Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 24: You Have a Brain, But Not Much

A deafening howl shattered the silence.

The Wolf King unleashed a vicious roar, commanding the dozen-odd giant wolves surrounding them to lunge forward.

Chu Xuan didn’t so much as flinch. “Keep the strongest ones alive,” he ordered casually. “Slaughter the rest.”

Xiao Long, Xiao Hu, and the six subordinate Yin Corpses received the mental command instantly. Savage crimson light flared in their dead eyes as they blurred into motion.

The clash was less a battle and more a one-sided massacre.

Most of these wolves were ordinary beasts, lacking any supernatural mutations. Chu Xuan’s Yin Corpses, however, were refined weapons of slaughter. Each possessed innate spells, and their cultivation bases were nothing to scoff at. Even the weakest among them—the one harboring the Self-Destruction spell—was a third-grade Corpse Soldier.

Coupled with the overwhelming physical might of his two elite fierce corpses, Xiao Long and Xiao Hu, tearing through this pack was as effortless as breathing.

Within seconds, the aggressive snarls of the pack devolved into pathetic, dying whimpers.

Chu Xuan swept a clinical gaze over the carnage. The ordinary wolves had been torn to shreds. The four prime specimens—first-grade Supernatural Animals—lay pinned to the asphalt, their limbs brutally shattered.

Meanwhile, Xiao Long and Xiao Hu had already bypassed the vanguard, flanking the Wolf King in a lethal pincer formation.

The Wolf King froze, its feral mind struggling to process the sudden shift. A moment ago, it had been the apex predator closing the net. Now, it was the prey.

With a furious, desperate roar, the massive beast kicked off the cracked pavement, launching itself directly at Chu Xuan.

It had hunted Espers in Shuanglong City before. Those who controlled other Mutant Beasts always shared one fatal flaw: their own bodies were pathetically frail. Relying on this predatory instinct, it ignored the encroaching Yin Corpses and went straight for the master. Sever the head, and the pack would scatter. Besides, how could a two-legged ape possibly outrun a four-legged predator?

“You have a brain,” Chu Xuan murmured, a faint, mocking smile touching his lips. “But not much of one.”

The beast had correctly deduced that he was the puppeteer. Kill him, and the undead would collapse. Unfortunately for the wolf, Chu Xuan wasn’t some glass-cannon summoner from a fantasy novel—the kind who hid behind ridiculously overpowered beasts while remaining pathetically weak himself.

If his own cultivation wasn’t absolute, how could he possibly suppress vicious, bloodthirsty anomalies like Xiao Long and Xiao Hu?

Chu Xuan stood rooted to the spot, his posture relaxed. The Wolf King closed the distance in a heartbeat. He could see the intricate serrations on its fangs, the thick saliva flying from its maw, and smell the rancid stench of rotting meat on its breath.

Swish!

A thread of crimson light whipped through the air. It struck with the kinetic force of a falling meteor, slamming directly into the Wolf King’s skull.

There was an old hunter’s adage about wolves: copper heads, iron bones, and tofu waists. The skull was their absolute ultimate defense. But in the face of absolute, overwhelming power, even a copper head would ring like a bell.

Bang.

The Wolf King’s eyes rolled back into its skull. Its massive body crashed into the dirt, skidding to a halt at Chu Xuan’s feet, completely unconscious.

The grand assassination attempt ended before it even truly began.

Watching this casual display of violence, the faint glimmer of rebellious instinct deep within Xiao Long’s dead eyes instantly extinguished. It lowered its head, not daring to harbor a single disrespectful thought.

“Bag them up. We’re heading back,” Chu Xuan ordered, his tone as casual as a man leaving a grocery store.

A low, synchronized growl rumbled from the Yin Corpses. They hoisted the mangled wolf carcasses and the unconscious giant wolves onto their shoulders, falling into a neat formation behind their master. Every few steps, one of the corpses would stealthily run a rotting tongue over the bleeding wolf meat, looking remarkably like a child trying to sneak a piece of candy behind their parent’s back.

Chu Xuan opted to walk back to the Haotai Hotel. With this many Yin Corpses in tow, his current flying sword simply didn’t have the surface area to transport them all.

Next time I return to the Cangxuan Continent, I need to upgrade my transportation, he mused. A High Grade flying Magical Artifact should do the trick.

