"..." A dark red scythe silently cut through the air, viciously slashing towards Li Xuan's back. The scythe was entwined with an ominous black and red mist.
"Who?!" Although the sound of the scythe cutting through the air was very faint, Li Xuan, whose hearing had been enhanced by Honkai energy, still quickly noticed the anomaly behind him. A chilling sensation came from behind him, making the hairs on his body stand on end in an instant...
Li Xuan abruptly turned his head, and almost as a conditioned reflex before he could see clearly, he directly activated the shield of the divine garb 'Xuanyuan Festive Garb'. On the bright yellow clothes of the Xuanyuan Festive Garb, lines of patterns instantly flashed with a hint of brilliance, and an azure shield instantly appeared around him, forming a circular barrier.
"Kacha!~" The scythe's snow-white blade viciously struck the shield in front of Li Xuan. Although the shield was not broken, it instantly dimmed a little.
Because his shield had blocked the opponent's attack, Li Xuan leaped onto the road to the side, dodging the opponent's next attack. "Strange, I clearly didn't sense anyone..." Li Xuan abruptly raised his head and looked at the person who had ambushed him.
"This is?!..." He saw the figure clearly and gasped. "Honkai Zombie?!"
All along, the Honkai Zombies Li Xuan had seen looked similar to the zombies in movies he had watched before. Their skin was ashen, and they walked and wandered the streets like the walking dead. If you made too much noise, they would notice and madly chase after you, looking as if they were determined to tear a piece of flesh from your body.
However, the Honkai Zombie in front of Li Xuan now made him feel incredulous... white hair, pale skin like a dead person, a rather pretty face... a pair of scarlet eyes, and a curvaceous body even dressed in black clothes.
'This is not the Honkai Zombie I know at all!!' Li Xuan couldn't help but want to flip a table in his mind...
"Roar!!~" The opponent let out a beast-like roar and charged at Li Xuan, the scythe in its hand raised high for a downward slash...
".What kind of Honkai Zombie is this?!" Li Xuan hurriedly dodged the opponent's attack, and the dark red scythe grazed past him and hit the ground..
"Hiss!~" Li Xuan watched in shock as the opponent's scythe plunged into the concrete ground as if cutting through tofu...
'Could that scythe be a Divine Weapon? So sharp...' Li Xuan felt a chill in his heart... Even the weapon he had wished for, the 'Yamamoto Night Shadow Katana', wasn't as sharp as this scythe... As for 'Queen's Wrath'... forget it, he had no intention of using it at all...
"..." Seeing that the opponent was about to attack again, Li Xuan gritted his teeth and forcefully tore off the five-star emblem 'Gale Arts (High Tier)' from his collar, taking out 'Nan'gong's Trial' from his ring... Can't chicken out now.
"Let me see how strong you are..." Li Xuan said, psyching himself up. The three emblems on his collar, 'Knight Never Dies by Bare Hands', 'Nan'gong's Trial', and 'Jao Shingan', flickered with a faint light... It had been a long time since he had attacked bare-handed after acquiring other weapons.
"Ha!" Li Xuan raised his fist, pushed off the ground with his toes, and instantly accelerated towards the scythe-wielding Honkai Zombie. With the boost from the emblems, his punch reached a force of over ten thousand jin, and like a truck, it viciously slammed into the Honkai Zombie.
"Clang! Boom!" To Li Xuan's disbelief, the Honkai Zombie seemed to have intelligence, actually blocking with the scythe in its hand, preventing Li Xuan's fist from truly hitting its body.
Even though Li Xuan's fist didn't hit the Honkai Zombie's body, the force of ten thousand jin in that instant was still like being hit by a truck and easily sent the Honkai Zombie that tried to block flying.
"Boom!" Under the immense kinetic energy of Li Xuan's punch, the Honkai Zombie crashed into an abandoned house on the side of the street, and the reinforced concrete wall was instantly smashed into rubble.
