Just as Xie Tangxian was worried that Chang Jie would die, outside the town:
The Taoist priest Mao Keng, whom Zhao Youliang had met during the day, was holding a compass and searching for something.
When he saw the compass needle suddenly spinning rapidly, like the blades of an electric fan, Daoist Mao Keng was immediately shocked.
"May the Heavenly Venerable grant you boundless blessings!"
"How come there are so many zombies nearby? Is there more than one backwards zombie?"
As he spoke, the old Taoist priest Mao Keng held a talisman in one hand and a sword in the other, chanting incantations.
"The full moon is in the west, you hold the wooden sword in your hand and must offer it, you must avoid the Seven True Fires."
"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"
After the incantation, the talisman shot out, heading towards the darkness in the distance.
However, to the expectant gaze of the old Taoist priest Mao Keng, the true fire transformed from the talisman did not hit the zombie he had imagined. Instead, it was blocked by a bronze gong and exploded with a bang.
Then several figures emerged from the darkness one after another, and behind them were clearly more than a dozen zombies.
"May the Heavenly Venerable bestow boundless blessings, you?"
This group of people were all dressed in hemp clothing and carried various magical implements:
The shop is fully equipped with a soul-summoning bell, a soul-summoning banner, a soul-guiding gong, and a corpse-driving whip, all of which belong to the corpse-driver who just arrived in the town today.
The thing that blocked the fire talisman of Taoist Mao Keng just now was the soul-guiding gong, the magic weapon of the chief priest.
"The corpse-driving man from western Hunan greets the Taoist priest. May the Taoist priest be well."
Upon seeing that the other party was a corpse driver, the old Taoist priest Mao Keng immediately realized that he had misunderstood, so he quickly returned the greeting.
"I was rash just now, please forgive me..." The old Taoist priest suddenly stopped speaking and subconsciously glanced in another direction.
"Gentlemen, do you still have any companions over there?"
The corpse driver's skills were clearly inferior to those of the old Taoist Mao Keng, so he did not notice anything.
He was taken aback by what the old Taoist priest Mao Keng said: "What do you mean, Taoist priest?"
"There are five of us here, and no other companions."
Upon hearing what the corpse driver said, the old Taoist priest Mao Keng immediately grabbed his peach wood sword and ran towards the place he had just been looking at.
"Upside-down zombie!"
"A walking corpse? How can such a thing still exist in this peaceful and prosperous world!" Upon hearing this, several corpse drivers followed closely behind the old Taoist priest, led by the old master.
At this point in the story, let me explain what a backwards zombie is:
I searched through all the Buddhist and Taoist classics I knew, and there was almost no record of such a thing.
The only certainty is that this thing is a special type of zombie, but the exact cause is unknown.
Furthermore, the backward-walking zombie is extremely domineering; when it walks backward, it never turns, nor does it avoid anything.
Anything that blocks his path will be knocked down.
From a small wall to a row of houses in an entire village, anything that blocks his way is unacceptable.
The most outrageous record is found in the book "Night Voyage" from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which records that the backward walking corpse actually pierced a large hole in the Great Wall!
As for what the upside-down zombie's face actually looks like, no one has ever seen it.
Because everyone who saw the upside-down corpse was killed by him, without exception.
Furthermore, there is no record of the backward-walking corpse being subdued by masters of Buddhism or Taoism, so it is impossible to find out.
Getting back to the main point:
When the corpse driver caught up with the old Taoist priest Mao Keng, he found him fighting with a strange corpse.
However, this body was not a backwards corpse.
If Zhao Youliang were here, he would immediately recognize that this corpse was the one who killed the Ma family father and son and left the word "death" on "Brother Chen's" back.
In the end, for reasons unknown, he agreed to let "Brother Chen" go, and even promised to spare two more people.
The corpse was clearly no match for the old Taoist Mao Keng; he had already stabbed it with his peach wood sword, leaving several large holes in it.
The edges of the wound sizzled, as if it were being burned by boiling oil.
The strange corpse, which was already no match for the experienced Taoist priest, became even more wretched after the corpse driver joined in.
In a short while, it was covered in wounds and kept letting out desperate roars.
With the old man nailing a corpse-suppressing talisman to its forehead, the strange corpse could no longer even roar.
Despite struggling desperately, he could only stand there trembling.
At the same time, two lines of bloody tears flowed from his eyes.
"Old driver, what should we do with this beast?" one of the young corpse drivers asked.
The old man did not answer, but looked at the Taoist priest Mao Keng beside him.
"This matter is entirely up to you, Taoist priest."
The corpse-driver was humble, and the old Taoist priest Mao Keng naturally knew how to be modest as well.
"May the Heavenly Venerable grant boundless blessings."
"The matter of summoning and transporting corpses still requires your efforts. I, a humble Taoist priest, will observe the old master's skills."
Hearing what the old Taoist priest Mao Keng said, and considering that dealing with zombies was indeed his "specialty," the old man stopped being polite.
“Alas, wandering the world like this, his soul will never find peace, let alone be reborn.”
"Let's send him on his way!"
Upon receiving the old driver's instructions, the young corpse-driver who had spoken earlier immediately took action.
He took out a heart-piercing nail and drove it into the zombie's heart.
The strange corpse immediately let out screams, clearly in great pain.
Unfortunately, a talisman suppressing a corpse was pressing down on his forehead, making it impossible for him to move.
Once the entire nail was completely driven into the zombie's body, something strange happened.
His originally withered face rapidly returned to the appearance of an ordinary person. Although it was slightly rotten, you could still make out the general shape.
Zhao Hongwei, who had been silent until now, exclaimed in surprise, "Manager Sun? How could you be Manager Sun?!"
"What?!" The leading driver had obviously heard of Manager Sun and knew that he went down into the tomb for them to transport corpses.
Therefore, he quickly reached out and tore off the talisman that was stuck to Manager Sun's forehead.
"how so!"
Having lost the control of the corpse-suppressing talisman, Manager Sun was immediately free to move around.
Like a person experiencing a final burst of lucidity before death, he took advantage of everyone's unpreparedness, let out a roar, and ran into the darkness.
By the time the old Taoist priest Mao Keng and the corpse driver realized what was happening and tried to give chase, Manager Sun had already disappeared into the boundless darkness.
Even though they failed to catch up, the leading driver didn't seem worried.
Because any zombie, once pierced through the heart by the heart-piercing nail, is doomed.
He was just feeling sorry for them—sorry that they had ended up in such a terrible state, neither human nor ghost, all because they were trying to help him find the Seven Tragic Stones.
In the end, he even died at the hands of his own group of corpse-drivers...
While feeling regretful, Lao Si was also very puzzled: in his memory, he had never seen a zombie like Manager Sun.
Even if the other zombies are near death, they will not revert to their original appearance.
Instead, it will immediately turn into ashes and drift away with the wind, leaving no trace whatsoever.
Just as Lao Si was pondering, the old Taoist Mao Keng spoke softly.
"May the Heavenly Venerable grant boundless blessings."
"Thank you all for your righteous help. Now that this matter is settled, I shall take my leave."
"If fate allows, we will meet again someday."
The corpse driver was in a hurry to go down into the tomb to take revenge and then find the Seven Tragic Stones, so he didn't try to stop him.
After parting ways, they each disappeared in different directions.
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