Chapter 54 Killing the Hairy Corpse

The corpse covered in hair was tainted with ominous dread; contact with it, even if one managed to avoid infection, would invite inevitable misfortune. Only immensely formidable vital blood could resist this ominous power.

Charging forward head-on, a sudden cramp seized his left leg, causing him to stagger and nearly letting the hairy corpse rake its claws across his face.

This was the ominous aura closing in, its effects beginning to manifest.

Draconic roars echoed as electrical currents surged across his body. The vital blood blasted open the constricted sinews of his left leg, and under the driving force of this surging blood, the tyrannical Haki flowed further into his limbs and bones. With a thunderous roar, a trace of black mist visibly dissipated from his body.

That was the ominous taint being shattered.

The steel whip came crashing down, striking the hairy corpse's arm once again. Its arm was as unyielding as vajra metal; having been struck twice in succession, not a single bone had fractured!

This time, it used one arm to parry the steel whip while thrusting its other claw toward Ao Xin's chest.

A draconic claw met the hairy corpse's sharp talons in a deadlock of raw strength. As a zombie lunged from behind, Ao Xin lashed out directly with his draconic tail.

The tail whipped the zombie sending it stumbling backward, though slaying it outright with just a tail sweep remained unlikely.

Another blast of thunder-breath erupted directly into the hairy corpse's face. At such close range, the creature had no opportunity to evade.

An ominous aura, invisible to the naked eye, eroded Ao Xin, slowing the circulation of his internal blood and qi. Fortunately, the hairy corpse possessed no sentience; the ominous energy could only radiate passively. Should it evolve further and gain control over this power, the devastation inflicted upon living beings would be far more catastrophic.

Amidst this stalemate, he suddenly released his grip and rapidly stamped his feet.

"Shave!"

In an instant, he appeared behind the hairy corpse, bowling over several zombies in the process. Thrown off balance, the hairy corpse pitched forward, receiving a brutal, shattering strike to its back from the steel whip!

Reeled by the sheer force of the blow, the hairy corpse staggered again. Ao Xin would never let such a prime opportunity slip away.

The steel whip lashed down repeatedly, snapping the red hair on its back by the roots and exposing its mangled, bloody flesh beneath.

Roaring with fury, the hairy corpse lunged forward abruptly, grabbing a nearby zombie and tearing into its flesh with its teeth.

Incredible as it seemed, the wounds on its back healed at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Shave!

Once more, he vanished and reappeared instantly beside the hairy corpse, swinging the steel whip toward its skull.

Immersed in a state of absolute, hyper-focused combat, Ao Xin's insights into the technique "Shave" from his past life were rapidly fusing into his current physical vessel, growing ever more fluid with every use.

The hairy corpse's head was smashed mercilessly into the flesh of the zombie it was devouring, its entire face punching right through the corpse. Yet its bones were extraordinarily durable; despite taking such a fierce blow, not a single crack appeared!

Hah!

Armament Haki coated the steel whip as Ao Xin delivered another crushing blow. The howling wind heralded the immense power of the strike. The hairy corpse hoisted the zombie carcass above its head, using it as a shield while simultaneously blocking with its palm.

Crack!

The zombie carcass was whipped to shreds, and the hairy corpse's fingers were broken as well!

As the hairy corpse raised its head to face Ao Xin directly, he utilized "Shave" once more to vanish behind it.

The steel whip fell again, and this time, the faint sound of a bone cracking echoed out.

The hairy corpse attempted to turn and counterattack, but Ao Xin's left draconic claw seized its neck directly, slamming it violently to the ground.

His right hand brought the steel whip down blow after blow. As the creature struggled, he planted his left foot firmly onto its back, using overwhelming might to pin the hairy corpse immovably to the earth.

His draconic tail whipped back and forth, repelling any zombies that crept too close.

Finally, after dozens of consecutive strikes, the hairy corpse's skull was completely pulverized. Brain matter spilled forth, and corrupted blood splattered everywhere.

It finally stopped twitching, reduced to a lifeless corpse.

Behind him, zombies continued to leap forward, snapping and biting at him, while others swarmed over the carcass of the hairy corpse, desperate to devour its flesh.

