You Killed Qu Yuan? (10,000 update 1/3, please vote with monthly tickets!~)

After saying this, Jiang Ran continued digging downward.

Watching the disheveled state of the people around him, he felt absolutely no burden in his heart.

All things considered, he had likely killed the most difficult existence within this Ancient Tomb.

If not for him, it would be hard to say how many people could have made it out alive, given the sheer number of masked men outside and the Blood-Nourishing Realm strength of that old man.

Over there, upon hearing Jiang Ran's words, Captain Zhou's expression remained unchanged as he turned back to direct the rescue efforts.

Anyone with a bit of attention to detail could guess...

The collapse of this pit was absolutely related to him.

"Prioritize rescuing the severely injured! Those who can still move, organize a defensive perimeter!" Zhou Yuan's voice echoed through the ruins.

Hearing this, the crowd stopped looking at Jiang Ran and began organizing the rescue of their own people, while simultaneously blocking the masked men who had fallen from the upper levels and were still alive.

The sounds of gunfire and the eruption of supernatural abilities rang out once more.

Yet, amidst the chaos, some had other thoughts on their minds.

Nearby, after Qian Laojiu was dug out of the ruins and had his arm abrasions bandaged, his gaze never left the black-clad figure in the distance.

He saw Jiang Ran squatting there alone, silently digging for something.

He immediately shot a look at the few companions beside him who were still mobile.

Those men had followed Qian Laojiu for many years and possessed perfect tacit understanding; they immediately nodded in secret.

They then pretended to be helping search for survivors, holding entrenching tools or crowbars, and slowly crept toward the area where Jiang Ran was located.

Jiang Ran, of course, noticed them.

But he didn't care.

The moment the collapse occurred, Jiang Ran's first instinct had been to store the Martial God Power Nuo Opera Mask into his Heavenly Net Pouch.

At the same time, he had bent down, intending to store the Golden Skeleton as well.

But there hadn't been enough time.

He had only managed to touch the shaman robe on the skeleton; the moment he stored it into his Heavenly Net Pouch, a wealth of information flooded his mind.

This shaman robe was indeed an extraordinary piece of equipment.

However, he hadn't had the chance to examine its attributes closely yet.

His gaze had been drawn to the chest of the Golden Skeleton.

There, pressed tightly against the sternum, was a second mask.

That mask was a size smaller than the Martial God Power Nuo Opera Mask, colored a pure, pitch black, and devoid of any patterns.

But before he could take a closer look.

The ceiling had collapsed.

Jiang Ran could only watch helplessly as the Golden Skeleton was buried under the rubble.

Now, what he needed to find.

Was that skeleton and the second mask upon it.

Of course, there was also that blood pool.

That abnormally large deer had emerged from beneath the blood pool; there might be other things hidden down there.

Moreover, that deer itself was quite valuable.

After all, it was significantly larger than any he had encountered before.

Soon, a crisp clashing sound came from not far away.

"Clang!"

It was from Qian Laojiu's group.

A tall, thin man wearing a windbreaker was digging with an entrenching tool, and the tip of the shovel seemed to have struck something metallic, emitting a clanging sound.

Jiang Ran slowly straightened his back and looked over there.

Those men were also keeping a constant eye on Jiang Ran.

When they saw Jiang Ran looking toward them, they immediately turned their heads away, pretending that nothing had happened, though their movements quickened.

But to their surprise, Jiang Ran had already taken the initiative to walk toward them.

The distance between the two sides was not great; in just a few steps, Jiang Ran arrived beside the tall, thin man and looked down into the pit he was digging.

A corner of the golden-bright skeleton was exposed through the gaps in the rubble, completely unstained by dust.

It was exceptionally conspicuous in the dim light of the surroundings.

Before Jiang Ran could even speak, the man beside him stepped forward to block the space between Jiang Ran and the skeleton, looking at Jiang Ran with a playful glint in his eyes.

"What do you want?" he drawled, "Trying to snatch things in broad daylight?"

As the words fell.

Qian Laojiu and the remaining seven or eight men gathered around, vaguely forming a semi-circle.

A mocking, insincere smile hung on Qian Laojiu's face.

His gaze swept over the tattered, blood-stained hoodie Jiang Ran wore before he spoke in a slow, leisurely tone:

"Brother, everything has to follow the rules."

He spread his hands, his tone carrying a sense of self-evident logic, "Unclaimed goods go to whoever gets there first. That principle holds true anywhere, right?"

A dozen men stood in a row, most of them clutching weapons, their eyes fixed on Jiang Ran with malicious intent.

They had calculated everything perfectly.

Although this man in black had a fierce reputation, he had just crawled out from the depths of the collapse and looked quite disheveled, clearly having exhausted himself.

And with their numbers, even if they were in poor condition, they were still stronger than a lone wolf.

However, there was one thing they hadn't considered...

Ever since stepping into the Abyssal Void, Jiang Ran had never followed the rules of the Safe Zone, let alone the rigid constraints of the real world.

He only adhered to one simple line.

The most basic bottom line of humanity.

Furthermore, they had underestimated the fact that a starving camel is still larger than a horse.

The blood-qi of the Blood-Flow Realm had already formed a small, self-sustaining cycle, endless and inexhaustible.

Although the Lotus Brilliance strike just moments ago had nearly drained him, after this brief respite, his blood-qi had already recovered by ten or twenty percent.

It was more than enough to deal with these explorers, who might not even have reached the Blood Sensing Realm.

Jiang Ran could certainly speak up now.

He could describe the fierce battle he had just fought against the Blood-Nourishing Realm elder in the underground space.

