Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 66: This Man is Too Terrifying

“Blood Refining Corpse Fire!”

Chu Xuan growled. Spiritual power erupted from his core, cascading downward to completely enshroud the hundred-meter-tall building.

Even with his current reserves, enveloping a structure of this scale was taxing. He immediately downed several vials of spirit-replenishing water to offset the massive drain.

Thus, every single Zombie within the high-rise was trapped within his spiritual domain.

The Zombie Mother sensed the shift in the environment. It howled in agitation. Following its psychic commands, a swarm of lesser zombies splintered off, charging in three different directions to escape.

Instead, they slammed headfirst into an invisible barrier. No matter how frantically they clawed and rammed, they couldn’t breach the ten-meter perimeter surrounding the building.

The Zombie Mother roared, a mix of shock and fury. Its gaze locked onto Chu Xuan, who hovered suspended in mid-air. Its walnut-sized brain easily deduced that this floating human was the architect of its doom. Kill him, and the cage would break.

It unleashed an ear-piercing shriek, commanding over three hundred zombie drones to swarm the rooftop.

But before they could reach him, the very air seemed to ignite.

*Boom!*

A crimson inferno instantly swallowed the skyscraper.

The flames shot toward the heavens. The sheer, blistering heat forced He Shengliang and Ji Shengyu out of their hiding spots, driving them back step by step.

“What the hell?!” Ji Shengyu shielded his eyes. “Fire?”

He Shengliang’s expression turned grave. “He actually possesses an elemental talent? I thought he was an Enhancement-type Esper.”

“Dual talents?”

Espers with dual talents were incredibly rare. He Shengliang had heard rumors of such anomalies residing in Yanjing, the capital of the Yanhan Celestial Dynasty, but he had never witnessed one in the flesh.

*Shriek!*

Piercing wails echoed from the inferno as the lesser zombies were roasted alive. Their rotting flesh and mutated fat acted like highly flammable oil, feeding the blaze. Within minutes, their bones were reduced to ash.

In a mere five or six minutes, every single Zombie from the ground floor to the rooftop was utterly incinerated by the terrifying Corpse Fire.

The more corpses it consumed, the fiercer the flames burned. This was the true horror of the Blood Refining Corpse Fire. If unleashed on a massive battlefield, it could burn unceasingly for months, even years, sustaining itself until every last scrap of biomass was eradicated.

Down below, Xiao Long, Xiao Hu, and Xiao Bao had retreated to a safe distance, terrified of catching even a stray spark of the Corpse Fire.

Xiao Bao had run the fastest.

Seeing the leopard zombie’s cowardly display, Xiao Long and Xiao Hu felt a surge of collective disgust. *It’s your fault for having such a fragile body,* they seemed to communicate. *You couldn’t even handle a few explosive drones, forcing the master to step in himself. You need a beating!*

The dragon and tiger zombies exchanged a glance, reaching a silent, perfect consensus. They flanked the leopard.

*Smack! Smack!*

Two massive, synchronized slaps struck Xiao Bao, hitting with enough force to nearly spin the leopard’s head a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.

*Roar…*

A weak, raspy groan echoed from the smoldering ruins.

Every drone and egg the Zombie Mother had produced had been converted into fuel for the Blood Refining Corpse Fire. Only the Mother itself, bolstered by its higher level and tenacious vitality, had barely survived.

Even so, seventy percent of its bloated body had been reduced to charred, smoking meat. Death was imminent.

*Whoosh.*

The raging crimson flames rapidly receded, drawn back into Chu Xuan’s body until they vanished completely.

*Tap. Tap.*

Footsteps echoed through the ash. The Zombie Mother weakly raised its head to see the man in black stepping through the charred remains of its brood. He walked among the ashes like a descending god of death.

The fury in the Zombie Mother’s eyes had completely evaporated, replaced by bottomless, instinctual terror.

“Take it back. Keep it alive,” Chu Xuan ordered coldly.

“Roar!” Xiao Hu was the most eager. The tiger zombie bounded forward and hoisted the massive, charred carcass onto its shoulder.

Chu Xuan casually flicked two large Blood Beads into the Zombie Mother’s gaping maw. Instantly, the charred, necrotic flesh began to knit back together at a visible rate. The healing was slow, but undeniable.

