Owen was intercepted, engaging in a fierce battle with Quinn Daoist.


    At Amber Hill, where thunder roared and lightning shed, the two sides shed once more, bombarding the final defensive formation erected by Azure Cloud!


    Brody, though reluctant, was forced to fight.


    Den had not only cut off ckwood''s reinforcements but also Brody''s escape route.


    To someone like Den, Brody was just another Heavenly Path projection, a pawn in arger game.


    It didn''t matter who ultimately became the dominant consciousness.


    "Hahaha!"


    Den watched the battle unfold below, a wide grin spreading across his face.


    He reveled in this moment, in the intoxicating power he wielded.


    Even the mighty Heavenly Path Venerable and his projections danced to his tune.


    He looked down at Donna, her battered body not yet recovered, poised to break through the formation and confront Brody.


    "What a shame! You chose the wrong side. If only you had submitted to the National Advisor, none of this would have happened. Chuck is a fool, and so are you. You could have avoided this fate."


    "Today, you are all nothing but pitiful sacrifices!"


    His words dripped with malicious glee.


    But neither Donna and the Azure Cloud forces nor Brody and the Heavenly Path projections paid him any heed.


    They were locked in a desperate struggle for survival.


    Still, Den''s arrogant gloating ignited a firestorm of rage within them.


    That bastard was nothing but a dog, apdog of the National Advisor!


    Just as Azure Cloud braced themselves for another desperate, potentially fatal, assault…


    "Boom!"


    An unknown object crashed into the battlefield with earth-shattering force, momentarily halting the Heavenly Path projections'' advance.


    All eyes turned towards the rising dust cloud, fear etched on their faces.


    A momentter, an earsplitting shriek pierced through the air, followed by the emergence of shadowy figures from the dust.


    They were… ghosts!


    The spectral horde spread out with terrifying speed, leaving behind a massive ck formation that pulsed with eerie energy.


    Deathly energy erupted from the ground within the formation''s boundaries, reaching towards the already darkened sky, casting an ominous pall over the battlefield.


    As this chaotic scene unfolded, a streak of light shot towards Chuck, who was still in the throes of his tribtion.


    "Such potent death energy! What is that?!"


    Den''s face contorted in fear.


    He was certain the National Advisor hadn''t sent anyone.


    That meant this was ckwood''s doing.


    "Impossible! The Grand Tutor''s faction is blocking all reinforcements. How could ckwood send help? Death energy… Nathan?!"


    Donna and the Azure Cloud forces, however, felt a surge of hope as they recognized the familiar energy signature.


    It was Nathan, the power he had unleashed during the battle at Azure Cloud''s border town.


    This was the same deathly aura that had terrified the Druids, keeping them from setting foot in Cloudview County!


    But their hope was short-lived.


    From within the swirling mass of death energy, a delicate sound reached their ears.


    "Jingle… Jingle…"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The tinkling of bells.


    A small figure emerged from the ck mist.


    It was… a little zombie girl!


    "Gary?!"


    Donna gasped, recognizing Nathan''s most powerful zombie.


    Though Gary rarely appeared, her growing power was no secret within ckwood.


    Nathan had once said that after consuming the mystical artifact and bing the core of the Four Symbols Death Energy Formation, Gary had transformed into something unique.


    The Death Coffin could trap other zombies, but not her!


    "Apologies, everyone. That ce was more troublesome to reach than I anticipated. I seem to be a tadte."


    Gary now looked almost human, save for her paleplexion.


    A forced smile,plete with dimples, appeared on her porcin doll-like face as she tilted her head, her voice like the chiming of silver bells.


    "I do hope not too many of you have perished. Master would be rather cross. But if you''d like them to remain by your side… as zombies, of course… I can help with that."


    "..."


    Despite the timely arrival of their reinforcements, the Azure Cloud forces couldn''t help but think this zombie could use some lessons in bedside manner.


    "A zombie? A Sky Corpse!"


    Den, initially intimidated by Gary''s entrance, now wore a strange expression as he sensed her true power.


    "Excellent! The more, the merrier!"


    Only Brody remained wary.


    He didn''t believe ckwood would send a single Sky Corpse to their deaths.


    "It''s just me."


    Gary''s smile didn''t waver.


    The spectral horde, which had been drifting aimlessly, now converged around her, forming a massive, grotesque sword three times her size.


    The de was as long as the hilt, its weight evident, creating a jarring contrast with her small frame.


    She turned her gaze towards Den, her smile turning cold.


    "You have a rather unpleasant tongue. But don''t worry, I won''t kill you. I just want your tongue."


    However, no one paid Gary any attention.


    With her arrival, they felt it.


    Above Amber Hill, where Chuck was undergoing his tribtion, his Competent Force, previously on the verge of copse under the onught of the fourth-level Basic Mastery tribtion, was stabilizing.


    Fear gripped the Heavenly Path projections.


    Even Hudson, who was battling Bill Daoist high in the sky, felt a surge of panic.


    They could sense it.


    Chuck was about to break through!


    "What have you done?!"


    Brody rounded on Gary, his voiceced with fury.


    He remembered the streak of light he had dismissed earlier, the one that had shot towards Chuck.


    "Nothing much. Just wiped out a greedy man''s entire family and borrowed a few trinkets from his treasury. You know, the kind of trinkets a Competent Force Psychic undergoing a tribtion might find useful."


    Gary''s smile remained fixed in ce as the ground rumbled beneath her feet.


    Sheunched herself into the air, dust billowing in her wake, and in a sh, she was standing before a terrified Den, his face ashen.


    Her previously gentle expression morphed into a mask of cold fury.


    "Isn''t that right, greedy man?"


    "Now, hand over your tongue!"


    …


    Escape!


    With Gary''s arrival, escape became a luxury neither Den nor the remaining Heavenly Path projections could afford.


    They watched in horror as, above Amber Hill, Chuck''s Competent Force shed with the monstrous, lightning-wreathed elephant formed by the thunder tribtion.


    And then, it began to merge with it.


    It was the telltale sign of an imminent Basic Mastery breakthrough!


    "Demonic cultivator!"


    Den roared, his eyes bloodshot, but his words wereced with fear.


    The moment Gary turned her gaze upon him, he had already begun his desperate flight.


    He didn''t even care that she had ughtered his entire n.


    He didn''t even know if he could defeat her.


    All he cared about was escape!


    But his Competent Force quickly picked up Gary''s pursuit, and his face contorted in terror.


    She was using a ghostly formation, its power amplified by the mournful wails of the dead… the wails and usations of his in family!


    "Hand over your tongue!"


    Her chilling words echoed behind him, and Den couldn''t help but think that if a hell existed where tongues were ripped from their owners'' mouths, it would sound exactly like this.


    He wasn''t the only one fleeing.