The Old Gods

Chapter 975 His name
"Uh"

Lu Ran's unfocused gaze gradually regained some focus.

"Brother, you're awake?" A surprised voice came from above.

Lu Ran lay on the lantern, the flame inside glowing with a fluorescent green light, constantly spewing out specks of light that nourished his body and mind.

This is the healing magic of the Lantern School: Firefly Cage.

"I'm not asleep." Lu Ran looked up at the girl's sculpted face, his already weak body trembling uncontrollably.

"Hehe~" Qiao Yuanxi was a deity, but her smiling eyes still made her look charming and lovely.

But what she said made someone blush: "Even if the universe is destroyed, your mouth will still be there~"

"I...I really didn't sleep," Lu Ran said softly.

"Tch~" Qiao Yuanxi curled her lip.

In fact, Lu Ran wasn't lying. His body was indeed severely overdrawn, weak and powerless, and waves of extreme drowsiness left him feeling listless.

But Lu Ran knew he couldn't afford to faint; if he woke up again, he didn't know when he would be.

He persevered, repeatedly battling against his physical limits, and gradually recovered under the care of Xiao Chifeng and the healing of Qiao Yuanxi.

Yes, Lu Ran is currently inside the gourd with the phoenix pattern.

Although he was in a daze, he vaguely remembered that Jiang Ruyi had ordered Xiao Chifeng to absorb him into her stomach to quickly replenish his body's deficiencies.

Later, Xiao Yuanxi also entered the gourd and summoned a firefly cage for him.

Lu Ran had some recollection of everything everyone had done.

As for how long he had recovered, he had no idea.

"The jade talisman is almost refined~" her sister's voice came from above, "It's good that you're awake, so I don't have to imprison your soul anymore."

Qiao Yuanxi possesses the dual divine positions of Flower Lantern and Black Lantern, while the infamous Black Lantern clan can absorb the souls of the dead into the lanterns and roast them with the fire in the cage.

Qiao Yuanxi naturally possesses the means to imprison the souls of the dead, and can also torment and destroy them like a black lantern.

If Lu Ran hadn't woken up, she would certainly be happy to do it for him.

"By the way, are you capable now? Can you cast spells?" Qiao Yuanxi looked at the limp little figure on the firefly cage with a face full of doubt, feeling that her brother was like a little lump of mud.

"Of course I can." Lu Ran struggled to get up, his steps clearly unsteady.

"His only stubborn thing is his mouth," Qiao Yuanxi muttered to herself, casually releasing the handle and letting the lantern float in the air.

She held the Divine Fire Demon-Refining Cage in one hand and placed the other hand next to the Firefly Cage, saying, "Then jump into my hands."

Lu Ran: "."

Jumping is truly difficult for me.

I could roll down the lantern paper.

"Whoosh~" The ribbons fluttered gracefully and wrapped around Lu Ran's waist.

Lu Ran almost cried!

Yanxia Ling is so much better; she's both gentle and considerate.

The tiny human landed steadily in the hands of the young goddess, who then carried him to the side of the Divine Fire Demon-Refining Cage.

"Are you ready?"

"what?"

"You stinky brother, get ready to cast the spell!" Qiao Yuanxi muttered. "I've already burned the jade talisman to the point where it can't resist anymore. If I add a little more fire, I can burn his soul out."

"Wait a minute!" Lu Ran said hurriedly.

Qiao Yuanxi looked at the tiny figure at the edge of her palm, remained silent for a moment, and then softened her voice: "Why don't I do it? You can rest a bit more."

“I’ll do it!” Lu Ran replied readily. “Wait a moment.”

"Oh," Qiao Yuanxi responded softly.

Lu Xing, a disciple of the Jade Talisman, is Lu Ran's father, and naturally, she is also Lu Ran's father.

It doesn't matter who does the work, brother or sister.

However, compared to his brother, the father spent more time with him. The two of them lived in Rain Alley City, including the rainy night the father died.
It's said that the older brother was just being brave, saying that he's grown up, very strong, and no longer afraid of thunder.

So on that rainy night of the fifteenth, my father didn't stay by my brother's side as before, but instead accepted the organization's call and went out to carry out a mission.

But after that trip, my father never came back.

They remain forever on the banks of the Wulie River.

Qiao Yuanxi didn't know many details, but she knew one thing:

Father did not return.
Her own brother was also trapped forever in that stormy night.

She confirmed this through countless days and nights.

Since his father's death, Lu Ran was brought to the capital to live with her. He was always depressed, as if he was carrying a heavy burden in his heart.

He could only be a little more cheerful when she was being playful and coquettish.

Throughout his three years of junior high school, he didn't even make a single friend at school.

Just three years later, after he turned 16, he stubbornly said goodbye to his mother.

Stubbornly, he returned to that rain-soaked city.

It is said that after he returned to that small town, he finally became more cheerful.

Perhaps it's because as we grow older, we really start to keep our feelings to ourselves.

Or perhaps it was because he had returned to his familiar hometown, where he could take the knife left by his father and walk through the streets and alleys where his father had fought, night after night.

As Sister Ruyi once said, Brother has a secret training base.

It was on an abandoned building, a dilapidated rooftop that was often flooded.

My brother often goes there to pay respects to our deceased father.

Set out some milk, bread, or something similar.

After Dad finished eating, he ate it again.

He always carried a wooden sword his father had given him when he was a child, and he would train on that rooftop, as if he were showing it to someone.

Sister Ruyi also said that her brother really wanted to join the Jade Talisman faction, to follow in his father's footsteps and complete his unfinished work.
Qiao Yuanxi had naturally heard about the matter at the altar of worship.

