164: Chapter 164 Playing with Fire (Part 2 and 3)

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Chu Ran's eyebrows twitched slightly, and without a hint of hesitation, he stepped toward Meng Ciyao, his pace calm and without any sign of fear.

Meng Cang's expression changed abruptly, and he instinctively moved to stop him!

But he was forced back by Meng Ciyao's cold gaze. Deep within that look was a plea and helplessness he couldn't understand; he could only tighten his grip on Qingyuan's hand and force his feet to stop...

Meng Ciyao's fingertips, hanging at her side, were clenched tightly, her knuckles turning white. The hem of her plain white dress trembled slightly in the darkness. Her heart felt as if it were being torn apart by two giant hands—one half sinking into a demonic abyss, the other falling toward the Heavenly Dao. Even breathing brought a tearing pain.

Only now did she realize to her core—from the very beginning, she had fallen into a seamless trap woven by the Demon Bone Divine Lord.

The so-called resurrection of her late husband was merely bait to manipulate her obsession, a chain to bind her entire self and the entire Yuheng race. Once their usefulness was exhausted, she and her clan would simply be crushed and killed, leaving not even bones behind.

How could a Demonic Lord who could hunt down a newly formed Moon God across Star Domains with just a Clone possess even a shred of kindness?

What had descended upon the Cangtian Star Domain now was nothing more than one of his eyes.

Then where were his arms, his other eye, his complete body, and his Divine Soul currently devouring other gods? In which Star Domain or which Divine Territory?

He even dared to strike at a Sixth-level Divine Official; was there anything in this world he wouldn't dare lay hands on?

But even seeing all this clearly, Meng Ciyao still had no way to retreat.

Because the Demonic Lord had just told her that from the moment the Demon Eye arrived in Yuheng, everything in the Yuheng Divine Territory was under his control. The life and death of every living being depended on his whim...

She could act cold and detached to the outside world, as if nothing mattered, but just now at the entrance of the ancestral land, when she saw Meng Qingyuan's clear, sincere eyes filled with trust...

That young figure had ultimately struck the softest part of her heart, awakening her long-buried maternal instincts and love.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't watch all the living beings of her clan turn to ashes. She couldn't abandon Qingyuan or this land she had once protected together with Meng Chen.

If the Yuheng Divine Territory were destroyed, then her husband, Meng Chen, would truly leave no trace behind in this world.

On one side was the brutal and bloodthirsty Demon Bone Divine Lord, threatening the lives of her entire clan. If she disobeyed, blood would flow like a river throughout Yuheng in an instant, leaving not a blade of grass standing...

On the other side was the god in charge of the order of the Heavenly Dao, burdened with the duty of Sky Patrol. For the act of inviting a wolf into the house and colluding with an evil god, even if Chu Ran killed the Demon Bone Divine Lord later, her crime of aiding the villain would never be treated lightly by the Heavenly Dao. At best, her Soul would Fly Away and Spirit Scatter; at worst, her entire clan would be liquidated by heavenly punishment...

No matter who won, she would lose everything.

If the Demon Bone Divine Lord won, she was a pawn to be discarded after use; if Chu Ran won, she was a sinner who colluded with demons.

From the moment she agreed to the Demon Bone Divine Lord's terms, she had personally pushed herself and the entire Yuheng Divine Territory onto a dead-end road.

Her obsession had yielded a scam, and her desperate struggles left only endless despair. A deep depression and sorrow wrapped around her limbs, making it difficult for her even to maintain her cold and majestic facade...

“The depths of the ancestral land are the Yuheng Forbidden Ground, filled with traps and bone-corroding Evil Qi. Even if an ordinary Moon God enters, a slight lapse could lead to a life-threatening crisis!” Meng Ciyao spoke, her voice dry and tight, emphasizing several words. Her gaze swept quickly over Chu Ran, a faint warning and plea flickering in her eyes: “If you insist on entering, things beyond even my control might happen... you must think carefully!”

