Zombies, before they become what they are, all have someone they deeply love. So after death, when they turn into a cold corpse, the first person they seek out is always their beloved—just like someone wandering a freezing night, searching for the warmth of fire from memory.
Luo Yichen had already lost all emotion; his body felt nothing at all. He didn't understand why this urge to see his family lingered in him now, but what he thought of most was Master Zachary Wu.
Thinking carefully now, his master hadn’t taken just four disciples—there were several. The reason his three senior brothers lived so frugally with their master was because, before they became disciples, the master had others. Some of those disciples ran away, and some died.
Luo Yichen thought about many things, all connected to Master Zachary Wu. His life as a Corpse Handler had always been entangled with corpses, yet his master never mentioned what would happen after death—never spoke of turning into a zombie.
Along the way, Luo Yichen gradually figured it out: the two clan chiefs in Gourd Village had no reason to deceive him. If they’d truly wanted him dead, he would have died long ago.
What Luo Yichen couldn’t understand was why Eugene Henderson spared Miles Spring. It wasn’t by chance. Even his three senior brothers seemed suspicious, as if they knew something but never told him. After their master died, the three immediately parted ways, while Luo Yichen chose to stay and continue the Corpse Handler’s work where his master had practiced.
None of the three senior brothers ever told Luo Yichen the truth. They kept lying to him. Back in the Nether Syndicate, Luo Yichen had asked them why they didn’t use force to seize the Corpse Banner, but they only blamed the chaos of war and claimed he had disappeared.
The three senior brothers were clearly lying. Luo Yichen’s mind was now eerily clear; after losing his feelings, his thinking was even sharper. He wondered what secrets remained in the corpse-handling arts he’d learned.
This technique involved all sorts of things to remember and use. Besides controlling corpses and weak zombies, Luo Yichen didn’t know what other purpose it served.
Lost in thought, Luo Yichen found himself back home. The moment he stepped through the door, his body began to stir restlessly. He knew exactly what he would do, and felt no resistance in his heart.
But early that morning, Miles Spring had already led people to set up an ambush at home. Luo Yichen saw his wife and children crying, and Miles Spring, furious, cursing him loudly.
Miles Spring called Luo Yichen a hypocrite, accusing him of helping the Nether Syndicate to harm them. As Miles was about to attack, Luo Yichen shook his head and recounted what happened in Gourd Village, what Tan Tian had told him, and the words of his three senior brothers who had turned into zombies, saying he wanted to talk things through with Miles Spring.
At last, Miles Spring calmed down and began to sob. The Mount Mason Order was wiped out—after Luo Yichen refused the zombies’ terms, they attacked for the first time, leaving Miles Spring’s friends dead or wounded. He lost his will to fight, but eventually returned to Mount Mason.
What Miles Spring hadn’t expected was that after he told his master and the elders everything about the zombies, people from the Mount Mason Order began returning from all over. According to his account, if these zombies weren’t eradicated, they would become a future menace.
The Mount Mason Order was a highly secretive sect, and they had their own ways of dealing with zombies. But in the world, they mostly called themselves Taoist priests, and over the years, they’d destroyed many zombies.
But just as everyone was discussing how to attack Gourd Village, the zombies suddenly burst in and massacred the Mount Mason Order. The sect suffered devastating losses; Miles Spring’s master, Master Zachary Wu, and many elders were killed by the zombies.
Miles Spring was lucky to escape with a few fellow disciples, but the Mount Mason Order was effectively destroyed. Eventually, they found the reason: the zombies should never have known the sect’s exact location, but because of the Corpse Essence clinging to Miles Spring, they were able to track them down.
Luo Yichen watched Miles Spring cry, feeling utterly calm inside. Miles pointed at Luo Yichen, saying the Corpse Essence came from him, and accused him of betraying them.
Luo Yichen only shook his head heavily, saying he didn’t really know either. He had become a zombie and could feel nothing—now, all he wanted was to devour his family.
Hearing all this, Miles Spring flew into a rage and tried to kill Luo Yichen. But for some reason, Luo Yichen left, running toward Gourd Village and successfully suppressing his zombie instincts.
