The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, Liu Weian logged back in. Suddenly, he remembered he hadn't opened the fleshy sac he got from the zombie yesterday. He took it out and tore it open. A yellow talisman fluttered out slowly.
Picking it up, Liu Weian saw three words written on it: Corpse-Dissolving Talisman. It turned out to be a type of spell. For some reason, the moment he saw the word "spell," the image of a sect popped into his mind—Maoshan.
When he focused his thoughts on the yellow paper, a stream of information flowed into his mind. Then the talisman spontaneously combusted with a whoosh, turning into flames and burning to ashes in the blink of an eye.
Liu Weian sat in silent meditation for an hour. By then, he had fully grasped the incantation for the Corpse-Dissolving Talisman. His fingers began to move of their own accord, tracing lines in the air as if the air itself were paper. Smooth and fluid, his strokes soon formed a talisman. The moment it took shape, a strange energy ripple burst forth—it lasted only a second before vanishing, along with the talisman.
Liu Weian remained unaware, his eyes still closed, drawing the talisman over and over in the air. From slow and deliberate to fast and precise, his fingers danced. Talismans formed and vanished in quick succession.
He continued this way, tireless and focused, for two full hours before stopping. From his spatial ring, he took out ten arrows and planted them in the ground. He quickly pulled one out, bit his right index finger, and began drawing on the arrowhead with blood.
He finished the talisman swiftly. There was no visible change on the arrowhead—just a smear of blood. Liu Weian glanced at it and tossed it aside. The lines overlapped too much and were blurry—no wonder it failed.
He tried a second arrow, this time more carefully, slowing down. But even then, the limited space on the arrowhead made it impossible to complete the talisman properly. Failure again.
On the third arrow, he tried a different approach: using a small branch dipped in blood. It worked better at first, but as the blood dried, the lines became disconnected—another failure. Still, it was progress.
The fourth arrow—failure.The fifth—failure again.But on the sixth, he succeeded.
The talisman emitted a faint yellow glow before merging into the arrowhead. Though only faint traces were visible, Liu Weian could sense the terrifying energy embedded within it.
But in his excitement, his hand trembled, and the talisman was ruined. Failure.
The seventh arrow failed.The eighth succeeded.The ninth—also successful.The tenth—failure again.
He drew ten more arrows. This time, no matter how carefully he tried, all ten failed. Not giving up, he tried another ten—another round of total failure. He stopped.
A wave of dizziness hit him. Looking at the three successful arrows, he realized something.
Everything has its limits. Too much is as bad as too little. With his current abilities, it seemed he could only draw ten talismans before his success rate plummeted. Understanding this, he let go of his frustration and headed deeper into the military graveyard.
After walking for about half a kilometer, a rotting corpse lunged at him with a screech. Liu Weian drew one of the enchanted arrows, nocked it, aimed in a heartbeat, and let go.
The arrow streaked through the air, hitting the corpse in the chest.
Liu Weian watched intently as the arrow pierced the chest and embedded into the abdomen. Suddenly, a wave of energy exploded from the arrowhead—not violent, but possessing a mysterious cutting force that spread through the entire body of the corpse.
The corpse exploded in a rain of flesh, meat chunks flying in all directions—a gruesome shower of gore. It was dead. Very dead.
The once-impenetrable corpse was as fragile as tofu before the talisman's power. Liu Weian burst into laughter, the fear he once felt toward zombies completely dissipated.
Sharp eyes and fast hands apply to every profession, but for archers, they're absolutely critical. The bow is their only weapon, and close combat is their greatest weakness. So killing enemies before they got too close was key—demanding sharp eyesight and pinpoint timing.
As he ventured deeper into the graveyard, zombies became fewer while walking corpses increased. Liu Weian slowed his pace, watching all directions. His right hand never stopped—arrow after arrow flew like water, each striking true, with over a 90% hit rate.
With his twin-arrow and chain-shot techniques, he was unstoppable. In less than an hour, he had taken down nearly two hundred walking corpses. Suddenly, he sensed movement and turned—one zombie, clothing intact, floated silently toward him. It was far more cunning than others, already within ten meters before he noticed it.
Liu Weian's eyes narrowed—no panic, no fear. He drew an enchanted arrow, aimed at the airborne zombie. At the zombie's apex in mid-jump, he fired.
Whoosh!Thud!
