CHAPTER 497: CHAPTER 482: REVEALING ALL THE CARDS!

Boom!

The roar of thunder exploded, and silver lightning was formed out of thin air under the array’s power, striking down like snakes and dragons toward the approaching zombies.

Each lightning strike was able to injure and scatter several zombies.

The Tier Five Lower-grade Thunder Array "Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array" generated lightning that had a great destructive effect on Golden Core Stage zombies.

Ever since Liu Boyong, Red Eyebrow Old Monster, and others gathered around Zhang Xuanzhi, taking the array banners handed over by him to set up this array, the situation in the hall eased somewhat.

Hundreds of High-tier zombies, at first glance, did indeed appear terrifying.

But upon closer inspection, it was noticeable that eighty to ninety percent of them were not beyond the Purple Mansion Stage in strength, and only fifteen of them were Corpse Generals truly comparable to Golden Core Stage cultivators.

Though Zhouyang and his cultivators were few in number, among them were nine Golden Core Stage cultivators, including Red Eyebrow Old Monster, a Ninth-Layer Golden Core cultivator, along with Liu Boyong and Zhang Xuanzhi, whose prowess was not far behind the Ninth-Layer Golden Core cultivator.

With such a lineup, they could indeed challenge this group of zombies, even without the "Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array."

But in doing so, even if they managed to win in the end, there would undoubtedly be heavy casualties, a risk neither side was willing to take.

Now that Zhang Xuanzhi provided the Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array, a thunder array highly effective against zombies and demons, things became straightforward.

Except for Zhouyang, who did not partake in the magical combat based on Zhang Xuanzhi’s arrangement, choosing to restore his magical power, everyone else contributed magical power to the array while also deploying their magical artifacts and divine techniques against the zombies outside.

Yet, just as Zhouyang assumed that this crisis would pass with the zombies struck by lightning, the zombie group outside began to shift.

The spear-wielding zombie, seemingly the leader, roared in fury, pointing its bronze long halberd at Zhouyang and the others within the Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array, spewing a pitch-black Corpse Evil Qi from its mouth.

Simultaneously, the zombies that hadn’t died also spat out their natal Corpse Evil Qi upon hearing the spear-wielding zombie’s roar.

These pure Corpse Evil Qi gathered in the air, then driven by some inexplicable force, quickly condensed into a black phoenix with wings spanning several dozen yards, rushing toward the Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array.

"Not good! Everyone, quickly increase the magic power input, I need to unleash the array’s strongest variation to withstand this attack!"

Controlling the array, Zhang Xuanzhi’s face changed dramatically, rapidly performing spell gestures on the array banner in his hand, activating the array’s strongest transformation.

All at once, the cultivators providing magical power to the array suddenly felt the array extracting several times more magical power from them.

This power extraction was still bearable for Golden Core Stage cultivators.

However, the Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator who accompanied Zhang Xuanzhi couldn’t withstand the massive drain on his magical power, his face turning pale as he spewed blood uncontrollably.

With the massive accumulation of magical power, the true might of the Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array finally revealed itself.

The array’s sky filled with silver lightning, which swiftly transformed into a Celestial Spirit Thunder Dragon over thirty yards long, directly confronting the incoming black phoenix.

One side was a Celestial Spirit Thunder Dragon condensed from the Supreme Yang Thunder Power, while the other side was a Profound Yin Nether Phoenix formed from the natal Corpse Evil Qi of over a hundred zombies.

This dragon and phoenix met in the air like lava encountering seawater, erupting with an enormous booming sound instantaneously.

After a tremendous resounding explosion, both the Celestial Spirit Thunder Dragon and the Profound Yin Nether Phoenix perished together, neither able to prevail over the other.

"As you can see, these zombies actually know battle array secret techniques allowing them to jointly unleash powerful divine techniques. If we continue delaying, we will certainly end up losing!"

"So, let’s not hold back anymore. Use whatever means you have quickly, otherwise none of us will walk out of here today!"

Zhang Xuanzhi seriously scanned everyone, his words accompanied by raising his hand to reveal a fiery red Spirit Talisman radiating a powerful aura.

"I’ll go first!"

With a low shout, he instantly activated the fiery red Spirit Talisman in his hand, transforming it into a fiery sea of red gold that enveloped dozens of zombies outside.

The fiery sea surged, instantly burning seven or eight weaker zombies to ashes.

The rest of the zombies enveloped by the fiery sea frantically tried to escape the fire, simultaneously spitting out their natal Corpse Evil Qi to defend themselves.

"I have never been weak in slaying demons and eliminating monsters; today, I definitely won’t let Fellow Daoist Zhang belittle me!"

Red Eyebrow Old Monster glanced at Liu Boyong not far away, let out a long cry, and also waved his hand to summon a crimson treasure bottle. Then the bottle tilted, and instantly dozens of flaming flying birds with wings spanning several feet surged out, rushing in different directions towards the zombies outside the array.

These flaming flying birds didn’t look very impressive, but once they collided with the zombies, they would suddenly explode. The power of the explosion was even stronger than ordinary Tier Four high-grade spells.

