Chapter 88: Battling the Zombies! (Part 2)

“O, o, o, attack, attack…” Several people finally snapped out of their trance, positioning themselves at the four cardinal directions. They began to whirl their lassos. Bai Erlaizi was the first to strike. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a black iron hook, which flew straight toward the Jiangshi’s waist. The hook was heavy, maintaining its momentum, wrapping around the Jiangshi’s body several times before hanging loosely. The other three followed suit, and soon the Jiangshi was bound tightly like a meat dumpling. The four exchanged glances, then pulled the ropes with all their might, dragging the Jiangshi to the ground, immobilizing it.

“Roar…” The Jiangshi screamed fiercely, abandoning Wang Weizhen and lunging toward Bai Erlaizi.

“Change formation, change formation!” Seeing the danger, Wang Weizhen shouted instructions. He didn’t even need to say it—the four had been trained by Zhang Enpu. Now, at this life-or-death moment, their initial fear gradually faded. As the Jiangshi turned toward Bai Erlaizi, the two men controlling the ropes opposite Bai immediately exerted more force, heaving the ropes over their shoulders like oxen pulling a cart. Meanwhile, Bai Erlaizi and Heishan retreated several steps, tightening the previously slack ropes. Thus, the Jiangshi was immobilized once again.

Speaking of this lasso technique, it wasn’t exclusive to the Celestial Masters Sect. Its origin actually traced back to the Maoshan Sect’s Taoist priests. In later films, whenever zombies were mentioned, the narrative inevitably involved corpse handlers and Maoshan Taoists—this wasn’t baseless. In ancient times, the Maoshan Taoists primarily engaged in corpse transportation. The scope of this activity was actually quite limited, confined mainly to the mountainous regions of western Hunan. In the Yuan River basin of western Hunan, rugged mountains dominated the terrain, making travel extremely inconvenient. Transporting coffins back to one’s hometown for burial was even more troublesome. Many laborers working there requested their relatives, upon their death, to transport their remains back to their native lands for burial, avoiding being buried in these desolate wilds. To avoid the arduous journey of carrying coffins over rugged mountain paths, the unique corpse-transport method known as “corpse herding” was developed by Maoshan Taoists.

“Corpse herding”—since it involved transporting corpses, there were naturally many unstable factors, with corpse transformations being a common occurrence. This lasso technique was one of the methods Maoshan practitioners used to deal with such transformations. After all, not every Taoist priest was as formidable as Lin Zhengying depicted in movies. When facing a zombie with immense brute strength, engaging in direct combat would certainly put them at a disadvantage. Thus, they devised this method: first, restrain the zombie, then subdue it with talismans. Zhang Enpu handing this lasso formation over to four strong men was indeed putting it to good use.

At this moment, the Jiangshi had become utterly frenzied. Its tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open, glowing a deep, blood-red. Its hair was in wild disarray, its long tongue hanging out, and its ten elongated nails exuding a dark, ominous aura. Clearly, it had now evolved into the ultimate stage of a zombie: the Jiangshi King. Wang Weizhen, deep in his heart, felt absolutely no confidence. After all, he had only ever heard of such things before. “Damn, this is a supreme specimen—absolutely the ultimate among zombies!”

“You… you don’t scare me! I grew up being scared, so don’t think I’ll fall for this!” Wang Weizhen tightly gripped his peach-wood sword, his lips trembling. Although the Jiangshi was temporarily bound, it was still formidable even in its weakened state. Holding this small sword, he truly didn’t know where to strike. As he hesitated, Bai Erlaizi was already struggling. Coming from a farming background, Bai had grown up doing hard labor—carrying bundles of firewood from the front mountain to the back mountain was no problem. But now, he could clearly feel himself nearing his limit. Although the Maoshan Taoists had cleverly applied the principle of leverage in the rope lassos, they still couldn’t withstand the Jiangshi’s immense strength. Bai’s arms, gripping the ropes, were bulging with muscles, the veins standing out like giant earthworms. His cloth shoes scraped against the ground with a rustling sound. At this rate, not only would his arms break, but his shoe soles would wear through. The other three, not as strong as Bai, were already panting heavily, barely holding on through sheer willpower.

