The Demon with Holy Radiance

Right now, he had only just entered the True Illusion. This meant that to enter a deeper world, his current state of consciousness was insufficient; the pain had to be intensified to allow his consciousness to sink even further.

"Bow Lady, I’m counting on you."

The Bow Lady could also hear Yang An’s voice. From within his body, where she was safe and sound, she quickly responded to him.

His consciousness, scattered by entering the True Illusion, allowed Yang An to not dwell on the sensation of pain. Entering this place was like stepping into a hazy dream, but soon, an even more intense pain arrived.

This time, Yang An kept his eyes firmly open amidst the pain. He wanted to clearly witness the process of entering the Deep World, to see the changes around him.

The pain was like a relentless tide, washing over his entire body in wave after wave. Even Yang An himself didn’t realize that his eyes had become completely bloodshot, as if they were about to overflow with blood.

After another ten breaths, everything around him began to change.

Except for the campfire, which remained fixed in front of him, a layer of white mist seemed to rise up all around, shrouding everything in a hazy fog.

The vast number of microorganisms visible to the naked eye became part of the white mist, growing denser and more terrifying.

It was as if his senses had been suddenly amplified, yet everything he saw remained in its original place. This world had become even more perilous.

The firelight still flickered softly. Several unfamiliar figures had appeared beside the campfire. When they saw Yang An appear, they scattered like startled birds and swiftly vanished from sight.

Yang An couldn’t make out their appearances, but he felt an unexpected sense of familiarity. ’Perhaps they’re people I know.’ The only ones he could think of were Wild Forbidden and You Hong’Er’s group.

After arriving here, although the pain was once again diffused, his consciousness grew dim.

However, the instant he appeared, the Spiritual Light Net materialized around him, immediately followed by a series of miserable shrieks and wails from the void.

The surrounding white mist rapidly retreated the moment the Spiritual Light Net appeared.

Yang An fought against the fogginess in his mind and surveyed his surroundings.

This place was even hazier than the True Illusion. It wasn’t just the addition of the white mist; most of the monsters he had seen in the True Illusion had undergone even greater transformations, now baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

The area by the campfire was still a safe zone, which meant the changes here weren’t significant. To explore this world, he would need to venture further out.

But Yang An didn’t want to linger here now. He just wanted to enter Lower Hu as soon as possible.

The Bow Lady exerted her power once more. Yang An’s consciousness grew heavier, and after ten breaths, he successfully entered the Mirror-Self World.

As soon as he arrived, he felt a slight sense of suffocation, as if this world was submerged in a lake. It wasn’t until two more breaths had passed that Yang An recovered and took a gasp of air.

A figure stood on the opposite side of the campfire. Yang An was visibly startled when he saw it—it was just a jet-black shadow, his own reflection.

The entire world seemed to be folded in two with the campfire as the centerline, creating this side and that side.

But Yang An knew clearly that the shadow was not him. It was an existence that originally belonged to this world, one that had only appeared because he was here.

The Spiritual Light Net appeared again. In the unseen space, countless wails sounded once more. A faint, putrid stench drifted through the air. Something was indeed approaching him.

Yang An glanced at the shadow opposite him. It made no movement and showed no signs of aggression.

He still decided to head to Lower Hu first.

According to the logic of entering this place, anyone who could reach the Mirror-Self World had to be someone who had at least cultivated the Mystic Path Decoded to the Corpse Transformation stage.

Although he could easily kill someone at the Corpse Transformation stage, who knew what other changes those beings might undergo here.

He had to leave before he attracted anyone’s attention.

The Bow Lady continued to inflict even more intense pain on him, as if she were about to crush his entire Heart. The agony became increasingly extreme, and Yang An’s body trembled uncontrollably.

His gaze rested quietly on the shadow across the campfire until it gradually faded away and new changes appeared in his surroundings.

Suddenly, everything in Yang An’s vision began to clear up, even showing vibrant colors.

The once-gray campfire took on a scorching color, shifting from gray to white, then quickly to orange, and finally becoming a fiery red.

The campfire was like the center of this world. When it changed, everything around it also became colorful, as if it had all returned to normal.

Yang An also discovered that he could no longer see the microorganisms that had filled the air. The monsters that had replaced the nearby plants and trees were also gone, and in their place stood houses and buildings.

For a moment, Yang An was unable to tell if he had entered Lower Hu or left the Xian Origin Land. Why was Lower Hu so drastically different from the places he had passed through before?

Fortunately, the intense pain still coursing through his body was a constant reminder that everything here felt wrong. He was still within the Xian Origin Land.

This was, without a doubt, Lower Hu—the limit of what one could reach with the Cultivation Level of a Zombie God.

Yang An’s breathing started to become ragged. The pain he was enduring upon arriving here was already becoming overwhelming, but he had to persevere.

The price for his hazy consciousness was an increasingly realistic view of this world.

But this place was different from the previous worlds. It appeared calm and peaceful on the surface, but the unseen pressure was the greatest yet.

Yang An could feel very clearly that while he might have been able to last for a long time in the previous worlds, his time here was limited.

In a daze, he heard footsteps approaching from a distance beyond the campfire.

Yang An looked up. Fu Ming had walked back.

Unlike the more monstrous form he had seen in the True Illusion, Fu Ming now appeared completely normal. The color had returned to his body, but he looked utterly lifeless.

"Junior Brother, welcome to Lower Hu. Do you remember what I said before?"

Yang An watched him quietly. Fu Ming walked to the opposite side of the campfire, stopped, and then sat down beside it, just as he did every time Yang An saw him.

"Our time here is limited. If you want to comprehend the Power of Rules of this world, you need to go as far as you can in the time you have."

"This is your first time in Lower Hu. Why not spend your limited time here and let me explain everything? When you come back next time, you’ll have a much better chance."

Fu Ming smiled faintly.

Yang An hesitated for a moment. Pain was constantly wracking his body, yet Fu Ming’s voice entered his ears with perfect clarity.

Several beams of Golden Radiance appeared, instantly piercing Fu Ming’s body and pinning him to the ground. Blood-red Sacrificial Dao Yin Thunder immediately enveloped him. With crushing force, accompanied by an explosion of Golden Radiance, Fu Ming’s body instantly disintegrated into countless specks of ash.

"No need to trouble you."

Fu Ming’s previous words were still fresh in his mind: trust no one, and that included Fu Ming himself.

Yang An couldn’t determine if this person was real or fake; his Qi Seal and Sensing had no effect here at all.

But after he killed this Fu Ming, a few black, downy feathers fell from the scattering ash. Flames ignited on the feathers, and in the blink of an eye, they were completely incinerated.

Yang An was lost in thought. ’But I don’t think I did anything wrong. Perhaps the real Fu Ming thought so too, which is why he used this method to remind me after I arrived in Lower Hu.’

"Go... as far as you can..."

Yang An muttered to himself. Only by leaving the campfire could he understand this world. His gaze involuntarily shifted to the buildings in the distance—low, dilapidated houses with withered vines covering their short walls.

His senses couldn’t spread out here, so he had no way of knowing what was inside those houses.

From the moment he entered this place, he had been unable to predict danger.

’I’ll go take a look.’

Yang An took a step forward, slowly approaching.

But after only four or five steps, just as he left the campfire’s vicinity, his physical body began to rapidly decay.