Chapter 267: One Hundred Percent |
"Walk straight down this path. The direction the wind is blowing from is the exit," Bai Mu reminded his teammates behind him. "I've already cleared out the ghosts and monsters near there beforehand. As for things like traps and mechanisms, there shouldn't be any. After all, when I found that place, zombies were hopping in and out."
"You can clear the script by leaving through there. Of course, if you want to stay, I have no objections. However, I might not have the spare energy to protect you. If anything goes wrong, don't complain that I didn't warn you."
Scattered Fireflies didn't hesitate. She took out her staff and directly cast a temporary attribute-boosting buff on Bai Mu.
"Brother Bai, I'll cover you."
The remaining three looked at each other. I Love a Sword actually wanted to leave directly in his heart, but Bai Mu's previous exchange with the red-haired flying zombie seemed to vaguely give him the upper hand. If... if they could really kill a boss of this level, the rewards would undoubtedly be incredibly generous.
As for the risks...
It was obvious at a glance who was currently bearing the greatest risk. So, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Brother Bai, I'll help you!"
Despite saying this, he didn't dare get close to the flying zombie. He only took a handful of talismans from his pocket, preparing to provide ranged support.
As for Work Three Rest Four and Brewing Cat, neither of them had the strength to fight anymore. After using their ultimate moves, they would enter a prolonged Weakened State. However, Brewing Cat still had a little Mana left to cast healing and buff skills. She waved her hand and cast a shield on Bai Mu as well.
Mainly, Work Three Rest Four had personally experienced the flying zombie's strength. She was truly terrified of being caught by that thing again. If it weren't for Bai Mu's skill card, the tiny sliver of health they had left would have been depleted just from the bleeding status, turning them into corpses.
Having someone support him was definitely better than nothing. Although the boost wasn't huge, it was still better than nothing.
Bai Mu focused entirely on the red-haired zombie in front of him. The continuous Frost Arrows had frozen the guy into a popsicle, but Bai Mu couldn't free himself just because the effect of Sacrificial Passage hadn't ended yet.
When that black evil energy whirlwind disappeared, the red-haired zombie, covered in frost, twitched its arms slightly. In the next moment, the ice crystals fell as it directly shattered them.
The red-haired zombie pounced toward Bai Mu again, its feet hovering above the ground and its sharp nails aimed straight at Bai Mu's throat. But the beast spirit beside him wasn't just for show. This was the strongest beast spirit Xiao Wei could summon, costing 300 Mana points. Judging from its size, it was a replica of the 'Pig of Resentment' Bai Mu had encountered before—thick-skinned and incredibly strong. However, it wasn't oozing black pus like that one; instead, it emitted a faint golden glow all over, like some kind of divine beast.
This wild boar beast spirit also had its own skills. Bai Mu had already studied it with Xiao Wei in the training ground. Its role was a tank, and one of the most indispensable skills for a tank was naturally: Taunt.
Bai Mu gave Xiao Wei a hand signal. Immediately, the large wild boar charged forward and let out a loud howl.
The red-haired zombie changed direction mid-air, thrusting its nails toward the large wild boar.
The large wild boar's hair stood on end, turning into sharp spikes like a porcupine. This was its other skill: Spiked Fur. However, this move had no effect on the red-haired zombie. The raised fur was forcefully snapped by its body, and its nails dug deep into the wild boar's neck.
Those eyes stared fixedly at Bai Mu, turning its head at an angle a normal person couldn't possibly achieve, as if trying to twist its own neck off. A fierce light flared in its eyes, wishing it could eat Bai Mu's flesh and scrape his bones clean.
After all, not long ago, Bai Mu had utterly slaughtered the ghost servants and zombies this guy had painstakingly refined. Relying on the Flame of Earth Yang and Tuya, killing those zombie ghosts was like chopping melons and dicing vegetables. The legacy left behind by Xuan Mingzi had turned him into a god of death.
So much so that even though he was later besieged by several elite monsters, it didn't matter. When he summoned Xiao Wei, the tide of battle instantly reversed. A summon like Xiao Wei, who could not only grow like a player but also possessed extremely strong talents, could be considered completely unique.
He had already invested over 6,000 points into Xiao Wei. Combined with the 'Blood of God', various skill cards, and her innate passive talents 'Witch's Aptitude' and 'Mana Source', if the 'Doll' were to be evaluated as an item, the starting price would be 10,000 points, with no upper limit.
Xiao Wei herself was on par with a Perfect grade item. The investment he made in her finally proved its worth at this moment.