“Wang… Wang Half-Immortal, hurry up! We can’t hold on any longer!” Bai Erlaizi gasped out between breaths. Wang Weizhen looked on and realized he couldn’t hesitate any longer, or they’d all be doomed. He gritted his teeth, let out a fierce shout, and poured all his strength into the peach-wood sword, charging toward the Jiangshi like a small locomotive.

What he didn’t realize was that this Jiangshi, having evolved into a Jiangshi King, had gained a degree of intelligence. Observing the back-and-forth struggle, it could sense that these people were at their wits’ end. Therefore, it grinned even more mockingly. With a flick of its ten black, shiny claws, it yanked two rope-holders down onto their knees. The peach-wood sword that Wang had previously thrown flew out from the Jiangshi’s body on its own, slapping against Wang Weizhen’s nasal bone with a sharp ‘pap’ sound. The nose is one of the most fragile parts of the human body. The blow immediately left Wang seeing stars, groaning in pain as he collapsed to the ground, tears streaming from his eyes. The Jiangshi roared several times and suddenly broke free from the ropes. The two men standing in front were slammed violently against the wall with a loud ‘clang,’ blood spewing from their mouths. There was only one word to describe the scene: unrestrained—indeed far more brutal than a chest-crushing act, instantly leaving them incapacitated.

“Mommy!” Bai Erlaizi and Heishan exchanged glances, seeing the fear in each other’s eyes. They no longer cared about the ropes, directly running around the sticky rice field and dashing into the house like madmen.

Meanwhile, Wang Weizhen groggily got up from the ground, his wide sleeve pressed against his nose, his face deathly pale. Blood seeped from between his fingers. With a grimace, he hurriedly tried to wipe it away, but his hand was too clumsy. As soon as he touched the wound, he cried out in pain again, his legs giving way as he fell to the ground.

This fall was no accident—he landed right in front of the Jiangshi. Smelling the blood, the Jiangshi immediately bared its teeth and lunged toward Wang. This scared Wang half to death, for this creature’s bite was no joke. He tried to pull his legs back to retreat, but felt his thighs aching, unable to exert any force. Wang was so desperate that cold sweat soaked his back. His hands frantically grabbed left and right, but found nothing useful. As the Jiangshi approached, Wang’s eyes caught sight of his shoes. Suddenly inspired, he swiftly kicked off his left cotton shoe without hesitation and shoved it directly into the Jiangshi’s mouth. Coincidentally, the Jiangshi’s mouth was wide open, and the shoe was immediately bitten down hard. Seizing this opportunity, Wang scrambled to his feet and hastily retreated.

“Ah, my dear Master Wang, are you hurt?” Heishan, standing by the door, saw Wang rolling toward him like a gourd. Quick as a flash, he grabbed and helped Wang up.

Once upright, Wang had no time to care about his appearance. He pointed frantically with his hand, shouting, “Quick, stop this thing! Stop it!”

“Stop…”

“Stop it!” Bai Erlaizi and Heishan quickly echoed, but as the words left their mouths, they noticed Wang was staring directly at them. Looking at the two severely injured men on the ground, they immediately understood.

“Wang… Wang Half-Immortal, who’s going to stop it?” Bai Erlaizi hesitated.

“What a stupid question! Look at me—do I look like I can go up there? You two hold it off for a moment while I catch my breath!” Wang, his beard trembling, clearly wasn’t in any condition to fight.

“But… you…” Bai Erlaizi, though simple and honest, wasn’t stupid. He quickly looked toward Heishan. Heishan, however, was decisive, grabbing Wang immediately. “Don’t worry, Old Bai. I’ll stay here to take care of Master Wang.”

