The Demon with Holy Radiance-Chapter 181 - 165: Self, True Form, Eyes

Red feathers interlaced with crimson flames, pulsing across Life Crane's entire body. Every inch of his flesh glowed with a vibrant light, making him look as if he were wearing a brilliant, blood-colored feathered cloak.

Life Crane extended a hand, and a small flame flickered to life on his fingertip.

"My disciple, you attempted to use Mana to affect your master, and you succeeded."

"But how can you possibly face the Power of Rules that I command?"

The small flame danced on Life Crane's finger. A round hole appeared in its center as the fire began to collapse inward, only to grow larger from the other side.

With continuous collapsing and swelling, the flame, which was originally the size of a fingertip, quickly grew to the size of a fist.

"You see, the Lighting Technique doesn't actually require Mana. You should have known from the moment you began to master this Daoist Technique that it originates from within ourselves. And it can ignite all living things!"

"Like this!"

As he spoke, Life Crane flicked the flame from his fingertip.

The fist-sized flame instantly appeared before Fu Ming. In that moment, everything seemed to freeze, and only Life Crane's voice continued to echo.

"Do you see this fire? This is a Rule. It does not come from a Forbidden Artifact, but from one of my former disciples—one of your senior brothers!"

"During his first tribulation, he saw his true self. His soul was imprinted with this self, so this fragment of a Rule also originates from the self!"

As Life Crane's voice faded, the frozen world instantly returned to normal.

The cracks on Fu Ming's face suddenly widened, and as if his gaze was locked, the flame swiftly sank into his flesh.

VWOOM!

In a mere instant, Fu Ming's body, dozens of feet tall, was engulfed in crimson flames.

A huge hole began to form in the center of his body, mirroring the path the flame had taken in Elder Life Crane's hand. All of Fu Ming's flesh twisted and collapsed inward toward the hole.

Shrill screams erupted from Fu Ming's body, spreading out in waves—a sound of unbearable agony.

But in the instant his flesh transitioned from collapsing to expanding, it ruptured across vast areas.

The fleshy tentacles connected to his body rapidly swelled, pumping more flesh into him.

He seemed to be struggling to maintain his physical form, fighting not to collapse under this Power of Rules called "Self."

But his body kept twisting, collapsing again and again, unable to return to its normal state.

Just then, Elder Life Crane made his next move.

He plucked a feather from his own body.

The red feather burned with crimson flames, emitting a red glow.

Though this faint light was like a firefly next to the full moon compared to the brilliance currently radiating from his body, it could not be ignored.

As flames wove around the feather, the moment it was plucked, it was consumed. Black smoke burned from within it, swirling and lingering despite the surrounding storm.

"This is also a Rule. It, too, comes from a former disciple of mine. He came long before you. He was quite a bit like you, actually—my second disciple."

"When he encountered Cang Zhuo, he saw his original form. So, I call this small portion of the Power of Rules 'Original Form'."

Elder Life Crane seemed to recall something, and a faint smile appeared on his vicious crane head.

The flames burned the feather to ash. The wisp of black smoke that rose from it suddenly took on Fu Ming's appearance.

The form the black smoke took was Fu Ming's usual appearance, identical in every way.

But after taking on Fu Ming's form, the black smoke merely took two steps forward before slowly dissipating.

And as the smoke dissipated, a large amount of black smoke burst from within the body of Fu Ming, who was still being ravaged by the flames.

The black smoke instantly enveloped his body. While still enduring the first Power of Rules, Fu Ming, who had already turned into a monster, began to rapidly revert to his original form.

All the flesh on his body compressed, and the numerous tentacles that had appeared on him shattered and collapsed inch by inch.

Blood mixed with bone fragments, returning to his original form only to collapse again in an instant, as if being frantically churned in a blender until it was all just a muddled heap.

Life Crane shook his head at the sight, but still, he made another move.

From the human face on top of his head, Life Crane touched an eye socket and slowly removed an eyeball.

The eyeball was smooth and round, unstained by a single drop of blood, as if it were meant to be removed and used at will.

Its black pupil contracted slightly, staring at Elder Life Crane, seemingly watching his every move.

"This is also a Rule. To be precise, it contains very little of the Power of Rules—not even enough to be called a fragment. But I treasure it nonetheless."

SPLAT—

Elder Life Crane clenched his fist, and the eyeball burst in his hand.

But when Elder Life Crane slowly opened his palm, it was covered in eyeballs. A dense field of pupils all stared up at him, their gazes never leaving him as he moved his hand.

Elder Life Crane admired it as if it were a marvelous treasure. He held his hand up before him, fingers splayed, and the human face atop his head revealed a look of rapt fascination.

"You must be curious about the origin of this trace of the Power of Rules, aren't you?"

He looked at the tormented Fu Ming, speaking as if to himself, regardless of whether Fu Ming could hear him.

"It actually comes from me. I once saw my mirror self. Hmm... even if you have all seen your mirror selves, you surely can't imagine it. It's difficult for me to describe."

"Perhaps that is the truth we were always meant to see. After all, this world is full of illusions, heh heh."

"I call it 'Eyes.' To be honest, I hate coming up with these names. Whenever I have to name something, it drives me mad. Ah... He refuses to help me with ideas. How utterly detestable."

