Start from a baby to become a Taoist

Chapter 519 Risks and Returns

Chapter 527

Xu Ran watched all of this calmly.

He knew that from this moment on, he had truly taken control of this "Geng Seventy-Three Remains Domain".

"Rise," he said calmly. "From this day forward, you are no longer a 'tyrant,' but are given the name 'Zhenshan.' You will guard the mountains and rivers of my Dragon Elephant Domain."

"Thank you, my lord, for bestowing this name upon me!" Zhenshan roared as he rose to his feet, respectfully stepping aside. The aura of the Burning Fire Realm emanating from his body became the most direct manifestation of Xu Ran's authority.

Xu Ran's gaze swept over the boundless army of skeletons below.

“I know what you are afraid of.”

"You are afraid of the outbreak of the 'Abyss of Bone Demons,' afraid of becoming the next sacrifice."

His voice carried a calming power.

"The era of the old king is over. Sacrifice is the most foolish and cowardly method."

"For me, there is only one rule—"

Xu Ran's voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap, resounding between heaven and earth.

"Disaster can also be an opportunity!"

"That Abyss of Bone Demons contains a corrupting power that even the old kings despaired over. But from another perspective, isn't it also... a supreme sea of ​​energy capable of transforming us all?"

The soul fire of all the skeletons suddenly contracted.

What does this new king want to do? His ideas are even more outrageous than those of the old king!

"I will use this 'Bone that Suppresses the Realm' as the core of the formation, and the vast mountains and rivers of my Dragon Elephant Domain as the foundation, to lay down an unprecedented 'Great Millstone of Returning to the Void'!"

"What I want is not to block the abyss, but... to bring it into the world!"

"Bring it...bring it into the world?!" The Bone-Worshipping Crow was so frightened that it almost fell off the sky.

“That’s right!” Xu Ran’s voice was filled with an undeniable domineering tone. “The day the great formation starts operating will be the day the abyss erupts! I will personally sit in the center of the formation and drive the great millstone to grind, refine, and purify all that endless filthy demonic energy, turning it into the purest primordial spiritual energy, which will then be spread to every inch of this Dragon Elephant Domain!”

"At that time, what you need to do is not to run away, not to be afraid, but to open your bodies and devour everything! To evolve to your heart's content!"

"The crisis will transform into an unprecedented feast! A collective ascension for all living beings in our Dragon Elephant Domain!"

boom!
Xu Ran's words were like ten thousand suns, exploding simultaneously in the core of the will of all the skeletons!

crazy!

This new king is absolutely insane!

but……

What if... what if what he said is true?

Transform the devastating disaster into a nourishing rain that sustains all things.
What a magnificent and incredible idea this is!
In an instant, the gazes of all the skeletal beings toward Xu Ran changed from fanatical worship to a kind of faith that was almost like looking up to a god!
They seemed to have already seen themselves constantly transforming and evolving under that magical rain of energy, eventually igniting their soul fire and even reaching a higher realm!
"We...swear to follow our lord to the death! To create an immortal feast together!"

Zhenshan was the first to let out a deafening roar. It had just personally experienced the miracle of being "enlightened" and had no doubt about Xu Ran's words!
"I swear to follow my lord to the death!"

The roar of millions of skeletons converged into a torrent of will that shook the heavens and earth, completely igniting this ancient, silent wasteland!
Looking down at the fighting spirit and greed that had been completely mobilized, Xu Ran's eyes remained calm and still.

He painted an irresistible "pie" for them, and he certainly had the ability to make that "pie" a reality.

The power of the "Great Dao Furnace" is inherently to forge all things. Although the corrupting power of the Bone Demon Abyss is of an extremely high level, its essence is still a manifestation of energy and laws. As long as the "suppressive" power of the dragon-elephant leg bone serves as a foundation, and his "Return to Nothingness" Dao is the guiding principle, it is theoretically entirely feasible.

This was not only to resolve the crisis, but also for his own sake.

If he could devour a portion of such a massive amount of energy, his "Primordial Dao Bone Scripture" could probably directly advance to the Great Perfection of the Bone Forging Realm, or even the Perfection Realm!

"Issue my decree!"

Xu Ran's voice rang out again, and he began to issue a series of instructions.

"Suppress the mountain!"

"My subordinate is here!"

