Once Chanming Hai made it up to the top of the walls all of the soldiers present could clearly see that their general had also been infected by the heart burrowers.
“Ge-general….” Zhang Liao murmured as he saw the disfigured monstrosity that was once his general.
But something much more horrifying suddenly happened. Many soldiers suddenly began falling to the ground morphed into monsters themselves. Hundreds if not thousands of the soldiers in the fortress suddenly joined the ranks of the undead.
However unlike the undead outside they seemed to be many times stronger. Of course Shen Shi and Changming Hai seemed to be the strongest of the bunch since one of them housed the queen heart burrower worm..
“This is the result of the queen heart burrower personally infecting them.” Zhang murmured as many soldiers around him suddenly turned into enemies.
“Yuying quickly lets go.” Zhang said as he grabbed her hand and retreated back into the prison.
A few quick witted soldiers realized the situation and began running in behind Zhang.
As Zhang and some soldiers made their way into the prison the infected began assaulting those standing beside them.
“Brother Liao let's go!” Leng Zai yelled as he pulled his friend and began running along with many other soldiers.
Once the Zhang and the soldiers made their way into the prison they shut the gates behind themselves.
Many of the stragglers were thus locked outside and met their demise.
“Brother where are we headed!” Yuying yelled.
“What we need right now is people to fight along with us and the only force left in the prison are the prisoners.” Zhang said as he grabbed a soldier who was running beside him.
“You! Lead us to where you keep the prisoners!” He yelled
“You couldn't be thinking of releasing the prisoners!” The soldier said frantically.”
“Shut up and lead the way unless you want to die here!” Zhang yelled.
Without saying another word the soldier began leading Zhang and Yuying to the holding cells.
As they made their way to the holding cells they often ran into infected soldiers who Zhang had to quickly kill.
Of the twenty thousand soldiers in the fortress nearly half had been infected and roughly a half of those who were had perished outside.
==============================
While Zhang was making his way toward the holding cells the prisoners there were facing a dilemma of their own. A few of the soldiers left to guard them had suddenly morphed into grotesque monsters and began attacking.
Tentacles could be seen slithering through the bars of the cells and latching onto the prisoners.
However the prisoners weren't completely helpless when attacked. One particular prisoner could be seen pulling the tentacle of one of the infected soldiers into his cell. Once the infect soldier's head was pulled up against the iron bars he proceeded to grab it and began twisting.
Loud cracking sounds were audible as he kept twisting until the soldiers did a 360 degree turn. This man could be recognized as the infamous pirate Gan Ning.
But the infect soldier could not be killed and conditioned flailing its arms around.
“Boss! I heard you have to stab their hearts!” A prisoner said.
“Hmph! You grab the keys hanging from his waist and open our cell.” Gan Ning ordered.
Moments later his cell door popped open and he let go of the infected soldier while grabbing hold and pulling out a sword that was by the infect soldier’s waist.
“Come at me!” Gan Nigg screamed once he got out of his cell while holding his newly acquired sword.
Moments later the infected soldier laid on the ground lifeless. By now Gan Ning has drawn the attention of many of the infected soldiers in the area.
“Quickly go release our brothers! We are breaking out of here!” He yelled.
But before anything happened, Zhang could be seen with many soldiers behind him.
==============
“Kill them!!” Zhang yelled as he swung the Slaughterer blade at the undead.
As the soldiers charged in and the prisoners were released from their cells the undead were quickly taken care of.
But after their common foe was gone the soldiers and the prisoners had a standoff between each other.
Although the prisoners outnumbered the soldiers greatly but the soldiers were dressed in armor and we're all equipped with swords and spears. On top of that the soldiers had Zhang and Yuying on their side.
After a moment of silence Zhang finally broke the silence.
“Join me and let's escape together.” He said.
“Ha why should we join you? Why don't we kill you and the rest of the soldiers and have some fun with that little lady over there.” One of the prisoners said while licking his lips.
“Shut up!” A voice rang out from behind the crowd of prisoners. Gan Ning could be seen emerging from the crowd.
“Tell me why we should join you.” Gen Ning said calmly as he leaned on his sword.
