Rebirth as a Demonic Cultivator: Starting with a Zombie Planet

Chapter 64: Foundation Establishment Fourth Layer! The Descendant of the Corpse Empress!

The Boat Gang leader drummed his fingers against the table.

“Ji Shengyu and He Shengliang… Those two stayed with the Boat Gang for over a year, yet they never showed any intention of putting down roots.”

“And now they’ve just vanished?”

“Yeah… and they swiped half a crate of liquor on their way out.”

The leader rubbed his temples, piecing together old memories. “When they first arrived, they mentioned searching for lost memories. They wanted the help of an Awakened One with brain-enhancement abilities.”

“It seems they’re convinced that so-called ‘immortal’ in Linjiang Province is their target.”

He let out a heavy sigh. Two years ago, he had pulled them from the brink of death after a Corpse King attack. The boy’s Awakened talent was a massive cognitive enhancement, turning his brain into a supercomputer capable of processing vast amounts of data in seconds.

The Boat Gang was entirely comprised of meatheads who only knew how to kill and plunder. They desperately needed a tactical mind like He Shengliang’s. Because of that, the leader had imposed almost no restrictions on them, hoping leniency would buy their loyalty.

Instead, the duo had struck a deal: they would serve the Boat Gang for one year as a Return for saving their lives. Once the year was up, they were free to choose their own path.

He just hadn’t expected them to actually walk away.

Shaking his head helplessly, he swallowed his regret. Their drive to leave was absolute; no amount of bargaining would have kept them. Let them go, then. As for this Cultivator who had surfaced in Donghu City…

“Should the Boat Gang try to establish friendly relations? Or should I just warn the Esper Council to steer clear of him?”

He sighed again, dismissing the thought. The Boat Gang projected an image of absolute power, but internally, it was a fractured mess. As the chief, his words carried weight, but whether the other factions actually listened was another matter entirely.

Right now, there was a far more pressing threat: the increasingly terrifying Corpse Empress in the northern reaches of Hanhai Province.

If left unchecked, that monstrosity would continue churning out descendants, expanding its living biomass until it consumed them all.

…

Two years passed in the blink of an eye.

Deep within the Yin-Fiend Soul-Stealing Grand Array, Chu Xuan sat perfectly still, as unmoving as a statue.

During this prolonged seclusion, the soul of the Two-Headed Python had repeatedly flared with hostility toward him. Yet, every single time, it was brutally beaten into submission by the Fiend Soul Huikong.

Before entering his meditative trance, Chu Xuan had laid down a simple, ruthless rule for Huikong: if the python’s soul so much as attempted an attack, Chu Xuan would whip Huikong. It didn’t matter if Huikong failed to stop it, or simply failed to notice it—the punishment would be absolute.

Terrified of the lash, Huikong became a fanatical guard dog. He refused to let the python’s soul anywhere near Chu Xuan. The moment it drifted too close, Huikong would descend upon it in a flurry of spectral violence.

After several savage beatings, the Two-Headed Python’s soul learned its place. It meekly absorbed the ambient Yin-Fiend Qi on the periphery, not daring to step out of line.

Now, the spiritual pressure surging within Chu Xuan’s body was reaching a critical mass.

He was on the verge of shattering his limits.

A year ago, fueled by the array’s inexhaustible supply of Yin-Fiend Qi, he had effortlessly broken through to the third layer of Foundation Establishment.

Now, he was launching his assault on the fourth layer.

Crossing this threshold meant stepping into the realm of mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Armed with his arsenal of trump cards, he could face fifth or even sixth-layer cultivators without a shred of fear. And if he threw caution to the wind and fully activated the Merit Bell? He could withstand a full-force strike from a seventh-layer expert and walk away unscathed!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The spiritual power within his meridians roared like a captive dragon, violently slamming against the invisible Bottleneck.

Once! Twice! Thrice!

He lost count of the impacts.

Finally, with a deafening internal crack, the Bottleneck shattered!

Like a dragon bursting from the abyss, a terrifying shockwave of spiritual pressure erupted from his body, sweeping outward in all directions. The sheer force of his breakthrough instantly pulverized several lesser ghosts and fiends incubating within the Yin-Fiend Soul-Stealing Grand Array.

