Chapter 1: That Day at the God-Worshipping Platform

Midsummer, early morning.

Inside an ordinary residential home, a teenager of sixteen or seventeen sat before a computer desk, muttering to himself:

"On the fifteenth of the lunar month, the Yin Gate opens; demons and monsters come of their own accord."

The teenager, Lu Ran, stared fixedly at the screen, watching the scene of ruins and broken walls in the video.

The night market street, which should have been bustling, was now filled with flames, with the figures of vicious black dogs everywhere.

Their bodies were stained with blood-colored patterns, flames spilling from their mouths, destroying everything in their line of sight.

The Demon Clan: Blood Disaster Dogs!

This was not a movie clip, but a real news report.

Every lunar fifteenth, all sorts of demons would emerge to wreak havoc on the world.

"They really are fierce," Lu Ran muttered to himself.

What was playing in the video was only the footage of the Demon Clan causing chaos within the city.

Yet, in the various Demon Lairs and on the higher-level battlefields, the war between humans, gods, and demons was far more tragic than one could imagine!

If one day, the demon army were to truly break through the defense net and slaughter their way into the human world...

"Lu Ran?" A pleasant female voice suddenly came from outside the window.

Lu Ran's home was on the first floor, so the voice sounded quite clear.

"Hmm?" Lu Ran went to the window and saw a tall, graceful figure under a large tree.

The young girl was wearing a long white dress, her long, pitch-black hair draped over her shoulders.

It happened to be a day when the heavens were threatening rain; gusts of wind blew by, causing the girl's long hair to dance lightly and her skirt to flutter.

"Whoa~~~"

Lu Ran let out a sigh of admiration, looking at his deskmate and class monitor.

Seeing Lu Ran's reaction, Jiang Ruyi couldn't help but blush.

Usually, she wore a blue and white school uniform and had never been seen like this before, with her long hair draped over her shoulders and a white dress fluttering.

"Oh no!" Lu Ran leaned his elbows on the windowsill, smiling as he looked at the gentle and lovely girl under the tree.

"What is it?" Jiang Ruyi asked, puzzled.

Lu Ran: "Who could even tell the difference between you and Chang'e now?"

Jiang Ruyi's face turned even redder, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at Lu Ran: "You're just a smooth talker."

Lu Ran pursed his lips.

It sounded as if you'd tasted it before.

"Let's go quickly; today is the day for worshipping the gods, don't be late." Jiang Ruyi held a small booklet in her hand and shook it gently.

"Oh." Lu Ran turned and walked toward the computer.

The disaster report in the video was from half a month ago; he had specifically dug it out to watch just to get himself pumped up.

Because today was the first day of the sixth lunar month, the annual day for worshipping the gods!

Every year on this day, the gods would choose believers among humans.

These so-called "gods" were actually just a group of sculptures; they had come to suppress evil spirits.

In the early 1980s, on a night of a full moon, a host of demons suddenly emerged and wreaked havoc on the world.

That was a period of incredibly cruel and bloody history.

It wasn't until three months later, when the whole world was plunged into deep despair, that the dawn finally arrived!

Mysterious sculptures descended one after another, spreading across the world to suppress all kinds of evil spirits.

A war between gods and demons thus began, and it has continued to this day.

And with the descent of the sculptures, the human race finally had an effective way to resist; those demons that were difficult to destroy with human power could be sanctioned by divine power!

Since then, humanity entered the era of "universal god-worship."

When people reached the age of 17–18, once their physical and mental levels met certain standards, they might be accepted as believers by the gods.

As long as one could become a believer, one could cultivate divine power, learn divine techniques, and fight against the Demon Clan.

"So many years have passed; it should be my turn now."

Before turning off the computer, Lu Ran took one last deep look at the Blood Disaster Dog doing evil in the video.

For Lu Ran, every night of the lunar fifteenth was extremely difficult to endure.

He had had enough of that feeling of fear, weakness, and helplessness!

"Bring an umbrella; it looks like it's going to rain." The girl's voice came from outside the window again.

"Oh!"

For some reason, it seemed to rain every year on the day of god-worship.

Just like how it always rained during the few days of the college entrance exam every year; it was quite magical.

Lu Ran took his umbrella and walked out the door, quickly arriving in front of the girl, gesturing to her special attire: "For Master Jian Yi?"

"Yes." Jiang Ruyi started walking and flipped open the booklet in her hand.

