Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 49

Volume 6 Chapter 49: Rescue and Escape (Part 2)

"Tell me your birth date and time."

The strange person, moving like a zombie, spoke slowly, their voice was odd, hoarse, and deep, slightly out of tune, as if it was their first time talking.

The underground cave was dimly lit, and the person’s zombie-like face appeared not far from Dongfang Qingling, looking even more terrifying up close, sending a chill down her spine.

Dongfang Qingling stared at the strange person with a mix of hatred and fear, recalling the suffering of her six months of confinement, and coldly replied, "Why do you want to know my birth date and time? Why should I tell you? Who are you? What do you want to do with me?"

At first, Dongfang Qingling’s questions were just instinctive resistance, but by the end, she couldn’t help but voice the doubts that had troubled her for over half a year.

"Tell me your birth date and time."

The strange person ignored Dongfang Qingling’s questions and continued to ask darkly, their words smoother than before.

Dongfang Qingling fixed her gaze on the zombie-like face, struggling to contain the rising panic in her heart, and insisted, "You must answer my question first."

"Tell me your date of birth."

"You must answer my question first."

Hearing Dongfang Qingling’s insistence, a strange green light flickered in the man’s eyes, making Dongfang Qingling’s heart shiver. After a moment of silence, the man spoke again, "You should just answer my question quickly and work with me. Because, in truth, I don’t need to ask you; I can take your soul out of your body to get the answer directly. Do you want to try?"

After speaking a lot, the man’s tone finally returned to normal, but he still sounded dark.

Hearing the man’s threat, Dongfang Qingling struggled to hold back her growing panic and forced herself to remain calm, replying, "You first made this altar, then arranged this underground place like this, and now you are asking for my date of birth. Surely, you want to perform some kind of ritual and use me as a sacrifice, right? In this situation, as a sacrificial offering, can you really take my soul out? Although I don’t know much about evil sacrifices, I know that the offering must stay whole, right?"

After a moment of silence, the man slowly said, "You are only half right. An offering does need to remain whole: a complete body and a complete soul. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take your soul. I am very skilled at controlling souls. I can take your soul out and then return it completely, but believe me, the pain during that time is not something you would want to experience."

After a pause, the man’s tone became a bit urgent and he asked, "Your date of birth, say it."

The man’s gloomy tone made Dongfang Qingling feel even more panic; however, seeing the current situation and hearing his words made her realize she really was going to be sacrificed. She decided to fight back, not wanting to die confused. Her tone grew more determined as she countered, "You must answer my question first. I know you can do what you just said, but I don’t believe that taking my soul out and returning it won’t affect your upcoming ritual. Otherwise, given your character, you would have done that immediately when I first questioned you instead of asking me. This ritual must be very important to you, so if you want to get through it without any surprises, then you should answer my question."

By the time she reached the last few sentences, Dongfang Qingling’s voice had grown twice as loud, her tone very firm, making the strange man feel as if it were he who was trapped and being questioned, not Dongfang Qingling.

He looked deeply at his prey, as if he was seeing her for the first time. But he never imagined that this seemingly delicate and weak woman was so strong and unyielding at her core. In his anger and embarrassment, he felt a bit of admiration for Dongfang Qingling. If she were an ordinary cultivator, she would not have dared to challenge him during her captivity, and the half-year of imprisonment would likely have driven her insane.

The stranger fell silent again, as if he was thinking about what he might gain or lose. After a long time, he asked, "I can answer your question, but if you do not tell me your birth date afterward, I will immediately pull out your soul and search it directly."

"You may speak."

When Dongfang Qingling saw the stranger relent, her previous panic completely disappeared. The dim cave seemed a bit brighter at that moment. Although still captive, her tone was extremely calm, as if she was the one in control.

"I ask for your birth date because I want to use you as a sacrifice for a ceremony. You need to tell me because I am much stronger than you, and right now, you are my prisoner. What I plan to do is use your blood and your soul as a catalyst to perform the ‘Soul Unity Secret Technique’, allowing my soul to completely merge with this body. As for who I am, I believe we only just met shortly before I captured you."

