Chapter Twenty-Three: Walking Corpses

As soon as the words fell, a sharp, piercing howl burst from a thatched hut not far from them. Xiao Yu spun around, only to see two monstrous figures, vaguely human in shape, stumbling numbly through the doorway and limping toward her.

Their skin was mottled with a ghastly blue-purple hue, their pupils clouded and white.

A stench clung to them—indescribably foul, as if several dead rats had been left to rot for months in a sour pig trough, fermenting silently in the warmth. On closer inspection, one could even glimpse fat, white maggots writhing beneath their sallow skin, squirming like tadpoles in a ditch.

"Are these... walking corpses?" Xiao Yu's eyes widened. Amid the rotting flesh, she could still faintly recognize the faces they once bore in life.

She had seen this young couple when she entered the village—ordinary farmers, so unremarkable that she’d barely taken note. But in less than a day, how could their bodies have decayed to such a state?

What sort of evil sorcery was this?

"Eradicating demons and preserving the orthodox way?" Xiao Yu suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Is this what you call righteous—turning the living into walking corpses?"

“My will is Heaven’s will, my law is the true law, my path the only orthodoxy!” Yin Gonghao replied, his voice icy. “All outside myself are heresy and sorcery! Can’t you even comprehend this?”

With a crash, dust flew. The two corpses lunged forward, pinning Xiao Yu beneath them. The reek pressed against her face, dizzying her, makin