The Demon with Holy Radiance-Chapter 186 - 170: The Price Is Out of Control! Still Fated to Toil

What could be inside the Witch Barrier?

Yang An had no idea. He waited a moment for Wen Yin and Zhou Quan to catch up. The three of them entered the passage together, walking over a hundred paces through the narrow corridor before reaching its end.

In the dead of night, their first sight within the Witch Barrier was a jungle so vast its edges were lost to the darkness.

The area resembled a massive basin, flanked by mountains and desolate wilds. Only its center was flat and surprisingly verdant, like an immense, primeval forest.

A strange sound echoed from the dense woods. In an instant, countless startled birds took flight, their bodies covered in white worms. As they flapped their wings, the worms rained down with a soft rustle.

Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from the distant forest, as if something had exploded.

Looking into the distance, they saw a countless mass of white substance gush hundreds of feet into the air like a geyser, creating another scene like a violent storm.

Upon closer inspection, the white substance resembled some kind of thick, viscous liquid, but as it fell, it formed into individual white worms that landed in the dense forest with a PITTER-PATTER.

The forest only fell completely silent after several breaths.

Yet, to their senses, the area felt utterly ordinary. They couldn't detect a thing.

There was no aura of a Cultivator or a Demon Fiend—nothing at all.

It looked like a perfectly normal jungle, yet it was filled with strangeness.

"Senior Brother, this is the Witch Barrier. Can we really enter the Outer Continent from here?"

Wen Yin scanned her surroundings. Although her Cultivation Level wasn't as high as Yang An's, her perception was exceptionally keen, allowing her to notice things that most people would miss.

Yang An studied the landscape. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem to border the Outer Continent.

'We can't possibly reach the Outer Continent just by crossing this forest, can we?'

'Then why not just fly over it from the outside? Why was it necessary to come here?'

After a moment of thought, Yang An could only come up with one possibility.

'A passage to the Outer Continent must be hidden here. It can't be as simple as walking straight through this boundless jungle.'

'Perhaps the entrance to the Outer Continent is somewhere within this jungle, which is why we had to enter this place.'

"Let's fly over and take a look."

Yang An made his decision. Since he couldn't sense the aura of any Cultivators or Demon Fiends, it meant they should be able to fly freely.

Wen Yin nodded, ready to follow his lead without question.

Grabbing Zhou Quan's hand, Yang An took him and Wen Yin into the air, flying toward the depths of the jungle.

'If the old man hadn't specifically told me to bring Wen Yin and Zhou Quan to the Outer Continent, I'd be tempted to just dump this dead weight,' he thought.

However, just as the three of them entered the airspace above the jungle, before they had flown far, they were suddenly struck by an immense pressure descending from the sky, as heavy as a mountain.

The expressions on all three of them changed at once as they plummeted into the jungle below.

The moment they hit the ground, however, the terrifying pressure vanished without a trace.

"This area is a no-fly zone!"

Yang An realized it immediately. Wen Yin and Zhou Quan's faces paled.

A no-fly zone meant they would have to traverse the jungle on foot.

"Senior Brother, look!"

Just then, Zhou Quan's voice was heavy.

Yang An followed his gaze down to the ground beneath their feet.

The ground, which had been overgrown with weeds just moments before, began to change rapidly after they landed.

The weeds quickly faded away, leaving only the surrounding trees.

The ground became smooth, suddenly reflecting the trees and the figures of Yang An and the others like a mirror beneath their feet.

It was as if the ground had turned into a polished mirror, and they were standing on its surface.

Zhou Quan tested it with a light stomp. The ground still felt soft like soil; the reflection underfoot seemed to be an illusion.

But his movement sent ripples spreading out across the mirrored surface in all directions.

Seeing this, the three of them paled once again.

The next moment, they heard a sudden TAP-TAP-TAPPING sound all around them.

From all directions, an innumerable, overwhelming swarm of white worms surged toward them.

VMMMM!

Yang An reacted fastest, immediately activating the Great Brightness Buddha Golden Zen Spell.

A Golden Light Barrier instantly manifested, enveloping all three of them and blocking the dense swarm of white worms.

When the white worms touched the Golden Radiance, they burst with a sound like popping corn, the CRACKLE and POP continuing ceaselessly.

Each white worm exploded, turning into a puff of white mist that dissipated into thin air.

Under Yang An's control, the barrier of Golden Radiance began to spin rapidly like a top, shredding any worm it touched.

This continued for more than ten breaths until the overwhelming swarm of worms finally vanished. Only a few scattered ones fell to the ground, and they too dissolved into mist.

These worms were not Demon Fiends, nor did they possess any real offensive power. They were as fragile as ordinary insects.

But until he understood the situation inside the Witch Barrier, it was best to avoid any reckless contact.

The Golden Radiance continued to shield the three. Seeing that the worms were gone, Yang An did not cancel the Technique.

