The Old Gods

Chapter 881 Two Ghost Talismans
"I'll go get Little Blazing Phoenix. You subdue those two fourth-tier magic artifacts first?" Lu Ran said.

Jiang Ruyi silently looked at Lu Ran, a hint of disappointment flashing in her eyes.

Lu Ran was about to say something when he saw Jiang Ruyi return to her expressionless state, turn around, and give a curt reply:
"Ah."

Lu Ran pouted, but in the end, he flashed into the study of Tianya Residence and picked up the phoenix-patterned gourd on the table.

He felt a little uneasy.

Some steps are truly difficult to climb.

Recalling her disappointed eyes and her face that had turned cold again, Lu Ran suddenly wished he could become Jiang Ruyi's child.

In that case, the natural barrier should become a thoroughfare, right?

The Xun Luo family is the best example. When Lu Ran first met the family of four, the Xun Luo couple were like a vast ocean.

Hmm. Xun Shenjiang is now also in the Sea Realm.

Their two children, who are not even believers, feel no pressure in front of their parents and can happily run into their arms.

Mountain? What mountain?

Isn't this flat ground?

In the pantheon of gods and demons, kinship seems to be a higher form of affection than friendship, love, and so on.

"Uh." Lu Ran's expression was a little strange, and he shook his head vigorously.

What kind of nonsense am I thinking?
He actually wants to call his girlfriend "Mom"?

Lu Ran, Lu Ran, where's your face?!
Have we learned their ugly faces because we've been enemies of gods and demons for so long?
"Shh!"

Lu Ran made a snap decision, then flashed again, activating cheat mode and instantly teleporting to the "mountain peak".

The woman in the phoenix robe on the cliff edge gazed at the horizon where the sea met the sky with icy eyes.

Suddenly, a faint fluctuation of divine power appeared, and a figure appeared behind her, very close.

"Whoo~"

The gourd with the phoenix pattern immediately cast a spell.

Jiang Ruyi did not resist, letting her body gradually shrink. Before she was sucked into the gourd's mouth, the humble and tiny creature actually stretched out a finger and rubbed her head.

"Ah."

It turns out that people do laugh when they're speechless.

Damn that guy!
They certainly have a lot of weird tricks up their sleeves.

"Phew!" At the edge of the sky, Lu Ran let out a long sigh of relief.

The departure of the evil god made it easier for him to even breathe.

Lu Ran, holding the phoenix-patterned gourd, plopped down on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling outwards and swaying back and forth.

A few seconds later, he suddenly thought of something and patted the chubby magic gourd in his arms: "Tell me, if I treat your mother as an enemy, would I not be afraid anymore?"

Little Phoenix: "."

Lu Ran nodded secretly, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

Fighting spirit, hatred, obsession, and so on will obviously be greatly reduced.

Just a few days ago, when Lu Ran was fighting against the Ghost Talisman Doll, his mind was filled with nothing but killing! He wasn't afraid at all.
"Om~"

The gourd with the phoenix pattern trembled slightly and emitted several figures.

Lu Ran looked bewildered.

Yan Shuangzi was the first to be spat out, followed by Jiang Ruyi, two huge stone talismans, and finally Huangfu Zhao.

"So fast?" Lu Ran looked up at the sky.

“They had no choice,” Jiang Ruyi said casually, as if subduing two powerful fourth-tier magic artifacts was something perfectly natural.

After returning to the real world, Jiang Ruyi also took a fresh look at the two stone talismans.

Considering the size of gods and demons, the stone talisman is only about the size of a palm.

However, for humans, the stone talisman is 30 meters long and about 20 meters wide.

It's incredibly big!

“They say that the four white jade tablets wrapped around the Divine Jade Talisman are part of a set with them,” Jiang Ruyi said again, her brows slightly furrowed.

"A set?" Lu Ran's mind raced, and he quickly asked, "Can they sense each other's presence?"

Jiang Ruyi was silent for a moment, then shook her head: "No."

"Oh." Upon hearing this, Lu Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Ruyi was incredibly intelligent and naturally knew what Lu Ran had associated with—the Ink Jade Tiger Tally!
The two halves of the tiger tally are independent of each other, yet complete and unified.

When the two halves of the tiger tally are separated, it is possible to contact the other party.

But clearly, these stone talismans are different from the pair of tiger talismans that can be pieced together to form a complete tiger.

“There’s no need to worry,” Jiang Ruyi said softly. “Our operation to kill the Ghost Talisman Doll was authorized by Lord Immortal Sheep.”

“That’s true.” Lu Ran nodded in agreement.

If there were any potential problems, Lord Immortal Sheep would have mentioned them beforehand.

Lu Ran felt relieved. Then he thought, if these stone talismans are a set, then the four white jade tablets wrapped around the Divine Jade Talisman are also magic artifacts, right?
Are they all fourth-order?

Good guy~
Lu Ran grinned. As expected of a god in person.
There are so many good things here!
I've fought tooth and nail, struggled all the way to this point, and all I've got are a few third-tier divine weapons and magical artifacts?

Jiang Ruyi gently stroked the stone talisman with one hand and said, "According to their instructions, if we can collect all six stone talismans, they can exert a stronger effect."

Lu Ran's heart skipped a beat: "Stronger? Tell me more?" Jiang Ruyi communicated with the magic artifact for a moment, then said softly: "Stone talismans can transform their properties and share each other's functions."

From the perspective of these two stone talismans, if the other four jade tablets were temporarily transformed into their shapes, the six stone talismans could form a magic array.

All living beings trapped within the formation must reveal their true forms.