Knowing that Sister Ruyi had abandoned the Second-Rank God Tianluan and come to the Jade Talisman Sect.

Unfortunately, she never saw the young man again. He refused to give her the jade talisman.

There are nearly a hundred gods in the Great Xia Dynasty, but he cannot even pay homage to any of them.

What appeared on the altar was actually an evil god, the Paper Doll.

In retrospect, it seems that the one who ultimately rescued the brother from the clutches of the evil spirits was not the deity, the Immortal Sheep, as people know him.

Qiao Yuanxi didn't know much, but it was enough to deduce some things.

In fact, Lu Ran was only slightly better than his sister in confirming that this immortal sheep was not the same as the other immortal sheep, and that he was worshipping a mysterious being with an unknown identity, disguised as an immortal sheep.

"All right."

"Huh?" Qiao Yuanxi suddenly woke up.

"That's enough," Lu Ran said in a deep voice.

"Oh!" Qiao Yuanxi immediately activated her divine power, and the divine fire in the cage surged and leaped high.

A mist spread out, but it wasn't as dense with energy as when other divine or evil sculptures shattered.

After all, Qiao Yuanxi was refining it slowly, constantly burning away the stone sculpture body. The energy of the god was continuously overflowing outwards, and strands of holy spirit energy were taken over by Xiao Chifeng to infuse the bodies of the brother and sister.

Even so, there was still a lot of mist when the jade talisman was completely burned to ashes.

As Qiao Yuanxi canceled the Divine Fire Demon Refining Cage, Lu Ran opened his phoenix eyes and found the enormous divine soul.

"Whoo~"

Lu Ran used Soul Prison to fly forward, absorbing the enormous divine soul into the small black mist.

"Blazing Phoenix, disperse the fog."

"Screech~" A small, hollowed-out phoenix woven from golden flames slowly circled around, manipulating a large amount of dense fog to fall downwards.

However, wisps of holy spirit energy swirled around Lu Ran's body, and even more solid divine power flowed into Lu Ran's body, mixed with the holy spirit energy.

"Lu Lu Ran!" Yu Fu's terrified face appeared on the black mist.

Lu Ran was quite surprised: "You recognize me?"

"Later, I recognized her." Yu Fu's expression changed repeatedly, and when he looked at the girl statue above, he seemed to recognize her as well.

"And then?" Lu Ran raised an eyebrow slightly.

Yu Fu suddenly said, "You can't kill me, you can't!"

Lu Ran laughed: "But you're already dead."

"No, I can still exist! You can't kill me! Do as I say, and I can trade with you."

Lu Ran's smile gradually faded, and his expression turned serious: "What do you mean you can still exist?"

Yu Fu's expression changed repeatedly, as if he was thinking about something.

"Whoo~"

Within the Soul Prison, eerie soul flames ignited.

"Ah! Ahhhhh!" Yu Fu screamed in agony, his face contorting in agony, his divine dignity tarnished every second.

"Wait a minute, stop! Your father! Your mother is Qiao Wanjun, you are... Lu... Lu's descendant!"

"Brother?" Qiao Yuanxi looked astonished, folding the tiny human in his hands and bringing it close to his eyes.

Lu Ran seemed not to hear, and continued to burn his soul fire.

Or perhaps he heard it.

However, he was in a state of emotional turmoil and was not prepared for any of the words that Yu Fu was about to say.

They were both looking forward to it and longing for it.

And yet, there was also worry, fear that hope would be dashed.

"Your father is still here! Still here... Ughhhhh!!" Under the burning eerie soul fire, the jade talisman finally couldn't withstand it and screamed in agony.

The soul fire suddenly went out.

Lu Ran's face was gloomy, without any intense emotional fluctuations. His cold eyes stared at the Jade Talisman's ghost: "You're not even as good as a lackey of the Faceless Jade Venerable."

He once burned the souls of the Faceless Jade Venerable's henchmen in an attempt to extract some information.

But from beginning to end, the jade vessel remained expressionless, even revealing a faint smile, and uttered a sentence that Lu Ran will never forget:
"You haven't experienced real pain."

Yu Fu looked extremely pained as he stared at the indifferent young man, listening to him talk about irrelevant topics.

He wasn't sure if Lu Ran truly didn't care about his father, or if he was just pretending.

For the human race, especially the Great Xia people, blood ties should be highly valued.

That anxious look on the young goddess's face should be the normal one.

But the young man before me...
"Speak, if you don't want to continue being burned." A deep voice came from behind the youth's blood crystal mask.

"Lu Lu."

“Lu Xing,” Lu Ran said in a cold voice.

Yu Fu didn't even know Lu Ran's father's name; she only knew that he was Qiao Wanjun's husband.

“Lu Xing still exists, he should still exist!” Yu Fu said hastily.

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yuanxi's hand trembled slightly.

Lu Ran was jostled in the young goddess's hand, his cold tone unchanged: "You don't even know his name, how can you know if he's alive or dead, or if he even exists?"

Yu Fu suddenly said, "Martial arts student!"

"what?"

"Back then, it was Wu Sheng who gave me the order! In order to force Qiao Wanjun to destroy the Yunhai Sect and force her to commit suicide! Wu Sheng ordered me to use the lives of her family as leverage, and that's what you humans care about most!"

Yu Fu poured out all the old secrets in one go.

The name of the martial arts performer was emphasized again and again.

"When Qiao Wanjun disobeyed orders, the martial arts actor commanded me to kill Lu first."

Qiao Yuanxi's eyes widened.

Lu Ran's expression grew increasingly gloomy, and the Soul Prison in his hand reignited with eerie soul flames.

(End of this chapter)