Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 40: Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds! Soul-Cleansing Golden Rain!

Chu Xuan stepped past the boundary of his Formation, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.

Suddenly, a strange resonance stirred within his chest. He snapped his gaze upward.

The smog-choked apocalyptic sky had fractured. In its place, Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds roiled and churned. The vibrant mists coalesced into the ethereal silhouettes of soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes, casting a radiant, divine light over the rotting ruins of the city.

Bathed in that holy luminescence, Chu Xuan felt an intoxicating clarity wash over his mind. The dense, esoteric bottlenecks of the Blood Fiend Demon Refining Sutra unraveled before him, the profound demonic truths clicking into place with effortless perfection.

Rumble.

A peal of spring thunder echoed across the heavens, though not a single dark storm cloud marred the horizon.

Then, the rain began to fall.

It wasn’t water. The droplets were pure, liquid gold, shimmering like molten metal as they descended.

Chu Xuan stood motionless, letting the Soul-Cleansing Golden Rain wash over him. The moment the golden droplets touched his skin, they sank directly into his flesh.

He closed his eyes, his breath hitching. He was shocked to discover his soul expanding at a terrifying, explosive rate.

Before this, his mental limit was tethered to ten standard Yin Corpses. If he commanded higher-tier undead—like his elite trio of Long, Hu, and Bao—that number dropped drastically to just three. If any of them evolved into a Corpse General, a rank equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his soul would be entirely monopolized.

But now? Baptized by the golden rain, his spiritual capacity had doubled. He could effortlessly dominate twenty Yin Corpses. Even if Long, Hu, and Bao all broke through to Corpse Generals simultaneously, he could leash them without breaking a sweat!

“Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds… Soul-Cleansing Golden Rain,” Chu Xuan murmured, finally opening his eyes. He clicked his tongue, a dark, ironic amusement dancing in his gaze.

This was the Will of the Heavens rewarding him. Cosmic Karma earned by slaughtering nearly 100,000 Zombies.

The last time the heavens had showered him with golden lotus petals, it had subtly bolstered his Providence and lifespan. But this? This was a direct, brutal injection of power. The Soul-Cleansing Golden Rain nourished the soul itself.

In the Cultivation world, Foundation Establishment experts possessed almost zero methods to temper their souls. Chu Xuan knew the Wuji Sect’s prized Soul Forging Incantation could barely squeeze out a ten or twenty percent increase at its absolute peak. Yet this divine rain had just doubled his soul strength in mere moments!

Chu Xuan glanced down. The mundane weeds sprouting through the cracked concrete at his feet had also bathed in the golden downpour. They pulsed with an unnatural, vibrant emerald hue.

“Perhaps one day, you too will transcend the mortal coil,” Chu Xuan chuckled coldly. With a thought, the Heavenly Dipper Flying Sword materialized beneath his feet, and he shot into the sky, leaving the ruined bus station behind.

The moment he vanished, the patch of weeds erupted into a frenzy.

Driven mad by the lingering divine energy, they fought over the residual Soul-Cleansing Golden Rain. Roots whipped out like iron chains; serrated leaves slashed like miniature swords. They strangled and butchered their own kind in a ruthless, silent massacre. Entire swathes of grass were shredded, their splattered sap gleaming with a sickly golden hue.

Soon, only a single victor remained.

It wrenched its bloodied roots from the soil, plunging them into the shredded corpses of its brethren and the golden puddles. It gorged itself, sucking the residual energy dry. Within minutes, the weed rapidly flowered, birthing a single, plump fruit.

A mutated scavenger bird circling the apocalyptic ruins spotted the vibrant fruit. It dove, snapping it up in its beak before flying off.

Miles away, the bird’s flight grew erratic. Its wings seized. It plummeted from the sky, slamming into the asphalt—dead.

Within its rotting chest cavity, a green sprout suddenly burst forth, rapidly germinating into a verdant blade of grass. It looked perfectly ordinary, indistinguishable from any other weed. Only when the harsh apocalyptic wind blew did the grass part to reveal rows of microscopic, razor-sharp fangs.

…

Meanwhile, at the Black Vanguard Security Company.

It had been two days since the survivors retreated to their base. Though everyone had resumed their posts, a heavy dread hung over the compound. Eyes constantly drifted toward the dense, unnatural fog blanketing the distant district. They lived in constant fear that the mist would roll forward and swallow Donghu City whole.

