And so, a few of them waited there for this thousand-year-old monster to come to them!
They waited for about an hour, and Jian Xi was just thinking about going back and putting a few folded little stools into her bracelet, as her legs were getting tired from standing.
She was about to bend down and rub her aching legs, when suddenly, there was a disturbance from the ground.
The smooth earth at their feet began to shake.
Jian Xi's eyes narrowed as she gripped her jade flute, warning, "It's here."
The others, who had been idly chatting, fell silent, staring at the ground.
A muffled voice reached their ears from underground: "I've been digging and digging in this vast expanse of land, I need to make a big hole so I can come out..."
The seven of them were speechless: "..."
Gu Zhiyao looked at the ground, then at the Five Emperors' coin in her hand, and the hexagram still showed a great omen of misfortune. Could she have calculated it wrong?
She tossed the Five Emperors' coin into her palm again, and it was the same as before - she could finally relax, yes, it was still a great omen of misfortune, she and Jian Xi had calculated the same thing!
Just as they were starting to doubt whether they had imagined it, the ground beneath their feet collapsed, and a dark figure rapidly burst out of the earth.
Jian Xi and the others looked over, seeing a woman in silver armor, her hair tied back in a ponytail...
He Qingchen frowned, and the others were also taken aback.
"Little Seven, why didn't you tell us it was a woman?" Su Yinghe whispered.
Jian Xi blinked, just as confused. "When I looked at her earlier, she was bent down digging the hole, and I only saw her back in the armor, I didn't see her face."
"Hmph? Who are you people? Seeing my general, yet you don't kneel? Odd attire, tell me which country you're assassins from? Not speaking? Then prepare to die."
Jian Xi: "......" Did she really think we had a chance to speak?
Hong Ying attacked them bare-handed without a word, directly rushing towards them.
Gu Zhiyao and Lin Yichen retreated, clearing the way.
He Qingchen, Huo Chengxi, and Su Yinghe took out their talismans to meet her head-on, with Ye Ze closely following.
Jian Xi's gaze was fixed on Hong Ying's face - she found it strange, they had seen many thousand-year-old zombies before, but this woman was definitely not like them.
The woman's face was normal, without a trace of the usual sickly gray hue, and her lips were even red, but the aura of fierce killing intent emanating from her was unmistakably that of an ancient undead.
However, the current situation did not allow her to ponder the reason, so she quickly took out ten spirit-binding talismans and threw them at the undead woman, surrounding her.
She shouted, "Get back!" and immediately a bolt of heavenly thunder struck down.
Their coordination was impeccable, as Jian Xi's words had barely left her mouth before the others had all stepped aside.
Hong Ying felt the pressure above and reacted instantly, performing a backward flip to successfully dodge the dangerous attack.
She regarded Jian Xi with cold eyes, a hint of anger in her expression. "Who are you, and why are you trying to assassinate me?"
Jian Xi was taken aback - this woman seemed unaware of her current state.
And from what she had observed, Hong Ying had not used her full strength in their battle, so why had the hexagram indicated such a great omen of misfortune? She couldn't have miscalculated.
What was going on?
"Hmm?" Gu Zhiyao's voice rang out in the distance, "The hexagram has changed, but the truth is uncertain, wavering between good and ill, its pattern continually shifting, with no clear opening."
Hong Ying frowned, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Taking advantage of her distraction, Jian Xi quickly moved behind Hong Ying and slapped a spirit-binding talisman on the back of her head.
Hong Ying's body stiffened, and the aura of killing intent around her spiked, prompting Ye Ze to quickly ignite a defensive talisman to contain it.
Jian Xi didn't stop there, tossing out talismans to form a miniature formation that trapped Hong Ying.
Hong Ying struggled, but now unable to move, "You despicable scoundrel, not only do you outnumber me, but you also use underhanded tricks. Just wait, even in death I won't let you off!"
"You've already died once before, and now you're an undying being!" Jian Xi said calmly, unperturbed by Hong Ying's accusations.
"What?" Hong Ying was taken aback, "I've already died once?"
Jian Xi nodded, "Yes, you are now a zombie, an undead being."
Hong Ying's eyes narrowed sharply, unable to believe what she was hearing. She had died? And now she was this disgusting zombie?
She looked down at her hands - no long nails, no ashen skin - how could she be a zombie? "Impossible, you're lying to me!"
Jian Xi took out a small knife and, unafraid of the killing aura around her, approached and cut a deep gash on Hong Ying's hand.
The wound was deep enough to expose the bone, but Hong Ying felt no pain, and to her shock, not a single drop of blood flowed from the gash.
This sight left her speechless, struggling to regain her voice.
Jian Xi found it strange - this woman clearly had no idea that she had become a zombie, or even that she had died. Looking at the time, her formation wouldn't hold much longer, so she needed to quickly get to the bottom of this.
"Do you know your date of birth? Tell me, and I can help you uncover the truth."
Hong Ying looked at Jian Xi for a moment, then spoke a year.
The others were stunned - this was no mere thousand years, the year she spoke of was over two millennia in the past.
Jian Xi took a deep breath, closing her eyes and once again using her Celestial Eye. Given the immense time gap, her divination would not be entirely precise.
As Jian Xi's eyes opened, Ge Qingchen was at her side, steadying her as she swayed.
Regaining her composure, Jian Xi said, "How curious, the one who wronged her had some connection to our Xuantian Temple as well."
Glancing at Hong Ying, Jian Xi recounted the events of her past life.
Apparently, she had been a female general of a small kingdom in her previous life, but due to her extraordinary destiny and a curse, she had been targeted by an evil sorcerer.
During a campaign, she should have been able to avoid that fatal blow, but the sorcerer had tampered with the situation, leading to her untimely demise.
After her death, the sorcerer had extracted her memories of her final moments and used secret techniques to transform her corpse into an undead puppet, but for some reason, she had never "awakened," and so had never served the sorcerer's purposes.
