Chapter 274 The Battle of Rats and an Undead 2
The undead went berserk; it laid on all fours and grabbed as many rats as it could. Even though the rats were fast, there were too many of them, so the undead would catch a few of them each time it grasped out. It did not eat the caught rats but crush them instead. The scene was horrible and gory; blood and flesh flew everywhere.
"Stay here. I will set up a formation while they are busy fighting." As Ye Shaoyang finished his words, he patted the back of Xie Yuqing's hand and ran out with his body bent over. He arrived at the opposite end of the area, took out five purple flags from his haversack, and inserted one into the ground. Then, he quickly tied a cinnabar ink-soaked red thread on top of the flag.
He moved another ten meters or so, inserted another flag, and tied it with red thread before moving on to the next place…. In front of the ancient tomb, the rats were entirely focused on killing the green fur undead; none of them noticed Ye Shaoyang's existence.
After he set up a Formation of Five Elements, he returned to Xie Yuqing's side. The undead's face and neck barely had any flesh left. Its cervical spine was visible, and its the head tilted to one side.
Another moment later, the rat demon thought it was almost time, so it squeaked again and sprung toward the undead, biting its cervical spine. Crack! The spine split into two; the head fell to the ground, while its lips continued to twitch. The swarm of rats surrounded the head and devoured it.
The undead froze once it was beheaded and became a corpse. None of the rats ate its flesh. Instead, they moved aside in a respectful manner, while the rat demon slowly walked toward the corpse. The rat demon extended its neck into the undead's chest, gulping aloud, as its abdomen jolted.
"What is it doing?" asked Xie Yuqing.
"Drinking the corpse oil."
"The corpse oil… in the abdomen?"
Ye Shaoyang shook his head, "In every vessel. Humans burn corpses to collect corpse oil, but the rat demon must have its own way to obtain the corpse oil by using its demon Qi to extract the oil from all parts of the corpse's body."
While Ye Shaoyang was answering her question, the rat demon's abdomen bulged; it stopped sucking and retreated from the undead's chest. Then, several giant rats hurriedly squeezed in the chest and started sucking.
The rat demon licked its lips in satisfaction, as it advanced toward the undead's head. The few rats who were gnawing the head had already torn it open. The shiny white brain scattered around, and the rat demon immediately moved close and lapped it up.….
"What…. even the brain?"
"Rats are omnivores. Moreover, the brain is a good thing. It's a good supplement."
"You should join the rats," Xie Yuqing retorted, giving him a nasty look.
"No rush. Wait for a while more."
The rat demon cleaned up the brain and walked toward a mound and rested against it. It closed its eyes, and its body started to emit a soft green aura.
Ye Shaoyang knew that it had started to cultivate the corpse oil in its body. He instructed Xie Yuqing to not move, as he unsheathed the Date Wood Sword from his belt. After a moment of hesitation, he replaced the sword with the soul binding chain. Since he had combined the various whipping techniques and practiced with his soul binding chain, he liked to use it very much recently. Furthermore, the soul binding chain was imbued with Qi from Hell, which made it far more powerful and agiler than his Date Wood Sword. Currently, it was one of his favorite weapons.
When he entered the Formation of Five Elements, he sped up, as he raised the soul binding chain and slashed at the rat demon. The rat demon suddenly opened its eyes and immediately stopped its cultivation. It dodged to one side, looking at Ye Shaoyang with surprise. However, the flash of surprise look changed to resentment. It curled up its upper lip and gritted its teeth, letting loose hair rising screeches. A gentle but pervasive Demon Qi flowed toward Ye Shaoyang continuously.
Ye Shaoyang felt a little dizzy. His heart twitched, and the soul binding chain soared up and swished in the air. Clap! An aura spread and dismissed the demon Qi. He stepped up and attacked the rat demon once again.
The rat demon looked shocked, as though it had never expected Ye Shaoyang to be so powerful; he easily counterattacked its demon's craft. It did not try to repel the attack; instead, it turned its back on him and fled. When it was about to exit the woods, the Formation of Five Elements sensed a demon's presence and activated itself immediately. The red threads vibrated and shot out a beam of red light that sent the rat demon backward.
The rat demon rolled on the ground and avoided the soul binding chain. This time, it turned away and ran toward the ancient tomb. Ye Shaoyang quickly realized that it was trying to dive into the tomb. The passage was narrow. Once it entered, it would be hard for him to capture it. Even if he stood guard at the entrance, it could dig another passage underground, wind around the formation and escaped through any place. He had no chance to find it such a scenario.
He circulated his Gang Qi and rushed toward the rat with Maoshan Qinggong. Although the rat demon was faster than a typical human, it had no time to cultivate the corpse oil in its stomach. Besides, Ye Shaoyang had interrupted its cultivation process, which indirectly reduced its power. Within a few seconds, Ye Shaoyang caught up with it. He raised the soul binding chain and slashed toward the rat demon.
Suddenly, the swarm of rats sprung forward and formed a wall of rats in between him and the rat demon; they were trying to resist his attack.
"Doesn't make much of a difference!" Ye Shaoyang snorted. The chain continued to slash forward; it broke through the wall of rats, blowing many of them into pieces. However, the pause let the rat demon run further away from him. He hurried toward it and slashed once more. Again, another group of rats formed a wall, sacrificing themselves to try and buy some time for their leader, but the blow killed all of them.
This series of events repeated three more times. Blood stained the earth and pieces of flesh were scattered around. Although many rats were killed and wounded, there were still many of them left. When the rat demon was ten meters away from the ancient tomb, it turned around and looked at Ye Shaoyang in a hostile manner and smirked. It squeaked again, as it sprung toward the tunnel.
No! Ye Shaoyang quickly swung the soul binding chain when the fourth group of rats formed a wall again.
"Damn! Again. Getting addicted?!"
Ye Shaoyang's mind surged with rage. He withdrew the chain, cut his tongue, spat out a mouthful of blood onto the chain, and cast it in the direction of the rat demon. The chain straightened like a metal rod, stabbing toward the rat demon.
"O' mighty Heaven and Earth, with the power of Yin Yang, destroy!"
This incantation was widely used amongst Daoists. It could apply to any ritual tools. The soul binding chain suddenly turned red like a soldering iron. The wall of rats immediately exploded once the chain hit them.
The chain did not stop and stabbed into the tunnel, striking the rat demon's butt. Fizz! The rat demon's large body burst into pieces of meat.
Ye Shaoyang supported himself on his knees, panting. Suddenly, he sensed something strange behind him. Just as he turned around, a loud Bang! resounded, and the giant rat that sprung toward him was killed, its blood splashing on his face.