The Demon with Holy Radiance

As expected, the Life Rejuvenation Spell was utterly useless against this Power of Rules.

One was the Power of Rules from a mere fragment, while the other was a complete Power of Rules. How could they possibly compare?

Even when Yang An unleashed his full power, the light within him struggling to break free of its restraints, he couldn’t budge it in the slightest. He was now a lamb to the slaughter.

Meanwhile, the price for using the Forbidden Artifact Fragment continued to mount. His physical body even began to show signs of collapse.

Hai Yun walked toward Yang An, step by step, and gave him a gentle push.

In an instant, a chain of black phantoms appeared behind Yang An.

These black phantoms were like afterimages from his movements, each one perfectly clear. They stretched for over a thousand meters, their end nowhere in sight.

This, in fact, was why he had given Yang An three chances.

He didn’t just want to kill Yang An; he needed to completely erase these phantoms.

Otherwise, once the price of the battle took effect, these phantoms would become his nightmare. Yang An could even use them to find an opportunity to reform his physical body.

Yang An couldn’t kill him precisely because of the Forbidden Artifact’s power.

But the price of the Forbidden Artifact could also allow Yang An to resurrect. He had to make Yang An create as many of these phantom trails as possible and then erase every single one to eliminate him completely.

’As for the third chance... let’s end it here. The strong make the Rules, and this is enough.’

"Senior Brother Hai Shu said you would return to Great Virtue Temple one day. But the you of that time will no longer be you. I’m very much looking forward to our next meeting."

The smile on Hai Yun’s face deepened, the corners of his mouth stretching nearly to his ears. He then struck Yang An’s chest with his palm.

Yang An himself didn’t move. The Life Rejuvenation Spell was completely unable to absorb Hai Yun’s power, as if they didn’t exist in the same plane of space.

But behind him, the black phantoms collapsed in the blink of an eye. One after another, they shattered and vanished without a trace.

Countless black threads from the shattered phantoms surged into Yang An’s body. His physical form, already crumbling under the artifact’s price, was instantly covered in cracks.

A look of agony filled Yang An’s face. It was a pain beyond words, one that rivaled the torment of the soul itself.

’In the end... I still couldn’t kill the Insect Dao.’

’I did my best.’

BOOM—

With a violent explosion, Yang An’s body of Light Transformation was instantly torn to pieces. The Life Rejuvenation Spell that had sealed off the area failed in the same moment.

The light faded rapidly, just as his life force and aura drained away.

In the blink of an eye, the Armor formed from Buddhist Mantras vanished. Yang An vanished as well. Everything returned to nothing.

Yang An was dead!

The gloomy world fell silent. A ripple spread out from Hai Yun’s feet as he confirmed that Yang An had left no phantom trails behind and was well and truly dead. Only then did he burst into joyous laughter.

This method of torturing a person to death brought him the greatest joy.

Now that he had completed the mission Hai Shu had given him, the so-called "karmic destiny of the Buddha" would return to Great Virtue Temple. In the future, it would all be theirs.

Still, the combat prowess Yang An had displayed was astonishing. With that kind of power, he could have run rampant among the Zombie Gods.

Unfortunately for Yang An, he had met him.

Now, he had to return to Great Virtue Temple to recuperate. The subsequent backlash was still a troublesome consequence that gave him a headache.

Hai Yun immediately shot into the air, intending to transform into a black lotus and return to Great Virtue Temple.

But just then, a silver arrow materialized out of thin air and silently plunged into his side.

The arrow sank into Hai Yun’s flesh without resistance. But his reaction was incredibly fast; he instantly dissolved into countless black threads, only to reform a short distance away. He stared in astonishment back at the original position.

When he saw a familiar, masked figure still standing there, the color drained from Hai Yun’s face.

"You’re still alive?"

His aura, his appearance—everything was identical to the Yang An he had just killed. There was no difference at all.

But the Yang An who died at his hands was no illusion. He was absolutely certain he had killed him. How could he have come back to life?

Yes, Yang An was alive.

To be precise, he hadn’t died. A Power of Rules had simply died in his stead.

For that, he had his master from the Golden Thread Pavilion, Elder Zhuan Yu, to thank.

Before sending him to Great Virtue Temple as an undercover agent, Elder Zhuan Yu had given him a protective Power of Rules. As long as his killer’s Cultivation Level did not surpass Elder Zhuan Yu’s, this Power of Rules could take his place in death one time.

Yang An, however, felt no need to explain any of this to Hai Yun. Even now, he wasn’t certain he could actually kill him.

What was certain, however, was that he now had the upper hand.

Everything he had done before was for this very moment.

From behind his mask, his gaze fell upon Hai Yun’s side. Even though Hai Yun had used the Power of Rules from the Forbidden Artifact to revert to a previous state, the solid silver arrow was still lodged in his body.

Hai Yun realized this as well. This arrow... it could actually follow his timeline!

He immediately reached down and grabbed the arrow, trying to pull it from his body.

But at that exact moment, the arrow suddenly swelled, creating an immense force within him that then erupted from his body.