Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

So Ning Xiu pretended to be calm and acted as if nothing had happened, and continued on his way, waiting for the right opportunity to make his move.

Wow!

As the bubble reached the riverbank, a pale arm suddenly emerged from beneath the water and grabbed Ning Xiu's ankle.

The wet touch pressed against his leg, and Ning Xiu knew that it was definitely a drowned ghost. He immediately kicked it and pulled the owner of the arm out of the river.

By the light of the night, Ning Xiu was finally able to see what the thing looked like.

A person whose entire body was swollen from being soaked!

His eyes were swollen from being submerged in the river water, and his eyelids were tightly folded together, making it impossible to see his eyeballs.

When Ning Xiu violently pulled him out of the water, the drowning ghost opened his mouth wide in fright. His mouth was full of sharp teeth, none of which were the shape a normal person should have.

boom!

Without any hesitation, Ning Xiu immediately punched the other party hard in the face. The crimson pure Yang Fist was simply the nemesis of evil spirits.

The drowning ghost's face immediately turned red and started smoking, making a sizzling sound. After feeling the pain, the drowning ghost's first reaction was to escape back into the Changxia River.

But Ning Xiu would never give him that chance. He immediately channeled his inner strength into his right palm and grabbed the drowning ghost by the throat.

Click click click!

Ning Xiu cracked the drowning ghost's throat bones as he squeezed them. After leaving the Demon Suppression Prison, Ning Xiu's strength had become even greater, and this ninth-grade evil spirit was no match for him at all.

Finally, with its throat completely broken, the drowned ghost's body went still.

【017】Corpse Demon

Liu Funai was a night watchman in Wendeng County. Every night at midnight, he would go out to watch the night watchman, and his job was to shout, "The weather is dry, be careful with fire!"

A few nights ago, he went out to keep watch as usual, and his family didn't pay much attention. But when Liu Fu returned home after midnight, he seemed like a completely different person, behaving extremely abnormally.

According to Liu Fu's wife, Liu, the man entered the house with a strange smile on his face and made eerie "hehehe" noises, which were particularly creepy.

It would occasionally mutter some eerie phrases like "The water is so cold" or "Come and stay with me."

The whole family was terrified when they saw him, as if they were facing a stranger who looked exactly like Liu Fu, not their usual relatives.

That night, before going to sleep, Liu Fu went to the well in the courtyard to fetch water to wash his face. After a long time without any movement, Liu's mother came out of the house, puzzled, only to find that Liu Fu had disappeared.

She searched the entire courtyard and even went outside to look around the neighborhood, but she couldn't find any trace of Liu Fu.

Liu was puzzled, but since she was used to the mundane life, she didn't take it to heart, thinking that Liu Fu had something urgent to attend to and had left without saying a word to his family.

Little did I know that tonight's last farewell would be forever.

The following day, the Liu family learned from their neighbors the devastating news that Liu Fu's body was floating on the Changxia River.

"My lord, my husband died unjustly! He didn't like drinking and was an excellent swimmer. It's impossible that he accidentally fell into the water and died. Please, my lord, find the murderer who killed my husband!" Liu said, her voice trembling as she wiped away tears.

Fang Ping nodded, his expression serious: "I understand. If what you say is true, this matter is indeed very bizarre and strange."

Liu hurriedly said, "Sir, everything I have said is true, not a single word of it is a lie."

"Excuse me, is Liu Fu's coffin closed? Would it be convenient for us to check the condition of the body?" Ning Xiu, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked.

The old woman and Liu exchanged a glance, hesitating for a moment. Fang Ping immediately said, "This is an extraordinary person specially found by our yamen. If you want to find the real culprit, you'd better cooperate with all of his requests."

Upon hearing this, Liu could only nod and say, "Then please, sir."

Several days had passed since Liu Fu drowned, and the coffin had long been sealed with iron nails. If it weren't for the fact that the seventh day after his death had not yet passed, Liu's family would have already asked someone to bury the body and coffin together.

