The Old Gods

Chapter 1023 June in the Human World
June in the human world is a time of scorching summer heat.

The deserted, rain-soaked town, devoid of any signs of human activity, felt somewhat like a post-apocalyptic place due to the encroachment of vegetation.

The dilapidated urban area inevitably has a desolate and bleak feel to it.

But from another perspective, the city is lush and vibrant with greenery.

In the afternoon, the chirping of cicadas echoed throughout the city and also entered a household in the Yuxiang Jiayuan residential community.

On the large bed in the bedroom, a young man was fast asleep, with a tabby cat lying on his chest, also half asleep.

"Whoo~"

Suddenly, a surge of divine power emanated from the room, appearing quite abrupt in the otherwise tranquil setting.

Lu Ran immediately opened his eyes and looked over, then subconsciously covered the tabby cat tattoo on his chest.

"Master." A slightly apologetic voice came from the doorway.

"Ah." Hearing the familiar female voice, Lu Ran immediately relaxed. He was indeed still half asleep, his eyelids drooping, and he gradually closed his eyes again.

"Eek~" the little tabby cat whimpered softly.

Awakened, it groggily nuzzled the young man's chin with its fluffy little head.

The "gurgling" sound was like that of a small tractor.
Yan Shuangzi concealed her figure, transmitted her thoughts, and dispersed the Shadow Guards who came to investigate. Then she slowly stood up.

She tilted her body slightly, her shoulder resting against the door frame, quietly watching the warm and peaceful scene between the young man and the little tabby cat. Her cold facial features gradually softened.

But before she could admire it for long, Lu Ran opened his sleepy eyes again: "Huh?"

wrong!

Did someone just come by?
Lu Ran rubbed his eyes, looked at the empty doorway, and tentatively asked, "Sister?"

"Hmm." Sure enough, a response came from there.

Lu Ran: "."

He sat up, somewhat helplessly: "Why didn't you wake me up?"

The invisible Yan Shuangzi smiled gently and said softly, "It's nothing important."

"Oh, Shadow One?" Lu Ran rubbed the little tabby's head and carried it to the bedside. "Take it out to play."

"Yes." As a surge of divine power swept in, another voice rang out from beside the bed.

The little one was lifted into the air and "floated" out of the bedroom, a truly magical scene.

Yan Shuangzi quickly composed herself, concealing her gentle smile. Only after confirming that the little tabby had been taken away from the house did she reveal herself.

Lu Ran possesses the magical artifact, the Smoke Green Gauze, which allows him to live as an ordinary person, unlike Yan Shuangzi.

If her Heavenly Realm Level 3 body were to appear before Little Fox Flower, it might actually cause the little guy to be stressed.

This little thing is the sect leader's prized possession; who would dare scare it?
"I accidentally fell asleep." Lu Ran woke up completely and scratched his head sheepishly.

"You've been working too hard lately," Yan Shuangzi said softly, feeling that she had come at the wrong time.

Next time, I'll talk to the shadow guard in advance.

It's also because her divine powers are too strong; she can travel all over the Great Xia Dynasty in just a few breaths.

"Is the ritual to worship the gods over?" Lu Ran changed the subject.

"It's over, everything went smoothly." Yan Shuangzi knew who his main concern was, and continued, "Guard Tian Tian has adapted well to his new identity and has recruited quite a few believers."

"Okay." Lu Ran leaned against the headboard, lazily gazing out the window.

Three months have passed since the battle with the Evil Gun Emperor.

Today is the first day of the sixth lunar month, and another group of humans has turned 17 years old, which is the time for them to worship the gods.

Although the gods of the Burning Gate accepted believers on the first day of the Lunar New Year, many warriors within the Burning Gate have now transformed into gods.

Yan Chou, Gao Yunyan, Xue Fengchen, Jin Que'er, Wei Yun, Liu Huo, Chang Ying, Tian Tian, ​​Niu Zhengzheng
Lu Ran wasn't too worried about the others, but he was particularly concerned about Xiao Tiantian.

