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

The once-dormant ruins have begun to function again.

This space suddenly shone brightly, and at the core of the light was the triangular crystal cone.

The "walls of space" of the ruins, like neon lights connected to electricity, have "awakened".

Something seems to be being subtly peeled away from the "wall of space" of the ruins.

Gu Ran's heart skipped a beat. Could it be...?

A look of joy appeared on his face as he looked on with anticipation.

As the peeling process progresses, the "walls of space" of the ruins appear to be getting thinner and thinner.

The extracted material gradually became clearer—it was the soul of the dead ancestors of the merfolk.

They appeared to have lost all sentience; some even had blurred faces and bodies, and even if they were separated from the ruins, they were no different from being "completely dead."

Moreover, the moment they were separated, most of them turned into specks of light, becoming part of the radiance.

A slight sense of unease welled up in Gu Ran's heart.

The remaining few merfolk ancestor souls suddenly said, "We have to go too. Please forgive us for deceiving you in the end. However, we do not have any ill intentions towards you. We are heartbroken after hearing about the current situation of the merfolk. We just want to help the merfolk."

After saying this, the last few remaining intelligent merfolk ancestors also threw themselves into the triangular crystal cone.

Can you help the merfolk nowadays?

Gu Ran was taken aback. How could he help the merfolk now?

A guess suddenly popped into his mind.

Queen Ariel did not lie to him, but she did hide some things from him.

When the souls of the remaining few merfolk ancestors were also poured into the triangular crystal cone, the entire ruins trembled even more violently, and the light became even more intense.

At the same time, some of the souls that were separated were left behind and did not dissipate.

Suddenly, space seemed to pause, and all the souls that had been separated and those that were still below and had not yet merged with the ruins seemed to be pulled by a thread, all gathering in one direction.

Then, they merged together!

However, the gathering place seemed to be selective. The souls that gathered there did not all merge together and the task was completed. Instead, souls kept separating from the gathering place and then completely dissipating, turning into specks of light and disappearing into the ruins space.

After the separation of souls stopped, as if to indicate that the selection was complete, the gathering place of the souls formed a "human shape", and then slowly formed a "fish tail".

Gu Ran's eyes widened.

Small sea snail?

Indeed, the soul that was gradually taking shape was exactly like the little conch shell, and Gu Ran recognized it at a glance.

If it's just a loss of a portion of the soul's essence, then there's no need for so many souls to make up for it. This isn't making up for it; it's overdoing it.

At the same time, the little conch's physical body also appeared in this space.

The floating conch shell's soul immediately flew towards the physical body.

"Unauthorized modification of root privileges has been detected. The target will be deleted and a self-destruct sequence will be initiated."

"Self-destruction preparation time: one hour."

That cold, electronic voice rang out again.

A spatial barrier suddenly appeared in front of the soul that was about to merge with the physical body, followed by a powerful beam of light that bombarded the little conch's soul.

Although some things were kept from him, Gu Ran could sense that the soul formed by the fusion of the souls of many merfolk ancestors was indeed the soul of Little Conch—at least most of the soul's origin was Little Conch's own soul origin.

Gu Ran could sense something.

Therefore, he would not allow the little conch's "resurrection" to be interrupted at this final moment!

Even if the "resurrected" little conch shell isn't the one he most hoped for, at least... it's still alive.

Gu Ran mobilized the remaining spiritual energy in his dantian and used all his strength to bombard the beam of light.

Space collapsed into fragments, and the remnant's counterattack beams blasted into the spatial rift.

Then Gu Ran rushed towards the triangular crystal pyramid without regard for anything else!

He wants to destroy the core of this ruin!

He can no longer sustain a fight for much longer; in fact, once he uses up the last bit of spiritual energy left in his dantian, he will become a cripple.

Looking at the triangular crystal cone in front of him, Gu Ran threw a punch directly at it.

He had no spiritual power left, so he could only use this most primitive and simplest method to achieve his goal.

However, the sturdiness of the triangular crystal cone exceeded Gu Ran's expectations. Even with all his strength, Gu Ran could not budge the triangular crystal cone.

However, although the triangular crystal cone was not destroyed, the beam of light that was originally aimed at the little conch's soul suddenly stopped and shot towards Gu Ran.

"Based on the threat level of the target, the elimination target has now been changed," an electromechanical voice announced.

Gu Ran was not afraid at all; instead, he attacked the triangular crystal pyramid even more fiercely.

He had exhausted all the spiritual energy in his dantian. In order to further squeeze it out, his dantian had become so shriveled that it was completely destroyed, like a field that had been drained of its fish!

