Chapter 418 – Waking Up (1/2)

The red blood soaked the ground, drying into a black mess before the winter froze it cold. It was sticky and slippery.

With every step Li Qingshan took, he would alarm countless crows as well as various other unknown scavenging birds of prey. However, the strangest part about it was there were no signs of invading enemies at all.

A madam dressed in an apron firmly embedded her kitchen knife into a man’s head. However, right before his death, the same man attacked her, crushing her throat. Their faces were twisted with hatred the moment before they died, as if they were facing their greatest enemy. And, it was possible to tell from where they lay that they were clearly husband and wife. The virtuous madam had probably finished making dinner and had come out to call the man in.

A regular soldier with a spear pierced the chest of an armoured military officer. At the same time, he was pierced by three other spears, whose wielders were dressed in the same uniform. They seemed to be soldiers and officers responsible for defending the city, but they had become icy-cold corpses now. They had forgotten about their responsibilities and killed one another.

A little girl with her hair tied into buns used her hemp waistband to choke another child to death. Her head had become dented by the metal ball that the other child originally played with. Their faces were twisted with viciousness and murderousness that did not belong to children. The bloody metal ball had rolled to one side. Originally, this was a very ordinary game between two friends.

Wives killed their husbands, soldiers killed their officers, and friends killed their companions.

It was as if the people in the city had all gone insane, attacking the people around them and all perishing together.

Li Qingshan could vaguely guess whose handiwork this all was. He clenched his fist as his face became rather ugly.

“I thought you’d like it! Thankfully, it’s winter. If it were summer, there’d be much more to see!” Qian Rongzhi walked over from behind.

“Aren’t there any people who try to deal with this?”

“There were in the beginning, but after a few massacres, they came to their senses. Who would sacrifice themselves for regular people who are no different from ants? Oh right, there was one a while back. The One Thought master came to bring salvation, and he challenged the rock demon, but he lost.”

“The rock demon!?” Li Qingshan confirmed his thoughts inside. It could not be wrong. This was the power of the Rock of Slaughter. Strongboulder had arrived here and unleashed his natural power, making everyone descend into madness and kill one another.

“You still don’t know, do you?” Right now, the daemons are being commanded by the rock demon and the blood demon. They’re both powerful daemons who have massacred countless cities. The cities massacred by the rock demon are all like this, while the cities massacred by the blood demon won’t have a single drop of blood left. There aren’t a lot of people who can hold their ground against them, whether it’s from the academy or the Daemon Suppression alliance.”

“Then what are we doing here? What’s there to investigate?”

“We’re here to collect corpses.”

“Collect corpses?”

“This is an easier job, alright? I can tell Hua Chengzan is taking very good care of you. Look, what’s that?” Qian Rongzhi pointed ahead.

Under the setting sun, a tottering figure stood up.

A survivor! Li Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat, but he immediately dismissed that thought. The figure was a stalwart farmer. His eyes were completely white with long, protruding teeth. His body had already become blue, wrapped with corpse qi. Suddenly, he turned around and locked onto the aura of the living. With a growl, he lunged towards Li Qingshan. A wooden cart blocked his way, but he directly smashed through it.

“That’s a zombie!” Li Qingshan suddenly understood.

Qian Rongzhi rushed over with a flash. A bronze bangle flew out from her hand and smashed into the zombie’s head. The zombie vanished, and with a flash, the bronze bangle returned to her hand. A bloody mark had appeared on it, almost covering the entire bangle.

“The deceased hold extremely great resentment. They only need to be slightly refined, and they’ll become Corpse Soldiers who can serve in battle. All the Corpse Soldiers produced from cities massacred by the rock demon have the best quality. Their murderousness and malice linger without dispersing. They can even become zombies by themselves and be refined into Corpse Generals.” Qian Rongzhi smiled sweetly.

Corpses climbed up to their feet. Under the setting sun, they growled at the sky, as if they were baring their fangs at it in resentment.

Li Qingshan was shocked by this. His attempt to lecture Qian Rongzhi was reduced to silence when it reached his lips. He was responsible for everything before him.

He could try to justify himself, blaming the Daemon Suppression alliance as the ones who started it all and the fact that war between humans and daemons was unavoidable in the first place. He could say that he only played the role of a soldier in this. However, all of his excuses seemed pitiful before this sight. Even just one ten-thousandth of the responsibility weighed as heavily as a mountain.

Disregarding what Li Qingshan felt, Qian Rongzhi made her way around gracefully and subdued these zombies one by one. Xiao An tugged Li Qingshan’s sleeve, worried and concerned for him.

Li Qingshan rubbed her head and silently got to work, collecting corpses.

A racoon-like daemon moved around through the streets, constantly changing directions and avoiding the balls of exploding fire.

Balls of fire flew over the city, illuminating the night. A few disciples from the Fire Cloud sect, dressed in scarlet clothes, were in hot pursuit, unleashing balls of scorching fire and setting whole regions ablaze.

The entire city smoked, engulfed by fire. Noises and wails rose up into the sky like the smoke.

Li Qingshan gazed down from the sky in the distance, and he felt strangely surprised. From his perspective, it just seemed like a few cultivators committing widespread arson.

Before they had even completed the first mission, a second mission arrived. The traces of a daemon were discovered in this city and needed to be eliminated. However, this was what he saw when he arrived.