Chapter 198: An Unwelcome Alliance

An Unwelcome Alliance

Zhao Meiyun stepped directly into the path of the approaching patrol.

His pristine, bone-white silk robe stood in sharp contrast to the darkness and foul Qi clinging to the underground corridor. Ahead of him, a squad of zombies marched in disciplined formation. Their movements were coordinated, each step following the measured pace of the creature at their head.

All wore coarse black robes and lacquered masks hiding their decaying faces. Only dull, lifeless eyes gleamed through the narrow slits.

The lead zombie raised an arm.

The squad stopped in unison.

Zhao Meiyun lifted an eyebrow. "Tsk. To think you corpses can cultivate and still follow orders. What a nuisance."

As an alchemist who had dissected all manner of abnormal flora and fauna, he observed the creature with genuine curiosity. "Even if your vocal cords rotted away, the neural retention is fascinating. But that’s none of my business. Where have you taken the children? Specifically, the boy taken from Willowbrook Village?"

The lead zombie offered no reply.

Instead, it raised its right palm. A sphere of dark, crimson flame ignited above its hand and hurled forward.

"Seriously?" Zhao Meiyun sighed.

Pale-white Qi gathered around his body, instantly condensing into a thin barrier.

BOOM!

The detonation rattled the corridor walls. Fire flooded the passage, and the kinetic shockwave pushed Zhao Meiyun several paces back, his boots scuffing the flagstones.

His lazy expression tightened slightly.

Peak Foundation Establishment... The Zombie Lord has certainly been feeding them well.

Before the smoke could thin, the lead zombie lunged. Its speed was vicious.

CLANG!

An elongated, blackened claw struck a slender steel sword that appeared in Zhao Meiyun’s grip. Sparks of white and corrupt Qi scattered across the stone floor.

The zombie pressed forward, its left hand sweeping toward his throat. Zhao Meiyun leaned back, letting the jagged nails miss his collar by an inch, then guided his blade along the monster’s arm to deflect its balance before slipping clear.

"Eager, aren’t you?"

The lead zombie unleashed a dry, rasping screech.

Behind it, the remaining squad surged forward, abandoning their formation to swarm him from three sides.

Zhao Meiyun’s smile remained, but his gaze turned cold. "Numerical suppression? How uninspired."

He flicked his left wrist. Several small jade vials appeared between his fingers and shattered instantly under his Qi.

A cloud of fine silver powder puffed into the air.

The nearest zombies lunged through the mist without hesitation. Zhao Meiyun circulated his Qi, and the suspended silver particles flashed with bright luminescence.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A cascade of localized detonations tore through the vanguard, blowing chunks of rotten flesh free and slamming several bodies into the stone masonry.

Before the rest could adapt, Zhao Meiyun shifted forward. His sword traced a clean arc, catching an incoming zombie across the shoulder joint and redirecting its momentum into the creature charging behind it.

With his free hand, he crushed a dark-crimson pill.

A heavy red mist drifted out, clinging to the creatures’ limbs.

The moment it coated their rotting skin, their joints stiffened and their movements dragged through the air.

"Frostbinding Dust. Reliable as always."

A lone zombie broke through the fog from his blind spot, claws raking down toward his temple.

Zhao Meiyun didn’t flinch. He leaned back, allowing the claws to part his fringe, and slapped a small golden pellet directly onto the monster’s chest.

Crack!

The pellet burst. Pure, concentrated flame erupted from the core, incinerating the zombie’s torso to ash within two seconds.

"One."

Another silhouette loomed behind him. Zhao Meiyun spun, raising his sword to catch a heavy overhead downward smash. The force rattled up his forearm, sending a dull ache through his elbow.

He pushed the corpse back, slipped a jade pill into his mouth, and swallowed. Warmth flushed his meridians, replenishing his spent Qi.

Down the hall, the lead zombie watched him with hollow red eyes. It raised both hands. Corrupt Yin Qi gathered around its forearms, hardening into two jagged, bone-like blades.