Inside the pages, square portraits came into view, all of them sculptures of gods.

This scene looked like a hero-selection interface in a game.

There were nearly a hundred gods within the Great Xia Realm, divided into nine rows, equivalent to nine tiers.

And the one ranked first in the first row was none other than the god, Jian Yi!

This was a female sculpture.

Her long dress fluttered, her long hair danced, one hand held a sword behind her back, and the other hand formed a seal placed in front of her.

Even though it was a stone sculpture, it could not hide her immortal beauty and that transcendent, otherworldly temperament.

"You will succeed," Lu Ran encouraged her at the right moment.

Don't let Jiang Ruyi's gentle and quiet appearance fool you; her physical test data, martial arts level, and other comprehensive results were ranked in the top three of the entire grade!

"Master Jian Yi is a cold and arrogant immortal," Jiang Ruyi said, feeling a bit troubled.

When gods selected believers, besides looking at human aptitude, there was another reference factor: personality.

Countless examples showed that the more similar a person's personality was to a god's, the easier it was to be accepted into their sect.

And Jiang Ruyi was the gentle and quiet type...

Suddenly, the girl straightened her face, trying hard to pretend to be cold.

Lu Ran didn't understand why and looked curiously at the girl in the white dress.

He saw Jiang Ruyi lift her chin slightly, putting on a condescending posture, and said indifferently: "How is this?"

Lu Ran: "..."

As expected of a woman!

The speed at which she changed her face was faster than netizens flipping pages while reading novels!

"Hehe~" Jiang Ruyi easily broke her composure and looked at the god atlas again.

The smile on her face gradually turned back into a worried look.

Lu Ran comforted her: "Personality is just a reference factor; it's not the deciding factor.

Your aptitude is solid, and your heart is sincere enough; you're guaranteed to succeed!"

Jiang Ruyi looked at the peerless figure of Master Jian Yi in the picture, listening to Lu Ran's comforting words.

Gradually, the smile returned to her face: "Hmm, you will succeed too."

Lu Ran looked at the fifth god in the third row of the book.

That was a sculpture of a cold-looking man wearing a cloak and holding a spiritual talisman: Yu Fu!

He was also the god worshipped by his late father, Lu Xing.

The light rain drizzled as the two of them held umbrellas and arrived in front of the school gate of Yuyucheng No. 1 High School.

Inside and outside the campus, it was a sea of people; the overcast and rainy weather couldn't dampen people's enthusiasm for worshipping the gods.

Amidst the blessings of the citizens, Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi struggled through the crowd and walked into the school gate.

On the playground, the students of the second year had already lined up neatly, waiting for the god-worship ceremony to begin.

There were also many third-year students who had failed last year, organized by the school to come and try their luck.

Every year, about 30% of students fail, and the success rate for those who try again the following year...

... is almost zero!

Facing the cruel reality of having no divine protection, many students couldn't handle it, and those who cried and made a scene were everywhere.

Lu Ran didn't want to become one of those people; he had always trained extremely hard.

Everything was just for today!

"Tsk tsk~ These two really have guts! The head teacher is right in front, and they're still standing so close?"

As soon as Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi walked into the class line, they heard a burst of discussion.

"Damn, what's so good about Lu Ran? Isn't he just a bit taller, a bit fairer, and a bit more handsome than me... Ugh, it hurts, I want to cry."

"It's just your mind that's impure; didn't you see that Class Wu Ban Zhang Jiang didn't bring an umbrella?"

"You brought one! Your umbrella is the biggest in the class, big enough to set up a stall to sell lamb skewers, and yet I didn't see the class monitor duck under your umbrella?"

"Nonsense! I haven't set up the stall yet, have I? Once I set up the stove, just watch if she comes over or not!"

"Wait, what the hell?"

Amidst the bursts of discussion, Jiang Ruyi blushed and retorted: "Don't talk nonsense."

"Here." Lu Ran stopped and handed his umbrella to his deskmate.

Jiang Ruyi refused: "No need, you use it."

Lu Ran: "It's fine, I'll just go squeeze in with the guy selling lamb skewers."

"Heh." Jiang Ruyi had been a bit shy and annoyed, but she was amused by Lu Ran's words.

Under Lu Ran's insistence, she took the umbrella and walked toward the line.

The heavens were quite kind; the rain was getting lighter and lighter.

Until nine o'clock in the morning, the god-worship ceremony began in the drizzle.

