Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 14: Where’s Zhao Hong? I Don’t Want to Repeat Myself

Chu Xuan stood motionless. Xiao Hu blurred into motion, stepping in front of his master. With a sharp *clang*, the Corpse Soldier swatted the incoming barrage of filthy debris out of the air.

“Kill them,” Chu Xuan said, waving a hand dismissively. “Leaving them alive is just a waste of rations.”

*Roar!*

Xiao Hu and Xiao Bao let out guttural cries of excitement. The two Corpse Soldiers coiled their legs and launched themselves upward, their bodies snapping into the air like compressed springs. They landed on the watchtower in a heartbeat.

Before the two guards could even widen their eyes in shock, their abdomens were ripped open.

Blood sprayed as Xiao Hu and Xiao Bao dug in, tearing into the fresh meat with ravenous gusto.

Chu Xuan watched the grisly feast with mild annoyance. “Don’t just stand there eating. Open the gate.”

Xiao Hu paused, letting out a sheepish grunt. He dropped his meal, bounded down to the main entrance, and obliterated the heavy steel doors with a single, thunderous swipe of his claws.

Chu Xuan then leisurely strolled into the courtyard of the Haotai Hotel.

The deafening crash had already alerted the compound. Men shoved doors open and leaned out of windows, their eyes locking onto the strangely dressed young man—and the two mangled corpses being devoured on the watchtower.

Panic rippled through the building. *Holy shit! Zombies breached the headquarters!*

Within moments, over twenty men armed with spears, machetes, and iron pipes swarmed out to confront Chu Xuan. They glared at the youth in his archaic robes, an inexplicable dread creeping into their chests.

“I’m looking for Zhao Hong,” Chu Xuan stated, his tone conversational.

“Bullshit!” a burly thug sneered, stepping forward. “You think you can just demand to see the boss—”

Chu Xuan flicked his wrist.

Xiao Bao exploded forward. Before the thug could finish his sentence, the Corpse Soldier dragged him out of the formation. A single swipe of a pale, jagged claw tore out the man’s throat. Arterial blood erupted skyward in a brilliant crimson fountain.

The remaining gang members flinched, the color draining from their faces. Their glares shifted into pure terror.

*The Zombie actually listens to him! This freak can control the dead!*

No wonder he had the gall to waltz right into the Spirit Dog Gang’s stronghold. A few of the braver men squinted at the two blood-soaked monsters flanking the youth. The hulking silhouettes looked disturbingly familiar.

“Wait…” someone shrieked, his voice cracking. “That’s Brother Hu and Brother Bao!”

A collective gasp sucked the air from the courtyard. Tang Hu was Zhao Hong’s brother-in-law. Wang Bao was his most trusted enforcer. Both men had been high-ranking pillars of the Spirit Dog Gang, untouchable by the rank-and-file.

Now, they were towering, mutated Zombies, acting as obedient attack dogs for this stranger. It defied all logic.

“Where is Zhao Hong?” Chu Xuan frowned, his patience thinning. “I don’t want to repeat myself.”

He sighed inwardly. *These survivors are incredibly slow.* They were just standing there trembling instead of fetching their leader. He was beginning to doubt the value of subjugating the Spirit Dog Gang. If this was the caliber of their manpower, they would just be a drain on his resources. It might be more efficient to just let his Corpse Soldiers use them as fodder.

“You’re looking for me?” a raspy voice echoed from the back of the mob.

The crowd parted instantly. A lean, sinewy man strode through the gap, flanked by three massive, mutated hounds. The beasts were the size of calves, their eyes burning with a cruel, bloodthirsty light.

This was Zhao Hong, the boss of the Spirit Dog Gang.

Chu Xuan appraised the man, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his eyes. He could sense distinct energy fluctuations radiating from Zhao Hong’s body. It wasn’t spiritual qi—the fundamental quality of this energy was far too crude and unrefined for that. However, it was undeniably the source of Zhao Hong’s enhanced physique and his ability to tame such monstrous hounds.

*If I refine him into a Yin Corpse, the resulting flesh vessel will be exceptionally durable,* Chu Xuan thought, his eyes lighting up.

His gaze swept over Zhao Hong with clinical satisfaction, evaluating him not as a threat, but as a high-quality cultivation catalyst. It was the look of a butcher admiring a prime cut of meat.

The sheer predatory weight of that stare made Zhao Hong’s skin crawl. Still, Zhao Hong was no fool. The youth standing before him was dangerously unnatural. The ability to control Zombies was something straight out of a nightmare.