“If you join me you can survive.” Zhang replied calmly.
“Survive? You're saying we need your lot to survive?” Gan Ning laughed.
“Yes, let's say somehow we make it out of here then where would you go? Your an infamous pirate the moment you step foot into another province or kingdom they would lock you up. But if you join me I'll grant you and your men amnesty.” Zhang said with a smile.
After a bit Gan Ning finally spoke. “I'll tell you now I don't work for free.”
“I'm not telling you to. If we make it out of here we will head toward Black Wind city and fill out pockets.” Zhang replied with a sparkling eyes.
“Ahahaha you're my kind of person.” Gan Ning said as he put his hand out in front of him.
With smiles on their faces the two looters shook hands and joined forces.
“Captain Zhan Liao lead the way to the armory.” Zhang said to Zhang Liao who had pretty much pledged his allegiance to Zhang.
“Right away my lord.” Zhang Liao said.
The armory was located a not very far from the prisoner holding area as to allow the soldiers to quickly arm themselves if a prison break broke out.
Once they reached the armory Zhang Liao pulled out a bronze key from his robe and with a click the armory doors swung open.
But once a few of the prisoners got their hands on weapons they began whispering amongst themselves.
“Why don’t we kill those soldiers and those pirates then take command of the rest of the men and break out of here. With the thousands of men locked up here we could take over a small city and become kings.” One chubby looking prisoner said.
But before their plan could pass the planning stage a blade plunged through one of their backs.
“What was that about getting rid of pirates?” Gan Ning said as he pulled his sword out of the freshly created corpse. Moments later a few more prisoners joined the dead and laid on the ground lifeless.
“Anyone else who starts talking shit like that again I'll shove a spear down your throats.” Gan Ning yelled as he picked up a spear from a rack of spears.
As the prisoners quickly armed themselves loud banging could be heard coming from the outside.
“Everyone lock yourselves inside the cells and use the iron bars to our advantage!” Zhang yelled.
Moments later the inmates and soldiers all ran into a cell and quickly locked themselves inside.
Once the last cell was closed a loud boom could be heard followed by the sound of heavy objects crashing down onto the ground.
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The gates that the soldiers had locked were knocked down and the undead began swarming inside. The outside of the prison had already been overrun by undead because Shen Shi and Chanming Hai had opened the gates outside and allowed the undead to move past the prison walls.
As the undead reached the prisoner holding area they were greeted with walls of spears and swords coming out from the prison cells.
“Aim for their chests!!” Zhang yelled as he held the Sky Piercer and poked at the undead.
“Kill!!!” Gan Ning and Zhang Liao yelled.
Although there were countless undead they could not kill a single soldier or inmate thanks to the sturdiness of the iron bars of the cells. But sadly unlike the iron bars the a few of the walls they were attached to gave out and caved in.
“Ahahahaha you lot are trapped like rats.” A hoarse voice sounded out from behind the hoard of undead.
Strangely the undead stopped their onslaught against the living and ceased moving. A few of them even parted from each other and created a path.
From the path created by the undead Chanming Hai could be seen walking toward a prison cell with a few men inside. Once he arrived at the cell he stuck his tentacle like hand through the gaps between the iron bars.
Seeing this the men trapped inside screamed out in fear.
But before Chanming Hai could do anything Zhang’s ten dragon talon throwing knives could be seen flying through the air and plunged into his back and piercing through. From the holes that the dragon talons left green goo oozed out.
“Thats for acting cocky! Damn worm!” Zhang cursed as he made the dragon talon throwing no knives fly back into his hand.
“Foolish human you think you can stop me with those?” Chanming Hai chuckled as he turned back and stared at Zhang. Despite being classed as a rank one demonic beast when the queen heart burrow infects a victim it could strengthen the victim’s body. But of course only to a certain extent depending on the victim’s cultivation and physical properties. Also the queen worm can mentally take over anyone who is infected by the worms.
With that all being said, General Changming Hai was a level six practitioner before the queen infected him.
Chanming Hai slowly made his way toward the cell that Zhang locked himself in. Step by step he inched closer as a creepy crooked smile appeared on his face. As he walked green goo continued oozing out of his deformed body.
