Absolute Death Game

The rotting giant hand, carrying the stale and corrupt scent of decay, broke through the ground from beneath. Although the scene was somewhat disgusting and terrifying, Xiao Buli actually breathed a sigh of relief. The empty feeling of not knowing what he was facing was truly uncomfortable. Now, at least, he had something that could breathe—well, strictly speaking, this thing couldn't actually breathe.

As the soil and rocks on the ground crumbled, beneath that hand, a three-meter-tall giant zombie clawed its way out of the earth. The muscles on the zombie's body were knotted, but it seemed they weren't covered by skin. Strands of muscle with dark red blood were exposed, and the skin hung off the body like tattered clothing. These zombies were not alone; as the collapsing sounds continued, the surrounding soil broke apart, and in a short while, five or six more had emerged. And this was just the beginning; countless corpse soldiers were drilling out from the ground in the streets around them. These corpse soldiers were slightly shorter than the zombies, averaging around two meters tall, and their physiques were more normal, lacking the powerful muscles. What was worse, they wore rusty armor, which seemed to offer some resistance, and held broken swords in their hands—it was unclear how effective they would be in an attack. Now, these creatures had all emerged from the ground, moving slowly but steadily, and began to surround the two of them.

"Elder brother, this is bad. It looks like we're in trouble," Xiao Buli's heart pounded. These creatures seemed to be decent fighters and there were many of them. He didn't know how they would fare against them, and perhaps influenced by the eerie atmosphere from before, Xiao Buli had a gut feeling that these creatures might not be so simple.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yuexuan just coldly smiled and said indifferently, "You call this trouble? I call it exercise."

Gu Yuexuan performed sword-pinching skills and a white sword light soared into the sky. The sword behind him, charged with sword qi, flew up and down, circling around the two men like shooting stars chasing the moon.

Gu Yuexuan frowned deeply, his expression serious as he continuously changed the sword techniques in his hands, precisely directing the trajectory of the flying sword. Despite his relaxed words, Gu Yuexuan seemed to have an innate respect for training, never treating any fight lightly or with contempt, which might also be the reason for his rapid improvement in such a short time.

The approaching corpse soldiers, having just crawled out from the land and not very agile to begin with, now faced the swiftly moving flying sword with no power to resist. Like cutting vegetables, they were chopped in half one after another. Before Xiao Buli could make a move, the ground was already littered with chunks of corpses and ragged flesh. Although cut to pieces, the zombies still struggled on their own. The closest one to Xiao Buli still kept opening its mouth and snapping at him, driven by instinct, without any sense of pain or thought. Xiao Buli felt a little disgusted as he watched the zombie next to him dribbling saliva from its gaping mouth, and he drew his magical treasure sword to cleave off half of its skull. Finally, the zombie softy collapsed on the spot. As he watched the body twitching on the ground, it was Xiao Buli's time to shine. His sword danced non-stop, slashing through the zombies as if he were harvesting crops in a field.

Watching the experience points climbing non-stop on the screen, Xiao Buli felt a rush of thrill. Eventually, the last corpse soldier was slain. Standing with his sword dripping blood, Xiao Buli looked around at the silence and thought to himself, is this it? Considering the terrifying prelude, the conclusion seemed somewhat anticlimactic given his lingering unease.

"What was that gust of yin wind just now?" Xiao Buli turned to ask Gu Yuexuan.

"If I'm not mistaken, that yin wind contained countless yin souls and ghostly energies. Most likely, these corpse soldiers were awakened by that yin energy," Gu Yuexuan explained. Although the corpse soldiers and zombies had been annihilated, his expression remained tense as he continued: "The source of that yin energy should be—"

Before Gu Yuexuan could finish, suddenly, a loud boom came from behind them. Xiao Buli felt a tremor under his feet and swiftly turned around, only to see the dark gate trembling slightly. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Xiao Buli could swear that the gate seemed alive, and from deep within, he could hear a strange noise, a gulping and chomping, like that of a giant beast crunching or some sort of swallowing sound, as if a great amount of liquid was being forcefully squeezed through a narrow gap.

Xiao Buli involuntarily swallowed and looked back at Gu Yuexuan, who still wore a cautious expression and kept his body tensed, ready to strike at any moment.

All of a sudden, the gust of yin wind blew out fiercely from the gate. Xiao Buli was prepared this time and hastily dodged aside, enduring the piercing wails within the wind. Opening the Omniscient Eye, he looked back at the yin wind and finally saw it clearly: the previously colorless and formless wind, under the Omniscient Eye, appeared as a grayish-green hue, like countless threads interweaving. Under the influence of these threads, the scattered flesh and corpses on the ground began to squirm.

