Chapter 221 – Florida Man Proclaimed He Studied Dark Magic to Start Zombie Apocalypse. Many Universities Openly Sponsored the Research.
Despite being threatened by the looming invaders, Leo continued his life normally.
His schedule slightly changed. As the cashiers collected lifespan from his customers for him, Leo got more free time. Aside from harvesting mutated mushrooms and sweet dream mushrooms, he spent his daytime meditating and training in his dantian universe.
Leo faced several colleagues in his system world – Beatrice, Marc, Ivy, Hua Taixu, and Sierra. The result and the rewards were satisfying.
At night, Leo and Esen spent their quality time together. However, they didn't always get intimated like newlywed couples.
While everybody in the domain was distracted by the time chamber, Leo and Esen sat on the bed, facing each other. The husband decided the guide his wife to improve her abilities so that she could be as strong as the shadow he fought.
"Esen, about your necromancy and vampiric skills, how far have you mastered?"
Esen puffed her chest. "Out of five levels of necromancy, I've mastered all five – The resurrection art, the curses, the dark magic, the life force manipulation, and the puppeteering!"
"Aren't there supposed to be seven? What about healing and the enchantment spells?"
Esen scoffed. "Are you dumb? There is no such thing as healing and attack spells in necromancy!"
"Are you sure?"
After he had defeated her a thousand times, the system granted him new memory, allowing Leo to use the spells as if he had been using them a million times in the past.
He knew that Esen was wrong.
Leo tilted his head and pointed his finger to the ceiling. Then, his yang Qi produced white smoke, which coiled around his finger. It was a healing spell from one of the necromancy arts that Leo had learned from Esen's shadow.
Esen's frown deepened. "Isn't that a holy spell? Isn't that gonna harm the undead?"
"You got it wrong. Here, take a look."
Leo ejected the corpse of a four-armed mutant and used a resurrection art on him. The mutated corpse rose up and groaned like a zombie.
Witnessing Leo using her clan's technique, she was bewildered.
"Geezer! How did you learn my people's techniques?! T-That's my kin's exclusive arts!"
Leo shrugged. He reminded Esen.
"Watch carefully."
Leo gently clenched his fist.
CRACK!
Suddenly, the mutant zombie's legs were snapped and broken. He fell to the ground and struggled to get back up.
Leo explained. "That was a combination of puppeteering and assault magic, right?"
Esen gulped and nodded. However, she was still confused about how Leo mastered her people's techniques.
"Now, here is the healing part."
Leo waved his finger and sent a trail of white smoke toward the zombie. The light shone upon the zombie's legs and repaired the bones. A few seconds later, the mutant zombie got back on his feet.
"EEEHHHH!?" Esen couldn't believe her eyes. "HOW?! I THOUGHT UNDEAD AND HOLY MAGIC AREN'T COMPATIBLE?!"
Leo rolled his eyes and lectured her. "It's not actually HEALING but REPAIRING in a sense. The holy magic you referred to is nothing but another application of yang Qi and life force. You sacrifice some of your life force to create a miracle, and voila, a holy magic is completed. But in this case, I directly injected my yang Qi into his bones and restored them to their former shape"
"You can do that?!"
"This is going to take long. Anyway, take notes. I'll only explain it once…"
Just like that, Leo spent the entire night lecturing how Esen should use her abilities and skills, which her shadow at 1,000% potential could use.
Esen saw Leo in a new light. Her eyes sparkled while her pupils expanded.
.
Outside Leo's room, Ivy eavesdropped their conversation as usual. But when she heard that Leo was lecturing her master about their secret arts, she was flabbergasted.
'How did he know all of this? Is he an elf in disguise? That can't be right. I'm sure he's one of the humans… wait. He's not even a human! His life signature is a…"
Ivy bitterly laughed. Then, she let out a long sigh.
'That's even better. Human bloodlines are too weak anyway. He has something even better!'
Nobody knew what Ivy had discovered. So far, only Esen and Ivy were aware of what Leo actually was.
.
.
A group of emissaries from the Joyous Yin-Yang Sect traveled southwest with a flying ship. When they passed the ruined Cauliflower City, they stopped their ship.
Elders of the sect jumped down the ship and entered the city. They swept the remnant of rogue cultivators in the area and collected their spatial rings. Then, they continued making their way south.
Their sect master, Murong Qi, made a trip here himself. He brought along a thousand prettiest female disciples, with an age range between 12 and 20.
This was Murong Qi's prepared gifts. Although he was certain that Leo wouldn't like them, these girls would still be useful as spies. After all, Leo had subordinates, and most of them didn't have a wife. These girls could marry Leo's subordinates instead.