The mirror-like reflection on the ground seemed designed to pinpoint their location; even the slightest movement caused ripples to spread.

So Yang An simply maintained the Technique, leading the other two deeper into the jungle and letting the Golden Radiance pulverize anything it touched.

Wen Yin and Zhou Quan followed closely behind Yang An, now understanding that their powerful Senior Brother was their backbone and protector.

The trio ventured deeper. Strangely, although ripples continued to spread from their feet, they did not attract any more worms, nor did any other strange phenomena occur.

After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they had traveled a considerable distance from the entrance. Since nothing had happened, they decided to pick up the pace.

But Yang An still had no clue, nor had he found any leads as to where within this Witch Barrier they might find the way into the Outer Continent.

A while later, as they were walking, Wen Yin and Zhou Quan, who were behind him, suddenly faltered and stopped.

Yang An turned around, puzzled. He was about to ask what they had found when he saw their condition and immediately sensed something was wrong.

Wen Yin was covering her eyes, her face contorted in agony. Her whole body convulsed and trembled as blood seeped from between her fingers, dripping down her arm to the ground.

A black, illusory shadow slowly emerged from within her body, enveloping her.

But the next moment, the black shadow transformed into the likeness of an Evil Spirit and bit down on Wen Yin's shoulder.

With a sickening CRUNCH, half of Wen Yin's body was torn away. Flesh and organs burst out, spraying a massive amount of blood.

The Evil Spirit swallowed her arm and the attached flesh whole, but Wen Yin's physical body was already healing rapidly, undergoing Flesh and Blood Rebirth.

As the spectral Evil Spirit continued to gnaw on her body, endless blood flowed from her hands, and a mass of slender red blood vessels swarmed out from between her fingers.

These thread-like red vessels crawled down Wen Yin's arm like a dense swarm of red horsehair worms, attaching to her body and spreading downward, attempting to cover her completely.

Beside her, Zhou Quan was also showing strange signs.

A crazed look appeared on his face as a black shadow suddenly materialized over it, completely obscuring his features and making him seem like a faceless man.

Dark red flames erupted violently from his body, engulfing him. Then, he charged straight at Yang An.

"Die… Die!"

THUD!

Yang An slapped him, sending him flying dozens of feet. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious after a single blow, and the flames dissipated.

'Too bad this guy isn't at the Visceral Stone Realm. I have to control my strength so I don't kill him. It's not satisfying at all,' Yang An thought.

However, the fact that two of them were afflicted with these strange conditions gave Yang An pause.

'Is this… the cost going out of control?!'

It seemed as if both Wen Yin and Zhou Quan had lost control of themselves, and the cost of their powers was running rampant.

That was the only explanation for why they were both afflicted while he remained completely unaffected.

'It's because I don't have any cost to bear, so of course, I'm fine.'

'Was it those worms from before?'

'Or…?'

Yang An looked down at the ripples spreading across the mirror-like ground and suddenly understood why the Witch Barrier was called a Forbidden Land, a place of no return.

If entering this place caused the costs for both Cultivators and Demon Fiends to spiral out of control, then for them, it truly was a deathtrap.

'Perhaps an Innate Flesh Mushroom can forcibly suppress the internal cost, even one that's out of control.'

'Otherwise, if the Workshop Master thinks I'm an Innate Flesh Mushroom, and even an Innate Flesh Mushroom can't suppress it, why would he have me enter the Outer Continent through the Witch Barrier?'

He looked at Wen Yin, her face a mask of pain as she endured her spiraling cost. The horsehair worm-like blood vessels had already spread down her body to her waist.

Yang An raised an eyebrow. The Golden Light Barrier instantly dissolved into countless motes of Golden Radiance that enveloped Wen Yin, rapidly shredding her body below the neck, along with the spreading blood vessels.

Soon, Wen Yin's body regenerated through Flesh and Blood Rebirth. The vessels were gone, but they immediately began to spread from her eyes again, creeping downward once more.

'It works!'

Yang An's eyes lit up.

'Anyway, Wen Yin is at the Visceral Stone Realm now, so she won't die from this so easily,' he thought, an idea quickly forming in his mind.

The Golden Radiance immediately formed into two golden ropes. One wrapped around Wen Yin, while the other bound Zhou Quan's ankle, the end held firmly in Yang An's hand.

'Looks like this Senior Brother is destined for a life of hard work.'

Yang An shook his head, pulled on the golden ropes, and began walking deeper into the jungle, dragging the two of them behind him.

'I have to find the entrance to the Outer Continent as soon as possible.'

As Yang An dragged them, their bodies carved long scratches and gouges into the ground, stirring up endless ripples.

Before long, Zhou Quan woke up. The moment he opened his eyes, he was greeted by another punch.

「About half an hour later.」

Yang An suddenly discovered a large well in the forest.