Zongman: All Heavens and Worlds Begin with the Devil's Curse

For him, the most important purpose was to prevent these things from bringing disaster, so most of the runes he collected were placed in the Anti-Magic Stone Forest of Demacia.

"Let me make this clear beforehand: to me, the runes you so desperately want are nothing more than a gift that comes easily to me."

"Calamity, world domination... Ha." Zhou Lan chuckled lightly, "If I wanted to, I could easily do it without runes."

"The reason we're eyeing runes is simply because they have the value of being given as gifts."

"A gift?" Ryze clearly couldn't understand Zhou Lan's thought process.

Or perhaps, a mage who spends his entire life traveling and busying himself in Runeterra collecting runes in order to prevent the world from ending in destruction cannot understand how something so important could be reduced to something worthless as a gift in the eyes of the other party.

Since that's the case, Ryze didn't bother with any more words.

He slowly raised his hand and said coldly, "Beat me, and you can get everything you want."

"Otherwise, things will only go according to my plan!"

“Okay.” Zhou Lan did not refuse, nodding slightly in agreement.

The next moment.

The runes branded on Ryze immediately lit up and converged on his arm, and a shimmering blue light suddenly burst from his body.

His energy is almost inexhaustible, making him the pinnacle of Runeterra mages.

A single small rune can easily destroy a city, and he has collected many more runes that are even more powerful than that.

The next second, a dazzling blue beam of light, displaying complex patterns, surged toward Zhou Lan.

This energy is powerful and pure.

As the light struck, Zhou Lan pointed a finger, and an invisible slash swept across in an instant, cutting away everything in the blink of an eye.

The energy that Ryze channeled was instantly split in two, flowing past Zhou Lan without causing him any damage.

The energy beam was split in two, heading towards the wilderness of Piltover and falling to the ground.

A loud, booming explosion was heard.

A massive explosion erupted behind Zhou Lan, and the two streams of energy burst forth across the continent, shaking the heavens and the earth.

At the same time, countless dust particles were hurled into the sky, and a huge mushroom cloud, its exterior covered by gray dust but its interior glowing blue, roared straight up into the heavens.

Zhou Lan didn't even turn around; he could estimate the power of the attack.

To be honest, given the true strength of this old mage, if he were to get serious at this moment...

Indeed, they could defeat Piltover in one fell swoop.

Chapter 489 Old Master, is that enough?

The blast sent a fierce wind howling past.

As the dust settled, a bottomless canyon was revealed on the continent.

The wind howled through the canyon.

But when the wind blew by and swept past Zhou Lan, it became gentle, merely swaying a corner of his Taoist robe.

Ryze remained expressionless, and after his first attack failed, he prepared to charge up his power again.

But Zhou Lan would not give him another chance.

He raised his hand and pressed it down.

The world changes with every gesture he makes.

An unprecedented pressure suddenly arose. Ryze hurriedly looked around, but saw no mountains or continents, only the twinkling starry sky.

He suddenly raised his head and looked ahead.

Before them, the true form of the Moon Demon stretched from the sky to the earth, slowly turning its head to look at them.

No words are needed, just this one moment.

Ryze suddenly realized that the gap between him and the beings before him was even greater than the gap between him and ordinary people.

It's like dust particles floating in the air hitting an impenetrable wall.

A sense of powerlessness welled up inside me.

Zhou Lan didn't even do anything more; she simply reached out and squeezed, and the light that Ryze had just been ignited instantly went out.

He was lifted off the ground uncontrollably, the gravity of the universe pressing down on him, instantly consuming all his magic power.

In the blink of an eye, the starry sky and the great demon in Ryze's eyes vanished.

His hands touched solid ground, and he weakly knelt on the ground.

He lost.

It was too fast, so fast that he didn't even have time to react. It was so fast that he didn't even have a trump card left to use. He hadn't even had a chance to use the power he gained from deciphering the runes before everything was completely over.

But that's just how reality is.

Even if you are confident in your great abilities, it is all in vain in the face of an existence whose strength far surpasses yours.

This feeling of powerlessness can be explained.

It's like a squishy mage with six full items looking up and finding themselves standing right in front of a Sett with maxed-out favorability, right in the bullseye.

Even if ten million skills are not activated, it doesn't matter.

But the truth is that it's even worse than that.

"Old Mage, is that enough?" Just as Ryze was feeling lost and confused, a whisper suddenly came to his ear.

