The Old Gods

Chapter 851 The God of Stacks
It's rare to find such a clear and bright place, even at the ends of the earth.

Inside the main hall of Tianya Residence, Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi sat on the grand chairs at the head of the table, both looking thoughtful.

Deng Yuxiang and Yu Changsheng were sitting on one side of the hall.

Niu Zhengzheng stood in the center of the hall, holding a ball of black mist in his hand, from which the face of a woman appeared.

Just a few days ago, this vicious female disciple was questioning Lu Ran relentlessly, determined to kill the Ranmen team. Now, she is meek and obedient.

After several days of interrogation, she had already revealed all the information.

Things are going surprisingly well!

Although the female disciple with the vicious dog had discovered the existence of the Burning Gate Squad early on, she had never reported it to the Evil God.

This was completely unexpected by everyone.

The female disciple of the vicious dog did not report it, partly because she was ambitious and eager for quick success, but more so because of the ferocious nature of the evil god, the vicious dog!
Communicating with an evil god requires a great deal of courage; if you can't explain yourself clearly, you'll most likely be severely tortured.

Fear spurred the vicious female disciple to gather more information before reporting it to her master.

However, the Burning Gate team's whereabouts were elusive, forcing the female disciple to delay again and again.

Lu Ran also learned that there was originally another male disciple in this vicious dog squad, but he couldn't stand the constant delays and feared being punished by the evil god, so he couldn't help but want to report it.

Then, the male disciple with the vicious dog died.

He was murdered by a female disciple through underhanded means, and even his soul was "offered" to the Faceless Jade Venerable, for fear that his spirit would run to the evil god to complain.
Upon hearing this news, Lu Ran felt a chill run down his spine.

That woman is ruthless!
Lu Ran thought he had seen enough of the filth in the world, but the appearance of the vicious female disciple taught him another lesson.

Just how depraved can human nature be?
"How exactly was the abuse inflicted?" Lu Ran asked, "To the point that it terrified you?"

Inside the black mist, the female disciple with the vicious dog revealed a look of fear, as if she had thought of something.

"Answer the question!" Niu Zhengzheng ordered rudely.

"The Great One will inject energy into our bodies, disrupt our physical meridians, and make me suffer repeated torment on the verge of exploding and dying, taking pleasure in our screams."

The vicious female disciple stammered as she spoke.

Lu Ran nodded silently; he also possessed such methods.

He could also command the stone sculptures in the garden to inject a large amount of divine power into the bodies of the Ranmen disciples through a master-servant contract, causing chaos in their bodies.

Such actions would cause the disciples extreme pain.

Back when the Burning Gate was located at Cloud Sea Cliff, Lu Ran had experimented on Song Yu, the head of the Flying Immortal Hall.

Lu Ran did not use any force, but Master Song was still pale-faced, trembling and limp on the ground, powerless to resist.

If Lu Ran were any more ruthless, the torture would turn into a killing. As a person from Jiangjing, Song Yu's body couldn't withstand that level of divine power, and his body would be completely burst.

Sometimes, adults will come in person.

"Descend?" Jiang Ruyi suddenly asked.

"Yes, the master's afterimage will personally descend to the mortal realm, landing on a vicious dog henchman to tear apart human disciples." The female disciple's voice trailed off, trembling as she said, "There was once a human disciple who was devoured alive by the master."

Lu Ran frowned.

What came to mind was an image of a wild dog cruelly tearing apart humans.

For evil spirits, "eating raw" is a routine practice.

A significant portion of the demon minions do not kill humans directly, but instead try to prolong the time it takes for humans to die, allowing them to witness firsthand how they are devoured.

Let people die little by little in endless despair and pain.

In this situation, the extreme emotions that people can express excite and delight the evil spirits.

"If that's the case, why do you still worship vicious dogs?" Jiang Ruyi said coldly.

The woman in the fog opened her mouth, and after a long while, she lowered her eyes and said, "The Evil Dog Technique is the most advanced survival skill."

indeed.

Evil consciousness, evil sensitivity, especially the flashing of evil shadows.

On the battlefield of the heavens, having the ability to teleport is equivalent to being invincible.

The risks are worth it for these techniques.

At the entrance to the hall, Yan Shuangzi, who was hiding her figure, sighed softly to herself.

For others to possess all of this, they would have to take enormous risks, live day and night with ferocious beasts, be filled with constant fear, and devote themselves entirely to serving them.

He possessed all of this simply by asking someone for it once.
"In any case, the current situation is much better than we imagined." Deng Yuxiang sat in a chair, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest.

She continued, "But it's only a matter of time before it gets exposed, so we need to be mentally prepared and think of countermeasures in advance."

Yu Changsheng sighed softly, "There is no other explanation but strength."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

Yu Changsheng looked at Lu Ran and asked, "Sect Master, how is your cultivation progressing?"

"It's going well." Lu Ran carefully felt his body. "My cultivation is progressing smoothly. My physical body is gradually becoming a pure energy body."

Since entering the Heavenly Realm, the cultivation indicators have changed.

In the past and in the Sea Realm, the essence of cultivation for humans was to use divine power to nourish the physical body, strengthen flesh and bones, continuously improve physical strength, and expand the body's capacity.

After reaching the Heavenly Realm, the human race needs to modify the nature of their physical bodies for survival! However, Lu Ran is still unclear about the extent and percentage of his physical body that needs to be modified in order to reach the threshold of the second level of the Heavenly Realm.