No matter how powerful Tian is, even if she possesses the dual divine positions of Sword Lotus and Black Lotus, Lu Ran's impression of her is already deeply ingrained.

I always felt that she was still a timid and weak-willed girl.

"Heh." Lu Ran chuckled and tapped his forehead.

How could he possibly worry that the divine being would be bullied by believers?
That's hopeless~
"Master, I've come to give you a gift," Yan Shuangzi said softly.

"Hmm?" Lu Ran turned his head and saw that she had taken out a pair of thin and long swords from her waist.

It gleamed with a cold light and looked very sharp.

Yan Shuangzi stepped forward and handed over the sword and saber: "This was personally crafted for you and your wife by the god Tianchen. He was a little afraid to face you, so he asked me to deliver it."

Lu Ran's expression was strange. Was this a tactic for subordinates to build a good relationship with their new boss?
Wow, so even gods give gifts!
"What's there to be afraid of? Haven't I treated them well?" Lu Ran muttered to himself as he admired the pair of swords.

It makes it sound like I eat people!
Uh... I don't actually eat people, but it seems like I really do eat gods?
Yan Shuangzi couldn't help but smile slightly: "Perhaps it's because Madam's authority is too overwhelming."

After saying that, she seemed to realize that her words were somewhat inappropriate, and added, "It is good that the gods and demons who submit to the Burning Gate know how to be respectful."

Lu Ran nodded slightly.

Out of respect for the Evil Spear Emperor, the Burning Gate was actually quite good to the Northwest Gods and Demons.

But inevitably, some gods and demons still perished.

A small group, led by the Western Wilderness and the Savage Wilderness, refused to submit to the newly risen human gods.

Even with the death of their leader, the Evil Spear Emperor, and even with the First-Class Divine Spear Xiu joining the Burning Gate, the Western Wilderness still refuses to submit to the insignificant humans. It's similar to the Spirit Elephant incident of the past.

The difference lies in the fact that the object of Lingxiang's refusal to submit is the Jade-Faced Serpent, a first-class evil god who is also a god or demon.

From this perspective, does Lord Lingxiang have more "integrity"?
In addition, there is another important factor that makes the likes of the Western Wilderness and the Savage Wilderness unwilling to submit to the Burning Gate—the Phoenix Soul Mark!
Do the Burning Gate truly trust the remnants of the Evil Spear Emperor's forces?
What a joke!
The relatively weak gods and demons escaped Lady Ranmen's Phoenix Soul Mark.

After all, they had been ruled by powerful gods for a long time, and in the long course of their existence, the harsh reality had already taught them their place and how to be a subordinate.

Ultimately, it comes down to insufficient strength; normal methods can control it.

The powerful gods are different!
The Burning Gate needs the powerful gods of the Northwest forces to have no more disloyal intentions and for all gods to absolutely submit.

Once a deity accepts the Phoenix Soul imprint, it will be no different from a loyal servant.

The gods will retain their own consciousness, but every moment of their future existence will be under the shadow of Lady Ranmen's will.

The likes of the Western Wilderness and the Savage Wilderness would not even bow down to the lowly human race, so how could they be willing to have their marks branded?

A battle is inevitable.

Because of Lu Ran's respect for the Evil Spear Emperor, he was genuinely willing to keep his promise and treat the Northwest Gods and Demons kindly.

Jiang Ruyi's words completely awakened Lu Ran: "Do you remember what the Evil Spear Emperor said before you started your battle?"

What words?

The Evil Gun Emperor told him, "I will give your mother and wife a proper burial. They were leaders and would never submit to me."

At that moment, Lu Ran suddenly woke up.

Even before the war began, the Evil Gun Emperor had foreseen some things. He clearly told Lu Ran what he would do after winning, with victory as the premise.

Now that Lu Ran is the victor, he naturally knows what to do.

