Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Corpse's Transformation

“Stick out your tongue?”

Li Lina glanced at me again, and I felt a wave of frustration. Damn it, I’m trying to save you! Someone has cast a spell on you. You must have been careless—something of yours was taken and used to control you!

There was one thing I’d never said aloud: only people like Li Lina, who lack willpower and independent thought, are so easily manipulated.

Li Lina seemed to realize I was right. After all, who would willingly slice open their own wrist? That kind of foolishness isn’t natural—only someone under someone else’s control would do something so senseless.

Li Lina closed her eyes and extended her pale red tongue.

“Open your eyes. I can’t cast the spell otherwise.”

At my words, Li Lina immediately opened her eyes and watched as I pinched her tongue between my fingers. I muttered a few incantations, then squeezed her tongue hard.

A scream tore from Li Lina’s throat. Her cry was immediately followed by a noise nearby.

I darted toward the door in a flash. No doubt—someone was meddling here!

As I reached the doorway, I saw three sticks of incense thrust into a flowerbed not far off, and a paper doll lying on the ground. A single hair was wrapped around the doll’s neck, and I didn’t even need to think to know it belonged to Li Lina.

I strode over, picked up the paper figure, and was about to pull off the hair when Li Lina’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Yang Dong, Yang Dong…”

“…transformation…”

Her voice was shaky and fragmented, full of terror, and my heart sank. I looked toward the main hall—and my face blanched.

In that brief moment, the old man had already begun to transform. The change was complete.

He sat up inside the crystal coffin, his eyes fixing on Li Lina, who was trembling uncontrollably on the floor.

From a distance, I could see his ashen face and funeral robes. He extended a blood-red tongue and licked away the dried blood at the corner of his mouth.

Even though Li Lina was terrified, the instinct to survive kicked in. As the old man’s gaze fell upon her, she scrambled to her feet and ran toward me.

“Don’t run—damn it!”

My warning came too late; Li Lina was already dashing in my direction. With no time to hesitate, I sprinted toward her, pulling a yellow talisman from my bag, folding it quickly, and getting ready to stuff it into the old man’s gaping mouth.

The old man hadn’t fully become a hopping corpse yet; this transformation had only been forced because someone had driven his three souls and seven spirits back into his body, using Li Lina’s blood to complete the process. Whoever interfered had made it impossible to stop the corpse transformation. Who was this person? Why did they want the old man to rise?

But I had no time to think. I punched the old man in the head, ready to slap the talisman onto his brow—when Li Lina suddenly clung to me, locking me in a suffocating embrace that made it hard to breathe.

The talisman, meant for the old man’s forehead, was delayed. The old man leapt suddenly and bolted for the door.

“Let go! I have to catch him—if he gets outside, there’ll be chaos!”

Li Lina was shaking so badly that I was her only lifeline; she wouldn’t let go for anything. I turned, helpless, one arm around her as I chased after the old man, struggling against the distraction she presented.

The old man seemed to sense my predicament. With a single bound, he vanished into the darkness. By the time I reached the door, he was gone.

“Damn it! Li Lina, let go of me!”

My anger flared. Rage boiled in my chest. Every time I saw Li Lina, I lost my temper. Was there anything this woman could do besides depend on men and please them?

“The old man’s gone—let go!”

I shouted again, struggling to calm myself. If not for her, he never would have escaped; I could have dealt with him right then.

“Yang Dong, what… what happened to the old man?”

“What happened? He’s a zombie now! You let him go, and now he’s on the loose—he’ll be out there biting people!”

Hearing this, Li Lina’s face turned ashen. “He drank my blood—will I turn into a zombie too?”

“Can you just let go? I don’t have time to argue—I have to find him and destroy him before this gets out of hand.”

Finally realizing she was still clinging to me, Li Lina let go and managed an awkward smile. “Thank goodness for you. I didn’t know you were so capable!”

I was speechless.

Just as I was about to pursue the old man, Li Lina grabbed me again. “Yang Dong, are there really ghosts in this world?”

“For heaven’s sake, princess, I don’t have time for this. Didn’t you just see one yourself?”

With that, I handed her the paper doll, formed a seal with my fingers, and tapped the doll. Instantly, its power dissipated.

“I have no time to explain. Get as far away from here as you can—I don’t want to see you again!”

With those words, I strode outside, pulled out two yellow talismans, and tossed them into the air, closing my eyes to chant the incantation. The talismans spun rapidly, but after a long while, I still couldn’t detect which direction the newly transformed old man had gone.

“Yang Dong, I’ll… I’ll leave now…”

After that awkward embrace, Li Lina was clearly terrified. She’d survived, but she was shaken to her core.

I nodded. I was about to release Feng Xiaoke and borrow her power to divine what had happened.