A tiny, almost humble hope quietly rose in her heart, wishing that Chu Ran would instantly perceive the overwhelming danger and turn away.

As long as he escaped, there was still a chance to turn things around—when the Demon Eye demanded accountability, she could barely manage to find excuses to stall and smooth things over. At least she could temporarily save Yuheng, save Qingyuan, and preserve the last of what her husband, Meng Chen, had left behind.

She desperately hoped for a turning point in this dead end. Even if it was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, she didn't want to reach the point where the whole clan was buried with her.

“Didn't you ask me to come?”

Chu Ran's eyes suddenly narrowed, and with a hint of casual playfulness on his face, he looked at her calmly.

Meng Ciyao's heart tightened, and her tone became instantly agitated: “But—!”

But this place was too close to the Demon Bone Divine Lord's Demon Eye; she didn't even dare to utter a complete warning. She could only swallow her words, her heart churning with endless regret and panic.

How could Chu Ran not hear the hidden hints in her tone?

The struggle, despair, and faint kindness beneath that cold disguise were like undercurrents beneath the water's surface, seen through by him at a glance.

But he only gave a faint smile, his steps never pausing. He even nodded slightly, appearing as if he didn't care about this so-called desperate situation at all, continuing to follow Meng Ciyao into the deepest darkness of the ancestral land with composure.

Watching his fearless, even nonchalant back, Meng Ciyao's heart sank. An indescribable worry and despair instantly seized her entire body.

She had thought her hints were obvious enough for this deity to sense the danger and withdraw.

But instead of retreating, he walked calmly into danger, as if he had already seen through everything...

Or as if he didn't care about that fatal trap at all...

She knew the ruthlessness of the Demon Bone Divine Lord better than anyone.

Once Chu Ran stepped onto the altar, only one of them—he or that Demon Eye—was destined to survive.

Moreover, from the Demon Eye's calm and certain tone earlier, she had already smelled the scent of death—the opponent must have already laid out a lethal formation specifically for Chu Ran, waiting for him to walk into the net.

Yet the person before her was so negligent it was almost as if he didn't care.

Did he truly have the strength to crush everything with a wave of his hand, or was he simply ignorant of the heights of heaven?

Could such a seemingly reckless and impulsive person be worthy of the position of God of Sky Patrol?

Had this generation's Heavenly Dao truly become muddled?

Meng Ciyao's mind was in a mess, her fingertips cold. Every step felt like walking on the edge of a blade as she watched Chu Ran get closer and closer to that altar destined to be stained with divine blood...

Meng Ciyao bit her lip hard, a hint of metallic sweetness rising on her tongue. Helplessness, anxiety, and depression surged endlessly in her heart.

She was not her own master, bound by the lives of her clansmen and her past obsessions to act as a guide. Yet in her heart, she prayed desperately over and over, though she didn't even have the courage to pray...

—She was already in a dilemma, facing death on both sides. No matter the outcome, what awaited her would only be eternal damnation.

Chu Ran took in all the despair and struggle in her eyes, and a faint sneer rose in his heart.

To say that Meng Ciyao had truly committed some monstrous crime wasn't quite right...

She was merely trapped by obsession and threats, pitifully stupid, and from beginning to end, she was just a pawn in someone else's hand.

Fortunately, the only excessive thing she had done was use her schemes against him. If it were anyone else being led into a death trap like this, she would already be laden with sin and unable to escape liquidation.

But for him, Chu Ran, it was never a successful scheme.

All of this was just him going along with the flow and turning their plot to his advantage...

He had always been pursuing that wisp of Divine Thought he perceived when the Moon Radiance Secret Realm closed...

And coming to this Yuheng Divine Territory was also his active choice...

In other words, in this hunting game...

He was the hunter!

He came this time precisely because he wanted to see for himself what kind of existence could make his past self feel wary!

An evil god with such terrifying strength must have committed countless atrocities...

He wondered if he would have the chance to use Sky Patrol Execution once more?

