The Legend of Swing Sword and Execution of Demons

Chapter 772 Corpses Left in the Hometown
I am Hu Qing.

The Phoenix of Phoenix Cry Pavilion.

Having escaped death once again, I am still deeply troubled.

I don't know how many more times I can successfully escape.

I wonder when this war will end.

I don't know if I'll live to see the end of the zombie horde and the end of the war.

Seeing the writing brushes and inkstones in the inn, I suddenly felt like writing something.

As I picked up my pen to write, my heart finally calmed down.

I also felt it was necessary to leave some records.

If unfortunately, one dies.

Hopefully, this information will be helpful to later survivors.

My memories of the chaotic times of foreign invasion during my childhood are vague.

However, as one grows up, one can feel that the trauma inflicted on people's lives by war is extremely difficult to heal.

I have not experienced the so-called apocalypse.

But I think what is happening in the southwestern region of Zhongzhou right now is the end times.

The corpse soldiers are controlled by the insect-like insects; the only way to end this is to behead them.

However, the agility and combat power of ordinary zombie soldiers make them difficult for even third-rate martial artists to deal with.

A horde of undead soldiers—even a second-rate martial artist would find it difficult to hold off more than five at a time.

The slightest carelessness can result in injury and death; the faster one's combat strength declines, the easier it is to die and become a new zombie soldier.

Even the army was not very strong in the face of the zombie horde.

They abandoned the land to save the people, abandoned villages and towns to defend the prefecture, and fortified their defenses and cleared the fields.

Soldiers guarded the city walls to protect the people, while warriors acted flexibly.

Such a strategy may provide temporary relief, but it is not a long-term solution.

The food supply and transportation for tens of thousands of people in any prefecture city would undoubtedly be difficult to guarantee.

Therefore, during each retreat, the military also organized the people to move east and north.

What we, the people of the martial arts world, can and must do is build a defensive line in front of them.

After all, the more of them who die behind them, the more difficult enemies they will become to eliminate.

Elder Yue and the gang leader are fighting on the front lines. As long as they can kill Ji Mucheng, everything should be over.

We are not elite combat forces; it is more prudent to deal with the zombie horde as a group.

Each team consists of thirty to fifty people, who can support each other well.

Of course, we have all signed a contract.

If anyone unfortunately dies, please ask your fellow practitioners nearby to help us cut off our heads and preserve our final dignity.

Comrades who were fighting side by side just a moment ago.

The next moment may very well be the time to sever his head.

It's very difficult, very difficult to do.

But we have to do it.

The new developments that emerged at the beginning of May made the relocation process even more urgent.

The patrols ahead discovered the Poisonous Zhu Corpse Army's secret plan.

The Poisonous Zhu people attempted to have their Corpse Army infiltrate from the miasma forests and marshes within the borders of Yunze and Yuegui.

Instead of engaging the Central Plains army head-on, they directly raided villages and towns.

Expand the army of the dead by annihilating the population of villages and towns, and then surround the city from the villages and towns!
It is already quite an achievement for the military to be able to detect unusual activity and issue timely warnings through various sentry posts.

Intercepting the zombie army, whose whereabouts are unknown, would be extremely difficult.

As people of Zhongzhou, we have no choice but to go.

Between May and July, our team of forty-two intercepted and killed two groups of zombies.

The group of zombie soldiers that was intercepted and killed in the Xingye Swamp in northern Yunze at the end of May numbered only one hundred.

None of our forty-two members were injured or killed.

In mid-June, more than 300 corpse soldiers appeared in the north-central part of Yunze.

Many were injured, and five comrades were killed.

Ziyan and Guhe from Hongchen Inn, Sima Mushui from Tingyu Pavilion, Wudan from Sanren Residence, and Yanfeng Renduo from our Fengming Pavilion.

Of the five, we failed to behead Ziyan immediately.

Ziyan, who was already a formidable fighter, injured six of us after becoming a zombie soldier before being beheaded.

On such a battlefield, we cannot harbor any illusions, nor can we be too sentimental.

Only after all the corpse soldiers have been beheaded and the battlefield can be calmly cleaned up can the bodies of the fallen comrades be collected and buried.

Yunze Realm is no longer safe.

It is said that the imperial edicts for relocation came from the court, one side sending people to the northern part of Sichuan, and the other side sending them to the eastern part of Guizhou.

Clearly, the central government is not optimistic about the development of the situation in the southwest.

In July, we continued to retreat northeastward towards Yunze territory.

Villages and towns are deserted, and cities and counties are empty.

It is foreseeable that Yunze Realm will gradually degenerate into a death zone where no one lives.

