CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56: RETURN

She didn’t dare move again until daylight; Lady Lie was scared stiff.

As dawn broke, Wen Yan and his group on the rocky beach vanished altogether.

And in the next moment, a new power began to grow throughout the domain, as though the entire strength of the domain had been activated at that very instant.

Lady Lie felt as if something was dragging her, forcing her to retreat all the way back.

In another direction, the little raccoon that had slipped away earlier had already found a place to hide, waiting for daylight to leave the domain.

Yet it did not expect that, to leave the domain, it would have to exit where it had entered.

Since it wasn’t near its entry point, an invisible force forcibly dragged it all the way back to the pool.

Lady Lie was dragged to the bottom of the pool. The pool, which looked at most three meters deep, revealed no hint of light above when she looked up. All light around her seemed swallowed up.

She stayed at the bottom of the pool, her expression unchanged. She opened her mouth and let the water pour into her body.

Soon after, she saw the little raccoon that had tried to escape earlier being dragged to the bottom as well.

The little raccoon struggled in terror but to no avail. Gradually, it exhaled its last breath, drifting motionless at the bottom.

Lady Lie cast a glance at the little raccoon, her face calm. Anyone who could get in and overhear a little something could never be allowed to just refuse her face-to-face.

She waited quietly at the bottom of the pool, making no attempt to resist. After all, she was a spirit and monster, not just some animal-turned-demon. Drowning held no fear for her.

...

The surroundings changed noiselessly, transforming into the second-floor bedroom of a villa. Wen Yan let out a long sigh of relief.

But after that, his face fell a little. He could still feel the little zombie clinging to his back—after all that had happened, she still slept soundly, not reacting at all.

Looking over, Old Uncle Mo and the Sparrow Cat, curled in a heap, were there as well.

And ahead, Zhang Laoxi, dressed in a Taoist robe and fully geared up, his eyes red like a rabbit’s, nearly burst into tears when he saw Wen Yan and the others had all returned safely.

He’d been through domains before, but those at most were minor, strange domains—ones he could force open with sheer strength.

Domains from a few years ago weren’t this weird, and their rules nowhere near as strong. Back then, it was usually the oddities inside that were strong, and the rules themselves weaker.

Now, it seemed almost reversed.

As for domains that humans couldn’t enter at all, he’d never even heard of such a thing.

This kind of feeling—where your strength, strong or weak, makes no difference to the outcome, and events are completely out of control—is just miserable.

He’d done all he could; the rest was just waiting now.

Now, seeing Wen Yan safe and sound, clearly unharmed, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief. As long as Wen Yan was okay, he could accept any other losses.

"Old Xi, help me out—what’s going on with this little zombie on my back?"

Wen Yan got straight to the point—he told Zhang Laoxi about the little zombie appearing on his back out of nowhere while he was blinking, and the more he spoke, the more awkward Zhang Laoxi’s expression became.

Wen Yan caught his reaction and suddenly stopped talking.

He realized that since even Uncle Mo got dragged in, then this little zombie...

"Old Xi, do you know this little zombie?"

"Ahem... I just brought her down from Fuyu Mountain. While I was watching a video, she suddenly disappeared. So I went to ask Uncle Mo for help."

"Can you get her off me? I’ve had her on my back all night—my waist and back are killing me."

Zhang Laoxi took out a yellow talisman. As soon as he got close to the little zombie, she—after a whole night of unresponsiveness—instantly opened her eyes and spat on the talisman.

With a whoosh, the talisman burst into flames without fire and turned to ash. The little zombie tightened her arms around Wen Yan’s neck, hugging him close, and then bared her teeth at Zhang Laoxi.

As Wen Yan turned his head, the little zombie immediately shut her mouth, pretending to be harmless, even rubbing her face against Wen Yan’s and making pitiful whimpering sounds.

Zhang Laoxi was utterly mortified—after all, she was the companion he’d brought down the mountain, sharing both glory and disgrace.

