After crossing over, he has no taboos among the zombies.

Several times?

Of course not, it's more than ten times!

The lotus flames slowly swirled before Qin He, their crimson and blue hues making his eyes shine.

The power of this fused demonic fire far exceeded his initial expectations.

With a slight twitch of his fingertips, a wisp of fire escaped and landed on the remaining rock wall of the secret chamber. There was no earth-shattering noise, but the rock wall instantly turned into nothingness, leaving not even ashes behind—the fusion of the laws of birth and death had reached a domineering level of silent influence.

Qin He caressed the lotus flame with his fingertips, his mind racing through the classifications of strange flames.

There are two types of strange fire: one is the alchemical fire that cultivators refine themselves, also known as internal fire.

Abyss Fire, Samadhi Fire, and Purple Yang Fire are among these, mostly cultivated by fire-attribute cultivators or alchemists, and their characteristics vary depending on the master's enlightenment.

This type of fire has no fixed strength; it depends entirely on the cultivator's own realm and comprehension of the laws. For example, the Samadhi True Fire condensed by a top cultivator can suppress demonic fires like the Southern Bright Fire.

Another type is the fire of the origin of heaven and earth, of which demonic fire is a branch.

Legend has it that the nine great demonic flames all originated from the primordial fire seed, but whether the fire seed truly exists remains unproven.

Legends in the cultivation world are inherently difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and most of them are distorted accounts passed down orally. The failure of the Divine Court to fuse with the demonic fire is clear proof of this.

Qin He didn't bother to investigate further; for now, this fused demonic fire was handy and easy to use, and that was enough.

After stabilizing his cultivation and repairing the restrictions in the secret chamber, Qin He secluded himself for a whole month.

On the day he emerged from seclusion, he issued an order to the entire city in his capacity as Master Ziyang: all cultivator corpses must be handed over to the City Lord's Mansion for unified disposal, and private burial or burning is strictly prohibited; violators will be treated as colluding with evil spirits.

Although there was some unrest in Ziyang City after the order was issued, no one dared to openly resist.

Firstly, the "Master Ziyang's" past tyranny has deeply penetrated people's hearts; secondly, the recent zombie outbreak has already made the whole city live in constant fear.

The origin of this corpse transformation can be traced back to March before Qin He's arrival.

At that time, a battle between cultivators took place at White Bone Ridge, west of Ziyang City, resulting in nearly a hundred deaths and injuries.

Most of the cultivators who died in battle were rogue cultivators, and since no one collected their remains, they were abandoned in the mountains.

But a few days later, strange things began to happen around White Bone Ridge.

First, a herb gatherer discovered the corpse of a cultivator at the foot of the ridge. The corpse was already cold, but it could move on its own. Its fingertips were tinged with a bluish-black evil aura, and it scratched a deep mark on the rock wall with one claw.

The herb gatherer was terrified and fled back to the city in a panic, but the story was dismissed as madness and few people took it seriously.

Three days later, the monk guarding the east gate of Ziyang City was murdered at night.

The victim's throat was ripped open, and dark blue-green ice crystals had formed at the wound. The killer was actually the corpse of a rogue cultivator who had been buried for three days!

The corpse was stiff all over, yet moved swiftly, surrounded by a dense aura of death. When ordinary cultivators struck it with their spiritual power, they were swallowed up by the death aura.

The dozen or so cultivators on duty were killed or wounded more than half of them before they could barely break it. However, after the broken pieces of the corpse fell to the ground, they were still wriggling slightly before turning into a pool of black water and flowing away.

This incident completely ignited panic.

In the days that followed, the zombie resurrection events became more and more frequent.

The corpses of missing cultivators have been appearing one after another. They are elusive and target cultivators who travel alone at night. Those bitten will become stiff and stop breathing within half a day, and then turn into corpses.

The common people kept their doors closed every night, and the cultivators traveled in groups, yet even so, there were still casualties.

Some people tried to trace the source of the zombies, but found that they all came from the direction of White Bone Ridge. The ridge was filled with deathly aura, and even cultivators at the Divine Bridge Realm dared not go deep into it.

People flocked to the city lord's mansion to petition, begging Master Ziyang to take action and suppress the rebellion.

