The Evil Sculpture Plan

The days of preparation passed one by one.

Under a gloomy, rainy sky, Lu Ran and his Rain Alley City welcomed the fifteenth of July.

On this day, in the early morning.

Lu Ran sat before the shrine, receiving wisps of mist from the White Goat Jade Carving.

A faint light flickered on his neck—the Divine Power Bead!

Both within his body and in the Divine Power Bead, Lu Ran was filled with "ammunition."

"The fifteenth of the lunar calendar, the Yin Gate opens, and demons and malevolent spirits will come on their own."

Lu Ran muttered to himself, clasping his hands together, "I implore the Immortal Sheep to bless this disciple.

Tonight, this disciple will be executing a mission with the Moon Watcher team. I should be able to slay many evils and activate many evil sculptures."

"Nourish." A telepathic message suddenly arrived.

"What?" Lu Ran looked up at the small shrine.

The White Goat Jade Carving: "Your strength is weak, and your spiritual power is insufficient.

You can capture demon souls to nourish the evil statues, to be activated in the future.

If you insist on activating too many evil statues, it will be harmful rather than beneficial to you, and you might even be consumed by them."

Lu Ran was startled!

The sudden news caught him off guard: "Then, do I have to screen the demons before slaughtering them?"

This was no joke!

In my own squad, I can decide which demon lair to go to and which demons to slaughter.

The problem is, tonight, the Night of the Fifteenth, I'm in the Moon Watcher squad!

Whatever demons I encounter and how many I slaughter depends on fate.

The Moon Watchers wouldn't refrain from slaughtering the descending demons for my sake!

"No need to worry, just go and collect demon souls to nourish various evil statues."

The telepathic message came again, full of authority: "Whether to activate the evil statues will be decided by me."

"Understood." Lu Ran felt a bit relieved.

With the Immortal Sheep covering everything, it was all for the best.

Lu Ran pondered for a moment and asked, "How many evil statues can I activate now?"

The White Goat Jade Carving: "You are merely in the Mist Realm. Activating one evil statue is already your limit.

Do not be greedy or rash.

Only when you achieve a significant realm advancement can you activate more evil statues and make them your own."

Lu Ran: "..."

You should have said so earlier!

With only one slot, I have to choose very carefully!

After all, this is related to what kind of evil techniques I can use.

As if sensing Lu Ran's state of mind, the usually overbearing Boss Sheep rarely explained:

"The Vicious Dog Clan is an ideal starting point."

"The evil techniques of this clan are relatively hidden. You can unleash them freely. Besides enhancing your senses, subsequent evil techniques can also make your body agile."

"The Evil Dogs are relatively weaker and easier for us to control."

"Powerful demons, like the Yanzhiren you've encountered multiple times, are not easily tamed."

"With your current mental strength, activating a Yanzhiren evil statue first would be difficult to control! If you're not careful, you might be toyed with by her."

Lu Ran listened, trembling, and said solemnly, "This disciple understands."

From this telepathic message, Lu Ran also understood another piece of information.

The Vicious Dog Clan, of course, also has powerhouses at the River Realm and Yangtze Realm levels.

The rare Yanzhiren clan also has weaklings in the Mist Realm.

However, the Immortal Goat directly categorized them, indicating that Yanzhiren are stronger than Evil Dogs!

This means that the "demons" the Immortal Goat refers to are the stone statues behind the entire clan!

It makes sense. The gods' sequence has rankings.

Then the evil sequence naturally has them too!

The White Goat Jade Carving retorted, "Understand what?"

Lu Ran pondered, "When this disciple activates evil statues in the future, they should also be those with relatively lower strength in the evil sequence.

Progressing step by step, the prerequisite for everything is to absolutely avoid backlash!"

"No rush, no greed. As Immortal Sheep taught me before, steady growth."

"Good."

It was rare for Immortal Sheep to praise Lu Ran.

Lu Ran's heart stirred: "Does Immortal Sheep have any good evil spirits to recommend? I'm currently at Mist Realm, Fourth Stage, and not far from Stream Realm."

This Night of the Fifteenth, whatever evil spirit Lu Ran encountered and whatever souls he could capture were all a matter of fate. But after the fifteenth, Lu Ran would be able to make his own choices. Great Xia was riddled with demon lairs, containing all sorts of evil spirits. It was like a buffet, with a room full of delicious dishes, and Lu Ran could choose what to eat.

White Goat Jade Carving: "I observe you have a fondness for the Yanzhiren."

"W-where did you get that idea?" Lu Ran's face flushed with embarrassment.

That kind of talk was dangerous! If outsiders heard it, they'd think I was going to betray them.

White Goat Jade Carving: "Evil lies in quality, not quantity. The same applies to evil techniques. When you reach Stream Realm, you can activate two or three more evil spirit statues. However, you can also sacrifice quantity for quality."

