"I'll go in with you." Bai Haorui's voice was very low, and the peach wood sword behind his back rumbled slightly through his clothes, "His aura is too strong, I don't trust you alone."
"No." Dean shook his head, looking through the glass window, staring at the lonely figure in the deepest part of the store, "You are standing guard outside. If something happens, it won't be too late to rush in. Besides, if we really want to fight, we may not be his opponents together, so don't give up his life in vain."
Bai Haorui frowned and wanted to say something else. Looking at Dean's firm eyes, he finally took half a step back.
His fingertips moved slightly, and three Five Emperor Coins slipped from his fingers. With a very faint golden light, they landed silently in the shadow of the store entrance, forming a simple formation.
"I'm just outside. If anything happens, I'll come in right away." He paused and then added in a serious tone, "Don't be too harsh."
Dean twitched the corner of his mouth, said nothing, and stretched out his hand to push open the glass door.
The warm yellow light is wrapped in the aroma of cheese and baked bread, and the oven is humming in the corner. The warm wind makes people's faces feel warm, which is completely different from the cold rainy night outside.
The store was empty, with no waiters and no other customers. There was only an old man in a black suit sitting next to the booth at the end.
His hair was gray and neatly combed, and his face was as pale as rice paper, without any trace of blood.
His fingers were long and clean, holding a piece of deep-dish pizza and chewing it slowly, as slow as an old movie.
His whole body seemed to be wrapped in an invisible aura, and even the buzzing sound of the oven subsided unconsciously when it came near him.
Death Horseman.
Dean's back tensed instantly, his hand pressed on the holster on his waist, and he took every step extremely slowly, as if he was stepping on ice that could break at any time.
Death Horseman raised his head and glanced at him, his eyes as pale as a pool of stagnant water, and his tone as calm as greeting an old friend for many years. "Thank you for bringing the knife back. Sit down, Dean. The pizza is delicious."
Dean was stunned for a moment, then slowly pulled out the chair opposite and sat down. The chair legs made a slight sound on the floor, which was particularly clear in the quiet store.
He stared at the old man opposite him warily, his Adam's apple twitching. "To be honest, I'm in a complicated mood right now. So... is this a fun part before you want to kill me?"
A flash of lightning flashed outside the window, and the pale light instantly illuminated the entire store, reflecting on Death Horseman's expressionless face. He put down the pizza, picked up a tissue and wiped his hands slowly, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes. "You take yourself too seriously. For a being like me, a human like you... it's the same as when you are sitting at the dining table and there is a bacteria playing tricks on you."
Dean's heart sank, he clenched his fists, and his nails dug deeply into his palms.
He has seen a lot of monsters that talk nonsense, including demons, angels, Leviathans, everything. But none of them are like the person in front of him. His tone is light and airy, but it carries an undoubted truth - he really doesn't take himself seriously. It's not even hatred or contempt, he just doesn't care about ants.
"This is just a small planet, in a small solar system, and the galaxies it is in are still very young." Death Horseman leaned on the back of his chair, his eyes so distant that they seemed to penetrate the wall, looking into the depths of the universe, "I am very old, Dean. Very old. So you can think about how insignificant you are in my eyes."
He pushed a piece of pizza in front of Dean: "Eat it, it tastes good."
Dean did not move, stared into his eyes, remained silent for a few seconds, and then asked, "Can I ask? How old are you?"
"As old as God. Maybe even older." Death Horseman picked up the pizza and took a bite, then dropped the bombshell in a calm tone, "Both of us can't remember clearly. Life and death, which came first, the chicken or the egg, I can't say for sure. But no matter what, in the end, I will harvest him."
Dean opened his eyes suddenly, his head buzzed, and he almost thought he heard wrong, "God? Can you harvest God?"
"Of course. God will die too, Dean."
Dean opened his mouth, but didn't say anything for a long time. In the end, he could only smile bitterly and lean back in his chair, "This matter is too much beyond my ability."
"A little bit indeed."
"Then why am I still alive? Still sitting here talking to you?" Dean leaned forward, the doubts in his heart almost overflowing, "What do you want?"
"I want this chain around my neck to disappear." Death Horseman's tone was a little colder, and his fingertips lightly touched the collar, as if there was an invisible shackle there, "Lucifer I can't get on the table with one. The spell binds me to him. I have to go wherever he wants me to go, and I have to do whatever he wants me to do. Hurricanes, floods, resurrecting the dead... My power is far beyond your imagination, but I am enslaved by a raging child."
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Do you think I can untie you?"
"Here you go again, you are so ridiculously brave." Death Horseman shook his head, "Of course you can't. But you can help me unload the bullets from Lucifer's gun."
He looked at Dean, his eyes as deep as the endless night. "I know you want the ring."
"Yes." Dean nodded, his heart beating a little faster.
"I can give it to you."
Dean was stunned, thinking he heard wrongly, "Give it to me?"
"That's what I said."
"What should Chicago do?" Dean asked subconsciously.