This is perhaps a calamity that has never occurred in the Central Plains for thousands of years; at least, I have never heard of it.

July 15th.

That day was the Ghost Festival.

We stopped for a rest in Guanhe Town.

Xi Xia from Tingyu Pavilion somehow managed to find a pile of paper money at a coffin shop and distributed it to everyone.

Everyone has friends who have passed away, and we are able to offer some condolences and remembrance.

Unfortunately, a large army of corpses was not far away.

As the firelight illuminated the sky, more than five hundred zombie soldiers charged at us frantically, using both their hands and feet.

At first, we were able to hold our ground, fighting and retreating simultaneously.

But after crossing the Guanhe Bridge, they encountered a hundred zombie soldiers!

As night deepened, we were unable to maintain our formation and were scattered in two places by the zombie army.

The sound of scattered footsteps grew closer in the distance; staying put would only attract more zombies to engulf us.

So, the two groups shouted to each other as they broke through the encirclement and met up in Fushui County.

Even if Fushui County falls, we can still escape to Shu by waterway.

At that moment, we were incredibly fortunate that these zombie soldiers wouldn't listen to or remember our conversation.

After that night, in Fushui County, two hundred miles away, I could only set off with thirteen fellow travelers.

The situation in Yunze is worse than we anticipated.

We avoided the zombie army twice in seven days.

Before setting off, we assessed our own combat capabilities.

Our group of fourteen should be able to behead fifty corpse soldiers within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

If the number of undead soldiers exceeds fifty, it will be beyond our control.

If the decapitation is too slow, or if other unforeseen circumstances occur, complications may arise.

If there are more than fifty corpse soldiers, we should avoid them.

The number of zombies encountered on both occasions was no less than a hundred.

Based on what we have seen before, the number of corpses that infiltrated the Central Plains must be in the hundreds.

When we were still fifty li away from Fushui County, our whereabouts were discovered by the Corpse Army.

Chased by more than two hundred zombie soldiers, he fled into Tongluo Mountain.

We found a cave inside Tongluo Mountain.

Before we could shake off the zombie soldiers, we dared not go inside, fearing that there would be no way out and we would end up digging our own graves.

After hiding from the zombie soldiers in the mountains for a day, we were able to confirm that the cave had another way out.

They then devised a plan to escape the zombie soldiers by passing through the cave. However, an unexpected incident still occurred during the execution of the plan.

We've exhausted too much of our energy, while the zombie soldiers' pursuit speed hasn't slowed down.

The moment they entered the cave, less than ten breaths later, the corpse soldiers followed them in.

Fortunately, the cave is not very spacious, only enough for five people to walk side by side, and at most three people can move around freely.

The first wave of zombie soldiers that rushed in, one by one, in pairs, we could easily behead them.

The remains of the undead soldiers might also limit their movement later on.

However, the results proved that even in the smallest gaps, the zombie soldiers could still crawl forward along the rock and soil, regardless of the damage they sustained.

At the same time, there were about seven or eight corpse soldiers who could rush towards our rear guard.

Although the threat posed was limited compared to outside the cave, even with our fourteen men taking turns to hold the rear and behead the enemy, the sheer amount of physical exertion completely slowed down our retreat.

We all realized that at this rate, there was no way we could shake off these zombie soldiers.

We will only be slowly dragged down.

When it was my turn, Xi Xia's turn, and Granny Moon Goddess of Sun and Moon Fortress's turn to bring up the rear.

The Moon Goddess actually erected a crystal wall inside the cave.

The crystal wall on the Sword Dance Platform, which even the Lone Soul could not break through despite considerable effort.

It's more than enough to deal with the zombie soldiers.

Watching the zombie soldiers slamming against the crystal wall, grimacing and writhing, we finally had a chance to catch our breath.

No one would blame Granny Moon for not using the Crystal Wall to defend against the zombie soldiers sooner.

Instead, seeing the thin, emaciated, and hunched body standing alone in front of him gave him a bad feeling.

Grandma Moon has many minor injuries that haven't healed, and her physical condition is nearing its limit after many days of running around without getting enough rest.

She turned her back to us and firmly told us to leave first.

The undead soldiers continued to ram into the crystal wall, making loud banging noises.

During my observation, I discovered that these undead soldiers were not entirely devoid of intelligence, or perhaps they retained some hunting instincts.

After being blocked by the crystal wall, some of the undead soldiers began to scratch at the rock wall next to the crystal wall with their bare hands.

Some of the undead soldiers swung their weapons and smashed things.

Some of the zombie soldiers even opened their mouths wide and began gnawing at the rocks with their teeth.

The crystal wall remains standing.

We cannot question the advice of the Moon Goddess to leave.

