Chapter 377: Showdown!

"Heh." Deng Deng Yuxiang suddenly laughed.

That smile was somewhat bitter, yet afterward, it seemed somewhat relieved.

Lu Ran asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang slowly closed her eyes.

No wonder my whole body felt warm; no wonder I saw Lu Xiao Lu Lu Ran.

It turns out I am already dead.

Is this the place people go after they die?

A world of pitch darkness.

And a figure from memory, warm and familiar.

So be it.

I have fought for so long; I am tired.

To lie here forever, accompanied by him from my memories.

So be it.

Lu Ran looked at Deng Deng Yuxiang with some worry, unconsciously tightening his grip on her palm to send her more black fire.

Deng Deng Yuxiang suddenly opened her eyes.

The real sensation coming from her palm left her somewhat confused.

Yet when she opened her eyes again, the entire world was pitch black.

After all, the Blazing Phoenix Pattern Gourd does not stay lit constantly.

"Lu Xiao Lu Lu Ran." In the darkness, a woman's hoarse voice sounded once more.

"Would you like some water?" Lu Ran asked softly.

As he spoke, Lu Ran felt his hand being gripped in return.

She held on tightly, as if intending to crush his hand bones: "Are... are you real?"

Lu Ran raised his eyebrows slightly, moving his mind.

Not far away, the Xia Guang Dao quietly unsheathed, a golden-red luster rising on its cold blade.

However, under Lu Ran's instruction, the light on the blade was very faint.

Lu Ran smiled: "What, did you think you were dead?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang stared blankly at Lu Ran.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Her gaze fell again upon their joined hands, watching the black fire burning dimly.

"You?" Deng Deng Yuxiang's astonishment in her heart was beyond measure; she raised her eyes to look at Lu Ran once more.

Lu Ran nodded gently: "Yes, Xie Fa · Bathing Fire Cage."

"Who... who are you?"

"I am Lu Ran." Lu Ran gently pulled his hand free from her palm.

He stood up and walked to the side, picking up a bottle of water from the table.

Borrowing the faint luster of the Xia Guang Dao, Deng Deng Yuxiang watched that familiar silhouette come and go.

In the dim environment, she habitually wanted to listen to everything.

But Deng Deng Yuxiang discovered she no longer had the qualification to cast spells.

It was not that she could not mobilize the divine power within her body, nor that the gods forbade it.

Rather, the pathway for reporting upward had been severed!

"Drink some water." Lu Ran supported the dazed Deng Deng Yuxiang, helping her sit propped against the head of the bed.

As the clear water went down her throat, she finally regained some clarity.

"My divine arts?" Deng Deng Yuxiang asked with a trembling voice.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, she overlooked the fact that Lu Ran knew Xie Fa.

Lu Ran said: "You are no longer a believer of the Lord Bei Feng."

"I... I was expelled—"

"No, it is that the Lord Bei Feng wants your life."

"Lord Lord Bei Feng... wants my life?"

Lu Ran sat by the bed, looking straight into her eyes: "Repeat after me: Lord Bei Feng."

Deng Deng Yuxiang was stunned for a long while, then said softly: "Lord Bei Feng."

Is there any difference?

There is.

The two words "my lord" were omitted, becoming a direct address by name.

It is disrespectful.

Lu Ran asked: "Where does your last memory stop?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang pondered for a moment, her eyes gradually dimming.

It seemed she had recalled the severed Zhan Ye Great Blade.

Lu Ran sighed faintly in his heart and recounted everything to her exactly as it happened.

Deng Deng Yuxiang sat propped against the head of the bed; the flames covering her body had long since dispersed, and the towel wrapped around her head had fallen off due to her rising just now.

Her long, jet-black hair, washed soft and smooth by Bai Bai Manni, now hung loose.

Those lowered eyelids and that dim expression carried a kind of shattered beauty.

Lu Ran picked up the water bottle and offered it forward again: "Lord Bei Feng wants your life.

He wants to take your soul to nourish the stone sculpture."

Deng Deng Yuxiang, usually forever bright and dazzling, now resembled a soulless puppet, allowing Lu Ran to manipulate her as she tilted her head to drink.

Lu Ran whispered, "Coincidentally, I also want your life."

The shattered puppet finally showed a trace of reaction.

She slowly raised her eyes to look at Lu Ran.

Yet her gaze remained somewhat unfocused.

