*Plop~*
The blood jade sank into the blood pool, sending up a splash of water and rippling outward.
Aside from Kou Beiyue, whose face turned deathly pale, the Mountain Ghost faction erupted into wild ecstasy, their eyes gleaming.
According to the quest prompt, tossing just a single piece of blood jade into the pool was enough to summon the presence dwelling within. If that dried corpse had been so terrifying, the supreme entity slumbering below would only be vastly more powerful.
The moment that being emerged from the blood pool, the Mountain God faction would be thoroughly doomed.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
The ripples stirred by the blood jade faded away, and the blood pool regained its stillness. Yet the monster never appeared.
The Mountain Ghost faction's expressions shifted from excitement and joy to stunned bewilderment.
Little Fatty's heart sank, and he yelled, "It's still an illusion!"
He hastily fished out six small banners and threw them into the air. The cloth snapped open with a rustle, flapping briskly as dark ripples billowed out.
With the illusion shattered, the members of the Mountain Ghost faction realized they had not even reached the depths of the park. The six-meter-tall stone sculpture was still over a hundred meters away.
As for the blood jade, it had merely landed by the sculpture's feet—nowhere near the blood pool.
On the other side, the black-furred giant ape smoothly tucked away the dull, dusty mirror.
He had now used Princess Yinyao's mirror twice. Though it possessed no offensive capabilities, its cost-effectiveness was extraordinarily high.
As for the penalty of seeing through worldly vanities that came with using the item, Zhang Yuanqing had yet to feel its effects.
With that in mind, Zhang Yuanqing cast a fleeting glance over Guan Ya's hot, voluptuous figure, then looked away without the slightest lingering attachment, focusing entirely on battling the mountain ghost.
Trampling the Firmament let out an enraged hiss and swooped downward at extreme speed, streaking toward the blood jade by the stone sculpture's feet in an attempt to retrieve the quest item.
*Bang! Bang!*
Sprinting forward, Guan Ya drew her handgun and landed two pinpoint shots on the blood jade. The bullets violently struck the crimson stone, knocking it a considerable distance away and leaving Trampling the Firmament grasping at empty air.
Blood Rose, who possessed a similarly long-legged frame, rushed up to the stone sculpture like a gust of gale-force wind and lashed out with her right leg.
*Smack!*
Trampling the Firmament, having just touched down, hastily crossed his arms before his chest to block, only to be kicked into a stumble.
Seeing their companion besieged, I Alone Am Supreme and the others had no intention of stepping in to help. Instead, they scattered and charged past the stone sculpture toward the blood pool.
"Jingwei, they have another piece of blood jade!" Guan Ya shouted a warning.
"Who should I stop?!" Jiang Jingwei asked anxiously, having no idea which one to target.
"I Alone Am Supreme!" Guan Ya yelled. "A-Yi and Taboo-Free each have one, so the last piece must be on I Alone Am Supreme!"
She possessed no concrete proof for this claim, but she trusted her deduction.
The Mountain Ghost faction was comprised of three forces: evil organizations, Dark Night Rose members, and evil rogue walkers. With the evil organizations at the helm, the possibility of ordinary rogue walkers holding a blood jade could be ruled out first.
Something of such paramount importance would surely be kept firmly in the grasp of A-Yi and the others from the evil organizations.
Between Taboo-Free and A-Yi—the former serving as team captain and the latter being their strongest fighter—each would certainly hold one piece.
Of the remaining two pieces, Trampling the Firmament held one, and the final piece had to be on I Alone Am Supreme, the top-ranked combatant on the rogue walker leaderboard, who represented the Dark Night Rose.
"Got it!"
With a booming burst of flames, Jiang Jingwei turned into a blazing cannonball and shot straight toward I Alone Am Supreme.
*That woman...*
Seeing the hiding spot of the blood jade exposed, the Mountain Ghost faction rapidly adjusted their formation. Little Fatty grabbed Kou Beiyue and turned back to help Trampling the Firmament deal with Guan Ya.
