Eastern Yi Continent.

A village shrouded in gray mist.

The entire village is deathly silent.

Occasionally, there are sounds of bodies shifting, accompanied by the grinding sound of teeth chewing.

Zombies walking the streets leave behind bones stripped clean and continue moving forward in small groups.

They are searching for possible survivors.

In a certain house, a mother and her daughter are hiding under the bed.

The mother covers her daughter’s mouth with one hand, holding her close with the other.

The chewing sounds came from just outside their house.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

The soft scraping sound of footsteps dragging on the ground is clearly audible.

Fear is evident in the eyes of both mother and daughter; as the sound draws nearer, they instinctively hold their breath.

The footsteps fade, indicating that whoever it was had left their home.

Before they could even breathe a sigh of relief,

creak—creak—

A piercing sound suddenly rings out as the old window frame creaks in the breeze.

The footsteps halt abruptly.

The mother and daughter exchange a horrified look.

The little girl grips her mother’s arm tightly, trembling with tension.

The mother gently soothes her back with one hand, though she too is drenched in cold sweat.

Squeak—

The sharp, drawn-out noise of a door being pushed open drives their fear to its peak!

The little girl’s mother suddenly looks resolute; whatever she decided, she suddenly withdraws her hand.

With one last loving glance at her daughter, the mother suddenly bolts out from under the bed!

"Ah!"

Her high-pitched scream pierces the night, overshadowing the girl’s sobs and catching the attention of the zombies.

Before the creatures can react, she dashes out the door.

And then, there was nothing more.

Soon after, the sound of chewing is once again clearly heard outside the door.

The little girl desperately clamps her hand over her mouth, not letting a single sound escape.

The process feels interminably long, but eventually, the chewing sounds cease again.

The girl does not immediately crawl out from under the bed.

Maintaining absolute stillness, she waits a little longer before slowly releasing her hands from her mouth.

Just as she tries to crawl out, a ghastly, shriveled, and twisted face suddenly appears at the bedside!

"Ah!"

Unable to suppress it, the girl screams as the owner of the twisted face—a decayed zombie—leans down, reaching a skeletal hand under the bed.

Pale finger bones effortlessly wrap around the girl’s ankle.

"No... don’t... save me, help!"

The girl struggles desperately, but her strength is no match for the zombie, and her body is inevitably dragged out from under the bed!

The shadow of death looms over her.

At that moment, a moonlit flash of a sword pierces the night, sweeping past the girl’s eyes.

In an instant, the zombie dragging her head is cleanly severed, dropping to the ground and rolling near the doorway.

Three figures appear at the door.

"Alas, still a step too late."

In the girl’s eyes, a tall, burly Jiuli warrior looks at the mangled, unrecognizable corpse of a woman by the door and sighs.

Beside this Jiuli warrior stands another young man, who looks more like an ordinary person, handsome in appearance.

His right hand holds a long sword, and as the night deepens, the sword’s blade becomes bathed in moonlight.

This sword must have been the one that slew the zombie in a flash.

The last person is a beautiful young woman.

She is holding something, from which a faint red glow emanates, extracting pale red air from the deceased woman’s corpse.

"Strictly speaking, at least half a month too late."

Yes, the three people here are none other than Han Zhan and his companions.

"This was our first target location."

"...Fenghou, I believe that’s what it’s called?"

Li Wu could not have expected that just one meeting with Chi You would lead him to be assigned the "great" task of rescuing the Jiuli.

About Fenghou, in the reflective images on water, Chi You had already provided an introduction.

It was a creature with long white legs and a bloated body, and a head with four faces.

In the images seen before, this was the only Yellow Emperor Tribe Great Power leading a horde of zombies, though now it had turned into a complete monstrosity.

"We’ve been inside the gray mist for over half an hour, and it took us this long to find this village."

Li Lingzhen was just collecting Demon Blood for the Demon God’s Heart. Even small amounts add up.

As she spoke, she put away the Demon God’s Heart and snapped her fingers, sending a surge of Life Spiritual Power into the traumatized little girl.

The life-filled spiritual power soothed her excessively stressed body.

The girl’s trembling gradually subsided, and finally, she managed to speak with a still-frightened voice:

"Are you... here to save us?"

"Mama, please save my mama, I beg you..."

At this request, Li Lingzhen fell silent.

"It’s too late; if we arrived a bit earlier, even if there were just a breath left, the Creation of Living Beings power could truly revive the dead."

"But she is already completely dead, and the Creation of Living Beings cannot bring her back."

Upon hearing this, the girl puckered her lips, wanting to cry, but forced her tears back.

She emerges from the room, kneels before her mother’s ravaged body, and bows deeply several times.

Afterward, she silently begins digging into the ground beside her, wanting to give her mother a proper burial.

"No need for all that trouble." Han Zhan quietly observed this, and finally spoke.

Using the Heaven’s Origin Power, the soil beneath the girl’s mother disappeared and then reappeared to cover her after burial.

"Let’s go. Time is of the essence; we still have more of the Jiuli people to save."

After finishing, Han Zhan addressed the girl.

"Wait, Han Zhan, are you sure you want to take her with us?" Li Wu interrupted, "Wouldn’t it be safer for her to stay here?"

"Perhaps you’ve forgotten the Great Chief Chi You’s special instructions before we left. He said, ’Guard the Jiuli.’"

What does it mean to guard the Jiuli?

"If all the Jiuli people perish, can that still be called guarding the Jiuli?"

This statement itself is a trap with ambiguous meaning.

Han Zhan’s words brought silence to Li Wu once again, as he reconsidered the meaning of guarding the Jiuli.

At this moment, the girl also wiped her eyes and stood up resolutely.

"I will go with you!"