Xuan Ye’s Invitation

Translator: Cinder Translations

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The cave was winding and rugged, with jagged rocks all around. Constant vigilance was required to avoid dangers lurking in the darkness, thus the group did not move quickly.

While advancing, Song Wen suddenly felt a throb in his heart, his brows furrowed slightly.

But in an instant, his brows relaxed, and he continued forward without a hint of emotion, not attracting anyone's attention.

Just now, he had released his beetle gu, which discovered traces of zombies about a hundred meters ahead.

Fortunately, according to the information from the beetle gu, there were only a dozen zombies ahead.

Moreover, their strength was not formidable, comparable to cultivators who had just entered the middle stage of Qi Refining. The corpse poison on them was troublesome, but for a corpse-path cultivator like Song Wen, it posed no threat.

Upon entering the underground cave, Song Wen noticed that the beetle gu thrived unusually well here.

The beetle gu, adept at concealment, became even more undetectable in this dark cave filled with corpse and ghostly auras. The dense corpse and ghostly auras perfectly masked the beetle gu's presence.

Here, the beetle gu was like a dragon returning to the sea or a tiger to the mountain, perfectly at ease.

The group advanced another four hundred meters when Xuan Ye, at the front, finally noticed the presence of zombies.

"Be careful, there are zombies," Xuan Ye warned.

Actually, even without his warning, Niu Ding and Zi Yi, both at the seventh level of Qi Refining, had already detected the zombies.

"Everyone, deal with them quickly. Avoid using large-scale spells to prevent attracting more zombies and ghosts," Xuan Ye instructed.

After speaking, without any visible movement, a fierce ghost comparable to a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining appeared before him.

The fierce ghost, over two meters tall with a burly build, wore tattered armor and wielded a long knife, resembling a seasoned battlefield veteran.

Lao Chun and Zi Yi each held a broken blade, clearly intending to engage in close combat.

Niu Ding exhaled two breaths of turbid air, his muscles visibly bulging as he continued forward empty-handed. It was clear that Niu Ding, like Song Wen, was a rare body cultivator.

Song Wen pulled his corpse puppet closer, hiding completely behind it. For safety, he had released the corpse puppet upon entering the cave.

The fierce ghost charged into the group of zombies first.

The long knife in its hand seemed solid, slicing a zombie in half, black liquid spilling everywhere.

Niu Ding followed violently, quickly approaching a zombie and slapping its head, causing it to explode with black liquid splattering, and the body collapsed lifelessly.

Lao Chun and Zi Yi, obviously from the same lineage, displayed agile movements, directly engaging the zombies. Like agile leopards, they swiftly killed the zombies, their daggers striking like hunting vipers, hitting the zombies' weakest points with precision.

By the time Song Wen, hiding behind the corpse puppet, approached, the zombies were almost all killed.

To avoid appearing idle to the other four, Song Wen controlled his corpse puppet to attack one of the few remaining zombies.

The zombie, with stiff limbs, was no match for the corpse puppet, which was stronger and more agile.

The corpse puppet easily dodged the zombie's attacks and then thrust its left hand, piercing through the zombie's chest.

The zombie, with its chest pierced, did not lose its mobility, and its hands clung to the corpse puppet's shoulders, attempting to bite its face.

Unyielding, the corpse puppet bit the zombie's neck in return.

This scene left Song Wen dumbfounded.

"Though born from the same root, why torment each other so eagerly"

Everyone here is a corpse, strictly speaking, all considered a type of zombie. So why should corpses trouble other corpses?

Song Wen's gaze remained vigilant, constantly watching the surrounding zombies to prevent any ambush.

The others were much quicker at killing the zombies. Song Wen hadn't even dealt with his first one yet, and there were already no standing zombies left on the field.

Just as Song Wen thought they had easily dealt with this group of zombies, he suddenly felt the ground under his feet loosen, as if something was about to burst out from the soil.

To Song Wen's surprise, a zombie broke through the ground and jumped up.

Song Wen had noticed this corpse earlier, thinking it was just an ordinary body since half of it was buried in the soil. The dense corpse and ghostly auras in the cave made it hard to distinguish whether it was a corpse or a zombie.

The other four, having dealt with the remaining zombies, also noticed the disturbance on Song Wen's side.

Their reactions varied.

Xuan Ye remained indifferent, standing in place with an aloof expression.

Niu Ding, eager to help, seemed a bit slow in his movements.

Lao Chun wanted to throw his dagger to kill the zombie, but Zi Yi stopped him with a cold glare.

Song Wen, facing the suddenly attacking zombie, remained composed.

He bent his legs and lowered his body, dodging the zombie's sharp claws.

Then, with a swift uppercut, he punched the zombie's chin.

The zombie's head exploded like a fragile watermelon, splattering everywhere.

Except for Zi Yi, who pursed his lips in displeasure, the others showed little reaction to Song Wen's easy dispatching of the zombie.

"Let's continue on our way."

Afterward, they encountered two more waves of zombies and a group of ghosts. Fortunately, the zombies and ghosts they encountered were not strong, and there were not many of them, so they were easily dealt with.

It's worth mentioning that the cave had many forks. If not for Xuan Ye leading the way, Song Wen felt that even with the simple map he got from the underground ghost market, he could easily get lost.

Leading the way, Xuan Ye suddenly came to Song Wen's side and said,

"Brother Guo Tao, there's a fork ahead. Niu Ding and I will take the left path to the Snake Cave. Hollow Cicada Wood and Forsythia are on the right path."

Song Wen looked at Xuan Ye without speaking.

Xuan Ye continued,

"I would like to invite Brother Guo Tao to join Niu Ding and me in retrieving the Snake Scale Fruit first, and then I will accompany you to get the Hollow Cicada Wood."

"Why me?" Song Wen asked, puzzled. With only the strength of a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator, Xuan Ye should logically seek help from Zi Yi.

"If I'm not mistaken, Brother Guo Tao should be a body cultivator, right? I have already planned for retrieving the Snake Scale Fruit and need a body cultivator's assistance. With Brother Niu Ding, I have a sixty percent chance of success. If you join us, the chance increases to eighty percent."

Seeing Song Wen neither agree nor refuse immediately, Xuan Ye suddenly switched to a voice transmission.

"Brother Guo Tao, consider this carefully. If you insist on retrieving the Hollow Cicada Wood, you will have to go with Zi Yi alone."

As he spoke, Xuan Ye intentionally glanced at Zi Yi a few times.

He implied that there was a conflict between Song Wen and Zi Yi. Song Wen had the lowest cultivation among the five. Without the deterrence of Niu Ding and Xuan Ye, there was no guarantee that Zi Yi would not take the opportunity to attack Song Wen.

(End of the Chapter)