Chapter 108: Hope

“Right! This is the city’s protective formation! It must be the city’s protective formation!” Yue Qi suddenly exclaimed with excitement, even attracting two zombies nearby, which he effortlessly slashed down.

“The city’s protective formation? What’s that?” Qin Luo looked at Yue Qi in surprise; she didn’t know as much about worldly matters as he did.

“How should I put it? Basically, it’s a creation by the secular emperor to protect his city from the collateral damage caused by cultivators fighting nearby. To put it simply, for a heavily fortified city like Changzhou, the power of this protective formation is quite terrifying—maybe comparable to a small sect’s strength,” Yue Qi explained.

Qin Luo saw how excited Yue Qi was and smiled. “So you mean they’re all safe? Then let’s clear out these zombies outside first, and later we can go into the city to look for them.”

Yue Qi shook his head before speaking, “It’s useless now. The city gates are wide open. Although there’s a protective formation, it was still breached by that leader-level zombie. But because of the formation, I think Lian’er and the others should have had enough time to escape.”

“Then why don’t we find a chance to enter the city and have a look? Maybe they’re still hiding somewhere,” Qin Luo suggested. The main reason was that she no longer felt the pressure from that leader-level zombie; it must have left.

“Hmm, that’s a good idea. But even though that zombie is gone, there are still so many zombies outside that we need to deal with,” Yue Qi pondered and said. After all, he feared that Lian’er and the others might wait for his rescue inside Changzhou city.

“Any ideas?” Qin Luo asked, seeing how confident Yue Qi looked. Her own formations couldn’t trap so many zombies.

“That’s easy! Watch this!” Yue Qi had a sudden idea.

After all, zombies weren’t very intelligent, especially these wandering outside the city. Among them, Yue Qi didn’t even spot a single mutated zombie. Perhaps the leader-level zombie had taken them all away.

Since they were just ordinary zombies, Yue Qi naturally used the oldest trick he had learned back when he was at Qinghe Sword Sect—the first method he used to fool zombies.

Softly chanting an incantation, his Flame Dance suddenly spread across the corpses at the city gate, engulfing the entire pile in flames.

All the zombies noticed the blazing fire at the city gate and rushed over. But they weren’t stupid enough to jump into the fire. They just surrounded the burning pile, staring blankly at the flames, as if thinking about something—if they could even think.

“Let’s go…” Yue Qi’s move even drew some zombies out from inside the city, which was perfect. But they didn’t need to enter through the city gate; they could just climb back up the way they came down.

Taking the old route, the two easily climbed onto the city wall. The wall was deserted, of course no zombies were there, but the ground below was littered with corpses—both human and zombie. This clearly came from the battle after the city gates were breached, where people had fought desperately against the zombies.

Yue Qi felt a pang of fear in his heart. He carefully searched through the bodies but fortunately found no sign of Bailian or the others, which relieved him. However, he did find a disciple from the Hidden Sword Manor who had fought alongside Xin Zi before.

“Found anything?” Qin Luo’s heart was in her throat. If they discovered something unexpected, the consequences would be unimaginable—Yue Qi might start a massacre right there.

“Nothing. Let’s go into the city and search…” Yue Qi also breathed a sigh of relief. Qin Luo understood what he meant and nodded, following him down from the wall.

There weren’t many zombies inside the city. Yue Qi could easily dispatch any ordinary zombie that appeared. But after a long walk, no mutated zombies appeared. He wondered if the stronger ones had all been taken away by their leader.

The streets were filled with corpses—human and zombie alike. The gruesome scenes unsettled Qin Luo. Yue Qi even saw some zombies with both legs severed, crawling painfully on the ground. When they saw Yue Qi and Qin Luo, one of them let out a roar and tried to crawl toward them. Despite the effort, the zombie’s speed was slow. Yue Qi walked up to it, sighed, and swiftly beheaded it with his sword.

The sword he held was still Bailian’s. Yue Qi hastily wiped the blood off the blade with a scrap of cloth. Bailian wasn’t here, but this sword was the last thing she left him. He would treasure it with his life.

“No luck here either. Let’s try over there,” Qin Luo said after searching in a nearby alley. Two strange little creatures appeared by her side, like bodyguards following her.

“No need. Let’s leave. They probably aren’t in the city,” Yue Qi said, looking ahead calmly now.

