"Aaaah—this hurts!—It hurts so bad—" The dozen or so Kachin soldiers wailed in agony, clawing at the spots where the rotting zombies had splashed them with toxic black water. It was a bloody mess—gruesome and downright horrifying. But the poison worked fast, seeping straight into their guts. In no time, those poor Kachin soldiers were writhing and rolling on the ground, and then, with one last scream, they died miserable deaths!
Bang—bang—bang—bang! Martin Yang and his bodyguards panicked, firing round after round at the rotting zombies. The bullets hit their decaying bodies with a wet, squishy thud, but the zombies just staggered a bit and kept shambling into the valley.
"Oh crap! This is insane! Way too scary—" The rest of the Kachin soldiers turned pale as ghosts and bolted for the valley. These new zombies were way faster and nastier than the last batch, and that toxic corpse water? Nightmare fuel. There was no way anyone could fight them off. All they could do was run for their lives! In a flash, hundreds of fully armed Kachin soldiers retreated in total chaos—the whole battle-hardened army fell apart just like that!
"Hey—hey—why are you all running away—" Martin Yang watched as the powerful, battle-tested Kachin troops crumbled, his face turning pale with frustration. But he knew there was no way to win against those freaky rotting zombies.
With no other choice, Martin Yang let out a long sigh. Surrounded by his bodyguards, he nervously retreated to Shawn Young’s side and said, jittery and apologetic, "Uh—well, Shawn, Senior Shawn, I’m really sorry, but we just can’t handle these undead freaks! We should just fall back!"
"No need to retreat—leave this to me!" Shawn Young patted Martin Yang’s shoulder, comforting him, then strode forward and called out to the forest with a cold laugh, "Heh—so you’re just bossing around corpses with your little Soulbane Plague. That’s all you’ve got? Please, that’s amateur hour!"
"Keh keh keh—big talk for a punk! You sure know how to brag. Let’s see what you’ve got against my Soulbane Plague!" came a creepy, pissed-off voice from deep in the forest. As he spoke, the swarm of rotting zombies massed together, rolling down the valley like a huge, dark cloud—seriously terrifying.
Seeing this nightmare, Martin Yang’s face went green, and his bodyguards were so scared they practically farted themselves. Even Jade Swann, standing next to Shawn Young, was a little shaken as the zombie horde surged forward. She muttered, "Holy crap! There’s way too many—" and quietly started channeling her qi, getting ready to unleash her Thunder Technique against the undead.
"Jade, back me up! I’ll handle these guys!" Shawn Young told Jade Swann, then bit his right middle finger, flicked the blood into the air, and quickly sketched a Bagua diagram. He powered up his Celestial Essence, pointed one hand to the sky and the other to the ground, spun his hands clockwise, stomped the earth, and roared, "Open!"
Boom!! With a thunderous crash, the ground in front of Shawn Young split open, blasting up a jet of white mist. Even standing nearby, Shawn felt the chill right down to his bones.
But there was no time to think—Shawn Young dashed to the crack, left hand flat, right hand clenched in a fist, and slammed his palms together, chanting, "Heaven and earth, shadow and sun, divine thunder from the nine heavens, crimson drops fall, dark springs run deep!"
As soon as he finished, Shawn started drawing in the air with both hands. A yin-yang fish Bagua appeared, red and white swirling together.
"Drop!!" Shawn shouted. The yin-yang diagram exploded with light, morphing into countless red snowflakes that swirled and dove straight into the cracked earth.
Suddenly, everything shook like an earthquake. Thunder rumbled from below, and the gray-white clay on the ground started to crystallize into white, salt-like grains. A biting cold wind whipped through the valley.
The rotting zombies charging the valley shuddered, their joints creaking like rusty hinges. They slowed down, lost their rage, and started moving stiffly, almost like broken toys.
Shawn seized the chance—he swept his left palm forward, traced a "Z" in the air with his right, then clapped his hands to his chest and spun around. Blue lightning snaked around him. He slammed his palms on the ground and roared, "Break!!"
A raging tornado, packed with blinding lightning, unleashed arcs of electricity that crackled across the ground, spreading in all directions. The air filled with the stench of burning and black smoke. The zombies were zapped by the lightning, jumping like electrocuted puppets, then collapsing and exploding one after another.
For a moment, the whole forest echoed with constant booms and crackles—explosions everywhere, wild and spectacular.
In less than five minutes, the endless horde of zombies was wiped out by the storm and lightning, left smoldering on the ground as piles of black, smoking wreckage.
Finally, Shawn Young let out a breath, wiped sweat from his brow, and winced at the burning pain in his middle finger. He glanced at it—red and swollen from his own bite. Still, he’d busted up that nasty Soulbane Plague, so he’d call that a win!
Shawn shouted up into the forest, "Heh—hey, you coward hiding in the trees, how’d you like that Stormbreaker Yin-Yang? Did I just trash a bunch of your precious toys? Hurts, doesn’t it?"
"Stormbreaker Yin-Yang! Using the power of wind and thunder to smash undead souls—not bad, kid! Didn’t think you had it in you!" The creepy voice echoed again, and then a shadowy figure slowly emerged from the forest, heading toward the valley.