Hongwei and Dropout Fish closed in around I Alone Am Supreme, moving to assist the top rogue walker who had temporarily lost his Water God Seal.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
Flames ignited at the tip of Blood Rose's feet, her whip-kicks coming one faster than the next, forcing Trampling the Firmament back and preventing him from recovering the blood jade.
Facing a high-tier fighter ranked sixth on the wanted list, Zhang Yuanqing directly commanded her to activate burst mode.
Trampling the Firmament retreated repeatedly, looking somewhat flustered, yet he remained uninjured and parried with steady composure.
After enduring Blood Rose's fierce onslaught, Trampling the Firmament snapped his fingers. A dark gleam flashed across his filthy, foul-smelling coat.
Blood Rose's pupils instantly dilated, a dark purplish-black hue staining her fair complexion as her limbs seized with paralysis.
Trampling the Firmament lunged forward, dropped into a lunge, and threw a savage swing right into his opponent's face.
*Crack!*
Blood Rose's head spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees like a twisted rope.
Trampling the Firmament had not merely been taking blows earlier; he had used the opportunity to release toxins that invaded his enemy without a sound, ultimately erupting in tandem with a curse.
The dual assault of curse and poison caused this yin corpse to completely shut down.
*Wham!*
Trampling the Firmament unleashed a vicious whip-kick, aiming to blast Blood Rose's beautiful head off her shoulders and finish the enemy off once and for all.
Guan Ya arrived in the nick of time, lightly deflecting Trampling the Firmament's kick with a tap of her foot. She then grabbed Blood Rose by the shoulder and hurled her backward, pulling her out of combat.
Though Yuanshi had refined this yin corpse from a Level 3 Bewitching Demon, it had lost most of its skills, relying solely on close-combat instincts and fire bursts. How could it hope to match Trampling the Firmament, who belonged to a top-tier combat profession and ranked sixth on the wanted list?
Just as Guan Ya tossed Blood Rose aside, Trampling the Firmament puffed out his cheeks behind her and spat a cloud of gas that carried both intense paralysis and extreme corrosiveness.
As the poisonous fumes enveloped the mixed-race beauty, Trampling the Firmament pulled his sharp claws together, thrusting them toward Guan Ya's chest without the slightest shred of mercy for the fairer sex.
"Poison gas doesn't work on me."
Protected by her set equipment, Guan Ya plunged through the toxic mist, extending two fingers like a sword and stabbing diagonally upward, striking precisely at the nerve bundle on Trampling the Firmament's elbow.
Trampling the Firmament's arm went numb, losing all sensation.
His heart lurched. Just as he tried to retreat, a fist smashed into his abdomen. The intense pain caused him to double over by reflex, sour bile rising uncontrollably in his throat.
Guan Ya hooked one arm around his neck, locked his wrist behind his back with the other, kicked his calf hard, and yanked his neck forward at the same time.
The entire sequence was fluid and seamless. Before Trampling the Firmament could even process what had happened, he was slammed face-first into the dirt.
Guan Ya pinned the back of his neck with one knee, summoned a large-caliber handgun, and pressed the muzzle against the back of his skull.
"Try aphrodisiac gas in your next life," she said.
She pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The barrel spewed fire, and round after round tore through the chitinous layer covering the back of his head, oozing dark green fluid.
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck Guan Ya's head, as if she had been hit from behind with a blunt club. Yet the agony did not stem from the flesh; it came from her soul.
Her finger on the trigger froze.
"Poison gas might not work on you, but an attack on the spiritual level will always do the trick, won't it?" Little Fatty had finally arrived, a whirlpool welling deep within his eye sockets as he unleashed the signature skill of Illusionists—Mental Strike.
"Boss, hurry! Slaughter this woman, and you'll make a name for yourself!" Little Fatty shouted.
