The Day of the Worshiping Altar

Midsummer, early morning.

Inside an ordinary residential house, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy sat at his computer desk, muttering to himself:

"On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the Yin Gate opens, and devils and demons come on their own."

The boy, Lu Ran, stared intently at the screen, watching a scene of ruins in the video.

The bustling night market street was now engulfed in flames, with the figures of ferocious black dogs everywhere.

Their bodies were stained with blood-colored patterns, and flames spewed from their mouths, destroying everything in sight.

Devils clan Blood Disaster Hounds!

This was not a movie clip, but a real news report.

Every fifteenth day of the lunar month, all sorts of devils would appear, bringing disaster to the world.

"So vicious," Lu Ran muttered to himself.

The video only showed scenes of the devils clan wreaking havoc in the city.

And in the demon dens, and on battlefields at higher levels, the war between gods and devils was unimaginably brutal!

If, one day, the demon army were to break through the defense network and invade the human world...

"Lu Ran?" Outside the window, a pleasant female voice suddenly called out.

Lu Ran's home was on the first floor, so he could hear clearly.

"Hm?" Lu Ran walked to the window and saw a tall, graceful figure under a large tree.

The girl was wearing a white dress, with her black hair cascading over her shoulders.

As if the heavens were about to rain, a gust of wind blew, making the girl's long hair dance and her skirt flutter.

"Whoa~~~"

Lu Ran exclaimed, looking at his deskmate and class monitor.

Seeing Lu Ran's reaction, Jiang Ruyi's face flushed.

Normally, she wore a blue and white school uniform. She had never let her hair down like this before, nor worn a white dress.

"This is bad!" Lu Ran rested his elbows on the windowsill, smiling at the gentle and lovely girl under the tree.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Ruyi asked, confused.

Lu Ran: "Who could tell you apart from Chang'e?"

Jiang Ruyi's face turned even redder, and she couldn't help but glare at Lu Ran: "You're so sweet-mouthed."

Lu Ran pursed his lips.

As if you've tasted it.

"Let's go, it's time to worship the gods today, don't be late." Jiang Ruyi held a small booklet in her hand and gently shook it.

"Oh." Lu Ran turned back to the computer.

The disaster report in the video was from half a month ago. He had deliberately dug it up to motivate himself.

Because today was the first day of the sixth lunar month, the annual day of worshiping the gods!

Every year on this day, the gods would choose believers in the human world.

The so-called "gods" were actually a group of sculptures, here to suppress evil spirits.

In the early 1980s, on a full moon night, a host of demons and devils suddenly appeared, wreaking havoc in the world.

It was an incredibly cruel and bloody period of history.

Until three months later, when the entire world was plunged into deep despair, the dawn finally arrived!

Mysterious sculptures descended one after another, spreading across the globe and suppressing various evil spirits.

A war between gods and demons began, and it continues to this day.

And with the arrival of the sculptures, humanity finally had an effective way to resist. Those demons and devils that were difficult to destroy by human strength could be punished by divine power!

Thus, humanity entered the era of "universal worship of the gods."

When people reached the age of 17-18, and their physical and mental levels met certain standards, they might be accepted as believers by the gods.

As long as one could become a believer, they could cultivate divine power, learn divine techniques, and fight against the devils clan.

"After so many years, it's time for me."

Before shutting down the computer, Lu Ran took another deep look at the Blood Disaster Hounds wreaking havoc in the video.

For Lu Ran, every fifteenth night of the lunar month was extremely difficult to endure.

He had had enough of that feeling of fear, helplessness, and weakness!

"Take an umbrella, it looks like it's going to rain." The girl's voice came from outside the window again.

"Oh!"

For some reason, it always seemed to rain on the day of worshiping the gods every year.

It's strange, like how it always rains during the college entrance exams every year.

Lu Ran took his umbrella and walked out of his house, quickly approaching the girl. He gestured to her unusual attire, "Is this for Lord Jian Yi?"

"Mm," Jiang Ruyi started walking, casually flipping open a small booklet.

Within the pages, square portraits appeared one after another, all of them sculptures of deities.

The scene was like a hero selection screen in a game.

There were nearly a hundred deities within Great Xia, divided into nine rows, equivalent to nine tiers.

