Oh no! I've been reincarnated as a corpse!

Senior Brother Wang and Junior Brother Li felt uneasy under the middle-aged man's cold gaze; their backs were soaked with cold sweat.

Senior Brother Wang quickly spoke up, his voice trembling, "Master! We really didn't hide anything from you! We've told you everything we knew before!"

Junior Brother Li nodded repeatedly, trembling, his head bobbing like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Yes, Master, how could we dare to deceive you?"

The middle-aged man squinted, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the two men's faces, as if trying to see right through them.

The air suddenly became eerily quiet, and even the sound of breathing seemed particularly jarring.

The two were extremely nervous and dared not utter a sound, for fear that they might accidentally become the target of their master's anger.

The middle-aged man was also making plans in his mind.

To be honest, he was inclined to believe his two disciples.

After all, he knew exactly how timid his two good-for-nothing disciples were.

Even if they had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to lie to him.

Moreover, if that corpse truly possessed the cultivation level of a second-realm iron corpse, then Qin Yue would certainly not be the only one who died.

With the abilities of my two disciples, there's no way they could have escaped from that thing.

His original guess was that the little zombie was able to kill Qin Yue by sheer luck in finding it in the cave.

That opportunity either has a limit on the number of times it can be used, or it has other restrictions, such as it can only be used under specific conditions.

Only in this way, after killing Qin Yue, will the living corpse spare its two unworthy disciples, allowing them to escape and return with the news.

But looking at the situation now, the opportunity is even greater than he imagined...

It was so large that it could block the divination of the heavens.

Thinking of this, a greedy glint appeared in the middle-aged man's eyes.

His eyes flickered a few times, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, "That zombie is only at the first level; it can't have gone far. You two go to various markets and place bounties on it. Once you find its whereabouts, tell me."

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Wang and Junior Brother Li felt as if they had been granted a pardon and immediately nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Master!"

"Rest assured, Master, we will definitely handle it well!"

The middle-aged man added, "Remember, don't tell anyone about the opportunities in that cave. As for the reason for the reward, you can come up with a plausible one yourselves."

"clear!"

…………

For the next few days, Lu You lived a fairly regular life.

During the day, he would either stay in the cave to refine the three fragments of the Taiyin Treasure, or sit cross-legged there to study the cultivation techniques.

When evening came and the sun was out, he would sneak out for some fresh air.

First, he went to take a bath by the pool. Although he could no longer smell his own body odor, he always felt uncomfortable if he didn't bathe.

After taking a shower, he would stroll around the mountains for a while.

Four days later, Lu You clearly felt that the bloodthirsty impulse had subsided a lot, and his temperament gradually calmed down. He no longer wanted to gnaw on something as easily as before.

As a result, he had an extra serious task in his daily life.

That is cultivation.

Although his daily life wasn't particularly exciting, he was quite content.

It's better than working overtime day and night like before!

Life is a bit boring now, but it's relaxing.

Sometimes he's so bored he's practically frantic, and there's no one to talk to, so he just ends up talking to himself.

Another week passed, and Lu You completely refined all three fragments of the Taiyin Treasure.

Once fully refined, the effects are immediate.

The efficiency withered branch of the laurel tree in absorbing yin energy has reached an even higher level, at an absurdly fast speed.

The fragments of the Taiyin Huishuo Sha consume significantly less Yin energy when used.

This means he can stay invisible for longer periods and travel further in the future.

The only drawback is that the fragmentation of the Taiyin disc doesn't offer any substantial improvement.

Lu You pondered that it was probably because the fragment was too small, just a tiny bit, like a fingernail, so its power couldn't be very strong.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.

It was just getting dark that day.

Lu You finished studying the cultivation technique, got up from the ground, and stretched.

He stepped out of his cave, intending to take a stroll as usual before returning to practice his breathing exercises.

As soon as he stepped out of the cave, he saw several sika deer standing by the pool, drinking water with their heads down.

When the deer saw him come out, they didn't run away. Instead, they just glanced at him and then lowered their heads to continue drinking water, completely ignoring him.

Lu You couldn't help but smile.

The local tyrant of this area was originally the leopard beast that he had killed.

That guy treated the entire valley as his own territory, and any animal that came here to drink water would be eaten by him as takeout.

But Lu You didn't need to eat, so he naturally didn't bother with the animals that came to drink water.

So over the past few days, animals have been coming over to drink water from time to time.

