CHAPTER 1103: CHAPTER 1030: THE OLD

The gale continued, and the rain poured down.

In front of the small bedroom’s shrine, Lu Ran opened his eyes and bowed his head in silence for a long, long time, before speaking softly, "So, the gods and demons are truly eternal.

But your existence will continually erode both the divine and evil sculptures until they perish."

[Indeed.]

"Then why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Lu Ran asked urgently, "When you have devoured all the gods and demons, won’t you perish without a food source?"

The Immortal Sheep smiled: [When one divine being falls, a new god is naturally born. Just like your Human Clan continues across generations, but since your lives last only about a hundred years, this process is more apparent.

The decay of gods and demons requires ages before a divine position is vacated, making way for the next god.]

Lu Ran fell silent.

The tomb,

is precisely this kind of undying existence.

It eternally exists amid the birth and death of gods and demons.

[The Faceless Jade Venerable is an exception.] The sudden statement made Lu Ran’s expression slightly frozen.

He looked up at the small statue of the Immortal Sheep in the shrine: "An exception?"

The Immortal Sheep’s voice deepened, carrying a trace of complexity:

[I cannot devour her.]

Lu Ran slightly opened his mouth.

He had already placed the Sheep General on an unprecedentedly high pedestal in his heart, confirming it as the sole existence above the gods and demons.

Yet at this moment, there was someone who could escape its "control"?

The Immortal Sheep sighed softly: [She possesses a unique divine soul, a peculiar jade-like body.]

Lu Ran pressed his lips together.

He still didn’t understand the aspect of the divine soul, but the stone sculpture material was evident.

Every single god and demon in the world has a gray stone-sculpted body.

Lord Immortal Sheep merely dons a white jade robe, able to rival the Faceless Jade Venerable in their gentle translucency. But as a member of the God Demon Camp, the Immortal Sheep’s true form is also a gray stone figure, indistinguishable from other gods.

The Immortal Sheep said softly: [Lu Ran, what does it mean that my rules cannot constrain the Faceless Jade Venerable?]

Lu Ran suppressed the turmoil in his heart and tentatively said, "It means... she is immortal?"

The Immortal Sheep sighed softly again, slowly saying: [It means she is truly eternal and immortal.]

[The Faceless Jade Venerable is an epoch-defining being. Her emergence signifies that I and all gods and demons have become relics of the old era.]

[And she is a new god in the truest sense.]

"Gulp." Lu Ran’s Adam’s apple moved.

A lightning bolt sliced through the rain-soaked night, the fleeting light revealing the youth’s astonished face.

Outside, the gale and rain contrasted with the deathly silence within the room.

The Faceless Jade Venerable, a being dividing eras.

Old gods, new gods.

Decay, immortality...

Lu Ran silently bowed his head, more concerned about the other terms spoken by Lord Immortal Sheep.

Rules, constraint.

It wasn’t hard to hear that the tomb considered itself a set of rules, rather than a typical life form.

The tomb also viewed its ability to erode divine and evil sculptures as a constraint.

A constraint on the life and death of gods and demons.

[Lu Ran, how do you view eternity?] The hoarse words surged into his mind.

After hesitating for a moment, unwilling to deceive the Lord God, Lu Ran replied, "You just said, our Human Clan lives are short, merely a hundred years.

Since ancient times, humans have been in pursuit of immortality."

[I’m asking for your perspective on eternity.]

Lu Ran carefully organized his words before answering, "I’m still young, with limited experiences, unable to escape the essence of humanity.

There are still many things I haven’t experienced, and people I want to stay with forever.

The answer in my heart might not satisfy you."

[Hehe...] The Immortal Sheep chuckled in amusement.

Lu Ran lowered his head even more.

[You are honest.] The laughter gradually subsided, and the voice fell again, [Let me ask you something.]

"Please, go ahead."

[Da Xia has a history spanning thousands of years. Have you ever considered, if the feudal emperors truly gained the way to immortality, what would the world be like?]

Lu Ran opened his mouth, slightly at a loss for words.

[Would your nation enter this era? Would the thousand-year-old system change?]

"Rumble..." Thunder sounded.

The Fiery Phoenix Patterned Gourd on his waist snugged closer to Lu Ran’s chest.

Lu Ran remained silent, pressing one hand against the Treasure Gourd, his fingertips gently tracing its exquisite golden patterns.

[Lu Ran, I will use your world as an example, listen carefully to what I say next.]

"Yes," Lu Ran replied in a solemn tone.

[Death is the only just and fair process in the world.]

Lu Ran frowned slightly, holding the Little Chi Feng tighter.

He longed for his father, mother, and sister to always be safe and sound, to grow old with his lover, yet Lord Immortal Sheep told him:

Death is the only correct thing?

[Without death, all class structures become entrenched.]

[Without death, the thoughts and consciousness of all beings become stagnant.]

[Without death, the world becomes a stagnant pool, where everything will eventually fall silent, utterly perishing.]

Lu Ran gradually lifted his gaze, looking at the small shrine.

The small jade sculpture of the Immortal Sheep within, eyes with dark horizontal pupils, met Lu Ran’s eyes.

[So, gods and demons must die, life must reincarnate, there must be an alternation between the old and the new.]

The hoarse words, clear yet solemn, were etched into Lu Ran’s mind, word by word:

[Without death, there is no life.]

Lightning sliced through layers of rain, illuminating the dark Rain Alley Town.

On Lu Ran’s solemn face, there appeared a smile.

As if slightly bitter.

