Lin Zitong was frantic as she watched Zhong Qi stuff Yan Shouyi into the coffin.
But she found it incredibly difficult to even deal with the red-eyed zombie in front of her, let alone save Yan Shouyi.
The only person still capable of action was Xia Zhi.
"Yan Shouyi, you used the Soul Chasing Technique of Mount Mao to injure me last time, but you didn't realize you also exposed yourself. I learned your birth date and eight characters, and discovered you are an evildoer reincarnated, perfectly suited to be refined into my corpse puppet! Did you think everything that happened today was simply for revenge? No! Everything today was meticulously prepared by me for you, to make you walk into my trap and willingly enter the coffin!"
As Zhong Qi hammered the coffin nails, one after another, and his plan was nearing completion, he couldn't help but reveal the truth in his excitement.
"Like you, the descendants of Lu Ban, we corpse handlers are fated to have humble origins and meet unfortunate ends. I, Zhong Qi, have cultivated for over forty years and have long been infected by corpse poison, suffering unimaginable torment and pain day in and day out, living no differently than a corpse. Now, after finally achieving great success in my techniques, my time is also running out. I have only a few days left to live. I am unwilling to die like this, so I found this method of 'refining a corpse and seizing a body'! As long as I refine you into a corpse puppet, I can abandon my own mortal flesh and body, and reside within the corpse puppet, achieving eternal life!!!"
Zhong Qi's words finally exposed his true intentions.
Revenge on Yan Shouyi was not his real goal.
Seizing Yan Shouyi's body and achieving eternal life was what Zhong Qi truly desired!
This insane plan had been conceived by Zhong Qi since his first encounter with Yan Shouyi!
Once the plan succeeded, not only would he achieve eternal life, but the Bai family would also hand over the Ping'an Building to him as a place to raise corpses. Cultivating in such a place would yield twice the results with half the effort!
At that time, who in the world could stop him, Zhong Qi?
Thinking of the beautiful future that was about to arrive, Zhong Qi couldn't help but erupt into maniacal laughter!
Suddenly, Yan Shouyi's faint voice came from inside the coffin: "The cause of the past life... the fruit of this life..."
Zhong Qi was stunned: "What did you say?"
"The cause of the past life, the fruit of this life... Fate's decree is imprinted on your soul, and it will not change just because you abandon your body..." Yan Shouyi said weakly, "Like you, the descendants of Lu Ban, we corpse handlers are born outcasts, evildoers from past lives, destined to suffer and endure hardship in this life. But my grandfather once said that as long as we sincerely do good and atone for our past sins, we can one day clear our past mistakes, and one day... we can defy fate!"
"Sincerely do good... defy fate?" Zhong Qi sneered, "Why should I, in this life, pay for the debts of a past life? I can't wait that long. Today, I will defy fate!"
*Dong!*
Zhong Qi hammered in another coffin nail!
He cruelly mocked, "Yan Shouyi, I have calculated your fate; you don't have much time left to live anyway. Rather than dying like that, why not become my corpse puppet? I will carry your body and live forever in this world!"
This time, Yan Shouyi did not reply to Zhong Qi.
Perhaps he had resigned himself to fate, or perhaps he had fallen unconscious due to his severe injuries.
"Big idiot!!"
Lin Zitong, trapped by the red-eyed zombie, could no longer hear Yan Shouyi's voice. In her desperation, she was on the verge of tears.
"Big idiot, hold on a little longer, don't fall asleep! Don't you dare fall asleep!!"
However, no matter how Lin Zitong cried out, there was no response from Yan Shouyi in the coffin.
He wouldn't... die, would he?
*Bang!!*
Just as Zhong Qi was about to hammer in another coffin nail, the sound of a gunshot rang out again!
"Ah!!!"
Zhong Qi cried out in pain. He looked down and saw blood gushing from his arm, which had been pierced by a bullet!
This shot was fired by Xia Zhi, the only one capable of action at the scene!
Bullets were ineffective against ghosts and couldn't easily kill zombies, but Zhong Qi was an ordinary person, and bullets were still effective against him!
