Chapter 18: Danger All Around

“Be careful!”

The entire convoy sprung into action instantly.

It was especially so for the disciples of the Protection Division. They gathered around to form a defensive perimeter before the disciples of the outer division could react.

A foreign voice rang in their ears. “It’s just several ordinary corpses…”

It was clear the person who spoke didn’t think too highly of the ‘danger’.

Turning to look at the source of the voice, Shang Xia discovered that it belonged to Jin Guanchao, the disciple of the upper division who barely spoke since they arrived.

Disciples from the Protection Division clashed with the corpses, and the sound of battle soon traveled into Shang Xia’s ears.

The next thing he knew, Yuan Zilu’s voice resounded through the air. “Alright. That’s it. Leave the rest for the outer disciples so they can train themselves.

Laughter rang through the air and several corpses wobbled over to the back of the convoy.

Even though the Scarlet Cloud Horse only had a trace of the Fire Cloud Beast’s bloodline in their body, they could easily scare off the corpses. As such, Yuan Zilu and the others had to steer the carriage away in order to direct the corpses towards the outer disciples.

Without Shang Xia’s instructions, fourteen disciples from the outer division ran over to surround the corpses that approached them.

The bodies of those corpses were already falling apart by the time the disciples approached.

Their unbearable stench assaulted the noses of those present before the corpse even arrived.

Disciples of the outer division retched, and it was especially so for the female disciples who were close to puking their guts out.

Even so, the disciples didn’t retreat. Even if they had to vomit along the way, they dealt with the threat without a trace of hesitation.

“I remember this like it was yesterday… Do you recall the first time we entered this place?” Tian Mengzi spoke to Jin Guanchao beside him.

Shang Xia didn’t make his move. Even though it was his first time at the battlefield between two worlds, mere undead corpses weren’t enough to make him move out.

He turned his attention to the disciples from the outer division who were busy fighting the corpses.

Even though they were frightened by the appearance of the creatures, they quickly suppressed the fear in their hearts and they started to attack the corpses in unison. They displayed everything they learned in the institution perfectly.

The corpses might look terrifying, but they were barely slightly stronger than ordinary humans. It didn’t take long for their bones to line the dirt.

Defeating the corpses wasn't as difficult as they thought.

“Hehe, looks like they’re nothing special!” One of the disciples in the outer division, Huang Zihua, shattered the skull of a corpse while snorting. His performance was one of the better ones in the battle.

His gaze unintentionally went over to Shang Xia. In fact, he respected Shang Xia quite a bit!

Respect was one thing, but that didn’t mean that he planned on looking up to Shang Xia forever.

I managed to obtain a secret manual from the institution. This time, I’ll break through to the Martial Realm at the Tongyou Peak! When that happens, I won’t be left behind by the elite students!

As the thoughts ran in Huang Zihua’s head, he was too distracted to notice how Shang Xia moved. The next thing he knew, a streak of lightning flashed through the air.

When he was still confused, a terrifying surge of energy sent him flying. Even though it was directed towards him, it didn’t hurt him in the slightest.

In mid air, Huang Zihua twisted his body, only to see Shang Xia in his place. A lightning spear stabbed straight into the ground.

“Oh no! They’re in the ground below us!” Tian Mengzi seemed to have realized the problem as well and he cautioned.

However, neither him nor Jin Guanchao moved. They weren’t worried about the disciples at all.

“Second form of martial intent!” Jin Guanchao exclaimed and he was clearly surprised by Shang Xia’s display.

Meng Tianzi sighed, “Yeah… He managed to fuse his martial intent into his moves… Not even I could do something like that at his age.”

That seemed to mean something else…

However, Shang Xia couldn’t be bothered as he noticed that his speed increased by a whole lot with the use of his martial intent.

From the time he noticed the danger to the time he stabbed his lightning spear into the ground, the corpse didn’t even manage to make its appearance.

Sending a surge of lightning into the ground, several explosions rang through the air.

“Watch out! Retreat right now!” Shang Xia yelled when he realized that something was off.

The corpses that appeared from the ground had a gaping hole in its chest. The stench of burnt flesh filled the air and its body trembled violently.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Shang Xia took out his Ivory Fan. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a lightning bolt crashing into the corpse’s skull.

“Crack…” With a loud snap, the corpse stopped moving.

“Junior Brother Shang’s lightning art is extremely effective when dealing with undead corpses!” Tian Mengzi appeared beside him all of a sudden and he looked at the corpse in the ground.

“Senior Brother Tian, are you familiar with the weakness of these undead corpses?” Shang Xia asked.

“Somewhat…” Tian Mengizi continued, “We call these corpses hiding in the ground ‘buried corpses’. They’re a little different from ordinary undead corpses, and they possess a little bit of inner qi. If you dig around, you might find some useful treasures.”

Shang Xia continued to wave his fan around.

His expression changed when he saw the charred body on the ground. He could guess what treasure Tian Mengzi was talking about, but was he really supposed to dig for it himself?!

“I’ll do it!” Huang Zihua ran over and declared. “Many thanks to Senior Brother Shang for saving my life. I’ll take over all these menial tasks!”

Shang Xia nodded slightly and revealed a smile, “Since that’s the case, I’ll trouble Junior Brother Huang.”

Their fingernails were naturally the treasures Tian Mengzi was talking about. Even though there were close to ten of them and were pretty valuable, Shang Xia wouldn’t retrieve them himself! However, there was also no way the other disciples of the Tongyou Institution would allow the treasures to be wasted.

To many outer disciples, obtaining them on their first trip to the battlefield between two worlds had more symbolic meaning than practical ones.

…

Since the battle caused such a huge ruckus, there was no way Yuan Zilu could ignore it. The appearance of a buried corpse had exceeded his expectations, but he didn’t rush over immediately. It was clear that he trusted Tian Mengzi and Jin Guanchao.

Huang Zihua quickly dealt with the corpse and he handed the treasure over to Shang Xia.

Waving his hand, Shang Xia sighed, “We killed all of them together. All of us should split the rewards evenly. When we arrive at the Tongyou Peak, we’ll exchange it for money and we’ll split it with everyone.”

Huang Zihua stared at Shang Xia in shock. “How can this…”

“That’s it! No more arguments.” Shang Xia didn’t allow Huang Zihua to continue. He clearly didn’t care about such worthless treasures, but to the outer disciples, those things were worth a fortune!

Since he could use them to improve his reputation, there was no harm in doing so.

“Continue onwards!” Yuan Zilu’s voice came from the front of the convoy. His timing was impeccable, and everything was clearly under control.

As the disciples returned to the carriage, they thought about the battle they just experienced.

Shang Xia coughed lightly and he asked, “Senior Brother Tian, how did the undead corpses come about?”

Shang Xia might have whispered, but he caught everyone’s attention.

“Undead corpses…” Tian Mengzi didn’t expect Shang Xia to ask a question like that. However, he replied after arranging his thoughts. “There’s nothing special about them. The corpses started to appear twenty years ago when the battlefield between the two worlds appeared. They were probably the humans who failed to escape during the collision. Our world, the Azure Origin World, collided with the Azure Spiritual World. I’m sure all of you know the stories.”

Shang Xia asked, “Why would those who failed to escape turn into corpses? Is there something to do with the composition of both worlds?”

Tian Mengzi hesitated for a moment, but he continued, “The boundary between our worlds formed because of the massive collision. It also caused violent storms of heaven and earth qi that swept through the battlefield. The storms transformed their physical bodies and souls, turning them into undead corpses that roam the lands.”