As long as these dual cultivators stayed in Leo's domain, Murong Qi could obtain endless information about Leo and his power. Then, he could adjust his plan according to the situation.
The group reached Leo's domain at night. However, Murong Qi stopped his ship before they collided with the flying island. He navigated his vessel to land at the east of the Tang Clan's manor.
Murong Qi got down from the ship and led his people toward the domain. He also inspected the large manor in the area.
The manor was surrounded by three-meter-tall earth walls. An array of green smoke floated over the walls to intimidate thieves and rogue cultivators. In front of the main door, a large signboard written the name of the owner's family.
Murong Qi read the family signboard and smirked.
"So, this is where the Tang Clan hiding. Well, I can't blame them. They are smarter than me. I should have come here first."
Instead of visiting Leo at night, Murong Qi ordered his subordinate to knock on the Tang Clan Manor's door.
The gate guards behind the door opened the gate and peeked outside. He frowned at Murong Qi for a moment before he detected the guest's cultivation base.
One of the guards rushed into the manor to inform their lord. As for the others, they opened the gate and bowed to the guests.
"May I ask who you are and what your purpose here at night, senior?"
Murong Qi shamelessly stated his business.
"We have traveled 3,000 li to pay homage to Lord Florida Man. Unfortunately, we arrived at night, and we couldn't possibly seek an audience with him at this time. Since my clan is on friendly terms with the Tang Clan, I've swallowed my shame and come here to ask for a favor. May my subordinates and I stay here for the night and get some food?"
In short, Murong Qi came here to extort some wealth from the Tang Clan.
This was his habit. As a quasi-immortal, he always crashed at somebody else's manor and took advantage of their hospitality. In this case, Murong Qi brought 2,000 subordinates along, and he didn't want to spend a single dime on their food or pills.
The gate guard glanced behind Murong Qi and found an army of beautiful young maidens and male cultivators. He gulped.
"P-P-Please wait for our lord, senior. I don't have enough authority to make the decision."
"It's okay. I can wait. But as you can see, there are many women and children here. Can they at least get some food and a place to rest?"
"…"
The guard wanted to invite them in, but he couldn't. He glanced at the group of young maidens again.
This time, the girls looked back at him and the other guards. Their eyes shone in pink color, and every gate guard's mind became blank.
"Can we enter, sir?"
The guards smiled and nodded. "Sure."
"Thank you!"
The girls giggled and made their way into the Tang Clan Manor.
.
By the time Tang Xuan came out from his residence to see the commotion, half of the maidens already entered his manor and seduced his male servants and clansmen. Some of the clansmen gave up their room to let these underage girls inside.
Tang Xuan was enraged as he knew who visited him. He stomped toward the front gate and found the person as predicted.
"Yeah. The only shameless person in the world to crash and freeload other people's houses is you. What are you planning this time?!"
Tang Xuan glared at Murong Qi while the latter was astonished.
"Your cultivation base… you're an immortal now?"
"Ha! Obviously, I'm no longer a mortal! Don't lump me together with Situ Nantian, Ouyang Zi, or Yan Xiang! We're not the same!"
"… I see. So this rumored Florida Man must have taken care of you very well."
"That's none of your business. Get your people out of my sight, or else!"
"Whoa, relax, brother. I've come in peace!"
Murong Qi realized he had made a mistake. He thought that Tang Xuan's cultivation base got stuck at the quasi-immortal stage, so their negotiation power slightly shifted to Murong Qi's favor due to his bigger sect and influence. However, Tang Xuan broke the bottleneck and got stronger, which turned the situation in his favor. Murong Qi no longer had the power to force the Tang Clan to do his bidding anymore.
Tang Xuan also realized it. He pushed on.
"Get your vixens out of my property, too. We don't have enough rooms for your prostitutes!"
"…"
Afraid of Tang Xuan's new strength, Murong Qi recalled his people outside of the manor. After everybody left, Tang Xuan shut the gates and locked the door.
Without a place to stay for the night, Murong Qi turned his attention to Leo's domain. He hesitated for a moment and made a decision.
"Let's rest in our ship for the night. We'll seek an audience with Florida Man tomorrow."
The dual cultivators behind Murong Qi were disappointed. As they failed to seduce the locals and drain their life force, they had no choice but to wait for tomorrow.
They hadn't realized yet that they hadn't paid the local taxes yet.
On the pylon tower, a pair of red eyes stared at the newcomers. The tax collector sized up Murong Qi and drooled.
"Nom-Nom Meow?"