Moreover, he never had any worries about the future.

He held the key of the starry sky in his hand; with a single thought, he could tear through space and flee. If he truly were no match in the end, he could escape from here very quickly...

There was no cage in this world that could truly hold his life.

Meng Ciyao thought she had led him into a desperate situation, but she didn't know he was the one who had actively stepped into this game!

Chu Ran watched her involuntary struggle with cold eyes and waited for the evil god behind the scenes to appear!

To be honest, a hint of anticipation quietly welled up in his heart.

That light "thank you" from that day was like a thin needle pricking his pride as the God of Sky Patrol.

Recalling it now, an indescribable sense of humiliation suddenly surged up, causing a faint flush to appear on his cheeks. Shame and anger intertwined, quietly exploding in his heart...

He remained calm on the surface, following Meng Ciyao with a composed pace. His nonchalant appearance made the woman in front of him feel even heavier, worry and despair wrapping around her until she could hardly breathe.

The two passed through layers of swirling black mist. The jade steps beneath their feet gleamed with a cold, dark light. Going deep inside, Chu Ran followed Meng Ciyao into the core altar of the ancestral land.

As soon as they entered, a terrifying pressure capable of crushing the Divine Soul crashed down. The air seemed to solidify into molten lead, so heavy that even breathing brought sharp pain. The surrounding space distorted slightly, filled with bone-corroding Devilish Qi and a fierce Aura originating from Chaos. Even Meng Ciyao instinctively knelt, her whole body trembling.

In the very center of the altar, a Demon Eye about ten feet wide floated in the air. Blood-red and gray mist churned within the pitch-black pupil, and the eye was covered in hideous black patterns, emitting an Aura that seemed to come from the Nine Serenities abyss!

It was a decaying malice that could devour even deities, the Origin of slaughter that destroyed all Daos. Just being swept by its Divine Soul felt like being cut by thousands of demonic blades, a piercing pain in the heart.

The surrounding Spiritual Qi was being crazily devoured by it, and even the space barriers were being eroded with fine black cracks. The terrifying Aura pressed down so hard that the entire Yuheng ancestral land vibrated slightly, as if it would completely collapse in the next second.

The Demon Eye slowly turned, its cold and cruel gaze fixed firmly on Chu Ran. The next moment, a raspy, ear-piercing voice that seemed to crawl out from the depths of an eternal purgatory boomed directly into their Divine Souls, carrying bone-chilling mockery and triumph:

“Young man... no, I should call you the God of Sky Patrol! I trust you've been well.”

“I must really thank you for that day. If not for the gift of Spiritual Qi you gave me, my Demon Eye wouldn't have been able to recover to its Peak level so smoothly.”

“I must say, venturing across Star Domains with a Clone is ultimately too risky. Every time I descended in the past, I had to lie low for long ages to recover my strength... but this time, thanks to you, I've saved hundreds of years of bitter cultivation.”

As the words fell, the pressure around the Demon Eye suddenly surged more than tenfold. Pitch-black Devilish Qi turned into a towering tsunami, roaring toward Chu Ran. That fierce power, enough to crush the Divine Soul of a main god, seemed intent on grinding him into nothingness on the spot.

Blood light flared in the pupil of the Demon Eye, its smile cruel to the extreme:

“Today, I shall thank you properly once more,”

“Thank you for delivering yourself to my door, to serve as nourishment for my future Realm breakthrough!”

Meng Ciyao froze in place, her face as pale as paper, her eyes filled with nothing but total despair.

She looked at that terrifying Demon Eye and then at Chu Ran, who was completely enveloped by Devilish Qi. Her heart had completely sunk to the bottom—it was over, everything was over.

The power of this Demon Bone Divine Lord was far more terrifying than she had imagined. Even if Chu Ran could suppress him through his divine mantle now, a single layer of divine mantle could never achieve absolute suppression...

The massive cultivation barrier between the two was an unbridgeable chasm!