"Chicago can keep it." Death Horseman glanced out the window and said calmly, "I quite like the pizza here. But there are conditions."
"Okay, what are the conditions?" Dean had already prepared for the worst, but when Death Horseman said those words, he still felt as if his heart had been hit hard by a heavy hammer, and he was so stuffy that he couldn't breathe.
"You must put Lucifer back in prison at all costs."
"Of course, that's our plan."
"No, it's not a plan. It doesn't count now." Death Horseman interrupted him, his tone a little more serious, "Your brother. He is the only one who can stop Lucifer. So I want you to promise me that you will let your brother jump into that fire pit by himself."
The air froze instantly.
The buzzing of the oven, the sound of rain and thunder outside the window seemed to have disappeared. The store was so quiet that one could hear each other's breathing.
Dean clenched his fists, his knuckles turned white, and his nails were almost embedded in his flesh. He stared at Death Horseman for a long time, his throat moved, and his mouth felt bitter.
He remembered that when Sam was a child, he was running behind him and was so cowardly that he would hide behind him even if he saw a mouse; he remembered the day when Sam got the admission notice from Stanford, his eyes were as bright as stars and said that he wanted to be a lawyer; he thought of Sam's painful look when he lost control, and the guilty look in his eyes after he woke up.
Growing up, the younger brother he had tried to protect with all his life would end up like this?
No. Absolutely not.
Just as he was about to refuse, the store door was pushed open with a bang.
The strong wind blew in with raindrops, causing the tissues and menus on the table to fly around.
Bai Haorui strode in, his face as dark as water.
He listened for most of the time outside, and the moment he heard Death Horseman asking Sam to jump out of the cage, he could no longer suppress his anger.
The mahogany sword behind his back trembled slightly and made a low sound. The purple-gold True Gang flowed along the arm, and the Lotus Seal between the eyebrows lit up with a dazzling golden light. The whole figure was like a sword suddenly unsheathed, with its sharp edge revealed.
"Fart."
Bai Haorui's voice is not high, but it carries an undeniable power and is very loud.
He walked to stand next to Dean, half-stepped in front of Dean, and looked straight into Death Horseman's gaze without taking a step back.
"Lucifer needs to be imprisoned and caged, but no one stipulates that my brother must be used to fill the hole." Bai Haorui said in a cold tone, pressing his right hand on the hilt of the mahogany sword, standing still with his feet firmly planted, and his center of gravity firmly on his Dantian, "You have lived for such a long time, and you only come up with such bad ideas of sacrificing others?"
Death Horseman raised his eyelids and finally looked at Bai Haorui with a hint of excitement. He was no longer looking at an ant indifferently, but with a hint of interest. "You are the variable. It's interesting that a mere mortal can actually jump out of God's script."
"Stop talking about the script." Bai Haorui snorted coldly, True Gang slowly running through his meridians, "I never believe in fate. Lucifer We will clean up, and we will take the ring, but if you want us to sacrifice our own people, there is no way."
As soon as he finished speaking, Death Horseman's body suddenly emitted a gray deathly aura.
Like rising sea water, it silently rushed towards the two of them. The breath was cold and biting, with the smell of decay and death. Wherever it passed, the pizza on the table instantly lost its color, the cheese grease solidified and turned white, and a thin layer of frost formed on the edges. The metal tableware became gray and dull, the temperature in the air dropped sharply, and white gas could be seen even in the breath.
Dean was out of breath for a moment, his chest felt like a huge boulder was pressing down on him, his eyesight turned black, the blood all over his body seemed to be frozen, his hands and feet were cold, and his consciousness began to blur.
Bai Haorui's eyes flashed.
The left hand quickly formed Three Pure Ones Seal, with smooth movements without any pause. The purple-gold True Gang in the palm of the palm instantly surged, setting up a semicircular shield in front of the two people. There were fine runes flowing on the surface of the shield, glowing with warm golden light, firmly blocking out the gray death energy.
He lowered his shoulders and dropped his elbows, stepped forward Bagua Steps with his feet, and firmly planted himself on the horse, making a slight sound as the soles of his shoes rubbed against the floor.
The True Gang in the Dantian poured out continuously, pulsed along the meridian to the palm of the hand, holding on to the shield.
The gray lifeless energy hit the shield, making a "sizzling" sound, like boiling water being poured on ice, causing bursts of white mist to rise.
The shield was slightly dented by the pressure, and fine cold sweat soon oozed from Bai Haorui's forehead, dripping down his cheeks.
"It's interesting." Death Horseman nodded slightly, with a little more approval in his tone, "You can actually block my death breath. Among mortals, you are the first."
Bai Haorui gritted his teeth, and his jawline was tense. He could clearly feel that the other party didn't exert any force at all, just a trace of breath released casually, which already made his True Gang function stagnant, and the old wounds on his chest ached faintly.
This is the strength of Death Horseman, which is completely different from the other three knights.
But he didn't take a step back.
Instead, he lowered his waist and expanded the shield, completely protecting Dean behind him without even a trace of death air leaking through.