The Demon with Holy Radiance

To Yang An’s surprise, after receiving a reply, the woman in black who had brought the news bowed deeply to the seated woman, then suddenly plunged her hand into her own abdomen.

In that instant, blood gushed forth, staining the ground scarlet.

The woman in black pulled a Forbidden Artifact Fragment from her abdomen and then crushed it forcefully.

The Forbidden Artifact Fragment was instantly pulverized. The woman’s body rapidly weathered away, and in the blink of an eye, she died on the spot, turning into a pile of dust on the ground.

Looking at the robes that had fallen to the ground, emblazoned with the two words "Southern Dipper," Yang An guessed this was likely the Southern Dipper Celestial Sect, one of the Five Great Celestial Sects.

’The woman in black called the Bow Lady’s original form "Young Master." Could it be that the Bow Lady was the child of the Southern Dipper Celestial Sect’s Sect Leader?’

’And what the woman in black said about the Sect Leader going to the Miaohua Celestial Sect, and that time was running out... Does this mean this is happening right when Huan said the Five Great Celestial Sects were destroyed?’

’It’s very possible.’

Realizing something, Yang An continued to gaze at the Bow Lady’s original form.

Although he was surprised by the identity of the Bow Lady’s original form, Yang An was more interested in what had happened to her.

A long time after the woman in black died, the other woman slowly rose from her meditation cushion. The hem of her robes swayed gently as she turned around.

When he saw the woman’s face, Yang An’s first impression was one of breathtaking beauty.

Yang An had never seen the Bow Lady’s face. It was almost comical; they had known each other for so long, but the most he had ever seen of her was a single hand.

He had even imagined that the Bow Lady might look like the Evil Spirit on the bow.

If this woman looked exactly like the Bow Lady, then she was a peerless beauty, one who could even be described as ethereally transcendent.

But upon that peerless face, her right eye bore a crescent-shaped mark. It covered half the eye, making the entire orb look like a bright moon.

The woman had a cold and detached air, her expression devoid of joy or sorrow. It was impossible to know what she was thinking.

She took a step forward, bringing her closer to Yang An.

At that very moment, the world around them began to flow and shift like an ink wash painting, changing rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before Yang An had silently transformed, and he found himself in another, unknown place.

To Yang An’s shock, the woman who had been standing just a moment before was now lying in a pool of blood.

All around was a scene of utter devastation.

Huge fissures snaked across both heaven and earth. Countless corpses and chunks of flesh rained down from the sky, disintegrating into dust before they could even touch the ground.

The once magnificent palaces had been reduced to rubble, with plumes of smoke drifting everywhere.

Blood soaked the woman’s robes. A dozen or so swords had pierced her body, pinning her to the ground. The wounds were so severe that she couldn’t heal, as some strange power continuously eroded her body.

The woman was dead.

Yang An stood by, watching silently. He had tried, but he could do nothing. He couldn’t influence anything here; he could only be a passive observer.

’I thought things would change again soon after she died, that this wouldn’t be the end. Maybe there would be a turning point.’

’Otherwise, how did the Bow Lady come to exist?’

Puzzled, Yang An waited quietly. He waited for a long time as the world around him continued to be destroyed, the entire land descending into a Purgatory of the Human World.

Back at the Earth Demon Cliff, Yang An hadn’t believed what Huan had told him.

’The Five Great Celestial Sects, the very pinnacle of this world, could actually be annihilated?’

But now, seeing the terrifying, apocalyptic scene all around him, his certainty began to waver.

This was the Bow Lady’s memory. If no one had tampered with it, then everything here had truly happened, which would serve to verify Huan’s story.

’If the Southern Dipper Celestial Sect ended up like this, the other Celestial Sects couldn’t have fared much better.’

A long time passed, yet nothing changed. But before Yang An’s eyes, the corpse of the Bow Lady’s original form began to rapidly decay.

Her once peerless face and figure were consumed by maggots, decomposing and rotting away.

Before his eyes, the woman’s flesh rotted away to the bone, until finally, she became a mound of yellow earth, dissolving completely into the land.

But just as Yang An was wondering when the Bow Lady’s turning point would arrive, two figures suddenly appeared beside the woman’s remains.

Strangely, Yang An couldn’t see their faces.

They seemed to exist in a different time and space. Yang An knew they were there, and he knew they had arrived, but their forms were completely distorted.

"She was my child."

One of the figures spoke slowly, his tone tinged with a hint of sorrow that vanished almost immediately.

The dead cannot be brought back, and most Cultivators sever their emotions and desires, so that fleeting moment of sorrow was quickly extinguished.

Hearing this, Yang An immediately identified the speaker. ’It’s the Sect Leader of the Southern Dipper Celestial Sect—the father of the Bow Lady’s original form.’

"We’re running out of time."

the other figure said, their tone ice-cold.

"I know."

The Sect Leader of the Southern Dipper Celestial Sect extended his hand and made a beckoning gesture.

A wind seemed to rise from all directions, thick with the stench of blood. Within a radius of several thousand meters, it sounded as if countless Yin Souls were wailing in agony.