Chapter 137 The Ancient Sword Autumn Water (1/2)
Step by step, Mu Chengxue approached the Corpse Champion with a heavy pace. Everyone could hardly believe their own ears, wondering if there was something wrong with their hearing. She had just called the dead man her brother! Confused and puzzled, the company could not understand what was happening; only Xiao Chen's and Yu Yifeng's expressions turned grim.
Realizing what was happening, Yu Yifeng was the first to react. ”Miss Mu! Come back! It's dangerous!” He exclaimed frantically.
But his desperate warnings fell on deaf ears; as if she had heard nothing from him, Mu Chengxue only continued walking towards the corpse slowly, her face now drenched with pouring tears. ”Brother...” she gasped between her convulsive sobs, ”It's me... It's your sister...”
What a horrific twist it was that a long-lost brother and his sister who had yearned for years to see him again had to meet in such fashion. Was this one of the difficulties in their life that they had to traverse, or was this simply a demonstration of the cruelty of Fate?
The Corpse Champion descended from the air and gently landed on the ground. But he merely regarded Mu Chengxue with a lifeless and empty stare. The young man standing before her was no longer the brother who once doted on her.
”It's me, Brother.... Your sister...” Mu Chengxue begged desperately as she wrestled against her spasms. But her sorrowful pleas was met only by a cold-blooded strike from the Corpse Champion.
A flash of white appeared just in time to wrap around her, shielding her from the callous strike from the reanimated corpse. Yu Yifeng had appeared out of nowhere to whisk Mu Chengxue off her feet while he responded with a blow of his own. The palms of both man and undead met, and Yu Yifeng was forced for dozens of meters backward.
Landing back on the ground, Yu Yifeng immediately placed Mu Chengxue down and began channeling his powers to heal himself. The short exchange was enough to throw the flow of his internal energies off-balanced.
There was hardly anyone who was not surprised; Yu Yifeng was among the strongest in the company, with Xiaoyue and Xu Gu on par with his strength. But a mere blow from the Corpse Champion was almost enough to wound him. How powerful could the Corpse Champion possibly be? The company instantly began to feel a fearful dread at the direness of the situation looming over them like a specter.
”You will all... have to die...” The reanimated corpse croaked with a hollow and chilling voice, sending a shudder across the entire company. Before they could even react, the Corpse Champion, like a predator set on its prey, pounced at them with the speed of an arrow. He reached the first man in a blink of an eye, immediately punching him so hard that the poor man was tossed into the air with blood splattering everywhere.
It was almost unbelievable and surreal that a Core Forming Realm cultivator was so ignominiously tossed aside by the Corpse Champion like a ragdoll.
”Steel yourselves,” Xiaoyue screamed loudly, rallying the company, ”We charge together!” She flailed her horse-tail whisk and conjured columns of water that shot at the Corpse Champion. Bracing themselves, the rest of the company emptied their bag of tricks, unleashing every technique they knew on possibly one of the most powerful foes they had ever encountered.
”NOOO! Please do not hurt him!” Mu Chengxue woke up from her stupor and screamed, ”He's my brother!” She leaped to her feet and was about to throw herself between the company and the Corpse Champion.
But Xiao Chen pulled her back. ”Have some sense, Miss Mu,” he said to her, his head shaking to accentuate what he said, ”That corpse is no longer your brother...” Then again, Mu Chengxue's sentiment was one that he shared too; he might also behave in the same way if it was Muxue or his Senior Sister Luo was to end up in a similar fate.
”No! Impossible!,” Mu Chengxue wailed in a mournful frenzy, ”No! He's my brother! My brother, Mu Luo!”
Xiao Chen could only sigh. He left her in Yu Yifeng's arms and watched. It was the least he could do, that he would not lay a hand on the zombie who was once her beloved brother in her presence.
Luo Shangyan too was ridden with sadness and pain; during her time at the Jade Qing Sect, it was Mu Chengxue who had accompanied her and made her days seem shorter. They had spent much time talking to each other and it was then when Luo Shangyan had discovered Mu Chengxue's endless search for her brother. In times like this, she could only help console her sobbing friend.
More than ten Core Forming Realm cultivator pitted against a single Corpse Champion, but more than half of the company was swiftly incapacitated while the Corpse Champion remained powerful and spirited. None of the company's attacks could do any good against it. ”Yu Yifeng! Xiao Chen!” Xiaoyue howled, her voice shaking with panic, ”What are you waiting for!”
With the survival of the company at stake, Yu Yifeng knew that there was no other way, even if the Corpse Champion used to be Mu Chengxue's brother, Mu Luo. He was about to leap into the fray, when a hand pressed on his shoulder. ”No, Brother Yifeng,” Xiao Chen said to him, ”Let me go. You should stay here at Miss Mu's side.”
Xiao Chen understood that if Yu Yifeng was in any way involved with the death of the zombie who was once Mu Chengxue's brother, the incident would drive a wedge between Yu Yifeng and Mu Chengxue forever.