Ignoring him completely, Kou Beiyue used the opportunity to slip close to the two of them, bending down to snatch up the blood jade.
Taking advantage of the mental shock stalling Guan Ya, Trampling the Firmament arched his back, flipped the woman off his body, and rolled away at top speed to regroup with Kou Beiyue and Little Fatty.
He did not follow up with an attack, having realized that this woman possessed defensive items that could not be breached quickly. Attacking would only put him in jeopardy again.
*Pant, pant...*
Trampling the Firmament breathed raggedly, watching Guan Ya ahead as if facing a mortal threat, then held his hand out toward Kou Beiyue beside him. "Give me the blood jade..."
From the corner of his eye, he saw the rather brainless youth hand the blood jade over.
Just as Trampling the Firmament reached out to take it, an agonizing pain flared in the back of his head, accompanied by a dull sound:
*Thwack!*
Immediately after, his consciousness plunged into an endless abyss of darkness.
Kou Beiyue jerked the military dagger free from the back of Trampling the Firmament's head and kicked the corpse over. While he was only average among Level 3 combatants—though he considered himself top-notch—a Bewitching Demon was still a Bewitching Demon. How could an injured Witch Doctor ever evade his unexpected, point-blank ambush?
Besides, Guan Ya had already shattered the chitin armor protecting the back of his head; Kou Beiyue could have killed him with the pommel alone.
Stashing the blood jade into his inventory, Kou Beiyue looked toward the dumbfounded Little Fatty, lifted his chin, and declared, "I'm Yuanshi Tianzun's man! I'm nothing like you lawless scoundrels!"
*I'm Yuanshi Tianzun's man!*
Those words carried an uncanny magic, instantly plunging the fiercely contested park into dead silence.
Little Fatty's eyes went wide, his mouth slowly dropping open in utter disbelief.
His expression looked exactly like that of someone who had just had their heart trampled by the person closest to them.
*This kid is a spy planted by Yuanshi Tianzun?* Hongwei stared at Trampling the Firmament's corpse, her complexion turning exceedingly grim at the loss of such a formidable ally.
Dropout Fish stood with dual sabers drawn, exchanging a glance with I Alone Am Supreme, his expression growing heavy.
The Mountain Ghost faction had already lost two members, and now another mole had turned against them. With their losses compounding and the enemy gaining ground, they had completely forfeited their advantage in numbers.
In the distance, A-Yi, who had been destroying the bronze puppets one by one, snapped his head around to look at Kou Beiyue, the grotesque, hideous features on his face twitching slightly.
Jiang Jingwei exclaimed in delight, "Oh, you're Yuanshi's man? I knew it! You looked familiar right from the start, just like looking at a Fire Master!"
*You're the Fire Master, your whole family is Fire Masters...* Kou Beiyue was incensed, feeling thoroughly insulted.
Just then, an enormous figure flew across the dense woods and crashed heavily beside the stone sculpture.
*Boom!*
The ground shook violently. It was the black-furred giant ape, already covered in wounds from head to toe. Claw marks and puncture wounds riddled its body, blood dyeing its fur and matting it in clumps.
The giant ape's aura had weakened to its absolute nadir. It struggled a few times, yet failed to stand.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the giant ape's frame shrunk, its fur receding as it reverted to human form, becoming the naked, battered Yuanshi Tianzun.
The giant ape's injuries had carried over to his body: four or five puncture wounds ran from his chest down to his abdomen, and claw marks ran all over him, deep enough to expose bone.
*Thud, thud, thud...*
The tall, grotesque mountain ghost strode forward at a slow pace, its potbelly swaying.
The expressions of Guan Ya, Jiang Jingwei, and Kou Beiyue shifted slightly. It was obvious that in the Saint-stage clash, the giant ape Yuanshi Tianzun had transformed into had lost. Next, they would be forced to face this monster together.