Even the red-haired zombie couldn't easily kill this thick-skinned large wild boar. However, looking at the interface, the large wild boar's health bar was dropping extremely fast. The moment the red-haired zombie's nails pierced it, multiple negative status effects appeared on it: Corpse Poison / Corrosion / Mana Burn...
The red-haired zombie took a bite out of the large wild boar's fur, forcefully tearing off a thick chunk of it. However, as a beast spirit, the large wild boar didn't splatter any blood. It was a spiritual body, not a creature of flesh and blood.
Xiao Wei then used 'Light of Healing' to raise the large wild boar's health, keeping the red-haired zombie occupied. Bai Mu seized this opportunity to use the Secret Sword Art on the red-haired zombie. The Flame of Earth Yang burned its body. Facing this flame that countered evil entities, its red hair was finally burned until it curled slightly, seemingly taking some effect.
It even revealed a pained expression. The Flame of Earth Yang spread everywhere on its body, burning fiercely, charring and curling the red hair protecting its body. Bai Mu delivered a few more slashes and actually managed to leave wounds on its body.
"It's working!" I Love a Sword said excitedly, unleashing a sword talisman that cut several blade auras into the red-haired zombie's body.
This red-haired zombie seemed extremely afraid of the Flame of Earth Yang. I Love a Sword shouted, "Brother Bai, quickly press the advantage!"
"Sure."
Bai Mu raised his sword to slash, but just as it was about to hit the red-haired zombie, he suddenly drew his pistol. Turning his back to his teammates, he fired a shot toward Work Three Rest Four's position.
The red-haired zombie actually teleported into the path of his gunshot. He fired first, and only then did the red-haired zombie appear there, as if it had intentionally run into his bullet. And the tip of that bullet was bright red, stained with the blood of his 'Human Yang'—it was a special anti-ghost bullet he had prepared in advance.
However, although this bullet hit the side of the red-haired zombie's head, it only caused the zombie to pause for a moment. Where was the pain from being burned by the Flame of Earth Yang? Its eyes clearly gleamed with a fierce light as it bared its fangs and bit down toward Work Three Rest Four's neck.
This sudden teleportation gave everyone a huge fright because the red-haired zombie appeared right in the middle of the group. Other than Bai Mu, no one expected it to suddenly teleport here.
The four of them panicked. Work Three Rest Four, being targeted, had absolutely no power to fight back, her eyes filled only with terror.
But in the next second, her neck wasn't bitten. Instead, with a thud, it knelt on the ground.
Not just it, but I Love a Sword, Scattered Fireflies, Brewing Cat, and even Tuya and the large wild boar all knelt down. Xiao Wei, sitting on Tuya's back, also had her legs uncontrollably bend, completely immobilized.
Of course, the red-haired zombie was no exception. Its stiff, straight legs were forced to bend, causing it to kneel on the ground in front of Work Three Rest Four. It desperately tried to reach out with its nails, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't move an inch.
Bai Mu was holding up an emerald-green jade seal in his hand. When he fired that predictive shot and accurately hit the red-haired zombie, he heard the notification sound, so he pulled out the Emperor's Jade Dragon without hesitation.
The effect of the Perfect item was incredibly overbearing. No matter how the red-haired flying zombie could soar through the sky or burrow into the earth, or how invulnerable it was, it still had to obediently kneel before him.
"Perfected Yang, your acting was a bit clumsy," Bai Mu said.
Bai Mu already knew the mastermind behind this tomb was actually a Maoshan Daoist Priest. If he hadn't known this information, he might have been fooled by its acting. But knowing this, it was obvious—as Xuan Mingzi's master, how could he not recognize the 'Flame of Earth Yang'?
These were things he had originally taught Xuan Mingzi. Furthermore, Bai Mu had used the Flame of Earth Yang to kill those ghost hands and zombie ghosts earlier, so the red-haired zombie couldn't possibly be unprepared. From the way he dispatched the elite monsters, it was clear he knew exactly what was happening on the scene. Even if this Flame of Earth Yang countered him, the effect couldn't be too significant. It was more likely completely ineffective against him.
He was just pretending. His goal was to first catch someone and suck their blood.
The red-haired zombie didn't speak, but the fierce light in its eyes disappeared. That fierce light was also something he had pretended to have. Its murky eyeballs rolled irregularly, seemingly observing Bai Mu and the surrounding environment carefully.
"Brother Bai... what... what exactly is going on?" Scattered Fireflies asked uneasily.
