Chapter 232: The Gods Do Not Permit It?

They all want me?

The problem is, once they carry me away, what then?

Lu Ran pondered silently, sheathing the Silent Night Blade behind his back.

Demon minions aren't the true body; they can't accept disciples, so...

Are they really trying to drag me into a ghost marriage?

And after that?

The bridal chamber night. Hm.

Lu Ran expressed skepticism!

He believed the Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls would still follow their nature, imprisoning human prey and torturing them slowly.

After all, the true color of demons never changes.

As early as the night of June 15th last year, Lu Ran had already been kidnapped once by a Lady Lady Yanzhi Doll.

All along, no one noticed the issue precisely because it is very common for Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls to capture humans.

Just like the demons of the Threaded Shadow Clan.

They do not easily kill humans; instead, they manipulate people into slaughtering each other.

They toy with people, and even more so with minds.

Such demons possess considerable intelligence; their spiritual needs supersede their material ones.

The Lady Lady Yanzhi Doll Clan will suffocate people under red veils or strangle human necks, hanging them in mid-air to death.

Or they use the Xie Fa technique 'Paper Hands' to sever human limbs, shaving people into human sticks for their amusement.

Or they unleash the Xie Fa technique 'Paper Effigy', crushing people bit by bit, grinding them into meat paste.

The methods of torture employed by the Lady Lady Yanzhi Doll Clan are too numerous to list.

Merely thinking about it sends chills down one's spine.

"Hu," Lu Ran exhaled deeply, having figured something out.

When others are captured, after suffering thousands of violations and myriad tortures, they can at least find release.

Once the Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls have satisfied their sadistic desires, they will eventually grant death.

But I am different!

The Lady Lady Yanzhi Clan has clearly shown interest in me; thus, if I am captured, it is highly likely I will seek life but cannot obtain it, seek death but cannot achieve it!

"Tsk tsk~" Si Si Xianxian smiled at Jiangjiang Ruyi, teasing, "So, you have many, many love rivals."

Jiangjiang Ruyi: "..."

"My Love Rivals Are Paper Dolls"

"Every Yan Zhi Ren in the World"

"Let's go." Lu Ran calmed his mind. "First, let's familiarize ourselves with the environment of Rouge Village and figure out how to set an ambush."

Above the roof, Chen Chen Jingjing suddenly spoke: "We must return."

Lu Ran immediately stopped in his tracks.

Jiang Si and the other two also looked up at the roof, gazing at the cold and aloof Liangye Jian Yi disciple under the moonlight.

"Correct!" Li Ming's expression was grave. "I was just about to mention this matter."

Lu Ran has a past with the true body of the Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls, and combined with the Lady Lady Yanzhi Doll's performance on the battlefield just now, your speculation is very likely true.

If that is the case, Lu Ran must leave this demon lair immediately!

Si Si Xianxian was confused: "Why?"

Could it be that the true body of the demon still knows Lu Ran is here?"

"It's possible." Li Ming nodded heavily, causing Jiang Si and the other two to change color slightly.

Lu Ran frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the Li brothers before turning to Chen Chen Jingjing on the roof.

"Hu~"

The woman drifted down, arriving before Lu Ran: "You should know that all living beings possess souls."

"Of course." Lu Ran nodded.

Chen Chen Jingjing explained patiently: "Souls exist in another dimension; we do not possess the ability to see them.

But they objectively exist.

After every Lady Lady Yanzhi Doll dies, their souls do not perish; they will eventually return to the true body of the demon."

"Then we're finished!" Si Si Xianxian realized the severity of the problem.

Once the souls of the Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls fly back, won't the true body of the demon know everything?

"Let's go, Lu Ran; you cannot stay here!" Li Ming stepped forward boldly, flipping his palm.

A black Spider Lily bloomed quietly.

"Wait!" Lu Ran suddenly spoke.

Li Ming raised his eyes to look at Lu Ran, saying: "Lu Ran, we are responsible for your safety.

Even if there is the slightest possibility in your earlier deduction, I cannot allow you to take risks."

