Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 41: Yin-Fiend Evasion, Yin-Fiend Demon Claw

Thirty-six days later.

Chu Xuan exhaled a long breath of stale air. Fatigue lined his face, but his eyes burned with a sharp, predatory light.

A pitch-black chain hovered in the air before him. It pulsed with a sickly, ghostly luminescence. If one listened closely, the faint, agonizing wails of trapped souls echoed from its cold metal links.

“Finally done,” he murmured, a cold smile touching his lips.

Forging the Fiend Soul Chain had been surprisingly seamless. The entire process flowed in a single, uninterrupted breath. He hadn’t encountered a single bottleneck.

At a mere thought, the Fiend Soul Chain sprang to life. It spun through the air, blurring into a streak of black lightning.

*Boom!*

The reinforced concrete of the hotel wall exploded outward, showering the ruined street below in dust and debris.

Another mental command brought the chain snapping back. It coiled around his body with the fluid grace of a viper.

Chu Xuan nodded in satisfaction. This was the true power of a Natal Artifact. To forge it, he had ruthlessly severed a sliver of his own soul and fused it into the metal. If it didn’t move as naturally as his own limbs, it wouldn’t be worthy of the title.

He raised a hand. The Fiend Soul Chain slithered down and wrapped snugly around his waist like a belt of dark iron. As long as he wore it, his internal spiritual power would constantly nourish the weapon. Its grade would evolve in lockstep with his own cultivation realm.

*The Natal Artifact is complete. Now, to upgrade the rest of my arsenal,* he calculated. *Foundation Establishment spells and Gu insects will yield the highest immediate returns. Let’s check the Gu first.*

He rolled up his sleeve. *I wonder if that Blood Steel Wire egg has hatched.*

He inspected his left forearm. Three months ago, while laying the groundwork for the Yin-Fiend Soul-Stealing Grand Array, he had sliced open his own flesh and implanted a Blood Steel Wire egg.

A Qi Condensation cultivator could only sustain a single Blood Steel Wire. Attempting to host more without sufficient blood-food would only result in the parasite devouring its host from the inside out. But now that he had broken through to Foundation Establishment, his body could easily support a second.

*Still dormant.* He probed the egg with his spiritual sense, finding no signs of life yet. He shook his head. *Spells it is, then.*

He retrieved the *Blood Fiend Demon Refining Sutra*.

The manual was divided into nine layers, perfectly mirroring the nine sub-stages of Foundation Establishment. Mastering the first layer unlocked a Low Grade Foundation Establishment spell: Yin-Fiend Evasion. The second layer granted an offensive technique: Yin-Fiend Demon Claw.

Yin-Fiend Evasion was a movement art—vital for both hunting down prey and escaping apex predators. Its base speed was nothing special, but it possessed a deadly caveat: it could burn Yin-Fiend Qi for explosive acceleration. If a cultivator had a bottomless reserve of Yin-Fiend Qi to burn, its speed could rival even High Grade Foundation Establishment spells.

The same principle applied to the Yin-Fiend Demon Claw. Fueling it with Yin-Fiend Qi exponentially magnified its destructive power.

For most Demonic Cultivators, gathering such energy was a grueling, dangerous task. Natural Yin-Fiend veins in the cultivation world were heavily guarded and monopolized by the hypocritical righteous Sects. Stray demonic practitioners rarely got a scrap.

But Chu Xuan didn’t live in the cultivation world. He lived in an apocalyptic slaughterhouse. Here, Yin-Fiend Qi was as abundant as the rotting corpses on the streets. The Yin-Fiend Soul-Stealing Grand Array was practically overflowing with it.

*I need to forge a storage vessel,* he mused. *With a portable reserve of Yin-Fiend Qi, no early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator will be able to catch me or outrun me. And the Yin-Fiend Demon Claw will hit like a siege ram.*

Over the next few days, Chu Xuan meticulously crafted twenty small jade bottles. He carved intricate Qi Gathering Arrays into the base of each one, turning them into high-capacity batteries for Yin-Fiend Qi. Though barely the size of his palm, a single bottle held enough condensed energy to sustain his Yin-Fiend Evasion for over three hundred miles.