"You will lead your troops to suppress any dissent within the domain. At the same time, you will mine 'Netherworld Cold Iron' and 'Star Magic Stone' within the domain, the more the better!"

"As ordered!"

"Worship the Bone Raven!"

"This...this humble servant is here!"

"You will command all the flying skeletons, serving as my eyes and overseeing the vast territory of the Dragon Elephant Domain. At the same time, spread the message that... a great opportunity is about to be bestowed upon the 'Geng Seventy-Three Skeleton Domain,' and all desperate fugitives are welcome to come and seek refuge here!"

"Huh?" Bai Guya was taken aback. Did he really want to actively attract outsiders in?

Xu Ran glanced at it with a soul-like light in his eyes, and the Bone-Worshipping Crow immediately shuddered, not daring to ask any more questions: "Yes...yes!"

Xu Ran certainly had his own considerations. Refining the Bone Demon Abyss was a massive undertaking, and the existing skeletons in the Dragon Elephant Domain were far from sufficient. He needed more "cannon fodder" and more "materials" to keep the grand formation running.

He's going to... treat the entire Geng-character area as his hunting ground!

One order after another was issued from Xu Ran's mouth in an orderly manner.

Throughout the entire Dragon Elephant Domain, this war machine, which had been dormant for countless years, was completely activated at this moment, running wildly with unprecedented efficiency!

Having arranged everything, Xu Ran once again focused his mind on the dragon-elephant leg bone behind him.

He needs to understand this giant bone more deeply, to understand what it is suppressing.

As his will deepened its connection with the giant bone, that vast, indomitable fighting spirit enveloped him once more.

But this time, he did not witness that devastating ancient war.

His consciousness was pulled into a deeper, more ancient level of "memory".

It was an endless starry sky.

But in the starry sky, there are no stars, only towering, enormous "tombstones"!
Each tombstone exudes a terrifying aura that seems to freeze time and space. Some are rusty broken swords, yet still retain the sharpness to cleave through countless worlds; others are golden sheets of paper, their inscriptions seemingly expounding the ultimate truth of the universe's birth and death; still others are dried-up hearts, long since lifeless, whose every unconscious contraction causes ripples in the surrounding void.

The dragon and elephant leg bone is just one of the more conspicuous ones among these countless tombstones.

This place... is the ultimate graveyard of all the heavens and myriad realms!
Just then, Xu Ran "saw" it.

At the edge of the graveyard, in that eternal darkness and nothingness, several blurry, enormous, indescribable outlines stood silently.

They seemed to exist outside of this time and space; their mere "existence" caused all laws and principles to retreat in their wake. They were the "gravekeepers"!
Xu Ran's will suddenly tightened! He wanted to see what they looked like.

One of the silhouettes seemed to have noticed his spying.

That silhouette slowly lowered its head.

It's impossible to describe what kind of "face" it was. It seemed to be a face formed by the convergence of billions of stars, or it seemed to be a collection of the purest, emotionless "rules".

A cold, emotionless will traversed endless time and space, directly descending into the core of Xu Ran's consciousness.

"Has a new variable... been created?"

"The Void...a combination of the Dragon and the Elephant?"

"interesting."

"Follow the contract and guard your 'tomb' well. If you succeed, you will be granted an audience with the 'Council'. If you fail..."

The will did not continue speaking, but Xu Ran felt a kind of great terror originating from the very source of life, enough to completely erase him from the level of existence!
"Don't try to... explore the 'food' beneath the 'grave'... that's not a 'source' you're qualified to touch..."

boom!
Xu Ran's consciousness was jolted back into his body by an irresistible force.

He was breathing heavily, and the fire in his eyes was throbbing violently.

That fleeting glimpse just now completely overturned his understanding of the world!

The Council of Gravekeepers!
They are not an organization, but rather... a higher-dimensional existence!

This realm of corpses is not simply a place to suppress filth.

The suppressed "Abyss of Bone Demons" was actually referred to by those beings as... "food"?!

Whose food?

And who is it used to feed?!

A terrifying thought rose uncontrollably in Xu Ran's mind.

This entire wasteland, these countless "tombstones" and the suppressed "things," might just be a vast, unimaginably large... "farm"?
These so-called kings and lords are nothing more than guarding the "crops" that are about to ripen for those supreme beings.
"Interesting...this is getting more and more interesting..."