When Luo Yichen returned to Gourd Village, Eugene Henderson was already waiting for him. He began to reveal certain truths to Luo Yichen.
The existence of the Mount Mason Order was hindering the Nether Syndicate’s plans. They kept killing zombies placed by the Nether Syndicate in the living world, so the Order had to be wiped out. As for using Luo Yichen, it was simply because he was already a zombie—using that secret technique for too long would inevitably turn him into one.
When Miles Spring went to Luo Yichen for help, Eugene and his group found out and used it to their advantage. Miles thought he had a chance because of the power Luo Yichen showed, but couldn’t suppress the corpse aura and thus couldn’t defeat the zombies. That’s why he remembered what his master had said about the Corpse Banner controlling corpse aura, and went around asking about Corpse Handlers. The news was deliberately spread by Eugene Henderson through Luo Yichen’s three senior brothers.
Then Eugene Henderson told Luo Yichen that his master had sold out his disciples to the Nether Syndicate long ago. The secret art from the Nether Syndicate wasn’t for manipulating corpses, but for synchronizing oneself with them—its real purpose was to create zombies.
Miles Spring’s master used to visit Gourd Village, bringing disciples who had already become zombies and handing them over to the Corpse Realm in exchange for corpse clay. Hearing this, Luo Yichen felt nothing, but recalled that among the things his master left before dying, there was a wrapped unknown item. Each time he controlled a corpse, he had to use a little of it to achieve the effect.
The night Luo Yichen’s three senior brothers died, they’d already turned into zombies and gained self-awareness. This technique required long-term immersion in a human body to work, and the process was slow. The Nether Syndicate’s original goal was to experiment, but the experiment failed.
When Luo Yichen asked what the experiment was, Eugene Henderson explained it was about giving zombies emotions. Luo Yichen was about to succeed, but suddenly lost all feeling. Luantian Xuekui, the female leader of the Blood Revenants, decided to end the absurd experiment and personally bit Luo Yichen, accelerating his transformation into a zombie.
The failure of the three senior brothers made the Corpse Realm lose faith in the plan. They found a better way by cooperating with an evil ghost. To help the ghost become king, the Corpse Realm needed a huge army, but the Mount Mason Order was in the way, so they resorted to slaughter.
Luantian Xuekui, the female leader of the Blood Revenants, had held onto a final shred of hope, but in the end, Luo Yichen lost his emotions too.
Eugene Henderson told Luo Yichen that Luantian Xuekui bit him for another reason: the trait of blood-drinking zombies. If they don’t drink their own blood every fifty years, the Corpse Essence goes berserk and they die. Now, if Luo Yichen doesn’t drink his children’s blood, he’ll surely perish.
When Luo Yichen asked if there was a way out, Eugene Henderson told him that only by becoming a Prime Revenant could he be completely freed, but Luo Yichen couldn’t achieve that in the short term.
After telling Luo Yichen everything, Eugene Henderson left the Corpse Realm. Though Luo Yichen still lived there, he didn’t know what to do. He could suppress his zombie nature, but didn’t want to die—pressing his no-longer-beating heart, he set out once again.
Back home, Luo Yichen found Miles Spring gone. He finally told his wife everything, and his children could only weep. In the end, all five of Luo Yichen’s children cut their hands and gave their blood for him to consume.
After telling his children never to use corpse-handling arts to make a living, Luo Yichen left home, thinking it was all over.
But one morning, Luo Yichen’s wife woke to find their youngest daughter brutally murdered at home. On the table, there was only a blood-written letter, saying he would return in a hundred years.
Luo Yichen had become a cold, merciless corpse—he had lost everything.
The Luo family did not change professions. After Luo Yichen’s wife died and the four children split up, life forced them back into corpse-handling. But the four remembered what their mother once said: before leaving, they would go to Gourd Village, and instruct their descendants that every fifty years, a child must be chosen to sacrifice themselves to ensure the Luo family’s prosperity.
At this point, Jude Luo said that Luo Yu seemed to finally understand why his father had done all this.
Then, Jude Luo, somewhat embarrassed, told Luo Yu that their family had been chosen this year to offer a child’s blood to the ancestor for safety. Since it was their turn, the father chose to merge the family branches so he could select another main family’s child as a substitute.