First Rank Sheep Disciple!

On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month, Rain Alley City rarely saw clear skies.

In the morning after the rain, the air was filled with the fragrant scent of grass and trees, refreshing to the heart and lungs.

After a day of rest, Lu Ran was full of energy. Even hearing that Wu Shanshan was leaving the team failed to disrupt his good mood.

In fact, ever since parting with Jiang Ruyi and Deng Yutang yesterday, Lu Ran had begun fantasizing about his new teammate.

Bye-bye means bye-bye—the next one would be better!

"Rain fell all night, my love overflowed like rainwater~"

Lu Ran walked to school, eating canned fish while humming a little tune.

Who would his next teammate be?

Which god's believer would they be?

If it was Ma Tianchuan, that would be fun. Wouldn't Wu Shanshan be devastated?

"The taste of saury, cats and you"

Lu Ran stopped and curiously looked toward the gates of Yuxiang No. 1 High School.

The area on both sides of the School Gate was packed with people—students and parents everywhere.

The school had posted the rankings!

And they had put them up outside the gates, publicly announcing them to society.

Lu Ran looked around as he quickly headed over.

"4,100 points? 4,100 points?!"

"How did they get scores like that? They must've broken the school's all-time record!"

"They're practically beasts. So who's the real evil dog here?"

Amid the buzzing discussion, Lu Ran kept squeezing forward, craning his neck to look.

At the top of the large red ranking board, it clearly read:

"Team No. 98: Class 4, Grade 11, Jiang Ruyi; Class 4, Grade 11, Lu Ran; Class 4, Grade 11, Deng Yutang; Class 12, Grade 11, Wu Shanshan—4,100 points!

First Place: all members receive +10 Believer Points!"

Seeing those black characters against the red background, Lu Ran was ecstatic. He even spilled some broth from his canned fish!

Looking farther down, he found Ma Tianchuan's team as expected.

"Team No. 17: Class 7, Grade 11, Ma Tianchuan; Class 7, Grade 11, Tian Tian—3,100 points!

Second Place: all members receive +8 Believer Points!"

Nice.

The high-quality Divine Power Bead was in the bag!

Lu Ran was immersed in his joy, but the discussions around him never stopped.

"Squad Leader Wu and Class Monitor Jiang are incredible! As expected of the second and third-ranked students in the grade! Haha, they really dragged First Place off his pedestal!"

"Ma Tianchuan, Ma Tianchuan, youngster, you've got your day too?"

"I'm saying, are you all only looking at this ranking board? Haven't you seen the one to the right of the School Gate?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's the individual ranking board. Go take a look—it'll blind your Dog Eyes!"

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up and look! It left me completely dumbfounded!"

"I thought two great gods had carried the team too, but damn it—"

The crowd stirred. Mixed among the stream of people, Lu Ran passed in front of the gates and looked at the large board on the other wall.

Fifth Day of the sixth lunar month. Yuxiang No. 1 High School's first Evil Dog Village assessment. Individual Results Ranking:

First Place: Class 4, Grade 11, Lu Ran—98 points, Celestial Goat Believer. Believer Points +10!

Second Place: Class 7, Grade 11, Ma Tianchuan—87.1 points, Nuosha Believer. Believer Points +8!

Third Place: Class 11, Grade 11, Gao Zhonglin—81.6 points, Greedy Wolf Believer. Believer Points +8!

Fourth Place: Class 8, Grade 11, Shi Hui—81.3 points, Sword Lotus Believer. Believer Points +6!

Believer Points would be entered into one's personal file and follow them for life.

In this era where everyone revered gods, Believer Points were extraordinarily important!

They were the standard for determining whether a student could graduate successfully, vital proof for entering a good university, and the stepping stone to landing a good job.

They could even be the gilded calling card you brought to the marriage market.

Most importantly, the higher one's Believer Points, the greater one's influence—and the more benefits they could bring their own god.

This was also one of the key ways believers repaid their gods.

Take Lu Ran at this very moment, for example.

As a "Celestial Goat Believer," he had gained a full 20 Believer Points and taken First Place on both ranking boards!

Not to mention anything else, but among students and parents alone, the name of the Immortal Sheep would surely be mentioned again and again.

Rain Alley City was indeed small, and the Evil Dog Village assessment was not particularly prestigious. It did not carry much weight.

But every road had to be walked one step at a time!

Lu Ran stood there with his mouth open, staring blankly at the ranking board.

His feelings were complicated. There was more than joy—there was also a faint thread of confusion.

Ninety-eight points, ranked first!

This...?

Even Jiang Ruyi and Wu Shanshan, the two class monitors, had failed to make the top twenty.

Why?

Was it because my divine art, Sound of Lamentation, was too overbearing, leaving them with no chance to shine?