Lu Ran said in a deep voice, "Fortunately, you and I are under the protection of Lord Xiang Xiang Xianyang; it tore up the contract between you and Lord Bei Feng."

A bitter smile surfaced on Deng Deng Yuxiang's deathly pale face: "Is it worth it?"

"What?"

"Everything was my own doing." Deng Deng Yuxiang's voice was so small and light it made one's heart ache, "Yet you bore it all for me.

At the cost of yourself."

Lu Ran suddenly said, "Do you still remember the first time we met by the Wu Lie River?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang was indeed distracted.

After pondering for a moment, she recalled that rainy day and that abandoned rooftop.

Lu Ran smiled: "You were the first person to beat me in front of my father.

You hit my buttocks, and you used a knife to do it.

At that time, I thought: thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; sooner or later, I would get my revenge.

So far, I haven't succeeded, so..."

Lu Ran shrugged his shoulders.

Deng Deng Yuxiang forced a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, lowered her head, and remained silent.

Lu Ran changed the subject: "I brought back half of Zhan Ye Dao."

As he spoke, he reached to his side.

Accompanied by a surge of energy, an exquisite ancient bronze mirror materialized before his palm.

Deng Deng Yuxiang shifted her gaze slightly, staring fixedly at the mirror's surface.

Seeing Lu Ran swipe up and down, the oval ancient bronze mirror gradually enlarged, transforming into a full-length standing mirror.

Before a table not far away in the room, an identical full-length standing mirror appeared.

Lu Ran plunged one hand into the ancient bronze mirror beside him.

When he withdrew his hand from within the mirror, he brought back a broken blade.

Deng Deng Yuxiang remained silent, cupping the broken blade with both hands.

She deliberately ignored the antique-style bronze mirror.

Self-deception.

Deng Deng Yuxiang had once been a believer of gods and demons and also a divine enforcer of Great Xia.

Even if she lost all her identities, at her core, she was a human.

And right before her eyes, Lu Ran was practicing Xie Fa.

Deng Deng Yuxiang dared not think deeply about it.

In the forty years since the descent of gods and demons, although few humans had fallen into the demonic path, they indeed objectively existed.

Barring any accidents, Lu Ran was one of them.

And he was hidden very, very deeply.

Thinking about it, it was truly ironic enough.

The undisputed number one genius of Great Xia was actually a believer of evil demons?

Had the evil demon faction penetrated to such an extent?

Moreover, Lu Ran's identity was even more terrifying!

If he merely used the Black Lamp Clan's Xie Fa, Deng Deng Yuxiang would have thought that Lu Ran had been bewitched by the Black Lamp Clan's illusions while training at Black Grave Ridge, causing him to fall into the demonic path.

But at this moment, Lu Ran had also unleashed the Evil Mirror Demon Clan's Xie Fa: Mirror Flower Moon!

This...?

What kind of existence was Lu Ran within the evil demon faction?

Deng Deng Yuxiang's heart was trembling.

On this day, she had experienced far too much.

And at this moment, the only person staying by her side, offering her warmth,

was a believer of evil demons.

Lu Ran said softly: "The blade is broken, and the blade spirit is shattered.

But this broken blade is still the embryo of a divine weapon."

As early as when he returned, Lu Ran had sensed that this broken blade still held the possibility of shining brightly again.

At the very least, compared to other ordinary weapons, this broken blade was of a higher grade.

Deng Deng Yuxiang gripped the severed hilt with one hand, her slender two fingers gently brushing over the blade body covered in cracks.

Her eyes gradually turned red.

Lu Ran said: "We can ask the Heavenly Chenyi Sect to have the Heavenly Chen believers help repair it."

Deng Deng Yuxiang paused in her movements.

Lu Ran thought for a moment and said, "Or, we could simply repair the cracks on the blade body."

Deng Deng Yuxiang suddenly said, "Am I your sister?"

"Huh?" Lu Ran raised his eyes to look at the woman.

Deng Deng Yuxiang looked at Lu Ran: "Can we still coexist?"

Lu Ran nodded as a matter of course.

Deng Deng Yuxiang closed her eyes in pain: "You are a believer of the Demonic Gods, so you can coexist with me.

Therefore, you want to bring me into your camp."

Yes, he had severed the contract between her and the gods.

What else could the next step be?

Lu Ran's expression was strange: "You misunderstood."

But Deng Deng Yuxiang didn't hear him; she was already immersed in the cherished memories of the two of them.

Facing life and death together, acting as teacher and friend to each other, accompanying one another until today.

