The villains are redeemed, and the heroines cry and beg for forgiveness.

However, his attack was like a clay ox sinking into the sea, failing to create even the slightest ripple.

Punch after punch, Gu Ran exhausted all his martial arts golden core essence, yet it still had no effect on this soul vortex.

With a cold face, Gu Ran continued to squeeze the martial arts golden core without hesitation.

A crack suddenly appeared on the originally perfectly round martial arts golden core, and then the crack grew larger and larger, spreading directly to the entire martial arts golden core.

Gu Ran's martial arts golden core shattered.

"Stop it!"

Gu Ran roared to the sky, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His body had already endured the maximum burden, but he continued to bombard the enemy without any regard for it.

The next moment, the vortex that had been absorbing the souls of generations of mermaids suddenly stopped!

99. The history of the mermaid race! You can call me "Ariel"! 4.2k

No one in the world can really explain what the soul is.

But people know that the soul does exist.

However, different groups have different names for the soul. "Soul" is the common term used by ordinary people, while some groups, such as researchers, prefer to call it "consciousness".

It is a carrier of consciousness; it appears to be conscious, but at the same time, it actually exists in this world, so it is ultimately material.

These vortexes of souls appear ethereal and unreal, and ordinary material attacks have no effect on them.

However, they are ultimately just a special kind of substance, and attacks cannot be effective against them simply because the correct method of attack has not been found.

When Gu Ran frantically squeezed the spiritual power of the Golden Core, even causing it to shatter, Gu Ran's attack seemed to have broken through a certain critical value.

Time seemed to stand still, and space seemed to freeze.

The vortex of souls, like the first snowflakes touched by sunlight, slowly melted and dissolved.

But it didn't end there. The aftershocks of Gu Ran's attack surged into the "sky" of this space, tearing a large hole in it.

Then, its momentum continued unabated, separating all the seawater that had been blocking its path. A significant portion of the separated seawater mixed with this energy, vaporized, and formed a thick fog. The remaining seawater formed a massive tsunami, rushing towards the distance like a natural disaster.

Finally, the remaining energy from the attack shot directly into the sky, blasting a large hole in the clouds.

"The machine is 60% damaged and can no longer maintain normal operation. It has entered a dormant state. The time required for automatic repair is unknown."

That annoying electronic mechanical sound appeared in my ears once again.

The separated seawater was gradually drawn together by the other seawater, filling the huge crack.

However, a thin film suddenly appeared in the large hole that had been broken open in the ruins, blocking the backflow of external water.

This thin film doesn't seem to offer much protection; it simply blocks seawater.

Gu Ran, panting heavily, looked at the magnificent scene he had destroyed, but felt no sense of accomplishment.

The souls that were flying towards the vortex all stopped and floated in place.

Some souls stared blankly, seemingly devoid of any intelligence, while others occasionally looked bewildered, their faces filled with confusion, and sometimes became dazed and blank.

Only a very small number of souls regained their vivid expressions after the soul vortex disappeared.

"where is this place?"

"This is the ruins of our merfolk? How did it become like this? Did some foreign enemy invade the ruins?"

Some souls paled in shock, then saw Gu Ran standing to the side.

"Who are you? Human!"

"The descendants of the merfolk are so pathetic that they were driven into this place by humans?"

Gu Ran looked at them, a hint of joy in her expression.

It wasn't because of them that I was happy, but because the souls of these merfolk ancestors were clearly older than the little conch. If these souls still retained their intelligence, then the little conch, who had just become a soul, should also retain its intelligence.

The reason he was willing to shatter his golden core to destroy the vortex that absorbed souls was precisely to protect the little conch's soul from being used as nourishment.

Gu Ran's gaze searched through these souls.

"Little conch!"

Gu Ran shouted.

If the little conch still had any intelligence, it would surely have rushed out to meet him upon hearing his call.

However, after Gu Ran shouted, there was absolutely no response from the audience.

Those who were stunned remained stunned, and those who were confused remained confused.

"Could it be that the little conch hasn't regained its intelligence yet?"

Gu Ran frowned slightly, then continued to call out, "Little conch, Eudora, it's me, Gu Ran! It's me, Gu Ran!"

However, there was still no response from the scene.

A mermaid spirit, appearing quite imposing, looked at Gu Ran and suddenly spoke:

"Human, have you fallen in love with the mermaid who entered the ruins to challenge this generation?"

Gu Ran wanted to continue calling out, but upon hearing that a soul wanted to talk to her, she couldn't help but look over.

She was a mermaid queen whose original power was still evident even in spirit form. Her gaze seemed to see through people's hearts, and no one could play tricks on her.

Gu Ran wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and nodded: "Yes, I came here to find her. What advice do you have for me, senior?"

The other remaining sentient souls looked over in surprise upon hearing Gu Ran's words.