"Celestial Goat Believer? Did I see that right, or did the school make a mistake? First Place is a Celestial Goat Believer?"

"Yeah, why him?"

"If this gets out, won't our school be laughed to death? A believer of a Ninth Rank God took First Place?"

"How could it be wrong? Isn't Lu Ran's name written there clear as day?"

"What the hell is Lu Ran? Where did he spring out from?"

"He's the one who summoned the evil demon Yanzhiren on Reverence Day!"

"Wo Cao! He's Lu Ran?"

Suddenly, an arm hooked around Lu Ran's shoulders and excitedly shook him.

Lu Ran turned his head and saw the fortune-telling girl again—Chang Ying.

"What did you even do?" Chang Ying was incredibly curious. Leaning her lips close to Lu Ran's ear, she whispered, "How did you get that score?"

Lu Ran: "..."

I don't know either!

Besides, aren't you supposed to be able to divine everything?

I should be asking you that.

Lu Ran's ear tickled, and he immediately tilted his head away.

Chang Ying was as rough as ever. One hand pressed against the side of Lu Ran's face, forcibly turning his head back. "If you don't tell me, I'll shout and let everyone know you're here.

I'm telling you, my voice is super loud!"

Lu Ran said helplessly, "Can you not put your arm around me? You're a girl."

Even if you were tall and broad, with dark skin... did you really not know how smoking hot your figure was?

You were a girl. A girl!

Chang Ying waved a hand. "Don't say that. We're bros~"

Lu Ran said, "Didn't this bro swindle a pack of Spicy Strip out of me?"

Chang Ying immediately became unhappy. "Bros are supposed to swindle your Spicy—no! How was I swindling you? That was my payment!"

Lu Ran suddenly raised his hand and whispered, "Want some canned fish?"

"Mm..." The girl pursed her lips, her eyes immediately drawn to the Tomato Sauce Fish.

Lu Ran said, "It's yours."

"Hehe~" Chang Ying smiled and put on a shy expression. "Oh, I really shouldn't."

As the girl reached for the can, Lu Ran seized the opportunity to escape from under her arm, squeezing through the crowd and leaving.

"Oh, right, Lu Ran!" Chang Ying suddenly remembered, watching Lu Ran's hurriedly departing back. "You still haven't told me—mm."

The girl's voice abruptly stopped. The once-noisy surroundings fell silent because of her words.

Parents and students alike turned their gazes, looking in the direction Chang Ying faced.

"Where? Where's Lu Ran?"

"It's over, it's over! I said bad things about him just now. Did he hear me?"

"Relax, bro. A few days ago, Lu Ran just mouthed off at the Prison Devil Believers and nearly got expelled. He wouldn't dare beat you up at school."

"..."

"What the hell are you scared of? So what if I call him livestock? Can a person even get scores like that?"

"Ninety-eight points. He really has no shame at all—"

Chang Ying ate the Tomato Sauce Fish and mumbled, "Lu Ran's pretty good. Don't talk nonsense about him... mm, tasty, tasty~"

Yet the girl's voice was very quiet. She did not seem particularly invested in defending Lu Ran, and cared far more about the canned fish.

The School Gate was abuzz with noise, but the campus was much quieter.

Lu Ran hurried toward the Teaching Building, drawing plenty of stares along the way.

Most of the students entering campus had already seen the rankings.

Of course they knew this Celestial Goat Believer had ridden atop believers of so many powerful gods.

It was Dao Fan Tiangang—heaven and earth had been turned upside down!

Under all those gazes, Lu Ran walked faster and faster, unable to suppress his excitement.

"I've struck it rich, I've struck it rich."

One assessment had earned him a full 20 Believer Points?!

It was like a fucking dream.

The individual and team ranking lists from each assessment would be removed after a few days at most, but the Believer Points board would not be taken down!

It would keep accumulating upward, accompanying Lu Ran throughout his entire life as a believer.

The graduation threshold for high school was 320 Believer Points.

Only after accumulating enough points could you receive a Graduation Certificate and qualify to take university entrance exams.

In other words,

With just one beginner assessment, Lu Ran had already filled in the fractional part of the passing line.

Before other students overtook him, he would continue carrying the title of "Celestial Goat Believer" and remain First Place on the Believer Points ranking!

This felt great~!

Secretly delighted, Lu Ran darted up to the third floor and walked into the classroom with his head down.

"Lu Ran's here!"

"Ran Ge is awesome! Just awesome, that's all there is to it!"

"Brother 98 is here!"

Lu Ran: "..."

His team was No. 98, he had scored 98 points, and even more coincidentally, the Immortal Sheep was ranked ninety-eighth in the divine sequence.

He could avoid people outside, but once he arrived in his own classroom, there was nowhere to run.

