Chapter 12: Why Don’t You Just Strike? (Please Keep Reading)

With everything prepared, Uncle Feng and Uncle Qiu had no trouble summoning the Samadhi True Fire. However, they could only muster a single wisp at most.

Unlike Lin Bei, who could unleash a true blaze with a single sword stroke.

At that moment, both men felt an inexplicable pang in their hearts. Yet they didn’t dwell on it—after all, with the Ma family being a rare breed capable of contracting with a divine dragon, having a young person who could summon a pseudo-solar true fire wasn’t so unbelievable.

Lin Bei, the instigator, had already sheathed his sword after performing the Waltz technique and was now inspecting his Exorcism Sword.

Compared to before use, aside from its color deepening, there wasn’t a trace of damage.

This discovery made Lin Bei’s lips curl into a smile even harder to suppress than an AK’s recoil.

With a trusty weapon in hand, he finally had some power to fight back against zombies.

His gaze then burned intensely as he looked at Ma Xiaoling and said, “Miss Ma, I quite like this Exorcism Sword. Would you be willing to part with it?”

Ma Xiaoling almost nodded immediately but, being business-minded, she stifled her excitement and put on a reluctant expression. “Mr. Lin, this is a family heirloom, so...”

“I’ll pay more!” Lin Bei cut her off, uninterested in her excuses, and immediately wrote out a new check.

Seeing the long string of zeros on the check, Ma Xiaoling was so overjoyed she nearly fainted.

She hadn’t even established the Lingling Hall Cleaning Company yet and only took occasional part-time jobs. After deducting material costs, her annual earnings barely matched the amount on the check.

And that was assuming everything went smoothly—if something went wrong, she’d be out of pocket.

She couldn’t help but tap the check and whispered softly, “Now I have the startup capital for the company.”

Lin Bei raised an eyebrow. “You want to start a company?”

Ma Xiaoling suddenly realized she had let something slip. After a few awkward laughs, she said, “You must have misheard. I meant I love helping others achieve their goals. Although the Exorcism Sword is a family treasure, I believe it will serve a greater purpose in your hands, Mr. Lin.”

Upon hearing the phrase “helping others achieve their goals,” Lin Bei gave Ma Xiaoling a strange look.

In his impression, Ma Xiaoling did seem to enjoy such things—like giving the person she liked to a close friend.

He didn’t expose her and continued, “If you want to start a company, I could invest—on one condition: you bring these two in.”

Lin Bei nodded toward Uncle Feng and Uncle Qiu. Ma Xiaoling was still too inexperienced; only when she inherited Ma Danna’s lifetime of skills would she truly become a master.

In this dangerous world, forming an exorcism team was necessary, and it could also be a way to train their own bodyguards.

In Jiangyue 3, Ma Xiaoling had already formed a Flying Tiger Squad to deal with ordinary ghosts and monsters.

Uncle Feng and Uncle Qiu hadn’t expected Lin Bei to suddenly turn to them. Uncle Qiu, being easygoing, was fine with it since he was already prepared to handle logistics for Ma Xiaoling, so joining her company wasn’t out of the question.

Uncle Feng, however, seemed hesitant. Frowning, he said, “Mr. Lin, perhaps we should focus on the main task first.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Bei glanced at Ma Xiaoling and said, “Alright! Honestly, I’ve tried everything but couldn’t destroy these two ancient corpses. I was even planning to find a big cannon to blast them to pieces. Now that you’re here, if you can come up with a better method, it’d save me a lot of trouble.”

Hearing Lin Bei’s plan to use a cannon on zombies, the expressions of Ma Xiaoling and the others turned peculiar.

Though it sounded a bit far-fetched, such a method might actually work against ordinary zombies.

After all, these tangible creatures could be destroyed physically, unlike ghosts and spirits, which were intangible and invisible unless one had opened their Yin-Yang Eyes.

Uncle Feng glanced at the two ancient corpses and said gravely, “These two zombies have already become climatic formations. Normal methods indeed can’t destroy them. But I saw you summon a flame similar to the solar true fire—why not try burning them with that?”

Lin Bei shrugged. “I did think of that. But with ordinary weapons, the sword would burn up before reaching them. Now that I have the Exorcism Sword, I can give it a try.”

He then signaled Gao Jin and the others to bring out the ancient corpses.

Seeing this, Uncle Feng reminded, “Remember to strike the head!”

He stepped back a few paces. This was his first time facing zombies with a millennium of cultivation—he wasn’t confident whether Lin Bei’s move could destroy them.

Ma Xiaoling and Uncle Qiu prepared themselves as well.

Ma Xiaoling took out a talisman star, ready to summon the divine dragon if Lin Bei failed to kill the zombies.

Uncle Qiu pulled out several command flags—magical weapons left by Mao Xiaofang, highly effective against zombies.

Gao Jin and the others spread out around them, ready with their weapons.

Seeing this formation, Lin Bei immediately took the starting stance for the Waltz.

Just as he was about to move, he suddenly stopped, as if something had occurred to him.

Turning back with an awkward expression, he said to Uncle Feng and the others, “I’ve thought it over—perhaps we should prepare some more. If we fail to kill them, we might only provoke them awake, which would be troublesome.”

Ma Xiaoling rolled her eyes and silently mocked these rich folks for being so cowardly.

Uncle Feng and Uncle Qiu, however, breathed a sigh of relief. Neither had experience dealing with millennial zombies and felt a bit uneasy.

Even Kuang Tianyou, who had been keeping a low profile, quietly stepped forward.

He had planned to intervene if the two ancient corpses truly revived, even if it meant exposing his identity.

He never expected Lin Bei to hesitate just as he was about to strike.

After a brief whispered discussion, the group devised a new plan.

The cannon would be the last resort if all else failed.

The exorcism trio would retrieve their most powerful magical weapons and set up a ritual altar to handle any emergencies.

Kuang Tianyou would blend in with Lin Bei’s bodyguards as another hidden card.

There was no choice—when the Ma family encountered zombies, they clung like mad dogs. They couldn’t kill them outright, and Kuang Tianyou didn’t want to get entangled with Ma Xiaoling.

Afterward, Ma Xiaoling and Uncle Qiu left together. Uncle Feng had intended to fetch his Taoist robe and magical weapons from Ma Fei, but before he could step out the door, Lin Bei tossed him a black box.

“This is what Ma Sir and I retrieved. Now it’s returning to its rightful owner.”

Uncle Feng opened the box to find a Demon-Reflecting Mirror—an artifact passed down by his sect that was effective against demons and evil cultivators alike.

In the Exorcism Police series, Michiko had died because of this very artifact.