The Demon with Holy Radiance

...

"The Teleportation Array connecting to the Chongwen State branch has completely failed! Something’s happened!"

「Fusheng Domain, Golden Soul Sect Central Sect.」

At the same time the Mogu City branch in Chongwen State was destroyed, the expression of the Cultivator responsible for guarding the Teleportation Array node changed. He immediately rushed into the sect in a panic.

After passing through layer after layer of checkpoints, he arrived at a key area of the Central Sect and was granted an audience with an Elder, to whom he quickly reported the news.

Upon receiving his subordinate’s report, even an Elder of the Golden Soul Sect couldn’t help but show a slight change in expression.

The previous State Lord of Chongwen State had just met with disaster, and it hadn’t been long since a new one was appointed. Now, the branch’s Teleportation Array was out of commission.

A Teleportation Array is normally located in the core of every branch. To be able to enter that location and destroy it was enough to prove that the branch was in major trouble.

The Golden Soul Sect Elder named Xuan You immediately went to seek an audience with the Sect Leader of the Golden Soul Sect.

Within a magnificent palace, several powerful auras converged. On the main seat was the Sect Leader of the Golden Soul Sect, Non-Birth.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, Wen Hong, the State Lord of the Chongwen State branch, is dead. Even his soul has been erased. The perpetrator is extremely meticulous and highly skilled; it should be the same person who invaded the branch."

"Is the Array near Broken Armor fully deployed? Have there been any incidents?"

As the Sect Leader of the Golden Soul Sect, Non-Birth didn’t say much. He didn’t care about the Chongwen State branch, instead asking about the Array being set up near Broken Armor.

"The Array is intact."

The Elder below answered immediately.

"Good. No mistakes are permitted in this matter. As for Chongwen State, Third Elder, you will personally make a trip to investigate. If you find the culprit, execute them on the spot. Also, send another person to take over the position of Chongwen State’s State Lord."

A brief discussion thus ended, concise and to the point.

Soon, the Third Elder of the Golden Soul Sect, a Great Power at the Insect Dao Realm, left the Central Sect. He led a large number of men through the Teleportation Array to Chongwen State.

...

Following the Bow Lady’s navigation, Yang An led the members of the Scripture Defector Association to the vicinity of a small Sect in Chongwen State called the Golden Dipper Divine Sect.

The Golden Dipper Divine Sect was just one of countless minor factions, with nothing special about it.

The reason they had come here was because, in the memories of Chongwen State’s State Lord, Wen Hong, a Forbidden Land was hidden deep underground, beneath this small Sect’s Mountain Gate.

It was called a Forbidden Land, but in reality, it was just a place that had long been emptied out. The Golden Soul Sect had previously sent people to explore it, and everything inside had already been taken, leaving only an empty shell.

However, the Array left behind in the Forbidden Land was still active and extremely well-hidden; an ordinary person would have no way of finding it.

That Wen Hong had been one of the people who had explored the Forbidden Land back then, and he still remembered the method to enter it.

Yang An led the members of the Scripture Defector Association silently onto the back mountain of the Golden Dipper Divine Sect. There, they found the entrance and entered the so-called Forbidden Land.

A thousand meters deep beneath the earth, it was an incredibly quiet abyss that looked like the former cavern residence of some ancient Cultivator, and it was quite spacious.

Many Quiet Chambers had even been carved out of the pitch-black earth.

Everyone praised it, agreeing it was an excellent location.

However, to be on the safe side, Yang An contacted the Workshop Master, hoping to obtain an Array to enhance the location’s concealment.

Otherwise, if a Great Power were to discover them here, they would be trapped like fish in a barrel.

The Workshop Master agreed to his request and soon sent over a set of Array components via container transport.

After setting up the new Array and combining it with the Forbidden Land’s original one, not even a Cultivator of the Insect Dao would be able to easily detect it.

Once their minds were at ease, the members of the Scripture Defector Association took everything they had plundered from the Mogu City branch out of their Storage Magical Artifacts to take inventory.

It just goes to show that robbery is the fastest way to acquire resources. The Chongwen State branch was just one of many, yet it was filthy rich.