The stranger answered all of Dongfang Qingling’s previous questions, even a clearly frustrated question like "Why should I tell you?" However, it was unclear whether he was being serious or mocking her.

But when the stranger answered the last question, confusion flashed in Dongfang Qingling’s eyes; she clearly did not understand what he meant by "we only just met shortly before I captured you."

After a moment, it seemed Dongfang Qingling realized something. Panic returned to her face as she stared in disbelief at this zombie-like figure, exclaiming, "You…you are the mysterious master who can wield death energy! How did you end up looking like this?"

"Why?"

The strange man, with muscles at the corners of his mouth that seemed stiff like a zombie, appeared to twitch slightly as if he was smiling, then coldly replied, "Because of that Xu Qingfan! All my pain right now is caused by that Xu Qingfan!"

Although the strange man did not speak of revenge, Dongfang Qingling felt a chill in her heart and began to worry about Xu Qingfan. The hatred in the strange man’s eyes was too strong.

The strange man who had imprisoned Dongfang Qingling for half a year was none other than the master of the Zhong family, the Mahayana Stage master, Zhong Ling!

However, that title was only true in the past; now he was just a living dead.

…

It turned out that six months ago, just as he was about to kill Xu Qingfan, the ancient wild beast, a heavenly-level high demon beast named Zhuyin, suddenly appeared. Seeing him attacking Little Gold, Zhuyin immediately launched a fierce counterattack against Zhong Ling. Although Zhong Ling was a master, able to control powerful death energy, he was still far weaker than Zhuyin. In no time, Zhuyin struck Zhong Ling with its tail.

The power of Zhuyin was mostly focused on close combat, and its ability in close combat mainly rested on its snake tail. Its hatred towards Zhong Ling for nearly killing Little Gold made that strike’s power quite formidable.

In the instant the snake tail hit Zhong Ling’s body, a powerful force crushed throughout Zhong Ling’s whole being, shattering every bone and organ inside him, even his energy center. When Zhong Ling fell from the sky to the ground, he had already lost all signs of life.

But Zhong Ling was, after all, the master of the Zhong family, steeped in ancient knowledge. After his body died, his soul was still able to remain awake, and he used one of the Zhong family’s highest secret techniques, "Borrowing a Corpse to Return to Life," merging his soul into a Corpse King he had created.

Thus, Zhong Ling became a creature that was half human and half corpse. Despite his tragic fate, he did not hate the ancestor of the Zhong family or Zhuyin; he only hated Xu Qingfan. If it weren’t for Xu Qingfan, he wouldn’t be afraid to go home. If it weren’t for Xu Qingfan, he wouldn’t have come to the Southern Wasteland, wouldn’t have met Zhuyin, and wouldn’t have lost his body…

But his bad luck was not over yet.

Every disciple of the Zhong family had many corpses that they had refined and controlled. These corpses lay hidden underground, ready to respond to their call and fight. When corpses were refined to the utmost level, their power could even surpass that of the disciples themselves. However, Zhong Ling’s luck was truly awful because he encountered Zhuyin, who was not much luckier than him. All of the powerful Corpse Kings he had refined were shattered, and the Corpse King his soul was inhabiting was the latest one he had refined. Its power was ordinary, and more importantly, since it was newly refined, he had not yet achieved unity with the corpse god. Although his soul was barely lodged in the body, the weakness of this Corpse King greatly weakened his strength, and its body repelled his soul.

With no other choice, the unfortunate Zhong Ling had to find a way to make his soul connect with the body. The "Soul Unity Secret Technique" was one method, but it required the soul and flesh of a cultivator as a sacrifice. At that moment, Dongfang Qingling returned to find Xu Qingfan but was captured by him. Even though his strength was greatly reduced, he still had no trouble dealing with Dongfang Qingling.

On this day, after six months of preparation, Zhong Ling was finally ready and waited for the moment to perform the "Soul Unity Secret Technique."

Or rather, saying he was fully prepared was not quite right, because at this moment, Zhong Ling still needed Dongfang Qingling’s birth date to precisely control the changes in the ritual.

"I’ve answered your question; now tell me your birth date."

After feeling resentment, Zhong Ling regained his calm and asked Dongfang Qingling again.