Chapter 829: The Burial Ground

After a martial artist dies, if their physical body does not decay under certain special circumstances and absorbs the primordial power of heaven and earth, thereby strengthening the body, they become a zombie.

At the moment of birth, zombies are mindless walking corpses. Because the martial artist generates yin-sha energy after death, they instinctively crave slaughter.

Once a zombie takes shape, they can kill martial artists to plunder their essence and strengthen their own bodies.

This is, in fact, an unconscious cultivation process.

As the body grows stronger, the zombie may even develop its own intelligence. This intelligence has no connection to the martial artist's former self; it becomes a separate life form.

After gaining intelligence, zombies can cultivate on their own, even reaching the Divine Realm!

In the era before the Divine Path, there was a ten-thousand-year zombie king who once cultivated to the Divine Realm, becoming a legend.

But by then, he was not much different from ordinary humans.

Natural zombies form extremely slowly and require very harsh conditions.

However, if artificially refined, this process can be greatly shortened.

Up to now, as Ye Yuan and his group fought their way through, most of these zombies had low intelligence. The six-tier zombies before them had some intelligence, but very limited.

Seven-tier zombies had significantly higher intelligence.

And the eight-tier zombies now hiding among the horde had very high intelligence.

They knew this group was powerful, with many eight-tier Formless Realm experts, so these eight-tier Corpse Venerables roamed about, avoiding contact with the elders, letting ordinary zombies drain the elders' primordial power while they waited for an opportunity to strike!

More and more seven-tier zombies surged forward, putting increasing pressure on the elders.

Although seven-tier zombies posed little threat to them, as their numbers grew, the elders' consumption of primordial power increased dramatically.

When their primordial power was nearly exhausted, they would be at the mercy of these eight-tier Corpse Venerables!

"Blackwind, don't hold back your primordial power! I feel we're not far from the source of the zombies. Use your strongest attack and clear the way!" Ye Yuan said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Master!"

Suddenly, Blackwind's body visibly expanded, instantly turning into a black flood dragon over a hundred feet long.

The vast dragon might spread out, and the pressure of an eight-tier Great Perfection burst forth.

"Flooding the Skies!"

Blackwind opened his mouth wide, and a torrent of water erupted like a waterfall, surging violently!

The six- and seven-tier zombies were sent flying by the flood.

Those closer were even smashed to dust by the immense impact!

In a single move, countless zombies suffered a catastrophic blow.

The originally dense zombie horde was torn open with a huge gap.

Seeing this, Ye Yuan exclaimed with joy, "Blackwind, well done! Formless Realm experts lead the way; charge through in one go!"

Wei Cheng and the elders were all stunned; this black flood dragon's destructive power was terrifying!

But Blackwind's powerful move also lifted their spirits.

With Blackwind here, perhaps they could truly escape alive.

An eight-tier Great Perfection was indeed no joke!

Hearing Ye Yuan's words, they dared not delay and quickly advanced along the opened gap.

Those eight-tier Corpse Venerables were only at the eight-tier initial stage. Seeing the power of Blackwind's move, they could only watch as the group charged forward, not daring to approach.

Ye Yuan's group pushed their speed to the limit, covering several miles in an instant.

Suddenly, their movements halted, and they stopped dead in their tracks.

Everyone's face showed shock, stunned by the scene before them.

Before them was a massive sinkhole that stretched beyond sight!

Looking into the sinkhole, all they could see were bleached white bones, a gruesome sight.

These martial artists had cultivated to their current level and killed countless people. Yet even so, they were deeply shaken by this scene.

Just then, a glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon. The zombies seemed to sense something and retreated like a tide into the sinkhole.

The eight-tier Corpse Venerables hesitated for a moment, then plunged into the sinkhole.

"This... what place is this? How can there be such a huge sinkhole at the border? Why have I never known about it?" Wei Cheng said, taking a deep breath.

"Impossible! I remember this area should be plains; how could it be a massive sinkhole?" Sheng Jun said gravely.

Hua Shujie added, "You're right! If I remember correctly, this is indeed plains; such a large sinkhole shouldn't exist here."

"Hmph! What's impossible? The facts are right before us. Are we all in an illusion?" Wu Siyuan said coldly.

"Who would have thought there would be such a vast burial ground here? No wonder there's such a large-scale zombie outbreak. This is a yin cave, gathering extremely strong yin-sha energy. If martial artists' corpses are placed here, they will turn into zombies in no time. But judging by the condition of these bones, they are very old and shouldn't form zombies. So there's only one possibility: someone deliberately buried countless corpses here, triggering the zombie outbreak." Ye Yuan said grimly.

Hearing Ye Yuan's analysis, everyone was startled.

"Ye Yuan is right! But I'm still puzzled: what kind of person has such extraordinary ability, and what is their purpose?" Sheng Jun said.

"Yes, a great power with such capability should not care about our small ninth-grade sacred lands. Why would they do this?" Hua Shujie said.

"Hmph! Shouldn't we be concerned about something else now? Aren't you worried about how to quell this zombie outbreak? Ye Yuan, you're so capable, why don't you tell us?" Wei Cheng sneered.

Having witnessed Ye Yuan's methods, Wei Cheng grew even more jealous. Along the way, Ye Yuan had stolen the spotlight, filling Wei Cheng with a deep sense of inferiority.

Yes, a sense of inferiority!

From childhood to adulthood, Wei Cheng had never experienced such a feeling.

But this time, facing Ye Yuan, this emotion uncontrollably emerged.

Now that the danger had passed, this feeling was constantly magnifying.

Ye Yuan glanced at him indifferently and said, "I have a feeling that those eight-tier Corpse Venerables are not the strongest. To quell the zombie outbreak, we may have to... enter this burial ground!"

Hearing Ye Yuan's words, everyone's expression changed drastically.

The zombie outbreak last night still haunted them.

Without Ye Yuan and Blackwind, even they, the Formless Realm experts, might have perished there.

Now Ye Yuan said they had to enter this sinkhole, making them all hesitate.

"There's no time for hesitation. This matter concerns not only the safety of Red Cloud but also your own! Once this zombie outbreak erupts, the entire White Martial Domain will be left barren!" Ye Yuan said solemnly.