Zu An looked in the direction that the zombies were staring at. The depths of the valley had been cloaked in grayish mist earlier on, making it impossible to make out anything at all. However, he could now make out some silhouettes.

As the footsteps came closer, the silhouettes became clearer too.

Rows of zombies orderly marched out of the mist, only stopping a few tens of meters away. Unlike the other zombies he had been dealing with all this while, these zombies looked far cleaner. Their bodies weren’t decomposed, and they were dressed in armor. They held long spears and sharp swords in their hands, and those in the front even had shields on their arms.

“Holy shit, are they elite monsters?” Zu An’s eyes widened in horror. While the earlier zombies could be mistaken as refugees, the ones who had just appeared were undoubtedly soldiers.

Do zombies form armies as well?

Zu An felt that things were getting far too ridiculous for his common sense to process.

Dealing with the ragtag refugees was already tough enough for him—yet he actually had to go up against an entire bloody army now? That was definitely a one-way ticket to hell!

As Zu An was despairing, he noticed something strange happening beneath him. The zombies camping right beneath him were clutching their weapons tightly as they eyed the army before them warily. They didn’t seem to be on the same side as one another, despite the fact that they were all zombies.

All of a sudden, a gap opened in the army’s formation, and a squad of cavalry slowly made its way forward. These cavalrymen were riding on zombie horses that were shrouded in black mist, looking quite similar to how dullahans were depicted in the anime cartoons he used to watch.

These mounted warriors were dressed in armor that was clearly a tier higher than the footsoldiers around them. 

The one leading the squad wore exquisitely-designed armor that stood out from the rest. A black cloak hung from its shoulders, which made it look as if it had been embraced by living darkness, and its head was completely covered by its helmet. The only facial feature that could be seen were two bundles of flames glowing in the depths of the helmet, presumably its eyes. 

Without a doubt, it was the captain of the squad. 

As soon as it drew its sword, the other soldiers followed suit, drawing their weapons in unison.

The knight captain pulled on the reins of his steed, which reared up imposingly. That was the signal for the charge. Following his lead, the knights under his command immediately rushed forward to meet their enemies. The footsoldiers behind also began to advance quickly while maintaining their formations.

“What’s going on? Is this Zombies versus Zombies?” Zu An was baffled. At this point, he wouldn’t be surprised at all if he saw flying pigs in this world of cultivation.

He thought that the refugee zombies would immediately turn tail and run—it was obvious that both sides were on different levels in terms of equipment and strength—but to his surprise, the refugee zombies didn’t back down from the battle. Instead, they roared furiously and charged forward to meet the soldiers with the shabby weapons they had in hand.

Absurdly, it looked as though the commoners were taking up arms to start a revolution against the imperial court.

At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened. Zu An raised his head and saw a massive rain of arrows sailing forth from the army’s backline. Compared to that, the barrage of arrows Zu An had faced earlier couldn’t even be considered a drizzle.

Struck by the arrows, quite a number of the refugee zombies were immediately pinned down to the ground, unable to get back up.

Zu An examined the arrows curiously. He had clashed with quite a few zombies now, but despite his attempts, he hadn’t been able to cut down a single one of them. Yet, these arrows were actually able to claim their lives.

Are their archers too strong, or is there some sort of special enchantment on these arrows?

The zombies on both sides met with a deafening crash. The momentum of the cavalry charge was simply too powerful. The refugee zombies, armed with makeshift weapons, couldn’t possibly hope to stop them. In the blink of an eye, the knights had already carved a huge opening through their formation.

The footsoldiers marched in right behind them and cut down the refugee zombies with ease.

“It’s a one-sided slaughter!” Zu An was appalled. The refugee zombies that had cornered him earlier were actually completely helpless against this army!

The refugee zombies were tenacious in their assaults, attempting to make use of their numerical advantage to swarm the enemies standing in their path. Even when their bodies had been sliced in two, they continued to bite down on the soldiers, not giving up until their final breath. Unfortunately, their tenacity was not enough to bridge the huge gap in both strength and equipment.

Soon, there was no longer any living soul on the side of the refugee army—or, more accurately, no corpses standing. Their bodies had been diced into pieces, scattered all over the battlefield.

The captain of the cavalry squad scanned the battlefield before finally coming to a halt under the tree Zu An was hiding in.

Zu An slowed his breathing down so much that it almost came to a halt. He was afraid to make the slightest noise, in case it caused the cavalry captain to notice him. He had nearly lost his life just dealing with those refugee zombies; against this organized army of zombies, he stood no chance at all.

It was fortunate that the tree was pretty high up, and the cavalry captain hadn’t raised its head to take a look.

On top of that, the refugee zombies had partaken of a generous number of monstrous golden-furred rats earlier, which had caused the area to be inundated in the stench of blood and flesh. If not for this, the scent of a living person such as he would have surely caught the attention of the zombies, no matter how well he tried to hide.