Lu Ran simply stopped at the podium and repeatedly waved his hands, looking humble. "Ah, what a fuss this has become.

Don't ask me. I don't know where those two points got deducted either."

In an instant, the noisy classroom fell silent.

Everyone stared blankly at Lu Ran. They had thought he was about to modestly say a few words, but instead...

How did words like that even come out of your mouth?

You still wanted Full Marks?

Even Ma Tianchuan had only scored in the eighties!

"Is that something a person would say?"

"I really want to hit him."

"Kou Yingquan, where's Kou Yingquan? Go on! We support you this time! Beat the hell out of him!"

"This Guy must not be allowed to live."

At the fourth-row seats, Jiang Ruyi still looked gentle and composed, a faint smile on her face as she watched Lu Ran make trouble.

Amid the waves of laughter and joking, Kou Yingquan's cold snort was especially grating. "Hmph. Dumb luck."

Immediately, pair after pair of eyes turned toward Kou Yingquan.

Whatever the other students said—whether from envy or jealousy—it was all wrapped in the shell of a joke.

But Kou Yingquan was different.

The two already had a grudge. Once Kou Yingquan spoke, the nature of things became entirely different.

The classroom quieted down, and many waited for a good show.

Yet before the person involved could speak, Qian Hao, seated in the first row, sprang to his feet with a thump.

Qian Hao grabbed his chair and handed it toward Lu Ran on the podium.

Lu Ran: ???

Qian Hao said, "Ran Ge, don't just stand there. You need this, right?"

"Pfft, hahahahaha!"

"Hahaha, Little Fatty really knows how to stir the flames, hahaha!"

Kou Yingquan's face turned crimson with rage, and he nearly coughed up blood.

Lu Ran said irritably, "Do you really want me expelled from school?"

Qian Hao chuckled. "Wasn't it because I saw you were short a weapon?"

When it came to helping others, Qian Hao had learned it from Lu Ran.

Lu Ran spoke with righteous conviction, crossing his hands before him in a huge X. "Nope!"

Qian Hao suddenly shuddered.

For some reason, whenever he heard those two words, Qian Hao always felt the urge to pee surging up.

"Ahem." Jiang Ruyi, who had been quietly sitting there all along, rose from her seat.

Lu Ran turned to look, only to see the girl tilt her head slightly, indicating the seat on the inside by the wall.

Ever since their last conflict, Jiang Ruyi and Lu Ran had privately switched seats.

Now Lu Ran sat on the inside, while Jiang Ruyi sat on the outside, next to the aisle.

"Oh." Lu Ran stopped trading barbs with his classmates and walked toward his seat.

"Tsk, tsk~ Class Monitor Jiang's little move."

"Why does that feel kind of sweet?"

"Lu Ran looks so well-behaved. Cute. I want—"

"What bull-demon nonsense are you thinking?! Ran Dog already stole the house, and Beauty Jiang got whisked away by him. Damn, the Homeroom Teacher's here."

"Tap, tap, tap."

The sound of High Heels striking the floor grew clearer and closer, and the classroom swiftly fell silent.

What did oppressive pressure mean?

Lu Ran dodged again and again!

He nearly smashed the A and B keys, yet he still failed to evade it.

Before Lu Ran could even sit down, a reprimand came from the classroom doorway. "It's so noisy, like a vegetable market. Did all of you do that well on the exam?"

Li Yanzhu crossed her arms before her chest and looked at the flustered Someone. "Lu Ran!"

"Here!" Lu Ran instinctively stood at attention.

Li Yanzhu asked, "Did you do well?"

"I..." Lu Ran opened his mouth, wanting badly to say he had done fairly well.

But seeing the Homeroom Teacher's stern face, Lu Ran wasn't sure whether saying that would count as talking back.

Li Yanzhu walked up to the podium, abruptly changing her tone. "You did indeed do quite well."

Lu Ran: ???

Beating a child on a rainy day—idle hands had to find something to do, right?

"But you can't be Proud." Li Yanzhu changed her tone again.

Lu Ran: "..."

Li Yanzhu planted both hands on the podium, her gaze sweeping over the students. "Did you call what you killed evil demons?

Those vicious dogs were carefully selected by the military before being thrown in front of you. They didn't even know the most basic evil arts. Other than opening their mouths to bite people, what else could they do?

What was there for you to be proud of after defeating enemies like that? And you still had the nerve to joke around?"

Li Yanzhu continued, "The Lunar Fifteenth is almost here. Your Final Exam will be to take part in this city-defense operation!

On the night of the full moon, the evil demons invading human society won't have the military screening them for you anymore. Have you still not realized the situation you're in?

Laughing and fooling around one after another—do you want to die on the Lunar Fifteenth?"