Suddenly, Gu Ran felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, and then he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He was completely exhausted and could no longer use any spiritual power!

102. Possessing the highest authority over the ruins? Gu Ran's plan! 4.2k

However, Gu Ran still did not give up attacking the triangular crystal cone. Whether it was to destroy it or to attract the attacks of the ruins, Gu Ran would not stop.

However, his attacks had no effect on the triangular crystal cone. Even though he had used all his strength, it seemed that no attack could harm the triangular crystal cone.

After his dantian was completely destroyed due to excessive strain, Gu Ran's subsequent attacks were like those of an ordinary person, relying solely on the power of his physical body.

His internal injuries had accumulated to a certain extent. If he stopped now and recuperated properly, he would still be able to heal his injuries.

However, Gu Ran did not stop. Instead, because his spiritual energy was exhausted, he exerted even more force and moved even faster in order to maintain the power of his attack.

As a result, each of Gu Ran's attacks aggravated his injuries, as if a volcano inside his body was about to erupt, but instead of lava, it erupted blood.

To avoid being disturbed by the pauses in vomiting blood, Gu Ran gritted his teeth and tried to swallow the blood that was about to come out of his throat. However, his injuries were getting worse and worse, and blood was flowing from between his teeth and spilling from the corners of his mouth.

......

Outside the light screen.

Everyone was stunned, amazed by Gu Ran's unwavering determination.

Especially the martial arts experts present, how could they not know that Gu Ran's martial arts golden core had shattered?

First, he shattered his golden core, and then, disregarding his own recovery, he continued to increase the burden on his dantian until it was completely unbearable, severing all his future martial arts path, all in order to give that pink mermaid a glimmer of hope!

"So that's how Gu Ran's dantian was destroyed. He really destroyed it himself." A martial arts expert murmured. "If he hadn't destroyed it himself, his martial arts achievements today would definitely be unparalleled among all martial artists."

"Yes, I never expected that although Gu Ran is ruthless in governing, he is also a very devoted lover."

"However, it seems that Gu Ran owes the mermaids nothing and has done nothing wrong. On the contrary, Gu Ran has always been kind to the mermaids. Even if Gu Ran destroyed this ruin, it was because the ruin had made a mistake and failed to play its proper role in inheritance. Otherwise, that pink mermaid would not have died."

The powerful figures discussed amongst themselves, and this time they completely sided with Gu Ran.

While there were racial reasons involved, with most of them harboring fear and wariness towards merfolk, it was also because Gu Ran was completely in the right in this incident.

Your mermaid grandmother committed suicide and then framed Gu Ran, right? Besides, Gu Ran had saved the mermaids several times before.

Therefore, the human powerhouses present intentionally or unintentionally sided with Gu Ran in their discussions, and then all cast their gazes toward the merfolk.

Ariel, however, had no time to care about what others thought.

She was filled with confusion and self-doubt.

Grandmother actually committed suicide and framed Gu Ran; "Ariel" was actually the name of the first mermaid queen, and all subsequent mermaid queens have used this title; the ruins were destroyed by Gu Ran because he saved his mermaid lover, and the ruins have already begun to malfunction.

The enmity she had previously believed between the merfolk and Gu Ran had largely dissipated.

And that unacceptable guess resurfaced in her mind once again.

The truth of the matter increasingly points to this speculation.

"No! Impossible! If it were really as I think, how could I not remember him?!"

Ariel almost lost control and shouted, but her long-standing queenly composure helped her control herself as the words reached her throat.

Moreover, under her skillful control, her gaze returned to its indifferent state, as if none of this had affected her at all.

To bolster her confidence and reaffirm her stance, she said, "Although what Gu Ran did at that time was a misunderstanding with the merfolk, it is undeniable that he imprisoned my mother and massacred the sea creatures afterwards. I witnessed all of this myself."

"Gu Ran is an enemy of the merfolk and an enemy of the sea people, without a doubt. Rest assured, I will not forgive him."

The sea creatures who had come with Ariel were relieved.

Meanwhile, Lin Fan, who had been slightly on edge, relaxed a little. He had been worried that Ariel might encounter a similar situation to Gu Qingqing. If the Sea Queen and Gu Qingqing joined forces, it would be very troublesome.

At that point, Gu Ran might actually be able to escape.

This was unacceptable to him; he had always wanted to replace Gu Ran's position.

He was just one step away from victory, and he didn't want to fail at the last hurdle.

In short, Gu Ran must die.

However, what others didn't know was that after Ariel finished speaking, she didn't relax at all. Instead, she felt an overwhelming sadness welling up inside her, the origin of which she herself didn't know.