The coffin's front plank was ripped off by immense force, spinning 360 degrees in mid-air before smashing onto the snake bones, pulverizing them.
"Holy crap!" Fatty jumped, startled. "Is this Prince Li giving us a concert and then deciding he's not satisfied and wants to dance himself?"
"No need to be so enthusiastic, right?"
Hearing Fatty's words, Prince Li's speed in climbing out doubled.
Zhang Qiling, listening to the sounds from the corpse, guessed that it wasn't coming out to thank Fatty for successfully analyzing its dance's heartfelt intention.
A green, furry arm stretched out, resting on the coffin, its long, sharp grey nails digging deeply into the wood.
What followed was a shriveled head with twisted bull horns. The withered face twitched, and its eyes fixed intently on Fatty.
Seeing this, Zhang Qiling immediately sidestepped to block Prince Li's view. Prince Li stared at him for a moment, as if suddenly recognizing him as the primary enemy, and slowly formed a sinister smile.
"Boom!"
An explosion!
Gray smoke billowed, and blood splattered high!
In an instant, Prince Li was in front of Zhang Qiling!
Zhang Qiling instinctively raised his hand to slash his palm, but in a flash, he thought of something and abruptly changed direction, opting to hold the Black Gold Ancient Blade horizontally to block Prince Li's attack!
He felt a massive force slam into the blade. The immense impact transmitted through the weapon to his body. Unable to stabilize himself in the water, Zhang Qiling was instantly pushed backward.
Using the water flow to dissipate some of the force, Zhang Qiling saw Prince Li, after completing his attack, twist his body in mid-air and charge towards Fatty. Without time to think, Zhang Qiling stomped on a piece of snake bone, gathered his strength, and leaped, intercepting Prince Li at high speed!
The Black Gold Ancient Blade struck Prince Li's back from above. Using gravity, Zhang Qiling drove Prince Li down into the water, stirring up a torrent of blood!
At this moment, Prince Li was less than a foot away from Fatty!
"Go!"
Zhang Qiling pressed down on Prince Li, looked up, and roared at Fatty and Wu Tianzhen.
Suddenly feeling something amiss, Zhang Qiling decisively withdrew his blade, flipped in mid-air, and landed in the water. A fierce attack grazed his side!
Upon closer inspection, it was Prince Li's head!
Prince Li's body was still submerged in the water, but his bull's head was soaring in mid-air!
Countless withered black veins connected the head and the body!
Prince Li's head circled in the air, locked onto Zhang Qiling, who was still in the water, and charged at him at extreme speed!
Submerged in the pool, Zhang Qiling had no leverage. He could only grip his blade with both hands and slash downwards!
The blade struck the bull's horn, emitting a metallic scraping sound!
Seeing this, Zhang Qiling instantly spun his blade horizontally, bracing against the tip of the bull's horn. The immense strength pushed him all the way, slamming him hard against the wall!
A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Zhang Qiling suddenly thought of a strange theory.
...Is this what they mean by "whitewashing weakens by three points, blackening strengthens tenfold"?
The reanimated Prince Li felt vastly different from the "sleeping beauty" Prince Li lying weakly in the coffin just moments ago.
Suddenly, an ordinary shovel smashed heavily onto Prince Li's head. It was Fatty, who had immediately jumped into the water to rescue Zhang Qiling upon seeing his danger!
The shovel was swung with full force, and then, to Fatty's astonishment, it shattered into pieces!
"Holy hell!" Fatty exclaimed. "Is this guy's head welded with alloy?!"
"Fatty! Dodge!" Wu Tianzhen's voice called out. Fatty instantly retreated. Wu Tianzhen, gripping the dirt gun tightly, controlled its direction. The few remaining bullets accurately hit Prince Li's temples!
The force of the impact turned Prince Li's head to the side. Zhang Qiling immediately gathered his strength and rammed the head away, then kicked Prince Li directly in the face!
A huge wave surged in the water. Prince Li's head, caught off guard, was sent flying by the kick, smashing heavily against the opposite wall, even creating a not-so-shallow pit!
The veins connecting the body and the head snapped due to inertia. Prince Li's head fell into the pool, no longer making a sound.
"Good heavens, is he finally dead?"
Fatty shuffled over and kicked the head with his foot. The head showed no reaction.
