Chapter 156: The Terrifying Zombie Horde, Zhang Bairen’s Little Scheme
Chapter 156 – The Terrifying Zombie Horde, Zhang Bairen’s Little Scheme
Li Niansheng departed, vanishing with the same ethereal calm with which she arrived.
Watching Li Niansheng’s fading silhouette, Wan Yan Yue remained entombed in silence for a long era before finally turning on her heel and walking away.
“Uncle-Master, what profound mystery just unfolded here? Enlighten us!”
Once the two women had disappeared beyond the horizon, Wu Li immediately threw an arm around Song Yuanshan’s shoulders.
His face practically screamed a desperate hunger for scandalous gossip.
Basking in the piercing gazes of the gathered crowd, Song Yuanshan smugly adjusted his lapels and spoke.
“Your honored master, Chen Changsheng, is also my Junior Brother.”
“I am only privy to the karmic threads he wove after joining the Shangqing Temple. As for his mortal journey prior to ascending our mountain, even I remain in the dark.”
“However, I can shed some light on the legend of this ‘Changsheng Fairy’.”
“A millennium ago, she was the supreme prodigy of a Sect in the Eastern Wasteland. In that era, she callously rejected a river of young, heaven-defying talents.”
“Her reasoning was absolute: she lived solely to pursue ‘Chang~sheng’—true longevity.”
Hearing Song Yuanshan deliberately draw out the syllables of “Changsheng,” there was not a single soul present dense enough to miss the profound implication.
“Uncle-Master, then what exact karmic thread binds this Changsheng Fairy to our teacher?”
“That remains a mystery to me. After all, when the Changsheng Fairy’s name shook the heavens, I had not even been born into this world.”
“I merely grew up under the shadow of her legend; I had never laid eyes upon her true form until today.”
“If your master had not personally confessed his entanglements with the Changsheng Fairy…”
“…I likely would still be ignorant of their shared history.”
Wu Li’s eyes gleamed with a knowing light.
So that explains her heaven-shaking might. She’s actually the master’s wife!
Centuries ago, when Teacher unexpectedly descended upon the Hundred Thousand Mountains, his sole purpose seemed to be searching for a specific person.
As for the exact identity of his quarry, it seemed only A-Man held that secret, yet her lips had remained eternally sealed.
A thousand years have withered away, and this grand mystery has finally been unraveled.
“Ahem!”
“Teacher’s Dao spans the vast heavens, and his circle of acquaintances is boundless. This Changsheng Fairy must simply be a profound confidante from a bygone era.”
“Tonight’s celestial disturbance was naught but a misunderstanding. Disperse, all of you.”
Acknowledging Wu Li’s forceful change of subject, Zuo Xinghe offered a faint smile before turning on his heel and walking away.
Wan Yan Yue’s unspoken devotion toward Chen Changsheng was an open secret among their inner circle.
Now that the true “Changsheng Fairy” had personally descended—and deliberately sought an audience with Wan Yan Yue—the karmic undertones were palpable.
Every cultivator present understood the silent clash of territories that had just occurred.
However, out of respect for a lifelong companion, recognizing the truth was one thing; eagerly gossiping about it would be akin to grinding salt into a fresh wound.
With the explosive revelation concluded, the gathered experts gradually dissolved into the night.
Just then, Ye Hensheng tugged on Song Yuanshan’s sleeve, a bitter, anxious smile twisting his lips.
“Second Master, carelessly spreading Sir’s romantic entanglements like this… are you not terrified that Sir and that Changsheng Fairy might return one day to settle the karmic debt?”
Song Yuanshan froze.
Oh, shit!
How could my Dao heart become so blind to such a critical flaw? I absolutely cannot survive a beating from either of them!
“Ahem!”
“I hardly spoke a word of treason. Changsheng surely would not make things overly difficult for his senior brother.”
“And what of First Master?”
“We may not know when Sir will return, but First Master is a constant presence upon our mountain!”
Song Yuanshan’s face drained of all color.
When you frame it like that, I fear my eyes will not close in meditation tonight!
I was far too careless.
……
“Zhang Bairen, you absolute bastard, you had better not be playing me for a fool.”
Staring at the deathly still waters of the abyssal pond before him, Chen Changsheng once again cursed Zhang Bairen’s ancestors.
After taking his leave from the Zifu Holy Land, Chen Changsheng tore through the heavens with monstrous speed, arriving at the Eastern Wasteland in a mere decade.
Upon setting foot in the Eastern Wasteland, Chen Changsheng had meticulously followed the cryptic breadcrumbs Zhang Bairen had provided, seeking the elusive Nether Forest.
Yet, this hunt swallowed a full twenty years of his immortal life.
During those two decades, he had traversed countless forbidden death-zones untouched by mortal feet, enduring several chaotic rounds of spatial traversing.
Those ancient, fractured arrays demanded agonizingly specific alignments of heaven and earth to activate, and each jump was fraught with apocalyptic spatial turbulence.
