Deeper inside the mountain valley,

A commotion suddenly broke out. Fu Hua stood infront of Juviel protectively as she looked at the approaching beings. They were quite far away but with her keen eyesight, she saw what they were. Zombies.

An old but majestic horn sounded at this moment. It seemed to carry some sort of mysterious power that left one’s blood pumping furiously.

However, Juviel could hardly raise his mood at all. Having gone through his own fair share of warfare, he knew that such horns were used for military signaling in wars.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

A series of coordinated footsteps sounded from afar, causing Juviel's face to darken. It made his heart thump nervously as a heavy atmosphere loomed in the air.

He turned to the direction where Fu Hua were staring at. The depths of the mountain valley had been cloaked in grayish mist initially, making it impossible to make out anything at all. However, he could now make out some silhouettes.

As the footsteps came closer, the silhouettes became clearer too.

Rows of zombies orderly marched out from the mist, only stopping around tens of meters away. Unlike the other zombies he had been dealing with all this while, these zombies looked far cleaner. Their bodies weren’t decomposed, and they were dressed in armor. They had long spears and sharp swords in their hands, and those in the frontlines even had shields on their arms.

“Holy shit, are they elite monsters?” Juviel widened his eyes in horror. While the earlier zombies were refugees, the ones who had just appeared were indubitably soldiers.

Do zombies form armies too? He was still uncertain at the start, as he couldn't see them until they approached around 20ft of the two, he could vaguely see the black armored soldiers marching in rows however these were zombies, how could they be so organised? But the horn verified his doubts that these zombies were indeed an army!

Hm.. Fu Hua having only 20% of her strength is quite concerning, but that overwhelming victory is still much better at convincing.. 

Juviel felt that things were getting far too ridiculous for his common sense to process.

It was quite easy enough for Hua to deal with those refugees, but she actually had to fight with a bloody army now? That was definitely a one-way ticket to hell, for him atleast!

He knew how ridiculous an army that didn't fear death was, she would find it difficult to protect him, even with her strength. Afterall, she didn't have any defence type skills..

While Juviel was feeling despaired, he noticed some abnormalities occurring across. The zombies stared at them coldly, but he could notice the hint of fear that flashed past their eyes(?) when they looked at the scorching ground. In essence, they would find it difficult to bring out their full prowess due to Fu Hua forcibly changing the environment.

It was then that the formation of the army suddenly opened up, and a knight squad slowly made its way forward. These knights were riding on zombie horses that were shrouded in black mist, looking quite similar to the dullahans he had seen in animations in terms of character design.

These knights were dressed in armor that was clearly a tier higher than the footsoldiers around them.

The one standing at the forefront of this knight squad wore exquisitely-designed armor that stood out from the rest. It donned a black cloak that made it look as if it was embraced by darkness, and its head was completely covered by the helmet. The only facial feature one could see on it was two bundles of two flames glowing amidst the helmet, presumably its eyes.

Without a doubt, it was the captain of the squad.

As soon as it drew its sword, the other soldiers followed suit that drew their weapons too.

“Hm? These zombies look much cleaner.” Compared to the other ugly zombies whose flesh was decomposing and had pus flowing out, these newly arriving zombies looked far more pleasant to his eyes.

“Stay back!”

Fu Hua spoke up with a rather grim tone, her forte was 1v1, and although she could guarantee victory against this army, she could not guarantee his safety. Not when these armies were so organised!

The knight captain pulled on the reins of his steed, and the latter rose up imposingly. That was the signal for the charge. Under his lead, the knights under his command charged toward then. The footsoldiers behind also began charging forth while maintaining their formations.

Juviel felt a chill go down his spine as he saw the fearsome army. At this point, he could only hope Fu Hua was strong enough. Truth be told, he had indeed gotten them into this situation, it would have been fine if it was just him, but his life was connected to Fu Hua's life too, so once he dies, she would die too..

