The Body of the Zombie

Ye Han, feeling humiliated from the day's events, resolved to use a forbidden technique. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, he relaxed his mind, knowing that the prerequisite for this forbidden technique was absolute willpower. Any hesitation could lead only to death.

The first step involved stopping the flow of blood in his body, then reversing it. Normal blood flow generates positive energy, but the reverse brings forth negative energy, associated with zombies, which are yin by nature.

Ye Han focused his mental energy to encompass his heart, trying to stop its beats since the heart's movement powers blood circulation. A person could live for at most five minutes with a stopped heart; Ye Han had to accomplish his task within this time or his soul would leave his body and he would truly die.

Once his heart stopped, blood congested within his meridians, causing some to rupture. Blood seeped through his pores, the pain assaulting his soul, making him tremble. But Ye Han clenched his teeth, refusing to make a sound.

As the pain subsided, Ye Han knew he didn't have much time left. Without hesitation, he used a portion of his mental force to guide the blood in his meridians to flow backward slowly. This required extreme caution and control; any mistake could rupture his fragile meridians, leading to certain death.

Time passed mercilessly. In a blink, one minute was gone, and his blood had only reversed a single loop. "This won't do," Ye Han thought, and with increased mental force, he doubled the speed of the blood's reversal.

The rapid flow caused numerous meridian ruptures, staining his new clothes with blood. Soon, he felt a faint chill emanating from his meridians, but it was too weak and quickly consumed by the positive energy within him.

A minute later, the chill grew stronger, although most of it was still devoured by positive energy, leaving Ye Han's body colder.

Two minutes in, his body lost all warmth, becoming stiff like a long-dead corpse. The chill began to erode his bones, meridians, muscles, and skin, slowly altering his physical nature. But the transformation was painfully slow.

"Not good enough; must be faster, only three minutes left," Ye Han thought, speeding up the blood reversal even more, causing widespread meridian ruptures and more bleeding. With the final minute approaching and his head and heart still unchanged, Ye Han panicked.

Suddenly, a red "corpse pellet" within him released a strong yin energy that wreaked havoc on his already damaged body.

Ye Han was about to give up when the yin energy merged with the dark energy within him, contributing to the transformation of his body. One force targeted his head, another his heart. Ye Han withdrew all his mental force, focusing on this final change.

As time ticked away, Ye Han felt a great force pulling at his soul. He resisted, knowing success was close if he could last a bit longer.

The pulling intensified, his soul weakening, but just before he fainted, his body shook, and the pulling force vanished. The green "corpse pellet" within him released more yin energy, which flowed through his body, integrating into his bones, meridians, and muscles.

Ye Han watched as his body, bones, and muscles disintegrated and reformed, each cycle bringing intense pain and sweat.

"Hold on. Must hold on," Ye Han encouraged himself.

His heart, which had stopped beating, was now transforming, expanding and contracting as it absorbed excess yin energy.

An hour later, a small explosion occurred within him, and where his heart once was, now lay a grey mist suspended in his chest cavity, with the red "corpse pellet" rising to float above it.

With his body fully transformed and meridians healed, Ye Han stood up, removed his blood-soaked clothes, and under the moonlight, he looked at his slightly pale skin with a helpless shake of his head.

Clasping his hands, he felt a powerful strength, much greater than before. He mused that he might almost rival a second-tier swordsman.

Taking a dagger from the table, Ye Han slashed his arm, creating a bone-deep cut that bled not at all. The wound healed quickly, leaving no scar—a benefit of his zombie body's powerful self-healing.

"Now that my previous form has reached its limit and cannot be refined further, this transformation into a zombie body should allow me to continue refining," Ye Han thought.

Sitting on the bed, he began practicing the first layer of the "Brahma Zombie Scripture," a cultivation method for zombies. Despite numerous attempts, he had never truly entered the first layer, only using it to absorb yin energy from the world.

The scripture had 18 layers. The "Infernal Prison" had cultivated for tens of thousands of years, reaching only the 12th layer, equivalent to a first-tier zombie. The scripture had been passed down for countless years in the zombie world, but no one had ever reached the highest level. There was only one who had reached the 16th layer, attaining the status of "Corpse Emperor."

In addition to the three fundamental principles of zombie cultivation: speed, destruction, and nothingness, the Corpse Emperor had mastered them. According to legends, complete comprehension of these principles would lead to the highest level of zombie cultivation, known as "Corpse God."

As he inhaled the cold yin energy, it circulated through his body, merging with his organs, bones, meridians, and more. The night passed silently.

Seeing the sky gradually brighten, Ye Han stopped his cultivation and changed into fresh clothes. He lay on the bed, pretending to sleep. It wasn't time to reveal his new form.

After having breakfast, he saw his mother still sitting in the courtyard. A tinge of guilt passed through Ye Han. The sky over the Qingming continent was exceptionally clear, with the sun shining brightly. However, Ye Han felt a growing warmth inside him.

"Without reaching the fourth-tier zombie level, I won't have the opportunity to bask in the sun," he thought, shaking his head. He returned to his room, sitting in the darkest corner, waiting for nightfall.

"Now that I possess power, I can't afford to waste it. In the memory of the Infernal Prison, there are many external martial arts techniques that don't require energy, only immense strength," Ye Han thought, closing his eyes and searching for these martial arts techniques.