This celestial master cultivates both physical and magical arts; why did you provoke him?

The Zombie King's arrival came without any warning.

At three o'clock in the morning that day, Xia En was woken up by a phone call from Chen Guodong.

The voice on the other end of the phone was very low, carrying a deliberately suppressed tension:

"Master Xia, something terrible has happened. The western suburbs cemetery... all the graves have been dug up."

Xia En rubbed his eyes: "Stolen?"

"It wasn't grave robbing." Chen Guodong's voice trembled slightly. "The corpses... they've all stood up."

Xia En remained silent for two seconds.

"I'm going there now."

He rolled out of bed and put on his clothes.

Hearing the commotion, Fang Zijian peeked out from next door. Seeing Xia En's expression, he put on his shoes and followed without saying a word.

Cuihua floated down the corridor, her face paler than usual.

She sensed it; there was an extremely strong aura of death to the west, so strong that it made her, one of her kind, feel a chill run down her spine.

"What is it?" Fang Zijian asked.

"have no idea."

"But to make all the corpses in the cemetery stand up, that's no ordinary thing," Shane said.

The van stopped at the entrance to the western suburban cemetery before dawn.

Chen Guodong and a dozen police officers stood guard at the entrance, their searchlights illuminating the cemetery.

But the scene illuminated by the lights made Fang Zijian's scalp tingle.

Hundreds of graves in the cemetery were all dug up.

The coffin lids lay scattered haphazardly on the ground, the grave was empty, and the corpse inside...

They all stood up.

Hundreds of corpses stood neatly among the tombstones, all facing the same direction.

They didn't move; they just stood there.

Some had rotted away to the point of being just skeletons, while others remained as they were when they were buried, with their burial clothes intact and their faces clearly visible.

Under the moonlight, hundreds of empty eye sockets stared in the same direction.

In the center of the cemetery stands the largest tomb.

The tombstone had three characters engraved on it:

Tomb of the King of Chu.

"What is that?"

Fang Zijian's voice trembled.

"A prince from the Qing Dynasty."

Chen Guodong said, "The county annals record that this King of Chu was tyrannical and cruel during his lifetime, and hundreds of slaves were buried with him after his death."

"His grave has always been beneath this cemetery; it was unearthed last month during road construction. The cultural relics bureau hasn't had time to deal with it yet..."

His words were interrupted by a loud bang.

In the center of the cemetery, the mound of the Chu King's tomb exploded.

Mud flew everywhere, and stones scattered in all directions.

A pale hand reached out from the tomb and gripped the ground.

That hand was as thick as a tree root, with long, black nails that gleamed with a metallic sheen.

Then there's a head.

A deathly pale face, tightly closed eyes, and a decaying crown on his head.

His body slowly rose from the tomb, reaching a height of over two meters. His royal robes were tattered to shreds, revealing his dark blue skin underneath.

His skin was covered with dense black lines, like blood vessels or some kind of ancient incantation.

He opened his eyes.

Those eyes had no pupils, only a deathly white expanse.

But everyone could sense that he was "watching" them.

Hundreds of corpses moved at the same time.

They turned to Shane and his group, opened their mouths, and emitted hoarse, uniform sounds:

"My king... has awakened..."

Fang Zijian's legs went weak.

Chen Guodong drew his pistol, but his hand was trembling.

The young police officers' faces were as white as paper.

Only Shane stood still, watching the zombie king rise from the tomb, his expression as calm as if he were looking at an ordinary opponent.

"A prince from the Qing Dynasty?"

He said, "It's interesting that someone can stand up after being dead for hundreds of years."

The Zombie King's gaze swept over everyone and landed on Xia En.

He tilted his head and uttered a low, hoarse voice, like the turning of a rusty iron door: "Taoist priest?"

"From the Celestial Master's Mansion," Xia En said.

The Zombie King paused for a moment, then opened its mouth, revealing a set of blackened, sharp teeth. "The Celestial Master's Mansion… I killed three of them in my lifetime."

Xia En raised an eyebrow: "And then?"

"Then they died."

The Zombie King strode forward, each step shaking the ground. "I too died. But now, I have returned."

He raised his hand and pointed at Shane. "You will be the fourth."

Hundreds of corpses roared at the same time and rushed towards Xia En.

The scene was like a gray tide, carrying the stench of decay and the scent of death, sweeping across the land.

Chen Guodong pulled the trigger.

The bullet struck the chest of the first corpse, which only swayed slightly before continuing its charge.

The officers opened fire, but the corpses were not afraid of bullets at all. They walked even when they were shot through, crawled even when their legs were broken, and dragged themselves forward by pulling on the ground when they couldn't crawl anymore.

"withdraw!!!"

Chen Guodong roared, "Everyone, retreat!"

The police officers escorted Chen Guodong back.

