SWNOVELXO Chapter 326 Origin
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As cries of "the living dead" echoed, the martial artists at the scene became slightly agitated.
If it weren't for Tao Yu's previous astonishing feats of crossing the river by striking the stone and staining the cliffs with blood.
People would have probably suspected him immediately.
It's fair to say that even now, some still couldn't help thinking it!
But nobody dared to say it out loud!
If he did it, then he did it; as long as he doesn't admit it, it's fine.
If he were to voluntarily admit it was him, then we'd have to find excuses and reasons for him.
It must have been the work of the Fortune Thief!
"Don't think nonsense; let's first deal with the problem at hand,"
Tao Yu rarely spoke out.
Later, he still had to mobilize these people to control the situation. Strong as Tao Yu was, he couldn't be everywhere at once, and the current scene couldn't possibly be managed by him alone!
"Kou Zhong, you have experience with Yangzhou; you take command."
"Ah? Me?"
Kou Zhong had not expected that at such a time, Tao Yu would still designate him!
"Just you..."
Tao Yu looked at him meaningfully, implying that if they were to clear up the mess in Great Tang, this handyman of theirs was indispensable.
If they couldn't settle down, they wouldn't be in the mood to pass on martial arts...
"It would be best to connect a light cable, though only one stretching from Luoyang... well, it still requires some time."
After all, it was an apocalyptic environment; even laying just one cable was difficult, but this world on Great Tang's side indeed had its advantages. At least, spiritual cultivation on the level of Great Tang's mindset could be achieved faster here, and the Qi of Heaven and Earth was a bit more abundant...
While Tao Yu thought of these things, he also directly used his lightness skills to lead the way towards Yuzhou City.
"Split up and be careful not to get bitten. Use the streets as boundaries; seal off the infected areas. If there are too many, focus on drawing them away..."
With the existing experience from Yangzhou, it was a simple matter of duplicating the strategy here.
And because Yuzhou had just begun the outbreak, although it was also spreading from multiple points and had no core area, the complex topography of Yuzhou indeed posed a significant challenge to the zombies.
There were much more places and ways to hide.
Plus, with the large number of martial artists present and the original stationed troops and defense forces of Yuzhou,
the situation was well under control as soon as it was detected at the source...
...
At a steep Mountain God Temple, a man dressed as a boatman was carrying a four or five-year-old girl in a basket on his back and hugging a two or three-year-old boy, climbing up the long staircase with his wife, who was dressed in rough cloth.
Below them, over a dozen zombies were swarming up.
But as the horde climbed the stairs, they kept falling and rising again, leaving a trail of bloody footprints and handprints on the long stairs in their wake.
The low growls coming from their mouths were like death knells, sapping the courage from the family ahead.
"Husband, I can't walk anymore, you take the kids and go first. They'll take time to eat me."
The rough-clothed woman panted heavily, fear combined with the initial burst of energy spent in running made her feel as if her feet were weighed down with lead. The Mountain God Temple, which she was able to climb before, was now insurmountable halfway up.
The boatman didn't say a word, only shifting from holding the children with both hands to just one, while stretching out the other to pull up his wife, and continued pushing forward silently.
Glancing back at the persistent living dead who, despite falling over, kept following, his eyes were filled with sorrow.
How did such good days turn into this!
Today there was a big incident by the docks which were closed off, preventing access. He had intended to repair some household items, but instead, he encountered this disaster.
"Hang in there; the doors of the Mountain God Temple are thick enough. Once we're inside and hold them off, these things can't get in."
However, just at that moment, the woman, who had run out of breath, seemed to fall silent suddenly, tugging at her husband frantically,
"Husband, look, a deity!"
"What deity..."
The boatman had just begun to speak when he heard a swooshing sound. He saw a figure in a red robe wielding a huge sword, moving ghost-like at an incredible speed, and in just a few dashes, arrived at their side.
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Having passed by those living dead, with a mere swing of his arm, he sent all of them flying away!
The heavy sword barely grazed them, and these living dead were like straw dummies, missing arms and legs, shattering to pieces.
He then arrived in front of the two with a tang of blood in the air.
This made the boatman feel an involuntary shiver of fear, and he clutched the child in his arms tighter.
Tao Yu gave them a cursory glance as if to confirm something, then chuckled lightly,
"Don't worry, I'm here to save you. What is this place? Why did you go up there?"
Hearing Tao Yu's words, the boatman finally sighed with relief.
Just now, when the other man approached, he felt as if he couldn't breathe, as if his ears could not even hear a sound.
It was only after the other laughed that the world seemed to regain its color.
"Thank you, hero. This is the Mountain God Temple. We thought it would be safer on top…"
"Safer..."
Tao Yu looked up at the Mountain God Temple, and a chilling recognition flashed in his eyes as he observed this nexus of sinister energy.
In Yangzhou, he arrived too late and found nothing.
But here in Yuzhou, as the outbreak had just begun, he had used his knowledge of the Art of Corpse Refinement to find the source of this outbreak!
Well, setting traps, applying eye medicine, very good...
"Just wait here, the place above is a den of evil."
Once Tao Yu was sure the two were alright, he casually reminded them, then, tapping the ground with his foot, ascended once again with a ghostly agility.
Although the Spinning Shadow Nine Reflections was not good at straight lines, under the power of Tao Yu's twice-Deified Longevity Secret, his speed had increased significantly, focusing on the forceful throw of a brick.
Sizzling~
Almost at the moment Tao Yu arrived at the Mountain God Temple, a yellow talisman affixed onto the temple's signboard ignited spontaneously, producing a green flame.
Tao Yu also sensed two morbid auras awaken within the Mountain God Temple.
Zombies! Discover more content at empire
With one kick, he burst open the temple doors, and the exploding wood shards flew like darts through the air.
Two coffins placed in the temple burst open thunderously.
Two figures emerged from the coffins!
Tao Yu himself was also a little master of Corpse Refinement, with one that could no longer walk hidden in his shadow.
Due to the knowledge gained by Deification, he wasn't completely ignorant of zombies.
Yet even so, Tao Yu was still somewhat startled by the sight of these two zombies because their eyes lacked the usual murkiness and confusion, instead displaying a hint of liveliness.
"Sister, it's a human."
"Kill."
Despite being two grotesque, fat zombies, they emitted the crisp voices of young girls.
They then lunged at Tao Yu, their bodies exuding a putrid miasma.
In terms of the quality of zombies, they were even superior to the two that Tao Yu had refined in the Land of Extreme Yin for forty-nine days.
But that was it!
With his Black Iron Heavy Sword in hand, he swung, and the limbs of the two zombies were severed with one swift move.
But the next moment, from the severed parts of their bodies, thick black smoke erupted, rushing towards Tao Yu with the speed of thunder.
"Hmph~"
Tao Yu snorted coldly. Under the Unity of Heaven and Man, his aura of death surged, instantly encompassing the two clouds of black smoke, rendering them immobile!
From a distance, he compressed the two screaming mists of smoke within his aura.
No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't break free…