Here Lies The Wicked

Chapter 45: Digestion

His phone suddenly vibrated. Someone had just tagged all the members of the student group!

When Fang Zheng entered the chat group, there was already a flurry of conversation going on.

It turned out to be the hottest news out of Zhou City, and it was regarding the events at the bridge last night, as well as the river waters overcoming the dam. The relevant authorities were scrambling to try and explain away the incidents.

The relevant authorities had issued a statement that it was an accident and that there were defects in the dam which led to a structural collapse. It was fortunate that this occurred late at night, and therefore, there were no casualties on account of there being no frontline workers at the time. An inquiry was being launched, and the relevant supervisors had been suspended…

Over the next few days, Fang Zheng devoted himself completely to training.

Every day without fail, he trained the Diamond Immune Arhat and Exorcist Golden Warrior Seal once.

…

He then trained The Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation (Level I) to completion.

The Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation (Level I) would increase one’s strength to that of an elephant.

However, in a practical sense, Fang Zheng could tell the changes in his body, and he estimated he had grown to about roughly eight-tenths of an elephant’s strength.

As he thought to himself, Fang Zheng figured out the cause of it.

It had to do with the fact that he trained the Diamond Immune Arhat first.

Therefore, The Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation (Level I) had some similarities in the training methods with the Diamond Immune Arhat. Therefore, due to these overlaps, it had led to some reduction in the effects of the training.

Fang Zheng’s current physical strength was roughly that of 1.8 elephants.

Therefore!

Fang Zheng often felt his testicles throb in pain when he saw the strength of the elephants.

What kind of living being did this thing fall under?

And just exactly how heavy was his body now?

…

Maha Golden Immunity Shield (II) had been trained to 16 levels now.

…

Innate Qigong (Level 1) had been trained to completion. Thanks to the high-level powers contained within the 12 fake Rare Manuscripts he got off of XBao, Fang Zheng’s meridians, which had suffered from burns, were completely healed.

Innate Qigong was considered one of the top skills in the Rare Manuscripts of Wuxia. It is the source of all martial arts in the world and was also the Daoist practitioner’s ultimate power. The true Qi trained within was different from other Rare Manuscripts. The skills contained in this Rare Manuscript was Innate Qigong, and it was very clear how it differed from the others. It possessed the endlessly replicating and continuously enriching effects of true Qi. At the same time, it could cure illnesses, allow one to balance lies and truths, balance the Yin and Yang energies, and treat serious internal injuries. It was the pinnacle of powers that combined Daoist principles of restorative true Qi and the cultivation of life and Qi into one.

It was said that Innate Qigong, when trained to its highest levels could give rise to an enigmatic, innate power. In any case, the Rare Manuscript after strengthening had been unreliably marketed. It was even more unreliable than the representations of The Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation and Nine Yang Divine Power.

Perhaps it was because it was that unreliable, that Fang Zheng made an unexpected but pleasant discovery while he was training Innate Qigong (Level 1) to treat his wounds.

Fang Zheng discovered that while training the Innate Qigong (Level 1), it helped to balance the residual true Qi from Nine Yang Divine Power without coming into conflict or causing any mishaps.

At that moment, Fang Zheng finally realized the true meaning of balancing lies and truths and balancing Yin and Yang energies, as brought up by Innate Qigong.

It was no wonder that it is an innate, true Qi: the source of all martial arts in the world that has even integrated with the Daoist practitioner’s secrets of cultivating the body and Qi.

However, in order to strengthen Innate Qigong (Level 1), it cost Fang Zheng a whopping two symbols. Innate Qigong had a total of nine levels.

Fang Zheng was focused on his training; entirely devoted to his pursuit of improving himself. It was only when Sun Yushu called him that Fang Zheng realized that he had isolated himself for four days.

As soon as he picked up, Sun Yushu spoke, the nervousness and anxiety palpable in his voice. “Brother Fang, I just heard that… the dam collapsed a few days ago was because there was a Bisected Corpse[1] buried in Jiangdi! I also heard something about some revival of spirits, and that the Bisected Corpse had already attained an aura and had become an Undead King. And the destruction of the dam was because the Undead King managed to escape!

“Brother Fang, are you alright? On the day that the dam burst, I was about to notify you that they… they were going to clear the bridge by force. After that, you were at the bridge. Did you meet any danger?”

Sun Yushu was really caring. The moment he heard the news, he immediately thought of Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng thanked Sun Yushu through the phone and, in order to allay Sun Yushu’s concerns,

assured him that he was fine.

They chatted for a while more, but because of the strict regulations on Sun Yushu’s side, they very quickly ended the call.

After the call, Fang Zheng frowned.

What he could not yet figure out was that the world was going through so many paranormal changes, but the governments of the world were still silent on the matter. ‘Could it be that they intended to cover this matter up indefinitely?

‘Especially since you could not cover fire with paper.

‘Was it because there was a special bureau?’

Fang Zheng then realized he had not visited the forums of the experts who ventured beyond the Great Firewall in many days. It had been many days since he had gotten any news from the outside world. Therefore, he picked up his domestically produced smartphone and logged on to the forums.

[With photographic evidence! CCTV footage from a museum shows a mummy coming back to life! Is it just a prank? Or is there really such a thing as gods and demons in this world?]

[The ruins of a temple in Greece have been sealed off by their military. All tourist activities have been banned! It has caused a large group of tourists in the city to be stranded and they are organizing protests!]

Fang Zheng was shocked.

He immediately opened the thumbnail of the mummy but got a 404 error.

He then moved on to the thumbnail of the Greek temple, and this time there was no 404 error.

The picture was of very high quality, and it was clear that the photographer was present at the scene. The image was that of a large number of stranded tourists marching together.

The tourists taking part in the march were made up of Asians, Africans, and Europeans, all hailing from different corners of the globe.

Fang Zheng’s face turned serious.

While trawling through the forums, he occasionally zoomed in on the picture. Very quickly he had made it to the second and third pages. The original poster had attached two short videos.

The two short videos were both of the stranded tourists who were participating in the protest.

At that moment, the entire city was on lockdown. There were riot police on the streets forming human walls to prevent the protesting tourists from spreading to other streets. The scene was chaotic.

The cameraman was not a professional, and the video was shaky. Nearly half of the video was of the frame shaking around as the cameraman ran. Therefore the clarity of the video suffered greatly.

Fang Zheng continued to scroll down and found out that the number of replies was low. It could be that these experts going over The Great Firewall were all technicians, and therefore more aloof.

Nobody was promoting the post.

Nobody was spamming comments as well.

Suddenly, something in the 16th reply from the original poster caught Fang Zheng’s eye.

The original poster replied that the various governments across the world were arranging for the tourists to be evacuated from the city. However, that was not the point. The point was that it was a complete evacuation of the area.

The various governments had sent out circulars to travel agencies to completely evacuate and cease all tourism activities in the area.

“Evacuation?”

Fang Zheng did not know why, but when he saw the word evacuation, a chill ran up his spine. Goosebumps formed on his scalp, and he began to get an idea…

At that moment, the original poster had included a picture that had caught Fang Zheng’s attention entirely.

[1] A kind of ghost that comes from an individual that suffered the execution of being cut in two at the waist.