The moment those cyan rays touched the black death qi, they hissed like ice dropped into fire. Liang Xiaoke felt an agony so intense he nearly passed out—not a physical pain, but a deep, soul-rending torment.

He was a Zombie; the death qi was his sustenance. Yet, these cyan rays were the True Qi of Azure Wood, representing life itself—the purest form of vital energy. For a normal person, this energy was a boundless tonic; even someone on the brink of death would be revitalized, springing back to robust health. But Liang Xiaoke was a Zombie.

He was like a block of ice, and this vital energy was the sun. How long could ice last under the direct glare of the sun?

"Damn it, this is Azure Wood True Qi! Quick, help me take this thing off!" Liang Xiaoke cursed, his voice strained.

Ye Jingyu was startled. He didn't understand what Azure Wood True Qi was, but hearing Liang Xiaoke’s plea, he rushed forward, intending to remove the Azure Dragon Jade Pendant. Before his hand could touch it, however, a powerful surge of energy repelled him.

He was violently thrown back against the stone wall behind him. The wall, fully ten feet thick, cracked under the impact. His fingers, meanwhile, were shattered, the searing pain forcing a muffled groan from Ye Jingyu.

At this moment, the Azure Wood True Qi released by the Jade Pendant intensified, the cyan radiance growing larger, gradually overwhelming the death qi clinging to Liang Xiaoke’s body.

"Aaaargh..." Liang Xiaoke howled in anguish. He could no longer maintain his seated posture and began rolling wildly on the ground.

"Brother..." Ye Jingyu cried out in alarm. Ignoring his own injuries, he lunged toward Liang Xiaoke again, but an immense energy field surrounded the Zombie, deflecting him once more.

Blood churned violently within him, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Yet, he relentlessly charged toward Liang Xiaoke. This man was his only confidant in the world, the brother he knew best. He could not let him die; he would not let him die. He couldn't bear to live alone in this strange, new world.

His innate True Qi spun madly within his body, and he hurled a desperate punch straight at the cyan light. But the harder he pushed, the stronger the rebounding force became.

This time, he wasn't just blasted away; his entire arm was pulverized. His head slammed into the stone wall behind him, punching a gaping hole through it. He immediately lost consciousness.

Almost simultaneously with Ye Jingyu’s collapse, Liang Xiaoke could no longer endure the excruciating, soul-piercing pain and also succumbed to unconsciousness.

With his lapse in control, the death qi within him scattered. The cyan light surged toward his entire body, completely consuming and dissolving every trace of the black death qi, even enveloping his head entirely.

Gradually, the entire secret chamber was bathed in this cyan luminescence. Ye Jingyu’s shattered arm was nourished by the Azure Wood True Qi, healing at a rate a hundred times faster than normal.

The cyan energy flooded into Liang Xiaoke’s body, deep into his bones. Had Ye Jingyu been awake, he would have seen streaks of cyan light emanating from Liang Xiaoke’s ghastly white skeleton, followed immediately by clusters of flesh budding forth from the bones.

Crimson, living flesh—no longer the decaying tissue of the past.

The growth of new tissue was incredibly rapid. His heart, which hadn't beaten for untold years, began to pulse, the rhythm accelerating steadily. By the time his chest cavity was fully covered in flesh, the beating frequency was nearly that of a normal person.

His limbs, his thighs, continued to sprout living muscle and tissue.

A stream of cyan energy flowed toward the center of his brow, finally forming a faint, cyan demonic mark upon his forehead, which vanished just moments later.

However, both Liang Xiaoke and Ye Jingyu remained in a state of deep coma, utterly unaware of the transformation unfolding around them.

They remained unconscious for three full days and nights. When Ye Jingyu finally awoke, the cyan light in the chamber had long since dissipated. He gazed at his arm with bewildered eyes—it was pristine, smooth, without a single scar to mark the previous trauma. He looked toward Liang Xiaoke lying nearby and saw a body completely naked, the muscles sharply defined and undeniably masculine, utterly lacking the gaunt, terrifying appearance of before. His complexion was no longer ashen but held a faint, healthy flush, and his demeanor carried less sinister gloom and more vigorous vitality.

"Big Brother... wake up quickly..." Ye Jingyu, unsure of what had transpired, rushed over and shook Liang Xiaoke violently.

Under Ye Jingyu's shaking, Liang Xiaoke slowly stirred from his stupor. Seeing Ye Jingyu close at hand and then looking at his own body, he spoke with a dazed tone, "I... I didn't die..."

"Heh heh, you're a Zombie, how could you die so easily?" Ye Jingyu was genuinely overjoyed to see no lasting harm had come to Liang Xiaoke.

"But that vital energy was so incredibly powerful... I... wait, no. I... my body... it's warm! I have a heartbeat! I..." Suddenly, Liang Xiaoke became acutely aware of the rhythmic rise and fall of his own chest, and his expression shifted dramatically.

At that moment, Ye Jingyu noticed the rising and falling of Liang Xiaoke's sternum and felt the warmth radiating from his skin. He was unmistakably a living human, not the grim, terrifying Zombie he had been.

"Brother, it looks like you've truly become human?" Ye Jingyu scratched the back of his head, confusion clouding his eyes.

"I am a Zombie! An immortal, undying Zombie! How can I become human? Damn it, this must be an illusion, just a hallucination. Let me sleep a little longer; when I wake up, all this will be fake," Liang Xiaoke declared, then promptly collapsed back onto the floor.

"Hey, what's so bad about being human? Get up! This isn't a dream!" Ye Jingyu roared, delivering a solid punch to Liang Xiaoke’s chest.

"But I don't want to be human! I'm afraid of death!" Liang Xiaoke’s face contorted into an expression of pure distress.

"Uh..." Ye Jingyu was momentarily speechless. This guy had chosen to be a Zombie because he was afraid of dying.

"Wait, the death qi in my body hasn't completely vanished, and my strength is still here. I shouldn't have turned human yet. Do you have a knife? Lend me one..." Liang Xiaoke instantly regained a semblance of composure.