Had it not been for Chen Changsheng’s heaven-defying, unbreakable bodily defense, his bones would have long since ground to dust in the cosmic void.
Venting his frustrations to the wind, Chen Changsheng lowered his gaze to the jade slip resting in his palm.
According to the Dao intent inscribed within the jade, as long as he plunged through this final death-trap known as the Dead Man’s Pond, he would finally breach the threshold of the Nether Forest.
Plop!
He kicked a loose stone into the dark waters.
Chen Changsheng scrutinized the ripples with narrowed eyes, yet his sweeping spiritual sense failed to detect even a fraction of lethal intent from this so-called “Dead Man’s Pond.”
“Not a single fluctuation of hostile Qi.”
“Could my deductions be flawed?”
Unable to unearth the hidden fangs of the Dead Man’s Pond, Chen Changsheng paced back and forth along the muddy bank.
His entire pilgrimage toward the Nether Forest had been paved with lethal tribulations. For this absolute final checkpoint to present an aura of total placidity…
It made Chen Changsheng’s ancient instincts itch with severe discomfort.
In his stubborn desire to dissect the hidden malice of these waters, Chen Changsheng had already lingered upon this shore for an entire year.
During this cycle of seasons, he had deployed countless esoteric methods to probe the depths. Yet, every single divination returned the exact same conclusion: this abyssal pool was nothing more than stagnant, mundane water.
“To hell with it. Having tread this far, it would be a colossal waste of effort to turn back without taking a plunge.”
Muttering under his breath, Chen Changsheng condensed his spiritual power into an impenetrable dome of light before hurling himself into the bottomless abyss.
The moment the icy waters swallowed him, Chen Changsheng began a meticulously cautious descent.
His divine intent flared to its absolute zenith, sweeping the suffocating darkness. The instant a thread of killing intent brushed his senses, he was prepared to violently reverse his momentum and tear his way out.
And then I’ll sprint straight to the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, dig Zhang Bairen out of his hole, and beat him half to death.
……
Time dripped away like freezing blood.
Chen Changsheng sank like a stone for a full two hours, yet his feet still found no purchase against the pond’s floor.
Staring into the endless, suffocating blackness, a rare, chilling unease began to gnaw at his otherwise tranquil Dao heart.
Just as he prepared to abort the descent and breach the surface to recalibrate, a sickly, pallid glow bloomed in the unfathomable depths below.
As the freezing currents dragged him closer, the phosphorescent glow swelled, illuminating the hidden truth of the abyss.
And then, every single hair on Chen Changsheng’s immortal body stood on end, a primal terror seizing his spine.
Corpses. An ocean of rotting flesh that stretched beyond the absolute limits of his vision.
Millions upon millions of bodies hung suspended in the freezing water, their flesh preserved in terrifying, perfect stillness.
But the true horror lay in their faces: every single corpse had its dead, milky eyes wrenched wide open.
The instant Chen Changsheng drifted into the light, every single one of those millions of dead eyes shifted, locking entirely upon him.
Chen Changsheng went rigid.
Zhang Bairen, you pray to the high heavens I don’t crawl out of this abyss alive, because I swear I will end your bloodline!
Yet, the very second Chen Changsheng tightened his muscles to execute a violent, tactical retreat, the jade slip clutched in his hand violently erupted with blinding light.
Immediately following the flash, lines of arrogant, glowing script materialized directly in his field of vision.
“Brother Chen, if your eyes fall upon these words, I trust you have successfully located the gluttonous maw of the Nether Forest.”
“Though the pilgrimage is littered with death, I hold absolute faith in your monstrous tenacity. Armed with naught but a direction, I knew you would effortlessly bulldoze through such trivial inconveniences.”
“However, the Zombie Horde slumbering beneath the Dead Man’s Pond is exceptionally lethal. Should you rouse their ire, even one bearing the Heaven’s Mandate would face absolute peril and inevitably Perish.”
“But set your heart at ease, Brother Chen. This Zombie Horde operates on a simple principle: they will not strike unless they detect their prey attempting to flee.”
“In the simplest of terms: the Dead Man’s Pond permits entry, but strictly forbids escape.”
“Brother Chen, your existence is simply too heaven-defying. I truly have no desire to cross blades with you during the brutal struggle for the Heaven’s Mandate.”
“Thus, I am left with no choice but to use the Nether Forest as a grand cage to swallow and seal you away. Once I successfully shoulder the Heaven’s Mandate, I swear upon my Dao that I will return to personally unearth you.”
“Furthermore, the essence required to save White Marsh truly slumbers within the heart of the Nether Forest. On this point, you need harbor no doubts.”
“May fortune favor your survival, Brother Chen!”
Chen Changsheng’s face twisted into an expression of pure, unadulterated murderous intent.
Zhang Bairen, I’ll defile your ancestors you mother—
……