"That statement is ambiguous!" Wu Tianzhen threw the gun to the ground and corrected him. "He was already dead to begin with! This is at most a return to a normal physiological state!"
Zhang Qiling silently climbed out of the pool. His tattered black clothes were even more in tatters after the struggle, a truly pathetic sight.
Seeing this, Wu Tianzhen immediately stepped forward to help him up. Fatty, still holding the jacket he had taken off earlier when he was digging out the whistle coffin, quickly brought it over.
"Little Brother, are you alright?"
Wu Tianzhen asked with concern. With his clothes gone, the bruise gradually appearing on Zhang Qiling's chest was particularly striking.
Quietly putting on the clothes, Zhang Qiling steadied his breathing.
"I'm alright."
The two exchanged a look, their unspoken worry palpable. They could only help Zhang Qiling to a corner to rest while they busied themselves with starting a fire, intending to recuperate here for a while.
"Prince Li, the final boss is defeated, are we going out right away?"
Fatty casually tossed the unloaded gun into the water, his mind still set on searching Prince Li's body for any treasures.
"Ah... probably."
Wu Tianzhen felt a bit dejected at the thought. After such a thrilling adventure, a deep sense of emptiness and reluctance arose within him.
Fatty was living it up. Seeing him wouldn't be difficult.
But Little Brother...
Shaking his head, he suddenly remembered he had promised to give Little Brother some compensation. With this, he could at least ask him out for a meal. Wu Tianzhen's mood improved slightly.
With his mood lifted, he noticed Fatty's lewd corpse-searching behavior.
"No way, you're not even letting this guy's meager possessions go?"
He went over to take a look and found that Fatty had actually found a strangely shaped spherical bronze artifact on Prince Li, and couldn't help but mock him.
"Ah, a thief never leaves empty-handed!"
Fatty had a clear understanding of his own actions and was enamored with the bronze sphere.
"This thing seems like it can make a sound?"
He casually flicked the bronze sphere. As the sphere vibrated, a distant, lingering tone emerged.
The sound wasn't loud, but it seemed to spread out like endless threads, reaching far and wide.
Zhang Qiling, who was resting with his eyes closed, instantly became alert upon hearing the sound.
This kind of sound was very similar to a summoning tone from his memory!
He reached out and touched the wall beside him, and indeed, he felt the familiar vibration!
"Come here quickly!"
He suddenly stood up and shouted to Fatty and Wu Tianzhen, who were still soaking in the water.
The two were startled by the sound but didn't dare to delay. They quickly climbed ashore and came to Zhang Qiling's side.
Considering Zhang Qiling was injured, they stood on either side, forming a protective posture, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
Then, to their shocked gaze, the group of strange bulls that had disappeared, led by their human-faced leader, charged in!
The human-faced bull saw Prince Li's corpse floating in the water and froze. After a long moment, its bizarre eyes actually shed two streams of blood tears.
The thousand-year-old hatred finally ended. With complex emotions, it slowly approached the corpse.
"It's really not easy..." Even Fatty, who was watching, couldn't help but sigh.
Wu Tianzhen nodded in agreement.
Zhang Qiling watched the scene silently. The human-faced strange bull had conveyed its gratitude to him through corpse language.
But for some reason, despite it being a perfect ending, he felt a lingering unease in his heart.
There was nothing on Prince Li's body except this bronze sphere that could summon the herd of strange bulls. Was it just to have the human-faced strange bull perform an autopsy?
Just then, at the very moment the human-faced strange bull was extremely close to the corpse, a corpse language exploded in Zhang Qiling's mind!
(You're finally here.)
...This was Prince Li's corpse's voice!
"Don't—" past!
Before he could finish speaking, Prince Li's torso suddenly leaped up. His blade-like claws instantly elongated, slashing off the human-faced strange bull's head like steel knives!
Dark blood fell into the pool. The cross-section of the human-faced strange bull's neck revealed the bizarre sight of a human body wrapped within the bull's body!
The massive bull's body crashed into the water, while Prince Li's torso stood tall, holding the head.
The withered veins at the neck stump instantly grew, plunging directly into the still-bleeding head!
The veins writhed and contracted. In a short while, a complete Prince Li reappeared before their eyes!
He had actually changed heads!