The Demon with Holy Radiance-Chapter 107 - 96: Deeper and Deeper, Clouds and Mist, Vegetation, Stone Stele, Mountain...

Chapter 107: Chapter 96: Deeper and Deeper, Clouds and Mist, Vegetation, Stone Stele, Mountain...

The lush, green mountain still loomed before him, its peak wreathed in clouds and mist. Everything seemed unchanged, yet the once-clear sky had grown considerably darker.

Elder Life Crane and Mother Divination True Master said nothing, once again heading toward the mountain steps. Yang An hesitated for a moment but had no choice but to follow.

As he neared the Stone Stele, he was somehow able to make out the words on its surface.

The smaller text was still too blurry to read, but even the once-clear words "Miaohua Celestial Sect" had somehow become a little fuzzy.

Then, they passed the Stone Stele and set foot on the stone steps.

In an instant, Yang An’s vision went black again!

This time, however, it wasn’t complete darkness. He could make out a massive, shadowy silhouette right before them, one that seemed to overlap with the mountain itself.

Just like before, it was only for an instant, and Yang An’s vision returned to normal.

’How strange!’

’That’s the second time!’

Yang An stopped in his tracks, puzzled. Happening twice in a row, he couldn’t help but grow wary.

But seeing the figures of the old man and Mother Divination True Master pulling away again, he had no choice but to follow.

When the group once again neared the mountain’s peak, just like before, a group of people flew out from the Sect, heading toward them.

"Who dares trespass in our Miaohua Celestial Sect—"

BANG—

Before the words were even finished, the speaker exploded into a shower of blood.

Elder Life Crane and Mother Divination True Master didn’t pause for a second, continuing their ascent. A swarm of Gooey Insects once again scrambled for the falling flesh and blood before burrowing back into Mother Divination True Master’s fleshy skirt.

Yang An had seen this scene before. As they drew closer and closer to the Sect on the summit, they were about to reach the end of the stone steps.

’So, next...’

’I’m going to be killed again?!’

Sure enough, just as the ominous thought flashed through Yang An’s mind, Elder Life Crane grabbed him by his clothes again. They crossed an immeasurable distance and entered a majestic grand hall.

Following a familiar cry of pain from Mother Divination, Yang An’s body exploded once more, and his vision instantly went black.

This time, however, before his consciousness faded, he noticed a massive statue in the very center of the hall. He just didn’t get a clear look at what it depicted.

HAAH—

Yang An gasped, coming to his senses yet again. Fury surged within him as he looked up at the scene before him.

’I knew it!’

’They... were back again!’

They were still at the foot of the mountain of the Miaohua Celestial Sect, but this time, the surrounding scenery and the sky had changed noticeably.

The sky had turned a gloomy gray. The dark heavens, like an impending storm, seemed to press down, making it hard to breathe.

The mountain before him, once a peaceful place wreathed in clouds, fragrant with flowers, and filled with birdsong—what should have been an Immortal Land—had now undergone a visible transformation.

The clouds and mist on the summit had grown thicker, turning from white to a pale red. The once-lush forests and vegetation had begun to show varying degrees of yellowing and withering.

What caught Yang An’s attention the most, however, were the flights of stone steps leading up the mountain.

The once perfectly neat, square-cut steps now had their edges seemingly worn smooth and rounded, as if they were layers of some soft material stacked together. Even the moss on the steps looked as though it was about to melt.

"This is the third layer!"

Mother Divination True Master, standing beside him, muttered these baffling words as she stared at the scene. She then continued to follow Elder Life Crane toward the steps.

Yang An followed, noticing that the Stone Stele of the Miaohua Celestial Sect had also changed.

The inscribed words "Miaohua Celestial Sect" were now so blurry that they were almost unrecognizable without careful inspection.

The smaller characters looked as if they had been heavily pixelated, their very shapes now impossible to discern.

The moss covering the Stone Stele looked like melting wax, dripping down drop by drop.

The three of them passed the Stone Stele once again and stepped onto the stone stairs.

HUMMM!

’It’s happening again!’

Yang An’s vision suddenly became incredibly dim. The massive shadowy silhouette was indeed overlapping with the mountain before him, and it had become slightly clearer.

But for some reason, the moment he saw this silhouette, Yang An was overcome with a feeling of suffocation.

It felt as if the entire sky was about to collapse on top of him, crushing the air from his lungs.

The vision, arriving right on cue, vanished in an instant, and his sight returned to normal.

’The third time!’

If once or twice could be an illusion, then having it happen three times in a row, always at the exact moment he passed the Stone Stele to step onto the stairs... this wasn’t a coincidence, but an inevitability. It was deeply unsettling.

Yang An instinctively sensed a dangerous aura about it, one that seemed to draw nearer. The higher he climbed, the more intense this sense of crisis became, filling him with unease.

The initial peace and tranquility had been completely transformed with each return to the starting point.

But he had no choice but to keep pace with Elder Life Crane and continue the ascent.

Even if he didn’t want to go, he was no longer in a position to refuse. He could only follow.

When Yang An set foot on the stone steps, they no longer felt hard like stone. Instead, there was a strange softness to them, as if he were treading on something pliable. They were even a little slick.

