What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

Zhou Ming below understood immediately. He bit his tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the thunder talisman in his palm.

At the same time, he roared angrily in the direction of the evil cultivator: "Thunder God, help me! So be it!"

The next moment, a bolt of cyan lightning as thick as a thigh streaked across the hall, striking the evil cultivator precisely on the flank.

Although most of it was blocked by the blood lines around his body, the extremely yang and powerful lightning magic still made the evil cultivator's movements stagnate for a moment.

Right now.

The Soul-Locking Stake appears again, specifically designed to seal vital acupoints!

The four silver needles in my hand flew out and transformed into four cold stars, sealing the major acupoints on the evil cultivator's limbs.

"ah--!"

The evil cultivator let out a scream, and the once stable Hundred Ghosts Weaving Clothes Formation finally showed a fatal disorder.

The wildly dancing blood lines instantly lost control and began to lash wildly within the hall.

He struggled to remove the Soul-Locking Needles pinned to his limbs, but with each movement, the malevolent energy from the needles would burrow into his meridians like venomous snakes.

At this moment, the mask made of human skin on his face had cracked halfway, and he was spitting out a mouthful of blood.

He had already suffered a backlash from the formation when he was fighting with me in the cemetery, and now I forcibly interrupted his activation of the formation by using the Soul-Locking Stake.

At this moment, he looked like he was seriously injured.

"You...whose successor are you...?"

He was still panting, making strange "clucking" sounds in his throat, as if he wanted to say something.

I did not answer his question. To say even a single word to such a beast who uses human souls to refine arrays would be to condone his behavior.

When the battle formation was broken on the outskirts of the ancient town, the faces of those wronged souls were still vivid in my mind.

I didn't even bother to ask his name or background.

Moreover, after spending a long time in the funeral home, I've come to understand one thing best: things that are completely dead are the safest.

I stepped over the scattered bone fragments and walked to him in a few steps.

Knife up and down.

With a soft "plop," a splatter of blood landed on the stage.

His body convulsed suddenly, then went completely limp.

I used the tip of my knife to pry open the remaining half of his mask, wanting to see what kind of person he was.

I didn't notice it when we were fighting, but now that I'm looking closer, I see a strange bronze cauldron pattern tattooed on the back of this person's head.

I memorized the pattern in my mind, but now is not the time to investigate his identity.

On the ground, Lu Yan is still leading people to hold out. Every second I delay increases the danger outside.

"Zhao Tie, search him. See if there's anything usable. Hurry up."

I sheathed my sword and turned to Zhou Ming. "How's your magic power recovering? We need to keep going."

"Advisor Chen, I can still manage."

Zhou Ming wiped the sweat from his face, adjusted his glasses, and stood up.

"After that formation was broken, I felt the direction of the Yin energy inside change, and it was now facing northeast."

Zhao Tie deftly searched the corpse, finally finding only a dark wooden plaque.

He stuffed the things into his coat and said in a muffled voice, "Damn it, all we found were a few rotten wooden signs, nothing else. Consultant Chen, let's go."

I nodded and led the way through the screen behind the stage.

Behind the screen is a long stone staircase corridor that extends downwards, with the walls on both sides carved with densely packed tomb guardian beasts.

But the eyes of these statues had all been chiseled out with sharp tools, making them look particularly sinister.

The further in you go, the stronger the stench of decay becomes, and the static from the walkie-talkie grows louder and louder, eventually turning into a piercing electrical buzzing sound.

"Director Lu, can you hear me?" I tried calling out.

There was only a buzzing sound from the walkie-talkie, and occasionally Lu Yan's muffled shouts could be heard, seemingly urging each group to hold their positions.

It looks like communication is completely cut off; we can only rely on ourselves now.

After walking for about five minutes, the space in front of us suddenly opened up.

This is a huge, hemispherical stone chamber with a deep pool about ten meters in diameter in the very center.

The water in the pool wasn't blue, but a viscous dark red, and it was bubbling and gurgling.

Each burst of bubbles releases a dense, almost tangible, grayish corpse aura.

On the dome of the stone chamber, a huge crack suddenly appeared, and rubble kept falling down.

I looked up and could vaguely see the golden array of light above me through the crack—that was the location of the stage in the square.

"This is it."

I pointed to the pool of blood.

"Zhou Ming, set up the formation. Use the Dragon-Suppressing Stakes to lock the four corners of this pool."

"clear!"

Zhou Ming immediately took out four half-meter-long, jet-black metal stakes from his backpack.

"Zhao Tie, you and the other two brothers are in charge of protecting the Dharma. There might be something in this pool."

I whispered my advice.

Zhao Tie nodded, gripping his shield tightly with both hands, staring intently at the churning blood.

Meanwhile, the other two members of the Folklore Bureau also dispersed, forming a triangle with Zhao Tie, thus sealing off the entire Blood Pool.

Zhou Ming took a deep breath and began to move quickly around the blood pool.

With each step he took, he would place a soul-stabilizing talisman on the ground while muttering incantations.

When he reached the first position, he suddenly thrust the dragon-suppressing stake in his hand downwards.

Boom!

The heavy clanging of metal echoed through the stone chamber.

The dragon-suppressing stake sank three-tenths of an inch into the ground, and the runes on it instantly lit up with a faint blue light.

Just then, the red liquid in the center of the blood pool suddenly began to churn violently, and pale hands emerged from the bottom of the water, frantically scratching at the rocks on the shore.

"Holy crap, so many water ghosts?"

Zhao Tie cursed and slammed his shield down, smashing several hands that tried to climb up into a bloody pulp.

"Ignore them, keep going!" I whispered.

I held a scalpel and moved around Zhou Ming.

Anything that tries to get close to Zhou Ming will be stopped by me immediately.

Zhou Ming moved quickly, and the second and third dragon-suppressing stakes fell one after another.

As the number of stakes increased, the churning of the blood pool weakened considerably, and the corpse gas gushing from the dome began to thin out.

But just as Zhou Ming was preparing to place the last stake, an unexpected change occurred.

Suddenly, a huge whirlpool opened up in the center of the blood pool, and a huge corpse covered in tattered golden armor slowly rose from the bottom of the water.

The corpse was over two meters tall, holding a rusty long-handled broadsword, and the aura emanating from it was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

"Advisor Chen, leave this big guy to me!"

Zhao Tie roared and charged forward, shield in hand.

boom!

The golden-armored zombie's greatsword struck the shield with a deafening roar.

Zhao Tie was actually forced to kneel on one knee by this slash, and the bluestone slab beneath his feet crumbled inch by inch.

"Zhou Ming, don't look, keep driving the stake in!"

My foot slipped, and I skimmed across the ground, my willow-leaf blade aimed straight for the golden-armored zombie's ankle.

This thing has too thick a hide; it's not worth fighting it head-on. We need to disable its mobility first.