Hit by this shot, Zhong Qi's mobility was impaired, and he could no longer perform the corpse refining spell so quickly.
Xia Zhi threatened, "Release Yan Shouyi, and make all your zombies lie down obediently in their coffins, or my next shot won't just be aimed at your hand!"
"You bastard..."
At this point, Zhong Qi had no turning back. He turned around angrily, shook his corpse-herding bell, and controlled the remaining zombies to surround Xia Zhi!
The zombies blocked Xia Zhi's view, preventing her from aiming at Zhong Qi.
Moreover, her own safety was severely threatened!
*Ding ling!*
The sound of the bell rang out.
All the zombies, including the red-eyed zombie attacking Lin Zitong, stopped moving.
Zhong Qi looked at the bell in his hand in surprise. He hadn't shaken it.
Where was the bell sound coming from?
Zhong Qi turned around and looked at the figure beside Xia Zhi with disbelief.
It was Luo Ning who was shaking the bell, forcefully controlling all the zombies!
Zhong Qi tried to persuade her kindly, "My good disciple, I'm only a step away from my goal. If you hold them off, and I achieve eternal life, I will help you find a good corpse puppet too!"
However, Luo Ning remained unmoved. She said coldly,
"Master, or rather, should I call you Uncle... For so many years, I have respected you, cherished you, served you tea, and obeyed your every word. But in your plan for eternal life, am I just a pawn, to be discarded and sacrificed at any time?"
Zhong Qi's breath hitched.
"Even this Xia Zhi, whom I met by chance, is willing to risk her life to save me. Yet, the years of affection between us as master and disciple are all in vain. How can I dare to trust you again?"
Zhong Qi fell silent for a moment, then sighed, "Disciple, I know you hold resentment in your heart, but this is the fate of a corpse handler. Only by surviving can one have the right to talk about other things. Now, everything is ready, and only this final step is missing, just this one step!! ... If it were you in my place, you would make the same choice."
"No, not everyone is like you."
Luo Ning gently shook her head and said, "Yan Shouyi has the same fate as us, perhaps even a shorter lifespan, but even so, he did not choose the wrong path. Until the last moment of his life, he was still advising Master to do good... We had many ways to defy fate, why must we choose this way?"
"From the time I can remember, I followed Master everywhere, but our identity as corpse handlers meant we spent our days with corpses. Our skin became pale, and we carried an undeniable corpse stench. Outsiders shunned us, even saying we carried contagious corpse poison... For so many years, I had no friends, not one! I followed Master wholeheartedly, thinking we were mutually dependent, only to realize I was merely a tool that could be sacrificed at any moment... Master, my heart is so cold!!"
It seemed Luo Ning's words struck the softest part of Zhong Qi's heart. Zhong Qi suddenly glared with rage and roared at Luo Ning,
"I've said it many times, many times!! This is the fate of us corpse handlers!! Every one of us corpse handlers should never have been born into this world in the first place! If we didn't share the same experience, why would I keep you by my side? Luo Ning, you don't know how much I hate you. I am not only your master, but also your uncle. My life doesn't only contain you, but also your mother, my sister!!"
"Because of your birth, my sister died in difficult labor. This is not a coincidence, this is the destiny of every corpse handler! I advised your mother countless times, but she wouldn't listen and insisted on giving birth to you, ultimately killing herself. You don't know how much I hate you, how much I hate you, I want you dead, I want you dead, I want you dead!!!"
Zhong Qi, as if driven mad, roared to the sky and then frantically hammered the coffin nails into the coffin.
Ignoring the blood spurting from his hands, ignoring the tears falling from his eyes.
In Luo Ning's eyes, there was pain, sorrow, and a mixture of indescribable emotions, all of which coalesced into Luo Ning's firm resolve.
She shook the bell, and the countless zombies turned around in unison, then rushed towards Zhong Qi without hesitation!
Zhong Qi ignored the zombies, still frantically hammering the coffin nails. Just before the zombies reached him, he hammered in all the coffin nails, and then revealed a smile of relief.
The next second.
The fierce and hungry zombies overwhelmed Zhong Qi on the spot...