June 6th, deep in the night.
Heavy rain poured over Rain Alley City, peals of thunder echoing through the empty Small City.
Lu Residence lay shrouded in darkness, but it was not unoccupied.
In the small bedroom, a youth clad in a noble emperor's robe knelt quietly before the shrine, patiently awaiting the gods' reply.
Several days ago, after Lu Ran had spoken with his father through the night, he returned home, ate breakfast, and came to make an offering at the Small Shrine.
Immortal Sheep had told him to wait.
So Lu Ran waited quietly before the shrine.
And as he waited, his father, Lu Xing, advanced to the third level of the Ascension Realm, and Lu Ran himself devoured a divine soul and transformed into the new Blood Skull.
Not long ago, Lu Ran had sent his father into the Chifengwen Gourd to subdue the top-tier artifact—the Blood Skull Necklace.
"Wooooo~~~" A violent wind howled outside the window.
Entwined with the torrential rain, it ravaged this abandoned, dilapidated Small City.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning tore across the night sky, turning Rain Alley City bright as day in an instant.
Lu Ran instinctively raised his head and looked outside.
In a daze, he saw that the goat head of the Celestial Goat Statues within the shrine had turned pitch-black.
Those Dead Sheep Eyes seemed to have been staring at him all along.
Terrifying. Eerie.
"Immortal Sheep?" Lu Ran tested the waters.
[Yes.] A voice entered his mind.
Lu Ran pressed his palms together and bowed his head in salute. "Thank you, Immortal Sheep, for saving my father. I will never forget this immense grace and great virtue for all eternity."
"Rumble!!"
After the lightning came a horrifying crash of thunder, as if the heavens themselves were about to