Chapter 916: Walking Zombies

“Prepare the countdown!”

An Ascendant State expert flew close with an hourglass as massive as a hill after Mu Shen’s announcement, then initiated the countdown.

“Let’s get inside!”

The leaders of the star zones instructed the contestants near them.

They had heard a thing or two about the trial. Apart from survival, the contestants had to loot enough Divine Cores or they would be eliminated.

A young man in the crowd quickly asked You Long, “Senior, should we team up?”

He was only as strong as Dragon Emperor; he immediately thought of an alliance since he had witnessed the screening matches in the Golden Star Zone.

Being the case, it would be much easier for them to survive and hunt for the Divine Cores.

All the others had glittering eyes too as they looked at Su Ping and Diaz.

Those two would be the greatest supporters if they were to team up.

Diaz sneered upon hearing what the young man said; he despised alliances the most. He would always remember how tigers traveled alone and only ants moved in groups. He preferred not to mingle with ants.

You Long shook his head and said, “It’ll be up to luck whether or not you can team up. You’ll be separated in the forsaken area, which is immense; you might not see each other at all in the next five days. It is also important to know that your enemies are not the other contestants, but the actual weirdness of the place…”

The weirdness of the place?

Everybody was surprised, feeling that their blood was freezing. What thing could possibly make a Heavenly Lord feel weird?

“Let’s get inside. Try your best to hunt for the Divine Cores and survive,” said You Long.

Everybody felt uneasy when he talked like that; however, they didn’t have any other options at this moment.

“Junior brothers, zombies walk the remains and the Divine Cores are found right within their bodies. Attack the marks on their foreheads; it’s the only way to destroy them,” said You Long to Su Ping and Diaz telepathically.

Both of them were stunned for a moment. Then, they nodded.

“Let’s have another competition!”

Diaz turned back and looked at Su Ping aggressively.

He never fought Su Ping when they climbed the Heavenly Path Mountain, and he never thought he was any weaker. He really wondered how he could possibly fall short when compared to that guy.

Realizing that the former wasn’t convinced of his inferior power, Su Ping said with a smile, “A bet of ten again?”

“Nice try!”

Diaz was triggered by Su Ping’s taunting, touching his scar. He had been fooled by Su Ping earlier, receiving a slap right smack in the face.

He wouldn’t be fooled again.

“Humph. Let’s find out who hunts more.” Diaz snorted.

Su Ping merely offered a smile, not saying anything else.

You Long didn’t stop them from arguing, as competitiveness was always a good thing; it could help them in reaching the Ascendant State sooner.

The contestants from the various star zones entered the vortex shortly after.

They looked like a swarm of locusts from a distance.

Su Ping and Diaz entered the vortex at the same time.

The former detected a stream of dense divine power coming at his face. The darkness was gone moments later, and he found himself in a wasteland.

The land was blackened, with scars and dents everywhere, as if they were traces of giant beasts having walked in the area.

Su Ping looked around and saw a ragged village in the distance. He instantly flew there.

A vague trace of divine power is flowing in the air. This truly is a domain of the gods.

Unfortunately, the divine power is thin, and mixed with the decaying aura of death. Why did they fight?

Su Ping took to the skies and observed the environment from above; he didn’t see a single living creature.

Soon, he saw a ruined village. Most buildings had been razed to the ground; whatever was left was crumbling.

My perception range has been minimized. The gravity here is different too… It feels familiar.

After checking his own status, Su Ping looked beyond the village and was able to vaguely see a city.

It was good that his eyes weren’t affected, as he could see objects far in the distance.

His eyesight could be significantly boosted when he focused the Golden Crow’s divine power on his eyes, allowing him to see a grain of dust ten kilometers away.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Su Ping had a premonition and looked in a certain direction.

He saw a man standing next to a dry well in the ruined village.

The man wore ragged clothes; he was standing with his back against him, as if he were meditating.

However, Su Ping noticed that the man’s exposed skin was purple and wrinkled. That was anything but normal.

Suddenly, the man seemed to have noticed something, so he turned around.

Su Ping narrowed his eyes the moment their eyes met.

The man’s face was ulcerated; there was a horrifying opening on his chest too, which went through his ribs. All his internal organs had withered.

Any person would have died after suffering such heavy wounds.

All of a sudden, Su Ping recalled the walking zombies that Senior Brother You Long had mentioned.

Whoosh!

While Su Ping was feeling shocked, the man flashed and lunged at him, roaring. His movements were barbaric and primitive.

Su Ping’s expression changed a bit. He did not sense any air of a living creature from the man, so he instantly punched.

Bang!

His golden fist punched the zombie’s broken chest, which felt like a rock; the zombie didn’t even bother to dodge.

The aura of the fist compressed the air behind his back, until it became fluid.

However, the ferocious punch didn’t cause any damage to the zombie, which continued lunging and had quickly grabbed Su Ping’s arm. Its fingernails were as sharp as blades.

Su Ping wasn’t taking any chances; he wouldn’t allow himself to be hurt by the zombie. The Golden Crow’s flames quickly emerged on his arm, setting the zombie ablaze; such flames would continue burning until the end of time.

To Su Ping’s astonishment, the zombie was still attacking despite the flames all over his body, seemingly unable to feel any pain.

Remembering what You Long said, Su Ping looked at the zombie’s forehead; he did find something glittering under the divine flames.

It was a divine seal!

Su Ping quickly gathered laws on his fingertip and poked.

The zombie was fast, but unskilled; Su Ping dodged its attack and penetrated the divine seal.

There was a crack, and then the divine seal glowed and exploded.

The zombie stopped moving and slowly fell down.

It fell to the ground in the village. Divine flames spread from his body, burning the rocks into magma.

Su Ping waved his hand and absorbed the flames, then he looked at the blackened body with a mix of suspicion and shock.

The corpse was still able to move. Was it the weirdness that You Long had mentioned?

Suddenly, Su Ping noticed divine power leaking from the dead man’s chest. It was an intriguing situation, so he turned the corpse over and cut its chest open, revealing a brilliant golden item. That was the Divine Core, as well as the body’s heart.

So to speak, I have to fight these creatures if I want to rise to the top hundred?

Su Ping’s eyes became grave.

It wasn’t hard for him to finish off the zombie, but it was still bizarre. The creature was quiet, inconspicuous and relentless. It would be truly difficult to get away from a lot of them.

Su Ping studied the Divine Core for a moment and tried to cut it open, but it was really hard; it would break if he continued.

He then stored the core and continued examining the body. He thought of something, and then collected some of its blood, teeth and fingernails. He planned to find a living creature to test if those things were poisoned.

After all that, Su Ping left the village and flew ahead.

He had been vigilant all the way. Those zombies could hardly be detected remotely, and he had to keep an eye on them, or it would be a nasty surprise if they flashed to where he was all of a sudden.

Su Ping saw a giant beast shortly after; it was slowly moving outside the village.

The beast was more than thirty meters tall