Chapter 5: Walking Corpse

“You destroyed a hundred years of my cultivation!” A sharp, thin hiss came from the fox’s mouth, but it was no longer as clear and pleasant as when it had transformed into a woman. Instead, it sounded like an infant, extremely jarring to the ear, though anyone could hear the hysteria within it.

“Die for me!”

The fox hissed and leapt at Li Si, biting toward his throat.

Li Si’s gaze sharpened. He also took a step forward and met it with a punch. When he had exposed the fox earlier, he had already prepared himself mentally. However, he did not intend to retreat. Putting aside the fact that he already had the Protective Talisman on him, even if he did not, he still would not retreat.

Because in this strange world, if he backed down, he would have no way to obtain soul points. There would only be a dead end.

Unfortunately, even though Li Si had already cast aside life and death, this punch was still light and weak, inferior even to that of a woman on Earth.

At this moment, the fox’s teeth had already touched Li Si’s flesh. Li Si’s light punch landed on the white fox’s body, but that force did not stir even the slightest ripple. The force was cancelled out by the fox’s crystalline fur.

But at that moment, the fox let out a miserable scream. Blood suddenly burst from between its mouth and teeth, spraying all over Li Si’s face. Meanwhile, blood welled from the spot where his punch had landed on the fox, as if it had been injured by something inconceivable, leaving a wound the size of a fist.

The fox fell to the ground, hoarsely wailing. Mud splashed up and stained its snow-white fur. But this fox was also decisive. Enduring the pain, it swiftly climbed up and scurried beneath the stalls. In the blink of an eye, it had disappeared without a trace.

Li Si touched the cloth pouch hanging before his chest, regret showing in his eyes. Just now, because there were people nearby, he had hesitated over whether to release the Decapitated Ghost to pursue it. By the time he made up his mind, the fox had already run off without a trace.

He secretly felt somewhat regretful in his heart. He also thought that next time, he had to be more decisive. So what if someone saw through him? Soul points in hand were the only ones that truly belonged to him.

At this moment, Li Si looked toward the corpse on the ground and slowly lifted the white cloth. There was the corpse of a middle-aged man with his upper body bare. His complexion was bluish-white, and his appearance was withered and gaunt.

When Li Si saw this corpse, he felt somewhat strange. In his previous life, the place he rented had been across from a crematorium, so he had been rather curious about this field and had looked things up specially.

Livor mortis had already appeared in patches on this withered corpse, which meant that this corpse had already been dead for more than 4 to 6 hours. But generally speaking, around 6 hours after death, the internal organs in the abdomen would begin to decay, and the belly would become bloated. Yet this corpse was exactly the opposite. Its belly had sunk inward, and its ribs were exposed.

There were also no ruptures on the skin. If there had been ruptures, it could still be understood as the putrefactive gases having leaked out. But Li Si looked carefully and found none at all.

Li Si pondered slightly, crouched down, and touched the corpse with the fingers of his right hand. With a thought, a piece of information immediately entered his mind.

“You have come into contact with a low-level ghost creature, Walking Corpse. Do you wish to sign a contract? Signing this contract requires 2 soul points.”

Li Si froze. He had not expected this corpse to actually be a ghost creature. His heart immediately understood. This corpse was not a corpse in the traditional sense, but simply a zombie.

But what puzzled Li Si was why this zombie had not risen to bite him. It looked exactly like a real corpse.

This also made him remember what that fox demon had just said about him destroying its cultivation. He recalled hearing in his previous life about seeking verbal recognition. Seeking verbal recognition meant a shortcut that some monsters used after cultivating into spirits.

When some spirits such as snakes, rats, hedgehogs, foxes, and weasels cultivated to a certain level, they would wear hats and clothes, dressing themselves up to look human. When they encountered people on the road, they would ask, “Do you think I look human? What do you think I look like?”

If at that moment you said it looked human, its cultivation would take a great step forward. But because you had helped it defy heaven and change its fate, your own lifespan and fortune would be directly reduced by a large amount. And if you said it did not look human, its cultivation and Daoist attainment would be damaged, and it would retaliate viciously, certainly making your household so restless that even the chickens and dogs would have no peace.

And what had Li Si done earlier? He had cursed the fox, saying its nose was not its nose and its eyes were not its eyes, and that no matter what, it was not human. He had cursed it so badly it could not even maintain human form. After its true form emerged, everyone nearby had shouted that it was a fox. That was damaging its cultivation. No wonder it looked as if it would only be satisfied after eating Li Si.

From this, it seemed that some rumours he had heard in his previous life also applied in this world.

In that case, this zombie was unable to move because the sun had already come out.

“Do not sign the contract.” Li Si had no soul points right now. Even if he mortgaged all his lifespan, it would only amount to 1 soul point.

At this time, when the people around saw that the fox demon had fled and saw Li Si deep in thought before the corpse, they gathered around once more.

“I thought that woman didn’t look like a good person before. Sure enough, she was a demon spirit,” someone cursed the fox.

“Scholar Li is truly a man of awe-inspiring righteous qi. He cursed the fox demon into revealing its true form,” someone praised Li Si.

“That woman was clearly so beautiful. How could she be a fox demon?” someone said regretfully.

The surrounding discussions came in waves, making Li Si’s head ache. He immediately stood up and pressed both hands downward. The surroundings instantly quieted.

“The fox demon has fled, but this corpse was dug out of the graveyard by the fox demon. Disturbed by the fox demon’s living qi, it may turn into a corpse at any time. Could someone lend me a blade? I will break the baleful qi of this corpse.”

When they heard Li Si say that this corpse might rise at any time, everyone instantly retreated several steps. A blank space abruptly opened around him.

At this moment, the air grew somewhat quiet, and the people around looked at one another. Finally, a young man in short work clothes could not hold back and stepped forward, presenting a flat-headed woodcutter’s machete more than one metre (~3.3 ft) long with both hands. “Please, Teacher, break the baleful force!”

What did Li Si know about baleful qi or breaking baleful force? However, he figured that if this zombie’s head were chopped off, it would surely be dead. Saying this now was merely him pretending to be profound.

Li Si took the machete. He wondered whether he should wipe his finger along the blade. That would make him seem even more like a demon-subduing expert. But he immediately dismissed the idea. What if he got tetanus?

At once, Li Si stopped thinking further, crouched down, raised the machete high, and chopped down toward the corpse’s neck.

Thwack!

The sound was like chopping into a wooden post. Because Li Si’s strength was too weak, the machete got stuck in the corpse’s neck.

The corpse’s eyes suddenly snapped open. A pair of dark red eyes revealed savagery, and it opened its mouth, roaring ao, ao. The sound was like the frantic roar of a wild beast. The surrounding people’s faces immediately showed fear, and they retreated several more steps, ready to flee at any moment. It was only because Li Si was there, giving them confidence, that they had not already vanished.

Yet for some reason, the zombie’s body could not move at all, as if it were being suppressed by something. This made Li Si’s lifted heart settle slightly. It seemed that this zombie really could not move under the sun.

Li Si looked at the yellow teeth exposed in the zombie’s roaring mouth, covered in black, sticky filth, and immediately felt nauseated, almost vomiting up the tofu pudding he had eaten earlier.

“Today, either you die, or I live!”

Although he had lived in a peaceful era in his previous life, he could not show fear at this moment. A ruthless look flashed across his face. He stood up, stepped on the zombie’s chest, abruptly exerted force with both hands, and pulled the machete free. Then he chopped down fiercely. His hand rose and the blade fell, and the roaring head immediately dropped.