And at the very front of the first row, the first deity, was none other than Deity Jian Yi!

It was a female sculpture.

Her long dress fluttered, her long hair danced, one hand held a sword behind her back, the other formed a mudra in front of her.

Even though it was a stone sculpture, it couldn't hide her ethereal beauty and transcendent aura.

"You'll succeed," Lu Ran offered timely encouragement.

Don't let Jiang Ruyi's gentle and quiet demeanor fool you; her physical test scores, martial arts proficiency, and overall performance consistently ranked her in the top three of her entire grade!

"Lord Jian Yi is a cold and arrogant immortal fairy," Jiang Ruyi said with a hint of distress.

When deities select their followers, besides human potential, there's another reference point—personality.

Countless examples show that the closer a person's personality is to a god's, the more likely they are to be accepted.

And Jiang Ruyi was the gentle and demure type.

Suddenly, the girl's face hardened, and she tried her best to put on a cold expression.

Lu Ran, not understanding, looked at the white-skirted girl curiously.

Jiang Ruyi slightly raised her chin, adopting a condescending posture, and said indifferently, "How is it?"

Lu Ran: "..."

As expected of a woman!

Her ability to change her expression was faster than how quickly netizens flipped pages in a novel!

"Hehe~" Jiang Ruyi's facade crumbled easily, and she looked back at the deity booklet.

The smile on her face gradually turned back into a frown.

Lu Ran comforted her, "Personality is just a reference point, not a deciding factor. Your potential is outstanding, and your heart is sincere enough. You'll definitely succeed!"

Jiang Ruyi looked at the peerlessly elegant figure of Lord Jian Yi in the booklet and listened to Lu Ran's comforting words.

Gradually, a smile reappeared on her face, "Mm, you'll succeed too."

Lu Ran looked at the deity in the third row, fifth position.

It was a stern-faced male statue, clad in a large cloak and holding a jade talisman—Jade Talisman!

It was also the deity his deceased father, Lu Xing, believed in.

The light rain drizzled as the two, holding an umbrella, arrived at the entrance of Rain Alley City No. 1 High School.

The campus and its surroundings were crowded with people. The overcast weather couldn't dampen their enthusiasm for worshipping the deities.

Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi, amidst the citizens' blessings, struggled to push through the crowd and entered the school gates.

On the sports field, the second-year students were already neatly lined up, awaiting the start of the Worshiping Ceremony.

There were also many third-year students who had failed last year, organized by the school, to try their luck again.

Approximately 30% of students failed each year, and their success rate on their second attempt...

Was almost zero!

Facing the harsh reality of being unprotected by a deity, many students couldn't bear it, and crying and making a scene was common.

Lu Ran didn't want to be one of those people; he had trained extremely hard all along.

Everything was for this day!

"Tsk tsk~ These two really dare! The homeroom teacher is right there, and they're still so close?"

As soon as Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi entered their class's formation, they heard a flurry of discussion.

"Damn, what's so good about Lu Ran? He's just taller than me, fairer than me, handsomer than me. Ugh, this is depressing, I want to cry."

"Your thoughts are impure. Didn't you see that Class Monitor Jiang didn't bring an umbrella?"

"You did! Your umbrella is the biggest in the class; you could set up a stall and sell lamb skewers with it, and Class Monitor Jiang still didn't huddle under it?"

"Nonsense! I haven't set up my stall yet, have I? Wait until I get my stove ready, and you'll see if she comes over?"

"Whoa, holy crap?"

Amidst the chatter, Jiang Ruyi blushed and retorted, "Don't talk nonsense."

"Here," Lu Ran stopped walking and casually handed the umbrella to his deskmate.

Jiang Ruyi refused, "No need, you go ahead."

Lu Ran replied, "It's fine, I'll just squeeze in with the lamb skewer vendor."

"Heh." Jiang Ruyi, who had been a little embarrassed, was amused by Lu Ran's words.

At Lu Ran's insistence, she still took the umbrella and walked towards the line.

The weather was cooperative, and the rain gradually lessened.

By nine in the morning, the Worshiping Ceremony began in a drizzle.

A female student from Class 2(1) was the first to ascend the stage and, under everyone's expectant gaze, summoned a deity.