Entering the room where the coffin was stored, this was the same room Ning Xiu had seen shrouded in black mist, and the source of all the black mist was the coffin inside the room.

"What's going on in this room? It's way too damp." Looking at the large water droplets on the surface of the coffin and the soaked wooden beams and pillars throughout the room, Fang Ping couldn't help but say.

Liu shook her head: "I don't know. Ever since I put my husband's body in the coffin, this house has become like this. It's still very damp even though it's not a southerly season."

Ning Xiu walked to the coffin and began prying at the nails without saying a word. Judging from the strange situation, Liu Fu's body must have undergone some kind of mutation.

If this continues, he might just come back to life.

Fang Ping quickly came over to help, and after pulling out more than twenty iron nails, Ning Xiu pushed open the coffin lid with one palm. Immediately, a pale face with wide-open eyes and a swollen face came into Ning Xiu's view.

A faint black line was clearly visible between Liu Fu's eyebrows, extending all the way to his neck, the cause of which was unknown.

"Why didn't you close his eyes?" Ning Xiu asked, puzzled.

"We really couldn't close his eyes. My mother and I tried many methods, but we couldn't get him to close them, so we had no choice but to lower him into the coffin like this," Liu explained.

Fang Ping looked surprised: "Could this be the legendary death with eyes wide open? Tsk, I've been a constable for so many years and this is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. I've really broadened my horizons."

Tick ​​tock!

Just as Ning Xiu was about to check if there were any other abnormalities in Liu Fu's body, a drop of water suddenly fell from the sky and hit Liu Fu's forehead.

This tiny water droplet was very conspicuous, and what was surprising was that the water itself had turned black.

Ning Xiu quickly looked up and saw that the wooden beam directly above the coffin had turned black, showing a completely different color from the other damp wooden beams around it.

This scene instantly reminded Ning Xiu of a passage he had once read in "A Comprehensive Mirror of Demons and Evils".

If someone is harmed by evil spirits, they must never be allowed to stay in a dark and damp place, lest their corpse become a haunting spirit.

More importantly, there should be no wooden beams blocking the top of the corpse, otherwise the evil energy emitted by the corpse will be absorbed by the wooden beams above and turn into evil wood.

Once the water from the evil tree comes into contact with a human corpse, the legendary "zombie resurrection" will occur.

Tick ​​tock!

Another drop of black water fell, and Liu Fu's previously motionless body suddenly trembled slightly.

Ning Xiu knew that the transformation of a human corpse into a ghost was irreversible. To prevent any accidents, he immediately said to Fang Ping, "Take them out and close the door. No matter what noise you hear later, don't pay attention to it. Don't come in without my order."

Although he didn't know what Ning Xiu meant, Fang Ping knew how powerful the Demon Subduing Guards were, and their command methods were unique.

Fang Ping immediately grabbed Liu Shi and Liu Fu's mother, and pulled them forcefully towards the outside. As Fang Ping closed the door, the entire room suddenly became dark.

Another drop of black water fell, and under Ning Xiu's gaze, Liu Fu suddenly sat up from the coffin and crawled straight out of it.

If Fang Ping and the others were to see such a strange phenomenon, they would surely be scared half to death.

Having become a corpse spirit, Liu Fu has completely lost his human consciousness, reduced to a walking corpse with only the instinct to attack.

Sensing Ning Xiu's presence nearby, he immediately stiffened and walked over, reaching out to grab Ning Xiu.

boom!

However, what awaited him was a bright red fist.

The corpse demon moved slowly, and before it could grab Ning Xiu's body, Ning Xiu had already struck the corpse demon in the chest with a punch.

With the blazing pure Yang fist combined with Ning Xiu's internal energy, the corpse demon's chest caved in instantly, and its entire body flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the wall of a house not far away.

The loud commotion inside the house puzzled Fang Ping and the others. Could Ning Xiu be fighting with someone?

