The Demon with Holy Radiance

This was Yang An’s second time visiting the Land of Shattered Armor, and a long time had passed since his last entry.

Seeing the familiar ruins of a modern city once more, he found the surroundings silent and utterly desolate.

Yang An couldn’t help but recall what the Workshop Master had said about the Central Continent’s actions.

He didn’t know how Broken Armor had been formed, nor had he ever heard of anyone who did.

’But could it be related to the Central Continent?’

’This method of forcefully dragging in another world... could it be that what happened at Dingzhou Sansong Mountain wasn’t the first time?’

’Perhaps Broken Armor is the failed result of a previous experiment?’

But any speculation required clues, and he had none.

As he traveled swiftly through Broken Armor, he unsurprisingly ran into a massive, sky-blanketing swarm of Beng Birds drawn to his presence.

These Beng Birds were drawn to any unfamiliar living creature that appeared in Broken Armor, launching a frenzied assault.

However, the Yang An of today was a far cry from the one who had first entered Broken Armor.

He could easily deal with these Beng Birds using his Spinal True Feather. But even without it, his body had been tempered by two powerful Body Refining Techniques. He could handle the strange birds with his bare hands.

Still, for the sake of convenience, the Spinal True Feather was the best tool for the job.

The White Feather formed defensive lines like a torrential squall. Any Beng Bird that flew at him was instantly shredded to pieces, completely unable to get near him.

Though the Beng Birds possessed Immortality, they no longer posed much of a threat to him. Yang An couldn’t be bothered to use the Red Feather’s blood poison to finish them off for good. As long as he himself was unharmed, that was enough.

Soon, Yang An passed through Broken Armor without incident and emerged from the Barrier. A great weight was finally lifted from his heart.

It wasn’t that he was completely safe just by entering the Fusheng Domain. Powerful experts could just as easily cross through Broken Armor. However, this territory belonged to the Golden Soul Sect. If an expert at the Insect Dao Realm were to appear here, they would inevitably be targeted by the sect. This meant he wouldn’t be in such a precarious position.

Yang An already had a plan for where to go after entering the Fusheng Domain.

He planned to go to Chongwen State. There, he would wait for Wen Yin and summon all the members of the Scripture Defector Association.

Chongwen State was in the outer regions of the Fusheng Domain and was one of the State Territories closest to Broken Armor.

If Wen Yin followed his instructions and crossed through the weakest part of the Land of Shattered Armor from Pushean State in the Treasure Temple Domain, she would emerge in Chongwen State.

Yang An wasn’t worried about whether Wen Yin would show up; he was worried about when she would manage to reach Chongwen State.

After all, Wen Yin had an eye condition. She would eventually reach her destination, but she was bound to take many detours and waste a lot of time along the way.

「One day later」

Yang An entered the territory of Chongwen State and arrived at a city called Yinwu City.

He took off his mask, changed into ordinary clothes, and used an Illusion Technique to conceal his aura.

This way, anyone with a lower Cultivation Level would see him as nothing more than an ordinary passerby. It would also keep him from attracting the attention of the Golden Soul Sect.

「Inside a teahouse in Yinwu City.」

Yang An took a seat by a window on the second floor. At the waiter’s recommendation, he ordered a pot of their reputedly famous Ear Flower Tea.

According to the waiter, the tea was made from the most tender buds found in the mountains. The buds were called Ear Flowers because they resembled the tip of an ear when they unfurled.

Picking these Ear Flowers was no easy task. They only grew in remote mountain forests. In safer areas, the flowers had long since been harvested, so pickers had to venture into dangerous places.

Hence, a single pot of this tea was quite valuable.

However, money was a trivial matter to Yang An. He had plenty in his Storage Magical Artifact, so he paid the price no mind.

After tasting the Ear Flower Tea, he came to one conclusion: his palate was too unrefined to appreciate it.

The Fusheng Domain, however, was actually quite pleasant. He had passed through here on his way to the Treasure Temple Domain, but only now, upon his return, could he truly appreciate the difference between the two major domains.

In the Treasure Temple Domain, the two major powers were in a constant state of conflict. With unification as the overarching goal, they paid little mind to the common people in the State Territories under their jurisdiction. It mattered little to them whether the people lived or died.