They can still move? Xiao Buli watched in astonishment as the carcasses on the ground wriggled. He held his weapon at the ready, afraid they would rise again. Fortunately, though they shook violently, they didn't seem to have any intention of getting up. Before Xiao Buli could relax, the ground around them cracked open once more, and another group of corpse soldiers emerged from the earth, drilling out unhurriedly.

"Damn it, how many monsters are there beneath the ground?" Xiao Buli wondered anxiously.

As he thought, he used an Earth Escape Skill and in the blink of an eye, his body burrowed underground. As soon as he entered the soil layer, Xiao Buli was shocked still. Beneath the surface, as far as the eye could see, was a dense mass of skeletons. Countless layers of skeletal remains were piled on top of each other, with no end in sight. At this moment, the bones closer to the surface were being awakened by those green threads; these threads seemed alive, weaving through the bones nonstop, assembling them. It was almost like real threads stitching together scraps of cloth, lightly lifted to form a Corpse Soldier or Zombie. Xiao Buli didn't dare to linger once he saw this and quickly dug his way back out, "Senior Brother, below this town is entirely built on a pile of corpses." Xiao Buli had just emerged when he shouted to Gu Yuexuan.

Gu Yuexuan's expression turned grave upon hearing this, "This is the Land of the Nine Yin. Be careful, Junior Brother. There must be a Gathering Yin Pool inside that warehouse. I have read records about it. Every so often, the Gathering Yin Pool will spew out a large amount of Yin Corpse Spiritual Qi, and the corpses affected by this aura will turn into Corpse Soldiers. If we don't want to be worn down alive by these Corpse Soldiers, we must either leave or destroy the Gathering Yin Pool." Several Corpse Soldiers were already nearing Gu Yuexuan. Knowing that killing them all was futile, he no longer spun his flying sword as before, but instead swiftly slain the few that had approached closely.

Xiao Buli also chopped down a Corpse Soldier nearby and called out to Gu Yuexuan, "So Senior Brother, do we leave or go in?"

Gu Yuexuan gave a cold laugh, "Isn't that obvious?" With that, he no longer paid attention to the Corpse Soldiers converging around him and charged towards the open gate with his sword, Xiao Buli glanced around, knowing this was the best chance to leave, but then he looked again at Gu Yuexuan's receding back and followed him in without hesitation.

Fortune comes with danger; there must be a boss-level monster at the Gathering Yin Pool. Killing it might even result in it dropping top-notch equipment or Magical Treasures.

Following Gu Yuexuan, Xiao Buli ran for a while, gradually losing sense of direction, but he knew that Gu Yuexuan must have determined the way by now. He just kept pushing forward into the depths. As he ran, he felt as though he had entered an endless darkness, presumably having entered the interior of the room they had seen before. The view on the screen was suddenly enveloped in darkness, with only the faint white light emitted from Gu Yuexuan's treasured sword illuminating a small area around them. The room seemed extremely vast, not at all like what it appeared from the outside; Xiao Buli felt an emptiness that seemed boundless.

The two of them focused on one direction, pressing forward, when suddenly a swallowing noise arose, followed by a gust of yin wind. From behind, there came a loud banging sound. Xiao Buli looked back to see that the wooden door, which just moments ago showed a faint glimmer of light, was now pitch black, keeping out the sounds of the Corpse Soldiers outside.

Quietness engulfed the surroundings in an instant, and the darkness ahead offered no glimpse of light. Suddenly, a cluster of green ghost fires appeared ahead, drifting and swaying in front of them, as if beckoning them forward like a guiding light. While Xiao Buli hesitated, Gu Yuexuan snorted coldly and sent a Sword Qi Slash at it, and with a puff, the ghost fire scattered.

"Hmph, playing ghosts and gods!" Gu Yuexuan said disdainfully. No sooner had the words left his mouth than hundreds and thousands of ghost fires erupted around them, their eerie green light illuminating the hall and revealing the surroundings. Xiao Buli's heart skipped a beat as he saw the sky around them filled with half-transparent, distorted human shapes, like strands of thread or swimming fish, which seemed agitated and turned a bloody red color, forming ferocious patterns and emitting sharp screams. These screams were initially inaudible, but soon screeched piercingly in unison, such that even coming through the laptop speakers, they were unbearable to listen to.

A ghost suddenly dived towards them, and Gu Yuexuan countered with his sword, splitting the ghost in two, but within moments, the ghost merged back into one.

More ghosts rushed towards them, and Gu Yuexuan, with his Sword Control, drew his sword from its sheath and transformed it into numerous Sword Shadows in midair, slashing the ghosts into pieces. Like the first ghost, however, they quickly reformed and attacked again.

Damn it, this won't do! thought Xiao Buli.

Gu Yuexuan frowned, "Seems a bit troublesome." (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)