At first, when these animals saw Lu You come out at night, they would be so frightened that they would run away as fast as rabbits.

But gradually, they realized that Lu You didn't seem to be in any danger.

So they became bolder and used this place as a public drinking water station.

Yesterday, a big tiger even swaggered over to drink water, and Lu You caught it and gave it a good rub.

The feel of it, the smoothness of the fur, wow, it's wonderful.

Walking up to a sika deer, Lu You reached out and stroked its head, instantly feeling satisfied.

Wow, this feels amazing!

Then, like a scumbag, he abandoned the deer without a second thought and went to touch another one.

After petting them one by one, he vanished in a flash, leaving behind a group of deer stunned by his petting.

Although he had only resumed cultivation for a few days, and in order to control his mind, he did not cultivate for long periods each day.

But we can't compete with the cultivation-accelerating cheat code that is the Laurel Tree!

In just a few days, Lu You felt his cultivation speed increasing rapidly.

It's estimated that he'll be able to break through to the late stage of the zombie realm in a few days.

As one's cultivation level increases, the strength of one's physical body naturally rises as well.

His current speed is much faster than when he first broke through to the mid-stage.

Especially at night, without the fatigue brought by the sun, his figure moved so fast that he was almost invisible, like a ghost in the darkness.

Lu You increased his speed, freely traversing between the mountains, the wind whistling in his ears and the trees rushing past him.

He was thrilled by the sense of unbridled freedom.

He arrived at a hilltop and immediately began to shout.

"ah--!!"

The powerful sound echoed back and forth between the mountains, startling a flock of birds into flight.

The roars of the wild beasts in the mountains were instantly silenced by his shout, as if the entire mountain range held its breath.

Just then, Lu You suddenly saw flames appearing in the distance.

He paused for a moment, somewhat puzzled.

That direction... seems to be that small village from before?

Why is it so bright at night?

During his aimless wanderings, Lu You had seen the small village from afar several times from the mountaintop.

However, being a dead man himself, he never thought of going to visit the small village.

He figured they probably wouldn't welcome him much, since a normal person wouldn't like a walking corpse, right?

When I saw that small village at night before, it was almost completely dark, with hardly any lights on.

Why is it so bright tonight?

What happened?

Lu You's gossipy spirit, cultivated in her past life, suddenly ignited fiercely within her.

Let me see what's going on.

He was overjoyed and, in a blur, sped off towards the small village.

The hill he is currently on is only two hills away from the small village.

At his current speed, it took him less than fifteen minutes to reach the edge of the farmland on the outskirts of the village.

During this time, Lu You had gained a general understanding of his own strength.

In this ancient setting, ordinary people wouldn't even be able to see his movement.

There weren't many cultivators in this small village, so Lu You wasn't worried.

Even if he were to encounter a cultivator, he could use the Taiyin Obscure Veil to conceal himself and escape; he still had ways to protect himself.

Therefore, he had no psychological burden and rushed towards the small village at an extremely fast speed.

Soon, Lu You arrived outside the village.

As soon as he got close, he heard a commotion coming from inside.

There were shouts and cries; it was complete chaos.

"Master Nangong! There's one here too!"

"Gou Sheng?! My God! My son!"

"The third one? Are there any more?"

"Is everyone in the village here?"

"..."

Lu You raised an eyebrow slightly as she listened to the conversations and cries.

What happened?

In a flash, he silently approached the direction of the firelight.

Soon, he came to a corner of the wall, poked half his head out, and curiously looked towards the firelight.

A large group of people had gathered there, including men, women, and children; a rough count would have revealed a hundred or two.

The men were all clutching iron tools such as machetes, axes, and forks, their faces tense, as if they were ready to chop someone at any moment.

The women held torches, the orange-red light illuminating the terror on their faces.

The woman was accompanied by children and elderly people, and the group of people were trembling with fear.

Lu You also spotted a familiar little figure in the crowd.

The little brat he'd seen before when he got his clothes.

I think his name was Dazhu?

Dazhu stood next to his parents, the three of them huddled together, their expressions the same as everyone else's—a mixture of worry and fear.

All eyes were on the area they had surrounded.

There were three corpses lying there.

The chests and abdomens of the three corpses were ripped open, dripping with blood, a gruesome sight.

Their expressions were horrified, their eyes wide open and their mouths agape, as if they had experienced immense pain and fear before their deaths.

He looked like he died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.