Though dead, the hairy corpse still harbored a dense concentration of zombie virus within its flesh—a supreme delicacy for other zombies, a precious catalyst to accelerate their evolution!

Yet Ao Xin could not allow them to evolve right now. Exhausted by this grueling battle, his remaining stamina was thin; if another hairy corpse were to emerge, he would no longer have the strength to endure it.

Wielding his steel whip like a scythe, his overwhelming strength shattered the bones of zombie after zombie, leaving them permanently grounded.

As Haki coursed through his flesh and blood, his physical strength grew a fraction greater. His muscles bulged, and his dragon scales gleamed with a cyan luster.

A zombie leaped toward him, only to have its skull smashed instantly by a direct blow from his whip.

These monsters, which previously required multiple strikes to put down, were now reduced to trivialities dispatched in a single instant.

He repeatedly stamped his feet against the ground, mastering the application of "Shave" with increasing proficiency.

On the street, a cyan dragon-man flickered amidst the horde of zombies. Every single time he materialized, another zombie's skull was shattered.

He slaughtered with frenzied abandon until, at last, silence fell across the entire street.

Dispelling his Devil Fruit ability, his chest heaved with heavy, ragged breaths.

Splattering of zombie blood and brain matter was inevitable. If he were an ordinary human, mere contact with this blood would have infected him and turned him into a zombie.

However, his physique was exceptionally formidable, already capable of immunizing him against this level of the zombie virus.

Pushing open the doors of a storefront revealing a furniture showroom, he stepped inside and sank into a tattered sofa, placing the steel whip close at hand.

This single battle had yielded the slaughter of one hairy corpse, seven zombies, hundreds of flesh-zombies, and thousands upon thousands of ordinary zombies!

For a full two hours, his body had not rested for even a single second.

Yet the growth of his Haki was astonishing. He could feel Haki fusing deeper into his flesh and blood, leaving him palpably stronger than before.

Entering the Divine Bestowal Space, he found his balance now stood at twenty thousand points.

The vast majority of this bounty had been contributed by the hairy corpse. A three-star hairy corpse was worth one thousand points; because he had crossed a tier to slay it while in the Tier 2 Iron-Bone Realm, the reward was multiplied tenfold, amounting to a staggering ten thousand!

Spending ten points, he exchanged for a skewered Sea King meat delicacy, pulled it out, and began to devour it hungrily.

The exquisite flavor of the Sea King meat was unlike anything he had ever experienced. The rich energy contained within it was more than enough to satiate his starved body.

After eating his fill, he let out a burp. The Divine Bestowal Space did not provide drinking water, but certain foods included wine as an option, granting supplementary effects.

For instance, it could accelerate blood circulation, heightening a combatant's reflexes. Alternatively, drinking it could trigger a brief berserk state, boosting overall combat prowess to a certain degree at the cost of accelerated stamina consumption, leading to a state of exhaustion once the frenzy subsided.

Ao Xin exchanged for the cheapest bottle of wine available. Its singular effect was the resistance of bitter cold.

With this bottle of wine in his system, even an ordinary person could strip to the waist and move freely in zero-degree weather.

While accelerated blood circulation offered some cold-resistance, it was nowhere near as effective as direct thermal protection. Nevertheless, Ao Xin's purpose was merely to quench his thirst; moreover, given his current physical constitution, he no longer feared the bitter cold.

As he swallowed the wine, the choking sensation in his throat finally vanished.

Sitting back on the sofa, he reminisced about the sensation of utilizing "Shave" during combat. Just a few more battles of this scale, and he would achieve complete mastery over the technique!

As long as his stamina was not completely depleted, he would be able to deploy "Shave" at will without any delay.

Outside the door, a few distant zombies had already been drawn to the area, hungrily and desperately gnawing on the corpses of the fallen zombies littering the ground.

As the virus entered their bodies, it rapidly reconstructed and reinforced them.

Ao Xin quietly observed the scene. Relying solely on devouring corpses yielded slow evolution; for these ordinary zombies to evolve to the level of a hairy corpse would still take a very long time.