"Whoa, a fortune teller?"

"Oracle! It's Lord Oracle!" Sharp-eyed students shouted.

In the sky above, a male phantom over ten meters tall quietly appeared, looking down with a smile.

He was tall and slender, dressed in a grey linen robe, holding a bell in one hand and a banner in the other.

However, the writing on the Divination Banner was blurry, making it impossible to discern the words.

"This is a deity from the fourth row! It's said that followers of Oracle can help with marriage and fortune telling."

"Get real! For fortune telling, you still need to go to a temple. Oracle's followers are too unreliable."

"That's right! Especially in battle, they draw lots and cast skills randomly!"

"They're pure gamblers."

"You're complaining? This is a deity from the fourth row! You'd be lucky to summon a deity from the eighth row!"

The students below chattered amongst themselves, while the female student on stage was overjoyed and immediately knelt before the deity.

Lord Oracle still smiled, his Divination Banner swaying gently, and wisps of mist descended from the sky, flowing towards the stage.

In a moment, the white mist surged into the students' bodies, and the figure of the deity Oracle gradually faded.

"Success?"

"Congratulations!" Cheers and applause erupted from inside and outside the campus.

However, amidst the cheers, there were also whispers like "Another gambler."

Next, the second student was pushed onto the stage.

The male student summoned a deity from the seventh row, Jiu Zhu.

The phantom of this deity was quite blurry, making its gender indistinguishable, but the bamboo whip it held was clear and exquisitely crafted.

Although the deity's rank was low, the student dared not be disrespectful and immediately bowed in reverence.

It was from this deity onwards that the situation took a sharp turn for the worse!

The students from Class 1, 2, and 3, a total of over 120 people, all summoned deities ranked below the fifth tier.

Among them, deities from the sixth, seventh, and eighth tiers were the most common.

Various humanoid, beast, and plant deities dazzled the onlookers, who sighed inwardly.

They had thought that the fourth-tier deity Oracle was just the beginning.

Who knew it was the peak?

Then again, having a deity to take them in was better than having no divine protection.

After the three classes finished their Worshiping the Gods, over ten students had already failed to do so.

"Only a dozen or so failed?" Lu Ran watched everything unfold, murmuring to himself.

This year, the proportion of deities recruiting followers seemed exceptionally high?

Could it be that because the Devil race was growing stronger, the deities had lowered their recruitment standards?

"Snap out of it!" Their homeroom teacher, Li Yanzhu, shouted loudly, rousing Lu Ran from his thoughts.

Finally, it was time for his Class 2(4)!

At the front of the line, Li Yanzhu led Jiang Ruyi towards the stage. "Show your deepest respect."

Jiang Ruyi nodded gently and, under her teacher's instructions, quickly walked to the center of the stage.

"Student is ready, you may begin." A male teacher gave the command.

Jiang Ruyi lowered her head, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands together, fingertips touching her lips.

The maiden was shortening her lifespan.

The sky was overcast, and the rain was misty.

The maiden in the white dress was like the only vibrant color in this gloomy world.

Watching her, Lu Ran's heart skipped a beat!

Because he saw his White Moonlight!

A massive male phantom appeared in the sky above.

He was clad in a snow-white cloak, with four white jade plaques floating around him, each inscribed with strange monster runes.

Curiously, the four white jade plaques were entwined with fine sand, frost, electric currents, and sparks, respectively.

"Lord Jade Jade Talisman?!"

"Wow! Is that for real?"

"Holy crap, a god from the third row!" A wave of exclamations erupted from the sports field.

Since the Worshiping Ceremony began, the highest-ranked god people had seen was Oracle from the fourth row.

One could imagine how difficult it was to invite gods from the front three rows, and how high their standards were for accepting disciples!

"And! Wait a moment, another god is coming?"

"Huh??"

At this moment, the sports field was almost boiling!

Most of the first hundred or so students could only summon one god to appear. Occasionally, there would be a situation where two gods vied for someone, but those were gods from the sixth or seventh tier.

The second god about to appear here would be at least from the third tier!

Why was that said?

After all, who would dare to compete with a third-tier god, Jade Talisman, for a believer if they weren't an extraordinary being?

