The number of Holy Sect Outer Mansion Cultivators gathering inside the Marketplace’s Array continued to grow, soon exceeding four hundred.

As reinforcements continued to arrive, the shock, anger, and frustration of the ambushed Holy Sect members erupted into a roaring will to fight.

Someone let out a roar, and the long-brewing counterattack erupted!

"Kill! Crush these undead abominations!"

"Slaughter every last one of the Zombie Alliance scum!"

The four hundred-plus Holy Sect Outer Mansion Disciples were like a bursting dam, surging out from behind the Marketplace’s ruined ramparts.

In an instant, Demonic Qi billowed to the heavens, and ferocious roars shook the sky!

All manner of strange and vicious Demonic Techniques were unleashed without hesitation.

Ghastly green skulls of Ghost Fire shrieked as they lunged into the horde of corpses, melting the shambling dead like wax. A foul, blood-red cloud of malice gathered overhead, its acidic, putrid rain corroding the Iron Corpses and making green smoke pour from their bodies. Strange black threads whistled and spun through the air, slicing the oncoming zombies to ribbons...

The entire Holy Sect front line was like a destructive black tide, crashing down upon the Zombie Alliance Cultivators on the perimeter.

The handful of Zombie Alliance Cultivators outside, who were controlling the Array, wore savage expressions as they once again shook their Bone Bells and chanted their Evil Curses with renewed frenzy.

"Activate the Array!"

The ghostly glow of the Nine Yin Nine Resentment Array, which blanketed the landscape, flared once more.

The ground churned violently as more rotting corpses and Iron Corpses burst from the earth, roaring as they charged the Holy Sect’s front line.

The two torrents collided with a thunderous crash.

In an instant, severed limbs flew through the air. The nauseating stench of rot and blood, mixed with the acrid smell of detonating Magic, permeated the battlefield.

Roars, screams, the thunder of Magic, and the clang of steel all merged into a single cacophony. The battle instantly reached a fever pitch.

Though weak, the walking corpses seemed endless in number, fearlessly throwing themselves forward to bite and claw.

The powerful and durable Iron Corpses rampaged through the horde, crashing through everything in their path.

It often took a team of several, sometimes more than ten, Holy Sect Disciples just to hold a single one at bay.

But while the front line roared with the sounds of battle and all eyes were fixed on the bloody melee, an almost invisible current of air, like a perfectly timed mountain breeze, swept silently across the chaotic battlefield.

The fighting at the front was at its peak, the clash of demonic power and Corpse Qi shaking the very ground.

The Zombie Alliance’s encirclement was immense, covering nearly half of Da Wu Mountain and stretching the front line to an incredible length.

This was all to leverage the Zombie Alliance’s expertise in Corpse Refining and Control, allowing them to employ their corpse-tide tactics to maximum effect.

"Are these Holy Sect Disciples insane? We in the Zombie Alliance already have every advantage. They should just obediently hand over Da Wu Mountain.

How dare they try to take back what we’ve already claimed?"

The Zombie Alliance Cultivator controlling the Array shook his Bone Bell furiously, his face filled with indignation, as if they were the victims and the Holy Sect were the villainous thieves.

"There are too many of these Holy Sect Cultivators! We’re almost out of walking corpses. We should ask the senior brothers who are True Cultivators to intervene and just crush them," one of the Zombie Alliance Cultivators suggested in a low voice, noticing the tide of battle turning in the Holy Sect’s favor.

"Ask them? My ass! Those lunatics from the Cyan Sect definitely haven’t left. Who knows where they’re lying in wait.

The moment our True Cultivator senior brothers make a move, they’ll surely pop up again, claiming to enact ’heaven’s justice’.

They already smashed seven of our ten Copper Armor Corpses to pieces.

One of our True Cultivator senior brothers is dead, and two more are heavily wounded. We can’t take that risk again." Having berated his fellow sect member, the leader of the Zombie Alliance Cultivators hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth.

"Give the signal! Awaken our other disciples from their slumber and fully activate the Nine Yin Nine Resentment Array.

