Chapter 930: Shattered Blade Spirit

Upgrading a weapon to a divine weapon takes at most a few hours.

While Lu Ran was still conducting interrogations, he felt the surrounding mist thinning further.

Did the Great Nightmare succeed?

"Master!" Soon after, Deng Yu stepped through the door, striding forward with purpose.

Lu Ran couldn't help but brighten.

The woman had first slain her enemies, then cultivated her divine weapon to ascend—now she radiated triumph.

Her aura was at its peak!

Remember, the council chamber was pitch black.

Yet when Lu Ran saw Deng Yu, he found her dazzlingly radiant.

Good, good, good.

Recalling how shattered Deng Yu looked after the Battle of Beifeng City—how pitiful she was?

Now, this beautiful mountain camellia has finally bloomed again.

None of this would have been possible without this master's efforts!

Happy~

Lu Ran secretly rejoiced.

Deng Yu lacked night vision, but as a powerful warrior, she could sense the gaze of someone watching her.

Fixed.

Like he was admiring himself?

"Master." Deng Yu approached Lu Ran and called softly.

"Ah, it's done?" Lu Ran snapped back to awareness.

"Mm." Deng Yu drew the broken blade and released her grip.

The 1.3-meter-long broken blade floated silently in midair.

Now, Zhan Ye Dao had a different kind of beauty.

The hilt was reduced to just over twenty centimeters; the blade remained about 1.1 meters long. Both the base of the hilt and the tip were slanted, jagged and uneven.

At a glance, it was plainly a shattered blade.

Yet upon closer inspection, this blade, which should have been discarded and melted down, was actually a divine weapon?

"Huu~" Suddenly, a surge of energy flowed.

From within the broken blade, a spectral shadow emerged—the Zhan Ye Spirit!

In an instant, the entire council chamber plunged into freezing cold, as if cast into an ice tomb.

Lu Ran inwardly winced, staring at the spirit before him—it was unmistakably a killing god.

Then Lu Ran felt a pang of surprise.

The spirit's appearance mirrored its master, bearing nine-tenths resemblance to Deng Yu.

But this spirit… was broken?

By now, Lu Ran had seen many divine weapon spirits—but never one covered in cracks.

This?

"She's unusual," Lu Ran murmured.

"Mm." Deng Yu replied softly, fully aware of Zhan Ye Spirit's condition.

The spirit stretched its limbs, its ethereal form wrapping around the inverted Zhan Ye Dao.

The slow motion filled Lu Ran with quiet dread—he feared she might shatter completely at any moment.

Humans, after all, are visual creatures.

Lu Ran immediately realized: this was a spirit—a divine weapon's spirit. If the weapon hadn't shattered, why would she?

Hmm… consider it a skin.

Beautifully eerie.

As he thought this, Lu Ran studied it closely.

The cracks on the spirit's form mirrored precisely the shattered blade of Zhan Ye Dao after the Battle of Beifeng City.

Later, Deng Yu had asked disciples of Tianchen Sect to repair the blade's cracks.

But Deng Yu never fully restored Zhan Ye Dao—she never returned it to its original terrifying 2.8-meter length.

Perhaps she intended to constantly remind herself of that painful defeat.

"You," Lu Ran reached out, attempting to grasp the spirit's fractured palm, "why do you look like this?"

But the spirit was ethereal.

Lu Ran's hand passed through her palm.

It is well known: a blade is an extension of its wielder's mind.

The notion that a spirit mirrors its master means more than mere appearance.

The spirit, brimming with murderous intent, sensed Lu Ran before her. Her rigid facial lines softened slightly; her gaze grew gentle as she asked softly:

"Shouldn't I look like this?"

Lu Ran: "..."

It felt like speaking to another Deng Yu.

And this Deng Yu carried even heavier murderous intent.

Lu Ran longed to ask whether this Zhan Ye Spirit and the previous one were the same.

But he held back, again and again, and dared not ask.

"We now have a direction for growth," Deng Yu raised her hand casually. "The spirit has expressed its will."

Her slender fingers traced the ethereal spirit, outlining its strands of energy.

"What is it?" Lu Ran looked at the woman.

Deng Yu gripped the broken hilt. The Zhan Ye Spirit obeyed her will, slowly merging back into the broken blade.

She whispered: "Restore the broken blade."

Lu Ran nodded thoughtfully.

From this moment on, "Zhan Ye" would no longer mean "cutting through evil night" or anything similar.

Zhan Ye is now a noun.

It represents the divine weapon Zhan Ye Dao before its fall.

Is this the path a master and blade intend to cultivate?

Lu Ran speculated so—and asked.

Deng Yu gave no answer, merely silently slung the broken blade over her back and walked behind Lu Ran's chair: "Are you leveling up?"

"Yes." Lu Ran, seeing Deng Yu wouldn't speak further, dropped the subject.

Deng Yu removed Lu Ran's wide-brimmed hat and pressed her cool fingers against his head, gently massaging.

Thick skin, feast well!

At this moment, Lu Ran was fully at ease, enjoying this care.

Deng the technician's technique had evolved—she no longer just massaged his temples, but now lightly pressed his skull.

Kinda nice~

Looking back on their years together, both seemed to indulge each other?

Lu Ran closed his eyes and exhaled deeply: "I feel I'm close to leveling up—on the verge of hitting my cultivation bottleneck."

Deng Yu: "Then let's return early."

With Tian Tu Mountain destroyed, their grudges dissolved—they could truly head back now.

Lu Ran weighed the Soul Prison in his hand: "Get all the intel, ransack her home, then we leave."

"Mm, okay."

Knowing Lu Ran's condition was poor, Deng Yu took over the interrogations.