"My mermaid clan actually has ignorant mermaids who fall in love with humans?"

"A relationship between a mermaid and a human will never end well. Didn't the younger generation tell that ignorant mermaid the story of their ancestors?"

The most imposing empress's soul looked at Gu Ran: "It's clear you truly love her, but mermaids and humans rarely have a good ending together. Have you considered that?"

For some reason, looking at the expression on the empress's soul's face, Gu Ran felt that she seemed to have a story.

"Of course I've thought about it. Our relationship isn't a blind impulse, but a decision made after rational consideration," Gu Ran said. "No matter what difficulties lie ahead, we will definitely overcome them!"

The Queen's soul looked at Gu Ran, a mocking smile suddenly appearing on her face: "I can feel your determination. If the mermaid you like were an ordinary mermaid, that would be fine, but she has been chosen as a challenger for the ruins, so it is destined that you two will never have a good outcome."

"If she fails, she will die and become part of this ruin. If she succeeds... you will no longer be the only one in her heart. At this moment, the most important thing in her heart is the Merfolk! Leading the Merfolk back to glory is the mission of every generation of ruin challengers."

Gu Ran said calmly, "I know all that you're talking about, and that's exactly why I came here."

"Originally, I wanted to stop her from succeeding in the challenge and then take her away from the ruins, so that she wouldn't have to inherit your so-called empress's will and become someone she wasn't herself. But what I didn't expect was..."

"This dilapidated ruin, due to its immense age, malfunctioned, turning her successful challenge into a failure. Ultimately, her soul was fused with the ruin. I had no choice but to search for the ruin's control center, hoping to free her soul and return it to her body..."

"What I didn't expect was that this ruin had a self-destruct program, and the attack of this self-destruct program was to use your souls as an energy source to charge it. Helpless, I had no choice but to destroy the device that was suspected of absorbing souls."

"Then, you souls who were originally used as nourishment will awaken. Of course, not all of you will awaken; there are still some souls that have not awakened."

After saying that, Gu Ran looked at them and said, "I need to find the little conch shell now... the soul of my lover. Her name is Eudora. Can you help me find her?"

At the same time, Gu Ran secretly became wary.

In a way, he saved everyone, preventing them from being used as energy replenishment during attacks.

But they were, after all, mermaids, while he was an intruder who had caused serious damage to the ruins, and he was unsure of their attitude.

Of course, he wasn't afraid of them because he could say it directly.

Unless one is a psychic, the attack power of the soul is generally very weak and has little lethality.

He's telling them the truth now because he wants to take a gamble. If he wins, there might be unexpected gains; if he loses, there won't be any loss. They can't hurt him; they can only be filled with impotent rage.

"You destroyed the ruins?" The merfolk souls exchanged glances, their faces filled with astonishment.

The empress's soul seemed to be getting to know Gu Ran all over again, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

"You actually possess such formidable strength?!"

The Queen's soul then frowned slightly: "Then why did you let it get to this point? Even human S-class ability users and martial arts masters couldn't have destroyed this ruin to this extent. If you truly possess the power to destroy ruins, then you would definitely be one of the strongest in the entire world, and the merfolk would treat you as an honored guest. At that time, the merfolk could simply find another challenger, and the merfolk you're in love with could be completely excluded."

After a moment of silence, Gu Ran asked, "How many years ago were you the Mermaid Queen? Oh, sorry, I forgot. Maybe you don't have a good sense of time while you're in the ruins."

"What year in the human calendar is it now?" the empress's soul asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gu Ran: "This year is the 995th year of the Star Stone Calendar."

The Star Stone Calendar uses the year when humanity first discovered the uses of star stones as its year of chronology. From that year onward, the speed of human cultivation has increased dramatically, experiencing a qualitative leap.

Three or four hundred years ago was the era of the great explosion of star stone technology, which symbolized that mankind expanded the use of star stones to non-cultivation fields - that is, the scientific field.

"Starstone Calendar 995, so much time has passed, almost three hundred years." The Empress's soul felt a little melancholy.

“Three hundred years...that’s quite a long time. No wonder you don’t know the current situation of the Merfolk.” Gu Ran said, “Now the Merfolk are having a hard time even choosing a suitable challenger, let alone selecting a few more challengers for the ruins.”

"What?! The merfolk have fallen so low?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! In our time, there are far too many mermaids with the talent to challenge the ruins. We have to go through several rounds of selection to choose the best mermaid as a challenger to receive the ruins' inheritance. And now we can only barely select one suitable challenger?"

The souls of those merfolk ancestors looked at Gu Ran in disbelief.

Gu Ran shook his head: "What's impossible about that? Three hundred years is a long time; anything can happen, let alone the decline of an entire clan."

The souls of those merfolk ancestors, including the Queen's soul, fell silent.

They simply couldn't accept such a cruel reality.