Thus, the Western Wilderness, the Savage Woman, the Drought Sea, the Mountain Peak, the Fang-faced Man, the Red Turban, and the Ghost General all perished one after another.

It must be said that the stereotypes people have about believers from different sects are quite accurate.

The Shanwei faction is loyal and reliable, while the Red Turban faction is unparalleled in loyalty and bravery!
The reason why Shanwei and Hongjin recruited this type of disciple is because the gods themselves were of this nature.

The two pairs of gods and demons, Shanwei-Fangmian Man and Hongjin-Ghost General, didn't care about the enemy's strength at all. They resolutely followed Lord Xihuang and resisted to the end.

It should be noted that this was after Qiang Xiu surrendered to Ran Men and intervened to persuade him.

Yes, Gun Xiu accepted the Phoenix Soul Imprint.

This was quite unexpected.

It's unclear whether his lifespan was nearing its end, or whether he had some private agreement with the Evil Spear Emperor.

Gun Xiu chose to follow the human youth who defeated him, the two-faced Evil Gun Emperor.

Regardless, Shanwei and Hongjin's character is worthy of respect. It's a pity that the brave soldiers cannot be given a proper burial, since their stone bodies will shatter into mist, and their souls will carry divine positions.

Among the rebels, only the third-class god, Han Hai, was an exception.

He really wanted to surrender, but he couldn't accept the Phoenix Soul Mark. Later, he even threatened the lives of human believers.

That scene inevitably brings to mind the oracle of a person at their wit's end.

Then, like the divination slips, the drought-stricken sea also met a tragic end.

With the help of auxiliary divination slips, the divination slips at least have a way to purify the waters. The dry sea, a creature that plays with sand, is good at physical defense and group attacks.

There's absolutely no precision prevention or purification!
The moment Han Hai uttered those threatening words, he was immediately captivated, his mind went blank, and he was in a state of mental and physical disorientation.

It was later put into a coin for the deceased and ended up in Lu Ran's hand.

After this resistance force was destroyed, the entire Great Xia God and Demon Force fell into Lu Ran's hands.

The next step is to break up the Northwest Gods and Demons and add them to different Burning Gate God Mountains.

In the northwest of the Heavenly Battlefield, the Burning Gate also retained and occupied three sacred mountains, including the Spear Saint Mountain, forming a stable triangle that relied on each other.

Later, under the decision of the Burning Gate, those gods and demons that had merged into one were given a divine position, which was bestowed upon the corresponding Burning Gate warriors.

Liu Huo, Wei Yun, Niu Zhengzheng, and others became gods in this way through "peace".

But there are also some tricky issues!
Take, for example, the group of gods and demons: the Spellcaster - Ghost Moon Fox.

These two divine and evil sculptures had not merged before, so it was impossible to separate their divine positions. If they were to relinquish their divine positions, it would be tantamount to annihilation.

However, both of them willingly submitted to the Burning Gate.
As it turned out, the Evil Gun Emperor saved them.

Currently, Elder Bai Yanhui of the Burning Gate is still a pseudo-god at the third level of the Heavenly Realm and has not yet transformed into a deity.

Or perhaps it should be said that the Evil Gun Emperor protected far too many of his followers by sacrificing himself.

Gun Rot, Poisonous Bee (Poisonous Flower), Radiant Sparrow, Thousand Bones, White Bone Staff, Desolate Drum (Heavenly Desolate Hammer), Jade Flute (Magic Flute), Karmic Ox, Witch Crow, Mysterious Ape (Black Ape), Flame Chrysanthemum, Netherfire Chrysanthemum, Blazing Blood Steed, Heavenly Pearl, Soul Pearl, Heavenly Star, Netherworld Demon.

The Spellcaster and the Ghost Moon Fox are just two of them.

With all the gods and demons of the Northwest submitting to the Burning Gate, there were no other gods and demons on the Heavenly Battlefield.

On this land of Great Xia, there are only the gods of the Burning Gate.

Lu Ran,

He is the one who rules over all the gods.

(End of this chapter)