The city’s protective formation definitely wasn’t discovered by Chen Yuanshan and the others. If it had been, they would have used it against the zombies already. Perhaps the one who devised this was Xin Zi or Bailian. Since they managed to hold off the zombies so long with the formation—as evidenced by the corpses outside—they must know how much spirit stones the formation consumes. Before running out, Xin Zi surely tried to find a way to escape with the others.

“That’s good…” Qin Luo smiled. She didn’t question why Yue Qi trusted them so much. If Yue Qi said so confidently, there must be a reason.

“So what now? Should we head to Sanqing Mountain?” Qin Luo tentatively asked. Since Yue Qi was sure Bailian and the others were alive, they surely wouldn’t stay trapped in the city.

“No,” Yue Qi shook his head. “I realize I’m still too weak. The journey to Sanqing Mountain is too far, and I’m afraid we won’t make it. Even a few more cultivator zombies would overwhelm me, not to mention a leader-level one like before.”

“Hmm, that’s reasonable…” Qin Luo nodded but suddenly noticed Yue Qi hadn’t said where they intended to go. She looked at him curiously.

“The head of the Yue family village once told me that the heartland of Ji province is the origin of our Yue family. If we have the chance, I want to go there first,” Yue Qi said thoughtfully. The name “Ji province, Yue family” suddenly popped into his mind.

“Alright, grandpa wants me to follow you wherever you go, so I’ll go wherever you go…” Qin Luo shrugged, pretending not to care. Sometimes she disliked how arrogant her junior brother was, especially since he had a wife who was even more beautiful than herself. But for now, she had no choice but to follow him.

Yue Qi nodded, then looked around as if speaking to Qin Luo or to himself, “But first, we need to find a map. I’ve never been around here. If there’s a nearby city, we have to check it out. After all, if Lian’er and the others escaped, they probably fled to the closest city near Changzhou.”

“That makes sense…” Qin Luo pondered for a moment.

“But what if they went back to Hidden Sword Manor? After all, Xin Zi is from there. If things got tough, wouldn’t he return there?” Yue Qi suddenly wondered aloud.

“Probably not,” Qin Luo thought it over. Seeing Yue Qi’s puzzled look, she explained, “I heard Xin Zi say that Hidden Sword Manor was also attacked by zombies. Not many survived. They probably wouldn’t go there.”

“So that’s why!” Yue Qi suddenly understood. “No wonder Xin Zi hadn’t come to find us during that time—it was because his home was in trouble.”

“Exactly. So I think the option you mentioned earlier is more likely,” Qin Luo nodded quickly, then turned to Yue Qi.

“Alright, let’s find a map first. I remember Brother Chen had one. It should be in the place where we registered last time,” Yue Qi said.

As they ventured deeper into the city, the number of zombies increased. Perhaps because Chen Yuanshan was retreating while fighting. Yue Qi wasn’t worried—no cultivator zombies nor mutated ones appeared. He simply cut his way through, knowing the narrow streets prevented many zombies from advancing together.

Breaking through the chaos, they finally reached the place where Chen Yuanshan and others held their meetings. Entering the hall, blood stained the walls, and many human corpses lay on the ground. It seemed some had made their last stand there.

“Spread out and look. Let me know when you find the map. We need to leave before dark. Too many zombies, and this smell is awful,” Yue Qi covered his nose. Despite killing so many zombies earlier, the stench of decay here was still sickening.

Before Yue Qi finished speaking, Qin Luo had already dashed off. There was a back room, and in the blink of an eye, she slipped inside. Yue Qi wanted to warn her to be careful but swallowed the words.

“Huh? Here?!” Yue Qi didn’t expect to find a map right in the center of the table—one they had likely used during past battles. Every mountain, river, and terrain was detailed.

“Such luck…” Yue Qi stared at the map but suddenly felt something was off. “This looks like it was put here by someone later.” He frowned because many miscellaneous items were beneath the map. If Chen Yuanshan and the others had used it for their meetings, it wouldn’t be so careless. After all, battle commands were critical—any slight mistake could lead to disaster.

“Junior brother! Come look!” Suddenly, Qin Luo shouted from the back room, startling Yue Qi.

“What’s with all the fuss?” Yue Qi hurried over and saw Qin Luo staring fixedly at a folding screen.

“This is…” Yue Qi approached and saw four large characters written in blood on it: “Do not worry!”

“That’s… Lian’er’s handwriting!” Yue Qi’s momentary daze gave way to wild joy. He recognized the writing—it was Bailian’s!