"Phew~" Li Xuan let out a light breath and lowered his clenched fist. An attack like that should have killed it, right? Li Xuan thought as he looked at the wall that had become rubble.
After all, this full-power punch from Li Xuan was something even a large Honkai Beast would have difficulty withstanding, let alone a small Honkai Zombie.
"What on earth is wrong with this place?" Li Xuan looked around and for the first time, felt fear towards an unknown existence. Not long ago, he had encountered a flying Honkai Beast he had never seen before, and now he had encountered what seemed to be a new type of Honkai Zombie...
"Kacha!~" A stone in the rubble suddenly rolled down from the pile, making a crisp sound...
"..." Li Xuan abruptly turned his head to look intently, and sighed in relief when he saw it was just a stone... "I thought the Honkai Zombie wasn't dead..."
"How could the Honkai Zombie still be alive..." Li Xuan patted his chest and muttered to himself. That was a ten-thousand-jin blow, and even a Honkai Beast would feel intense pain from it. "Although I'm still a few crystals short, I should head back first..."
Just as Li Xuan turned around to take out the five-star emblem 'Gale Arts (High Tier)', a loud "Boom!" suddenly sounded behind him. From the shadows of the rubble, a white-haired Honkai Zombie slowly walked out...
"...." How is that possible?! Li Xuan was dumbfounded... Although the Honkai Zombie's body was tattered, it could still move... 'Is your body made of iron?'
"..." Li Xuan was speechless. He took out a rocket launcher shimmering with golden light from his ring... He silently aimed the seven-star Divine Weapon 'Tyr's Warblade' at the staggering Honkai Zombie and pulled the trigger...
"BOOM!!!" A violent flame erupted in front of him. The slightly scorching hot wind brushed past Li Xuan's face, blowing his hair up. Specks of fire floated in the air before slowly falling.
"...It should be dead now, right?" Li Xuan said to himself. If it still wasn't dead after being hit by a seven-star weapon... he should probably get out of this place as soon as possible. If even a seven-star Divine Weapon can't kill it, what can I do? I'm in despair too!
Li Xuan put away the 'Tyr's Warblade' in his hand and walked towards the rubble, which was still burning with embers. "Phew~ It's finally dead..." Li Xuan looked at the lifeless Honkai Zombie lying on the ground in the rubble and sighed in relief... To think this kind of Honkai Zombie could withstand his full-power punch...
"Oh, right..." Li Xuan suddenly slapped his forehead and squatted down... He had almost forgotten the routine body looting... Can't just leave free Honkai energy crystals behind... After the ten-pull wish, he had already saved up quite a few crystals, and he would soon be able to feed the Familiar Egg's ten-thousand-crystal goal all at once...
"..." Li Xuan extended his right hand and gently placed it on the Honkai Zombie's corpse. The red Stigmata on his right hand lit up, and a suction force emerged from his hand, directly absorbing the residual Honkai energy within the Honkai Zombie's body. Streams of Honkai energy were converted and compressed by the Stigmata, turning into crystals that appeared out of thin air in Li Xuan's hand...
"So many crystals?!..." Li Xuan stared at the dozen or so crystals in his hand, stunned... Previously, a Honkai Zombie would yield a few crystals at most, but now there were so many... Although it couldn't compare to the massive amount of crystals contained within a Honkai Beast, it was still pretty good.
".I should retreat for now. There's no need to take risks. Next time, I'll bring Yae Sakura out with me..." Li Xuan said as he put the crystals into his ring and rubbed his chin. The crystals were almost enough to hatch the Familiar Egg...
"..." He turned around, his golden eyes looking at the low-rise houses in front of him, preparing to find a place to land. After all, going back via the main road would be troublesome... encountering Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts on the road was a common occurrence.
"Roar! Roar!" A voice sounded again, causing Li Xuan to snap back to his senses and look in the direction of the sound.
In a dim alley of an abandoned house not far from him, pairs of red eyes lit up...
(End of Chapter)