The Demon with Holy Radiance-Chapter 142 - 127: This is an Innate Flesh Mushroom? This is a Handsome Man

The thick, black soup was poured into Heart's mouth. The keratin mask on his face seemed incorporeal as the black liquid streamed down his cheeks and dripped from his chin.

He drank about half of the thick soup from the small cauldron, then immediately prepared to chant the so-called Spell.

"On Jiangcheng's ancient road, a century old, is there a Xian?~

The Xian hears the people's plight, better to be beasts than men, yea~

Pulling guts for rope and loop, drinking blood from bottled wine, tsk~

Swallowing grain is hard, with no meat to eat, children stew like porridge, oh~

We beg the Xian, we beg the Xian~ We beg the Xian, we beg the Xian~

Does the Xian hear?~ Does the Xian hear?~

Save our flesh~ Save our bones~ Save us from hunger~ Save our mortal shells~

Does the Xian hear?~ Does the Xian hear?~"

Yang An, White Bird, and the Child all took two steps back, forming a circle around Heart and watching his every move.

He swayed his head back and forth.

As the low chant slowly emanated from his mouth, each utterance of the word "Xian" was like a drumbeat, creating a peculiar frequency that seemed to make his voice slowly spread in all directions.

The chant was sometimes short, sometimes drawn out; sometimes a whisper, sometimes a shout.

By the time Heart finished this Xian-calling delirious chant, more than a dozen breaths had passed—not too short, but not too long either.

A faint anomaly seemed to stir in the surroundings, but Heart's delirious chant didn't stop.

The first repetition failed to elicit a response from the Xian, so he began a second time.

It was at this moment that Yang An noticed the exposed flesh on Heart's body beginning to rot before his very eyes.

Gray spots appeared first, like drops of ink spreading on water. Their color deepened as if seeping into the flesh, and then sections of skin began to sink inward, rapidly decaying.

Even with the Undying Body of the Visceral Stone Realm, his regenerative abilities seemed suppressed by the decay, and his healing slowed to a crawl.

Meanwhile, as Heart continued his low, delirious chant, blood began to seep from beneath the keratin mask on his face, dripping to the ground. DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.

Blood also oozed from his fingers and seeped through his shoes, soaking his clothes a dark, blackish-red.

Without any other visible action, the rot on his body slowly vanished. After two breaths, it was gone without a trace, and his body returned to normal.

All the while, his delirious chant continued uninterrupted, a constant, low drone.

'So this is the Innate Flesh Mushroom?'

Yang An watched this clearly from the side, a little shocked. The Child and White Bird, however, had no reaction, apparently accustomed to it.

He could now finally confirm that his own special ability and the Innate Flesh Mushroom were two completely different powers.

'Based on Heart's actions, it's clear the Innate Flesh Mushroom requires one to first bear the cost, and only then can one suppress the consequences that have already appeared.'

'But I don't need to bear any cost. I can erase it from the very beginning, remaining completely unaffected.'

Soon, Heart finished the second repetition and began the third.

Yang An noticed that the corrected chant was beginning to take effect. Subtle changes were starting to occur in their surroundings.

The sky grew a little darker than before. At the same time, a faint scent drifted through the air, like a very, very faint mixture of perfume and rot.

It felt as if something unseen was watching them. The feeling was ephemeral, appearing and disappearing at random.

Not only did Yang An sense it, but the Child and White Bird did as well. They scanned their surroundings, on alert for any unexpected developments.

The third time... the fourth time... the fifth time...

Heart continued his delirious chant, repeating it over and over, enduring the cost and then suppressing it.

As he chanted again and again, the area around them transformed dramatically.

The sky had become so gloomy that they could barely see. A hazy mist arose, rolling in like waves, one after another, washing over the area.

The mixture of perfume and rot grew stronger, becoming almost intoxicating.

Just as Heart began the sixth repetition of his chant, he suddenly stopped.

The others turned to look at him in unison.

"It has responded..."

Heart said in a low voice. Then, without any warning, his body exploded.

Flesh, shattered bone, and viscera splattered across the ground, dyeing it red. Only his head remained, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.

From within his exploded body, countless streams of black liquid scattered onto the ground. Like a swarm of crawling insects, they rapidly converged.

In the blink of an eye, the black liquid coalesced into a twisted, black, humanoid figure.

It seemed unable to hold a solid form, constantly shifting like a pool of water.

A severed lower leg lying at Yang An's feet twitched, then shot off in one direction. Soon, Heart's pulverized body had reformed.

The group all stared at the twisted humanoid figure.

'This is the Xian?'

As the twisted black humanoid appeared, a faint voice reached their ears.

"Seeker of Xian... seeker of me... devourer of me... seeking release..."

It seemed to be saying something, but none of them could understand it.

"Senior, we stumbled upon this place by mistake. We hope you will allow us to leave!"