He noticed her eyes glowing once more, shortly after red tinged white feathers started falling from the sky. The zombie army halted to a stop, it was especially evident in the Knight captain, the fires in his eyes dimmed.

Fu Hua took advantage of this and used Spirit Of Cinder on them, which worked brilliantly, but something else had occurred as well. The Knight Captain's armor glowed before it got obliterated along with him.

This didn't go unnoticed by Fu Hua, but she wasn't capable of using Fenghuan Down for prolonged periods of time either, so she couldn't protect him like this if it were to happen again. She didn't know what exactly that glow meant, but her instincts were telling her that it wasn't anything good.

So she immediately grabbed Juviel and informed him of her intentions, to her surprise, he had refused.

After a brief moment of explaining, they decided to venture deeper into the mountain valley.

He knew that there were great dangers lurking there, but based on the knowledge he had acquired from reading plenty of fantasy novels in his previous life, he knew that powerful guardians usually came hand-in-hand with great treasures. Given how powerful the zombie army was, could they be possibly protecting some sort of amazing artifact?

For the sake of getting strong enough to protect his loved ones, he was determined to brave through danger this once! Most importantly, he wasn't alone.

So, he gritted his teeth and began flitting toward the depths of the mountain valley warily. He was extremely exhausted, but he still pushed himself, afterall he needed to do this! He was prepared to expend all of his Salvation Points and get rid of everything.

To their surprise, perhaps it was due to the earlier rampage of the zombie army, the mountain valley was oddly peaceful. There were no ferocious beasts or zombies along the way.

The zombie army was nowhere in sight, but the two weren't worried about losing track of them. Juviel could feel an eerily chilling sensation lingering in the air, the remnant of the zombie army’s aura.

As long as they trace this aura, they should be able to find their base without worrying about getting too close to them.

They continued chasing for around an hour’s time before suddenly coming to a halt. He could hear heavy footsteps vaguely sounding just ahead of them. So, they slowed their footsteps and carefully proceeded forward. Soon, they caught sight of the zombie army.

However, the current situation was a little baffling. The zombie soldiers were marching forward orderly, disappearing amidst a hill.

Juviel rubbed his eyes in confusion, wondering if he was seeing things.

“It seems to be a pitch black gate.”

Fu Hua commented as she narrowed her eyes warily, it was out of his sight, thus creating the earlier illusion that they were disappearing into the hill.

This hill was not too big, spanning just a hundred meters in height and several hundred meters in width. However, there was something unusual about it. Naturally formed hills tended to have ridges, making them look rugged, but this hill actually had a smooth surface. The trees growing on it looked oddly orderly too. It felt more like a carefully managed garden instead.

Once the zombie army was gone, Juviel wanted to head over, but Fu Hua stopped him.

She glared at him and carefully made her way over to the foot of the hill to take a look, only to realize that she was mistaken. It was actually not a crude looking gate, but a pair of majestic stone doors. There were quite a few bizarrely-shaped stone creatures standing by the sides of the stone doors, which she was unable to recognize due to her lacking knowledge about this world.

It looks like we need to explore this world a bit more and find the natives.

She noticed that the stone doors were closed, so she tried to push it open after glancing towards Juviel, only to receive a shake of his head as he approached where she was.

“Now you can open it.”

Even though she felt that his action was sweet, she still sighed, him being like this only made her feel more afraid of seeing him get hurt due to her. He noticed her hesitations, so he patted her back to let her know that it was fine.

“Worst case scenario, we will just die together. It sounds quite romantic to die together, haha.”

Chuckling whilst making the joke in an attempt to lighten the situation, he found himself believing it as well. It worked to reduce the tension as Fu Hua had blushed and decided to open the door first, Hmph, even in this type of situation, he's flirting! He's already dating too! Wait that's me.. So confusing.

She shook her head and reached towards the doors. However, as soon as her palm came into contact with the doors, she immediately felt a chilling vibe racing through his arm, making her shudder.

This place is too sinister!