Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 16: Searching for an Array Site, Level Three Psionic Core

A bloody feast unfolded within the Haotai Hotel.

Xiao Hu, Xiao Bao, and the two spirit hounds possessed strength that utterly eclipsed that of ordinary humans. A storm of gore trailed in their wake, accompanied by a ceaseless chorus of agonized screams.

Chu Xuan pondered the intelligence he had extracted. Zhao Hong had mentioned “advanced Zombies,” a broad generalization for the undead hierarchy. Above the ordinary shamblers were Level One Zombies, creatures that had condensed their internal psionic energy into a solid Psionic Core. Their combat prowess rivaled that of a Level One Esper.

Further up the chain were Level Two Zombies, comparable to Level Two Espers. However, Zhao Hong had only ever witnessed a handful of Level Ones and had never encountered a Level Two.

*A Psionic Core?* Chu Xuan mused. *If I had to draw a parallel, it sounds like a Golden Core or a Corpse Core.*

But a Golden Core could only be forged by a Cultivator at the Golden Core stage, and a Corpse Core required a Corpse Commander of equal might.

*My two Yin Corpses are still a long way from condensing a Corpse Core. I wonder what level Zombie they’d be classified as under this world’s Esper system?*

Chu Xuan chuckled, dismissing the thought. It was a completely different power system; comparing them was a waste of time.

A moment later, Xiao Hu dragged six burly men up to the rooftop. The survivors were trembling violently. One had already soiled himself, a dark stain spreading across his crotch in sheer terror.

*Roar!*

Xiao Hu grunted around the half-chewed human finger dangling from the corner of its mouth. It swallowed the digit in a single gulp, growling to signal that the harvest was complete.

Chu Xuan gave a curt nod. While his pets had been hunting, he had prepared six portions of Corpse Refining medicinal liquid. With a dismissive wave of his hand, he ordered Xiao Hu to toss the trembling living resources into the bathtubs. It was time to begin the refinement process.

Leaving the flesh vessels to steep, Chu Xuan mounted his flying Magical Artifact. Using the Haotai Hotel as his anchor point, he took to the skies to scout for dense clusters of Zombies. He hadn’t forgotten his primary objective: locating a prime site to establish the Blood Transformation Great Array and initiate a massive blood sacrifice.

*Whoosh!*

Chu Xuan soared through the clouds on his flying sword. Stripped of humanity’s industrial smog, the skies of Hailan Planet were strikingly pristine.

Below him, however, lay a sprawling wasteland. Lush, unnaturally thick vines choked the towering skyscrapers, scaling sheer glass and steel facades over a hundred meters high. It seemed the local flora, much like the fauna, had mutated under the influence of psionic energy.

Chu Xuan flew in a wide arc, periodically scanning the ruins below. He shook his head, thoroughly dissatisfied. The Zombies in most districts were far too scattered. Deploying the Blood Transformation Great Array for such a sparse yield was a terrible return on investment. Activating the array required Spirit Stones, and his current reserves could only sustain the formation for about half an hour. He needed density.

*Hmm? Now that’s more like it.*

Chu Xuan’s eyes gleamed. He had spotted an unfinished, abandoned high-rise teeming with over a thousand Zombies. Better yet, the horde was actively surging up the stairwells in a frenzied stampede. Something at the top was acting as a massive lure.

Chu Xuan immediately steered his sword toward the concrete skeleton.

***

Meanwhile, on the upper floors of the abandoned building, two muscular men in black tactical gear were hauling an elderly man toward the roof. The old man was drenched in sweat, his legs giving out as the two guards practically dragged him up the concrete steps. Despite his exhaustion, he maintained a death grip on a large metal box clutched to his chest.

Bursting onto the rooftop, the two guards immediately grabbed their radios to broadcast a distress signal. They then scrambled to pile rusted rebar, broken concrete blocks, and discarded construction materials against the narrow rooftop door, desperate to buy even a few seconds against the incoming horde.

The old man collapsed onto the dusty roof, gasping for air.

“You two…” the old man wheezed. “I’m just dead weight. If you keep dragging me, none of us will survive. Take this Level Three Psionic Core and leave me behind. Too many people died to secure this. It cannot be lost.”

He offered the heavy box to them, his expression grim and resolute.

The two guards vehemently shook their heads.