But there was no one else in that room besides Ning Xiu.

The corpse demon lying on the ground slowly rose, and even though its chest was completely caved in, it did not affect its movement.

The only advantage of the Corpse Demon, a ninth-rank evil spirit, is that as long as its limbs are intact, it can continue to harm people no matter how badly it is injured.

If one can take another step forward, one will become an eighth-grade zombie, with white fur as hard as iron and astonishing strength.

Seeing the corpse demon approaching him again, Ning Xiu leaped up and quickly closed in, until he was only half a step away from the corpse demon.

He slammed his palm into the face of the corpse demon, and at the same time, he forcefully pushed the corpse demon forward.

boom!

The violent force slammed the corpse demon heavily against the wall. With the support of Ning Xiu's internal energy, the moment the corpse demon's head hit the wall, the entire wall instantly cracked open, revealing large spiderweb-like cracks.

The corpse demon's head also shattered completely under this attack, its entire face collapsing into its skull. Then, the corpse demon finally fell silent.

This combo is simple, brutal, and straightforward, without a single fancy move.

When Ning Xiu was an apprentice at the Champion Camp, his original idea for his character after joining the Demon Subduing Division was this: after joining the Demon Subduing Division, he would first learn a powerful sword technique.

Then, dressed in white, he used his light-footed skills under the moonlight to traverse the bamboo forest, wielding a long sword and making moves as ethereal as a banished immortal.

From then on, everyone who saw him had to call him Ning Jianxian, because he was incredibly handsome.

But now, for some reason, I feel like I'm drifting further and further away from the image I had in mind.

Seeing that the corpse demon had stopped moving, Ning Xiu used his spiritual eye observation technique to carefully examine its body. The reason why there was such a heavy yin and evil aura in the room was all due to this corpse demon.

Under normal circumstances, a corpse demon could not possibly cause such a commotion; there must be some secret about it.

Soon, Ning Xiu discovered the secret location through his search.

Behind Liu Fu, on his skin that had been swollen from being soaked in the river, there was a faint incantation.

Without careful observation, the presence of this incantation image is completely undetectable to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, incantations belong to the realm of talismans, something only immortals learn, and Ning Xiu is completely ignorant in this area. Even though he has discovered this clue on Liu Fu, he can't figure it out.

With no other option, Ning Xiu could only move Liu Fu back into the coffin first, and then call Fang Ping, who was waiting outside, to find pen and paper, intending to make a copy of the incantation diagram and send it back to Chaotiandu for Su Qianqian to see.

If it were her, she should be able to see what's hidden in this.

Although the Liu family did not know what had just happened inside the house, when they saw the gruesome state of Liu Fu's body in the coffin, they were all dumbfounded.

Those who knew the truth knew that Liu Fu drowned, but those who didn't would probably mistakenly think that Ning Xiu had beaten Liu Fu to death.

I briefly explained to them the fact that Liu Fu had turned into a corpse demon, and why the room was so damp.

After successfully replicating the incantation diagram, Ning Xiu instructed Fang Ping to stay behind to handle the aftermath and give the Liu family some silver as compensation. He then quickly left the area, preparing to go to the post station in Wendeng County to immediately send the incantation diagram to the Demon Subduing Division in Chaotian Capital.

[018] The author is here.

The Chaotiandu post station was divided into those for civilians and those for the imperial court.

Private post stations were mainly responsible for transporting goods and letters to ordinary people. For example, if you were doing business in the north and wanted to send a letter home or send local specialties, you could do so through a post station.

Imperial post stations were only accessible to officials and were typically used to transmit military intelligence or memorials submitted by local officials to the emperor for approval. They also provided officials with food, lodging, and horse changing facilities.

As a member of the Iron Horse Demon Subduing Division, Ning Xiu naturally chose the imperial post station. When he arrived at the imperial post station set up in Wendeng County, there was no one else inside except for a few postmen and two young men dressed in brocade robes.