The real embarrassment was that it hadn’t been any formal ritual, or a hard-fought capture—he’d been surrounded by a bunch of zombies he couldn’t beat, and then volunteered to take the little zombie down the mountain. Now he could hardly explain the situation with her himself.

Seeing the situation, Wen Yan realized Zhang Laoxi was no help either.

The little zombie didn’t hurt anyone; apart from being overly clingy, she wasn’t dangerous at all.

"Can you get down first? My back and waist are killing me—I really can’t take it anymore."

"Waaah, waaah..." The little zombie hugged Wen Yan even tighter, refusing to let go.

Wen Yan reached out and pressed a finger to the little zombie’s forehead, giving her a tiny bit of Yang energy.

Once the little zombie was grinning happily, eyes squinting with pleasure, Wen Yan tried a different tack.

"Alright? I need to do my martial training soon—if I have to carry you, I won’t be able to train."

The little zombie might not understand what sore waist and back meant, but she definitely understood martial training.

She reluctantly let go, jumped off Wen Yan’s back, walked herself into the wooden box, then looked up at Wen Yan, her face full of expectation.

"Next time! Next time, I’ll definitely give you more Yang energy."

Hearing this, the little zombie smiled, closed her eyes, and fell back asleep.

Zhang Laoxi hurriedly went to close the box and stuck a few more yellow talismans on each side of it.

"Wen Yan, so what happened last night, exactly?"

"We’ll talk about that in a minute—first, tell me for real, what’s the deal with this little zombie? She nearly scared me to death last night."

Zhang Laoxi hesitated—a full explanation from start to finish would really be a blow to his image, but he thought it over: there was nothing he knew that needed hiding. If Wen Yan knew earlier, maybe he wouldn’t get taken by surprise in a pinch.

"Well, this is a long story. It starts with the thirteenth patriarch of Fuyu Mountain, back in those days..."

Zhang Laoxi told Wen Yan all about Fuyu Mountain, the Scorching Sun God Power, and even gritted his teeth and confessed how he’d bluffed the zombies.

"That’s the gist of it. But you awakening Scorching Sun, and your own situation—I’ve never told a soul.

How the little zombie recognized you, I really don’t know either.

I don’t even know what this little zombie really is, or what type—her strength is barely at the Hopping Corpse level, but her intelligence and flexibility are better than a Haired Zombie, and the robe she wears is nicer than any I’ve ever seen.

I know for sure she’s got to have a complicated background, but at the time, I didn’t dare refuse at all. I figured if I so much as shook my head, there’d be a couple haired zombies twisting my neck till it would never shake again.

I... honestly, I had my own selfish reasons, too..."

"Come on, man, don’t say that." Wen Yan cut Zhang Laoxi off. "I should be thanking you—if you hadn’t sent Uncle Mo in, I’d have been in real danger this time."

Wen Yan briefly described the dangers he’d faced inside.

Knowing now that the little zombie was harmless and even owed him a favor, he felt totally at ease. He also finally understood: Zhang Laoxi had gone back up Fuyu Mountain just to find him that Scorching Sun Fist technique.

According to Zhang Laoxi, that plain-sounding Scorching Sun Fist was actually the best boxing technique for him—no contest.

This was a proper martial arts boxing skill.

After all this reading, Wen Yan knew for sure that learning from books and having somebody guide you were two completely different things.

He hardly considered himself some once-in-a-generation genius who could just read a book and teach himself to mastery without any mistakes.

Everything that had happened recently truly drove home one thing for Wen Yan.

If he wasn’t strong enough himself, if his basic foundation wasn’t solid, no power or ability would do him any good.

Like this time—he’d clearly sensed the little zombie coming, but physically couldn’t react in time to dodge.

Or when he’d faced that lightning-fast Lone Wolf, he hadn’t even had time to use any abilities.

In the end, your own foundation has to be solid and strong enough.

I have to train in martial arts—train like my life depends on it!