"Damn, it’s weird!"

Ma Donghe slapped his forehead loudly, puzzled:

"Where’s Buddha? Where’s the temple? I was about to take out my lucky money to donate for incense, and now it’s all gone in the blink of an eye?"

Hou Peng supported his knees with both hands, gasping heavily and looking around with lingering fear:

"Was that... a mental illusion just now?"

At this moment, Grey Eagle’s screams also stopped.

He scrambled backward, his eyes filled with extreme terror, hysterically shouting:

"We can’t go any further! I just felt it, that wasn’t Buddha at all, it was a giant mouth!"

"If we take one more step forward, we’ll all be devoured!"

Fang Cheng completely ignored Grey Eagle’s mad words.

He slowly exhaled a turbid breath, gathering his boiling and scorching energy.

He then pulled his feet out of the muddy pit, walked cautiously over the fallen leaves, continuing forward for a dozen paces.

Then, he stopped.

Fang Cheng raised his hand, palm probing forward.

The fingertips touched something, no longer the damp cold air and white mist.

Less than half a foot in front of him, a translucent, water-like golden barrier rippled with fine waves at his touch.

Chchch—

A subtle sizzling noise, like grilling meat, suddenly rang out.

A sharp burning sensation spread from his fingertips along the nerve endings, piercing deeply into his brain.

The seemingly sacred golden aura concealed a destructively high-dimensional radiation energy.

Even Fang Cheng’s physique, far beyond human limits, strong enough to withstand machine gun fire, struggled against it.

The outer skin quickly turned black and dissolved, emitting a wisp of acrid white smoke.

If it were an ordinary person, just a momentary touch would have reduced the entire finger to a pool of blood.

This verified the terrifying demise of Mountain Cat and Bald Rat earlier.

Fang Cheng’s gaze sharpened, yet he didn’t hastily retract his hand.

In the next moment, a pure golden flame emerged directly from under the skin of his palm.

The domineering, scorching True Sun Fire surged from the fingertips, clashing with the foreign corrosive energy attempting to invade his body.

The two distinct forces grappled and devoured each other on a square inch of skin, producing a dull sizzling sound.

Ultimately, the Golden Flame prevailed, incinerating the attached radiation energy completely.

Soon after, dead black skin fell away from his fingertip wound, the red flesh intertwining to heal.

In just a few seconds, the corroded skin regrew and healed, as smooth as before.

Not even the slightest scar was left behind.

After probing the nature of the Golden Light Barrier, Fang Cheng slowly retracted his hand.

He raised his head, his gaze penetrating the lingering wisp of smoke from his fingertips, looking ahead.

Through the distorted, water-like halo, the dark abyssal space beyond the barrier was faintly visible.

"Is this the entrance to the Otherworld?"

Fang Cheng muttered to himself.

Tap, tap.

A series of footsteps sounded behind him.

Ma Donghe and Hou Peng approached, steeling their nerves.

"Ah Cheng, what exactly is this thing? It’s creepy." Ma Donghe craned his neck, curiously peering at the glowing barrier.

"This should be the entrance to the ancient ruins." Fang Cheng turned, clapped his hands, and said in a low voice:

"I’m planning to go inside and check it out."

"That sounds great!"

At Fang Cheng’s words, Ma Donghe slapped his palm against his chest with fanlike hands, brazenly exclaimed:

"Since we’ve found the place, let’s go in together and see what treasures are hidden inside!"

Hou Peng also tightened his grip on the dagger, nodding in agreement, clearly unwilling to miss this tremendous opportunity.

Fang Cheng looked at the eager duo, shook his head, and directly poured a bucket of cold water on them:

"This barrier can corrode even my body; given your current constitution, forcing your way through is a surefire path to death."

Before Ma Donghe could argue, he lifted his chin, indicating for them to look around:

"Take a look around, where have Mountain Cat and Bald Rat gone?"

At these words, the smiles on Ma Donghe and Hou Peng’s faces froze.

Engulfed in extremetermined shock earlier, they completely overlooked the changes in the surrounding numbers.

Prompted by Fang Cheng, the two quickly turned to scan their surroundings.

Sure enough, the shadows of the two assassins were nowhere to be seen.

The slumping Grey Eagle heard Fang Cheng’s words and shuddered.

He hurriedly scrambled up from the mud, cupping his hands and yelled towards the dense fog:

"Mountain Cat! Bald Rat!"

The gray-white mist rolled slowly like a tide.

All around was deathly silent; apart from the wind, there was no response.

"Stop calling them."

Observing Grey Eagle’s futile actions, Fang Cheng said calmly:

"They were fooled by the illusion earlier, stepped into this golden light, and in just an instant, were completely dissolved into blood, vaporized without a trace."

With these words, the air seemed to freeze instantly.

Ma Donghe and Hou Peng’s excitement instantly faded.

Cold sweat rapidly beaded on their foreheads, streaming down their cheeks.

If Fang Cheng hadn’t shattered the illusion with a roar just now, the two of them would undoubtedly have ended up like the assassins, reduced to nothing.

"Damn it!"

Ma Donghe gasped, retreated two steps in lingering fear, and cursed:

"This bald monk in Buddha’s guise is too ruthless, devouring people without a trace!"

Hou Peng’s face paled further; he inhaled deeply, solemnly bowed to Fang Cheng: