Chapter 532: Chapter 532

After completing the apprenticeship ceremony, Peanut asked, “You mentioned earlier that the reason you wanted me to become your disciple was because of the bonds we formed across multiple time travels, which made you unwilling to let me die later, right?

“In other words, in other timelines, we’ve had contact before, correct? I want to know what our relationship was in those other timelines.”

“You should address me properly now,” Lu Ran said.

“Master...” Peanut looked at Lu Ran’s youthful face, still feeling a bit strange.

However, she understood clearly that as an ancient being who had traversed time multiple times, Lu Ran’s true age must far surpass her own.

“Our relationship?” Lu Ran pondered.

Peanut had asked a critical question.

Beside them, Six-Path Flower interjected, “In another timeline, he obtained the legacy of your past life’s ruins, making him your disciple.”

“Dis... disciple?” Peanut’s face was filled with confusion.

Her mind was in chaos, unable to process this twist.

Lu Ran took out the ruin branch as proof and said, “Well, it’s . It’s fine. We can address each other separately. Even though I was your past life’s disciple, it doesn’t stop me from taking you as my disciple now.”

“What kind of nonsense is this?” Peanut was baffled.

She had thought that in other timelines, she and Lu Ran must have shared some grand, epic experiences. But this? It was all just a tangled mess. It was almost laughable.

Just as Peanut was considering whether to back out, ripples like water suddenly appeared in the sky, and a powerful plant god descended. Its aura was overwhelming, even putting pressure on Six-Path Flower. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel•fire.net

This plant god had a unique form. At its core was a green sphere, resembling a star. Around it, floating at a distance, was a ring-like structure made of vines. It was similar to a stellar ring. Embedded along this ring were numerous colorful flowers, one of which bore eyes and a mouth, forming the creature’s looks.

[Species: World Flower]

[Species Rank: Superior Legendary]

The Flower God, daughter of the Divine Tree, had finally appeared.

“Little Peanut, who are these people?”

The Flower God was surprised by the summons. After all, this messenger rarely ever called upon it. Usually, it was the Flower God who sought her out.

Its gaze swept over Lu Ran, Dark Crow, and Six-Path Flower. When its eyes landed on Six-Path Flower, it froze in shock. As a flower plucked from the Divine Tree and given life by its power, the Flower God had inherited fragments of the Divine Tree’s memories. Thus, its reaction upon seeing Six-Path Flower was identical to Peanut’s earlier response.

“Six... Six-Path Reincarnation God?” It exclaimed in disbelief.

“Lord Flower God, here’s what happened...” Peanut quickly recounted everything she had learned after encountering Lu Ran and the others.

Once the explanation was over, the Flower God stood frozen. Despite having interacted with Primary Divine-level beings before, Lu Ran’s claims were still too staggering to comprehend.

Lu Ran smiled. “Greetings, Flower God. So, can you take us to meet the Divine Tree?”

“Time Dragon kin’s messenger... Senior Six-Path Flower, is it really you?” The Flower God had personally witnessed, through the Divine Tree, the scenes of the Divine Tree fighting alongside Six-Path Flower and Void Grass.

Even the Divine Tree had declared Six-Path Flower completely dead. Yet now, Six-Path Flower had been revived. The Flower God was already seventy to eighty percent convinced by Lu Ran’s story. No matter what, the revival of Six-Path Flower was something the Divine Tree needed to know about.

“The real deal, no substitutes,” Six-Path Flower said.

“The Divine Tree has been cultivating at the World’s Root. Why don’t Senior Six-Path Flower and the time messenger accompany me to the Flower God’s secret realm to wait? I will go and request the Divine Tree to emerge from seclusion.”

“That works. Thank you, Flower God.” Lu Ran smiled again, feeling pleased.

The identity of being the messenger of Time was incredibly useful. The title of time traveler could explain all unreasonable phenomena within the ascension realm, serving as the ultimate trump card. In comparison, the identity of the Divine Deer’s messenger seemed completely useless.

As the Flower God prepared to lead Lu Ran and Peanut to its secret realm, it muttered to itself, “Incredible! To think someone could actually travel through time! But why did you establish a master-disciple relationship? Peanut, you should’ve tried to breed with him. That would’ve definitely produced an even more powerful plantmaster!”

Peanut, Lu Ran, and Six-Path Flower were stunned beyond words.

“Lord Flower God, get a grip. If you keep this up, I’ll defect to the Chaos Dragon God,” Peanut said furiously.

Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower were also stunned.

This Flower God is just as shameless as Manager Ying.

Six-Path Flower speculated, communicating privately with Lu Ran.

—Perhaps the pressure is too much. The war between plant gods and beast gods has largely been shouldered by the Flower God. Compared to the ancient beast faction, the plant faction lacks fresh blood. Rumor has it that the Silk Tree Albizia was also enlightened by it.