He strode down the ruined highway with long, confident steps. With his current entourage, he could swagger through the apocalyptic ruins without a shred of fear regarding Zombie ambushes.

If anything, the Zombies were the ones who needed to hide. To Chu Xuan, the undead weren’t a threat; they were walking, groaning cultivation catalysts. Free Blood Beads just waiting to be harvested. If any ‘hospitable’ Zombies decided to throw themselves at him, Chu Xuan would gladly accept their generous donation of flesh and blood with mock tears of gratitude.

Later that afternoon, around 3:00 PM.

At the desolate border between Donghu City and Shuanglong City.

A rugged Wuling minivan rumbled down the cracked asphalt, screeching to a halt near the abandoned, broken-down pickup truck.

Four men stepped out: Wang Gangjian, Wang Yong, Song Dayi, and Zhuang Qiang. Zhuang Qiang, still nursing his injuries, was kept securely in the center of their formation. Their eyes darted around the silent ruins, weapons raised.

Zhuang Qiang stared at the bloodstained pickup, his face twisting in grief.

“Five of my brothers died here,” he rasped, his voice trembling with suppressed rage. “I watched those mutated bastards drag them into the brush. I swear to God, I’m going to skin every last one of them alive.”

Wang Gangjian let out a heavy sigh. Before the apocalypse turned the world into a meat grinder, he had served in the Linjiang Army, eventually rising to the rank of squad leader. He understood the agonizing weight of Zhuang Qiang’s survivor’s guilt. Watching the men you bled and joked with get torn apart while you lived… it was a hell few could endure.

“Get me to the tree line,” Zhuang Qiang said, taking a shaky breath. “I need to see if those monsters are still lurking around.”

The three men nodded, forming a tight perimeter as they escorted him to the edge of the dense woods. Zhuang Qiang pressed his palm flat against the rough bark of an ancient oak and closed his eyes.

His Esper ability activated. For a brief window, he could commune with the flora. The tree’s branches, leaves, and sprawling roots became extensions of his own nervous system. He tapped into the silent, slow-moving memories of the wood. In this humid, fertile environment, a tree’s root network mirrored its canopy. Whatever happened above the sprawling roots, the tree felt.

“I hear them,” Zhuang Qiang muttered, his eyelids twitching. “Heavy breathing. Dozens of them. It’s the wolf pack. But… not now. This is an echo from a few hours ago. Around noon.”

His breathing hitched. “Wait. I hear Zombie roars. And fighting—intense, brutal fighting. But it ended almost instantly… I hear the dying whimpers of the giant wolves! And… human voices!”

Zhuang Qiang severed the connection, gasping for air. His talent could only be sustained for three minutes, but it drained him completely. His clothes were plastered to his skin with cold sweat.

Wang Gangjian stared at him, bewildered. “You’re saying a battle broke out here just a few hours ago?”

“Between humans and that mutant wolf pack?” Wang Yong clarified, gripping his rifle tighter.

Zhuang Qiang nodded weakly. “I’m certain. Humans, the wolf pack, and probably a horde of Zombies caught in the crossfire. And from the sounds of it… the wolves were slaughtered.”

A stunned silence fell over the group. Someone had actually gone toe-to-toe with that monstrous pack and won?

“The Wolf King is a second-grade Supernatural Animal,” Wang Gangjian muttered, aggressively scratching his crew cut. “Are you telling me there’s a second-grade Esper operating in Donghu City capable of crushing that thing? I’ve survived in this city since the outbreak began. How the hell did I not know about someone like that?”

“If the pack was decimated, they won’t be out hunting,” Wang Yong analyzed pragmatically. “Let’s fan out. A fight that big leaves a trail. We need to find the battlefield.”

“Agreed,” Wang Gangjian ordered. “We split up, but keep visual contact. If you see anything breathing that isn’t us, scream.”

They divided into three search vectors. Wang Gangjian and Wang Yong took the flanks, while Song Dayi stayed glued to Zhuang Qiang in the center.

It didn’t take them long to find the epicenter of the massacre.

Pushing through the thick brush, the four men froze, the color draining from their faces.

“Good God…” Wang Gangjian breathed out.

They stood completely paralyzed by the sheer brutality of the scene before them.