Countless secret manuals and Magical Artifacts, numerous Spiritual Objects and jars of Elixirs, as well as various miscellaneous items, were piled into a mountain within the Forbidden Land.

These resources were enough to sustain the cultivation of at least several thousand Cultivators in a branch. Now that it all belonged to the Scripture Defector Association, it was a heavenly boon for their small group.

Yang An wasn’t interested in the Magical Artifacts or Spiritual Objects, but he was very interested in the secret manuals.

He could see that his Cultivation Level was about to reach the Perfection of the Early Stage of Zombie God, but he had yet to find his next Dao of Destiny Technique, or even a suitable Forbidden Artifact. This gave him a sense of urgency.

Zombie Gods of the same realm were no longer his match. The enemies he would face in the future were more likely to be stronger Great Powers of the Insect Dao. Not only did the other members of the Scripture Defector Association need to grow and improve, but he also needed to advance.

Otherwise, if they encountered an Insect Dao expert, no one in the Scripture Defector Association would be able to withstand their power.

In stark contrast to Yang An, the others valued the Magical Artifacts and Spiritual Objects more. Those were treasures that could accelerate their cultivation, so they paid little attention to the secret manuals.

Even as Innate Flesh Mushrooms, it wasn’t as if they could learn just any Technique. If the price they had to pay exceeded the limits of what they could suppress, the suffering would be unbearable and could even lead to more severe consequences.

So, Yang An simply moved all the acquired secret manuals into a spacious Quiet Chamber and began his search alone.

There were tens of thousands of these manuals, at the very least. But whether for individual Cultivators or for entire factions, they were the least valuable items. No one had ever heard of a Cultivation and Technique causing a bloodbath in this world.

’Anyone with half a brain knew that the only thing that would cause a mad scramble was a technique with immense power or some unique ability, but with a negligible cost.’

’But a secret manual for a Technique like that simply didn’t exist.’

’In this world, the greater the power of a Technique, the greater the cost. This was an immutable law.’

As for Yang An, he hoped to find a Light Magic among these tens of thousands of manuals—the fourteenth Dao of Destiny Technique he desperately needed.

’With a chance of one or two in ten thousand, it’s impossible that I won’t find a single one, right?’

Two hours later, Yang An knew his luck wasn’t that bad. After using his Identification Ability to quickly scan a large number of manuals, he actually found one that seemed to be a Light Magic.

The name of this secret manual was the *Blood Disaster Technique*. If Yang An hadn’t noticed the description in the information box, which made it look like a Light Magic, he really might have been fooled by the name.

According to the Technique’s information description, once mastered, one could consume their own blood to strike an enemy from an extreme distance, creating an immensely powerful "Blood Disaster"!

That’s right, this was not just a Light Magic, but also a Curse Technique!

Blood-light was the core of this Technique.

Besides the cost of consuming one’s own blood, after activating this Technique, if the blood-light failed to kill the cursed enemy, it would turn back and kill the user.

Furthermore, if it couldn’t even kill the user, its cost would grow more terrifying with each subsequent use until it was finally strong enough to kill them.

’This Technique was very strange, like a volatile, short-tempered person. If you used it and failed to kill the enemy, it would get angrier and angrier, and sooner or later, it would finish you off.’

’So this is a Curse Type Technique?’

It was the first time Yang An had ever seen this type of Technique.

’Such a heavy price also means that when choosing a target to curse, it would be largely ineffective against overly strong enemies, and would instead pose an ever-increasing threat to one’s own safety.’

’As for weaker opponents—enemies one could already kill—there was no need to go to such trouble or take such a high risk. It was like a chicken rib: not worth the effort.’

But for Yang An, this Technique offered him a new method of long-range attack.

’If anyone else learned this Technique, every time they used it would be a gamble. Their chances would only dwindle, and they would draw ever closer to their own death.’

’But he was different. He didn’t have to bear such a cost at all.’

’Even if activating this Technique failed to kill the enemy, he could use it to constantly harass them.’

’My fourteenth Dao of Destiny Technique... found it!’