"It seems to be a beast-type god. Tianluan! My goodness, Tianluan?!"

"A god from the second row? It's actually a second-tier god?"

"This is such a waste, it would be great if you gave one to me! I'm not picky, I'll go with whatever is adjusted for me."

High in the sky, the phantom of a luan bird quietly appeared.

It was pure white, graceful in form, and under the hazy gray sky, it radiated a sacred, brilliant, and dazzling light.

On the podium, Jiang Ruyi gently bit her lower lip, gazing at the sky.

Lord Jian Yi,

You still don't think highly of me?

"Ruyi, be decisive!" The homeroom teacher was excited but had no time to celebrate. "Make your choice within 10 seconds!"

Hesitation was a great disrespect to the gods.

If you were not decisive, both gods would leave you!

Jiang Ruyi did not hesitate for too long. Her gaze lingered on the two gods for a moment before she bowed apologetically to the second-tier god, Tianluan.

Then, the girl turned towards the third-tier god, Jade Talisman.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone, the girl lifted her skirt with one hand and slowly knelt down:

"Ruyi is willing to become a disciple of Lord Jade Talisman, to worship day and night, cultivate Divine Techniques diligently, and eradicate malevolent spirits in the world."

Jade Talisman nodded with satisfaction. Mist emanated from its palm and surged towards the kneeling girl on the stage.

Seeing this, Tianluan's figure gradually dissipated.

A full 20 seconds later, Jade Talisman also slowly disappeared. Jiang Ruyi, who had absorbed the immortal mist into her body, opened her eyes.

Her eyes were clear and bright, with a hint of divine aura.

"Yoohoo~~~"

"As expected of Goddess Jiang! Awesome!!"

"I'm truly impressed! To ignore a second-tier god and turn to worship a third-tier one."

"Jiang Ruyi! Jiang Ruyi!"

Thunderous applause filled the sports field, accompanied by a cacophony of discussions and cheers.

Below the podium, Li Yanzhu hurriedly called out to Lu Ran: "Lu Ran, quick! Before Lord Jade Talisman completely disappears, hurry!"

The homeroom teacher knew exactly what each student in the class aimed for.

"Where's Lu Ran?"

"Lu Ran, the teacher is calling you!"

"Coming!" Lu Ran strode forward, only to hear a sarcastic remark from behind.

"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and worship the god, then reveal your true form quickly! Stop bothering Class Monitor Jiang every day, what else do you have besides your mouth?"

Lu Ran frowned slightly and turned to look.

There were many students to his right and rear, but Lu Ran's gaze immediately locked onto a tall male student.

Kou Yingquan coldly met Lu Ran's gaze, his eyes not flinching.

"Lu Ran." Li Yanzhu greeted him and pulled Lu Ran's arm forward, constantly reminding him, "Concentrate, show your most devout attitude!"

"Yes." Lu Ran quickly collected his thoughts and strode onto the stage.

He was extremely serious about worshipping the gods.

Lu Ran had truly had enough of being weak and incompetent!

"Cadets ready, you may begin." From the side of the main platform, the male teacher issued the command again.

Lu Ran obediently lowered his head and closed his eyes, praying silently.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

"I'd like to see what god you can summon!" Below the main platform, Kou Yingquan let out a cold snort. "Don't tell me you can't summon anything. I, what the hell?"

Kou Yingquan's expression froze. He felt a gust of cold wind blow past, sending a chill down his spine!

In an instant, the temperature between heaven and earth plummeted!

"Wh-what kind of god is this?"

"Something's wrong! This is—damn it! Isn't this a malevolent spirit?"

"A devil! The Yan Zhiren!"

"Huh??"

The training ground instantly erupted in chaos, screams breaking out everywhere.

It wasn't just the students who panicked; the teachers present also looked terrified, their skin crawling!

The first of June in the lunar calendar was the annual day for worshiping the gods!

On this day every year, the gods would select believers within Great Xia, and demons and malevolent spirits were also at their most quiescent.

Yet this kid, Lu Ran...

On the first of the month, on the stage for worshiping the gods under everyone's watchful eyes, he summoned a devil?!

Long time no see, Yu is back (￣▽￣)

Two updates daily, at 12 PM and 6 PM.

Let's go, brothers~