The Years When I Was the Boss of the Evil Abyss

The dark forest was mostly filled with withered trees, thick fog swirling through the air, carrying a strong stench of decay. Amidst the rot, figures stood scattered around, some in ragged clothes, others missing limbs, yet they stood upright, as if compelled by some inexplicable force, twisted and motionless like puppets in the mist.

"What is that?" Su Yu asked, staring at the black spots in his vision. "Is something floating?"

"!" Zhang Fugui stared at the dismembered bodies and couldn't help but agree. Their poses, like a bird standing on one leg, did seem like they were floating...

But that wasn't important now. He felt like he might be the one to float away!

The fog thickened, the forest nearly engulfed in darkness. As the rotting earth beneath began to show itself, white, withered bones crawled from the soil, shaking and unsteady, one after another.

A chilling thought suddenly entered Zhang Fugui's mind. He remembered hearing a tale from ghost friends when he wandered through Nawu Mountain—a place called the "Living Dead Grave."

Nawu Mountain had been sealed for ages, and rumors said that centuries ago, a rogue cultivator had entered the mountain. His cultivation method was unusual and combined with the mountain's yin energy, which led to his death. His resting place became an area of evil, where anyone who died there, be they a wandering soul or a cultivator, would rise as a "living dead."

Zhang Fugui, horrified, stepped back a few paces. "Wait, Daoist, I think these are living dead…"

Living dead? Su Yu looked closely at the black dots.

Were those... people?

As Su Yu focused on them, their lifeless eyes locked onto him.

In the next moment, all the living dead lunged at the duo.

A gust of wind rushed past. Zhang Fugui immediately turned and ran. "Daoist, run!!!"

The living dead in the forest stirred and began to move, lurching toward the only living person. Su Yu, seeing the black spots rapidly converging on him, instinctively stepped back, only to feel wind sweep over his head, and a cacophony of sounds filled his ears.

A strong sense of danger overwhelmed his mind. As he took a few steps back, he bumped into a dead tree. The living dead pounced, sinking their teeth into Su Yu's arm. Their fangs tore through his skin, and he quickly pulled his arm away, ripping a chunk of flesh.

Blood gushed out!

The nearby corpses, as if smelling the blood, turned toward Su Yu and rushed toward him.

Zhang Fugui, having run a short distance, realized he couldn't move further. The chain around his ankle was too tight, forcing him to turn back. He immediately saw Su Yu trapped among the dead trees.

How could he have forgotten? The Daoist was blind—he couldn't run!

Seeing the other living dead close in on the Daoist, Zhang Fugui didn't hesitate. He turned and rushed to help. After spending so much time in Nawu Mountain, he had learned a lot from his fellow ghosts. With difficulty, he gathered his yin energy and stepped in front of one of the living dead before it could devour the Daoist.

The strength of the living dead far exceeded Zhang Fugui's. He barely managed to stop two, and the yin energy within him began to wane. Struggling to fend off the attacking undead, he tried to lift Su Yu and flee. Just as he was about to turn, someone grabbed his wrist.

"Daoist?!" Zhang Fugui was startled.

Su Yu stared at Zhang Fugui's arm, fixated. "What is this?"

"Ah...?" Zhang Fugui only then realized the Daoist was asking about his arm. "This is my 'Diamond Iron Arm'?"

It was a technique his ghost companions had taught him. By condensing his yin energy in the arm, he could enhance its strength to battle multiple foes at once. Cultivators often had names for their techniques, and this one was called the "Diamond Iron Arm."

"You recognize this technique, Daoist?" Zhang Fugui asked.

Su Yu replied, "No."

The white smoke surrounding them seemed to solidify, especially around Zhang Fugui's arm, where the yin energy had gathered into a dense mass.

Su Yu, sensing the energy within himself, noticed the yin energy that had once remained dormant near his dantian was now stirring. He tried to move it toward his arm…

But before he could concentrate, a new threat emerged.

Zhang Fugui turned to see countless heads rushing toward them. Now wasn't the time to discuss techniques like the Diamond Iron Arm—no amount of defense could withstand this many living dead. These creatures had no sensation, no pain, no sense of death. Even just one could overwhelm them.

The living dead, following the will of the evil cultivator's grave master, transformed all intruders into similar mindless undead.

As Zhang Fugui tried to decide which way to run while carrying Su Yu, suddenly, two figures shot out from the crowd of undead. These two looked freshly dead, still wearing somewhat intact clothes... He immediately moved to intercept them, but the burning sensation in his arm made him gasp.

