Chapter 127: Dancing on a Grave

Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from the desolate graveyard, Su Cheng was instantly shocked.

Could a drought demon—a *hanba*—be emerging from beneath?

Upon second thought, the possibility seemed low. If a drought demon were truly awakening, the difficulty of this dungeon would be far too high; no matter how many professional players arrived, they would only end up as minced meat.

"Hiss—" Su Cheng took a sharp breath. The villagers' transformation into zombies was likely caused by whatever monster lay beneath this grave. To break the curse, the grave itself had to be destroyed.

However, doing so would easily alert the creature buried within.

Due to the eruption of malevolent energy, the temperature around the graveyard plummeted. Biting, icy winds howled, causing Shiratori Saki’s face to pale as terror filled her eyes.

Su Cheng noticed the grave had been abandoned for over a decade. It had not been maintained, and parts of it had already collapsed. A thick, putrid stench of decay wafted from the grave, saturating the air.

The malevolent energy surged toward the sky, causing the surrounding flora to wither and perish instantly. Nearby lay the carcasses of several wild dogs; it appeared they had tried to dig for food at the gravesite, only to meet an untimely end.

"Master Yinian, what should we do now?" Su Cheng was confident in fighting zombies, but he lacked knowledge of arrays and barriers. In times like these, it was best to rely on a professional.

"If I am not mistaken, this grave is the anchor point of the formation. Destroying the grave should break the barrier."

As they spoke, Shiratori Saki seemed to trip over something and felt a sudden chill. Looking down, she saw a rotting, fleshy arm protruding from the earth like a root, gripping her ankle tightly.

"Ah!!!"

A blood-curdling scream echoed through the silent graveyard. Shiratori Saki stood frozen, her body numbed by cold, unable to move a muscle.

The moment the scream rang out, Master Yinian reacted first, fluidly casting a talisman.

With a sharp shout, a beam of spiritual light struck the zombie claw gripping Shiratori Saki’s ankle. The heavily decayed arm melted into a pool of gore instantly, like ice dropped into a furnace.

But before Shiratori Saki could breathe a sigh of relief, several more terrifying hands erupted from the ground beneath her. Wailing, ghostly cries echoed throughout the graveyard.

Terrified, Shiratori Saki danced awkwardly, hopping from foot to foot like a shaman to avoid the hands reaching up from the earth.

*Spinning, jumping, eyes closed.*

If there were music playing, she could have achieved the feat of "graveyard disco."

At that moment, Su Cheng crushed a claw reaching for him with his foot and flashed to Shiratori Saki’s side. His pitch-black blade slashed out like rain hitting banana leaves, severing all the claws reaching up from the abyss.

Suddenly, an immense force traveled up through his blade.

A pitch-black arm, as hard as cast iron, had broken through the soil and locked onto his sword.

"Come out!"

A cold shout rang out like a thunderclap. Su Cheng exerted sudden, violent force, dragging a dark shadow from beneath his feet.

Everything happened in a flash.

The moment the shadow emerged, it moved like a black whirlwind. An incredibly powerful wave of yin energy hit him, and a rotting, zombified face slammed into Su Cheng’s own.

The zombie was gaunt and withered, but its strength was terrifying. Its fingernails shimmered with a ghostly black light, looking sharper than any blade.

The zombie bared its hideous fangs, and a puff of green, foul-smelling mist sprayed onto Su Cheng’s face, causing a burning, searing pain.

The moment the zombie ambushed him, Su Cheng had already reacted.

Veins bulging on his forehead, he gripped the hilt with one hand, took a half-step back, then surged forward, slashing his blade toward the creature’s chest at a vicious angle.

The strike was swift and fierce; no ordinary zombie could have dodged it.

However, having been nourished by malevolent energy for so long, this zombie’s limbs and torso were harder than steel. Even a handgun would have struggled to cause substantial damage.

Su Cheng’s slash left only a shallow mark on the zombie's body, failing to pierce its torso.

*ROAR!*

Su Cheng’s blade seemed to infuriate the creature. A deafening, beast-like roar exploded, and the zombie’s fingers, acting like spears, thrust toward his eyes with nails like blood-stained daggers.