"Don't panic, it's already running on fumes." Zhang Yuanqing took out a vial of diluted life fluid, injected it into the vein of his arm, and walked stark naked over to Trampling the Firmament's corpse. Stripping off the dead man's clothes, he began pulling them on while praising Kou Beiyue, "Well done."
The mountain ghost possessed the traits of a Bewitching Demon, perfectly aligning with Taboo-Free. The giant ape, on the other hand, was an extension of the Wood Demon profession's power and completely incompatible with him.
Defeat had been unavoidable.
Fortunately, since they possessed comparable tiers of combat power, the mountain ghost was now thoroughly spent as well, which counted as trading away one of the enemy's trump cards.
As for his own lethal wounds, a dose of diluted life fluid combined with a Night Walker's potent self-healing ability would have him recovered in no time.
Sure enough, after stomping the few remaining bronze puppets to pieces, the slowly approaching mountain ghost shrank down, reverting to human form.
Taboo-Free was equally naked, without a single thread on him.
"I originally wanted to kill A-Yi or Taboo-Free at the critical moment to seal our victory in one stroke. After all, with my strength, ambushing them would have been a piece of cake," Kou Beiyue said with a touch of chagrin.
"No, there's no need to take on tasks beyond your capabilities. Killing one person and seizing a blood jade means you've already completed your mission with flying colors." Zhang Yuanqing patted him on the shoulder.
Kou Beiyue wore an unconvinced scowl.
Striding over in the buff, Taboo-Free fixed an icy gaze on Kou Beiyue and ground his teeth. "You little bastard, you hid it well."
Taboo-Free felt both embarrassed and furious. Only when Kou Beiyue ambushed and killed Trampling the Firmament did he realize this kid was a mole. Prior to that, Taboo-Free had firmly believed that the youth harbored deep-seated hatred for Yuanshi Tianzun.
Pulling up his pants and rolling up the cuffs, Zhang Yuanqing jeered, "You're allowed to plant undercover agents, but I'm not allowed to follow suit?"
Taboo-Free sneered, "Of course you are! Espionage is an art, far more nuanced and interesting than hacking each other down on the battlefield.
"You must have started prepping before entering the killing trial, arranging for a Bewitching Demon who had the level but lacked the brains to enter alongside you. Throughout this entire journey, you two put on an act and played along with each other, fooling everyone completely. I have to admit, I admire you a bit. Yuanshi Tianzun, you're the kind of enemy that sends chills down one's spine.
"By the way, is the restriction on activating your formations based on sequence or time? If it's time, the first formation was activated after you entered the park, and the second was activated roughly nine minutes later.
"Right now, it's almost been nine minutes since the second formation was activated."
"Doesn't matter which it is. Either way, you've lost," Zhang Yuanqing countered, keeping an eye on the direction of the shopping mall while facing off against him.
The moment the third formation was activated, he would immediately cast out the Heart of the Forest, leaving the Mountain Ghost faction zero room to maneuver.
Taboo-Free threw his head back and laughed maniacally:
"No, you're the ones who've lost!
"Aside from visible pawns like Dropout Fish and I Alone Am Supreme, the Dark Night Rose has three other pawns hidden within the Mountain God faction. Tone-Deaf was already killed by you. Guess who the remaining two are?"
*Two more?* Guan Ya's pupils constricted slightly.
"Despicable!" Jiang Jingwei's eyebrows bristled.
Kou Beiyue's eyes went wide with shock. He had believed his undercover performance was flawless, that he had played everyone for fools and was operating on the fifth layer, completely unaware that the enemy was out in the stratosphere.
He realized deeply that scheming and tactics were not meant for him; hacking and slashing was far more satisfying. An intense revulsion for Taboo-Free and his ilk welled up within him.
***
Downtown Shopping Mall.
In the center of the mall stood a six-meter-tall stone sculpture. World Returns to Fire, Peeping at Bao Through a Tube, Undead Knight, Crossing-River Pawn, along with the members of Taiyi Sect and their yin corpses, stood gathered around the sculpture, waiting in silence.