With that, what else could Bai Erlaizi say? He gritted his teeth, slapped his chest, grabbed a wooden beam from the ground, and leapt down the steps. In the courtyard, the Jiangshi spat out the smelly cotton shoe and charged forward with a furious roar. Bai, seeing it was no use running, let out a shout, closed his eyes, and swung the wooden beam at the Jiangshi’s waist. Though not as thick as a house beam, this wooden pole was the central support for a haystack, weighing at least fifty or sixty jin—no ordinary person could wield it easily. The blow struck the Jiangshi with the force of a mountain collapsing on one’s chest. A normal person would have had their internal organs ruptured and blood gushing from every orifice. But the Jiangshi didn’t even flinch. With one clawed hand, it tore a gash into the solid wooden beam, flung it aside, and sent Bai Erlaizi flying along with it.

Bai Erlaizi landed with a thud on the stone steps, his forehead bleeding. Seeing the indestructible Jiangshi approaching again, he shouted desperately, “Master Wang, are you ready yet? Say something!”

“Ready my ass—run for your life!” Master Wang spat on the ground and cursed.

Painfully, Bai got up, looked at Wang Weizhen, and gasped mockingly, “You ran out too? Aren’t you supposed to be a great immortal? How come you’re fleeing from ghosts now?”

“Are you kidding me! Do you even know what that thing is? That was a Jiangshi! If I don’t run, I’ll end up dead for sure! Besides, there’s still Zhang Enpu inside as backup!” Wang turned around, his face filled with despair.

“But running won’t solve anything either. Master, think of a plan! That Jiangshi’s too fast. Someone has to hold it back, or all three of us will die together!” Bai said.

Wang thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, you and Heishan take these two injured men inside first. I’ll try to stall it a bit and wear it down for Master Zhang.”

“Count on you, Master Wang. If anything happens to you, I’ll make sure to burn plenty of paper money for you in the afterlife so you can start your Wang Corporation down there!” After saying that, Heishan and Bai Erlaizi dragged the two severely injured men into the house.

“Damn you to hell!” Wang shouted as he jumped away, but before he could utter another word, he felt a gust of bloody wind rushing toward him. He twisted his body sideways, dodging the Jiangshi to one side.

“Damn it, not again!” Facing the Jiangshi’s back, Wang pushed off the ground with both feet, leapt into the air, arched his upper body backward, and performed a perfect side kick mid-air, slamming into the Jiangshi’s back and knocking it sideways. Seizing the opportunity, Wang grabbed the peach-wood sword that had earlier broken his nose, slashed three sword arcs, and charged forward.

I refuse to believe it! If I can’t beat it with one strike, I’ll just keep hitting it like a madman! With this mindset, Wang’s fear gradually faded. He noticed that although the Jiangshi was fast and impervious to blades, it wasn’t particularly intelligent—in simpler terms, it was a bit dumb. Summoning his courage, Wang began to unleash all the techniques he had learned from his master in the past. For a while, he could actually hold his own against the Jiangshi.

Inside the house, Zhang Enpu and Liu Dashao dragged the two injured men into the inner room. Zhang casually instructed Bai Erlaizi to give them some internal injury medicine and rub on some red flower oil before turning his attention elsewhere.

“Master Zhang, what about Master Wang outside…”

But Zhang Enpu merely continued mixing cinnabar in a wooden bucket, ignoring Liu Dashao’s question.

“Hey, hey, you…” Liu Dashao was so anxious he paced back and forth like a hot ant on a wok.

“What about me?” Zhang Enpu, after evenly mixing black dog blood, realgar, and other ingredients in the wooden bucket, stood up and smiled at Liu Dashao.

“You…” Liu Dashao caught his breath, almost choking. “Old Master Wang is out there fighting for you, and you just leave him outside like that? Isn’t that letting him die?”

“Oh, is that what you’re worried about?” Zhang Enpu smirked. “Don’t underestimate Old Wang. From what I can tell, he can hold out for five or six minutes.” Then he frowned. “Old Wang bringing them inside was the right move. No one expected this Jiangshi, after drinking so much human blood, to evolve further into the most dangerous Jiangshi King. By removing the bystanders, Wang can fully focus on stalling the Jiangshi King without hesitation.”

“Old Taoist, do you have a way to deal with this zombie?” Liu Dashao asked anxiously.

“I… don’t!” Zhang Enpu shook his head.

“What?” Liu Dashao was completely stunned. “Then what should we do? Now we’re all gathered here, ready to be wiped out by this zombie in one go!”