Li Xin also spoke, his attitude even more forceful: "Mr. Lu, this is an order; please obey unconditionally!"

The two brothers sang in harmony, the atmosphere extremely serious.

Chen Chen Jingjing spoke at the right moment, advising: "Let's go, Little Lu; this place is not suitable for lingering.

I will arrange another demon lair for you."

Lu Ran's expression turned strange as he looked at the several people before him.

I originally wanted to get along with you as an ordinary person, yet what I received in return was expulsion from the country.

You brought this upon yourselves!

I'm really going to pull it out now.

Lu Ran suddenly blurted out, "Who said I can't see the dead souls?"

Li Ming: "Huh?"

Li Xin: "Huh?"

Chen Chen Jingjing was also stunned.

As a proud prodigy of Great Xia, one's word should be as good as gold.

Everyone was willing to believe that what Lu Ran said was true.

But the problem was,

on what basis could he see them?

Whenever abilities involving the soul were concerned, the gods always kept them hidden and guarded.

No matter how devout the believers were, or how hard they defended their gods, this remained an indisputable fact!

Among the forces of evil demons, there were indeed some Xie Fa techniques involving the soul.

However, on the human side, techniques related to the soul were forbidden by the myriad gods!

There were nearly a hundred gods in Great Xia, every single one of them.

It seemed that only the God Nuo Sha, in an act of great mercy, had created a rudimentary technique that barely touched upon the "soul aspect."

Nuo Sha Divine Art: Blade of Evil Qi!

Moreover, those two daggers could only inflict minor soul damage upon enemies.

That was all there was to it!

Though the gods said nothing aloud, their actions had already made their stance clear:

The myriad gods did not allow humans to delve too deeply into the aspect of the soul!

In that case, what was Lu Ran's situation?

Li Ming and Li Xin exchanged a glance, seeing the same confusion in each other's eyes.

Within the Xianyangyi Sect, there were indeed techniques related to the soul.

But the Divine Art of the Sheep required sacrificing one's own soul; with every use of Ci Shi Fa, the soul of a Xianyangyi believer would suffer a slight deficit.

This naturally did not count as a profound application of soul techniques by humans, as Xianyangyi believers suffered passive soul depletion.

"I indeed cannot see them, but I can sense them," Lu Ran spoke.

Li Ming's face showed shock: "Sense them?"

Lu Ran nodded: "That is a world of another dimension, of which you are completely unaware.

Along this journey, you had no idea what I have been doing.

The souls of those two Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls have all been captured by me.

Their souls cannot fly back to deliver messages to the true bodies of the evil demons."

"What?" Si Si Xianxian widened her eyes, staring at Lu Ran.

Jiangjiang Ruyi's thoughts stirred slightly; she seemed to understand what Lu Ran was saying.

She naturally knew of the existence of that magical artifact.

Li Xin's shock was beyond measure: "You can sense souls, and you can even capture... huh?

You can even... huh??"

The Li brothers were both in their mid-forties, naturally rich in experience and worldly knowledge.

Yet Lu Ran's words completely overturned the understanding of these two veterans!

Lu Ran extended his right hand, tugged his sleeve upward, and revealed the copper coin tied with a red thread around his wrist.

"What is this?" Chen Chen Jingjing raised an eyebrow slightly.

Under the puzzled gazes of everyone, Lu Ran spoke: "A magical artifact, the Rebirth Coin."

"A magical artifact?"

"The Rebirth Coin?" The expressions on several faces were extremely remarkable.

That Jiang and Lu possessed divine weapons was out in the open, enough to make the world envious.

How could anyone have expected that Lu Ran was actually hiding another magical artifact?

Most crucially, the function of this artifact involved the aspect of the soul!

Its degree of rarity and preciousness was simply unimaginable!

"The souls of evil demons who die before me cannot escape either." Lu Ran tapped the copper coin on his wrist, "They are all in here."

A certain little lamb cub was truly telling lies without blushing.

Where were the souls of the Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls inside the Rebirth Coin?