"Oh? An innate mutation?" Zhao Meiyun raised an eyebrow. "Let’s see it."

The creature charged, covering the distance in a blur.

Zhao Meiyun yielded ground, tossing three jade-green pills into the air above his head. They shattered simultaneously, forming a triangular array of pale-green light.

The monster’s strike slammed into the barrier. Instead of shattering the shield, the kinetic energy dispersed along three separate vectors, cracking the corridor walls on either side.

Seizing the opening, Zhao Meiyun snapped his fingers.

The residual silver powder clinging to the monster’s shoulder ignited in a sharp flash, blinding its vision and disrupting its forward balance. Zhao Meiyun slid inside its guard. His sword drew a deep gash across its chest, and before the creature could retaliate, he drove a slender bone dagger into the wound.

A pale-blue liquid seeped from the hilt into the dead flesh.

The zombie froze mid-strike. The dark Qi circulating through its limbs sputtered and fractured.

Zhao Meiyun withdrew the dagger with a relaxed smile. "A little concoction that destabilizes the binding between necrotic Yin Qi and physical muscle tissue. I was curious if it worked on high-tier mutants. The results are quite satisfactory."

He drove his sword through the creature’s chest and twisted. The lead zombie collapsed onto the stone flags, limp and lifeless.

The remaining four zombies roared, their collective bloodlust surging as they charged.

Zhao Meiyun’s playful demeanor vanished. He crushed three different pellets in his palm at once.

Golden fire, silver sparks, and blue freezing mist tore through the corridor. He moved like a ghost between the lunging bodies, disabling joints and severing tendons with surgical precision.

One tried to grab his ankle; a binding pellet pinned its arms to the floor with resilient threads. Another jumped from a broken pillar; his sword caught its throat and redirected its fall into the wall.

A third managed to slip past his guard, its jagged claws tearing through his left sleeve and drawing a thin line of blood across his shoulder.

Zhao Meiyun frowned. "Enough playing."

He circulated his Qi to its limit.

His sword let out a clear chime as a pale wave of sword light swept horizontally across the corridor. The strike cleaved two zombies clean at the waist and forced the last one against the far wall.

He raised his left hand toward the scattered corpses. "Detonate."

Every grain of silver powder remaining on their body ignited at once.

BOOM!

The corridor fell silent.

When the dust settled, only charred, motionless remains covered the floor.

Zhao Meiyun stood among the wreckage, breathing slightly heavier than usual. He flicked his sword, letting a burst of Qi burn away the foul black blood before dismissing the blade into his spatial ring.

"Troublesome creatures," he muttered, adjusting his torn sleeve. "At least the datas was useful."

"Who are you?"

A harsh voice echoed from the passage behind him.

Zhao Meiyun turned.

Elder Rowan stood at the entrance, his staff held in a combat guard. Behind him walked Lothe and Seana, followed closely by Nyren, Oren, Caelan, and Darian.

After Lothe shattered his restraints and freed them from their cells, the group had rushed toward the sounds of combat echoing through the tunnels, retrieving their weapons from a nearby guard room on the way.

They had expected an army of zombies—not a single young cultivator in bone-white robes standing amid a graveyard of charred corpses.

Lothe’s nose twitched.

His eyes narrowed into sharp slits.

Zhao Meiyun caught Lothe’s stare and chuckled, pointing a finger at him. "Ah. It seems someone already recognizes me."

Lothe let out a tired sigh. "The Ghost Orchid. You’re the one who planted it at the entrance."

"You!" Darian stepped forward, his knuckles whitening on his formation rings. "You almost got us killed in that damn illusion!"

Zhao Meiyun raised an open palm. "Please, don’t point fingers. It’s unrefined. Besides, if you couldn’t see through a simple sensory diversion, that only proves you were too weak."

"You—!" Caelan drew his blade, cold blue Qi spilling from the edge.

Zhao Meiyun didn’t even look at him. His eyes were fixed entirely on Lothe and Seana.

"I want to propose a partnership," Zhao Meiyun said smoothly.

The statement caught the entire group off guard.

