Ling Tian, carrying a backpack and dressed in hiking gear, followed Ah Liang into the mountains.
More than two hours later, they arrived at the place where Xie Chong and others had been killed. Ah Liang, employing his usual tactic, claimed to have an upset stomach and needed to find a spot behind a nearby tree to relieve himself.
Ling Tian smiled and gestured for him to go ahead. Soon, Ah Liang disappeared from Ling Tian's sight.
However, Ah Liang failed to notice that in the bushes about twenty meters away from Ling Tian, a black snake, approximately ten meters long, was stealthily following him.
At that very moment, atop a tree more than ten meters high, a palm-sized drone transmitted Ling Tian's figure via its camera.
Before long, Ling Tian noticed more than ten figures subtly appearing in the surrounding bushes.
Upon seeing these figures, a cold smile crept onto Ling Tian's face. These were the zombies!
With a flash of thought, Ling Tian instantly unleashed his spiritual power. He quickly discovered that beneath a large tree more than thirty meters away, hidden within the undergrowth, lay a man in a black robe. This individual was none other than Zu Shouchun, the mastermind behind controlling these zombies!
A faint smile touched Ling Tian's lips. It seemed this was the main target for the day.
Just then, the zombies began to close in, encircling Ling Tian.
With another thought, Ling Tian produced an entire book of talismans. Witnessing this, Zu Shouchun's eyelids twitched. He knew very well that Taoist talismans were incredibly precious items. The last time they ambushed Zhang Ziying, she had used three talismans consecutively, which was already considered extravagant.
But now, he watched in disbelief as Ling Tian pulled out an entire book of talismans. This wasn't just extravagance; it was outright opulence!
In the next moment, more than ten fireballs shot out in different directions, their immense flames engulfing the area where Ling Tian stood, along with over a dozen zombies around him.
Zu Shouchun, dozens of meters away, was stunned. He wondered if there was something wrong with the young man's mind. It was one thing to use talismans to attack zombies, but why would he burn himself too?
Furthermore, the power of these talismans was far greater than those used by that young man that day!
In the mountain forest, a raging inferno erupted around Ling Tian's previous position. The high temperatures generated by the talisman explosions had also ignited the surrounding bushes and trees.
Seeing that the situation was turning for the worse, Zu Shouchun turned to flee. However, at that very moment, the burning flames abruptly extinguished, leaving only the smoking ground and over a dozen charred corpses.
And in the center of the fiery scene, Ling Tian stood with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed intently on him.
"Hey, I say, you, don't leave!"
Upon hearing Ling Tian's words, Zu Shouchun halted his escape.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Never mind who I am for now. You're that old ancestor, aren't you? You killed the villagers in this mountain, and those two young men who came here a couple of days ago, right!"
"So what if I did!" Zu Shouchun's eyes glinted menacingly. A person capable of turning living beings into zombies was no ordinary foe.
"Do you dare to reveal your name!"
"Heh heh, there's no harm in telling you. I am Zu Shouchun, one of the ten protectors under the Demon Lord of the Heavenly Demon Sect!" Zu Shouchun showed no fear of Ling Tian. Although his zombies had been destroyed, they were merely unfinished products, not even possessing the combat strength of the lowest-grade Bronze Corpses.
He still had many other trump cards in his hand.
"Hmm, that's strange. I know all the protectors of the Heavenly Demon Sect, and I've never heard of anyone named Zu Shouchun!" Ling Tian said, his brow furrowed in suspicion.
"Heh heh, that's ancient history. The Thirteen Protectors have seen many changes... Wait, how could you possibly know about the Thirteen Protectors!" Zu Shouchun suddenly realized something was amiss.
Although the Thirteen Protectors were somewhat famous in the martial world, the specific identities of these thirteen individuals were known to very few.
"Of course, I know who the Thirteen Protectors are. I even killed one of them!" Ling Tian declared proudly.
"What, what nonsense are you spouting? How could a protector be killed by you!"
"What's impossible about it? I killed the Gu King, and the Gu King told me about the other protectors. Haha!"
Upon hearing this, Zu Shouchun's face turned green. Although within the Heavenly Demon Sect, these newly appointed Thirteen Protectors had defeated the previous ones, even stepping over their corpses to gain their positions, they all feared provoking figures like the Gu King.
The reason was simple: the Gu King's Gu arts were too bizarre. When he wanted to deal with someone, his target often wouldn't even notice any signs, or in other words, they wouldn't even know how they died!
As a result, a year ago, the Gu King vanished, disappearing from the face of the earth. News then spread that the Gu King had been captured.
Initially, those who practiced unorthodox ways didn't believe it until they encountered Ling Tian on Hell Paradise Island.
The demoness Yulia discovered that Ling Tian's account of the Heavenly Demon Sect was entirely accurate, realizing that something was wrong and quickly reporting it.
After extensive investigation and corroboration, the people of the Heavenly Demon Sect finally accepted the fact that the Gu King had either been captured or was dead!
Now, seeing someone who claimed to have killed the Gu King, Zu Shouchun dared not be careless.
"Boy, don't boast... How could a mere fledgling like you possibly kill the senior Gu King! You shall die!"
Before he finished speaking, two dark figures suddenly lunged at Ling Tian. These two figures had been lurking motionlessly in the bushes all along, and the explosion's range had not affected them.
Facing the sudden assault, Ling Tian let out a cold laugh. He pushed off the ground with his legs, his body instantly soaring into the air, as if defying gravity, rising nearly two meters high.
The two dark figures missed their target. Ling Tian then saw that these were also zombies, or more accurately, two Iron Corpses!
Speaking of these two Iron Corpses, they were personally refined by him when he first graduated from his apprenticeship. After more than twenty years of continuous nurturing in extremely Yin locations, they had finally been perfected.
He was extremely reluctant to use them unless absolutely necessary. After all, while Iron Corpses possessed skin as tough as copper and bones as hard as iron, making them unaffected by minor injuries and capable of slow recovery when placed in places with heavy Yin energy, any severe injuries like fractures sustained against powerful enemies would require considerable effort to heal.
Even for Iron Corpses that had suffered severe injuries affecting their structure, even if they evolved into Gold or Silver Corpses, their previous injury sites would become their vital points and weaknesses!
However, now, facing Ling Tian, Zu Shouchun knew he had to go all out.