Xu Ran felt no fear, but rather an unprecedented excitement.

Chess piece? Farmer?
so what!

As long as one can continuously grow stronger and possess the power to overturn the chessboard, a chess piece may well become the player who wields the pieces!
"The root cause..."

He pondered the word, his gaze returning to the ground beneath his feet.

From that dark red land, wisps of black mist, finer than a strand of hair, began to seep out uncontrollably.

Wherever the fog passed, even the space itself seemed to be corroded, emitting a soft "hissing" sound.

The Abyss of Bone Demons is awakening at an accelerated pace due to the death of the old king and the activation of the power of the dragon-elephant leg bones!

It's probably less than a year before it explodes!
Time waits for no one.

A resolute glint flashed in Xu Ran's eyes.

Without further hesitation, he sat cross-legged, took out the captured "Lord-level Skeleton Core" belonging to the Skeleton King, and directly used the "Great Dao Furnace" to melt it.

boom!
The pure primordial power surged into his limbs and bones, allowing him to take another big step forward on the path of "minor success in the Bone Forging Realm".

"Skeletal origin: 13850 units."

"The Taichu Daogu Jing: Minor Success in the Bone Forging Realm (75%)".

After doing all this, he stood up and walked to the jade-white area that was spreading across the dragon-elephant leg bone.

He stretched out his left hand and gently stroked the warm, jade-like bone wall, while his right hand, the dark black arm that represented "the end" and "return to nothingness," pressed down without hesitation onto the ominous earth beneath his feet, which was already stained with black mist and was writhing.

"You want to get out."

"And I want to go in."

"Let's see who devours whom!"

A cold and domineering voice rang out on the deathly silent battlefield.

At this moment, the "Great Dao Furnace" on Xu Ran's right hand shone brightly!

He actually intends to venture alone into the surface of the Bone Demon Abyss to begin his insane and magnificent...refining plan ahead of schedule!
The dark black power of the void clashed violently with the foul black mist the moment they came into contact.

laugh--!
It was like a red-hot iron being pressed into the ice and snow.

A war revolving around "devouring" and "purification" has quietly begun at the heart of the Dragon Elephant Domain.

And this is just the beginning.

A legend belonging to the "Lord of the Dragon and Elephant" will begin to be written from this forgotten graveyard. Before him lies an unfathomable abyss, the menacing "Council of Gravekeepers," and a cruel picture of the world's "truth" shrouded in mist.

But Xu Ran's Dao heart was as firm as a rock.

But Xu Ran's Dao heart was as firm as a rock.

The dark black power of the void clashed violently with the foul black mist the moment they came into contact.

laugh--!
It was like a red-hot iron being pressed into the ice and snow.

It was a confrontation originating from the conceptual level. The black mist of the Bone Demon Abyss represented the ultimate depravity, decay, and end; it could corrupt the laws, erode all things, and drag everything tangible and intangible into eternal death. But the "Great Dao Furnace" in Xu Ran's right arm, with its core "Return to Nothingness," was an end in another sense—the return of all things to their origin, the collapse of order and the return to chaos, a "nothingness" more fundamental than death.

The black mist surged wildly, attempting to "corrupt" Xu Ran's arm, and even his entire being, assimilating him into the abyss. However, the jet-black palm remained unyielding, like an unyielding dam, unmoved by the onslaught of the demonic tide. Strands of divine light from the Void of Returning to Earth spread from the palm, like black lightning, penetrating the earth in reverse.

"melt!"

Xu Ran focused his will and spurred the furnace.

The dark red land, stained by black mist, began to undergo a wondrous transformation under his palm. The land did not disappear, but the "demonic nature" and "filth" within it were forcibly stripped away and extracted by an invisible force, transforming into the purest black light, which was then devoured by his right arm.

This process was incredibly dangerous. Every wisp of demonic energy extracted carried a madness and brutality capable of shattering the will of a Burning Fire Realm expert, assaulting Xu Ran's core consciousness. If he hadn't protected his true self with the boundless battle intent of his dragon-elephant leg bones, he would likely have been overwhelmed by this torrent of will in an instant, reduced to a monster that knew only slaughter.

Even so, Xu Ran's soul fire flickered unpredictably, bearing immense pressure.

However, risk and reward are always directly proportional.

(End of this chapter)