“Professor Zheng,” the taller one, Zhuang Qiang, said fiercely. “You are the chief of the Linjiang Province Life Sciences Research Institute. Your brain is worth a hundred of us. Even if we die today, you have to live.”

The second guard, Sun Meng, tried to offer comfort. “Don’t give up yet, Professor. We contacted the Black Vanguard Security Company before we got pinned down. They’re sending an evac chopper. The distress signal is out; they should be accelerating their timetable. We just have to hold the line.”

Professor Zheng let out a ragged sigh. “The world has gone to hell, boys. I’m afraid we can’t count on anyone’s promises anymore…”

A few minutes later, the heavy thud of bodies slamming against steel echoed across the roof. The frenzied scratching and guttural roars of the undead bled through the door. The horde had caught the scent of fresh meat and was violently tearing at the barricade.

Zhuang Qiang and Sun Meng paled. They threw their entire body weight against the makeshift barricade, straining to hold the door shut. But flesh and bone were no match for the mindless, crushing tide of a thousand corpses.

With a deafening crash, the barricade shattered.

A sea of rotting limbs and gnashing teeth spilled onto the roof. The three men stared in wide-eyed horror. Surrounded by an endless swarm, their deaths were an absolute certainty.

Just as the first Zombie lunged, a sharp, piercing hum sliced through the air.

A young man descended from the heavens, landing lightly between the survivors and the horde. With a casual sweep of his long sleeves, a gale-force wind erupted outward, throwing the vanguard of the undead off their feet.

The three survivors watched in stunned disbelief as the bloodthirsty Zombies suddenly froze, stumbling around like headless flies. Despite four living, breathing humans standing mere feet away, the undead acted as if they had vanished into thin air.

The young man calmly flicked his finger, shooting a concentrated wisp of human aura back down the stairwell. The Zombies reacted instantly. Like starving wolves catching the scent of fresh blood, they pivoted and violently stampeded back down the stairs, chasing the phantom scent.

In the blink of an eye, the rooftop was cleared of the undead.

With another casual wave of his hand, the heavy rooftop door slammed shut. The young man stepped forward, produced a slip of yellow paper, and slapped it onto the metal surface. Only then did he clasp his hands behind his back and turn his attention to the three dumbfounded survivors.

The two guards stared at him, their jaws slack. To them, this youth was nothing short of an immortal descending to the mortal realm.

Professor Zheng scrutinized their savior. The young man’s flowing robes and archaic demeanor looked like they had been ripped straight out of a Cultivation novel. It was utterly surreal.

“Dare I ask… what did you just do?” Zhuang Qiang stammered, unable to contain his shock. “Why did the Zombies stop attacking?”

“Just a minor trick to mask our scent,” Chu Xuan replied, his tone deadpan.

It was the Aura Concealment Technique, a Low Grade Qi Condensation spell. Since Zombies possessed abysmal eyesight and relied almost entirely on their sense of smell to hunt, erasing their biological signatures rendered the horde completely blind. After turning the humans invisible to their senses, he had simply tossed a ball of concentrated human scent down the stairs like a fetch toy.

Zhuang Qiang opened his mouth to ask another question, but a violent thud against the rooftop door cut him off. The horde had realized they had been tricked and were roaring furiously from the other side.

The three survivors tensed, instinctively backing away from the threshold. Yet, to their absolute bewilderment, the battered metal door held firm. Despite the crushing weight of the undead pounding against it, the metal didn’t even dent.

“Relax,” Chu Xuan said, sounding more bored than concerned. “I applied a Boulder Talisman. They aren’t breaking through.”

The Boulder Talisman was a Low Grade Qi Condensation Talisman used to reinforce physical structures. It drastically increased hardness and durability. If a thousand ordinary Zombies struck the door simultaneously, they might shatter the spell. But confined to a narrow stairwell, only a dozen could physically reach the door at any given moment. A single Talisman was more than enough to bottleneck the entire horde indefinitely.

The three men exchanged bewildered glances. *A Boulder Talisman? What the hell is that?*

Chu Xuan ignored their confusion. His cold, calculating gaze swept over the trio before locking onto the heavy metal case clutched in the old man’s arms.

“What’s in the box?” he asked, pointing a slender finger at it. “The horde wasn’t chasing you. They were chasing that.”