The Fusheng Domain, on the other hand, was ruled by a single great power: the Golden Soul Sect. While many smaller factions existed, none could make any significant waves.

The Golden Soul Sect was more focused on proselytizing—spreading their faith. As a result, the common people lived relatively stable lives under their rule.

As long as one converted and didn’t cause any trouble, they could live a peaceful life.

The reason Yang An was in the teahouse was to eavesdrop on the local gossip and see if any noteworthy rumors were circulating among the common folk.

True or not, any rumor that had spread to the point where even commoners were discussing it was, by definition, a major event.

And he did, in fact, overhear a few things.

The first was that the State Lord of Chongwen State was dead. Yang An had stumbled upon major news right from the start.

A border State Territory was a strategic location. The one assigned to guard it would be at least at the Zombie God level.

He recalled the Golden Soul Sect’s State Lord he had unintentionally killed before. That man’s Cultivation Level had only been at the Corpse Transformation stage. Looking back, he must have gotten the position through connections.

’So much time has passed... Now that I’m back in the Fusheng Domain, I wonder if the investigation will ever lead back to me?’

Of course, the common people wouldn’t know how the State Lord of Chongwen State died. However, the Golden Soul Sect had recently dispatched a new State Lord to Chongwen State to conduct a thorough investigation.

This news put Yang An on guard, but he wasn’t overly concerned.

The second piece of news was far more bizarre.

A strange place had suddenly appeared within Chongwen State. An entire city’s population had vanished overnight—not even the Cultivators stationed there were spared. And not a single clue was left behind.

The Golden Soul Sect was also investigating the matter and had forbidden anyone from approaching the area.

Hearing this, Yang An’s first thought was of the Immortal Origin Land. He couldn’t be certain, though, as he had only entered it once.

Just as he’d thought, any news that spread by word-of-mouth among commoners was no small matter. While it was hard to tell truth from rumor, he still felt he had gained something.

Beyond that, the rest was just inconsequential minutiae and idle chatter.

Without finishing his tea, Yang An left Yinwu City.

After he left, a number of people excitedly rushed over to claim his unfinished tea, as if fighting over a rare treasure.

Outside the city, Yang An found a deserted mountain. He cleared the area of any beasts that might disturb him and set up a temporary camp.

Once Wen Yin crossed through Broken Armor into Chongwen State, Yinwu City would be the first place she would pass through.

Thanks to the Qi Seal he had previously placed on Wen Yin, he would be able to detect her the moment she appeared.

Yang An had resolved to avoid getting entangled with any of the factions in the Fusheng Domain. Getting involved, regardless of the faction, would only lead to endless trouble.

From now on, he had only one goal: to increase his strength as quickly as possible and enter the Central Continent.

After settling into his camp in the mountains, Yang An entered the Tree of Flesh and Blood. He issued a summons to the members of the Scripture Defector Association, calling them to gather in the Fusheng Domain.

This was at the behest of the Workshop Master, though Yang An was the one to deliver the message. Everyone understood the implications and responded accordingly.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the members of the Scripture Defector Association would be able to gather in the Fusheng Domain within a month. It would be their first time meeting in person, in their true bodies.

After sending the summons to the Scripture Defector Association, Yang An immediately entered the Earth Spirit Stele.

He had already decided to master a wider variety of skills. He wanted to push his Purification Ability to its absolute limit, perfectly leveraging his natural advantages to better handle different situations.

Light Magic was powerful, but it couldn’t be used as a conventional combat method. Instead, it had to be saved as his trump card.

He had a great deal to do. In addition to mastering new Techniques, he also needed to find Forbidden Artifact Fragments and a new Light Magic to serve as his Dao of Destiny Technique.

He needed to find a Forbidden Artifact Fragment with opposing Rules as soon as possible, so he could purify it and fuse it with his body.

After absorbing so many Demon Barriers during the Joyful Shrine Association incident, his Cultivation Level was already very close to the Middle Stage of Zombie God. However, without fusing with a Forbidden Artifact Fragment, he would be unable to break through to the Middle Stage, even if his cultivation reached the peak of the Early Stage.

All of these were necessary tasks.

And for both mastering new Techniques and finding more Forbidden Artifact Fragments, the Earth Spirit Stele and the Xian Origin Land were of the utmost importance.