"Damn it! These undead were cultivators when they were alive!" Zhang Fugui's heart sank. With his meager skills, he could barely handle ordinary undead. But against undead cultivators? It was like trying to shatter stone with an egg. He had never heard of this many undead cultivators in the Living Tomb before!

Suddenly, the undead lunged again, swarming like a dark tide. Zhang Fugui watched helplessly as the claws closed in. In that fleeting moment, his entire life, both as a human and the ghost he feared becoming, flashed before his eyes.

Just then, a strong pull yanked him backward, narrowly avoiding the undead's claws that grazed his cheek.

"Daozhang!" Zhang Fugui gasped.

Su Yu had dragged Zhang Fugui out of harm's way, but his retreat ended abruptly as he slammed into a dead tree, his path blocked. Around them, shadows swirled as undead surrounded them on all sides. The pain in his broken leg was excruciating, rendering him nearly immobile. Yet the rushing sound of approaching footsteps grew louder, and the undead were now just steps away.

Zhang Fugui, sprawled on the ground, looked up and froze in fear. Above them, an undead creature crawled down the tree like a lizard, its decayed body a grotesque mix of rotting flesh and exposed bone. Its sharp teeth gleamed unnaturally as it locked its hollow eyes on its prey and pounced.

"Daozhang! Above!" Zhang Fugui screamed.

It was too late!

Su Yu caught the rush of wind just as the creature descended. Instinctively, his body reacted faster than his mind. His blood froze, and the yin energy in his dantian surged, filling his meridians. Without thinking, he raised his arm to meet the attack. The impact forced his body downward under the tremendous weight of the falling undead.

The creature's fangs sank into his arm, sending waves of numbing pain spreading through him. He felt the pressure of its teeth indenting his skin, yet miraculously, they didn't pierce through.

Su Yu froze in shock. His arm, coated in pure yin energy, seemed to repel the attack. The energy from his dantian had formed a barrier over his forearm, shielding it from harm.

Zhang Fugui peeked through his fingers, trembling. "Wait... it stopped it?"

The undead, unable to bite through, snarled and clamped down harder. But instead of flesh, its fangs met an unyielding barrier. A faint cracking sound followed.

Zhang Fugui's gaze dropped to the ground, where he saw a blackened fragment fall—one of the undead's fangs. "Its... teeth broke?"

Realizing another attack was imminent, Su Yu flung the undead off his arm, using its momentum to strike down an oncoming assailant. Zhang Fugui, too stunned to comprehend fully, caught sight of two undead clinging to Su Yu's arm, their drooling mouths perilously close.

Su Yu gritted his teeth. While he could handle the weight of one undead, two were almost too much. His arm trembled as he swung fiercely, using the undead as a blunt weapon to scatter the encroaching horde.

"Daozhang! These are cultivators!" Zhang Fugui shouted in alarm.

Su Yu snapped back to reality at the cry and scanned the darkened surroundings. Amid the chaos of shadowy forms, he noticed several anomalies. Unlike the purely black shapes of ordinary undead, these figures were tinged with faint red spots that flickered ominously.

He squinted for a better look, but a sudden rush of heat brought him back to the moment. Flames surged toward him as an undead cultivator struck, its claw infused with fiery energy. Su Yu barely managed to block, but the force sent him reeling back against the tree.

The flaming claw left a scorched mark on his forearm. This undead had been a fire-element cultivator in life, and its lingering energy burned fiercely even now. Zhang Fugui stared, dumbfounded. "So this is what real iron arms look like! My skills are nothing compared to that!"

"We need to get out of here!" Zhang Fugui urged, panic evident in his voice.

Su Yu was starting to feel the strain. Each clash left his arm aching and his breathing labored. The injuries across his body made him falter, and he glanced around, seeing the increasing number of those red-spotted shadows.

Ordinary undead appeared as solid black dots in his vision, but these spotted ones were different—stronger, more dangerous. They were clearly former cultivators.

As the yin energy clouded his vision, fatigue began to creep into his mind. His spiritual awareness dulled, and a strange dissonance nagged at him. It felt as though his eyes weren't used to seeing—or perhaps he wasn't used to using them this much. The more he relied on them, the heavier the discomfort grew.

His injured leg sank into the damp, decaying soil, and a sharp pain jolted him back to focus. His vision blurred as his body protested further exertion. He was at his limit.

If this continued, he would be torn apart by these undead.

"These undead—are they all influenced by the tomb's master?" Su Yu asked through gritted teeth.