The three remaining Copper Armor Corpses are enough to flatten everything!"

"Right!"

After acknowledging the order, the nearby Zombie Alliance Cultivator immediately took out a seven-inch coffin nail covered in bright red Talismans.

THUNK!

He drove the bizarre, unsettling coffin nail directly into the ground. The Zombie Alliance Cultivator muttered an incantation, chanting a Spell, then flicked a finger to send a stream of True Qi vanishing into the nail.

The next instant!

An invisible ripple suddenly spread out along the ground.

Deep underground, within hundreds of buried coffins, countless figures—silent and still as corpses—suddenly snapped their eyes open!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground erupted as figures, their life force restored, burst from their coffins. An aura of shared origin instantly caused the surrounding temperature to plummet. A grim Yin Qi filled the air as a white mist began to spread.

One hundred and twenty-three Zombie Alliance Cultivators.

Every single one of them at the Qi Refining Third Layer or above.

This was the force the Zombie Alliance had prepared to seize Da Wu Mountain.

If not for the spare Array Disc hidden within the Holy Sect Marketplace, Da Wu Mountain would have already fallen into the Zombie Alliance’s hands.

"Wu Cang, is it time to finally crack that turtle shell?" a Zombie Alliance Cultivator asked in a deep voice, cracking his stiff neck.

"Not yet, Senior Brother Li. The Infinite Demon Sect sent several hundred Outer Mansion Disciples. I awakened you all so we can fully activate the Nine Yin Nine Resentment Array and completely annihilate them," the Zombie Alliance Cultivator named Wu Cang replied quickly, clutching the Ancient Bell.

"The Infinite Demon Sect? They got here fast. Fine. We’ll wipe them all out in one go, then we’ll take that turtle shell."

A hundred Zombie Alliance Cultivators sat cross-legged, their hands forming a uniform, bizarrely evil Dharma Seal. They muttered incantations, pouring their Yin Evil True Qi into the Nine Yin Nine Resentment Array beneath their feet without holding anything back.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A jet-black Corpse Qi, far denser and purer than before, erupted forth like a volcano suppressed for a thousand years. It carried with it teeth-grinding shrieks and an aura of absolute tyranny!

The earth trembled. Three figures slowly rose from the chasm, their bronze scales glinting with dark runes, their eyes burning with what looked like tangible, blood-red flames.

The oppressive aura they radiated had reached the peak of the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, and was even faintly touching the threshold of the Seventh Layer!

Yet just as every gaze was fixed on this terrifying spectacle, and every mind was consumed by the brutal battle raging ahead...

Qi Yun quietly slipped away from the edge of the main battlefield.

He tightly clutched a Jade Scroll—the detailed Earth Vein Map of Da Wu Mountain that Yuan Sea had given him. Immersing his consciousness within it, he rapidly compared details and calculated his position.

’The Earth Veins converge here, and the flow of yin malevolence forms a vortex... A redundant node supplying the Array Hub. This has to be the place!’

Qi Yun’s gaze sharpened, locking onto a seemingly unremarkable corner of a mountain hollow.

With a sharp flick of his sleeve, a burst of skillful energy swept away the loose stones on the surface.

What lay beneath was not ordinary soil.

Instead, it was a slab of smooth, polished black rock, its surface engraved with dense and incredibly complex Array Patterns!

This was the Array Hub that sustained the entire Grand Array!

’Found it!’

A glint flashed in Qi Yun’s eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, the Hundred-refined Steel Sand around him began to flow silently, gathering power.

...

Meanwhile, just as the three Copper Armor Corpses were about to go on a rampage, the expressions of the Holy Sect Disciples turned grave.

Suddenly, the entirety of Da Wu Mountain trembled violently!

The next second!

With a loud CRACK!

The Marketplace’s dark green Array shattered with a thunderous roar, dissolving into innumerable, fragmented motes of light that flickered before fading into nothing.

Inside the Marketplace, Yuan Sea, who had been hunched over with a sickly expression, slowly straightened his back.

The look of weakness on his face vanished, replaced by an icy, sharp gaze.

"He actually... figured it out!"

...