"It's actually quite simple when you explain it," Bai Mu said, slowly walking up to the red-haired zombie. "I found a letter somewhere, which led me to realize that this tomb was most likely the work of a Maoshan Daoist Priest, and that King of Huainan was merely the goose that laid the golden eggs, being used by someone else."
"In other words, this zombie in front of us isn't some Ghost King transformed from a prince. It's actually an old demon Daoist occupying a stolen nest. The Maoshan sect is originally an orthodox path that should expel demons and subdue monsters. Yet, this person betrayed his sect, deceived his master and ancestors, and refined himself into a zombie."
"If it's a former Daoist priest, naturally he wouldn't be afraid of any Human Yang or Earth Yang, or at least he'd know how to deal with them, wouldn't he?"
Bai Mu's eyes met the zombie's. The red-haired zombie remained silent but seemed to be scrutinizing Bai Mu. It was unknown whether it couldn't speak after transforming into a corpse or simply didn't want to.
"I guess you aren't too surprised that I know your identity. After all, Xuan Mingzi was a disciple you raised from a young age; you know his affairs clearly. Also, since I was chased by a group of ghost hands earlier, you must have found Xuan Mingzi's corpse and guessed that I more or less knew the truth, allowing you to take precautions."
"There should be two things you want to know the most right now. First, how did I see through your teleportation method? Second, why are you kneeling on the ground, unable to move right now?"
"I've never been a stingy person. I can generously explain it to you so you can die with a clear understanding."
"Let me explain the first point. I've only seen you use that teleportation method twice. The first time, you teleported behind Work Three Rest Four. The deviation of that first teleportation was a bit large, so you only barely managed to break her arm."
"The second time, you precisely teleported right in front of her and directly ripped out her heart. Therefore, I guessed that your teleportation could become much more precise using a medium you had already touched. For example, you could break off a piece of stone in advance and then teleport next to that stone from afar."
"However, there must be a distance limit to this, otherwise, you could have simply teleported in front of them to block the door when they were running away. As the master of the tomb chamber, getting a medium is far too easy for you."
"Of course, this could also just be me overthinking it. After all, there are many influencing factors in a specific scenario. For instance, the first time might have just been Work Three Rest Four reacting faster while your reaction was slightly slower, and the second time was the exact opposite."
"As for why I fired a shot at Work Three Rest Four... well, you probably don't recognize guns, so just treat this thing as a hidden weapon. The reason is also very simple. After ripping off her arm the first time, you stayed in place for a while, chewed, and swallowed her arm. Combining this with how you constantly made ghost servants collect the essence blood of the living for you, it shows that in your current state, you are in desperate need of the flesh and blood of the living. Especially before you've eaten enough, you absolutely don't want to leave the main tomb chamber."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have waited until I killed most of your ghost servants to come out and hunt me down. You should have ordered your ghost servants to stay away from me, then personally stepped in to finish me off cleanly. That would have maximized the protection of your assets."
"But you couldn't do it, or doing so would cost an immense price. Therefore, you hoped your subordinates could finish me off, resulting in heavy losses on your end and forcing you to take some sort of risk to come out and hunt us."
"And your behavior of eating the arm further confirmed one thing: you desperately need the flesh and blood of the living. So much so that after ripping off an arm, you actually didn't immediately pursue, but stayed in place to finish gnawing on the arm before continuing the chase."
"Combining these two points, plus your deliberate show of weakness within the Flame of Earth Yang, I guessed that you needed to replenish your living flesh and blood again. And the most likely time for you to strike would be when we were most excited and felt we were about to win. As for who your target would be, based on my previous deductions, the most likely candidate was definitely Work Three Rest Four."
"So I fired... well, I attacked you with a hidden weapon. To me, this shot was just a form of insurance. Even if you didn't teleport over, this bullet wouldn't kill my teammate. And if you did teleport over, I could foil your plan, preventing an enemy from doing what they wanted to do. That's definitely beneficial to me."
"In other words... you really shot at me..." Work Three Rest Four pursed her lips.
"But looking at the result, it saved your life, didn't it?" Bai Mu said.
Work Three Rest Four remained silent for a moment and said, "Thank you."
The red-haired zombie's eyes became increasingly unpredictable. It was impossible to know what it was thinking.
Bai Mu continued speaking on his own, "As for why you're kneeling on the ground unable to move, I believe you've already noticed. It's exactly because of this jade seal in my hand. This is a very powerful artifact, but its usage conditions are also very harsh. I racked my brains just to bring out its effects."