For the two captives, Luo Tiantu and Lady Kong, Deng Yu interrogated them separately to ensure their information was accurate.

In reality, neither dared lie.

This objectively proved Lu Ran's methods were brutally effective.

A single soul flame was enough to make even a Sea Realm powerhouse confess everything—fearing further torment by the soul flame.

Luo Kong and his wife had ruled here for over a decade—they truly had secrets.

Lu Ran listened with rapt attention.

Overnight, the Yu Fu statues in Lu Ran's sculpture garden stabilized at Sea Realm·Stage Four!

Clearly, the eight Yu Fu disciples carried by Luo Tiantu were far superior in quality to those left behind on the mountain.

The previous eleven Yu Fu disciples had only been able to push the Yu Fu statues to Sea Realm·Stage One.

Tian Tu Mountain was undoubtedly a rigidly hierarchical organization.

The lower-tier gang members really got nothing.

Since they planned to return, Lu Ran did not rush to absorb the souls of Luo Tiantu and Lady Kong.

He held one Soul Prison in each hand, thoroughly ransacked Tian Tu Mountain with the couple, then sent both dead souls into the Afterlife Coin.

One day later, Tian Tu Mountain erupted in roaring flames.

Before setting fire, Deng Yu specifically asked Lu Ran's permission, saying she wished to utterly destroy the place.

Lu Ran agreed, and a wave of sighs rose in his heart:

"Luo Tiantu, Luo Tiantu, why did you provoke her?"

Not only kill your men and imprison your soul, but also raze your home and burn your mountain!

The codename "Nightmare" was fitting indeed.

This girl is truly ruthless toward enemies!

Thus, Luo Tiantu's domain of tyranny was reduced to ashes by Deng Yu.

The members of the Ran Sect returned to Yunhai Cliff, carrying their spoils.

The spoils could be divided into four categories.

First, clothing and shoes; second, gold, silver, and jewels; third, various weapons; fourth, Spirit-Power Pearls.

In Lu Ran's eyes, the first two held far less value than the latter two.

Don't even dream of divine weapons or magical artifacts.

Any good items, Luo Tiantu and Lady Kong had kept for themselves.

Yet among all the weapons seized by the Ran Sect, Lu Ran actually found one worthy of being a divine weapon's core!

Not from Tian Tu Mountain's armory, but the halberd held by the Dong Ting female disciple during the Fifteenth Night battle.

Unfortunately, none of the Ran Sect members used halberds.

Hmm. Take it back for now, store it in Yunhai Cliff's treasure chamber.

Wait for the one destined to claim it!

When the Ran Sect returned to Yunhai Cliff, it was the twentieth day of the seventh month.

Jing Hong, who had guarded the base, was both delighted and bewildered as she led the Ghost General squad forward to greet them.

Delighted, because the Sect Master had returned.

She knew that within the Sacred Spirit Mountain Realm, she would never find another organization like the Ran Sect.

If Lu Ran and the others had perished, her future life would have been one of endless enslavement, torment, or worse—left to rot in the mountains.

Bewildered, because Lu Ran wore a black-and-gold imperial robe.

It was magnificent, regal, radiating supreme nobility!

The long hem of the robe was wrapped tightly with a pile of weapons.

Metal clanked against metal with a steady clatter.

This appearance was the result of Lu Ran's careful deliberation.

He had originally planned to wear that revealing red dress, winding countless red threads around a heap of weapons.

Hmm. Lu Ran didn't dare.

Cross-dressing has levels.

Standing before everyone, wearing a red phoenix veil is not the same as wearing a seductive, form-fitting red dress!

A bit embarrassing~

Upon reaching the base, Lu Ran led the group in dividing the spoils—er, distributing the loot!

In this battle, the Ran Sect seized over two hundred Spirit-Power Pearls.

Combined with the Spirit-Power Pearls they already possessed, the Ran Sect had now achieved "Spirit-Power Pearl freedom."

Honestly, if Luo Tiantu's squad hadn't been obliterated into dust by multiple Sea Realm techniques, the Ran Sect's haul of Spirit-Power Pearls would have at least doubled!

Then, Lu Ran distributed the clothing and shoes, giving extra to Luoying.

She had children at home.

Everyone else was from the River Realm or Sea Realm—they wore straw garments and sandals, no issue.

But children have delicate skin; wearing soft, human-made clothes and shoes would be far more comfortable.

Luoying did not refuse, thanking Lu Ran repeatedly.

Everyone knew the Sect Master cared for the children, and no one objected.

As for weapons and gold and jewels—

Lu Ran declared: Help yourselves!

Yet no one took anything, except Jing Hong, who finally spotted her desired weapon and chose a crescent moon blade.

She was the leader of the Demon Squad, stationed daily at the Sea Cliff, with ample time to learn techniques from the Ghost General clan.

Lu Ran wholeheartedly approved.

After arranging everything, Lu Ran obtained the souls of Luo Tiantu and Lady Kong from Deng Yu.

Then, with his throbbing head, he teleported into the meditation chamber.

The Yu Fu statue in the Sculpture Garden had already reached River Realm, Fourth Stage; now, with the souls of Luo and Kong to consume—

Lu Ran was confident his Yu Fu statue would ascend to the Sea Realm!

"Ah~" In the pitch-black meditation chamber, Lu Ran lay flat on his back.

How many stages would he reach in the Sea Realm?

Come on, Yu Fu!

Please, shock me—

Lu Ran emptied his mind, his gaze gradually losing focus, returning to the state he'd been in during his voyage, on the Immortal Island.

To be an idiot.

To wait for a miracle.

Double period—please, some monthly votes.

(End of Chapter)