Fang Zijian pulled Liu Ruyan backward.

She arrived at some unknown time, her face pale, but she gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound.

Cuihua floated in mid-air, trembling all over, but she didn't run away.

Xia En did not withdraw.

He stood before hundreds of corpses, alone, empty-handed.

The first corpse had rushed up to him, opened its rotting mouth, revealed sharp teeth, and lunged to bite his neck.

Xia En punched it in the face.

"Bang—" The corpse's head exploded like a watermelon, splattering black liquid everywhere.

The headless body swayed twice and then collapsed to the ground.

The second, third, and fourth bodies pounced on him one after another. Xia En punched each one, each punch landing precisely on their heads, each punch causing a head to explode.

His movements were so fast they were dazzling. There were no fancy moves, just the simplest straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts, but each punch was incredibly powerful.

Fang Zijian watched in astonishment from a distance.

He had seen Xia En fight evil spirits, used lightning magic, and used talismans, but he had never seen Xia En like this before.

Purely using fists, one punch after another, clean and efficient.

"His...his boxing style..." Liu Ruyan murmured.

"It's not a martial art."

Shen Ye's voice came from the side.

He arrived at some unknown time, standing in the shadows, his silvery-white eyes fixed on Xia En's figure.

"There are no techniques, no routines, just pure power and speed. This isn't something you can train for; it's... talent."

Thirty bodies, fifty bodies, one hundred bodies.

Headless corpses were piled up around Shane, and black liquid formed streams on the ground.

But his speed did not slow down, and his fists did not weaken.

Every punch was still as heavy as ever, and every punch was still as fast as ever.

The Zombie King watched as his slaves were beaten to a pulp, a flicker of emotion flashing in his pale eyes.

It wasn't anger, it was surprise.

"You... are not an ordinary Taoist master."

Xia En smashed the head of the last corpse with a single punch, stood in the middle of the pile of corpses, his body splattered with black liquid, panting heavily, but his eyes remained calm.

"I have said that I am a Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion. But even a Celestial Master can use martial arts."

The Zombie King fell silent.

Then he laughed, a laugh that revealed his full set of sharp teeth.

"Interesting. In hundreds of years, this is the first time I have encountered such an interesting opponent."

He raised his right hand, his five fingers spread.

The ground began to shake, the shattered fragments of the corpses began to writhe, black liquid flowed back, and broken bones began to piece themselves back together.

In just a few seconds, all the corpses that Xia En had blown up came back to life, more than before, faster than before, and more frenzied than before.

Fang Zijian cried out in despair, "Holy crap, it can come back to life?!"

Xia En looked at the corpses that had risen again and took a deep breath.

He got it.

These corpses are not independent entities; they are part of the Zombie King's body.

As long as the Zombie King doesn't die, they will resurrect indefinitely.

"Then I'll hit you first."

Xia En slammed his foot off the ground, propelling himself towards the Zombie King like a cannonball.

He was so fast that he left a trail of afterimages in the air, his right fist clenched tightly, with faint flashes of lightning on its surface.

The Zombie King didn't dodge; he stretched out his hands and caught Shane's fists directly.

"Bang--!!!"

The shockwave spread in all directions, shaking the surrounding corpses to their sides.

The ground was shaken open with spiderweb-like cracks, and the air was filled with a mixture of dust and black smoke.

The Zombie King caught the punch.

His hands trembled violently, and the ground beneath his feet caved in half a foot, but his body remained completely still.

He looked down at Xia En, a hint of mockery flashing in his pale eyes.

"He's quite strong. But it's not enough."

He exerted his strength and flung Xia En away.

Xia En did two somersaults in the air before landing steadily.

He looked down at his fist.

His fist was covered in the black energy from the Zombie King's palm, which seemed to be alive and was drilling into his skin.

"Corpse energy."

Xia En flicked his hand, and a flash of lightning evaporated the black energy.

"You've got some skills."

The Zombie King strode forward, each step shaking the ground.

"I have cultivated for five hundred years, absorbing all the vital energy of this land. What makes you, a mere twenty-something-year-old Taoist priest, think you can fight me?"

He suddenly threw a punch.

This punch was accompanied by a thick layer of black energy and was incredibly fast.

Xia En dodged to the side, the force of the punch grazing his cheek and creating a large crater in the ground behind him.

The Zombie King's attacks were relentless, each punch carrying immense power and corrosive corpse energy.

Xia En kept dodging and occasionally blocking, but was forced to retreat step by step by the impact.

Fang Zijian watched from a distance, his heart clenching with anxiety.

"He can't beat them..."

Shen Ye shook his head.

"He's waiting."

"What are you waiting for?"

Shen Ye did not answer.

His silvery-white eyes watched Xia En's every move, seeing things that others couldn't.

Xia En was observing, analyzing, and searching for the Zombie King's weaknesses.