Her condition made it impossible for her to safely escape to Fushui County, let alone escape Yunze.

After Sun and Moon Fortress was captured by the zombie soldiers, her home ceased to exist.

Yunze was her final home.

To be buried here is a way of preserving one's remains in one's hometown.

We could only respect the Moon Goddess's choice and bow in farewell.

Grandma Moon burned her last breath to buy us at least the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to escape.

She is our savior. Without the sacrifice of the Moon Goddess, we would not be able to come to Fushui County today.

I couldn't possibly sit in my room and record all of this.

But ever since I left the cave, I've been thinking about something.

The Moon Goddess Granny is probably too weak to cut off her own head, so will her body, which has exhausted her essence, still be controlled by the Corpse Gu?

I tried to convince myself that I couldn't.

But I've seen it among the zombie soldiers: a sparse, white-haired, emaciated old man over seventy years old, limping and lunging at me, baring his teeth and claws.

I was also controlled by Gu worms before. Although it wasn't a corpse Gu, I never want to experience that feeling of being controlled again.

If I were in dire straits, I would be mentally prepared to cut off my own head.

Here, I can only console myself that the witchcraft practiced by Granny Moon Goddess can suppress the influence of those foreign corpse worms.

Fushui County is now a ghost town.

No trace of the undead soldiers was found in the surrounding area.

This is good news for us.

But we don't know what happened to the other twenty-three people who were separated from us.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we will wait here until they arrive, and together we will travel north to Sichuan by waterway.

Currently, I am accompanied by twelve other colleagues.

They are Bingyi, Yehen, Mengfang, Nangong Hanyu, Yun'er, and Qingying from Sanrenju.

Luo Xiao, Wen Di, and Tan Zheng of Yiqu Liunian Pavilion.

Wu Zhou, the Golden God, is the chief of the Five Elements Gods in the Temple of Gods.

Xi Xia of Tingyu Pavilion.

And my fellow disciple, Lin Miaomiao, the Ice Phoenix of the Hundred Phoenixes of Fengmingxuan.

I remember their names very clearly.

Hopefully we can arrive in Sichuan safely and intact.

If not, I hope someone will remember our names and our past efforts.

……

……

In the 2363rd year of the Zhongzhou calendar, on the 15th of the eighth month.

Mid-Autumn Festival, Chen Shi (7-9 AM).

The patrols of Luzhou County, which still had several hundred martial arts practitioners stationed there, discovered the unusual activity outside the city.

A boat had become stranded on the riverbank ten miles away.

More than thirty martial artists immediately went out of the city to investigate the situation.

The leader was tall and thin with messy, disheveled hair.

Her face was thin but her skin was loose, as if it had been left by someone who had gained weight too quickly and then lost it.

The heavy eye circles only accentuated her bright, piercing eyes.

With the purple apron draped over his shoulders and neck, and a sword in hand, this strange swordsman's appearance, resembling a wanderer, comes from Zifeng of Tingyu Pavilion.

The boats on the riverbank were already smashed to pieces.

Several pieces of human remains were scattered on and around the ship.

The group was fairly certain that the ship had escaped from the west.

I called out several times, but there was no response.

Zifeng then bent down and crawled into the damaged cabin.

Zi Feng, who was almost kneeling on the ground, saw three men and four women in the cabin.

There were seven unconscious martial arts practitioners.

The woman closest to Zifeng was deathly pale, with a chunk of flesh torn from her neck by a bite, but fortunately, no vital organs were injured.

The tattered clothes could at least cover up the shame, but with his disheveled hair, it was impossible to tell who he was.

The woman seemed to sense the approach of a stranger, or perhaps she had just regained consciousness; her eyelids twitched, and she slowly opened them.

Only then did Zifeng notice a pair of bright silver steel rings, about the same size as her slender waist, near her.

Zi Feng had already confirmed that the other party was a fellow martial artist, so he hurriedly tried to help him up and transfer his internal energy to help him regulate his breathing.

Unexpectedly, the woman turned around and offered him her right hand, which held a silver diamond-shaped forehead ornament.

"Ling Feng Hu Qing?"

Zi Feng recognized the woman's identity, but couldn't understand what she was trying to express through the silent movement of her lips.

All that is known is that as soon as Hu Qing woke up, she put the forehead ornament into his hand, which must contain important information.

Sure enough, there was a piece of paper covered with writing tucked inside the forehead ornament.

I've thought about this before: in novels and games these days, at least half of them will feature a character named Moon Goddess, and my book is no exception.

There is also a beautiful moon goddess in Yanyun.

This is perhaps what the Moon Goddess looked like when she was young.