Chapter Seven: The Power of the Ancient Mirror

Beneath the bewitching blood moon, a crimson coffin lay across the earth, within which an ancient corpse stood upright in silent arrogance. Its tattered, archaic attire seemed to have weathered an eternity. Under the bloody moonlight, its blackened body gleamed like divine iron, shimmering with a cold sheen, and its face was veiled in such dense chill that Luo Hao could not discern its features.

“It really is a zombie!” Luo Hao felt his mind reeling. He had been a man of the twenty-first century, where tales of zombies and ghouls were nothing more than stories to frighten children—a world, after all, where, since the founding of the nation, monsters were not supposed to exist. Yet now, before his very eyes, stood a zombie of indeterminate age. How could he not be terrified?

Suddenly, thoughts surfaced in Luo Hao’s mind. Zombies were said to be born of the world’s resentment and misfortune, deathless and ageless, cast out by heaven, earth, and mankind, existing beyond the six realms. They drew power from hatred, fed upon blood, and vented their endless loneliness with rivers of fresh blood.

The so-called Six Realms were the Heavenly Path, the Asura Path, the Human Path, the Beast Path, the Hungry Ghost Path, and the Hell Path. Luo Hao began to suspect that the legends of his former world might have been true, especially now, on this ancient continent where anything was possible.

He did his utmost to restrain his breath, not wishing to alert the ancient corpse. Even from a distance, Luo Hao could sense the overwhelming danger radiating from the thing’s corpse aura; with his own cultivation still at the Spiritual Energy Realm, he knew he could never defeat it.

A sudden crackling echoed through the night.

The ancient corpse, standing proud within the blood coffin, seemed to stir at last. Its joints popped and snapped like roasting beans, as if it had not moved for eons.

Then, with a single step out of the coffin, the ground beneath its feet instantly froze over with thick frost. To Luo Hao’s horror, the wild grass around the corpse was frozen solid by the fetid aura and shattered into icy fragments that scattered across the ground.

“Strong, ruthless—this zombie is terrifying. This place is called Peach Orchard Village, but there isn’t a single petal of peach blossom in sight.” Luo Hao muttered to himself. He had hoped, like the Taoist masters in old films, to fight the zombie off with peach wood. But now, escape was his only option.

The corpse, exuding chilling cold, prowled through the village houses like a demon king of night. From the black mountain behind, not a single bird or insect made a sound. It seemed as if, in all the world, only this creature remained, eternal and alone.

The ancient corpse sniffed the air unceasingly. Suddenly, its greenish eyes flared blood-red, and in a flash, it lunged toward the ruined temple where Meng Li was hiding—so fast it was almost beyond belief.

Atop the temple, Luo Hao’s heart sank. “This is bad.”

He leaped down from the roof, gritted his teeth, and shouted at the charging corpse, “Hey, over here, zombie brother! Fresh blood, organic, don’t miss out as you pass by!”

With that, Luo Hao took off at full speed toward the Black Mountain. He could not allow Meng Li to come to harm; he had to draw the corpse away, even though he was no match for it. Only by fleeing into the depths of the Black Mountain did he have any hope of delaying it until dawn.

A guttural roar tore from the ancient corpse—a sound like a broken windmill. Sensing the vibrant blood within Luo Hao, it turned at once and gave chase. Thus, both man and monster vanished into the night-shrouded Black Mountain.

Behind the temple’s idol, Meng Li had heard Luo Hao’s cry and realized danger was near. Her brother must have tried to lead it away.

“Brother, where are you? Brother!” By the time Meng Li stepped out into the moonlit night, nothing remained but the blood moon above and the lingering chill and miasma before the ruined temple—Luo Hao was gone.

“Brother! Brother!” Meng Li called his name over and over, tears streaming down her flawless cheeks. In that moment, she was utterly helpless, her cries and sobs echoing in the darkness.

“So strong a corpse aura—seems a dreadful zombie has emerged here. Hm, I hear weeping.” A voice sounded within Peach Orchard Village. At the sound of Meng Li’s sobs, the speaker appeared in a heartbeat atop the temple steps.

“Why are you weeping, girl?” A gentle voice whispered in Meng Li’s ear, making her jump in fright. Spinning around, she saw a figure standing on the steps—her features veiled, her dress fluttering lightly, but faintly fragrant with irises. Meng Li could tell at a glance that this was no ordinary woman, for one to walk alone at night must be extraordinary. Hope sparked in her heart—perhaps her brother could be saved. She fell to her knees before the woman and pleaded, “Miss, please save my brother. To protect me, he lured the danger away on his own, and now he...” Before she could finish, darkness overtook her and she collapsed.

The woman moved swiftly, catching Meng Li before she hit the ground. Placing a hand on Meng Li’s wrist, she frowned. “Corpse aura has invaded—wait, what’s this?” Her face lit up with delight. Without hesitation, she gathered Meng Li in her arms and soared skyward, vanishing into the distant heavens in the space of a few breaths.

