Chapter 673: Chu Miao’s Opportunity

A second later, the entire structure collapsed.

Dust rose from the ruins and covered the surrounding streets.

Chu Miao and Ye Xuan reappeared in the air several hundred meters above City S.

Ye Xuan continued holding her as he examined her face.

"Miaoer, are you hurt?"

"It was only a mental attack. My sea of consciousness is stable."

"Let me check."

Without waiting for her agreement, Ye Xuan placed his hand against her forehead and carefully sent a thread of divine sense into her sea of consciousness.

Chu Miao did not resist.

She knew he would not be reassured until he confirmed it himself.

After discovering that her soul was unharmed, his tense expression finally eased.

"You took an unnecessary risk."

"It wasn’t unnecessary." Chu Miao raised the jade plate. "I captured part of its mental energy."

"That thing tried to invade your mind twice."

"And it failed twice."

Ye Xuan stared at her.

Chu Miao stared back without guilt.

After a moment, he sighed and pulled her closer.

"Baby, at least warn me before doing something dangerous."

"If I warned you, you would have stopped me."

"Exactly."

"Then it was better not to warn you."

Ye Xuan was speechless.

His wife always had a reason for everything.

Chu Miao leaned against him briefly before turning her attention to the jade plate.

The golden line inside it was unstable.

It pointed north for a moment before changing toward the northwest. A few seconds later, it split into several thinner lines.

"The owner of that consciousness is either very far away or deliberately hiding its location," she said.

"Can you still trace it?"

"Not accurately. The fragment contains several layered mental imprints. Some may belong to the intelligent zombies it controls."

This meant the different directions could lead to separate zombie commanders rather than the consciousness itself.

Ye Xuan looked at the ruins below.

"Do you think it is truly the Zombie King?"

"I cannot be certain."

It had reacted when she called it a king, but that did not prove anything.

An intelligent zombie might consider itself a king simply because it controlled a large horde.

However, its ability to communicate across a great distance and command other intelligent zombies made it far more dangerous than any enemy they had encountered since the apocalypse began.

"If it is not the Zombie King, then the real one may be even stronger," Chu Miao said.

Ye Xuan’s expression became grave.

That possibility was worse.

They had advanced quickly, but the zombies had not remained stagnant either.

While humans fought among themselves over food and territory, an intelligent existence had quietly organized zombie armies across different regions.

"We need to return to the sect and warn everyone," Ye Xuan said.

"We will, but not yet."

Ye Xuan looked at her.

Chu Miao closed her eyes and sensed the spiritual energy circulating through her meridians.

The confrontation with the powerful consciousness had stirred her divine soul.

Moreover, the heavenly energy remaining after Ye Xuan’s tribulation had caused the barrier suppressing her cultivation to loosen.

The spiritual energy inside her dantian was becoming restless.

She opened her eyes.

"I can’t suppress my cultivation much longer."

A hint of anticipation appeared in Ye Xuan’s gaze.

"Are you ready to break through?"

"Yes."

Chu Miao looked beyond City S.

"But I need to choose the right place."

Since her tribulation was unavoidable, she would not waste it in an empty city.

There were still several zombie strongholds marked on the maps they had collected.

If the zombies wanted to use humanity as nourishment, then she would use their armies to complete her breakthrough instead.

Chu Miao and Ye Xuan remained in the air above City S.

Below them, the ruined city was completely silent.

The underground command center had collapsed, but they had already stored the important maps and records inside the Soul Ring.

The remaining structures were no longer useful enough to risk digging through immediately.

More importantly, Chu Miao could feel that the spiritual energy inside her dantian was becoming increasingly restless.

The barrier she had placed on her cultivation trembled continuously.

If she continued suppressing it forcefully, her meridians might suffer damage.

Ye Xuan also sensed the changes in her aura.

"Miaoer, how long can you suppress it?"

"Two days at most," Chu Miao replied. "If I fight during that time, the barrier may break immediately."

Ye Xuan frowned.

Two days was not long.

A Divine Transformation tribulation required careful preparation. Although Chu Miao’s strength was formidable, her tribulation would likely be more powerful than his.

Her soul had crossed between two worlds, and she possessed a rare space element.

She had also accumulated far more spiritual energy than ordinary cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

The heavenly dao would not ignore those things.

"Why not break through here?" Ye Xuan asked.

City S was already empty.

There were no humans nearby, and most buildings had been destroyed by his tribulation.

Chu Miao shook her head.

"This place is unsuitable."

"Because there are no zombies left?"

"That is one reason."

She looked toward the horizon.

The dark tribulation clouds that had covered City S could probably be seen from hundreds of kilometers away.

Any survivors in the surrounding regions would be curious.

Some might even believe that the strange phenomenon indicated the appearance of a treasure.

If Chu Miao began her tribulation here, those people could arrive while she was advancing.

She did not fear them, but protecting innocent survivors from the lightning would create unnecessary complications.

Moreover, the zombie stronghold had already been destroyed.

Using another tribulation in City S would be a waste.

"There are other strongholds," Chu Miao said. "If I must face a tribulation, I might as well use it to eliminate another zombie army."

Ye Xuan had already expected this answer.

He smiled helplessly.

"Other cultivators search for the safest place to face a tribulation. My wife searches for the place with the most enemies."

"Do you disagree?"

"No." Ye Xuan reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I was only wondering whether the heavenly dao regrets allowing you to cultivate."

"If it regrets it, it can strike harder."

"Don’t provoke it before your tribulation begins, darling."

Chu Miao smiled faintly.

The heavenly dao was indeed unreasonable at times.

If it sensed a cultivator’s provocation, it might increase the strength of the lightning.

However, she was not afraid.

Lightning could destroy the body, but it could also temper it.

After watching Ye Xuan use his tribulation to strengthen both his physical body and lightning ability, she had gained several ideas for her own breakthrough.

Her space element had always been powerful, but her physical body was its greatest limitation.

Each time she tore through space or traveled across a long distance, her body had to endure spatial pressure.

As her cultivation increased, the distance she could travel became greater, but so did the pressure.

If she used the lightning tribulation to temper her bones, muscles, and meridians, she would be able to withstand more powerful spatial forces.

This would become especially important after entering the Immortal Realm.

"Ah Xuan, take out the maps," she said.

Ye Xuan retrieved the maps they had collected from the underground command center.

Since they were still floating in the air, Chu Miao created a transparent platform beneath their feet.

The two sat down and spread the maps between them.

Several cities had been marked with black circles.

They already knew that the black circle over City S indicated a zombie stronghold.

If the same symbols carried the same meaning, then there were at least seven similar strongholds within the surrounding provinces.

Three had single circles.

Two had double circles.

One city had been marked with three circles and an unfamiliar symbol beside it.

The final location was not a city.

It was an abandoned industrial region near a large mountain range.

Chu Miao pointed at the closest marked city.

"How far is this place?"

Ye Xuan examined the roads on the map.

"About four hundred kilometers if we follow the highway. We can reach it before nightfall."

"What was the population before the apocalypse?"

"Approximately eight million."

Chu Miao shook her head.

"Too small."

Ye Xuan looked at her.

"Miaoer, are you choosing a place for your breakthrough or selecting prey?"

"Both."

The city might contain several million zombies, but they could not be certain it was still occupied.

After what happened in City S, the intelligent zombies might evacuate other strongholds.

If Chu Miao arrived only to find an empty city, she would lose precious time.

She pointed at one of the cities with two circles.

"This one?"