Chapter 125: The Thunderous Seven-Section Whip

Zombies and phantoms are manifestations of yin energy, while talismans are of yang. Much like the attraction between opposite poles of a magnet, the moment Mu Chen unleashed his talisman, it flew automatically toward the flying corpse.

Without needing any medium, it stuck firmly to the creature's forehead. The flying corpse froze, and the three men rushed forward with ropes prepared in advance to bind it. However, just as they reached its side, the creature reached up and tore the talisman away. With a guttural roar, it lunged at Mu Chen with both hands.

Mu Chen, never imagining the creature would be immune to the talisman, was caught off guard and seized instantly. He reached into his robes to retrieve more, slapping two more talismans toward the creature's head. When the flying corpse saw the paper charms again, it reached out to snatch them away. Since its right hand was still gripping Mu Chen’s shoulder, it had to use its left. But the moment its left hand touched the talisman, the creature recoiled violently. It turned out that the flying corpse only used its right hand to deflect lightning; its left hand was as vulnerable as that of a normal zombie.

Seizing the opening, Zhou Yi and Bao Zi wasted no time. Each grabbed an end of the rope and sprinted to where the creature had landed. As soon as it hit the ground, the two men moved with lightning speed, binding the flying corpse tightly.

"Ha! Back in our hands, aren't you?" Bao Zi sneered at the creature on the ground, swinging his single mace down onto its skull. "Let’s see you run now! Run, will you?" he taunted with every blow. Although the creature possessed skin of bronze and bones of iron—remaining completely unfazed by the strikes and even baring its teeth in defiance—Bao Zi only hit harder, making Zhou Yi and Mu Chen wince at the sight.

"Enough, stop hitting it! Aren't you tired?" Zhou Yi finally stepped in to stop him.

Bao Zi ceased, and Mu Chen pulled a dozen more talismans from his robes, plastering them onto the body until the creature stopped moving entirely. Zhou Yi turned to Mu Chen. "The corpse is subdued. The Thunder-Quake must be hidden in its right arm, but the body is too tough to penetrate."

Mu Chen pondered for a moment before drawing his sword and hacking at the creature's right arm. As expected, the arm remained unscathed. Mu Chen found himself in a dilemma; the flying corpse feared neither blade nor axe, neither heavenly lightning nor fire, and even his talismans had proven largely ineffective.

"Where was this corpse found?" Mu Chen asked.

Zhou Yi pointed upward. "The Blood Spring is directly above. This body must have become a flying corpse by absorbing the yin energy from that spring."

Mu Chen scratched his head, searching for a solution. The Maoshan sect had only a few methods for dealing with the undead, and talismans were the most effective. Usually, no matter how powerful a ghost or zombie, a single talisman would subdue it.

"We could try Li Fire! If the Thunder-Quake is inside, it should be made of the same material as Li Fire, so it ought to be effective," Mu Chen suggested after a long silence.

Zhou Yi shook his head. "I already tried. Whether hacking or sawing, I couldn't scratch it in the slightest."

"We need a weak point! Every object has its limit, and there must be a flaw somewhere." Mu Chen began to feel along the creature's body. It was covered in coarse, span-long black hair matted with foul sludge from the blood pool, making it sickeningly sticky to the touch. But there was no other choice; the body was impenetrable, and only by touch could they hope to find a vulnerability.

The three of them searched the corpse over and over to no avail, eventually sitting on the ground, sighing as they rubbed the slime off their hands with dirt.

"Brother Yi, what do we do now?" Bao Zi asked, frowning.

Zhou Yi was at a loss and looked toward Mu Chen, who merely pursed his lips. "Why look at me? I'm out of ideas!"

Bao Zi let out a long sigh and glared at the motionless corpse. While the others talked, Bao Zi, having cleaned his hands with soil, began poking the creature with his mace. "Forget it, let's just move it outside and burn it," Mu Chen said.

Bao Zi subconsciously replied with an "Oh," but continued to poke. Suddenly, there was a result. The flying corpse let out a foul, pungent fart—a stench so extreme that even the smell of bat guano in the cave could not mask it. The three men instinctively covered their noses and mouths, but it was useless.

"It’s corpse poison! Take these antidotes!" Mu Chen pulled out a jade bottle and shared three pills with them. Only after they had swallowed the medicine did he ask, "What exactly did you poke just now?"

Bao Zi pinched his nose. "Its rear end. I poked it in the backside!"

When they realized where the weak point was, Zhou Yi and Mu Chen felt a strange urge to laugh, but they quickly stifled it. The stench was not only unbearable but, in the stagnant air of the cave, it refused to dissipate. Unable to stand it any longer, they carried the corpse out to the cave entrance. Once outside, they gasped for fresh air, swearing they would never enter that cave again.

Knowing the weak point, Mu Chen finally had a plan. Reluctant to use his own sword—fearing he would have psychological trauma if he used it on such a spot—he took the mace from Bao Zi and drove it firmly into the creature’s anus.

*Pfft.* As the mace pierced the spot, the flying corpse let out a hiss like a deflating balloon, its body rapidly shrinking until it became a withered husk. Even in the open air, the smell was nauseating. They retreated upwind and waited for the stench to clear before returning to examine the remains. Zhou Yi poked the skin with Li Fire, and the husk split open.

The flying corpse was now nothing more than an empty, shriveled shell. They peeled back the skin to reveal that the internal organs had long since withered away. Examining the right arm, they found a seven-section whip, with the first segment engraved with the characters for "Thunder-Quake." No wonder the arm had been so flexible; the weapon was actually the whip itself. How it had been embedded inside the arm remained a mystery, but the three men cared little for the creature’s history, only for the artifact.

Zhou Yi secured the whip at his waist. Their next goal was to head south to find the Earth-Mountain of the Blue Qi, though they had no idea what kind of weapon it would be or where it was hidden.

Just as they were about to leave, a piercing shriek echoed from the sky, and the old woman from the Miao territory descended upon them at high speed...