Counting the seconds in his head, World Returns to Fire looked toward Sun Miaomiao and reminded her, "Nine minutes are up. Hurry and place the Heart of the Forest back into the formation core."
His brow brimmed with excitement and anticipation. The Mountain Ghost faction had yet to cast a blood jade into the blood pool, which meant Yuanshi Tianzun and the others had held their ground.
Once the shopping mall's formation was activated, with the capabilities of Yuanshi Tianzun's squad, how hard could activating the park's formation possibly be?
The moment they succeeded, the Mountain God faction would secure victory, and the Saint stage would be within reach for all of them.
Seeing her companions looking at her with high hopes, Sun Miaomiao quickly brought out the emerald gemstone given to her by Zhao Chenghuang. As soon as it rested in her palm, a suction force generated from the palm of the stone sculpture, pulling at the Heart of the Forest.
Sun Miaomiao immediately let go, watching as the green halo drifted toward the palm.
Just at that moment, a figure darted out at blistering speed, leaped into the air, intercepted the Heart of the Forest, and gripped it tight.
It was a pale, scrawny youth—none other than Maoshan Daoist.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone present, leaving them momentarily paralyzed. Sun Miaomiao's pretty face darkened, and she barked, "Maoshan Daoist, what are you doing?!"
She had no idea what was happening either, but for Maoshan Daoist to intercept the Heart of the Forest at such a critical juncture was unacceptable, regardless of his motives.
Tightening his grip on the green gemstone, Maoshan Daoist squinted and smiled. "Miaomiao, I'm sorry, but I can't let you activate the formation."
"Why?" Sun Miaomiao's heart seized as a possibility she refused to believe crossed her mind.
Yet Maoshan Daoist voiced it for her. He smiled gently and said, "Because I belong to the Dark Night Rose."
The scrawny youth was smiling, but there was not a trace of mirth in his eyes.
Looking at the sect companion with whom she had enjoyed a close rapport, Sun Miaomiao found it impossible to accept. Her eyebrows furrowed sharply as she demanded, "Impossible! There's no way you're from the Dark Night Rose.
"You're a core seed carefully cultivated by Taiyi Sect! There was no reason for you to join the Dark Night Rose—anything they could give you, Taiyi Sect could give you as well!"
Maoshan Daoist fell silent for a second before replying, "My father is a high-ranking executive of the Dark Night Rose. I was born into the Dark Night Rose, and that can never change. I'm truly sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, but I had no choice."
He had already belonged to the Dark Night Rose long before becoming a Night Walker.
His father was a Night Walker, and the offspring of Night Walkers had an extremely high probability of becoming Night Walkers themselves.
Thus, long ago, he had been placed into a foster home among ordinary people, raised as a hidden pawn. The moment he obtained a character card, he promptly joined Taiyi Sect.
The Dark Night Rose possessed many children like him.
Under the secret grooming of the Dark Night Rose, he quickly rose to prominence within Taiyi Sect, leaping forward to become the most outstanding rising talent second only to Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang.
Yet Maoshan Daoist knew that the purpose of a mole was to turn the tables at the decisive moment.
That day had finally arrived.
Ever since entering the killing trial, he had been searching for an opportunity to deal a devastating blow to the Mountain God faction. Originally, the most ideal opportunity had been at the mountain god temple, but by the time he arrived, the Mountain Ghost faction's morale had already been broken by Yuanshi Tianzun. Furthermore, belonging to the Mountain God faction, he could not touch the divine staff, causing him to miss his chance.
During the siege against the dried corpse, both factions were in mortal peril, which was hardly the right time to turn traitor.
So he continued to bide his time, doing nothing.
When the final quest began and Yuanshi Tianzun arranged the defenses for the formations, he knew his chance was here.
Sun Miaomiao pressed her lips tight. Thinking back on every detail since entering the trial, she indeed realized that Maoshan Daoist had been far quieter, more reserved, and unusually low-profile, as if terrified of drawing attention.
