Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 12: Little Tiger, Bring Me a Live One!

Xu Ming frowned. “Are we really still talking about Chu Xuan? With the severe lack of cultivation resources over the past few months, he’s likely still stuck at the fourth level of Qi Condensation. How could a fourth-level possibly instakill a seventh-level?”

“But Senior Brother Chu brought a full thirty Blood Beads to trade with us,” Chen Ge argued. “Maybe his strength has advanced?”

Xu Ming scoffed, his expression twisting with impatience.

Liu Zhenxiong chuckled. “That Chu Xuan who’s perpetually ranked tenth among the inner sect disciples? I remember him. His aptitude might be average, but his combat strength is solid. A promising seedling.”

“However, even if he has broken through to the fifth level of Qi Condensation, fighting three peers at the same realm would be incredibly difficult. Let alone a seventh-level expert.” Chen Ge opened his mouth to reply, but found himself speechless.

Liu Zhenxiong tapped his chin thoughtfully. “The top ten inner sect disciples of our Wuji Sect have all been captured. It’s highly unlikely our savior was a fellow sect member.”

“Perhaps a passing Rogue Cultivator simply did you a favor.”

Waving a hand dismissively, Liu Zhenxiong added, “No need to dwell on it. Come, let’s return to the Wu family estate.”

Xu Ming and the others stared at him in shock. “Go back?”

A sly smile crept onto Liu Zhenxiong’s face. “Our pursuers turned the Wu family upside down. They believe they discovered the truth: that I bewitched the Wu family’s ancestor into hiding us.”

“In reality, that Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Wu family has been one of our people all along.”

“Right now, the Wu family estate is the safest place in the world.”

***

Five days later.

Deep within his secluded cave, Chu Xuan slowly opened his eyes, a glint of satisfaction flashing in his gaze.

He had spent every waking hour of the past few days absorbing Blood Beads, relentlessly cycling the Blood Transformation Spirit Stealing Art. The stockpile of Blood Beads he had refined using the Blood Transformation Spell on the apocalyptic planet was completely depleted.

But the results were undeniable. His spiritual energy surged, thick and heavy in his meridians. He had reached the absolute peak of the sixth level of Qi Condensation.

He was only a hair’s breadth away from breaking through to the seventh level—the threshold of the late-stage Qi Condensation realm.

He withdrew the Blood Mirror. Its surface pulsed with a deep, saturated crimson; the energy reserves were full.

“Perfect timing. It’s time to head back.”

Chu Xuan sank his consciousness into the Blood Mirror, anchoring his mind to the apocalyptic planet. The world spun in a dizzying blur of red. When his vision cleared, he was standing inside the familiar layout of the Little Runfa Mall.

Or rather, what was left of it.

The entire structure was gutted, the walls and floors scorched a flaky, pitch black. The acrid stench of ash hung heavy in the air. It was completely ruined as a base of operations.

Chu Xuan frowned, his eyes sweeping over the devastation. During his brief absence, someone had trespassed and maliciously torched his property.

“Interesting,” he murmured, a cold sneer tugging at his lips.

As a Demonic Cultivator, he was usually the one doing the unprovoked slaughtering. To be on the receiving end of such petty vandalism was almost insulting.

“Little Tiger. Bring me a live one.” Chu Xuan summoned his Corpse Nurturing Tower, releasing his prized creation into the ash-filled air.

*Roar!*

Little Tiger unleashed a guttural bellow, shooting out of the mall like a bolt of black lightning. Bound by blood and soul, the corpse puppet felt its master’s icy displeasure, its own undead fury igniting. It would make these blind, ignorant natives witness the true terror of an armored corpse.

***

A few blocks away. Inside a ransacked convenience store.

A woman lay crumpled on the linoleum floor, blood pooling from a nasty head wound, her eyes glassy and unfocused. Beside her, a gaunt, half-starved man knelt, weeping bitterly.

Looming over them was a burly, broad-shouldered thug. He casually swung a modified iron pipe wrapped in barbed wire and rusted nails. A single strike from that weapon wouldn’t just break bones; it guaranteed a slow, agonizing death by infection.

“Please, don’t kill her! I’ll do anything you want!” The gaunt man raised his trembling hands in surrender.

The thug, Wang Bao, let out a raspy, cruel laugh. “Oh? Anything?” He tossed a coil of rope at the man’s feet. “Then prop her up on that chair, and tie yourself up.”