Soon, the three of them once again reached the area near the summit.

Once again, figures flew out from the Miaohua Celestial Sect, heading toward them.

This time was different, however. The figures flying out of the Sect were all changed and twisted to varying degrees.

Parts of their flesh had melted away, and where their internal organs should have been exposed, their bodies were instead filled with clusters of black tumors.

The tumors jostled together, swaying slightly within their ruined husks.

"Who dares trespass in our Miaohua Celestial Sect! State your name!"

BANG—

This time they managed to speak a full sentence, but their voices, compared to the previous two times, were no longer as clear, becoming muffled and indistinct.

But as soon as the words fell, an explosive sound followed, instantly turning several of the figures into a rain of pulpy flesh.

’They weren’t all wiped out!’

The previous two times, whenever Mother Divination True Master attacked, she had annihilated all of them in an instant.

But now, their Cultivation Level auras were unchanged—still at the Primordial Feeding Realm—yet fewer people died from Mother Divination True Master’s attack this time. Half of them were still left.

Seeing half their sect-mates die in an instant, the remaining figures became enraged and lunged at Yang An and his companions.

A huge number of Gooey Insects emerged from under Mother Divination True Master’s skirt, coalescing in the blink of an eye into a towering humanoid figure dozens of feet tall. It struck out with its palm.

Suddenly, a torrent of slime spewed forth. The lunging members of the Miaohua Celestial Sect couldn’t dodge in time and were all hit. In less than the blink of an eye, they all plummeted from midair.

The humanoid figure made of Gooey Insects instantly disintegrated back into a swarm, which pounced on the fallen people, devouring them in moments.

Mother Divination True Master’s brow furrowed slightly.

"Senior, I’m afraid the fourth layer will be difficult to handle."

"It is of no concern!"

Elder Life Crane replied flatly, his expression unchanging, and continued upward.

"If you’re scared, then scram! What’s the point of coming to the Ancient Collection!"

He Tou, however, turned its head to jeer at Mother Divination True Master.

"Yes!"

Mother Divination True Master didn’t dare to argue and immediately continued forward.

’The fourth layer?’

’There’s a fourth layer?’

’Doesn’t that mean I have to explode one more time?’

Yang An watched their backs, his mind racing.

Based on the current situation, he was beginning to figure things out.

This so-called Ancient Collection was the grounds of a Sect. Every time the old man brought him into the Miaohua Celestial Sect, he would use his flesh and blood as a sacrifice.

Each time he exploded, he would return to the entrance of the Miaohua Celestial Sect, and everything about the Sect would undergo all sorts of strange transformations.

In other words, this place had to be delved into progressively, and it was divided by layers. They were currently on the third layer, and there would be a fourth, and perhaps even more after that!

Yang An’s heart grew even heavier. He was now certain that the danger he instinctively felt was intensifying the deeper they went into the Ancient Collection.

But he could only follow. There was no turning back. To obtain the subsequent Cultivation Technique, he had no other choice.

Soon, they reached the end of the stone steps again. This time, Yang An was not surprised to be dragged into the grand hall by Elder Life Crane once more.

But this time, upon entering the hall, Yang An immediately looked up at the massive statue and finally got a clear view of its appearance.

The statue was over thirty feet tall. It was a ferocious, glaring Dharma Aspect with twelve arms, each hand wielding a different weapon. But all the weapons were pointing down.

That’s right, the tips of all these weapons were pointed downward, aimed at a stone platform.

And this stone platform was very familiar to Yang An. It was the same massive one they had seen at the bottom of the Xiyue River, right down to the identical, intricate patterns.

The old man seized him and slammed him down onto the stone platform.

Yang An only had time for a fleeting glance before he exploded again.

Splatters of fresh blood dyed all the weapons in the statue’s hands red and drenched the platform beneath him. As the patterns on the platform lit up, everything around them seemed to undergo another change.

...

’The fourth layer!’

Yang An quickly came to his senses and looked at his surroundings.

’This time, everything really has changed!’

The original atmosphere of peace and serenity had completely vanished. Black clouds coalesced in the sky, so close it felt as if the heavens were about to collapse.

The mountain before him had transformed completely. The clouds enshrouding the summit were as crimson as blood, like a thick red veil that completely hid the Miaohua Celestial Sect above.

In the visible areas, all the trees on the entire mountain had withered. They were leafless and had turned black, creating an incredibly eerie sight.

All the exposed earth had turned a sickly yellow. A glance at the ground revealed countless pits of all sizes, from which a yellow, viscous liquid that looked extremely greasy was welling up.

The surface of the Stone Stele before the Mountain Gate looked as if it had grown a keratinous layer. The engraved words were now completely illegible, and the melting moss resembled a layer of pale yellow grease and filth.

Even the stone steps leading up the mountain no longer resembled steps at all. They looked more like layered folds of flesh piled on top of one another.

Even the mountain breeze carried a foul stench of rot and decay.

But none of this was what shocked Yang An the most. What made him unable to look away, what struck him to his core and filled him with a sudden, profound sense of terror...

...was the mountain itself!

The mountain had revealed its true form.

It was a colossal, grotesquely bloated and obese humanoid figure, sitting cross-legged on the ground!!

’Holy shit!’