His only out-of-line behavior had been questioning Yuanshi Tianzun about whether he was the Demon Lord's successor.
Looking back now, that too must have been an order from the Dark Night Rose. Since Taiyi Sect was so fixated on the Demon Lord's successor, the Dark Night Rose would undoubtedly have instructed their hidden pawns within the organization to investigate.
Inside the shopping mall, silence reigned briefly before erupting into an uproar. The members of Taiyi Sect stared at Maoshan Daoist in disbelief, never imagining that a talent with such high renown and bright expectations in their sect was actually a traitor.
World Returns to Fire was the first to react, flames flaring abruptly from his hands. He sneered, "The Dark Night Rose truly is an obnoxious organization. At this rate, I wouldn't even be surprised if Yuanshi Tianzun turned out to be one of yours. Besides, slaughtering a Night Walker like you shouldn't even take a minute."
Amidst a flurry of footsteps, the eight people present surrounded him in unison.
Maoshan Daoist did not panic in the least. Looking toward the crowd, he smiled and said, "Undead Knight, aren't you coming over?"
At his call, a grim-faced, unsmiling young man stepped forward from the crowd and took his place beside Maoshan Daoist. A flash of light gleamed in his hand, revealing a pitch-black broadsword roughly a meter long.
Maoshan Daoist turned his gaze back to the crowd. "With the two of us joining forces, is that enough to stall you for a minute? Oh, no—half a minute!"
Peeping at Bao Through a Tube flew into a rage: "Undead Knight, you're a traitor too?!"
***
*There are two spies at the third formation as well?*
Thoughts raced through Guan Ya's mind as she immediately singled out Undead Knight from among the nine. As a rogue walker and a Night Walker to boot, he had the highest probability of having been groomed by the Dark Night Rose.
Yet who the other person was, she could not guess.
Throughout the entire journey, only Tone-Deaf had displayed anomalies and been weeded out by Yuanshi.
If the other moles stayed well-behaved, their identities would be impossible to deduce. The Dark Night Rose possessed special concealment methods that could evade lie detection, bypassing even the grand health check.
With underlying anxiety in her eyes, Guan Ya looked toward Yuanshi Tianzun, only to find his expression calm, showing neither surprise nor distress.
Zhao Chenghuang tucked away the Puppet Storage Box and walked forward with measured steps. Fixing a cool gaze on Taboo-Free, he said calmly, "If you're talking about Maoshan Daoist and Undead Knight, Yuanshi Tianzun and I have known for a long time."
Taboo-Free's expression shifted, but he smiled. "Maoshan Daoist? Why don't you claim it's Sun Miaomiao? Trying to bluff me? What's the point? The nine minutes are already up. You've lost."
Zhao Chenghuang's face was stern as he said, "Back at the mountain god temple, I already knew Maoshan Daoist was a mole. The one who told me was none other than Undead Knight."
The smile on Taboo-Free's face slowly vanished.
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled and chimed in, "Undead Knight is a Night Walker—the third-ranked Night Walker on the rogue walker leaderboard. How could we possibly trust him unconditionally?"
Zhao Chenghuang picked up the thread:
"So back at the mountain god temple, after you retreated, Undead Knight and I used spirit servants as mediums to lay all our cards on the table in the woods. He told me that he was indeed a member of the Dark Night Rose, and that his superior was Maoshan Daoist."
Dropout Fish narrowed his eyes. "Why would he tell you that?! He just confessed, just like that?"
Zhao Chenghuang glanced at Yuanshi Tianzun before answering:
"I told him that if he abandoned darkness for light, he would be permitted to join Taiyi Sect and enjoy the exact same resources as me—reward items, money, and unrestricted access to Night Walker trial walkthroughs.
"Whatever the Dark Night Rose could give him, I could match. Whatever the Dark Night Rose couldn't give him, I'd have my great-grandfather provide. Not only did I promise him resources, but I also pledged to bring his family to the capital, house them in a Taiyi Sect courtyard residence, and grant them Taiyi Sect's protection.