A female student from Class 1 of the second year was the first to step onto the podium, and under the expectant eyes of everyone, she invited a god to appear.

"Yo, a fortune teller?"

"Spirit Sign! It's Master Ling Qian!" Sharp-eyed students had already shouted out.

High in the sky, a male phantom over ten meters tall quietly emerged, looking down with a smile.

He had a slender figure, wore a gray cloth robe, held a bell in one hand, and a cloth flag in the other.

It was just that the writing on the fortune-telling banner was a bit blurry, and one couldn't see clearly what was written.

"This is a god from the fourth row! It's said that Ling Qian's believers can help people ask about marriage, predict fortunes, and so on."

"Forget it! If you want your fortune told, you should go to a temple; Ling Qian's believers are too unreliable."

"Right, right! Especially when fighting, they just draw signs randomly and cast skills randomly!"

"They're just a bunch of gamblers..."

"You're even being picky? This is a god from the fourth row! You'd be lucky to pray for a god from the eighth row!"

The students below the stage were discussing heatedly, while the female student on the stage was pleasantly surprised and knelt down toward the god.

Master Ling Qian was still smiling, the fortune-telling banner in his hand swaying lightly, and wisps of mist descended from the sky, surging toward the podium.

In no time, the white mist all surged into the student's body, and the figure of the god, Ling Qian, gradually dissipated.

"Did she succeed?"

"Congratulations, congratulations!" Bursts of cheers and applause erupted inside and outside the campus.

It was just that amidst the cheers, there were also whispers like "another gambler."

Subsequently, the second student was pushed onto the podium.

The god this male student prayed for was the god ranked in the seventh row: Jiu Zhu.

The phantom of this god was quite blurry, making it difficult to distinguish the gender, but the bamboo-joint whip held in its hand was very clear and exquisitely shaped.

Although the god's ranking was low, the student didn't dare to be negligent and immediately knelt down respectfully...

And it was from this god onwards that the situation took a sharp turn for the worse!

A total of over 120 people from Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 all prayed for gods below the fifth tier.

Among them, gods from the sixth, seventh, and eighth tiers were the most numerous.

All kinds of humanoid gods, animal-type gods, and plant-type gods left everyone dazzled, and they sighed secretly in their hearts.

They had thought the fourth-tier god, Ling Qian, was just the beginning.

Who would have thought it was the peak?

Having said that, having a god to take you in was better than having no divine protection.

After the three classes finished their worship, over ten students had already failed.

"Only ten or so failed?" Lu Ran took everything in, and he began to mutter in his heart.

This year, the proportion of gods recruiting believers seemed exceptionally high?

Could it be because the Demon Clan was becoming increasingly powerful, so the gods had lowered the threshold for recruiting disciples?

"Cheer up!" Head teacher Li Yanzhu shouted loudly, waking Lu Ran from his deep thoughts.

It was finally the turn of his class, Class 4 of the second year!

At the front of the line, Li Yanzhu took Jiang Ruyi toward the podium: "Show your deepest respect..."

Jiang Ruyi nodded gently, and amidst the teacher's instructions, she quickly walked to the center of the podium.

"Student is ready, you may begin." A male teacher on the side gave the command.

Jiang Ruyi lowered her head and closed her eyes, hands clasped together, fingertips pressed against her lips.

The young girl was praying...

The sky was overcast, and the drizzle was misty.

The girl in the white dress was like the only bright color in this gray world.

Watching her, Lu Ran's heart skipped a beat!

Because he saw his own "white moonlight"!

Just then, a huge male phantom appeared high in the sky.

He wore a snow-white cloak, surrounded by four white jade plaques, each engraved with strange runes.

What was quite strange was that the four white jade plaques were wrapped in fine sand, frost and snow, electric currents, and sparks, respectively.

"Master Yu... Yu Fu?!"

"Wow! Is this for real?"

"Damn, a god from the third row?" A burst of exclamations came from the playground.

Since the beginning of the god-worship ceremony, the highest-ranked god people had seen was Master Ling Qian from the fourth row.

One could imagine how difficult it was to pray for gods from the first three rows, and how high the standards for the gods to recruit disciples were!

"There's more! Wait a minute, is another god coming?"

"Ah??"

At this moment, the playground was almost boiling!

Most of the first hundred or so students could only pray for one god to appear; occasionally, there were situations where two gods fought over a person, but those were gods from the sixth or seventh tier fighting.

And the second god about to appear was at least from the third tier!

Why say that?

