“Hey! Miss Zhao, over here!”
In the dim dungeon, Gu Qingying appeared, then flicked a faint purple light from her fingertip, precisely striking the forehead of the zombie with a sharp “pop.”
Following this deeply insulting move from Gu Qingying, the zombie’s fury instantly ignited!
Immediately, the zombie let out a roar that could have shattered eardrums.
The corpse qi around it boiled fiercely as it charged recklessly toward Gu Qingying, its claws swinging and whipping up gusts of chilling wind!
“Hmph… just as I hoped!”
A sly smirk curled at Gu Qingying’s lips as her figure floated lightly like willow catkins in the wind, gracefully drifting backward.
She pushed her agility to the limit, refusing to confront the zombie head-on, always narrowly dodging just before its claws or body could strike, causing every attack to miss.
However, though she dodged, it was not aimless like a headless fly.
Instead, she deliberately maneuvered close to the formation nodes inside the dungeon, luring the white-clothed zombie to destroy the Corpse Qi Formation within the room.
“Boom!”
With a thunderous explosion, the white-clothed zombie’s claw smashed directly where Gu Qingying’s afterimage had been, cracking the ground and dimming a flickering rune.
“Crack!”
Gu Qingying then led the zombie sideways into a rune-engraved stone pillar, which shattered on impact, sending chains hanging above clattering to the floor.
“Heh heh heh… come catch me! You can’t catch me!”
“Ssshh!”
Before Gu Qingying finished speaking, the white-clothed zombie violently tore at the blood talisman on the wall, shredding it to pieces.
Like a masterful guide, Gu Qingying danced nimbly within the cramped cell, exploiting the white-clothed zombie’s wild and mindless nature to turn it into the perfect tool for destroying the Demonic Sect Formation beneath their feet.
Still, that wasn’t enough for her.
She turned back to taunt the zombie.
“Hehe… Miss Zhao really has strength! Here, can you help me out again?”
“Tsk… this wall is such an eyesore; please lend a hand cleaning it up!”
Under her continuous provocation, the white-clothed zombie frantically destroyed the energy nodes maintaining its own evolution.
As the formation’s nodes were destroyed one by one, the once stable flow of corpse qi became intermittent.
The evolution light flickering on the zombie’s body also began to waver, clearly the process was severely disrupted.
This only made the zombie more agitated and furious, its attacks growing even more ferocious—but this was exactly what Gu Qingying wanted.
Her figure darted like lightning, leading the enraged zombie in a final, deadly spiral within the prison cell.
Her gaze sharp as an eagle’s, she locked onto the last few unstable formation patterns flickering on the ground.
“Hm! Left! Yes, right there!”
Gu Qingying snapped sharply, lightly tapping her toe before executing a nearly perfect backflip, narrowly evading the zombie’s terrifying claw swipe.
The white-clothed zombie failed to retract in time, its claw, filled with horrifying power, slammed onto the formation core!
“Boom! Crack!”
With a heavy explosion, the runes on that node shattered, plunging the room into darkness.
At the same time, the vast formation network etched on the cell floor seemed cut off at its source, the blood light all around suddenly dimming.
With the formation halted, the corpse qi that had surged madly lost its command and began to scatter chaotically.
The formation converting Earth Fiend Qi into corpse qi likewise ceased.
“Ah! It worked!”
A wave of relief flooded Gu Qingying’s heart as a satisfied smile broke across her face.
She landed to the side, catching her breath, watching from a distance as the now even more agitated and frenzied zombie monster—its energy supply completely severed—began to rage helplessly in place.
“Hmph… idiot~ stuck now, aren’t you?”
Gu Qingying shook her slightly sore wrist with a hint of pride in her voice.
“The formation’s broken; let’s see how you keep evolving now!”
“You just stay here and play all you want! When your worthless old man gets beaten down by my master, I’ll come back and save you!”
With that, Gu Qingying tidied her disheveled collar, preparing to initiate her cognition modification and leave this troublesome place behind.
In her eyes, the crisis was over.
The zombie in front of her had lost the support of the surrounding formation—it was nothing more than a sitting duck, no longer a threat.
However, just as Gu Qingying relaxed, believing the situation settled—
Suddenly, without warning, a dramatic change erupted!
The zombie howled into the sky, releasing a shrill, piercing scream!
The corpse qi inside it, which had become chaotic and scattered due to the energy interruption, did not dissipate with the destruction of the formation.
Instead, it was forcibly bound and compressed by a surge of intense resentment and unwillingness!
The white-clothed zombie’s withered body inflated and contracted wildly like a crazed balloon.
The black light beneath its skin condensed at an unprecedented speed and then underwent a sudden transformation!
Following this, a Spirit Pressure far purer and more terrifying than before erupted forth, as if an ancient ferocious beast had awoken after eons of slumber, violently breaking through an invisible physical barrier!
“Boom—”
The Foundation Establishment Spirit Pressure spread like a tangible tsunami from the white-clothed zombie’s center!
The air inside the cell seemed to freeze; dust and debris hovered suspended by this overwhelming force!
What no one expected happened: just as Gu Qingying destroyed the last of the formation, the zombie had actually accumulated enough corpse qi to complete its evolution!
Gu Qingying’s smile froze instantly, her previously proud expression twisting into one of disbelief and terror.
Her breath caught in her throat as if an invisible hand had gripped her windpipe.
Slowly, she turned her head toward the zombie—now having successfully broken through to Foundation Establishment stage—with a completely transformed aura.
Its bluish-gray skin had fully shifted into a dull black iron color.
Fangs had lengthened grotesquely, nails resembled poisoned daggers.
Its crimson eyes flickered with a cold, cruel light, faintly tinged with mockery!
At this moment, Gu Qingying’s mind went blank, leaving only one thought: run!
“System! Cognition modification! Maximum power! Activate!”
She shouted desperately within her mind.
In an instant, her figure blurred in the zombie’s perception, as if dissolving into the shadows around her.
She dared not hesitate, turning to sprint toward the wide-open iron door with all her strength!
However, just as she moved, only a few steps from the exit—
The newly evolved Foundation Establishment zombie’s crimson eyes flashed coldly.
It suddenly opened its gaping maw, its chest swelling violently like a bellows.
A visible black sound wave radiated from it like a ripple of destruction, violently spreading outward!
“Roar!!!”
The black sound wave twisted the air as it passed, turning the surrounding wall rubble to dust.
The heavy iron door crumpled and shattered like paper!
Gu Qingying, who had just activated her cognition modification and thought she could slip away silently, suddenly felt a tremendous force slam into her back like a heavy hammer!
“Pfft…”
She had no time to defend.
Her Protective Spiritual Light shattered instantly.
A mouthful of fresh blood burst from her lips as her delicate body was thrown like a broken kite by the shockwave, slamming hard against the solid wall!