“I haven’t finished speaking yet!” Zhang Enpu laughed. “Fortunately, the records of past Celestial Masters of the Dragon-Tiger Mountains contain methods to deal with such creatures. So this time, we definitely won’t end up with empty hands!”

As the timing seemed right, Zhang Enpu immediately ordered Liu Dashao to throw all the tables and chairs in the main hall outside and then shut the door.

Zhang drew several talismans on the door and walls, sealing the house. Then he took the wooden bucket containing black dog blood and realgar, threw in two handfuls of cinnabar, stirred it evenly, took out a brush, and squatted on the ground to draw the formation lines.

At this moment, the courtyard outside was in chaos. A shout was heard, followed by a blood-curdling scream. Then a shadow came rushing toward them. As it drew closer, under the dim light, Liu Dashao gradually recognized the figure running toward them—it was Wang Weizhen.

Master Wang now looked quite disheveled, his clothes torn in several places. One hand held a broken peach-wood sword, while the other clutched a cloth pouch. The sword’s scabbard was nowhere to be seen.

Wang stumbled forward, and not far behind him, a terrifying red figure leapt forward. Clearly, Wang had ultimately failed to hold back the Jiangshi King and instead provoked its fury.

Zhang Enpu had already covered the ground with talismans and was now inscribing the final markings when he saw Wang approaching. He immediately shouted, “Try to stall it a bit longer while I finish drawing!”

Without waiting for a response, his hands moved even faster.

Wang was momentarily stunned, but upon seeing Zhang’s actions, he immediately understood what Zhang was trying to do.

Zhang was working so openly—surely he was preparing a powerful formation! After all, even if you’ve never eaten pork, you’ve at least seen a pig run! In the past, he had seen Taoist friends from other sects perform such formations—he wasn’t unfamiliar with them.

At this moment, Wang steeled his heart and pulled out a small sword made of copper coins strung together from his pouch. This was the ultimate treasure passed down by his master. He bit his middle finger, smeared the blood across the sword, and threw it toward the Jiangshi behind him.

This sword was called the “Pure Yang Sword.” Since copper coins had passed through many people’s hands, they were saturated with yang energy. Combined with Wang’s middle finger blood, its yang energy was even stronger. Against ordinary evil or vengeful spirits, it could easily make them kneel and beg for mercy. But this time, it wasn’t facing an ordinary opponent!

The “Pure Yang Sword” flew straight toward the Jiangshi. The Jiangshi first took a step back, then let out a sinister laugh. Stretching out its long-nailed hand, it slapped the sword away, shattering the red string and scattering the coins.

“Better to hear ghosts cry than hear them laugh.” The sound of ghostly laughter was unbearable to human ears. The Jiangshi’s slap sent Wang’s “Pure Yang Sword” flying apart, but the Jiangshi itself didn’t come out unscathed—it was pushed back more than ten steps by the sword’s force.

The final stroke was finally completed. Zhang Enpu exhaled deeply and put down his brush.

Seeing that Zhang Enpu was ready, Wang didn’t care about his appearance anymore. He rolled across the ground like a “rolling gourd” past Zhang Enpu.

Right behind him, the Jiangshi charged forward with fangs bared and claws extended.

Red lines almost covered the entire floor of the main hall, forming a large pattern. As Zhang drew, he muttered incantations under his breath. While drawing the formation lines, Zhang also took out twenty-eight copper coins and nine dark-yellow talismans, placing them in specific positions within the formation. Each time he placed a coin or talisman, he dipped his brush and struck it heavily, simultaneously chanting “Ji!” in a slightly louder voice.

The red lines drawn by Zhang’s brush weren’t dry red lines—they flowed like blood inside human veins, silently moving along his wolf-hair brush. As the formation neared completion, the red lines became increasingly vivid and full, gradually emitting a soft red glow. The two people present watched in stunned amazement.

“This is just too amazing! First time seeing this old man do something like this!” Liu Dashao muttered.

When Zhang Enpu finished drawing the entire formation, the red glow suddenly disappeared. The entire formation fell silent, and the red lines on the ground returned to their dry, lifeless red color.