White Bird didn't want to waste any more time and spoke directly.

But the twisted humanoid seemed to ignore her, continuing to mutter its incomprehensible words.

At the same time, a series of bloodcurdling screams echoed from the distance. Shortly after, a large amount of black liquid converged from that direction, flowing into the twisted humanoid's body.

The twisted humanoid, originally just the height of a man, rapidly expanded, becoming a giant over twenty feet tall in the span of a single breath.

At the same moment, Yang An and the others sensed something and looked behind them.

In a distant valley outside the city, a massive amount of black liquid was also beginning to converge and flow toward them.

A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from the twisted humanoid.

Oppressive, putrid, and deathly still!

"It doesn't want to let us leave! Stop it!"

Heart suddenly shouted.

As the one who had summoned the Xian, he seemed to be able to understand its words.

If they allowed it to absorb all of this black liquid, none of them would be its match, let alone be able to escape.

The moment he spoke, everyone sprang into action.

A phantom infant, even larger than the twisted humanoid, suddenly appeared behind it. It let out a piercing wail that felt sharp enough to pierce their eardrums.

The giant phantom infant lunged, wrapping its arms around the twisted humanoid and opening its mouth to devour it.

But as it took a bite, consuming more than half of the twisted humanoid's body, the phantom infant was instantly stained by a substance like black ink. It let out an even more piercing wail and then abruptly exploded.

The black liquid ultimately returned to the twisted humanoid's body, but the infant phantom was completely gone.

At the same time, a jet of white flame erupted from beneath the twisted humanoid, instantly engulfing it.

Countless figures seemed to appear within the white flames, tangling with the twisted humanoid and trying to bind it firmly.

Heart's body abruptly swelled, transforming into a monster over ten feet tall.

It was topped by a massive head with a single, enormous eye. Its limbs were short and stubby, and a dense network of veins bulged from its head, writhing and interweaving like earthworms.

The One-Eyed creature's eye opened. Countless mystic runes seemed to be inscribed upon the massive eyeball, and corresponding runes simultaneously appeared all over the twisted humanoid's body.

Yang An wasn't idle either. He immediately activated the Great Brightness Buddha Golden Zen Spell. A massive amount of Golden Radiance formed into sharp spikes that pierced the twisted humanoid's body, instantly turning it into a hedgehog of golden light.

But at that moment, the Bow Lady's voice suddenly sounded in Yang An's mind.

"You little brat! That's a handsome man! Quick, find a way to let me eat it!"

"A handsome man? Its soul is filthy?"

Yang An immediately understood the Bow Lady's meaning. The soul of this so-called Xian had to be incredibly foul for her to call it a "handsome man."

But the Bow Lady's next reply was completely unexpected.

"It doesn't have a soul. It's just a soulless vessel. But inside its body are at least several hundred handsome men! Quick! Find a way to let me eat it!"

If the Bow Lady were human, she would probably be drooling with greed right now.

"...I'll do my best."

Yang An nodded.

Until now, none of them had been able to sense any Cultivation Level aura from the twisted humanoid, making it impossible to know if it was strong or weak. He had initially thought the creature possessed some Magic Technique to conceal its aura.

But now, after hearing what the Bow Lady said, he realized this thing wasn't a single being at all, but merely a vessel containing many souls.

His conversation with the Bow Lady took place in a single breath, but in that time, the twisted humanoid—engulfed in white flames, controlled by countless mystic runes, and pierced by innumerable golden spikes—suddenly expanded once more.

At the same time, a flood of black liquid converged from all directions, about to merge into its body.

Just then, several more phantom infants appeared. They blocked the path in front of the twisted humanoid, letting out a series of wails that actually held back the black liquid, preventing it from advancing another inch.

"Don't let it absorb any more of that stuff!"

Everyone clearly knew that if they allowed it to merge with the black liquid, it would only become more terrifying. They needed to end this fight quickly.

"I'll finish it!"

White Bird shouted. As the one with the highest Cultivation Level among them, she instantly erupted in a massive torrent of white flames.

The flames engulfed her, melting her body away until only her head remained.

In an instant, the flames transformed into a giant hand that shot out and seized the twisted humanoid, gripping it tightly. It then unleashed a world-ending torrent of white-hot fire, attempting to melt the creature completely.

The attack was so powerful that even Yang An was stunned just by watching. Its might was likely no weaker than him simultaneously unleashing three of his own Light Magic Techniques at full power.

The twisted humanoid, enveloped in the white flames, contorted even more violently, looking as if it might melt at any moment.

But, to everyone's astonishment, countless human faces suddenly appeared within the twisted humanoid.

Every single face opened its mouth wide and devoured all of the white flames that White Bird had unleashed!

In the blink of an eye, the raging inferno was swallowed by those faces, and the twisted humanoid expanded once again.

The countless mystic runes that had covered its body also vanished without a trace.