He looked up and saw Zhou Lan still standing quietly and peacefully in the air, just as he had seen her before.

It was as if nothing had happened, as if there had been no battle, and that they had only exchanged a few words.

"If that's enough, take me to get the runes," Zhou Lan said calmly.

Ryze was silent for a moment, then nodded weakly.

At this moment, things are not as he imagined, but reality is more powerful than people.

The person in front of him who could kill him with a wave of his hand was indeed right.

Runes? Ha—

This kind of power is not even icing on the cake for the other side.

If he wanted to rule the world, he wouldn't need anything else; he could do it with a mere thought.

Such a thing has never existed in this world.

However, given the proof of his strength, Ryze suddenly felt that Zhou Lan was actually quite honest.

In a short period of time, many things were on his mind.

From another perspective, giving the rune to the other party might actually be a good thing.

Firstly, we can't refuse now, since he can't win.

Secondly, the power of runes, which is capable of destroying the world, should indeed belong to an entity that can easily destroy the world.

At least it prevents them from being abused by delusional ambitious people and madmen.

For a destructive force, the safest place in the world is undoubtedly in the hands of another, even more powerful being with destructive power.

In any case, Ryze convinced himself.

He said weakly, "The runes aren't here, I can no longer activate the teleportation..."

Before he could finish speaking, a ray of golden light illuminated his face.

Then Zhou Lan's calm and unhurried voice said, "I'm quite good at this."

Passing through the portal, two figures moved through the gray and white stone forest.

This place is located in Demacia, and all the stone pillars and towering trees that stand before you are made of something called anti-magic stones.

As its name suggests, this thing can block and prevent magic.

Moreover, this place is an overwhelming anti-magic stone forest.

Ryze placing all the runes he had collected here was indeed an optimal choice.

The security of Demacia is well-documented.

This is a country that rejects magic; anyone who becomes tainted by magic will be judged.

In this situation, the goal is to bypass the numerous defenses to enter the Anti-Magic Forest and steal the runes right under Ryze's nose.

Almost no mage in this world can do this.

It wasn't until Ryze passed through the portal created by Zhou Lan and arrived here that he suddenly realized something.

Only he knew where the runes were stored.

It is common knowledge that magic cannot be cast in the Forbidden Stone Forest; mages here are no different from ordinary people.

But Zhou Lan.

He not only opened a portal directly and located the rune's position, but he even opened the portal directly inside the Anti-Magic Stone Forest.

The truth seems quite simple.

The other party already knew the location of the rune and could easily take it without asking.

Yet, he still managed to defeat him and rightfully wait for the rune to return to his own hands.

What kind of behavior is this?!

"Why?" Ryze asked, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes, as he gazed at Zhou Lan's figure beside him.

Zhou Lan seemed to understand what he meant, but simply said, "I've always been someone who likes to follow procedures, and..."

Zhou Lan looked at Ryze and smiled, "Taking things without asking is not a good habit."

Ryze was speechless for a moment.

At the same time, a sense of relief suddenly flashed through his mind.

Encountering such a powerful being who adheres to principles is hardly a bad thing.

He said wistfully, "The World Rune is the foundation of everything, but if there is something stronger than the world, even I can't do anything about it."

"Strength should belong to the strong."

He sighed.

“At least I won’t let this world perish,” Zhou Lan said.

He was pointing out exactly what Ryze was most grateful for.

And that is indeed the case. For Zhou Lan, Xiao Feng is still in this world, and this world is the future territory he has chosen for Xiao Feng.

As the elder brother, how could he allow this world to perish?

Ultimately, Ryze's concerns and the hidden dangers of the runes were destined to be resolved the moment Zhou Lan arrived with Xiaofeng.

The footsteps stopped in front of a row of stone pillars that resembled an altar.

Ryze gazed solemnly at the world runes emitting different colors.

He turned his back and said in a low voice, almost as if sighing, "They're all here. Please make your move quickly."

Chapter 490 Elders Never Lie

Zhou Lan didn't stand on ceremony with Ryze.

With a wave of his hand, all the world runes stored here surged into his sleeve like shooting stars.

These originally incredibly powerful and uncontrollable forces immediately became quiet and silent after being drawn into his sleeve.

Ryze watched this scene calmly.

Having witnessed Zhou Lan's power, he had already guessed this outcome.

“That’s fine.” He sighed. “However, I haven’t collected all the world runes, as well as some minor runes…”

"I know," Zhou Lan said calmly. "That's not important, and it's not my business."