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As they were talking, a strange, wailing sound drifted in from outside the valley. The noise was mournful and haunting, carrying a deathly chill. Soon, thick, black fog rolled in on gusts of cold wind, and the entire valley was shrouded in a gloomy, oppressive haze.
Shawn Young quickly grabbed Jade Swann and hurried to the mouth of the valley. Looking up at the ancient forest above, they could just make out countless rotting corpses, caked with mud, swaying eerily in the sinister mist, slowly approaching the valley. Their movements were slow, but the overwhelming aura of death and terror was enough to send chills down anyone's spine. The scene was absolutely horrifying!
"Bang—bang—bang—" The Kachin Tribe soldiers who had retreated into the valley with Martin Yang quickly raised their weapons and fired nonstop at the corpses. But the bullets only made the corpses pause for a moment; they kept staggering forward, clawing and lunging as they pressed closer.
Especially gruesome were the corpses with flesh so rotten it was crawling with maggots, reeking of a stench so foul it made people want to vomit. Some were only partially decayed, tufts of messy hair still clinging to their skulls; others wore tattered burial clothes, shredded by the wind. When a gust blew through, clumps of hair fell to the ground, revealing blackened, skeletal heads beneath!
"Ugh..." Seeing this, Martin Yang and several bodyguards beside him felt a powerful urge to vomit. Unable to hold it back any longer, they finally doubled over and retched.
"Ah—" The Kachin Tribe soldiers quickly realized their weapons were useless against these terrifying corpses. Their faces turned pale, their bodies trembled, and some with weaker nerves dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, praying and bowing desperately. Normally, these Kachin warriors were known for their bravery—they were called "mountain soldiers"—but they were also deeply superstitious, holding a strong reverence for nature and spirits. Faced with such bizarre, undead horrors, it was no wonder they were scared out of their wits.
"Oh no! These corpses are definitely being controlled by magic! Must be the work of an enemy psychic! Let me handle them!" Jade Swann frowned, then quickly summoned her true energy, crossing her hands to form the "Heaven-Flipping Seal." She chanted, "Polaris Divine Shift, stars move and days change, six senses rotate, thunder shakes the heavens, Xuantian Dao Lord, Ninefold Divine Thunder, gather in my form, by decree—Break!"
She threw her hands forward, unleashing a torrent of power from the Sea of Illusions. A blazing blue light burst from her body, enveloping her entirely. Instantly, the sky above roiled with purple clouds, swirling over her head. With a shout, Jade Swann called down a barrage of dazzling blue lightning balls, raining down on the advancing corpses like a storm!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The power of the lightning balls was overwhelming, shaking the earth for hundreds of meters around. The thunder blasted the advancing corpses to pieces, sending limbs flying everywhere. In seconds, a huge swath of undead had been wiped out by the heavenly thunder.
This was the famous "Ninefold Divine Thunder Spell" from the Shenxiao Five Thunder Sect—its destructive range was immense, and its power could summon heavenly thunder to smite demons and evil spirits. Of course, it required a lot of energy to cast. Luckily, after dual cultivation with Shawn Young, Jade Swann's abilities had grown stronger, so while the spell was draining, it was still much more effective than ordinary bullets!
Seeing the shattered remains of the corpses scattered everywhere, Jade Swann finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her body go a little limp. She'd just used several high-energy spells in a row and was starting to feel exhausted.
"Wow! That was amazing—" The Kachin Tribe soldiers, still kneeling and praying, burst into cheers. Today, they'd finally witnessed the true power of magic! Even Martin Yang and his bodyguards were left speechless, staring at Jade Swann in shock. None of them had expected this delicate-looking girl to be so powerful!
Suddenly, a sinister male voice, like a night owl's mournful cry, echoed through the ancient forest: "Hehehe—Little girl, if you think my 'Soulbane Gu' is that easy to deal with, you're dead wrong! This is just the beginning! Soon you'll have your hands full—let's see how many you can kill!"
Jade Swann froze at the words. As the smoke from the Ninefold Divine Thunder Spell cleared, she looked up and saw it was just as the hidden man in the forest had said: waves of sinister mist were pouring out, and even more corpses appeared, packed so densely she couldn't tell where they'd come from—there were far more than before!
"Ugh—Oh my god! How is this guy controlling so many corpses at once!?" Staring at the endless tide of undead surging toward the valley, Jade Swann felt a wave of helplessness. Even if her Ninefold Divine Thunder Spell was super strong, she could still run out of energy—and when that happened, even a single zombie would be a nightmare to deal with!
The summoned corpses began pouring into the valley. Despite their sluggish appearance, the moment they caught the scent of living humans, their speed increased dramatically! Their mouths gaped wide, letting out bizarre "gurgle-gurgle-gurgle" noises. Up close, you could see their mouths and bodies crawling with disgusting, writhing bugs, and dripping foul, black saliva! As the cold wind swept through, the valley was instantly filled with the overpowering stench of rotting corpses.
"Ugh—ugh—" Many Kachin Tribe soldiers gagged and retched from the intense stench, still not recovered from the earlier horror. Meanwhile, several corpses with black drool pouring from their mouths shrieked and clawed their way toward the nearest group of soldiers, moving frighteningly fast.
The terrified, panicked Kachin Tribe soldiers didn't have time to dodge. As the corpses closed in to within five or six meters, they suddenly opened their mouths—"Splat—splat—splat—"—and spat jets of foul, black liquid at the soldiers. No one expected this move; just as they tried to flee, it was too late. The black liquid hit them like water arrows, splattering their bodies. Instantly, black smoke rose, and they screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground and desperately clawing at their flesh. But it was useless—the spots touched by the liquid rotted away, leaving bloody, mangled wounds and even exposed bone. It turned out the corpses' spit was a highly corrosive, toxic sludge!