“None of your tricks can kill me human, not in this body. I’ll kill you and take your body since that child’s body is of no use to me anymore.” Chanming Hai Said while continuingly getting close to where Zhang was.
“Are you sure my tricks won't be able to kill you?” Zhang chuckled as essence began gathering at his fingertips.
Soon the essence began to crackle and snake about his arm. From afar it would seem like dragons of lightning were coiling around Zhang’s arm.
“This is something a kind old man taught me in hell.” Zhang said with a smile as he lightning snake shot out from his fingertips.
As the Lightning traveled it crackled and screeched. Moments after it left Zhang’s fingertips it struck an undead and then snaked to another undead.
“Thank you senior.” Zhang thought as he remembered the kind elderly man that he met in the underworld, who died to give him another chance at living.
Zhang had learned many things from Xin Tao during their time together but only recently had he felt comfortable using these skills since he had managed to reach the 7th level of cultivation. Those techniques required too much essence and if he was not careful when using them he could find himself in trouble.
After shooting the lightning dragon, Zhang stumbled onto the ground. Seeing Zhang on the ground Yuying quickly came to him and placed a small bottle of essence water in front of his lips.
The lightning dragon snaked from undead to undead until it finally reached Chanming Hai and engulfed him in a blinding white light.
Each and every undead that was touched by the lightning before it reached Chanming Hai was turned to char.
Moments later anticlimactically Chanming Hai’s corpse fell to the ground and a puddle of green goo formed beneath it.
After Chanming Hai was killed the undead who had ceased their onslaught against the living began moving once more.
“Kill them! Kill them all!” Gan Ning yelled as he stabbed an undead in the chest with his spear. Every time Gan Ning moved the jingling of bells could be heard ringing about.
==================================
A short distance away from the prison Zhang’s army of fifty thousand was making their way through the forest using the bridged created by the spiders.
“It's as if all of the undead have gathered here.” Lu Xun said as he looked down from atop the silk bridge in the canopy of the forest.
Moments later they were at the edge of the forest and saw that the entire lake and the area around it was filled with undead.
Seeing the lake, Ling’s eyes began to sparkle. Behind here dozens of people could be seen carrying bottles of essence water.
As Ling conjured her essence the water of the lake began to swirl about. Shortly after many columns of water shot up into the sky and created a wall of water. The massive wall of water then tumbled over and smashed down.
The tsunami created from the wall of water swept away many undead and sent them smashing into the walls of the prison. The force of the water alone ripped the undead and the worms inside of them to pieces.
Soon even the outer walls of the prison gave out to the water and collapsed inward. Ling made sure that the water did not smash into the prison itself because she did not want to kill her future husband.
As the water continued smashing everything in it’s path, Ling could be seen gulping down dozens of small bottles of essence water. The toil of creating such a disaster was huge.
Despite the destructiveness of the attack not all of the undead were taken out. There was still a sizable sum of them still around. This just goes to show how many undead there were to begin with.
“Descend the trees and go aid our lord!” Lu Xun yelled as he slide down one of the many thread ropes that the spiders had spun.
Yuying had made it so the spiders under her control would listen to Zhang and Ai so Ai was currently commanding them.
As the soldiers descended the trees and got to the edge of the water they stood in orderly ranks.
With a wave of her hand Ling made the water in the lake part and create a path for her and the soldiers of Aurora.
“I should have worked harder and become a mage.” Lu Xun thought as he saw Ling’s power.
“Ice God’s eternal frost!” Ling yelled out as two tiny needle like pieces of ice shot from her sleeves and hit the walls of water.
The instance the two needles hit the walls of water they dispersed and created a thick membrane of ice. The membrane began spreading along the wall of water until it completely turned into ice. The two walls of newly created ice kept the water back and made it so Ling did not have to constantly use her essence to control the water.
After creating the walls of ice, Ling fainted due to exhaustion. To be honest if it had not been for the fact that they had lots of bottles of essence water she would not have been able to everything she did.
While crossing the soldiers were busy staring in awe at the walls of ice as they crossed the lake something was happening inside the prison.