The Demon with Holy Radiance-Chapter 171 - 155: The Chaotic Life Crane Sect, I’m Coming to Save You

Looking at He Tou's stare, Yang An was certain that if he refused to go, his fate would be worse than death.

"Yes! Master!"

Cursing the old geezer in his heart, Yang An had no choice but to steel himself and nod, quickly disappearing from Elder Life Crane's sight.

It wasn't until Yang An was long gone that He Tou turned to Elder Life Crane with a smile.

"I thought that kid was just fearlessly ignorant, throwing his life away. To think he'd dare force a breakthrough to Corpse Transformation with an Innate Flesh Mushroom. At least he knows his own limits."

"Still, old geezer, when are you planning to make your move? I'm so hungry I can't take it anymore!"

"Let them grind against each other a little longer. The time isn't ripe yet."

Elder Life Crane said, his face devoid of expression.

"That Great Virtue Temple really underestimates us, sending just one old Monk at the Zombie God Realm. I thought they'd at least dispatch someone from the Insect Dao Realm."

He Tou licked its lips, a bloodthirsty light glinting in its eyes.

"After hiding for so many years, I'm not the man I once was. Since the Great Virtue Temple is so arrogant, this is a perfect opportunity to collect some early interest."

"But…"

As if a thought struck him, a glimmer of excitement suddenly appeared in Elder Life Crane's eyes.

"But what?"

He Tou asked curiously.

"What if... what if the Great Virtue Temple is stretched thin right now? Is it possible that's why they could only send a Zombie God, and not someone from the Insect Dao Realm?"

Elder Life Crane said slowly.

He Tou's eyes narrowed into a slit.

"Then wouldn't that mean?"

"A golden opportunity!"

"Then we'll go to the Outer Continent! If the Great Virtue Temple is really in trouble, then it's time for revenge! We must have our revenge!"

"Yes! We must have our revenge! Great Virtue Temple has already found us here, so we'd have to leave sooner or later anyway. They will never expect us to do the exact opposite."

"Hahahaha! That's just like you, you old devil!"

The man and the crane looked at each other and smiled, their figures vanishing in the blink of an eye.

「...」

Meanwhile, Yang An weaved through the dilapidated alleyways of the Life Crane Sect, cursing the old monster countless times in his heart.

'What does he mean, *just* one Zombie God and eight Corpse Transformations?!'

'He talks as if Zombie Gods and Corpse Transformations are a dime a dozen.'

'Don't tell me that geezer doesn't even take the Zombie God Realm seriously.'

'Then how strong is he? Could he be at the Insect Dao Realm?'

'But if the old geezer is at the Insect Dao Realm, why would the Great Virtue Temple send just one person from the Zombie God Realm and eight from the Corpse Transformation Realm? Aren't they just serving themselves up on a platter?'

'Would the Great Virtue Temple really be that stupid?'

From Yang An's perspective, the whole situation was impossibly complex. He couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Compared to Jin Tong's previous warnings, the old geezer's current attitude made it all seem like a gross exaggeration.

'What kind of cataclysm is this supposed to be!'

'The old geezer doesn't seem to give a damn!'

But right now, Yang An couldn't be bothered to overthink it. His priority was figuring out how to deal with the old monster's orders.

'There's no way I'm going to face the enemy head-on.'

'Even if those people from the Great Virtue Temple are all at the Corpse Transformation Realm, so am I.'

'But aside from the high chance of exposing my true strength, there's no guarantee their Zombie God Realm master won't make a move.'

'The only thing I'm sure of is that whether the enemy attacks or not, that old geezer will absolutely stand by and watch. He'd definitely do something like that.'

'So, I'll just go through the motions of following the old monster's orders. Self-preservation is what's most important.'

Just as Yang An decided to lie low and muddle through the chaos…

BOOM!

A ball of fire suddenly erupted before him, instantly blasting an already dilapidated building into rubble.

The next instant, a figure was sent flying backward at high speed, crashing into a pile of rubble and carving out a large crater.

A thick mist of blood erupted from the crater, only to be instantly drawn back in. A Monk in a gray kasaya rose from the pit.

But at that moment, a burly, feral figure appeared abruptly behind the Monk.

A massive fire dragon instantly pierced the Monk's chest. Flames frantically consumed his physical body, spewing thick black smoke.

Wild Forbidden, looking like a crazed demon, was pinning down another body. Several other fire dragons writhed across his own form, continuously gnawing away at the flesh of the body he held.

He let out a maniacal laugh, his eyes filled with bloodlust.

But just then, the faces of the two Monks twisted in agony. Their bodies suddenly swelled to several times their original size, their flesh and blood turning pitch-black as golden cracks spiderwebbed across their skin.

RRRIP!

Working together, they tore Wild Forbidden's body in half. Blood instantly spewed forth in a torrent, staining the ground red.

Then, shockingly, the two Monks each plunged a hand into the other's body and pulled outward with great force.

SHIING!

They each pulled a white Demon-Slaying Pestle, still trailing gore and tissue, from within the other's body. They then abruptly plunged the pestles into the two halves of Wild Forbidden's corpse.

Wild Forbidden's body began to twitch madly, but a crazed smile appeared on his ruined face.

