The middle-aged man's tone was solemn.
The young girl's heart skipped a beat. She dared not delay and quickly ran to fetch the ritual tools.
The middle-aged man was not idle either. He discussed with another middle-aged man how to deal with the Zombie King and instructed the remaining disciples to prepare the site.
By the time everything was ready, it was already dusk.
"Master, I'm done over here. Is there anything else you need?" The young girl wiped the sweat off her forehead as she walked over.
The middle-aged man did not respond. He looked up at the sky; the sun was nearing the horizon.
Perhaps due to the yin energy affecting the light, the evening glow in the sky was as red as fresh blood. Paired with the surrounding silent forest and the ritual formation on the ground covered in glutinous rice, chicken blood, and other ghost-repelling materials, the atmosphere was particularly eerie.
The middle-aged man calculated with his fingers and said, "No need. Let Ah Zhen go buy food. The rest of you, take positions at the four cardinal directions—southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast—around the zombie's grave. As for who takes which position, I don't need to say, right?"
"We know, Master. The four directions—Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise—we'll take positions according to our zodiac signs. You brought the four of us this time, isn't it precisely for the Four Symbols Exorcism Formation?"
"Good, you are teachable. Take your positions. Old Chen, you and I will guard the formation's core." Old Chen nodded. He stroked the stubble on his chin, glancing at the grave from time to time, and asked, "Old Mu, when will the Night Watchers arrive?"
The middle-aged man called Old Mu replied, "The 749 Bureau just called me. The nearest Night Watcher to Ailao Mountain is occupied and won't be able to make it until at least tomorrow."
He noticed Old Chen's concern.
"Relying on just the two of us, Yellow Robe Daoists, to handle the Zombie King is definitely not enough. At the very least, we need a Red Robe Daoist like our senior uncle. But don't worry."
"At least we still have time. Right now, we're just taking precautions. The Zombie King's transformation still needs two or three days. We can wait for the Night Watchers. When they arrive, they'll be the main force—we're just assisting..."
BOOM!!!
A deafening thunderclap suddenly erupted from the sky.
The sudden thunder made everyone, whether the disciples stationed at the four positions or Old Chen and Old Mu, raise their heads.
"Is it going to rain?"
Disciple Ah Zhen was startled. He couldn't help but feel a bit happy. Rainy weather was a good thing—because rain meant lightning, and everyone knew that lightning embodied righteous energy, the nemesis of common ghosts and spirits.
"Master..." He looked at Old Mu with joy, but in the next second, he froze.
The expected joy on Old Mu and Old Chen's faces was absent. Instead, their expressions were grim.
"This is bad," Old Chen's face changed.
Old Mu remained silent, not responding immediately. He simply stared at the twilight sky, which grew darker and darker as thick clouds gathered after the thunder.
"We shouldn't have said those things earlier. Now we've jinxed it."
"Master, what's wrong? Isn't rain a good thing?" Ah Zhen asked.
"Good? Yes, but also not good." Old Mu's brows were filled with worry.
At this moment, the sky darkened rapidly, clouds covered the heavens, and the earth was plunged into darkness. Soon after, a drizzle began to fall.
Raindrops hit Old Mu's face. His expression was as gloomy as the rainy night.
"Lightning contains righteous energy and is the bane of ghosts and monsters. Even zombies, which are not of the Five Elements, fear lightning. But that's only if the zombie isn't about to transform into a Drought Demon King?"
As Old Mu spoke these words, Ah Zhen and the other disciples, being skilled enough to be brought here, immediately understood the situation.
Ah Zhen's face turned pale. He had been too focused on the righteous power of lightning and had forgotten something crucial.
The Drought Demon is the ultimate yin evil entity. Lightning is the ultimate yang force. When the two combine, yin and yang harmonize.
Old Mu nodded, gripping his gold-inlaid ritual sword tightly. He ignored the increasingly heavy rain and kept his gaze fixed on the grave.
"Prepare yourselves. The Zombie King might be emerging ahead of schedule."
BOOM!!
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, briefly illuminating the land as if it were midday. The wind rose, the clouds churned.
As if sensing the change in weather, the once silent ancient tomb was swept by gusts of eerie wind. The whistling sound was like the cries of ghosts and wolves, and even the surrounding temperature dropped.
Everything was happening just as the middle-aged Daoist Old Mu had predicted.
BOOM!!
Another thunderclap exploded.
BANG—
Old Mu and the others' pupils shrank. A corner of the coffin emerged from the grave as the coffin lid trembled.
A misty corpse aura, like dry ice vapor, seeped out from within.
Without exception, everyone's expressions tensed, and their hearts pounded in their throats.
Unfortunately, the situation didn't allow them any relief. With each successive thunderclap, the coffin trembled more and more.
The earth covering the coffin atop the grave vibrated and fell away, slowly revealing the buried coffin to everyone's sight.
"Quick! Activate the four-symbol formation! Splash black dog's blood!"
Despite Old Mu's swift command, he realized things were going badly and didn't hesitate to order the suppression of the emerging Zombie King.
The disciples immediately reacted. They took out vials of black dog's blood, bit their fingers, and let their own blood drip into the black dog's blood.
As their Daoist energy surged, the black dog's blood emitted a bloody glow. They splashed it onto the tombstone, soaking the grave and dousing the coffin.
Old Mu and Old Chen weren't idle either. They chanted incantations, channeling their Daoist power as Yellow Robe Daoists, and cast talismans to seal the coffin.
Even more daringly, Old Mu rushed toward the coffin, pulling out coffin nails stained with his own blood, and hammered them into the coffin that was about to break through the earth.
Yet, despite all the prior preparations, "ROAR!!" A hoarse and feeble corpse howl echoed.
Yin energy and corpse miasma surged out like a fountain, blasting Old Mu away along with the coffin nails.
The corpse aura struck Old Mu.
PFFT!
Like a severed kite, he was sent flying, his life or death uncertain.
"Master!"
"Old Mu!"
The others' faces turned pale. They wanted to save Old Mu and check his condition, but the surging corpse aura left them barely able to hold their ground. To avoid being blown away, they stabbed their peachwood swords into the earth.
"Hold your positions! Do not leave your formation spots!" Old Chen roared.
To deal with the Zombie King, the Four Symbols Exorcism Formation was crucial. The positions of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, along with the formation's core, were indispensable. If anyone was knocked away, the formation would collapse.
The disciples understood this well.
They clenched their teeth and held onto the ground, disregarding their dignity, just to remain in position.
But that was all they could do.
Ensuring they weren't blown away was their limit. As for anything else, they had no means to intervene.
They could only watch as the coffin trembled with every thunderclap, breaking through the soil covering the grave and becoming fully exposed.
Perhaps sensing the imminent emergence of this world-destroying calamity, the heavens rumbled with fury.
Lightning struck down, again and again, as if divine wrath refused to allow such an unholy being to be born.
BOOM!!
With one final, thunderous roar, the coffin lid was blown away, corpse aura surged like a storm, and a shriveled, deathly pale zombie hand reached out.
Lightning struck it.
But it did not waver in the slightest.
Instead, with the power of thunder, it transformed.
The Zombie King's birth—seemingly unstoppable, even by the heavens.
In the end, with a deafening thunderclap, the Zombie King climbed out of the coffin, withstanding the furious heavens.
"It's over..."
Old Chen's eyes widened in despair as he watched the Zombie King rise.
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