Just as the fingers were about to pierce his eyes, the steel ring on his finger shimmered with silver light, generating a translucent energy shield in front of him.

*Crack.*

A powerful force slammed into the shield, causing spiderweb-like cracks to spread across the surface.

Yet, the zombie’s attack failed to break the defense.

He hadn't used the Ring of Fortitude he obtained in the "Ratman World" much, but it had come in handy now, blocking a fatal blow.

Although the ring was only a rare-quality item, its defensive capabilities were formidable. Furthermore, the intensity of the shield was based on the player’s spell damage or spiritual power—the stronger the player’s energy, the sturdier the shield.

At this moment, Master Yinian found an opening and threw a talisman, striking the zombie in the back.

*Spiritual power erupted.*

With a thunderous "boom," the zombie’s body was blown to pieces.

*So strong!*

Master Yinian had a gentle and refined demeanor, yet his methods were surprisingly violent; he blew up corpses without a second thought.

Su Cheng’s expression shifted slightly. Intuition told him the monk was hiding his true strength, though he couldn't fathom the motive.

Meanwhile, more and more zombies were appearing in the graveyard.

The fog grew thicker, and through the hazy mist, eerie figures hobbled toward them, surrounding them.

"It’s over, we’re surrounded," Shiratori Saki said, despair written on her face. She saw no way to break through the siege.

"Don't panic. There is still hope. As long as we destroy that grave, we can break the village’s curse."

Master Yinian cast several talismans, creating a spiritual barrier around Shiratori Saki to keep the zombies at bay. However, his barrier could not last all night; they had to destroy the grave immediately.

Since Master Yinian had to maintain the barrier, the arduous task fell to Su Cheng.

But the grave was a massive burial site for hundreds; it wouldn't be easy to destroy, even with the partial collapse.

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a round, silver metal sphere.

[Unstable Arcane Bomb]
Type: Engineering Product
Quality: Rare
Power: Extremely High

Su Cheng had once used an Unstable Arcane Bomb to blow an elite tank zombie to bits in a dungeon; with its power, flattening the grave should be no problem.

Yet, for some reason, he felt a faint sense of unease, as if he were being pulled into the vortex of a conspiracy.

The moment he hesitated, several zombies in the graveyard caught the scent of the living, their eyes glowing with greedy, bloodthirsty green light as they lunged forward.

"Get lost!"

With a roar, a cold blade-light swept out.

*Swish, swish.*

Several hideous, fanged zombie heads flew high into the air, and headless bodies collapsed with a thud. Su Cheng carved a path toward the grave, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake.

These zombies had been dead for untold years; their blood had long since dried up, leaving not a single drop to spill.

In the dark, desolate graveyard, Su Cheng killed every ten steps, slaughtering countless zombies as he slowly approached the grave.

Through his Eyes of Sin, he saw tangible malevolent energy pouring incessantly from the grave like a black tide, surging in all directions.

The closer he got, the greater the pressure Su Cheng felt.

Once tainted by this energy, one would either lose their mind and become a mindless killing machine, or die on the spot and rise as a terrifying zombie.

Either way, Su Cheng would surely perish.

Ten minutes later, he reached a point about a hundred meters from the grave.

"Do or die!"

Su Cheng gritted his teeth, a look of resolve on his face. Finding a collapsed section of the grave, he tossed the silver metal sphere into a pitch-black hole.

He turned instantly and stomped on the ground, flashing several hundred meters away in mere seconds.

He reappeared hundreds of meters away just as a earth-shattering explosion rocked the sky. The shockwave ground everything in the vicinity into dust.

Shiratori Saki was stunned by the explosion, her ears ringing and her mind blank, as if she had lost her wits.

*This guy actually carries dangerous explosives with him!*

"Did it work?"

The shockwave from the [Unstable Arcane Bomb] was enough to collapse a five-story building, let alone a stone tomb.

The grave behind Su Cheng had been razed to the ground, leaving a massive crater.

But just then, Su Cheng’s pupils contracted, and a look of disbelief flashed in his eyes.

In the center of the crater lay a lacquered red coffin.

Most chilling of all, the eerie coffin remained completely unscathed by the explosion. That was impossible!

Before their horrified eyes, a stream of scarlet blood began to seep from the cracks in the coffin.