In the scene, on the third floor of the Rich Benevolence Mall.
Ning Rongrong and Hu Liena pressed tightly against the wall, inching toward the Stairwell in an extremely slow, awkward posture.
They had entered a spacious shop whose walls were covered in hanging clothes, which greatly hindered their movement.
As they struggled to inch along.
A faint sound of footsteps suddenly came from the darkness ahead.
Tap, tap, tap.
Both girls froze instantly, even holding their breath.
A hunched figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
By the faint light of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Ning Rongrong recognized the newcomer at once.
Snake Granny of the Meng Family, Chao Tianxiang!
Yiran's grandmother? Delight stirred in Ning Rongrong's heart.
Chao Tianxiang stopped three meters away from them, a gentle smile on her face, her voice hoarse but full of concern.
"Children, don't be afraid."
"I've already used a Soul Skill to drive that apparition downstairs. It's safe here for now."
"Come with me, quickly. I'll take you out of this hellhole."
Hearing this, Ning Rongrong's taut nerves relaxed instantly.
With a Soul Emperor protecting them, they were finally saved!
A delighted smile appeared on her face, and she instinctively moved to leave the wall and walk toward Chao Tianxiang.
"Don't move!!!"
Hu Liena seized Ning Rongrong's arm in a death grip.
She pulled so hard that she slammed Ning Rongrong right back against the wall.
Hu Liena trembled violently, her eyes filled with utter terror as she stared fixedly at Chao Tianxiang.
"My teacher told me she's dead! Her head was taken off long ago!"
"She's a fake! An apparition is impersonating her!"
Every hair on Ning Rongrong's body stood on end as she looked at Chao Tianxiang in horror.
The instant Hu Liena shouted those words, the gentle smile vanished from Chao Tianxiang's face.
In its place came an eerie expression of anger mingled with confusion.
She seemed unable to understand why her perfect disguise had been exposed.
Since the disguise had failed, there was no need to keep it up.
Chao Tianxiang's expression turned utterly lifeless.
With stiff steps, she advanced toward the two girls pressed against the wall.
A thick stench of decay and an icy aura struck them like something tangible.
Terrified, both girls squeezed their eyes shut, their backs pressed firmly against the cold wall.
They kept the Sheepskin Paper's warning firmly in mind: never leave their backs exposed!
The apparition reached them.
Sure enough, she did not launch a paranormal attack.
But an ink-black hand slowly rose.
The hand settled gently on Hu Liena's shoulder.
The next second, an overwhelming surge of physical force erupted from that withered hand!
She did not launch a paranormal attack. Instead, she resorted to brutally dragging her away!
She intended to wrench Hu Liena from the wall through sheer force, forcibly creating the conditions that would trigger her rule!
Hu Liena cried out in pain, feeling as though her shoulder bone was about to be crushed.
Her body tilted forward against her will.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
At the brink of death, Hu Liena's fierce will to survive erupted.
The phantom of an enormous Demon Fox appeared behind her, and five Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and black-lit up instantly.
Soul King-level Soul Power surged wildly as she braced herself desperately against the wall, resisting that terrifying pull.
Ning Rongrong also snapped her eyes open. Seeing what was happening, she did not hesitate.
"Seven Treasures Turn, Glazed Light Appears! First: strength!"
The mutated, pitch-black Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda blazed with light, and a beam of black radiance instantly poured into Hu Liena's body.
The strength enhancement from the Mutated Martial Soul instantly raised Hu Liena's physical capabilities to another level.
A level fifty-one Soul King enhanced by top-tier support already possessed strength comparable to a Soul Emperor!
For a moment, the apparition pulling with one hand actually failed to budge Hu Liena!
Seeing that one hand could not move her, Chao Tianxiang's dead face showed no change.
She slowly raised her other hand.
Both withered hands, covered in corpse spots, settled on Hu Liena's shoulders.
Crack!
Hu Liena's shoulder blades gave a brittle crack under the unbearable strain.
A terrifying force several times greater than before erupted!
This was not the strength of human muscles. It was the absolute paranormal power of a malevolent apparition!
"No!!!" Hu Liena screamed in despair.
Against the pull of those two hands, her enhanced Soul King strength was as laughable as an infant's.
With a harsh scraping sound.
Hu Liena was forcibly dragged a meter forward and stumbled!
Her back left the wall completely.
A deadly space large enough to hold a person opened behind her.
Chao Tianxiang released her hands, the corners of her mouth spreading once more into that spine-chilling, eerie smile.
With stiff steps, she slowly moved toward Hu Liena's back.
The shadow of death instantly engulfed Hu Liena.
The moment she stood fully behind her, the rule would trigger!
At this critical instant.
Unprecedented madness flared in Hu Liena's eyes.
The Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull at her brow worked furiously, and her eyes instantly turned a mesmerizing pink.
Soul Skill, Bewitchment!
This was not merely a Soul Skill, but a desperate strike infused with the mental shock of her Head Soul Bone!
Pink light pierced straight into Chao Tianxiang's hollow eyes. This was an attack on the plane of consciousness!
And Chao Tianxiang's stiff steps toward her back actually stopped!
She froze in place!
At the same time.
Within a space of consciousness invisible to the naked eye.
Sixteen Fierce Dogs radiating savage auras surrounded the phantom of an enormous gorilla.
The gorilla was drenched in blood, its body covered in bite wounds deep enough to expose bone, barely holding on.
This gorilla was the Soul Beast consciousness lingering within Chao Tianxiang's Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone!
It was also the new puzzle piece this apparition had just seized!
Just as the Fierce Dogs were about to launch their final assault.
An eerie pink glow suddenly flared in the gorilla's eyes.
Hu Liena's Bewitchment skill from the outside world had acted directly upon this lingering consciousness!
The gorilla's movements faltered in a fatal, one-second daze.
For the Fierce Dogs within the Ghost Dream, one second was enough!
The strongest Fierce Dog shot forward like black lightning, opened its blood-red maw, and clamped its jaws firmly around the gorilla's throat!
Blood gushed!
Immediately afterward, the other sixty-three Fierce Dogs surged forward like a black tide.
They tore and chewed furiously.
Before the gorilla could even scream, it was torn apart and devoured completely!
Outside, on the third floor of the Rich Benevolence Mall.
Chao Tianxiang's one-second daze ended.
But she did not continue moving behind Hu Liena.
The Soul Bone at her brow, which had been flickering with a faint light, instantly dimmed and became a lifeless piece of dead bone.
The cunning in her eyes that belonged to her human disguise vanished completely, leaving only the deathly stillness of a pure malevolent apparition once more.
With her consciousness bitten to death by the Fierce Dogs, she had lost control of her body!
Hu Liena swiftly threw herself backward, slamming hard into the wall behind her.
But she paid no heed to the agonizing pain throughout her body. Gasping for breath, she let out a cry of relief at having survived.
"I'm alive..."