After all, who would dare to fight for a believer with the third-tier god, Yu Fu, if they weren't someone extraordinary?

"It seems to be an animal-type god... Tian Luan! Oh my god, Tian Luan?!"

"A god from the second row? It's actually a second-tier god?"

"This is too wasteful; it would be great if one was shared with me! I'm not picky; I'm willing to be reassigned..."

High in the sky, the phantom of a Luan bird quietly emerged.

It was snow-white all over, with a graceful posture; under this gray and hazy sky, it radiated holy light, dazzling and eye-catching.

On the podium, Jiang Ruyi bit her lower lip gently, looking up at the sky.

Master Jian Yi,

do you still not think I'm good enough?

"Ruyi, be decisive!" The head teacher was very excited but had no time to celebrate, "Make your choice within 10 seconds!"

Hesitation was the greatest disrespect to the gods.

If you aren't decisive, both gods will leave you!

Jiang Ruyi didn't hesitate for too long; her gaze lingered on the two gods for a moment before she bowed apologetically to the second-tier god, Tian Luan.

Then, the girl turned toward the third-tier god, Yu Fu.

Under the astonished gaze of everyone, the girl lifted her skirt with one hand and slowly knelt down:

"Ruyi wishes to enter the sect of Master Yu Fu, to offer sacrifices day and night, to cultivate divine techniques diligently, and to eradicate evil spirits in the world."

Yu Fu nodded with satisfaction, mist filling his palms and surging toward the girl kneeling on the stage.

Seeing this, Tian Luan's figure gradually dissipated.

After a full 20 seconds, Yu Fu also slowly disappeared, and Jiang Ruyi, who had accepted the immortal mist into her body, opened her eyes.

Those eyes were clear and bright, possessing a hint of divine charm.

"Yo-hoo~~~"

"As expected of Goddess Jiang! Awesome!!"

"I'm truly convinced! Leaving a second-tier god and turning to pray to a third-tier one..."

"Jiang Ruyi! Jiang Ruyi!"

Applause thundered on the playground, and discussions and cheers erupted everywhere.

Below the podium, Li Yanzhu hurriedly greeted Lu Ran: "Lu Ran, hurry! While Master Yu Fu hasn't completely left yet, hurry up!"

The head teacher knew exactly what the goal of every student in the class was.

"Where's Lu Ran?"

"Lu Ran, the teacher is calling you!"

"Coming!" Lu Ran strode forward, but he heard a whisper from behind.

"Stop dragging your feet, hurry up and worship the god, just let your true colors be revealed! Save yourself from pestering Class Wu Ban Zhang Jiang every day; besides your mouth, what else do you have..."

Lu Ran frowned slightly and turned his head to look.

There were many students to his back-right, but Lu Ran locked eyes with a tall male student.

Kou Yingquan looked back at Lu Ran coldly, his gaze not dodging.

"Lu Ran." Li Yanzhu greeted him and pulled Lu Ran's arm forward, constantly instructing him, "Concentrate, show your most devout attitude!"

"Yes." Lu Ran quickly collected his thoughts and strode onto the stage.

Regarding god-worship, he was incredibly serious.

Lu Ran had truly had enough of the feeling of being weak and incompetent!

"Student is ready, you may begin." On the side of the podium, the male teacher gave the command again.

Lu Ran lowered his head and closed his eyes properly, praying secretly.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...

"I want to see what kind of god you can pray for!" Below the podium, Kou Yingquan snorted, "Don't pray for nothing at all... I, holy crap?"

Kou Yingquan's face stiffened; he only felt a gust of Yin wind blow by, and his spine felt cold!

In just an instant, the temperature between heaven and earth plummeted!

"This, what kind of god is this?"

"Something's wrong! This is... f*ck! Isn't this an evil spirit?"

"The Demon Clan: Yan Zhi Ren!"

"Ah??"

The playground suddenly exploded, and screams erupted everywhere.

It wasn't just the students who were panicked; the teachers present also had faces full of fear and felt their scalps tingling!

The first day of the sixth lunar month was the annual day for worshipping the gods!

On this day, gods would choose believers within the Great Xia Realm, and demons and evil spirits would be at their most well-behaved.

Yet this kid, Lu Ran...

On this first day, on the god-worshipping platform under the gaze of everyone, he prayed for a demon?!

Long time no see, Yu is back (￣▽￣)

Two chapters daily, at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM respectively.

Brothers, let's go~

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 2 =====