Those were clearly the souls of two Mist Shadow Figures, collected by Lu Ran on the night of the fifteenth.

Originally there were three souls; over these past few days, the coin had already refined one of them.

Lu Ran's Rebirth Coin was merely a fragment of a magical artifact.

The copper coin could imprison at most three souls, used to nourish the coin itself and nourish its master, Lu Ran.

How could he bear to stuff the precious dead souls of Lady Lady Yanzhi Dolls into the copper coin?

The destined end of Lady Lady Yanzhi souls was inevitably the Garden of Divine and Demonic Sculptures!

"This magical artifact of yours..." Si Si Xianxian leaned closer, examining the copper coin carefully and looking at the characters inscribed upon it.

Lady Lady Wangquan?

What does that mean?

"A gift from a friend." Lu Ran pulled down his sleeve to cover the copper coin. "Rest assured, everyone, we shall simply continue our trial."

The Li brothers looked at each other, silent for a long moment.

Lu Ran continued, "I am, after all, a prodigy; I do not speak falsehoods."

"I take responsibility for my words, nor would I drag you all to your deaths for the sake of a single trial."

Li Ming pondered for a while before finally nodding. "Very well."

"Please ensure that the evil spirit's soul cannot escape."

Lu Ran smiled. "Rest assured; the departed soul has nowhere to flee and will only be refined to nourish my own soul."

Li Ming: "."

Li Xin: "."

"Rest assured, Sister Chen Jingjing," Lu Ran said to the woman beside him.

Chen Chen Jingjing remained silent and did not speak again.

Had circumstances not reached this point, she would never have known that Lu Ran was hiding such a secret.

Even less would she have known what Lu Ran had been doing in another dimension, entirely unbeknownst to everyone.

It truly was...

Lu Ran walked toward the large mansion gate and called out, "Let's go; we are off to find the village."

Si Si Xianxian hurried to catch up. "Is this friend of yours so generous as to give a Dharma treasure as a gift?"

Lu Ran thought for a moment, then said, "I was putting on airs."

"I may not be worthy of being her friend."

"What do you mean?" Si Si Xianxian grew even more confused.

Lu Ran leaned close to Si Si Xianxian's ear and whispered, "She is a deity."

Si Si Xianxian: "What! Did! You! Say?"

Lu Ran shrugged his shoulders.

Lady Lady Wangquan was, of course, a deity; even if she was merely eking out an existence in some remote corner, she was still a deity.

Si Si Xianxian hastily asked, "Which deity? To treat you so kindly, could it be Lord Xiang Xiang Xianyang?"

The more she spoke, the more inconceivable it seemed to Si Si Xianxian.

They were all humble believers!

Yet you could be friends and peers with your own divine lord?

Lu Ran said, "Not Lord Xiang Xiang Xianyang; you already know her name."

"Who is it?"

"It is written on the copper coin."

"Lady Wangquan?" Si Si Xianxian turned to look at Jiangjiang Ruyi, somewhat bewildered. "Who is Lady Wangquan? I have never heard of her?"

"Ask no more." Lu Ran patted Si Si Xianxian on the head. "From now on, just follow the Young Master and serve the Young Mistress well."

"The Young Master will show you things you have never heard of and never seen before."

Si Si Xianxian:???

Jiangjiang Ruyi: "."

Just as Si Si Xianxian was about to curse, Lu Ran turned his head.

His expression was solemn as he looked straight into her eyes. "Your life will be extraordinarily, extraordinarily brilliant! I guarantee it."

Si Si Xianxian opened her mouth, but for a long time, no words came out.

She was willing to trust Lu Ran, and very willing to follow him, but...

Suddenly, Si Si Xianxian raised her hand, pressed it against Lu Ran's face, and shoved outward.

"Uh." Lu Ran staggered, pushed back five or six meters.

Si Si Xianxian glared at Lu Ran resentfully, muttering under her breath, "Who is your maid?"

Lu Ran complained, "Didn't you call me 'Young Master'?"

Si Si Xianxian: "I f***ing &%￥&!!"

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(End of Chapter)