With that, Elder Life Crane extended his hand, aiming the palm full of eyes at the distant Fu Ming.

As his fingers slowly flexed, rays of prismatic light enveloped Fu Ming's flesh, like a cage of intersecting mirrors that split him into countless reflections.

On those mirrored surfaces, one could see all of Fu Ming's emotions—joy, anger, sorrow—and even expressions he had never shown before.

Each expression seemed to focus on the flesh within the mirror, only to slowly shatter.

CRASH—

It was the genuine sound of shattering mirrors.

But in that instant, everything vanished—the red fire, the black smoke.

THUD!

A human head fell to the ground, rolled, and finally came to a stop five meters away from Elder Life Crane.

It was Fu Ming's head. Blood had already splattered, forming a thick, stark line on the ground.

His eyes were open. Only his head remained, his flesh unable to regenerate. His expression was numb, devoid of sorrow or joy.

Seeing Fu Ming's head roll to a stop, the human face atop Elder Life Crane's head showed a flicker of disappointment.

He drew his hand back, plucked one eyeball from his palm, and placed it back in the human face's socket. The other eyes instantly disintegrated, leaving a series of pits in his hand.

"I thought you would have more resolve. You received my teachings, yet you could only withstand three applications of the Power of Rules. You are still too weak."

"So now do you understand what true strength is, Fu Ming?"

Life Crane no longer called him "disciple," but used his name directly, as if the bond between master and student had truly been severed.

"Hh... Hh..."

Only Fu Ming's head remained, yet he was still gasping for breath. From the flesh of his neck, his trachea opened and closed, releasing faint puffs of warm air.

"Master... Master..."

He called out to Life Crane, his form of address the same as always, but his face was filled with regret. He began to speak, his life fading with every word.

"I... all I wanted was... was to truly fight you, Master. But you never gave... your disciple that chance. What a pity... heh—"

Hearing Fu Ming's words, a look of pity appeared on the human face atop Elder Life Crane's head.

With a soft sigh, the flames around Life Crane's body quickly dissipated. His flesh twisted and writhed as the feathers all retracted back into his skin.

He still maintained his vicious crane head as he slowly walked over to Fu Ming, stopping before him and looking down.

"You are not the Wild Forbidden, nor are you You Hong'Er. You are no one."

"Your Spirit has been corrupted. Everything about you is useless to me. That is why my feelings toward you have always been pure—you held no value for me to exploit."

"Heh—"

A bitter smile touched Fu Ming's lips.

"Thank you, Master."

he said slowly. 'And I'm almost glad. At least this way, my ultimate fate is different from the others.'

'So, this too is a kind of existence outside the Rules. I followed the rules my whole life, only to finally break free of them. It's just... the ending is a bit hard to accept.'

"Master, there is one thing your disciple must ask of you."

His time was running out. That he could still breathe was a final act of mercy from Life Crane.

Life Crane remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I... I never forgot about Fu'an. He is my brother, after all. So, Master... your disciple still wants to try."

Fu Ming slowly closed his eyes, and his last wisp of breath vanished.

But at that exact moment, a fluctuation inside his skull suddenly detonated, blasting outward in all directions and instantly piercing through Elder Life Crane's body.

The human face on top of Elder Life Crane's head instantly showed a look of astonishment.

As Fu Ming's head turned to dust, Elder Life Crane's body was likewise torn to pieces.

Flesh, bone, and blood—all of it disintegrated in an instant, reduced to countless fine particles of dust.

In the distance, the Heavenly Respect Pavilion, which had been perfectly intact, suddenly collapsed.

The red storm that had enveloped the entire Life Crane Sect transformed into a sky-spanning Red Fog in an instant, then rapidly dissipated.

Even the Life Crane Sect itself vanished in that moment, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.

Everything was silently deconstructed and silently reduced to nothingness. Even the colossal giant that held up the entire Life Crane Sect was caught in the blast, more than half of its body vanishing without a trace.

...

「An unknown amount of time later」

From a deep pit in the ground, a furious curse suddenly rang out.

"You son of a bitch! Who taught him to self-destruct a Forbidden Artifact Fragment? If I get my hands on them, I'll make them wish they were never born!"

A figure slowly emerged from the pit, its flesh and blood in a highly unstable state, looking as if it might fall apart again at any moment.

Elder Life Crane had returned to his original form, but his expression was foul.

The flesh on his body writhed, constantly shedding sand and dirt as if expelling impurities from within.

"You old bastard! This is the fine disciple you taught! Serves you right for showing off! Your little performance nearly caused a catastrophe, you old fool!"

He Tou was ranting, venting his fury and, as usual, cursing out Elder Life Crane in the process.

Elder Life Crane took a deep breath, waiting for his physical body to stabilize.

"That's enough. We should go."

He Tou seemed to realize Elder Life Crane was in a terrible mood, so he stopped after a few more curses.

"Time to head back to the Outer Continent?"

"First, let's find our little disciple."

"Heh heh, are you sure he's still alive?"

"Since he was able to use the Innate Flesh Mushroom to achieve the Corpse Transformation, he might just have survived. Don't underestimate him."

"Let's find him first. We still need him for the matter concerning the Great Virtue Temple!"