Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

Puff puff--

In the blink of an eye, the silver puppet's body was riddled with holes by the strange light, and cracks spread continuously. Finally, with a "crack," it shattered into countless fragments, scattered all over the ground, and was completely destroyed.

Situ Chengjun and Su Feiyang, who were outside the cave, were both startled by what they saw. They were secretly glad that they hadn't rushed into the cave. If they had entered rashly, they would probably have suffered a fatal attack like the silver puppet. Even if they hadn't died, they would have been seriously injured.

Inside the cave, the zombie had emerged from the bronze coffin, its body wreathed in eerie true fire. It slowly moved its stiff body, seemingly adapting to its new form after ten thousand years of slumber. Its movements were still somewhat sluggish, yet each step carried a powerful, malevolent force, leaving shallow footprints on the ground.

Just as the brown light at the bottom of the crack completely dissipated, the zombie raised its hand again and summoned a pitch-black talisman. The talisman was engraved with strange runes and exuded a strong aura of malevolence, clearly indicating that it was also a high-grade evil talisman.

The zombie gathered a wisp of Yin energy at its fingertips, and with a gentle tap, the talisman instantly soared into the air, flying to mid-air outside the cave before exploding with a deafening roar. Immediately afterward, countless pitch-black, malevolent energy tentacles appeared out of thin air, like venomous snakes, frantically lashing out at Situ Chengjun, Su Feiyang, and the meteorite puppet beside them.

The zombie still didn't leave the cave. It slowly walked to the fragments of the silver puppet, looked down at them, its expression slightly stammering, as if deep in thought. Judging from its expression, it was clear that it was no ordinary mindless zombie, but rather possessed considerable intelligence and could even contemplate the changes before it.

While skillfully dodging the lashes of the malevolent tentacles, Situ Chengjun rapidly transmitted his thoughts to Su Feiyang using his divine sense, his tone tinged with certainty: "Something's wrong. It's not the seal here that's faulty. The zombies in this cave probably went astray ten thousand years ago!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Su Feiyang responded with his divine sense as he circulated his inner energy, wielding his longsword to sever the attacking tentacles. "If it were simply a broken seal, the heavy malevolent aura emanating from it would be understandable. But the two talismans it unleashed in succession both contained such pure Yin energy, clearly crafted by a powerful evil cultivator. If it weren't an evil cultivator itself, why would it carry such evil talismans?"

Situ Chengjun's heart stirred, and he asked telepathically, "Brother, you have traveled extensively over the years. Do you know which sect owned this island in the lake ten thousand years ago? Perhaps we can find out the details of this zombie by learning about the sect's origins."

"I don't know." Su Feiyang replied truthfully, with a hint of helplessness in his tone. "Back then, I was devoted to the sword path and spent most of my time cultivating in Xichuan Sword Pavilion. I rarely traveled around. Xichuan Sword Pavilion is far from here, and I know nothing about the sects and forces in this area. It's not that I intentionally concealed anything."

Upon hearing this, Situ Chengjun's heart sank slightly—his situation ten thousand years ago was not much different from Su Feiyang's. At that time, he was also single-mindedly focused on cultivation, only to improve his strength and help his family rise. He had no spare time to travel around and knew nothing about the origins of this sect.

"The cave is fraught with danger; we shouldn't rush in rashly. Let's wait for it to come out from outside," Situ Chengjun said telepathically after a moment's thought.

"Alright, we'll do as you say, brother." Su Feiyang immediately agreed.

Although the two were complete strangers and had never crossed paths before, at this moment they maintained a high degree of tacit understanding, retreating together to the safe area at the bottom of the crevice, dodging the attacks of the evil tentacles while keeping a close eye on the cave entrance and waiting patiently.

Su Mu, suspended in mid-air, did not allow the meteorite puppet to make any rash moves—although those eerie tentacles were sharp, they were difficult to strike the agile meteorite puppet. Even if they occasionally hit it, they could not break through its tough body and could not harm it in the slightest. Su Mu continued to maintain his divine sense, closely monitoring the movements inside the cave, waiting for the best opportunity to strike.

The power of those two evil talismanic treasures far exceeded their expectations. Merely resisting the tentacles' attacks had already severely depleted Situ Chengjun and Su Feiyang's strength, causing their auras to become slightly disordered. Su Mu understood that this was likely the zombie's intention—not to kill the invading enemy in one fell swoop, but to continuously deplete their power, waiting until they were exhausted before striking to reap the benefits.

After about half an incense stick's time, the eerie tentacles at the bottom of the crack finally dissipated and disappeared completely into the air. Then, the zombie slowly stepped out of the huge cave.

Its body was engulfed in malevolent flames, and its sinister aura permeated the sky. Every step it took carried immense pressure, causing the air at the bottom of the entire rift to stagnate.

Upon seeing this, Situ Chengjun and Su Feiyang immediately tensed up, instantly channeling their inner strength to its limit. Their protective auras condensed once more, and their weapons were poised to strike at any moment.

Just as the two were about to make their move, the zombie suddenly raised its hand and summoned a strangely shaped magical artifact—the artifact was entirely black, resembling a child's rattle drum, with eerie runes engraved on its surface, radiating a chilling soul fluctuation.

The zombie flicked its fingertip, activating its magical artifact, and then gently began to shake it. The drumbeat wasn't loud, even carrying a strange hoarseness, yet it seemed to possess the power to penetrate everything, directly entering Situ Chengjun and Su Feiyang's sea of ​​consciousness, frantically impacting their souls, causing ripples to instantly spread across their sea of ​​consciousness.

The rattle drum's sound was eerie and domineering. Even though Situ Chengjun and Su Feiyang were prepared, they were instantly affected. Their movements froze for a moment, their internal energy circulation became slightly disordered, and they felt a sharp pain in their sea of ​​consciousness, as if countless fine needles were piercing them.

That brief pause was enough for the zombie to launch an attack!

The zombie flashed, its speed astonishing, far exceeding everyone's expectations, and instantly rushed in front of Su Feiyang. A dark red bone club had appeared in its hand, swirling with dense Yin energy and emanating a decaying aura; it was clearly an evil artifact.

Without the slightest hesitation, the zombie raised its hand and swung its bone club, bringing a whistling wind as it slammed it hard against Su Feiyang's protective shield. The bone club contained extremely powerful energy, and coupled with the corrosive power of Yin Sha, Su Feiyang's already weakened protective shield due to the injury to his soul was completely vulnerable.

With a crisp "crack," Su Feiyang's protective aura instantly disintegrated, turning into countless specks of light that vanished without a trace.

Before he could react, the dark red bone club slammed solidly into Su Feiyang's chest.

puff--

A mouthful of blood gushed from Su Feiyang's mouth. His body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the rock wall of the crack with a dull thud. He then slowly slid down, his face as pale as paper, his breath instantly weakening considerably.

"What a powerful rattle drum!" Su Feiyang struggled to sit up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were filled with shock and resentment. He thought to himself, "I clearly have a soul-defense magic treasure guarding my sea of ​​consciousness, yet I was still affected by this drumbeat, which slowed down my movements!"

He knew in his heart that if he hadn't been distracted by the drumbeats, with his strength, even if he couldn't completely dodge the attack, he could have parried it with his longsword in time, and would never have taken a solid hit. This blow, seemingly simple, contained the Yin energy of the zombie's entire body, severely injuring him and depleting most of his power.

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