He cradled the Little Chi Feng, patting the plump little creature, and gently said, "Don’t be afraid."

A top-level Magical Artifact should not fear the storms of the Human World.

Yet the Emperor-robed youth listening to teachings before the Small Divine Shrine worried over too many things.

"Rumble..."

Thunder roared as expected, deafening and reverberating.

Lu Ran understood the principles taught by Lord Immortal Sheep, but he could not accept them yet.

At just 23 years old, his Life Force was extremely vigorous, his body merely a surface layer, the key was his spirit.

He delighted in avenging justice, slaying gods and demons.

He was rising strongly, growing savagely...

Life is the foundation of all this.

[Lu Ran, you have repeatedly asked me, what is the cost of reviving your father.]

"I humbly request Lord Immortal Sheep to make it clear." Lu Ran immediately inquired.

[Hahahahaha.]

Immortal Sheep suddenly burst into laughter, aged and hoarse, [I am immortal and undying, what cost could there possibly be?

Energy? Longevity?

Can anything before me be called a cost?]

Lu Ran: "..."

No cost, this should have been a joyful thing.

But Lu Ran simply couldn’t feel happy.

Because the laughter itself carried no joy whatsoever.

[Lu Ran, now I will tell you what the cost is.]

Immortal Sheep’s tone turned serious, [I broke my own adherence.]

Lu Ran’s expression grew rigid.

He now understood that the grave had always guarded "death."

Thus, dragging Lu Xing back from the Netherworld to the Human World meant the grave broke its own worldly philosophy.

[You have your principles, and I have mine.]

Lu Ran lowered his head; regarding Immortal Sheep reviving his father, he was no longer filled with gratitude but full of guilt:

"I’m sorry."

Adherence was merely an abstract concept; when applied to a specific matter, it becomes easy to understand.

For instance, letting Lu Ran spare the Spiritual Fortune and Lie Tian.

Another, allowing Lu Ran to collude with the God Demon Camp, becoming a stooge to suppress the Human Clan.

Or even... to repay kindness with vengeance, raising a blade against Lord Immortal Sheep.

So at this moment, the only sentiment Lu Ran could express to Lord Immortal Sheep was deep regret.

[No worries!] Immortal Sheep suddenly changed the tone, [Given your disposition, you were bound to bring Lu Xing back to the Human World.

Since you were to replace me, consider that I merely did in advance what you intended.]

Lu Ran softly said, "Are you insisting on leaving because of this principle?

If there is no death, there can be no life."

[Yes.] Immortal Sheep replied satisfactorily, [The executor of rules should not be exempt from the constraints of the rules, right?]

Lu Ran: "..."

Immortal Sheep seemed to have set down a heavy burden, gradually transitioning to a calm tone: [The moment the Faceless Jade Venerable appeared, I knew it was my time to leave.

Her bright Jade Body, like a brilliant ray of light, cut through the eternal night.

I became an old thing.]

Lu Ran’s expression was unpleasant, he hurriedly said: "But new things like the Faceless Jade Venerable are eternal and indestructible! She is immortal!"

[Indeed...] Immortal Sheep muttered softly, seeming somewhat confused, [New things are immortal.]

Lu Ran’s heart throbbed violently.

Since becoming a Believer, he had never heard Lord Immortal Sheep’s mutterings.

Let alone felt bewildered!

For a moment, in Lu Ran’s heart, the supreme deity seemed like a defeated ordinary person.

[Lu Ran, how have I guided you all these years?]

The sudden change of topic caught Lu Ran off guard.

[What have I said to you most frequently?]

Lu Ran pondered: "Follow your own path?"

[Follow your own path.] Immortal Sheep repeated, confirming, [Is what I adhere to necessarily right?]

[Your Divine Skill--Scapegoat and Vermilion Paper Evil Technique·Paper Mache have never integrated, in the endless failures, you have already learned to doubt me.]

[I am old, destined to be replaced.]

Lu Ran was dumbfounded.

Could Scapegoat and Paper Mache Man truly not combine?

Lu Ran did indeed question this repeatedly, later blaming it all on his lack of power and insufficient spell quality.

[I will leave with my adherence and vanish like other things, will be replaced.]

Immortal Sheep’s faint words continuously touched Lu Ran’s soul.

[And you will tread the path that belongs to you.]

The conveyed sound gradually faded, as if the deity was receding farther away.

"Lord Immortal Sheep!" Lu Ran clasped his hands together, gazing up at the Small Jade Statue of Immortal Sheep in the shrine, "I don’t care whether the Faceless Jade Venerable is new or old, or whether she’s immortal."

Lu Ran paused, his expression extremely grave: "Once she invades the Human World, she will turn the entire world into jade stone, annihilating everything, so I must destroy her!

I have no face to request you bend the rules again, I only hope you stay a little longer.

Whether she perishes or I fall, let it be that you accompany your disciple to the end of this final journey, alright?"

With the words falling, the dark little room fell silent.

"Woo~~~" The gale howled outside the window.

As if it could penetrate the window, blowing into Lu Ran’s heart, stirring his spirits, leaving him unsettled.

After an unknown amount of time passed...

A deep sigh imprinted itself in Lu Ran’s mind.

"Lord Immortal Sheep?" Lu Ran’s expression turned tense, filled with apprehension.

The mental echo seemed somewhat helpless, yet slightly doting:

[You...]

...

Spent six to seven hours writing three thousand words, this jar of vinegar has come out after all.

My head is close to splitting open.

There’s only one update today, I will fill in more of the outline in the evening.