Within the labyrinthine Black Mountain, Luo Hao, a hopeless navigator, could only flee wherever he found a path, paying no heed to direction. The ancient corpse hunted him relentlessly, freezing everything in its wake—grass and wood shattering into frozen shards, nothing able to withstand its advance.

“Damn, it’s too fast! If I’d known, I’d never have run into Black Mountain. Poor me, Luo Hao, famed for my wit, yet still a virgin—there’s no way I can die here!” With these thoughts, Luo Hao summoned all his strength, activating the Twin Dragons’ Dominance technique. Wisps of golden dragon force surged through his veins, and he strained to increase the distance between himself and the corpse.

Another guttural roar. The corpse, losing patience with the chase, tensed its iron-tower body. Suddenly, a massive black fist, the size of a millstone, punched through the air, corpse aura raging like a tidal wave, smashing everything in its path to pieces.

The black fist, unstoppable, hurtled straight for Luo Hao’s back. The icy aura struck him like a sledgehammer; the faint golden light around his body faded in an instant. His face turned ashen, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood—blood laced with icy shards, steaming with a deadly chill.

“Damn it, one more blow like that and I’m finished.” Fighting to remain upright, Luo Hao dared not look back and fled deeper into the mountain, determined to draw the zombie ever farther from Meng Li, even if it cost him his life.

That blow had already exceeded the limits of his body, and Luo Hao could feel a malignant, icy force gnawing at his insides. The golden dragon force in his meridians roared in defiance, striving to keep the evil at bay.

“God, it’s so cold!” As he ran, layers of frost began to form over his body; he shivered, feeling he might collapse at any moment. In his dantian, the nascent spirit’s golden radiance was dim, encircled by black energy.

His consciousness blurred, and Luo Hao could only run on instinct. But the corpse was too fast—each of its steps covered several dozen meters. At last, the three-meter-tall, iron-tower form overtook him, blocking his path.

The corpse’s green eyes flashed red, and its hairy black hand reached for Luo Hao, pincers closing in.

“Tiger King Bows to the Moon!”

Luo Hao would not go down without a fight. Golden dragon force exploded from within, shattering the frost on his skin. He pounced like a caged tiger toward the black hand. A thunderous tiger’s roar rang through the Black Mountain, and a billion rays of golden light erupted from his back, forming a sea of gold. Within the golden waves, it seemed the very heavens would be overturned.

He roared, and a fist like a doomsday millstone, sheathed in golden light, struck out against the corpse’s black hand—a collision of divine might fierce enough to sting the skin.

A deafening boom.

The golden sun and the black hand collided. The golden radiance was instantly crushed by the corpse’s grip, and Luo Hao was hurled away like a broken kite, blood spraying from his mouth.

The corpse trembled, then unleashed its hand again. A boundless chill swept out, nearly freezing the very air—its power was unimaginable.

Luo Hao was snatched up like a chicken, powerless and humiliated. In this moment, he finally understood the laws of survival on this continent: before the strong, the weak have no place. To protect those he loved, he would need supreme power.

“I hate this!” Luo Hao howled, cursing himself for not training harder, for failing to protect Meng Li, for lacking the strength he needed. Meanwhile, the corpse’s blade-like fangs sank deep into his neck.

He could feel his blood draining away, life flickering out—this time, he had truly reached the end. Yet his spirit would not yield; he wanted nothing more than five hundred more years.

And then, from his dantian, the ancient mirror stirred, sensing something. A bestial roar thundered from the mirror, and suddenly, a terrifying suction, as if to destroy the world, erupted from the bloody wound in Luo Hao’s neck.

The corpse bellowed in rage, and for the first time, fear flickered in its usually emotionless eyes. The icy aura collapsed, pouring into Luo Hao’s body.

The flood of corpse energy and chilling evil forced inhuman screams from Luo Hao’s throat. Black light burst from his body, dissolving the corpse’s hand bit by bit. The creature shrieked, green blood spraying from its wounds.

Luo Hao rose in the midst of the black radiance; his eyes became twin vortices of darkness, deep as a demonic abyss—any who looked upon them would be drawn in. Behind him, a terrifying black hole formed, rippling the very void.

Fear flashed in the corpse’s green eyes. The young man before it had become a monster. Instinct seized the creature, and it turned to flee—too late. A beam of black light shot from the hole, piercing the zombie in an instant. As it howled, its entire body dissolved into nothingness, leaving only a fist-sized, gleaming corpse pearl behind. At the moment the corpse vanished, somewhere else in the Black Mountain, a pair of icy, sinister eyes sprang open.

The black hole trembled, drawing the floating corpse pearl into its depths. The black light on Luo Hao’s body faded, and he sank into darkness.