The arrow struck its chest, exploding with such force it blasted a basketball-sized hole through it. Bone and muscle shattered, light shining through its torso. It landed in a twisted heap—upper body bent back grotesquely, arms and head twitching violently. Its sharp fangs still ground against each other, its face savage.
Liu Weian aimed at its forehead and fired five chain shots to finally put it down.
Last night, he'd risked everything just to kill one zombie. Now, a single arrow did the job. The Corpse-Dissolving Talisman was incredible. But next time, he thought, aim for the head—zombies with no chest might not be worth much on the market.
Ten minutes later, he met a second zombie. This time, he spotted it from fifty meters away. He studied its movement pattern for one second, and when it launched into a jump, he shot its head.
BOOM!
The head burst like a watermelon, brain matter splattering everywhere. The headless body collapsed silently, not moving again. Liu Weian frowned—it had made a mess. He spent several minutes searching before finding the power seed, thankfully still intact.
After examining the corpse for a while, he concluded: next time, aim for the jaw or mouth.
Because he needed to haul more bodies from the graveyard, Old Li demanded another pay raise. Liu Weian just smiled. "Of course. You deserve it."
Back at Stone City, he saw many players cleaning up corpses at the crude city gates. The nearby area was mostly cleared. Though the stench still lingered, the place looked much better. Liu Weian was puzzled. Are these guys saints?
Seeing his confusion, Old Li explained, "The shops inside the city all pitched in to hire them."
"So generous?" Liu Weian raised a brow—he never trusted businessmen.
"They're afraid of an outbreak too," Old Li said with a trace of envy. "During the Massacre, how many shops were smashed? Only the biggest ones were untouched. And when the rest of us came back, the goods in those ruined stores were already gone—guess who took them? Those big shops made a killing. Hiring labor now? It's nothing to them."
Liu Weian thought about it and had to admit—it made sense.
At the Sun Family Pharmacy, Liu Weian chatted briefly with the shopkeeper and learned that Sun Lingzhi was online. He hurried to the back courtyard, only to find her older brother, Sun Shouwu, there too.
"Brother Liu!" Sun Shouwu greeted him with a smile.
"Brother Sun." Liu Weian looked him over—he seemed exhausted, unshaven, hair unkempt, like he hadn't rested properly in days.
"Don't talk to me about your weird stuff," Sun Lingzhi said impatiently.
"You're my sister! Who else would I talk to?" Sun Shouwu snapped back.
"I only care about alchemy. The rest—I don't want to know." She turned and went into the lab without fear of her brother.
"Totally spoiled by me." Sun Shouwu shook his head with a helpless smile. "Apologies you had to see that."
"Personality is a good thing," Liu Weian replied politely. He was about to excuse himself when Sun Shouwu grabbed his arm.
"Come on, chat with me a bit. I'm so damn frustrated lately."
Liu Weian had no choice but to sit on a stone bench with him in the courtyard. "Even the Sun family's eldest has troubles?"
"Don't tease me," Sun Shouwu sighed. "Every family has its issues. No girlfriend, getting older, no real business of my own, parents nagging me daily… and lately, it's been even worse. Want to know what I've been busy with?"
Liu Weian shook his head.
"About three months ago—exact timing I don't remember—in the center of the World of Beasts, there's a mountain called Dark God Mountain. One night, something changed. No one knows what exactly, but some kind of celestial anomaly happened. It lit up the sky for a thousand miles. People started saying a great treasure must've appeared.
"So, the six major families—Liu, Li, Zhao, Wang, Zhang, and Yang—all sent people. Naturally, the other noble families wouldn't fall behind. Everyone joined in. Our Sun family too. After searching for over a month, they really did find something good."
He slapped his thigh. "Guess what?"
Liu Weian rolled his eyes. Three months ago, I had just entered the World of Beasts—how would I know anything about celestial anomalies or treasure hunts?
But Sun Shouwu wasn't waiting for an answer. Asking had just been a habit. He knew the truth was tightly controlled—only a few would even hear whispers of it. So without waiting, he answered himself, face grave.
"An Ancient Scripture."
"An ancient what?" Liu Weian asked.
"Not a what," Sun Shouwu said. "Let me explain. You know martial arts manuals, right? Well, even those have grades. From low to high. Ancient Scriptures—they're the highest of the high."
"How high?" Liu Weian asked.
"Uh..." Sun Shouwu chuckled awkwardly. "About... as tall as several stories, I guess."