With his wife’s life hanging by a thread, the gaunt man had no choice. Hands shaking, he bound himself tightly to a heavy iron chair. “Can… can you let us go now?” he pleaded.

Wang Bao threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Kid, you are too damn stupid! If you had fought back like a cornered rat, I might have actually been a little wary.”

“But now? You’re just a living target.”

“You see, I’ve had this… unique hobby since I was a kid. Never had the chance to try it out in the old world. But now?” A sickeningly evil grin split his face as his eyes roamed brazenly over the unconscious woman’s curves. “Now, I think I’ll give it a shot.”

The horrific realization finally dawned on the gaunt man. “If you want food and water, I have a stash at home!” he roared, thrashing against his bindings. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

Wang Bao just chuckled. He reached out with a meaty hand and violently ripped the woman’s coat open, exposing her pale skin to the cold air.

“Go to hell!” the gaunt man screamed. Driven by pure, adrenaline-fueled rage, he lunged forward, using his legs to propel himself and the heavy iron chair directly at Wang Bao.

But Wang Bao was a veteran of the wasteland. He simply pivoted, swinging his spiked pipe in a brutal arc.

*CRACK.*

The gaunt man collapsed, the heavy chair crashing down with him. His skull caved in, a gruesome mixture of red and white splattering across the dusty aisles.

Wang Bao spat on the corpse. “Idiot. Still trying to play the hero…”

His gloating was cut short by a piercing scream—his own.

The woman had suddenly snapped awake. She lunged, clamping her teeth down on his fingers with bone-crushing force, tearing at his flesh like a rabid animal.

Her eyes had rolled back, leaving only milky, bloodshot whites. Black veins pulsed wildly around her sockets. She wasn’t a grieving widow anymore.

She was a Zombie.

“Fuck! This retarded bastard was harboring a bitten bitch?!” Wang Bao kicked her away, stumbling backward in a blind panic.

The apocalypse had been raging for over five years. He had watched countless survivors get bitten and turn into mindless flesh-eaters. But knowing the rules of the wasteland didn’t stop the icy grip of terror from seizing his heart now that it was *his* blood spilling.

“Die, you fucking bitch!” Wang Bao roared, swinging his rusted pipe in a frenzy.

The weapon caved her head in like a rotten melon, showering the floor with dark, coagulated blood and brain matter.

Wang Bao stood frozen amidst the carnage, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. His hands shook violently as he fumbled through his pockets, eventually fishing out a crumpled cigarette and a plastic lighter.

He had hoarded this single cigarette for over three months, saving it for a special occasion. Well, he was about to become a brain-dead cannibal. If he didn’t smoke it now, he never would.

He took a long, shaky drag, letting the harsh smoke fill his lungs. “…Damn, that’s good…”

His morbid peace was interrupted by the heavy, rhythmic thud of approaching footsteps.

Peering through the gloom, he saw a towering, pitch-black figure striding toward the supermarket. It was a Zombie, but its physique was monstrous, dwarfing any normal infected. It looked like a walking mountain of dark muscle and iron-hard flesh.

*An Advanced Zombie!* Wang Bao’s heart skipped a beat.

Instinct screamed at him to run, to flee as fast as his legs could carry him. But then he looked down at his mangled, bleeding hand. He was already infected. He was a dead man walking. The urge to run evaporated.

A hysterical, manic laugh bubbled up from his throat. “Hey big guy!” Wang Bao waved his bloody hand at the approaching behemoth. “I’m gonna be a Zombie soon too! Mind if I tag along with your horde?”

The mountain of flesh didn’t reply. It simply blurred into motion.

Before Wang Bao could even blink, the massive Zombie was upon him. A vice-like grip clamped around his torso, hoisting him into the air and tucking him under a massive, armored armpit like a sack of potatoes.

*BOOM! BOOM!*

The giant Zombie kicked off the ground, the concrete shattering beneath its feet as it launched itself five meters into the air. It bounded across the ruined cityscape in massive, terrifying leaps.

The sheer G-force and violent jostling rattled Wang Bao’s brain against his skull, leaving him completely disoriented. When the world finally stopped spinning and his vision cleared, he found himself dumped unceremoniously onto the ash-covered floor of a gutted, charred shopping mall.