Even if he had Heaven-Defying divine skills, it was absolutely impossible to instantly kill a god whose Realm was so much higher...

The gap between each level of the Yuehuang Realm was as vast as that between a Mortal and a god...

And as the accomplice who invited the wolf into the house, once the Demon Bone Divine Lord dealt with Chu Ran, the next to die would surely be her and the entire Yuheng clan!

Despair, like a cold tide, submerged her. She had even closed her eyes, not daring to watch the bloody scene that would follow.

But at that moment.

A voice, completely contrary to the oppressive silence, rang out softly.

Chu Ran showed no sign of fear; instead, the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a cold, chilling smile of absolute control.

That smile was as sharp as a knife and as composed as a god, instantly piercing through the sky full of Devilish Qi.

Meng Ciyao snapped her eyes open, staring blankly at the strange yet confident smile on Chu Ran's lips. Her entire body froze, and her mind went blank.

She was completely stunned.

In such a dead-end situation, why could he still smile?

“Sorry, I didn't come here today to give you a gift. Moreover...” Chu Ran said calmly, a cold smile appearing on his lips:

“I didn't give you anything last time either! Take back your thanks; I'm going to take back my things...” Chu Ran's words carried an irrefutable tone.

“Oh?” The Demon Eye's tone revealed a bit of confusion and a cold sneer: “Then... what if this venerable one says I won't give them?”

“I didn't say I wanted you to give them...” Chu Ran said indifferently:

“I'll take them myself!”

Before his voice even faded!

BOOM—!!

Six vast, world-spanning Beast Taming Formation Diagrams suddenly unfolded behind him with a roar!

The diagrams were radiant with flowing light, and the roars of Divine Beasts shook the heavens. Behind each diagram lurked a mythic-level Vicious Beast capable of changing the world's colors. Their Aura was so violent that Meng Ciyao trembled all over, her soul body shaking.

But even this level of power was still not enough before the Demon Eye!

The Demon Eye floating in the center of the altar expanded crazily, blood mist churning in its pitch-black pupil, its cultivation Aura skyrocketing—

Late-stage Yuehuang Realm!

Moon Radiance Peak!

It was even climbing crazily toward the Realms above legend!

“Mythical Grade Spirit Beast... interesting. It finally matches the status of the God of Sky Patrol.” The Demon Eye let out a slightly surprised cold snort: “If you were given another thousand or ten thousand years, you might truly grow to be a match for this venerable one. Unfortunately...”

The Devilish Qi around it suddenly solidified into substance, and a terrifying Spiritual Qi storm, dozens of times stronger than before, swept through the altar:

“However, Mythical Grade Spirit Beast is still not enough before me. Even if this Demon Eye is only a part of my body, I can still mobilize half of my body's Spiritual Qi if I wish!”

“Although it will cost a small price, I am willing to pay it to devour a God of Sky Patrol...”

Chu Ran looked at the expanding Demon Eye, which thought it had victory in its grasp, and the smile on his lips became colder and deeper:

“You seem to have... misunderstood.”

“Hmm?” The Demon Eye paused.

Meng Ciyao suddenly looked up, her pupils shrinking.

“They are not here to participate in the battle.”

Chu Ran raised his hand, his tone terrifyingly flat.

“Right now, they are just the audience.”

Audience?

The Demon Eye was completely stunned.

Meng Ciyao felt as if she had been struck by lightning, standing frozen on the spot, her brain completely stalled.

“When performing a divine skill, if there's no audience... it would be too boring.”

Chu Ran had a faint smile on his lips, his tone gentle, as if he were talking about a most ordinary matter.

“Moreover, it's such an... elegant divine skill.”

The moment the words fell.

A cold, heartless mechanical voice that pierced the soul suddenly exploded in the depths of his mind—

【Ding! Sky Patrol Execution triggered!】

The world went silent.

Eternal silence.

The mockery and arrogance in the Demon Eye's pupil froze completely at this moment.

“No need to thank me.”

...