Chapter 2101: Strength of One

Jingzhou’s city walls were tall and sturdy, occupying fifty kilometers by themselves. There should’ve been four main gates and eight side gates, now there was only an east gate that still opened. The rest were sealed shut by the formation.

City walls were useless against the ghost zombies. Only the teetering formation riddled with thousands of holes had any effect.

Lu Yun built his house in the empty frame of the city gate—it was missing part of its doors, so no one minded his actions. No one dared have an opinion either way since he was a cultivator now.

When he returned to his stone house, he ignored Yuan Yi’s objections and carved the ghost zombie into sections.

“Ah, forget it,” Yuan Yi sighed when she saw how fanatically devoted Lu Yun was. The city had finally gained another cultivator, but he was soon to be no more. Thank goodness he built his house where it was. If misfortune struck him and he turned into a ghost zombie, she’d be able to kick him out with the fastest speed possible.

Although Lu Yun was a cultivator, he was far weaker than Yuan Yi. Even the ordinary beings of this world were stronger than those of the world he’d come from. The weakest cripple here could kill a Supreme Immortal of Original Order with a single punch.

That was no joke or exaggeration, but the overwhelming difference in their worlds. This world within reality was far more sophisticated than any world in the nothing. Therefore, the constitution of its denizens was stronger than the immortals’.

As for Yuan Yi..

Lu Yun made a quick comparison and determined her strength to be the equivalent of a Nihil World Sovereign. Not the fake Nihil World Sovereigns in the fourth realm, but the real ones who’d exceeded existence and entered the nothing.

He’d witnessed her kill a ghost zombie with one punch; there was none other like her. Weak and strong ghost zombies could be found among the horde. The stronger ones were mightier than Yuan Yi, the weak ones were less than an ordinary being.

What made them terrifying was their numbers and poison. What made them horrifying was that any they killed became them as well.

Ghost zombies lacked intelligence and didn’t know fear or pain. Feeding was their only instinct, which set them apart from the living. As numb as the living of this world was, as devoid of hope as they were, they still felt fear.

They were afraid of death, so they wanted to live. They would struggle in the swamp even though there was no hope.

....

Lu Yun dissected the ghost zombie into one hundred and eight pieces, finding it very similar to a zombie, but not quite a zombie as there was ghostly qi that lurked within. It looked like it was made of the soul and body of the dead in a combination of ghost and corpse. No wonder it was called a ghost zombie.

As night fell, darkness crept over the land.

“Hmm?” Lu Yun frowned, keenly perceiving a hint of unnatural cold next to him. It would seem that something he couldn’t see was there.

“A ghost?” he sneered. “How dare a ghost come near me?”

Humm!

Powerful internal qi exploded from his body. It was neither true force nor immortal force; it was just power from a body of flesh and blood, the most primitive force that living beings could bring to bear.

Since the denizens of this world could neither cultivate external force nor absorb it from the world, they could only temper themselves and coalesce blood and qi.

Lu Yun was no exception, but he had a cultivation method. The Method of Life and Death.

Boom.

Immense blood and qi circulated within Lu Yun’s body according to the method’s instructions, forming a massive circulation cycle. It roiled into a black current that exploded outward with his punch.

Blackish-red qi began to burn like flames.

Fire was the external manifestation of reincarnation. Lu Yun was unable to light and cultivate a fire inside his body, but he could use his own blood and qi to mimic the form of a flame and strength of reincarnation.

Thus, what looked like an ordinary attack actually contained the meaning of reincarnation.

A sharp shriek sounded in the air as a black shadow showed itself, then fled in hasty disorder.

“Is that the misfortune that kills those who study the ghost zombies?” Lu Yun frowned in the direction that the shadow left in. “So there are secrets contained in the ghost zombies that it wants to prevent me from discovering.”

He withdrew his projected qi and blood, resettling them into the appropriate parts of his body and dismissing the manifestation of fire.

“I was wrong.” He suddenly smacked his forehead with annoyance. “I shouldn’t have scared it off, I should’ve captured it! Studying it is way more valuable than a ghost zombie! That was probably a ghost, and one with intelligence!”

A sharp light danced in his eyes. “No worries, it’ll come again. If my guess is correct, there will be a tide of ghost zombies tonight! The city’s formation won’t hold for long, I need to think of a way to repair it.”

Having just arrived in this world, he needed shelter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t survive more than three days in his current condition. If he wanted to cultivate reincarnation and civilization, he needed a faction of his own.

Jingzhou City was his only choice. He didn’t know where else people might gather in this world.

As he expected, hordes of teeming ghost zombies flooded out of unknown locales the second sunlight disappeared. They streamed toward the city’s east gate.

The east gate lacked actual gates, making it an enormous opening in the city’s defenses. That made it their primary target.

At the same time, Lu Yun felt numerous gusts of cold winds float around him. The ghost that he couldn’t see was also here.

A cold smirk playing on his lips, he operated the Method of Life and Death again, using blood and qi to mimic fire and rushing out before the ghost zombies could draw near.

“Does he have a death wish?!” Yuan Yi’s jaw dropped to see the young man run out of the city gate. Even she would die when surrounded by the ghost zombies, not to mention an inexperienced cultivator like Lu Yun!

But Lu Yun had regained his dao. Blood and qi imitated flames and reincarnation. Though they weren’t the genuine article, they bore hints of its true meaning.

Reincarnation was the bane of all ghostly entities.

He punched and kicked at the enemies, beating the hordes back. Those guarding the east gate and ready to fight to their deaths were stunned. A new expression appeared on their faces, the second one they’d ever experienced in their lives—shock.

They’d never seen a cultivator like this, one who could block the hordes outside the city gates by himself.