Zhang Fugui nodded. "Yes, that's right." He wasn't entirely sure which powerful figure the old demonic cultivator had been, but even in death, they found no peace, claiming this area in the Nanwu Mountains as their own. Accidentally wandering into the "Living Tomb" left one with no choice but to escape its boundary. The walking corpses influenced by the demonic epitaph wouldn't leave the area, so safety lay outside the tomb.

In the distance, more of the undead were converging toward them. Su Yu raised his head, observing the swarming black dots. Most were moving their way, while fewer remained deeper within—almost as though the undead avoided the interior, lingering only on the outskirts.

Zhang Fugui was mid-sentence when he saw the young Daoist walk further in. Stunned, he froze in place. He'd seen people running out of the tomb, but who ever heard of someone charging deeper inside?

Black shadows surged toward Su Yu, blotting his vision. He instinctively dodged, relying on his reflexes rather than sight. As he moved inward, the ground beneath his feet grew softer and wetter.

"Wait! Daoist! Up ahead!" Zhang Fugui shouted, just as the young man slammed into a tree.

Zhang Fugui covered his eyes in exasperation. The surrounding undead paused briefly, as though surprised by the collision. But they quickly advanced again. At that moment, the young Daoist swept his arm, snapping the brittle tree in half and sending its branches flying. The splintered wood struck several undead, hurling them backward.

Zhang Fugui was speechless. Was this how blind people navigated?

The undead charged again, and Zhang Fugui hurried to keep up. This time, he yelled preemptively, "Daoist, to your right!" Hearing the warning, Su Yu narrowly avoided another tree and seemed to grasp the knack of moving forward, using the trees to steady himself and ease the pain in his injured leg.

The deeper they went, the fewer undead appeared, though those remaining were tougher and more persistent. Su Yu squinted, trying to suppress the ache in his eyes. Amidst the chaos, he noticed something unusual: a patch of empty space at the center of the black dots, as though they were deliberately avoiding or surrounding that area.

The undead seemed to grow increasingly agitated at the difficulty of dealing with this intruder. More of them pressed in, and soon blood began to seep from Su Yu's injuries again. His previous wounds had not yet healed, and his broken leg made movement increasingly arduous.

Zhang Fugui, unable to bear it any longer, hoisted Su Yu onto his back. Just as he did, an undead lunged at them. Su Yu's left arm shot out, shielding Zhang Fugui. The undead bit down on Su Yu's arm, but the dark energy concentrated there erupted, sending the creature flying dozens of feet.

"Golden-arm defense…" Zhang Fugui murmured in shock.

Su Yu's gaze remained fixed ahead. In a cold voice, he commanded, "Run east."

After mobilizing the dark energy in his body, Su Yu felt it grow more active, rampaging through his meridians. The totem coiled in his dantian spun faster, and more dark energy gathered in his arm. Meanwhile, Zhang Fugui struggled under the assault of undead cultivators. His spectral form, cultivated painstakingly over decades, now bore several burned holes from their attacks.

Su Yu's arm throbbed with the strain, each movement growing heavier. Yet he paid no heed, scanning for the empty patch amidst the black dots—and then he spotted it.

"Over there!" he exclaimed.

In a desperate leap, Su Yu pushed off Zhang Fugui's shoulder, yanking him forward with the chain that bound his injured ankle. Both man and ghost tumbled to the ground, pain shooting through their bodies as the rancid stench of decay filled the air. A sudden silence fell.

The surrounding undead had halted at the boundary, their gazes menacing but unmoving. Trembling, Zhang Fugui instinctively inched inward, his hand brushing against something hard and angular. Lowering his gaze, he discovered a half-buried tombstone.

"What is this?" he muttered, sweeping away the dirt. The inscription was mostly eroded, but faint characters revealed its identity: a gravestone.

"They're not coming closer," Su Yu noted.

"Daoist…" Zhang Fugui stammered, eyes wide with horror as he pointed to the ground. "We're sitting… on a tombstone!"

Su Yu's fingers traced the rough, uneven surface beneath him. Unable to suppress the dark energy in his arm, he inadvertently pressed against the tombstone's edge. A faint cracking sound followed, and several distinct fissures spread across the weathered stone.

The entire area fell into a deathly stillness. The undead froze in place, their clawed hands and gaping mouths suspended mid-motion.

Zhang Fugui gaped, unable to utter a single word.

At that moment, the ancient tombstone—battered by time—seemed to suffer a heavy blow. The cracks deepened instantly, culminating in a loud, shattering noise as a corner of the stone broke off in Su Yu's hand.

"What just broke?" Su Yu muttered, frowning.

Zhang Fugui could only stammer incoherently, while the surrounding undead seemed collectively to stiffen in shock.