The Demon with Holy Radiance

And now Yang An was telling them he was the one who killed him?

The news was like a bombshell, stunning everyone into speechless silence.

To be an Elder-Level figure in the Golden Soul Sect, one would undoubtedly have to be an expert in the Insect Dao Realm.

And Yang An was now telling them he had killed an Insect Dao expert?!

"Don’t just stand there. We need to run, now. We’ll get in touch later."

Seeing everyone still frozen in shock, Yang An urged them on.

Even if that Grand Elder, Xuan You, wasn’t coming for them, they had to abandon this hiding spot just in case. They couldn’t stay here any longer.

"Junior Sister, come with me."

After warning the others, Yang An immediately looked to Wen Yin, wanting to take her with him as they split up.

Wen Yin’s strength was a notch below the others, which naturally made her the most likely to be discovered.

But meeting Yang An’s gaze, Wen Yin shook her head.

"Senior Brother, let me go on my own. I can protect myself."

It was as if Wen Yin had steeled herself with some kind of resolve.

Seeing the determination in her eyes, Yang An paused for a moment, then chose to respect her decision.

Wen Yin had once been his senior sister and had helped him a great deal. But after his own rapid growth, she had become his junior sister—the weaker one between them.

Wen Yin was not the type to lack ambition. On the contrary, she possessed a strong sense of pride and a competitive spirit; she just hadn’t had a chance to prove herself.

Now, within the Scripture Defector Association, she was the weakest. Neither her pride nor her competitive nature would allow her to remain inferior to others. If she stayed under Yang An’s protection, she would be nothing but a burden.

She didn’t want to hold Yang An back.

Yang An understood what she was thinking and let her go. ’There’s no shortcut to growing stronger. The only way is through constant tempering.’

"You all go first."

The group quickly snapped out of it and chose to leave immediately.

With the Tree of Flesh and Blood, they could contact each other no matter how far apart they were. Unless they were captured, they didn’t have to worry about losing touch.

Yang An brought up the rear. After everyone else had left, he made a casual gesture.

Dozens of intersecting beams of light swiftly appeared beneath the Forbidden Land, forming concentric rings before sinking back into the earth and disappearing.

Once that was done, he activated his Light and Shadow Escape Technique without a backward glance and vanished on the spot.

Almost immediately after the members of the Scripture Defector Association left the Golden Dipper Divine Sect’s territory, a figure streaked across the sky, arriving from a distance at incredible speed to loom over the sect.

A powerful aura instantly enveloped the entire Golden Dipper Divine Sect. The terrifying pressure, like the sky itself was collapsing, caused weaker Cultivators to be knocked unconscious on the spot.

The upper echelons of the Golden Dipper Divine Sect appeared, trembling with fear. Their strongest member had barely reached the Zombie God level. They instantly recognized the newcomer—it was none other than the Grand Elder of the Golden Soul Sect, Xuan You!

The group immediately fell to their knees in panic, prostrating themselves on the ground, wondering why such a personage would suddenly descend upon the Golden Dipper Divine Sect.

Back at the Golden Soul Sect’s Central Sect, Xuan You wouldn’t even dare to raise his head in the presence of Sect Leader Non-Birth, terrified of displeasing him.

But before these lackeys, he couldn’t even be bothered to spare them a glance. Maintaining a lofty, arrogant posture, he merely swept his eyes over the Golden Dipper Divine Sect, ignoring the prostrating crowd below.

He seemed to have noticed something. With a casual lift of his hand...

...the clouds in the sky instantly darkened. A ferocious, hundred-zhang-long behemoth emerged from the thick cloud cover and plummeted down, landing directly on the highest peak of the Golden Dipper Divine Sect.

The beast had the head of a dragon, the body of a tiger, and massive wings. Its forehead bore a human face identical to Xuan You’s, and its body was covered in black cracks. Its sharp claws looked as if they could split mountains and shatter the earth with ease.

The behemoth roared, and the clouds above shattered in an instant, to say nothing of the people below.

Among the kneeling crowd from the Golden Dipper Divine Sect, any Cultivator below the Visceral Stone level instantly began bleeding from all seven orifices, their bodies stiffening as they lost consciousness.

Even the strongest of them, the Sect Leader of the Golden Dipper Divine Sect, was trembling all over, his head beaded with cold sweat.

In the next moment, the behemoth raised its massive claw and violently cleaved the entire mountain peak of the Golden Dipper Divine Sect in two. The whole earth shook. Countless rockslides cascaded down, destroying more than half of the sect’s buildings.

Within the Golden Dipper Divine Sect, many screamed in agony. Even more, already unconscious, fell directly into the chasm as the mountain was split apart.

Watching the Golden Dipper Divine Sect split open to reveal a long, dark passage deep underground, Xuan You’s face showed a look of ’I knew it.’ He paid no mind to the countless dead and injured Cultivators of the sect.

His figure vanished, reappearing an instant later at the entrance to the revealed underground passage. He stepped inside without hesitation.

Upon reaching the depths of the small Forbidden Land hidden beneath the Golden Dipper Divine Sect, Xuan You stopped and carefully sensed the few unfamiliar auras lingering within.

’Just as I expected,’ he thought. ’So the rats have been hiding here all along. No wonder the Golden Soul Sect couldn’t find them. They never even left Chongwen State.’

The only surprise was that they seemed to have learned of his arrival. The Forbidden Land was deserted, with only a few residual auras left behind.

Just as Xuan You was about to carefully sense the direction in which the auras had fled, a sudden HUMMM—