The only thing he was clear about was that he had started the advancement mode and entered the Heavenly Realm on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month last year.

It has been more than half a year since then.

"That's good." Yu Changsheng gently shook his paper fan. "Next time you ascend to heaven, Sect Leader can go to the next sacred mountain to set up camp, continue to wait for the opportunity to strike, and concentrate on cultivation."

"Ah."

"Sect Master, could we concentrate our resources and focus on cultivating a few pseudo-god stone sculptures?" Yu Changsheng laid the groundwork and then changed the subject.

Lu Ran turned his head and saw Yu Changsheng continue, "Once a pseudo-god at the third level of the Heavenly Realm is born, the Ranmen team will naturally have more confidence in fighting in the Heavenly Realm."

This line of thinking can also be applied to our future struggle against the true forms of gods and demons.

Lu Ran nodded slightly: "Does Mr. Conglong have any suitable candidates?"

The biggest hidden danger of this approach is that those who share the benefits may have some ulterior motives.

As the saying goes, "It is not scarcity that is to be feared, but inequality!"
However, the unique nature of the "burning door" (a type of fire door) makes this approach possible.

The Lord of the Burning Gate possesses absolute influence and personal charisma. Under his leadership, the soldiers are united in purpose and follow him wholeheartedly.

In fact, the clues could be seen as early as the way the Burning Gate distributed divine weapons and magical artifacts.

The importance of divine weapons and magical artifacts to warriors is self-evident.

When the Ranmen sect conquered the mountain realm, they also seized many magical treasures. However, the distribution of rewards was entirely up to Lu Ran personally, whoever he wanted them to be given to.

Distribution has never been based on work, but on need.

The disciples never complained; everything they did was for the sake of the entire Ranmen sect.

Hmm. Lu Ran seems domineering and runs a one-man show, but in reality, he does a really good job. After all, he never keeps anything for himself and rewards all the magical treasures to his disciples.

To this day, Lu Ran's several knives and swords, as well as his magical gourd and tiger tally, were either brought by himself or given to him by others.

There were no spoils.

This is probably one of the hidden factors that makes Lu Ran so popular.

"The first and second-tier pseudo-gods are both good candidates; the sect leader can choose for himself." Yu Changsheng gave a very broad range.

"Hmm." Lu Ran nodded thoughtfully.

“Once the mad fairy protector advances to the Heavenly Realm, we can focus on nurturing her, so that the newcomer can surpass the old one,” Yu Changsheng added.

The value of something that can be specifically mentioned by the strategist is beyond doubt.

Even though the Burning Gate is full of first and second-class pseudo-gods, each one more powerful than the last, the successor of the seventh-class god, Lie Tian, ​​is undoubtedly the strongest damage dealer!
"Da da da"

Deng Yuxiang tapped the armrest of the chair lightly with her fingertips.

To Lu Ran's surprise, she discovered that her fingers were beating in the same rhythm as her own heartbeat, as if they were tapping on her heart.

She spoke slowly, her voice incredibly magnetic: "Carefully select and concentrate resources to train a few warriors who can truly threaten the gods and demons."

If we have the ability to slay one god or demon, then we can slay a whole group.

“That makes sense.” Lu Ran agreed, having thought of this before.

Deng Yuxiang suddenly stood up, strode to the center of the hall, knelt on one knee with utmost solemnity, and bowed his head, saying, "I humbly request the sect leader to give me this opportunity!"

As the number one protector of the Burning Gate, he naturally has no choice but to take on the role!
"Sure." Lu Ran's response was also straightforward.

As the successor of Beifeng-Yemei, Deng Yuxiang possesses sufficient damage output, impressive control abilities, and strong mobility.

Both for public and private reasons, they should be given special attention and training!

Yu Changsheng gently waved his paper fan, seemingly having anticipated this scene long ago.

He also stood up, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Sect Master, we false gods all have the ability to draw upon the Holy Spirit Qi within our bodies."

Lu Ran's heart skipped a beat: "What does Mr. Conglong mean?"

Yu Changsheng laughed and said, "Why don't we try it now? Without falling out of the second level of the Heavenly Realm, we will give all the excess Holy Spirit Qi in our bodies to the Nightmare Protector."

Lu Ran couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.

Wow, this is amazing how we can concentrate our resources on big things!

Mobilize all the false gods inside the Burning Gate to try to jointly create a false god stone sculpture of the third level of the Heavenly Realm.
Of course, the primordial energy can be bestowed.

Back in the mortal realm, when the Immortal Sheep came to the rescue in Beifeng City, he bestowed a great deal of primordial energy upon Beifeng, which saved Lu Ran and Deng Yuxiang's lives.

“It’s worth a try.” Lu Ran waved to the bull-headed man.

Niu Zhengzheng strode forward and, at the sect leader's signal, dispersed the black mist.

Lu Ran absorbed the souls of the dead into his pupils, letting the nightmare stone sculpture feast on them.

Deng Yuxiang pursed her lips.

It is said that to advance to the third level of the Heavenly Realm, one needs a million units of pure Holy Spirit Qi!

I wonder if the warriors of the Burning Gate, after fighting in the Heavenly Realm for so long, will be able to advance in rank?
……

(End of this chapter)