The Zombie Mother’s dim mind reeled in shock. *Such pure flesh and blood energy?!*

“Let’s go.” Chu Xuan waved his hand.

Stepping onto the Heavenly Dipper Flying Sword, he and his three Corpse Soldiers vanished into the sky.

***

Once Chu Xuan was gone, He Shengliang and Ji Shengyu approached the pitch-black, smoking husk of the building.

“The concrete is cracking. The temperature of those flames was absurd,” Ji Shengyu muttered.

He Shengliang pressed his bare hand against the scorched wall, immediately feeling the blistering residual heat. A normal person would have recoiled instantly, but he held his palm flat against the concrete, enduring the burn.

After a moment, he pulled his hand back. “The core temperature exceeded two thousand degrees. It could easily melt steel.”

“This man… is too terrifying.”

Ji Shengyu nodded in agreement. “He’s overwhelmingly strong. He didn’t need our help at all, which means we can’t sell him a favor.”

“And our ‘gift’ is gone,” He Shengliang stated flatly. “He took it himself.”

Ji Shengyu shrugged helplessly. “Then we find another gift. The Zombie Empress has plenty of descendants; this one wasn’t unique.”

He Shengliang frowned, calculating. “Intelligence from the Boat Gang indicates there is another Zombie Mother in Fengyang City, in the northern sector of Hanhai Province. We’ll head there.”

“Alright. Let’s just hope it stays put in Fengyang, doesn’t evolve, and doesn’t run away,” Ji Shengyu mused. “Oh, and hopefully it doesn’t die before we get there.”

He Shengliang adjusted his glasses. “The probability of a Zombie Mother advancing is 5%. The probability of nest relocation is 53%. Death via territorial conflict is 49%, and death via Esper intervention is 22%.”

Ji Shengyu tilted his head, giving him a deadpan look. “I was just making a casual comment. Why are you pulling out the spreadsheet again?”

“Data is truth. Let’s move. We’re wasting time.”

Ji Shengyu coughed lightly. “I hear Fengyang City is famous for its baijiu…”

“I have already optimized our route,” He Shengliang replied calmly. “There is a major liquor production Base in the southern suburbs of Fengyang. We will pass directly through it.”

Ji Shengyu’s face lit up. “Yes, yes, yes! For the baijiu, charge!”

***

Haotai Hotel.

Upon landing, Chu Xuan headed straight for the backyard courtyard. His spiritual plants were thriving, arranged with clinical precision. Many had already reached maturity.

He systematically harvested the crop. These spiritual plants were the raw materials needed to refine spirit-replenishing water, Rejuvenation Pills, and various other essential concoctions. In this apocalyptic wasteland, such Pills were consumed rapidly and were absolutely indispensable.

But his current yield was insufficient. It was time to scale up.

Chu Xuan mapped out a massive new expansion zone, encompassing the surrounding residential blocks and abandoned storefronts.

As for the demolition? He had the perfect labor force.

His dozen or so Yin Corpses had been standing idle. Now, they were repurposed as biological wrecking balls.

*Thud. Crash. Boom.*

The relentless, earth-shaking sounds of forced demolition echoed down the streets, terrifying the survivors holed up at the nearby Black Vanguard Security Company. They spent the entire day trembling in fear, listening to the monstrous destruction.

In just one day, the designated zone was entirely leveled. Chu Xuan dubbed this sprawling, macabre industrial sector his “Zombie Farm.”

The Yin Corpses hauled away the heavy debris and structural waste. As for the remaining rubble and concrete fragments, Chu Xuan utilized the *Turn Stone to Mud* spell, transmuting the urban decay into a dark, nutrient-rich soil.

With the foundation laid, Chu Xuan excavated a massive, crater-like pit in the dead center of the farm.

He dragged the bewildered, half-charred Zombie Mother to the edge and unceremoniously kicked it into the depression. It wasn’t a prisoner; it was the core of his new organic incubator.

He meticulously inscribed a restrictive Formation around the pit, locking the creature inside. It would serve as the living biomass engine for his agricultural empire, endlessly churning out flesh-substrate to fertilize his demonic flora.