Seana frowned, her hand hovering near her little pouch. "Why?"

"Because you two are interesting," Zhao Meiyun answered without hesitation.

Lothe looked at him calmly, the corner of his lips lifting into an amused smirk. "You set a trap that nearly wiped out an entire squad, locked us in a mental maze, and now you want to join forces? Is that your standard way of introducing yourself?"

Zhao Meiyun smiled broadly. "Precisely. It seems you understand me quite well."

"Besides both of you weren’t affected by the Ghost Orchid" he added.

"Unfortunately, I don’t share your taste for dramatics."

"Pity." Zhao Meiyun held up both hands in mock surrender. "Look, we’re both after the same thing: the missing children. I have my own reasons for being here, but our immediate path aligns. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to combine our efforts?"

Elder Rowan stepped between them, his staff resting heavily on the stone. "Why should we trust someone who hides in the shadows and attacks from behind?"

"You shouldn’t," Zhao Meiyun said easily. "Trust is earned through mutual interest, not empty promises. But as you can see, I am an alchemist.

My pills and arrays can counter the necrotic toxins and spatial traps hidden in this facility. You already have a capable alchemist with you, but having two is hardly a disadvantage, is it?"

Seana met his gaze. "You expect us to simply ignore what you did?"

"I’d think less of you if you did," Zhao Meiyun replied smoothly.

Darian scoffed. "Shameless."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t a compliment!"

"I chose to take it as one."

Lothe chuckled softly. He’s arrogant, but his skills are genuine.

They were deep beneath a hostile underground city with their Qi only partially recovered. An extra cultivator who understood alchemy and combat was a tangible asset, provided he was kept where they could see him.

Lothe glanced at Seana. She gave a slight, pragmatic nod.

Lothe turned back to Zhao Meiyun. "We can cooperate for now."

"Wonderful!"

"On one condition," Lothe added, his smile fading into something dangerously sharp. "If you try another stunt like the Ghost Orchid, I won’t bother asking for an explanation before I put a spear through your throat."

Zhao Meiyun’s smile didn’t waver. "Fair enough."

Elder Rowan glanced between them, letting out a measured breath. "We move now. We have already lost too much time."

"Lead the way," Zhao Meiyun said, gesturing politely down the corridor.

Lothe took Seana’s hand, leading the group past the charred remains of the patrol.

None of them noticed a thin wisp of dark, corrupted mist seep from beneath the lead zombie’s shattered armor. It lingered in the air for a heartbeat, then slid into the cracks of the stone floor, racing deeper into the underground complex.

——————————

Far from the Nine-Lock Prison, in an abandoned graveyard on the western outskirts of the city, a pair of eyes snapped open beneath the cracked earth.

Seth.

The youth Lothe and Seana had saved from getting killed after being bitten by a zombie during the initial outbreak.

Yet the person sitting among the sunken tombs bore little resemblance to that terrified student.

His skin was deathly pale, and thick ribbons of black Yin Qi coiled around his limbs like living serpents. His robes were pitch black, embroidered with faint ash-colored threads that absorbed the surrounding moonlight.

The space before him twisted.

A humanoid silhouette composed entirely of condensed shadow rose from the soil. Two cold blue flames burned where its eyes should have been. It knelt before Seth, lowering its head to the grass.

"Speak," Seth murmured, his voice hollow.

A faint mental ripple passed between them.

As the message unfolded, Seth’s calm expression cracked. His brow furrowed into a sharp scowl.

"Master abducted children? And captured an entire squad from the Four Great Sects?"

The shadow nodded once.

Seth’s gaze turned frigid. "We had an explicit agreement. We live in peace and not look for trouble especially from the Four Great sects."

He stood up, his black robes rustling as the surrounding shadows rose to meet his boots.

"He’s getting reckless." Seth stepped toward the kneeling shadow. "Take me to the central hall."

The shadow dissolved into black mist.

Seth’s body blurred, melting into the darkness with a quiet hiss, leaving only the dry leaves rustling across the neglected gravestones.?