At that time, Master Ziyang was engrossed in refining the Azure Wood Demon Flame with the Fire Gathering Array, his mind focused on breaking through to a higher realm, and he had no time to care about these "trivial matters".

Not only did he refuse to see them, but he also angrily rebuked the petitioners for disturbing his cultivation. He unleashed a fire talisman, scorching the stone steps in front of the city lord's mansion black, frightening everyone so much that they dared not come to the door again.

Over time, no one dared to expect this sage to rid the people of this scourge anymore. They could only try to protect themselves, and the atmosphere in Ziyang City became increasingly oppressive.

Qin He sat in the main seat of the main hall, listening to his subordinates report the ins and outs of the corpse transformation, the lotus flame at his fingertips flickering slightly.

"What is the origin of the death aura of White Bone Ridge?" he asked, his voice hoarse, exactly like that of Master Ziyang, yet a trace of golden-black law quietly emanated from his body, making the cultivators in the hall dare not even breathe.

"Replying to the Venerable One, the deathly aura of White Bone Ridge is not naturally formed. It seems that someone used evil magic to stir up the yin energy in the earth's veins, which, combined with the resentment of the cultivators who died in battle, has created this situation."

One of the cultivators in charge of the reconnaissance bowed and replied, cold sweat beading on his forehead, "I sensed it from afar; there seemed to be a strange fluctuation of law deep within the ridge, which could not have been emitted by ordinary evil spirits."

A flash of gold and black lines appeared in Qin He's eyes.

It can attract the Yin energy of the earth's veins and condense the fluctuations of laws, so there must be a cultivator controlling it behind the scenes.

Master Ziyang ignored it, giving the other party time to develop unchecked.

"Pass down the order to transport all the corpses of cultivators collected recently to the West Courtyard." Qin He slowly stood up, flames suddenly igniting around him, but they were no longer the crimson flames of Master Ziyang, but rather a lotus fire phantom interwoven with red and blue. "I want to see for myself what tricks these corpses are hiding."

The west courtyard had long been sealed off, and dozens of cultivator corpses were neatly arranged in the courtyard. Each corpse had a bluish-black face and was surrounded by a faint aura of death. Even though they were suppressed by the seal, they were still twitching slightly, exuding a strange and ferocious appearance.

Qin He walked up to a corpse, bent down, and lightly touched its forehead with his fingertip.

A wisp of true demonic energy seeped into the corpse through his fingertips, instantly locating the source. The corpse's meridians were already severed, and its soul had dissipated. Only in its dantian remained a cluster of dark blue-green malevolent energy, containing a faint trace of sinister law. It was this power that drove the corpse's movements.

"Interesting." Qin He chuckled, flicking out a lotus flame from his fingertip, which landed on the dark blue-green aura.

The lotus fire fell, but instead of instantly burning away the evil energy, it enveloped it like a tide.

Amidst the intertwined crimson and blue flames, the laws of life and death flowed, simultaneously scorching the malevolent energy and disintegrating it, revealing even finer black runes within.

"This is... a bone-corroding talisman?" Long Qingyun's voice came from the black demon banner, tinged with surprise. "This is a technique of ancient evil cultivators. It can control corpses with runes and absorb living souls to strengthen itself. It has long been listed as a forbidden technique by the Divine Court. How could it appear here?"

Qin He remained silent, his fingertips flicking with demonic energy to detach the black rune from the malevolent aura. The rune writhed wildly as soon as it left his body, attempting to escape, but was firmly trapped by the lotus fire, emitting a sizzling, burning sound.

He could clearly sense that the sinister laws on this rune originated from the same source as the fluctuations deep within White Bone Ridge. The person behind it was not only proficient in forbidden techniques, but their cultivation level was probably also quite high, at least at the level of the Other Shore Realm.

"It seems that I am not the only 'uninvited guest' in Changyang County." Qin He pinched his fingertips, and the black runes were instantly burned by the lotus fire, turning into a wisp of black smoke and dissipating.

"I will personally go to White Bone Ridge early tomorrow morning."

"Let's see who's up to these underhanded tricks on my territory."

This "Master Ziyang" is finally about to make his move.