant he was at least a City God or a Judge, someone in charge of a region’s Underworld.
“Master, we thought we would never see you again!”
Mao Xiaofang and Li Xuyan helped the injured Awei up from the ground. The three of them had almost exhausted their strength in the battle against the Jiangshi, so after about a minute, they finally arrived before Shi Jian.
“Xiaofang, why do your words sound different from when you usually speak? If others heard you, they would think I had kicked the bucket.”
Unable to bear it, Shi Jian slowly raised his left hand and infused a bit of merit into the three of them.
In a short time, Mao Xiaofang and the other two’s energy and injuries were all recovered, and their cultivation rapidly increased. Mao Xiaofang directly comprehended and learned the Evil Smiting Divine Thunder, reaching the late stage of Heavenly Master realm.
Li Xuyan and Awei reached the early stage of Heavenly Master realm but did not comprehend the Evil Smiting Divine Thunder.
However, their Yin-Yang eyes showed a slight change. A third eye seemed to have formed in the center of their brows, somewhat similar to Erlang Shen’s Celestial Eye.
But upon closer inspection, it was not the same; it was merely the pattern of an eye. The pattern between their brows disappeared after a few seconds.
The nail gun in Awei’s hand had also undergone some changes. With the blessing of merit, the coffin nails, which had been soaked in black dog blood, turned golden, as did the exterior of the nail gun.
“This…”
The three were still stunned by the sudden changes, especially Li Xuyan, who kept touching his brow.
“Master has important matters to attend to and cannot stay here for long. Take care of yourselves. The four of us, master and disciples, will meet again in the future.”
With that, Shi Jian turned, and with Black and White Impermanence, returned to the carriage. According to the names on the Underworld register, they went to collect the souls of the dying one by one.
He had already wasted too much time on Kui and the Jiangshi. If he could not collect the souls of the deceased within the allotted time, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Not only would he be punished by his own ancestor, but he would also face difficulties from the Ten Yama Kings. The two forces behind them would not miss the opportunity to suppress the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak.
Mao Xiaofang and the other two did not speak but watched Shi Jian and Black and White Impermanence leave.
They knew that as officials of the Underworld, they must have important tasks in the mortal world and could not linger here.
Until the carriage disappeared from their sight, a ray of sunlight shone on their faces.
“Senior Brother, Master is gone. We should first deal with the injured and the bodies from the various sects.”
“Yes, the casualties from the various sects are heavy. We don’t know how to explain this.”
The three martial brothers inspected the disciples from various sects who had come to support them and found that many Taoist priests had survived.
Some Taoist priests had only fainted and had not suffered fatal injuries or been infected by the corpse poison.
“Xuyan, go buy some glutinous rice. Awei and I will take the survivors back to the inn.”
“Alright, Eldest Senior Brother. Second Senior Brother, you both need to be careful. Some people have already been infected with deep corpse poison, and there might be a corpse transformation on the way.”
After giving instructions, Li Xuyan used the “Shrinking Ground into Inches” technique to quickly head to a nearby rice shop.
The three divided their tasks clearly. With the help of glutinous rice, snake gallbladders, and lightning magic, they temporarily suppressed the corpse poison within several Taoist priests.
As for other Taoist priests, their corpse poison had already reached their hearts, and there was no hope for them. They could only be cremated with lychee firewood to prevent corpse transformation and harm to the mortal world.
“Eldest Senior Brother, all the bodies have been burned. The various sects were informed of this matter and did not say much. The sect leaders merely replied, ‘It is our duty!’”
(Ahem, actually, the world of Uncle Jiu is not considered low-level martial arts, because ghost messengers exist, and ghost messengers belong to the system of the Underworld.
The Underworld is connected to the human, ghost, and divine realms, as well as the Heavenly Court, the Great Desolation, and so on. Therefore, the later parts will lean towards the Great Desolation.)