As the formation continued to shrink, ink-black ropes, guided by yellow flags, encircled the zombie.
The zombie sensed danger as its space to move grew smaller. Although it lacked sentience, it possessed a basic sense of self-preservation. Ignoring its pursuit of me, it charged towards a star point. The Seven Star formation had seven star points, representing seven exits. The point it chose was Tianxuan, the position of Ju Men.
Master, seeing it aim for the position he was guarding, let out a cold snort. "Want to leave? Not a chance!" With that, he charged forward again, peach wood sword in hand. I quickly moved behind it, brandishing glutinous rice. While the rice had no effect on Master, it significantly depleted the zombie's energy.
The zombie let out more groans and flailed its arms wildly as Master approached, its mouth working, attempting to bite him. Master, unfazed, grappled fiercely with the zombie. However, this engagement proved disadvantageous for the zombie. I continuously sprinkled glutinous rice on it, draining its corpse energy. If its corpse energy continued to fall, no matter how powerful the zombie was, it wouldn't escape the Seven Star formation.
Everything was proceeding as Master had predicted, but then something went wrong. The zombie flung Master aside and suddenly roared at the sky, its guttural cries echoing far and wide, audible even from the construction site down the mountain. A dense, faintly yellow mist of corpse energy emanated from its body, visible to the naked eye.
Master, seeing the zombie’s howl and the faint yellow corpse energy, immediately shouted, "Xiao Qin, get back! Don't let the corpse energy hit your face." My expression darkened, and I quickly retreated. Previously, some workers who had opened ancient coffins had their skin rot from the dense corpse energy within. Once exposed to this putrid energy, flesh would decay. Where the corpse energy passed, the grass and trees withered and turned yellow.
The zombie, in turn, bought itself time to break the formation. Through its struggles, it had apparently realized that the exits of the formation were the small, floating flags. It began to jump and tear at them with its hands. "Master, it's destroying the formation flags!" I shouted. If the flags were destroyed, the Seven Star formation would no longer be able to contain it.
Master, however, let out another cold snort. "Think you can escape from this Daoist master so easily?" He then formed a hand seal and bellowed, "Heaven and Earth, unbound, Qiankun borrow my law, Zhen Feng Curse!" As he spoke, a whirlwind appeared. With two whooshing sounds, the surrounding corpse energy was instantly dispersed by the whirlwind summoned by Master's curse. At the same time, Master charged towards the zombie. As it attempted to destroy another formation flag, Master kicked it over, sending it tumbling to the ground less than three meters from me.
Seeing this, my pupils dilated. I thought this was an opportunity. If I didn't act now, when would I? I recalled the three weaknesses of zombies Master had told me: the eyes, the mouth, and the rear. Now, I focused on the zombie's eyes and charged, peach wood sword raised. Before the zombie could get up, I aimed for its left eye and thrust my sword. "Die!" This sudden attack caught it by surprise. With a "sizzle," black ichor splattered. My sword pierced directly into its left eye. Corpse energy continued to pour out, further weakening the zombie's strength.
"Ah..." The zombie cried out in pain. Its zombie arm swept out, striking my arm. The force was so immense that even though I had reacted and dodged, my arm was still grazed by the zombie's limb. That single contact sent me flying and crashing to the ground. I heard a "crack" from my arm. In the next second, I found I couldn't move it; it felt numb and swollen.
Realizing my left arm was immobile, I felt a pang of fear. "Damn it, it must be broken!" I grabbed my arm and looked at it. After all, the force of the zombie's flailing arms could shatter trees as thick as human legs. Even a glancing blow could break my bones. This was no laughing matter. I widened my eyes, nervously checking if it was fractured or bleeding. After a quick look, however, I felt some relief. Besides being slightly dislocated, my arm showed no signs of fracture.
The zombie, at this moment, also got up. With one eye pierced and leaking black ichor, emitting corpse energy, it became exceptionally violent. It roared at me, lying on the ground, and lunged forward, intent on biting me to death. My arm was hurting, preventing me from getting up immediately. With only one hand, I certainly couldn't block this zombie. If I didn't do something, I would be injured. Seeing this, I raised my right palm, intending to use the Wuchang Seal, planning to strike the old zombie down with a single palm. Instantly, the character "常" appeared on my right palm, and a surge of power began to gather there.
However, at this critical juncture, Master reappeared, grabbing the zombie by the neck from behind. With a shoulder throw, a muffled "bang" echoed as the zombie was slammed to the ground. The zombie tried to rise, but Master produced a talisman and pressed it to the zombie's forehead. The zombie's strength had been weakened multiple times, especially after I had blinded its left eye, draining a significant amount of its corpse energy, reducing its strength by at least twenty percent. Therefore, as soon as Master's talisman touched the zombie's forehead, it was pinned to the ground. Previously, it would have had no effect and wouldn't have been able to restrain it. But now, it could temporarily immobilize the zombie.
The zombie lay on the ground, its head tilted back, its face contorted in a ferocious grimace. It couldn't move its body, only emitting heavy, muffled groans of "wuwuwu..." Seeing Master pin the zombie down, I breathed a long sigh of relief. I retracted my right hand, saving the use of a Wuchang spell.
Master didn't deal with the zombie immediately. Instead, he came to me. Seeing my slightly dislocated left arm, he immediately checked it. "Xiao Qin, how do you feel?" "I can't move it, my shoulder feels very swollen!" I replied truthfully. Master's expression was solemn as he examined my arm from elbow to palm. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's nothing, just a dislocation. Bear with it, I'll put it back in place for you now..."