Summit of the Old Gods

The school bus swayed and rattled as it headed westward from Rain Alley City.

Lu Ran cradled the Dawn Blade in his arms, leaning his shoulder against the glass window, quietly watching the rainy landscape outside.

"Divine·Witch Crow!"

"Aha, I see it." The classmates inside the bus were chirping and chattering annoyingly.

Lu Ran looked up and through the misty rain, a massive sculpture appeared and disappeared intermittently.

This was a beastly Divine entity, entirely black, resembling a crow in shape.

It stood on a giant stone pillar several tens of meters high, its head held high as if crying out, its wings spread as if ready to take flight.

The massive wings, stretched out, could literally blot out the sun with their imposing presence!

Although Witch Crow ranked low, merely a seventh-grade deity, the Witch Crow Believers were highly sought-after for their Divine Techniques focused on scouting, disrupting enemies, and transforming. No team would refuse an excellent scout.

The drawback of the Witch Crow Believers was also clear, inadequate in output and highly specialized to a fault.

"We're finally here." Wu Shanshan reached forward to the front seat, tugging on the red scarf wrapped around Deng Yutang's head.

"What's up?" Deng Yutang turned his head towards the girl.

Wu Shanshan said, "When we enter Evil Dog Village later, you're going to have to shout a bit louder, to fill us with the will to fight."

Deng Yutang laughed, "We haven't even entered the Demon Cave yet, and you're already scared?"

Wu Shanshan huffed silently to herself, concerned that someone might get scared and flee when facing the actual battle.

Lu Ran had advanced faster than everyone else due to his natural talent, but how he would perform in real combat was another matter.

Indeed, Lu Ran had once directly confronted a Prisoner Demon Believer–Kou Yingquan, but in Wu Shanshan's mind, Kou Yingquan was still human, not an Evil Demon that took lives.

"Ding-ding."

The school bus convoy passed through several checkpoints and entered into a military camp. As the vehicles came to a stop, a crowd of students disembarked one after another.

Many students stood frozen, looking up at the gigantic Divine Sculpture.

Wherever a Divine Sculpture stood, it marked a military stronghold, and generally, it was rare for people to witness the true face of a divine entity up close.

"Number 91!"

"Number 95!"

"Number 98!" Voices echoed through the curtain of rain.

"They're calling us." Deng Yutang spotted a soldier and immediately approached.

"I am Instructor Dou Zhiqiang, your accompanying instructor for this training." The soldier spoke solemnly to the four students who came to report, continuing:

"Once you enter Evil Dog Village, you'll have three hours of free movement.

Under normal circumstances, I won't interfere with any of your actions.

However, the moment I issue an order, you must execute it unconditionally; violators will be sent back immediately with the whole team..."

The group listened to the rules for a few minutes before Instructor Dou led them inside the building.

The students, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, found everything novel and exciting.

Lu Ran was sure that the huge stone pillar in the center of the hall was the one beneath the feet of the Divine·Witch Crow.

The pillar had a spiral staircase built around it, winding downwards, leading to the underground.

Under the guidance of Instructor Dou, the squad stepped onto the spiral staircase and descended, the Divine Power in the surroundings growing denser as they went deeper.

"Demon Cave Gate." Lu Ran leaned on the handrail of the spiral staircase, looking down.

"So beautiful." Wu Shanshan peeked curiously, murmuring to herself.

Images on the internet could never compare to seeing with one's own eyes!

Below, even deeper, lay a colossal interdimensional space gate.

It was deep and beautifully vast like the starry sky yet appeared as a dark, oval-shaped curtain spread across the floor.

Such a mysterious and wonderful sight could leave anyone speechless.

The stone pillar upon which Divine·Witch Crow stood plunged straight into the starry sky curtain.

Dou Zhiqiang commanded, "Be quiet! Stick together, and if you're afraid of heights, close your eyes and hold onto the shoulders of the person in front of you!"

The group fell silent, not daring to speak further.

As they stepped into the starry sky curtain...

"Whoosh!"

A sudden night wind whipped Lu Ran's clothes about.

The surroundings dramatically transformed, day turned into night, and the deep underground shifted into a space a hundred meters above ground.

The four, walking on the staircase, found themselves above the night sky, looking down a hundred meters below to the actual ground.

Standing high, they could see far.

In the pitch-black night, Lu Ran looked down to see a city made of stone!

Countless torches cast a fiery red glow over the city.

Beyond the walls of the city, torch-lit paths stretched like fiery dragons, twisting and turning into the distant night.

From this height, Lu Ran could even spot several other brightly lit stone cities miles away.

Mysterious and beautiful, magnificent and spectacular.

There should be background music here!

Lu Ran had already imagined the opening theme of "Game of Thrones."

Demon Cave number No.386, Evil Dog Village!

"Maintain walking speed, continue downward!" Dou Zhiqiang reminded the students, not intending to let them linger and enjoy the view.

A height of a hundred meters, in human society terms, would be at least a 30-floor building.

"Flap, flap, flap~"

"Flap, flap, flap!" As people descended the staircase, a flock of crows flew upward along the pillar.

In Evil Dog Village, only the Evil Demon·Evil Dog Clan existed, meaning that the flock of crows must be transformed by human soldiers.

Could it be that they were returning to Earth, rotating off their shift?

Lu Ran looked up enviously at the freely flying flock.

While the ability to fly was second to the transforming trait; turning into crows had such a high cool factor!

Especially in Rain Alley City where it often rained,

crows against a gloomy sky and chilly rainy nights made a perfect picture!

After a while, the group finally reached the ground and stepped onto the land of Evil Dog Village.