After a series of loud "boom" sounds, nearly twenty zombies were directly taken care of by Red Eyebrow Old Monster in one move, including one corpse general who barely made it to the Golden Core Stage.

"I have long heard of the famous ’Fire Essence Bottle’ in Elder Red Eyebrow’s hand. Seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation, lives up to its reputation indeed!"

Zhang Xuanzhi’s eyes lit up, and he immediately expressed admiration for Red Eyebrow Old Monster in a loud voice.

While praising Red Eyebrow Old Monster, he also glanced at Liu Boyong.

Now that he and Red Eyebrow Old Monster have used their reserves, Liu Boyong really needs to show something substantial, otherwise, it wouldn’t be justified.

However, what he didn’t expect was that Liu Boyong had no intention of taking action and instead told Zhouyang, "Junior Brother Zhou, you go ahead!"

"Me? Senior Brother Liu, you’re overestimating me. I can handle a few zombies, but there are so many high-tier zombies outside, I definitely can’t manage that!"

Zhouyang shook his head with a displeased look, refusing to be used by Liu Boyong.

Seeing this, Red Eyebrow Old Monster also coldly snorted, filled with murderous intent, "Hmph, Liu Boyong, if you don’t want to take action, you can leave the array. Letting a junior who hasn’t formed a Golden Core out is just making fun of us?"

Zhang Xuanzhi’s expression darkened, and he said solemnly, "Fellow Daoist Liu, if you don’t intend to act, I won’t force you. But I can only ask you three to leave the array first!"

Seeing this, Liu Boyong’s expression changed slightly, and he whispered a threatening message to Zhouyang, "Junior Brother Zhou, have you forgotten how the master assigned tasks? This was supposed to be within your duties. Are you intending to defy the master’s orders? If that’s the case, as your senior brother and leader of this mission, I’ll have to replace the master and discipline you first!"

Upon hearing the threat, Zhouyang remained unfazed and immediately retorted, "You can’t say that. The master simply asked me to assist you, Senior Brother Liu, in treasure retrieval to the best of my ability, but never to sacrifice my life for you. You needn’t use this scare tactic on me!"

Liu Boyong didn’t expect him to be so assertive. After hearing this, his face darkened, and a flash of murderous intent flicked through his eyes.

But seeing Zhouyang surrounded by the "Profound Turtle Shield," he hesitated for a moment before once again whispering, "How about this, you help me take action. When we retrieve the treasure later, I can let you leave first. How does that sound?"

"It’s a deal then!"

Zhouyang’s eyes flickered, and he finally agreed.

Then he raised his hand, revealing a pale golden spiritual talisman, and the aura emitted from the talisman was not inferior to the fiery red talisman Zhang Xuanzhi had previously activated. Surprisingly, it was a Tier Five middle-grade spiritual talisman.

The Tier Five middle-grade spiritual talisman "Great Sun Golden Light Talisman" was originally exchanged from the sect treasure vault by a Golden Core Stage cultivator from the Beast Taming Sect for Zhouyang, intending to counter Golden Core Stage ghost cultivators.

Unexpectedly, the cultivator didn’t have the chance to use this talisman and died at Zhouyang’s hands, leaving all his wealth to Zhouyang.

Upon Zhouyang’s activation, the gloomy, pitch-black underground hall immediately lit up like daylight, with a golden sun rising.

Countless rays of golden light emanated from the sun, illuminating the zombies. Their indestructible bodies were instantly corroded like normal humans splashed with strong acid, creating a large area of pitted wounds from which corpse water dripped and clouds of foul black smoke emitted.

Even the Golden Core Stage corpse generals roared angrily, expelling their life essence Corpse Evil Qi to form protective shields against the golden light, fearing the golden light would reach them.

"Great! I didn’t expect Zhou Xiaoyou to still possess such a spirit talisman specifically effective against demon cultivators. Everyone, act quickly and don’t waste the power of Zhou Xiaoyou’s talisman!"

Zhang Xuanzhi’s eyes lit up as he shouted in praise, and immediately activated the "Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array" to unleash endless silver lightning upon the horde of corpses.

Rumbling!

With a series of loud noises, those zombies below the Golden Core Stage in the hall fell one after another like wheat, either blown to pieces by the lightning, dismembered by magical artifacts, or burned to ashes by fiery flames, each with different death circumstances.

After half an hour, all zombies below the Golden Core Stage had been thoroughly exterminated, and even fifteen Golden Core Stage zombies were blown apart, with three killed.

At this moment, the "Celestial Spirit Divine Thunder Array" in Zhang Xuanzhi’s hand was severely damaged due to continuous enemy attacks and excessive operation. As a result, all Golden Core Stage cultivators had no choice but to engage in one-on-one combat with the Golden Core Stage zombies.

Because Zhouyang mastered the "Qianyang True Flame" divine technique, he was assigned two Golden Core Stage zombies alongside the injured Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator as his opponents.

He could easily handle a zombie equivalent to the Early Stage of the Golden Core Stage by himself, but when also taking care of the injured Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator, it wasn’t as easy.

He could only barely hold off the two Golden Core Stage zombies, waiting for the Golden Core Stage cultivators to first determine victory.