"I learned this from Yuanshi Tianzun."
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed, "Bullshit. I clearly learned that from you and Sun Miaomiao."
Ignoring their double act, Taboo-Free said coldly, "And he just agreed?"
Zhao Chenghuang's expression remained aloof. "Of course he agreed, because I entered into a contract with him."
With that, Zhao Chenghuang opened his hand, and an ancient scroll of parchment appeared in his palm.
A contract differed from lie detection. The former was a transaction: first, both parties had to exchange relatively equivalent terms; second, it had to be based on a detailed, precise matter. The most common examples were trades or pledges, where each party put forward corresponding stakes that had to be laid out clearly and unambiguously.
Finally, the contract was sealed using essence blood as a medium.
Vague clauses such as 'will not harm Taiyi Sect's interests' or 'promises not to be a member of the Dark Night Rose' did not meet the criteria of a contract.
Therefore, in certain specific circumstances, a contract could serve as a lie detector, but most of the time, it lacked that function.
"If he didn't sign the contract, I would have killed him. He had no choice," Zhao Chenghuang said.
The terms of the contract stipulated that when Maoshan Daoist betrayed the Mountain God faction, Undead Knight would be responsible for striking him down.
If successful, everything Zhao Chenghuang promised would be fulfilled upon exiting the trial; if he failed, Undead Knight would suffer the contract's backlash and perish, body and soul.
By betraying the Dark Night Rose, he could obtain vastly richer resources, clear the killing trial, and ascend to the Saint stage.
Remaining blindly loyal, on the other hand, meant being executed on the spot.
Anyone would know how to choose.
As for why they hadn't simply killed Maoshan Daoist outright—without a way to prove his treason through lie detection, killing a top seed with immense standing would not convince the group, even if it were Zhao Chenghuang doing it.
In a multiplayer trial, maintaining unity and morale was paramount.
Furthermore, Undead Knight was an outsider, and his accusations alone would not sway official walkers.
***
"No, I'm not a traitor!"
As soon as the words left Undead Knight's lips, he abruptly lunged, bringing his pitch-black broadsword crashing down.
*Thwack!*
Before Maoshan Daoist could react, his head tumbled from his neck, and under immense pressure, a fountain of blood erupted several meters into the air from his carotid artery.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Undead Knight, a fellow Dark Night Rose member, would turn against him at this exact moment.
His spirit body instantly detached from his mortal frame, floating in midair and releasing a roar audible only to Night Walkers:
"Undead Knight, you dare betray me?!
"The Dark Night Rose will never let you off! Your whole family will die—"
Before he could finish, darkness churned in Undead Knight's eyes, and he opened his mouth to swallow Maoshan Daoist's spirit body whole.
Next, he scooped up the Heart of the Forest from the ground and tossed it toward the stone sculpture, letting it return to the formation core.
Inside the downtown shopping mall, a pillar of emerald light soared into the sky, creating a magnificent spectacle.
With that, the formations in the east, south, and west directions of the blood pool were all fully activated.
Zhao Chenghuang looked toward the soaring pillar of light and said, "You're the ones who have lost!
"Yuanshi, what are you waiting for?"
Zhang Yuanqing immediately drew out the Heart of the Forest. At the exact same time, seeing Maoshan Daoist fail and the tables turn, leaving the Mountain Ghost faction with no way out, Taboo-Free acted decisively. Snatching out a bamboo slip, he bellowed:
"Assemble!"
Hongwei, Little Fatty, A-Yi, and I Alone Am Supreme all pulled out identical bamboo slips in unison.
In an instant, a hazy stellar chart lit up beneath their feet, set against a deep night sky studded with countless brilliant stars. At the very center of the design blazed a searing sun.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yuanqing opened his fingers, letting the stone sculpture draw the gemstone from his grasp.
Chapter 278