"Forget it, they're just some small fry. Let's go back to sleep."
Lin Ran carried Akame back to sleep again. Early the next morning, he cleaved through a thousand layers of waves with a single sword strike, then scooped up a few fish stunned by the shock.
After eating the grilled fish, the four set off again. Sometimes they traveled on foot, sometimes they flew on a sword, exploring one unknown region after another. Akame even painstakingly drew a map and wrote a handbook recording what they had seen and heard.
After two and a half years, the four appeared in the empire again. Lin Ran surveyed the utterly transformed Divine Dragon Empire, scarcely able to believe his eyes.
Forty-four capital cities formed ring upon ring around the former imperial capital, and each had its own name. Many were named after Teigu. For example, Tatsumi had named the capital under his jurisdiction Hundred-Armed City.
Kurome's was even more outrageous: she had named it Candy City. As the four wandered around, even Lin Ran could not help nodding in approval. Perhaps the empire was so wonderful now that all its people were putting their hearts into preserving it.
Akame went to the city under Kurome's jurisdiction to find her, only to discover that the girl was a hands-off boss. After asking around, she learned that Kurome had gone to the temple to contemplate the Heart Visualization Diagram.
With a thought, Akame teleported straight to the temple and looked at Kurome, Mine, and Esdeath with a face full of black lines.
"Big sis!" When Kurome finished her visualization, she discovered Akame standing beside her. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, then, realizing that her sister really had returned, immediately threw herself into Akame's arms.
For a while afterward, Lin Ran took Akame and Sheele back to live at Night Raid's base.
Five years later, Akame passed the position of sovereign to Zi Xing, who was only sixteen. After spending another two years with Zi Xing, Lin Ran could consider his work complete.
That day, he told Akame and Sheele that he would be leaving. The two women went completely wild, and a month later, Lin Ran could no longer take it.
"System! Settle the rewards! If this keeps up, I'll be completely drained!"
[Calculating rewards------] [Side quest: Recover The Supreme Throne (completed)] [Side quest: Hunt ten World-Destroying Beasts (completed)] [Main quest: Assist the Heavenly Dao in slaying the source of the eldritch (completed)] [Side quest: Teach Zi Xing (calculating---)] [Calculation complete! Host's Origin Points +213500160]
"How much? Over two hundred million? System, am I seeing things?"
[The host is advised to spend one hundred million Origin Points to upgrade the system core and unlock the intermediate system!]
"Okay, upgrade!" Lin Ran felt rather like a nouveau riche.
"System upgrading------"
Lin Ran waited for a while, but no matter how he called for System, there was no response. Only after more than six hours did the system reply.
[System core upgrade complete! Intermediate system permissions unlocked!]
"System, I want to go back to the Long Moon world for a look."
[Origin Points deducted. Teleporting---]
A flash passed before Lin Ran's eyes, and the next moment, he was back in the Long Moon world.
As it happened, more than two hundred years had passed in this world since Lin Ran's last departure. His figure abruptly appeared inside the Holy Heaven Sect's sacred grounds.
"Huh? Why does this exotic beast look so much like our sect's founding ancestor?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it, if the sect leader hadn't said the ancestor had already left this world, I'd be kneeling to it!"
Lin Ran was only the size of an ordinary tiger at the moment, but his strength remained.
"Hey, you two, where is this?" Lin Ran asked the two female Holy Heaven Sect disciples before him irritably.
"Ah! This exotic beast can talk!"
"I'm your ancestor. Of course I can talk!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! The ancestor already ascended!"
Helpless, Lin Ran could only release a wisp of pressure onto the two women, frightening them into dropping to their knees on the spot.
"Senior! These are the Holy Heaven Sect's sacred grounds. Today marks the sect's sacred grounds competition, held once every ten years. We'll stay here for a month, and whoever brings back the most valuable treasures will receive a reward from the sect."
"So that's it. What are your names?"
"Senior, my name is Chen Chu, and hers is Yue Xin."
"Yue Xin? Are you from the Yiyue Clan? Back in the day, I took Tantai Jin along to live free and easy. Right, you know Tantai Jin, don't you?"
"Yes, yes! He is our Yiyue Clan's eternal benefactor!"
"Senior, are you really our ancestor?"
"Of course. Since meeting you two means we share a bit of fate, I'll take you treasure hunting this month. I'll definitely get you first place!"
Over the next month, Lin Ran took Yue Xin and Chen Chu around gathering treasures, all but turning the entire sacred grounds upside down. When the month ended, Lin Ran teleported back to the Holy Heaven Sect with Yue Xin and Chen Chu.
The moment Lin Ran appeared, he drew the gazes of quite a few sect disciples. He simply looked too much like their ancestor-exactly the same!
"Such insolence! Whose exotic beast is this? How dare it profane the ancestor!"
"Grand Elder! This is the ancestor!" After spending a month with Lin Ran, Yue Xin had discovered that he was very approachable and put on none of an ancestor's airs, so she was no longer afraid of him.
"Little Linglong! Your master is back. Aren't you coming to see me?" Lin Ran's voice spread throughout the Holy Heaven Sect. The next moment, a cave abode on the mountaintop suddenly burst apart, and a woman in plain robes flew through the air toward him. She had been about to fly into a rage-someone actually dared impersonate her master! But when she saw that familiar white figure, she immediately grew immensely excited.
"No one's been bullying you while I was away, have they? Tell me, and your master will stand up for you," Lin Ran said gently, nuzzling Linglong's cheek.
"No. They can't beat me, so how would they dare bully me?"
That was the truth. Among the immortal sects, there were three people one absolutely must not provoke: Linglong, Li Susu, and Tantai Jin. Don't ask why. The answer was that if you provoked any one of them, all three would definitely come knocking at your door together.
The Carefree Sect was the best example. One disciple once failed to recognize danger and made a teasing remark to Li Susu. That night, Linglong and Tantai Jin pinned down the Carefree Sect's leader and beat him savagely, reducing even the sect's main hall to ruins. From then on, the three became taboo among the immortal sects.
"Pay your respects to my master!" Linglong said coldly, looking at the dumbstruck Holy Heaven Sect disciples and elders around her.
"We pay our respects to the ancestor!" everyone saluted in unison.
Lin Ran pushed Linglong away and revealed his true form. An enormous tiger a thousand zhang tall appeared out of nowhere, standing above the Holy Heaven Sect.
Lin Ran raised his head and let out a long roar. As though celebrating the appearance of a deity, the Heavenly Dao showered down boundless spiritual rain.
"I, your ancestor, will grant you this opportunity. How much you can absorb depends on your own abilities!"
All the disciples, along with the elders, sat cross-legged and did their utmost to absorb this purest spiritual essence.
For a time, the Holy Heaven Sect's mountains seemed like immortal mountains. The other sects all gazed in shock at the figure standing on the horizon.
"Ah! Baibai's back!" Li Susu kicked open Tantai Jin's cave abode and dragged him off to find Lin Ran.
"Baibai!" Li Susu launched herself at him. Helpless, Lin Ran could only shrink down and let her hug his large head, rubbing against it over and over.
"Why are you only at the Body Integration Stage? Have you been slacking off?"
"No, I haven't! This is called making steady progress!" Li Susu argued.
"Her? She fishes for three days and dries her nets for two when it comes to cultivation. The fact that she's reached this level is all thanks to my constant supervision," Tantai Jin said, the corners of his lips curving upward. Clearly, he was very happy to see Lin Ran too.
Lin Ran stayed with the three for a while before leaving again. After he left, Linglong once more entered secluded cultivation.