Stepping onto his Heavenly Dipper Flying Sword, Chu Xuan soared over the ruined cityscape and plunged into the heart of the Yin-Fiend Soul-Stealing Grand Array. He buried the twenty jade bottles at key nexus points across the blood-soaked concrete.

Then, he sat cross-legged at the array’s epicenter. Surrounded by the howling, crisscrossing currents of Yin-Fiend Qi, he closed his eyes and circulated the *Blood Fiend Demon Refining Sutra*. In this macabre paradise, his cultivation speed would skyrocket.

His immediate goal was simple: smash straight through to the second layer of Foundation Establishment.

***

Longjiang City, the provincial capital of Linjiang.

The massive metropolis was cleaved in two by the roaring Long River. The northern district was a hub of academia, home to the prestigious Life Sciences Research Institute. The southern district was a concrete jungle of corporate headquarters and booming commercial centers.

The Linjiang Army had established its primary barracks in the south. When the Zombie apocalypse first erupted, the military had ruthlessly locked down the city to maintain order. General Ye Nantian had declared martial law, enforcing three absolute rules with an iron fist. Thanks to his brutal efficiency, Longjiang City had stabilized, transforming into a beacon of hope—a massive Shelter for the desperate.

Every day, throngs of bloodied, exhausted survivors trekked across the province, praying to reach the safety of its walls.

Atop a towering skyscraper, a burly middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He stared down at the sprawling city, his thick brows locked in a heavy frown. His weathered face bore the scars of a lifetime of warfare, and silver threaded through the hair at his temples.

This was Ye Nantian, Commander of the Linjiang Army.

Heavy combat boots echoed against the rooftop. A personal guard marched up and saluted sharply. “General. Chief Zheng from the Research Institute has arrived.”

“Send him in,” Ye Nantian ordered.

Moments later, the General met Zheng Baoshan in a secure reception room. Ye Nantian offered a rare, tight smile. “Professor Zheng. To what do I owe the pleasure? A breakthrough in the labs?”

Zheng Baoshan’s eyes gleamed with manic excitement. “Exactly! That Level 3 Psionic Core we extracted from Donghu City is a goldmine. The institute has already synthesized a new batch of psionic serums. Animal trials are underway as we speak.” He leaned in, his voice trembling with anticipation. “Give us a year or two, and we can mass-produce it. When that happens, every soldier in this city can become an Awakened One!”

Ye Nantian nodded slowly, the weight of the apocalypse lifting just a fraction from his shoulders. “Excellent. This is exactly what we need. I leave the science to you, Professor. You have my full backing and unlimited authority in the labs.”

Zheng Baoshan hesitated, adjusting his glasses. “There is one other matter. That ‘Cultivator’ from Donghu City I reported last time…”

Ye Nantian chuckled, waving a dismissive hand. “A Cultivator? Please. He’s just an Awakened One who awakened a flashy, unique talent. You’re overthinking it, Professor.”

With the massive population of the Yanhan Celestial Dynasty, the sheer statistical probability of bizarre, outlier Awakened Ones was high. Ye Nantian wasn’t about to lose sleep over one eccentric survivor playing dress-up.

Zheng Baoshan frowned, his tone dead serious. “General Ye, whatever he is, if we can recruit him, he would be a strategic asset. We cannot afford to let him fall into enemy hands.”

“I will take it under advisement,” Ye Nantian replied smoothly, though his eyes remained cool.

Realizing he was dismissed, Zheng Baoshan nodded and took his leave.

Barely a minute passed before another guard rushed into the room, his face pale. “General! Sonar has detected a massive underwater biological signature in the Long River basin, right inside city limits.”

“Size?”

“Over thirty meters long, sir.”

Ye Nantian’s thick brows shot up. “How many civilians saw it?”

“None, sir. It surfaced briefly during the night shift. Only four sentries stationed on the riverbanks caught a visual.”

“Transfer those four sentries to the General’s Mansion immediately,” Ye Nantian ordered, his voice turning to ice. “Gag order in effect. If a single word about a river monster leaks to the public, the offender will be detained and court-martialed. Understood?”

“Yes, General!”

“How many Commanders are currently stationed in the city?”

“Two are escorting the supply convoy to Hanhai Province. Three are deployed at the outer resource nodes. We have five Commanders remaining on standby within the walls.”

“Summon them to the war room,” Ye Nantian commanded. “Now.”

“Sir!”