Wang Yong stood atop the highest guard tower, a daily ritual he performed morning, noon, and night without fail. Activating his Esper ability, [Farsight], he peered into the hazy distance.

Suddenly, his breath hitched.

High above the fog, Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds painted the heavens. Ethereal dragons and phoenixes danced through the vibrant mists, while a shimmering golden rain cascaded over the ruins.

Wang Yong’s eyes bulged. Such divine providence! To witness a miracle like this in the middle of a rotting apocalypse?

He wasn’t the only one. Early risers across the compound spotted the glowing horizon. Whispers spread like wildfire. Soon, dozens of Black Vanguard members crowded the rooftops, staring in awe at the distant spectacle.

“What the hell is that?”

“It looks like a holy omen from the ancient myths…”

“Has a god descended upon Donghu City?!”

“Should we send a scouting party to check it out?”

“Shut your mouths!” a thunderous voice barked from the stairwell.

A heavily muscled man with a severe crew cut and tree-trunk arms shoved his way through the crowd. It was Wang Gangjian.

“I gave you strict orders the moment we returned! No one steps within a thousand meters of that fog! Are you all deaf?” He glared at the gathered survivors, unleashing the crushing Pressure of a Level 2 Esper.

The crowd instantly shrank back, bowing their heads in terror.

“Whoever just suggested going closer—three days in solitary confinement!” Wang Gangjian roared.

“Yes, sir…” a man whimpered from the back.

“Disperse! Get back to your posts!” Wang Gangjian waved them off, and the crowd scrambled away like frightened mice.

Wang Yong sighed softly, stepping up beside him. “Brother, is this a blessing or a curse?”

“They are Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds. It should be a blessing,” Wang Gangjian muttered, his expression grim. “I’d bet my life this divine omen is tied to that Cultivator. From today onward, we lock this place down. No one goes near that district.”

He turned to his lieutenants, his voice dead serious. “If one idiot wanders in and dies, that’s fine. But if that idiot angers the Cultivator? He could wipe us all out before we even have a chance to beg.”

Wang Yong, Tang Jinchuan, and Song Dayi nodded gravely. “Understood.”

…

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the Haotai Hotel, Chu Xuan exhaled a long breath of foul air. He gazed at the flawless Middle Grade Magical Artifact resting in his palms, a satisfied smirk curving his lips.

He hadn’t spent the last two months merely meditating in dull Cultivation. Every single day, he had practiced the art of artifact refining.

Refining artifacts was a different beast entirely from alchemy. While pills were concocted from compliant spiritual herbs, weapons were forged from stubborn metals. Metals naturally resisted and obstructed spiritual sense, making artifact refining significantly more grueling than pill concocting.

That was exactly why Chu Xuan had started grinding his experience early. Fortunately, the immense Cosmic Karma he had accumulated proved its worth yet again. After a few initial failures, his proficiency skyrocketed. He quickly mastered Low Grade Magical Artifacts, bringing his failure rate down to a mere thirty percent.

After a month of relentless forging, that failure rate plummeted to ten percent. Confident, he moved on to Middle Grade Magical Artifacts. Now, he had successfully stabilized his failure rate for Middle Grade gear at thirty percent as well.

If he were back on the Cangxuan Continent, this level of craftsmanship would officially qualify him as a bona fide Artifact Refiner!

Resting for a brief moment to recover his spiritual energy, Chu Xuan laid out a fresh batch of materials. His eyes gleamed with ambition.

Yin-Fiend Steel. Bone Bamboo. Intoxicating Vine.

These were the core components required to forge the Fiend Soul Chain.

He didn’t have a powerful living soul on hand to act as the weapon’s core, but that wasn’t a pressing issue. The true beauty of the Fiend Soul Chain was its adaptability. Once the physical artifact was forged, he could capture and bind a living soul into it at his leisure.

Chu Xuan’s plan was simple: return to the Cangxuan Continent, hunt down a Foundation Establishment cultivator or a Foundation Establishment Demon Beast, and rip out their soul to serve as the chain’s fiend. That would push the Fiend Soul Chain to its absolute maximum destructive potential.

“Let’s begin.”

Exhaling sharply, Chu Xuan ignited his spiritual flames and began forging his Natal Artifact, the Fiend Soul Chain.