"Oh?" Lu Ran's eyes lit up. Was this also an option? Did Immortal Sheep mean that after advancing to Stream Realm, I should go straight for the main course? Hmm, directly activating the Yanzhiren evil statue?

White Goat Jade Carving: "The evil techniques of the Yanzhi sect are excellent in defense and can indeed protect you."

Lu Ran: "..."

He finally understood. Immortal Sheep's idea of activating evil statues was to help Lu Ran survive better. But he couldn't deny it, Lu Ran was very tempted! Who wouldn't want the Yanzhi sister? Moreover, Lu Ran's ultimate goal wasn't just the Yanzhi sect's evil techniques, but her true self as an evil spirit in the future! With such a powerful being by his side, wouldn't he be able to kill gods and buddhas?

Lu Ran thought for a moment and said, "But the Yanzhi sect's evil techniques are not subtle." No one was blind. If I suddenly draped myself in a big red xiapai, who wouldn't see it? Also, does this count as cross-dressing? Although the red xiapai had strong defenses and could stir up huge waves, it felt... embarrassing!

White Goat Jade Carving suddenly said: "The Yanzhi evil techniques, combined with our sect's divine techniques, are infinitely profound."

"Ah?" Lu Ran was stunned. "Divine techniques and evil techniques can be combined?" So, Immortal Sheep wasn't going to activate the Yanzhiren evil statue just because I liked it. Immortal Sheep had his own considerations!

A telepathic message followed: "What is our Immortal Sheep Sect's most famous divine technique?"

"Sheep, and Scapegoat Body!" Lu Ran blurted out two highly representative divine techniques. Regarding the divine technique Sheep, Lu Ran had already pondered it extensively when he was trapped on the terrace. And the divine technique Scapegoat Body was even more significant! In folklore, this technique was also called the Scapegoat. Its effect was similar to an attack immunity. When a Celestial Goat believer faced a fatal blow, they could pray to Immortal Sheep for protection and avoid death. Of course, if the believer was spared the fatal injury, Immortal Sheep himself would suffer! Because Immortal Sheep was the one who became the "scapegoat." This was the most powerful protection that the god Immortal Sheep offered to his followers. A special reminder: Absolutely! Absolutely do not expect Immortal Sheep to manifest! You should even prepare yourself mentally, as if you had never learned this divine technique. Immortal Sheep is your god! He is the one you should protect with your life!

Not your servant or livestock, summoned at a beck and call, only to be a scapegoat.

In your lifetime, being able to activate a divine technique, scapegoat, once would be considered special favor from the gods.

Over a sufficiently long period, your loyalty and devout offerings have earned you one chance at "life."

But more often than not, no matter how much you call out, it's useless.

The gods, the Immortal Goat, are unwilling to get involved in disputes. You still expect to summon it to the battlefield, even to take a blow for you?

Are you even a Celestial Goat Believer?

How does the Immortal Sheep usually discipline you?

You might as well die.

The White Goat Jade Carving asked again, "What is the most feared evil technique of the Yanzhiren sect?"

Lu Ran answered without hesitation, "Paper Zha!"

On the fifteenth of last month, Lu Ran watched with his own eyes as a Yanzhiren summoned a small paper effigy and held it in his palm.

Then, a pursuing Moon Watcher was grabbed by an invisible giant hand and crushed into a meatball.

"What do you think of the combination of Paper Zha and Scapegoat Body?" The deep voice carried a hint of sinister meaning.

Lu Ran's eyes widened slightly!

The more he thought about it, the more he was shocked.

After a long pause, he trembled and said, "Does the Immortal Sheep mean you can transfer the damage you receive onto a paper effigy?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Paper Zha is in your hand, Scapegoat is in your body. The connection point is you."

"Gulp." Lu Ran's Adam's apple bobbed, his head buzzing.

The evil technique, Paper Zha, was not a defensive skill. The small paper figure, barely the size of a palm, couldn't block Lu Ran's vital points.

But if the evil technique, Paper Zha, and the divine technique, Scapegoat Body, could be cleverly combined...

For Lu Ran, damage exemption would become damage transfer.

For the Immortal Goat, it would no longer need to act as a scapegoat. It would only need to assist Lu Ran in casting the spell, and the rest would be watching the enemy suffer.

"Beep~ Beep~"

Outside the window, the sudden sound of a car horn was heard.

In this quiet neighborhood, it sounded particularly abrupt.

Lu Ran stared blankly at the White Goat Jade Carving, feeling that its gentle and friendly smile was becoming increasingly eerie.

"Beep beep!"

The honking finally woke Lu Ran up.

"Thank you for your guidance, Immortal Sheep. Allow this disciple to consider it!" With that, Lu Ran bowed respectfully.

Then he quickly got up and went to the window.

In the drizzling rain, a luxury coupe was parked on the sidewalk.

Inside the car, a radiant woman in a yellow raincoat waved at him, "It's time to go."

"Wait a moment, I'll go get my knife."