He could explain how he had narrowly escaped death and used his trump card to kill the opponent.

He could use this to prove that the Golden Skeleton rightfully belonged to him.

But looking at the expression on Qian Laojiu's face, and the greed and malice in the eyes of those around him.

Jiang Ran suddenly felt something.

He didn't want to say a single word.

When some people reach the peak of shamelessness, trying to reason with them only disgusts oneself.

Therefore, faced with Qian Laojiu's "well-intentioned" reminder and threat.

Jiang Ran merely tilted his head slightly, and the corners of his mouth beneath his tattered hood curled upward.

He smiled.

The next second...

A pillar of blood-qi smoke erupted from his body, shooting into the sky.

A five-meter-tall Furious Vajra Phantom rose from the ground with him at its center, the phantom wreathed in blood-colored Buddhist light that bathed the surroundings in a scarlet glow.

Immediately following, Dragon Form and Tiger Form phantoms manifested upon the Vajra's massive hands.

black flame spread from the Underworld Binding Gauntlets to the phantom's fists, burning fiercely.

The dozen men, who had been watching Jiang Ran with amusement, saw their ferocity instantly freeze as they looked up at the Vajra Phantom that nearly touched the rock ceiling of the lower level.

Videos... and seeing it with one's own eyes were two completely different things.

But while they were stunned, Jiang Ran was not.

He pushed Eight-Step Cicada Chase to its limit. The Vajra Phantom took a step forward in sync with Jiang Ran's movement...

BOOM!!!

The giant fist smashed down.

The two men at the forefront didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to two exploding mists of blood.

Shattered bone and flesh splattered everywhere.

"RUN!!"

Someone finally reacted, letting out a shrill scream as they turned to flee.

But it was already too late.

The Vajra Phantom swept its left fist horizontally, smashing three men on the side in half; severed limbs and viscera were scattered across the ground.

The entire process took only a few seconds.

The dozen men who had been standing were now nothing more than puddles of blurred flesh and gore.

As for Qian Laojiu...

It seemed he had been smashed to death while preparing to approach; Jiang Ran hadn't paid him much mind.

A thick, pungent scent of blood permeated the air.

Jiang Ran stood where he was, slowly exhaling a breath.

The Vajra Phantom dissipated, and the crimson blood energy and Buddha light retracted back into his body.

"Refreshing," he whispered to himself.

This was the first time Jiang Ran had killed a person.

He had killed one of his own kind.

To say he felt absolutely nothing would be a lie.

Having mastered psychology, he was often more attuned to the subtle shifts in his own heart and significantly more sensitive.

But...

Jiang Ran also felt another emotion.

A sense of pleasure.

It was the realization that when someone posed a threat to him, he possessed the power to kill them instantly.

No need for hesitation, no need for weighing options, no need to worry about any rules or consequences.

It was a rather delightful thing.

No wonder the ancients said not to let a grudge last overnight.

As it turned out, settling it on the spot felt even better.

However, it was only after he had finished everything that he noticed the unusual silence surrounding him.

Jiang Ran raised his head and looked around.

He saw Manager Sun and his group, as well as everyone from the Deep Realm Inspection Team, all frozen in their tracks, staring at him in stunned silence.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran feigned a cough to break the silence:

"Alright."

"You lot go back to your digging."

With that, Jiang Ran turned around, first collecting the belongings of Qian Laojiu and the others, then walked toward the pit where the golden skeleton was exposed.

He left the group behind him exchanging glances, their throats dry.

Manager Sun swallowed hard, looked at the bloody, mangled remains on the ground, then at Jiang Ran's back as he crouched down to continue digging for bones. Finally, he turned his head away and whispered to his subordinates:

"What are you all gawking at? Keep rescuing people..."

On the side of the Deep Realm Inspection Team, Zhou Yuan took a long look at Jiang Ran, said nothing, and simply gestured to his team members to heighten their vigilance.

But just as Jiang Ran pried away a few stones, footsteps approached from the side.

A figure stopped beside him.

Jiang Ran frowned and turned his head.

It was Zhou Yuan.

Jiang Ran was slightly taken aback.

He hadn't expected anyone to dare approach him.

Especially after having just witnessed that one-sided slaughter.

"Are you here to lecture me on Federal law?"

Jiang Ran asked softly, his tone devoid of emotion.

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head:

"No. According to Article 17 of the Provisional Regulations for Transcendents, any conflict between a Transcendent and a person falls under the jurisdiction of the Order Purification Center, and is limited to the Safe Zone and reality."

Jiang Ran nodded calmly as he listened.

Then he turned his head, intending to continue examining the golden skeleton and the mask upon it.

However, at this moment, Zhou Yuan spoke again:

"I wanted to ask, in here, did you encounter any living people?"

Jiang Ran's movements paused.

He thought of the old man.

"I'm not sure if he's still alive," Jiang Ran said, pondering. "But he certainly still possessed basic rationality and thought."

Zhou Yuan's face lit up with joy upon hearing this:

"Then where is he? Where is he now? We have..."

His words came to an abrupt halt.

Because Jiang Ran had raised his hand, pointing toward the golden skeleton that had just been half-excavated in front of them.

"Understood."

Jiang Ran's tone was calm:

"It's right here."

The joy on Zhou Yuan's face froze instantly.

He turned his head slowly and woodenly to look at the Golden Skeleton.

After several seconds, as if he had finally digested this information, his throat moved, and he squeezed out a sentence in a dry voice:

"You..."

"You killed Qu Yuan!?"