640. A One-Sided Account

There were at least three factions in Rainstorm Villa.

Daoist He Ming was naturally one of them. He had taken over Browning's body and was hiding here.

Another was the actual ruler of the Ruined City—the true Old One who walked the earth, a living god.

The final faction was the entity Daoist He Ming needed to suppress with the power of another Old One, using paintings from Gudu.

"What do you want?"

Xiya asked.

Trading with an entity that had already lost its human identity sounded utterly insane. But as one of the Chosen of the Gods, Xiya knew that sometimes, the crazier decision was the right one.

"My discarded corpse is hidden somewhere in this Rainstorm Villa."

Browning spoke frankly.

"I told you before that I once fought the god who walked through the Ruined City. Back then, I also tried to transform my body, using powerful flesh to approach godhood. Unfortunately, I failed. That was why I left behind some legacies."

"You mean the ascension and tribulation?"

Xiya had spent so long in this foreign land that she was naturally familiar with Daoist He Ming's experiences. She had heard the story of him sitting beneath a tree, being struck by lightning, and then ascending after surviving the tribulation dozens of times.

"That's right."

Browning nodded, seemingly unsurprised that Xiya knew about it.

"So that lightning really was summoned by the Old One in the Ruined City?"

Lu Ban blurted out.

That heavenly punishment really had been heavenly punishment.

Daoist He Ming must have been preparing to advance further and sublime himself when the ruler of the Ruined City seized the opportunity and struck him with a bolt of heavenly lightning, reducing his physical body to ashes. That was why he had become like this.

Lu Ban had