On the day I became his disciple, my master carved a blood talisman into my palm. “A corpse driver will one day be driven by the dead. That is fate.” Ten years later, he vanished under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a line of footprints with their five elements in reverse order. I followed the only headless corpse that could speak the official language deep into the forbidden lands of Miaojiang, where I discovered that my master had been turned into the “Earthly Branches Formation’s core.” The instant the corpse-rising bell rang, I suddenly understood his final scream: “Run! You’re not corpses at all, ”