Forcing down his rising anger, Zhao Hong kept his voice level. “Who are you? Why are you looking for me, and what exactly do you want?”

“You burned down the Xiaorunfa Supermarket,” Chu Xuan replied smoothly. “That was my territory.”

Zhao Hong blinked, caught off guard. That arson was months ago; he had practically forgotten about it. But at the mention of the name, the memory of that unnaturally freezing supermarket surfaced in his mind.

“I did burn it,” Zhao Hong admitted, nodding slowly. “I didn’t know it was claimed at the time. If you’re willing to talk, I can have my men secure another supermarket for you. After all, the Spirit Dog Gang controls more than half of Donghu City.”

“Boss!” a lackey shouted indignantly. “He just slaughtered our brothers!”

Zhao Hong backhanded the man without looking, sending him crashing into the dirt.

“Not enough,” Chu Xuan said, shaking his head.

Zhao Hong’s expression hardened. “I’ve offered you fair compensation. Whether you accept it or not is your problem. The Spirit Dog Gang will not bend over backward for you. Need I remind you that you’ve also killed my men?”

As the leader of the gang, he had an image to maintain. If he backed down any further in front of his subordinates, he would look weak.

Chu Xuan let out a dry, amused chuckle and snapped his fingers. “It’s simple. I want the entire Spirit Dog Gang.”

Zhao Hong stared at him, then burst into a harsh, furious laugh. “Fascinating! I think this is the first time I’ve met a man with a literal death wish! Da Hei, Da Huang, Er Huang—tear him apart! Eat him alive!”

At his command, the three mutant hounds launched themselves forward like coiled springs. Jaws snapping, thick saliva flying from their maws, they aimed simultaneously for Chu Xuan’s throat, left arm, and right leg.

Chu Xuan didn’t even flinch, keeping his hands clasped loosely behind his back. Xiao Hu stepped into the hounds’ path, while Xiao Bao’s figure abruptly vanished into the shadows.

A metallic, golden sheen rippled across Xiao Hu’s pale skin, hardening into an impenetrable layer of armor.

*Clang!*

The three giant dogs slammed into the Corpse Soldier, their jaws clamping down with bone-crushing force. A second later, a chorus of agonized whimpers rang out. The hounds’ fangs—teeth capable of easily snapping human femurs in half—shattered at the roots. Against Xiao Hu’s reinforced flesh, they were as fragile as cheap glass.

Zhao Hong’s heart seized. *That has to be a high-level Zombie!* How could a human possibly control something with that kind of defensive power?

*Wait… weren’t there two of them? Where did the other one go?*

The realization hit him a fraction of a second too late. A sharp, icy prickle of danger flared at the center of his back. Operating purely on instinct, Zhao Hong violently twisted his torso, desperately trying to evade the unseen threat.

It wasn’t enough.

*Squelch!*

A blade forged of pure, freezing Yin Fire carved a deep, jagged trench across his back. Blood sprayed into the air.

The necrotic flames clung to the wound, searing his flesh with a cold, agonizing burn that felt like countless ice picks driving directly into his brain. In a matter of breaths, Zhao Hong felt his unnatural vitality hemorrhaging from the gash. His face drained of color, and his legs buckled. He swayed dangerously, forced to lean on a nearby subordinate just to stay upright.

*Whimper… whine…*

Across the courtyard, the three mutant hounds had been brutally dismantled by Xiao Hu. Da Hei, the largest dog that had aimed for Chu Xuan’s throat, had taken the brunt of the Corpse Soldier’s iron fists. It lay in a crumpled heap, bleeding from all seven orifices and twitching in its final death throes.

Da Huang and Er Huang proved to be much more pragmatic. Seeing their pack leader slaughtered, they immediately dropped to the dirt and rolled onto their backs, exposing their soft bellies in absolute submission.

Zhao Hong watched his prized beasts surrender, a profound, icy despair settling into his bones. The mutant hounds he had spent months cultivating were utterly useless, instantly defecting to the enemy. His own enhanced physique, which he had thought made him a god in this wasteland, had been sliced open like wet paper.

Gasping for air, Zhao Hong’s hand darted into his jacket. He ripped out a heavy, black metal handgun, leveled it squarely at Chu Xuan, and pulled the trigger.

“Go to hell!” he snarled, his face twisting into a desperate, vicious sneer.