It hardly mattered. Their shattered essence simply bled back into the Formation, acting as raw biomass to nourish the next batch of spectral horrors.

Chu Xuan’s eyes snapped open, a razor-sharp light flashing in their depths.

Foundation Establishment fourth layer!

A cold, satisfied smile touched his lips. Meditating at the epicenter of the grand array meant he was constantly flooded with hyper-concentrated Yin-Fiend Qi. It was the equivalent of gorging on high-tier Pills every single day. It would be more surprising if his cultivation hadn’t skyrocketed.

With a casual flick of his wrist, he recalled Huikong. The Fiend Soul obediently sank back into the Fiend Soul Chain.

Chu Xuan pushed off the ground, blurring past the boundaries of the array in an instant. Summoning his Heavenly Dipper Flying Sword, he shot into the sky, cutting through the clouds.

He needed a densely populated testing ground—a city swarming with Zombies—to calibrate his newly acquired spells.

…

Meanwhile, in Shuanglong City.

A woman and a young boy stood on the edge of a rooftop, their eyes locked on a neighboring skyscraper.

The structure was an architectural nightmare. Thick, pulsating blood vessels and sinewy tendons clung to the concrete exterior, transforming the high-rise into a towering monolith of living flesh.

Ji Shengyu let out a long breath. “Two full years to get here. Between the constant ambushes and being hunted by Level 5 Zombies and mutant Awakened beasts, I thought we’d never make it. But we’re finally in Shuanglong City.”

“Donghu City is just a bit further ahead. That’s where the Cultivator resides.” She narrowed her eyes at the flesh-covered building. “We need to hurry and secure a proper gift before we meet him.”

He Shengliang’s voice was clinical and detached. “Scanning the interior. I detect one Level 4 Zombie, nine Level 3 Zombies, and a massive swarm of low-level variants.”

“The Level 4 target is a direct descendant of the Corpse Empress from northern Hanhai Province. Its innate talent is highly anomalous.”

“According to my calculations, you have a 72% probability of a lethal takedown, a 25% chance of a stalemate, and a 3% probability of death. Are you certain you want to use this specific entity as your tribute?”

Ji Shengyu covered her mouth, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. “Of course. Only a Level 4 spiritual energy crystal carries enough weight to be a proper offering. Anything lower, and an entity of his caliber wouldn’t even spare us a glance.”

He Shengliang nodded. “Proceed, then. I will provide overwatch and cull the surrounding low-level swarm. Be warned: this Level 4 variant functions as an organic incubator. Its production capacity is extreme. I estimate it can spawn one hundred new Zombies every twenty minutes, including several Level 1 combat variants.”

Smiling, Ji Shengyu prepared to leap across the gap.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She snapped her head toward the sky.

High above, a lone figure was streaking through the clouds, riding a streak of light like a descended deity.

Their expressions shifted in alarm, and they immediately shrank back into the shadows of the rooftop access stairwell.

“Is that… the immortal?” He Shengliang whispered, his calculating eyes widening.

Ji Shengyu nodded grimly. “What is he doing here?”

At that exact moment.

High above the streets, Chu Xuan brought his flying sword to a halt, hovering directly in front of the grotesque skyscraper.

He had intended to fly straight through the city, but this architectural anomaly had caught his eye. The building was entirely encased in a thick, pulsating layer of blood vessels and muscle tissue. Amidst the decaying concrete jungle, it stood out like a festering wound.

Sweeping his spiritual sense over the structure, Chu Xuan immediately detected a dense concentration of life signatures.

Zombies.

But these weren’t the mindless, shambling corpses he was used to. They were heavily mutated—stunted, barely reaching half the height of a normal human, yet possessing a terrifying, insectoid agility.

Their limbs ended in fleshy suckers, allowing them to scurry up vertical walls and across ceilings with sickening speed.

What truly piqued Chu Xuan’s interest, however, was their anatomy. These Zombies had no mouths. They were completely devoid of a digestive tract, lacking any capacity to feed themselves.

Instead, they operated like a hive of diligent worker ants. They scurried through the ruins, harvesting raw biomass and organic materials, then dragged the flesh-substrate back into the pulsating skyscraper.

In and out. A tireless, perfectly synchronized meat-grinder of a colony.