Today, he had even risked everything, saving her life time and again.

But, Lu Xiao Lu Lu Ran.

I am a person; I am a member of the Human Race.

I cannot betray my race; I cannot raise the slaughtering blade against my own people.

"Slap!"

Lu Ran suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

Meanwhile, Deng Deng Yuxiang was holding a broken blade, its edge pressing against her own neck.

Lu Ran frowned tightly: "What are you doing?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang remained silent, exerting force fiercely, as if determined to seek death.

Lu Ran, however, gripped her wrist tightly, unmoving.

Jiang Pin's Soul-Splitting Power was no joke.

After several failed attempts, Deng Deng Yuxiang wore a miserable smile, tears welling in her eyes, her voice filled with apology: "I'm sorry, Lu Ran, I can't.

I return this life to you."

As her words fell, the room fell into complete silence.

In the dim environment, only the Xia Guang Dao, suspended in mid-air, emitted a faint glow.

Yet that faint golden-red hue reflected in Lu Ran's pitch-black pupils, shimmering with a peculiar luster.

Deng Deng Yuxiang gazed at Lu Ran's beautiful yet eerie eyes.

She also watched with her own eyes as he slowly shook his head.

Deng Deng Yuxiang's heart gradually sank to the bottom.

Yes,

how could he possibly allow it?

He would force her to submit, or perhaps bewitch her, controlling her body and mind.

Lu Ran felt both angry and amused: "Where has your composure and calmness gone... Hmm, well, I suppose."

Deng Deng Yuxiang had suffered too many shocks and impacts.

With her condition so poor, her mind must still be a muddled mess, right?

Lu Ran pried open her fingers, snatched away the broken blade, and casually tossed it onto the carpet: "I am not a believer of the Demonic Gods.

Have you forgotten? I am a believer of Xiang Xiang Xianyang."

Hearing this, Deng Deng Yuxiang's expression grew even uglier.

So, my lord Xiang Xiang Xianyang of the Godly Camp has already defected to the Demonic Camp?

Lu Ran's expression turned solemn: "I am not a believer of the Demonic Gods!"

"Hmm?" Deng Deng Yuxiang looked at Lu Ran, feeling somewhat lost.

From the moment she woke up until now, Lu Ran's actions had exceeded the scope of her understanding time and again.

Lu Ran took a deep breath and said, "Great Nightmare, Sister, Deng Deng Yuxiang.

Believe me.

At least listen to me finish speaking; give me a chance to explain."

Deng Deng Yuxiang silently watched Lu Ran, her tense body relaxing as if resigning herself to fate.

Lu Ran reached to the side with one hand, and energy surged once more.

Deng Deng Yuxiang's breathing gradually became rapid as she watched helplessly while a Night Phantom assembled into form.

What kind of existence was Lu Ran, exactly?

How... how could he actually create Demonic Gods?

"Kneel." Lu Ran pressed his hand down.

The Night Phantom knelt on the ground, bowing its head to Lu Ran to show respect.

Deng Deng Yuxiang's pupils contracted slightly as she watched their former deadly enemy bow in submission to Lu Ran.

When Demonic Gods faced humans, they would inevitably be extremely cruel.

But at this moment,

the Night Phantom was kneeling obediently, bowing in submission.

Deng Deng Yuxiang felt as though she were trapped in an unrealistic dream.

Lu Ran said, "Seeing is believing; I am no believer of the Demonic Gods, and I am not at the mercy of the Demonic Gods.

On the contrary, it is I who will invade the Demonic Camp and enslave them."

I,

am the Lord of Demons!"

Deng Deng Yuxiang no longer knew how to react; those final four words left her mind somewhat dazed.

Lu Ran paused, then continued, "However, my strength as this Lord of Demons is still insufficient; I can only tyrannize within my own small patch of land.

I dream that one day I will fight my way into the depths of the Demon Lair and replace the true statue of the Demon Progenitor!

Only then will I be the true Lord of Demons.

Only then will we be capable of thoroughly resolving the calamities plaguing the mortal world."

Lu Ran reached out, gently brushing a stray lock of hair from her forehead and tucking it tenderly behind her ear.

Gazing directly into Deng Deng Yuxiang's eyes, he smiled and said, "What do you say, Sister?

Will you join me in overturning this world?"

Deng Deng Yuxiang stared blankly at Lu Ran.

Though the room was dim and the rosy light faint,

his smile was brilliantly radiant.

(End of Chapter)