The Demon with Holy Radiance

But Yang An gave him no such chance.

Wen Hong’s bloated, massive body exploded before Yang An. Even with his Body Refining Technique, he couldn’t withstand the focused power of dozens of Yang An’s punches. At such close range, his body was forcibly torn to shreds.

BOOM—

An explosion of black blood burst from Wen Hong’s body. His physical form was reduced to a pulp, only to be sent flying by the ensuing shockwave. Yang An remained completely untouched, alone to admire the vibrant scene before him.

The blow even pierced straight through the barren mountain ahead. More than half of the mountain collapsed, burying all of Wen Hong’s shattered remains.

But Wen Hong was only shattered to pieces. He wasn’t dead. His aura remained, rapidly gathering beneath the countless tons of rubble.

But Yang An was done playing.

It was enough for him to have learned the extent of the Drumming Technique’s power. Clearly, it wasn’t sufficient. On its own, the technique couldn’t quickly kill an enemy of the same realm; at best, it could only suppress them.

To kill his opponent completely, to achieve the same lethality as the Light Magic he had mastered, would require more Techniques.

Yang An was quite satisfied with this result. If other Techniques could compare to a Light Forbidden Technique, it wouldn’t be called a Forbidden Technique in the first place.

This was only the beginning. The Earth Spirit Stele held many more Techniques.

’Now then...’

He looked toward the collapsed rockslide. With a tremendous BOOM, it all exploded, and the very earth seemed to tremble.

Wen Hong’s body had already re-formed. He recovered quickly, his eyes now bloodshot and black blood still trickling down his body.

He had fused with two Forbidden Artifact Fragments, but the Power of Rules he was most proud of required him to touch his opponent’s Heart to take effect. He had no chance to do that now. However, he had another Power of Rules.

He plunged his hands into his own eyes and pulled out two damaged Turtle Shells.

The Turtle Shells fell from his hands, dropping straight to the ground.

With a CLACK, both Turtle Shells landed with their flat plastrons facing up!

Wen Hong’s face twisted in ecstasy. A violent power erupted from the Turtle Shells, surging entirely into his body.

If this power hadn’t been so unstable, he would have used it long ago. Fortunately for him, his gamble had paid off.

Wen Hong’s already bloated and massive frame swelled once more, growing as tall as a small hill. The power contained within his body surged severalfold. With his every breath, even space itself seemed to tremble faintly.

CRASH!

He smashed his fist on a nearby boulder, which instantly turned to dust.

Now, even if Yang An unleashed the same attack again, he would have nothing to fear.

"Now, how can you possibly fight me!"

A vicious aura raged around Wen Hong as his presence grew ever more terrifying. He looked for Yang An, only to find he had vanished.

In an instant, Yang An appeared before him, but the Curse Seals that had surrounded him were gone.

Without a second thought, the killing intent in Wen Hong’s heart drove him to throw a subconscious punch at Yang An.

He just wanted to kill Yang An as quickly as possible. He would absolutely not allow this mere Early Stage of Zombie God to pose any further threat to him.

But to his surprise, Yang An had abandoned the Technique he was just using. ’He must have reached his limit and doesn’t dare use it again.’

’But... why is he just standing there?’

The punch, larger than Yang An himself, landed squarely on him. Yet Yang An hadn’t even raised a hand, apparently with no intention of defending himself.

A strange, ominous premonition flashed through Wen Hong’s mind, but it was too late to pull back.

A punch like this landing on Yang An should have created an earth-shattering explosion and smashed him to smithereens.

But in that decisive moment, everything fell silent, as if frozen in time. Only a single flicker of light, leaping and exploding in an instant, blossomed before Wen Hong’s eyes, and then it consumed him.

A few moments later, Wen Hong had vanished without a trace. All that remained was a faint wisp of his aura, rapidly dissipating. Everything else within a thousand-meter radius had vanished along with him.

Yang An appeared in midair, thoroughly satisfied. He traced the direction the members of the Scripture Defector Association had taken earlier and flew off in pursuit.

About ten seconds later and dozens of miles away, Yang An sensed the auras of the Scripture Defector Association members, as well as the fluctuations of a battle that had yet to conclude.

By the time he followed the auras and arrived, the battle was just concluding.

The members of the Scripture Defector Association had all transformed, no longer looking human in the slightest. They looked more like Demon Fiends than actual Demon Fiends.

A colossal Treant was devouring the flesh of two Corpse Transformations. With that, all the members of the Golden Soul Sect had been slain.

The Treant eventually shrank, reverting to Broken Hand’s form. Yang An keenly observed that on the small tree growing from his severed arm, one fruit had disappeared. But after devouring the two Corpse Transformations, two new fruits quickly grew in its place.

Yang An wasn’t surprised that the Scripture Defector Association members had managed to kill all the Corpse Transformations, only that it had taken them a little longer than he’d expected.

Perhaps it was because most of the Scripture Defector Association’s members were from outside the continent, and their enemies, the Golden Soul Sect, were particularly troublesome opponents.

’They really do need more time to grow. Their current strength isn’t enough.’

"Senior Brother."

Wen Yin was the first to approach Yang An. She quickly reverted from her Evil Spirit-possessed state to her normal form.

As she was the weakest, she hadn’t directly joined the fight, only harassing the enemy from the sidelines. Thus, she was still in fairly good condition and didn’t have to suffer too great a backlash.