"You must feel uneasy, right? After all, you know what you did is a heinous crime. The Heavenly Dao cannot tolerate you, and the Human Dao cannot tolerate you either. Perhaps I'm a grand immortal specially sent by your ancestral master to capture you?"
"As for who I really am, you don't need to be too afraid. I have no relation to your sect, nor do I have anything to do with deities and the like. However, the few of us did indeed come here with a mission."
"Simply put, the county magistrate at the foot of the mountain asked us to eliminate a menace for the people. So the five of us answered the call and came to investigate the changes in this Prince of Huainan's Tomb."
"So, in this setting, I'm just an extraordinary person from the mundane world. Of course, you don't need to understand what a setting is. I just want to tell you my identity: I am an exorcist officially hired by the county magistrate. After picking up the letter from your disciple Xuan Mingzi, I gained an additional identity: the messenger who will deliver his letter back to Mount Mao, clear his name, and bring the truth to light."
"As for you, your identity is also very clear. You are a traitor despised by everyone, a fraud, a vile person. But counting your current identity, you can barely be considered a Ghost King."
The red light in the red-haired zombie's eyes faded. The look it gave Bai Mu became extremely bizarre—it was hard to tell what kind of look it was, but it still kept its mouth shut.
"You might be thinking that I'm someone who talks way too much. And people who talk a lot usually don't live long, especially since I've explained so many completely unnecessary things to you. You probably think I'm very stupid."
"However, I still have to tell you one more thing. I'm talking so much to you because I'm buying time. Even though you are suppressed by the artifact in my hand right now, if I just spaced out in place, it would lose its effect. And to use it to decapitate you, there's another condition. This condition was just met moments ago."
Bai Mu stood up and looked deep into the corridor. The petite figure of the Witch emerged from the darkness. Following behind her was a group of ghost children, the very same ones Bai Mu had encountered at the very beginning.
The Witch held a ceramic doll wearing a dudou, guiding those ghost children. The ghost children followed her toward the exit. The souls of those children bypassed the red-haired zombie, holding hands, and happily ran out toward the exit against the wind. One ghost child holding a Blood Jade ran past Bai Mu, happily humming a nursery rhyme, with a few faint phantoms following behind it.
"Among all the ghosts, only these ghost children still retained their humanity. They were the only ghosts capable of finding the way, and the only ones who hadn't become your puppets. When I was slaughtering those ghosts, I noticed something: none of the ceramic dolls you placed everywhere pointed toward the exit. Because you knew that if they found the exit, they would never return."
"So every time you let them go out, you bound them together with a zombie or a vengeful spirit, making them unable to escape this tomb and forever remaining your slaves. You buried their corpses in a pit to bind them, acting as your earthbound spirits."
"Those zombies and vengeful spirits, you freely commanded them to attack me. But you were unwilling to use force with these ghost children. Because if you used force, they would lose their spirituality, becoming puppets just like those zombies and vengeful spirits, unable to help shoulder your burdens."
"And now, they are free. The moment you appeared, I summoned the Witch and had her find those ghost children and lead them away."
"Facts have proven that my guess was right. Most of the zombies and vengeful spirits in this tomb have died at the hands of my teammates and me. Now that the ghost children have also left you, what ghost servants do you have left to command?"
"Now, you are just a traitor, a fraud, an ugly zombie who abandoned his human identity. You aren't even a Ghost King anymore, because you don't even have a single ghost under your command. Your current identity is merely a wandering wild ghost occupying someone else's corpse."
"And the last thing I'm going to tell you is that the decapitation condition of my artifact is based on the difference in attributes and status between me and the target to determine the success rate."
"Your attributes crush mine in every aspect. Even now that you're kneeling before me, I couldn't chop you to death. But, do you know? At this very moment, my decapitation success rate against you is..."
"One hundred percent."
Bai Mu spoke softly, turning his head to look in the direction of the exit. The laughter of those children faded away in the wind.
The Emperor's Jade Dragon required Bai Mu to keep his eyes fixed on this red-haired zombie to make it kneel, but that was no longer necessary. A perfectly straight line appeared on the zombie's neck, and its head rolled off accordingly.
As a Perfect grade item with extremely harsh usage conditions and many restrictions even for decapitation, once the Emperor's Jade Dragon's decapitation was successful, it meant absolute certain death.
In terms of attributes, the gap between him and the red-haired flying zombie was immense. But in terms of status, the two were worlds apart. This despicable wandering wild ghost was enough for him to bridge the massive gap in attributes and complete this decapitation.
[You have killed the 'Prince of Huainan's Tomb Red-Haired Flying Zombie'.]
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