Lu Ran's breath hitched slightly!
What... what is this?

Does the effect change from single-target, point-to-point casting to area-of-effect casting?

"Quiet." Jiang Ruyi suddenly spoke, her tone calm but full of authority, "Whenever he says to go, we will go. We will do whatever he says."

The two stone talismans dared not ask any further questions.

Among them, the stone talisman that came into contact with Jiang Ruyi's palm swayed left and right, as if trying to please the evil god's palm.

The new master is also a god.

From every angle, it completely outclasses the Ghost Talisman Doll!

She possessed exceptional intelligence and imposing presence, and even had complete mastery of both the Jade Talisman and Ghost Talisman techniques.

This is an extremely rare, complete, and powerful new god!

The two stone talismans are still adapting and learning how to get along with their powerful new master.

"Do they want to complete the set?" Lu Ran speculated.

"Hmm." Jiang Ruyi responded, not believing that the Burning Gate's next target should be the Jade Talisman.

In comparison, the Evil God, the Flaming Dragon of the Wrathful Sea, is easier to break through due to its weak defenses, and killing the Flaming Dragon will provide a greater overall boost to the Burning Gate.

Lu and Jiang shared similar ideas. After exchanging a few words, Jiang Ruyi said, "I'll take them back first and discipline them properly."

"Okay." Lu Ran watched her fly over and then asked, "By the way, what are the names of these two magical artifacts?"

"Let's call them Ghost Talismans." Jiang Ruyi gave the two magical artifacts a new name without further ado.

"call!!"

The afterimage of the evil god was extracted from the physical body, and the two ghost talismans also transformed into pure energy bodies, merging into the afterimage of the immortal jade, and together they surged into Lu Ran's eyes.

"Oh!" Lu Ran quickly took two steps forward, stepped into the air, and caught the body falling from the sky.

Yan Shuangzi slightly curved the corners of her lips, a subtle, almost imperceptible smile.

It was just a beautiful doll, which would soon disappear, yet he was still flustered and disorganized.
Lu Ran turned to Yan Shuangzi and said, "You've worked hard. You should come back too."

Yan Shuangzi nodded slightly, leaving behind a beautiful doll-like figure in the same spot. The afterimage, along with the divine weapon, surged into Lu Ran's eyes.

“Puff~Puff~”

The physical bodies of Xianmo and Evil Shadow shattered one after another, turning into wisps of mist, which were then completely absorbed by Lu Ran.

Lu Ran then looked at Huangfu Zhao: "Mr. Huangfu, the Ran Sect gained a large amount of Holy Spirit Qi from killing the Ghost Talisman Doll this time!"
"If the false gods lend a hand to the Eastern Heavenly God Sculpture, it should help him advance to the third level of the Heavenly Realm."

Huangfu Zhao already understood what Lu Ran was going to say.

Lu Ran suggested, "Why don't you merge with the Dongting Divine Sculpture? It can stand in my sculpture garden in the future, so that we can move and communicate together."

Huangfu Zhao bowed respectfully: "Thank you, young master!"

By now, the two probably understand why the human race at the third level of the Heavenly Realm poses such a great threat to gods and demons.

Four words: mental strength!

When the human race, this special species, reaches its peak, its mental strength can even counter gods and demons.

The so-called master-servant contract is not equal; gods and demons should be able to manipulate their servants at will.

But there is one timeless truth in this world: strength reigns supreme!
Just like in human society, when you are strong enough, a contract that was once solemnly signed can become a dead letter, having no binding force on you.

So-called rules can only survive within a framework, and they are all used to restrict weak creatures.

The same applies to master-servant contracts!

When the spiritual strength of humans exceeds the limit, believers can even forcibly use the techniques of gods and demons!
Lu Ran was certain of this because he and Huangfu Zhao had already tested it.

Lu Ran forcibly ordered the Dongting Divine Sculpture in the garden to forbid Huangfu Zhao from using any techniques, but Huangfu Zhao still managed to use them.

They completely ignored the Eastern Heavenly God Sculpture, practically taking whatever they wanted.
Even more terrifying is that Huangfu Zhao could even reverse the situation and influence the stone statue's spellcasting through that master-servant contract!
When Lu Ran realized this, he was completely stunned.

He didn't know why his mother was still alive.

Logically speaking, given how threatening Qiao Wanjun was, shouldn't Jian Yi have killed her immediately?

But it was the other gods and demons who wanted Qiao Wanjun dead.

Jian Yi, on the contrary, protected Qiao Wanjun and imprisoned her in the capital.
Lu Ran finally understood why his mother had defended Jian Yi when he had talked to her and expressed his extreme disgust for gods and demons.

Lu Ran didn't know what the relationship between the human and the god was.

However, on the Ranmen side, Huangfu Zhao had already broken free from the control of the god Dongting and joined Lu Ran's sect, signing an inheritance contract with the stone statue of Dongting in the garden.

If Lu Ran hadn't deliberately sabotaged things, Dong Ting would have prioritized Huangfu Zhao and would have given everything for the successor.

Therefore, Huangfu Zhao had no need to retain his human identity.

"Let's go, Mr. Huangfu, we're going to Mogu Peak." Lu Ran summoned an ancient bronze mirror and casually placed the phoenix-patterned gourd aside. "Go find Xiao Yuanxi, she's about to hit a bottleneck in her cultivation and needs your help."

"Whoo~"

The gourd with the phoenix pattern swayed from side to side before flying away.

The bronze mirror transformed into a full-length mirror, and Lu Ran stepped into it, entering the end of Holy Spirit Mountain.

(End of this chapter)