The moment he saw this, Yang An didn't hesitate. He immediately activated the Light and Shadow Escape Technique, blinking several hundred meters away.

It was at that exact moment that fire and flesh intertwined, and a colossal, human-headed dragon wreathed in thick smoke suddenly soared into the sky.

Wild Forbidden's head had somehow shattered and reformed upon the crimson flames, creating a massive head of flesh and fire. Within the flames, his hands and feet had become scaled claws of flesh, and his long hair flowed like whiskers.

He let out an earth-shattering, bizarre dragon's roar—a sound like an agonized but ecstatic wail.

It instantly plummeted from the sky, charging toward the two now-demonic Monks.

Yang An didn't have time to see what happened next, as a new battle had also broken out to his left.

At some point, You Hong'er had transformed. She now resembled a siren in a red dress, but with a long, serpentine tail. From the top of her head to the tip of her tail, her spine was studded with sword blades that glinted with a cold light.

The blades moved as if they were her arms, or perhaps rows of sharp serrated teeth.

And before her stood two more Monks in gray kasayas.

This time, however, the two Monks had fused into one. They had become a Flesh and Blood Dharma Body nearly twenty feet tall, with two heads and four arms. It wielded four Human Head Vajra Circles and glared with furious eyes.

The two sides clashed, and the shockwave reached Yang An's position in the blink of an eye. A long gash from a sword strike scarred the ground right next to him, and numerous buildings were obliterated.

Yang An repeatedly activated his Light and Shadow Escape Technique, blinking again and again until he was over a kilometer away. Only then did he realize that the entire Life Crane Sect had become a chaotic, perilous battlefield.

Not far off, fleshy tentacles covered in fine black hair would periodically lash out, striking at a One-Eyed Monk.

The Monk sat cross-legged in mid-air. Beneath him, a Lotus Platform composed entirely of contorted, agonized faces had materialized, fending off the attacks from the fleshy tentacles.

Elsewhere, countless blood-stained strips of cloth coalesced into massive, savage Fierce Beasts that swarmed a Monk. In the blink of an eye, they devoured his flesh and blood entirely, leaving not even a single drop behind.

But the next moment, one of the Fierce Beasts abruptly exploded into countless tiny pieces.

A monster with an enormous head but an ordinary-sized body appeared. Its head, like a balloon stretched to its breaking point, suddenly burst, splattering golden blood across the sky.

The surrounding Fierce Beasts disintegrated the instant they touched the golden blood, turning to dust.

In another corner, a coffin lay silently atop a pile of rubble. Beside it stood a Monk in a gray kasaya.

BAM!

The Monk slammed his fist onto the coffin, but it only emitted a dull thud and showed no other reaction.

The Monk's body instantly swelled, becoming burly as if inflated. He rained several more punches down on the coffin, but it remained unresponsive.

The Monk, seemingly enraged by the humiliation, was about to resort to a more powerful method when his body abruptly froze. A moment later, he fell stiffly to the ground with a THUD...

「...」

Gazing at the battle-scarred landscape of the Life Crane Sect, Yang An realized he had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, unless he made for the Heavenly Respect Pavilion.

'Damn it!'

Yang An muttered a curse. He hadn't expected to be left without even a safe place to stand. 'These guys really know how to pick their battlegrounds.'

'I can't stay here any longer, or I'll definitely get caught in the crossfire!'

Yang An immediately decided to run for the entrance to Corpse Saliva Valley. While most of the Life Crane Sect was embroiled in battle, there was still a dungeon at the mouth of the valley.

'I can hide in the dungeon for a while. Surely no one would be there, right?'

But just as Yang An was about to hurry and leave, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Senior Brother! Save me!"

The voice came from not far away. When Yang An looked over, he immediately saw Zhou Quan running quickly towards him, a look of joyful surprise on his face.

"Senior Brother! Quick, save me!"

Yang An saw a Monk slowly pursuing him. The Monk's pace wasn't fast, yet he consistently remained just behind Zhou Quan.

The Monk trod on a patch of shadow, as if walking on darkness itself. He fiddled with a string of Prayer Beads, chanting a Buddhist mantra as he advanced step by deliberate step.

He followed unhurriedly behind Zhou Quan, like a cat toying with a mouse. Only when he spotted Yang An did he stop, still several dozen feet away.

Zhou Quan scrambled behind Yang An, his fearful gaze fixed on the now-stationary Monk, as if he had finally found his protector.

"Senior Brother, this man wants to kill me!"

"Of course, of course. Senior Brother will save you right now!"

A strange smile spread across Yang An's face as he abruptly slammed a hand onto Zhou Quan's.

Light suddenly burst from his hand!

A look of stunned disbelief flashed across Zhou Quan's face. Before he could even react, he was completely engulfed by the light.

The light only faded after the flesh and blood in Yang An's grasp had been incinerated to ash.

Drawing his hand back, Yang An turned his wary gaze to the Monk before him.

'This Zhou Quan was a fake!'

'I secretly marked everyone in the Life Crane Sect, except for the old geezer, with a Qi Seal. I can tell real from fake with a single thought.'

'Trying to trick me with a cheap stunt like that? I'm not that easy to fool.'