The cavalry captain was scanning the battlefield for survivors, whom he crushed beneath his foot without any mercy. After ensuring that there were no more survivors, the captain waved his hand, and the sharp clang of a gong rang out. The soldiers swiftly got back into formation before marching back into the depths of the valley.

“Woah, they even have gongs to signal for retreat!” Zu An’s eyes were nearly bulging out of his head. These zombies were far more professional than he had expected.

After the soldiers had made it a fair distance away, Zu An finally leaped down from the tree. Looking at the broken limbs littering the area, his cheeks began twitching uncontrollably. 

If Ji Xiaoxi was here, she would probably have puked her guts out by now.

“It sure was a wasted trip!” Zu An gritted his teeth in frustration. 

I nearly lost my life multiple times, but I didn’t gain anything at all. Even in games, trash mobs like zombies would still drop some gold coins and weapons!

Hm? Wait a moment. Even though there aren’t any gold coins here, there are quite a few weapons lying around.

Zu An quickly scanned the battlefield. He automatically ignored the hoes, carrying poles, and other makeshift weapons. To him, a weapon’s value lay not in its prowess, but how cool it looked. Only the most suave weapon could match his noble disposition.

He recalled how a few of the zombies had been wielding swords and sabers earlier, so he started scrounging around for them. However, his efforts only ended in disappointment. He was actually unable to find a single proper weapon at all. The swords and sabers the refugee zombies had been wielding had all broken when clashing against the stronger weapons of the zombie army.

If only I could find some weapons from the zombie army.

Unfortunately, the zombie army had retrieved the ‘corpses’ and weapons of their comrades while they swept the battlefield earlier.

Speaking of which, since those fellows are already dead, what would happen if they ‘die’ again?

Zu An suddenly tripped over something, causing him to stagger forward. He quickly steadied himself before turning around to take a look—it was a pitch black arrow. It wasn’t one of the arrows which the refugee zombies had shot at him earlier.

“It’s from the zombie army!”

Zu An thought about how the rain of arrows from the zombie army had decimated the refugee zombies, of which he hadn’t even been able to kill a single one of them. Clearly, these arrows weren’t merely ordinary.

The zombie army had recollected most of their arrows while sweeping the battlefield, but they had simply shot too many of them earlier, and it was inevitable that they would miss some out.

Zu An quickly scavenged the battlefield again, and he eventually found seven of them.

Just by holding these arrows in his hand, he could feel an eerie, chilling sensation gripping his heart. There was definitely something extraordinary about them. 

“I wonder how powerful these things are when used against humans.” Zu An picked up a nearby quiver and tossed the arrows into it. He was unskilled in archery, but he didn’t think that it was a huge problem. Given his current strength, he could simply throw them like javelins.

After confirming that there was nothing else noteworthy, Zu An quickly headed back to where he had come from. He was worried about how Ji Xiaoxi was faring at the moment.

He hurried back to the tree where the two of them had parted ways, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Alarmed, he quickly searched the area. To his relief, he did not find any of her possessions in the area, which meant that she had likely left the valley safely.

His first thought was to rush out of the valley to find her, but given how much time had passed since they had parted ways, it didn't seem likely that he would be able to catch up with her. Besides, the dungeon was only going to be open for ten days. He needed to find the Evanescent Lotus, so time was precious to him. 

It would be a huge waste of time for him to go running around looking for Ji Xiaoxi right now. Most likely, she would return to the valley to look for him.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to venture deeper into the valley.

He knew that there were great dangers lurking within, but based on the knowledge he had acquired from the plethora of fantasy novels he’d read in his previous life, he knew that powerful guardians and great treasures usually went hand-in-hand. Given how powerful the zombie army was, it was entirely possible that they were protecting some sort of amazing artifact.

For the sake of ‘little Zu An’, he was determined to brave the danger this once!

Gritting his teeth, he began inching towards the depths of the mountain valley warily. He was prepared to summon Grandgale and flee if any danger came his way.

To his surprise, and perhaps due to the earlier rampage of the zombie army, the mountain valley was oddly peaceful. There were no ferocious beasts or zombies along the way.

The zombie army was nowhere in sight, but Zu An wasn’t worried about losing track of them. He could feel an eerily chilly sensation lingering in the air, the remnants of the zombie army’s aura.

As long as he followed this aura, he should be able to find their base without worrying about getting too close to them.

He continued his pursuit for about an hour before suddenly coming to a halt. He could vaguely hear the drumming of heavy footsteps just ahead of him. Slowing his own footsteps, he carefully made his way forward. Soon, he caught sight of the zombie army.

However, the scene confronting him was a little baffling. The zombie soldiers were marching forward in an orderly fashion, disappearing into a hill.