The Flower God said, “I was just making a suggestion. You humans are too uptight. Reproduction is a perfectly normal act. Senior Six-Path Flower, you must also see Peanut’s uniqueness. Among human females, there’s likely none more outstanding than her. If this Time messenger by your side were to become her partner, they would undoubtedly produce the strongest plantmaster.”

Although Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower had formed a contract together, the Flower God instinctively assumed Six-Path Flower was the dominant one and thus directed its suggestion to her. It believed that Six-Path Flower would understand its good intentions. This was all for the sake of strengthening the plant faction.

“Enough. She’s my disciple now,” Lu Ran said to the Flower God, rejecting the idea with practiced ease.

He hadn’t expected the Flower God to be so unreasonable.

“I’d like to meet the Divine Tree as soon as possible,” Six-Path Flower added, its face darkening.

Is the real Flower God still alive? It’s probably just trapped in slumber after that great battle. It must never meet the real Manager Ying. That would be a disaster. This flower and that cat were cut from the same cloth. They’re both obsessed with breeding.

“Fine.” The Flower God decided to drop the matter for now.

Awakening the Divine Tree was indeed more important.

Soon, under the Flower God’s guidance, Lu Ran and the others traversed space and arrived at the Flower God’s secret realm. After settling them in, the Flower God prepared to head to the World’s Root to summon the Divine Tree.

Not long after the Flower God left the secret realm, an incredibly subtle spatial fluctuation rippled through the area. A birdman, wielding a short sword, stealthily hid behind a tree.

“Where is this? The natural energy here is so dense.”

Arriving in this floral world, Condor Hero sensed the rich natural energy around him, momentarily surprised. But he quickly refocused, intent on assassinating the first participant’s disciple.

“Current distance is 10,000 meters. Scouting first...” Condor Hero summoned a miniature flying sword the size of a fruit knife.

With a light toss, the sword flew forward like a drone, sneaking closer.

Meanwhile, as the Flower God departed, Peanut was about to ask Lu Ran how he planned to teach her when her expression suddenly shifted.

“Huh?” Lu Ran was taken aback.

Peanut looked in a certain direction and murmured, “Someone has infiltrated the Flower God’s secret realm and is directing killing intent toward me. So many pests today.”

Before Lu Ran could react, Peanut vanished, seemingly tracking the source of the hostility. As she moved, she reached out and grabbed the flying sword mid-air. The sword squirmed like a loach but was completely powerless in her grip. This interception caused Condor Hero, who was hiding in the grass, to pale.

“I’ve been discovered! What’s going on?”

The thought had barely formed when an immense pressure crashed down on him, forcing blood from his mouth and leaving him sprawled on the ground. In shock, he looked up at the goddess-like figure floating above him. A string of information appeared before his eyes.

[Introduction: Mythical plantmaster, messenger of the Flower God, and disciple of a certain participant. Eligible as an assassination target!]

“What the hell?” Condor Hero lay paralyzed, his lips and eyelids twitching violently.

He wondered if Limitless City had glitched.

“Fuck you, Limitless City! If you don’t want me to revive, just say so! No need to go through all this trouble, conjuring up a Mythical historical projection to kill me! Fuck this! How is this mission fair? What kind of level 6 participant takes a level 9 plantmaster as their disciple? Is this that figure from the later stages of Stellar Moon’s history? You’ve got to be kidding me! Why would an endgame character appear mid-game?”

Condor Hero cursed endlessly, though Limitless City filtered out the worst of his profanity. Regardless, his mentality was now completely shattered. He was convinced the so-called resurrection trial was nothing but a cruel joke.

“Who are you, and why are you here?” Peanut was equally puzzled.

The man before her was only a level 6 beastmaster who was pitifully weak. How did he enter the Flower God’s secret realm? It made no sense. Moreover, his intentions were clear. He had come to assassinate her.

Is he insane? What is he thinking?

Before Condor Hero could speak, Lu Ran, who had followed Peanut, gasped upon seeing him. “Holy shit!”

Staring at the familiar face, Lu Ran froze. During the early days of the spiritual energy revival, while training at the Rainbow Dojo, he had often seen photos of this man in Master Jiang Dou’s room. This was none other than Condor Hero, Senior Jiang Man!

However, Jiang Man was equally confused upon seeing Lu Ran. He didn’t recognize him because the last time he’d seen Lu Ran, the latter had been a child.

All Jiang Man could sense was that the young man who had arrived later was of the same level as him, likely the participant who was the master of this Mythical plantmaster. It was all too absurd.

“I just want to die with clarity,” Condor Hero said bluntly.

At this moment, Lu Ran gradually pieced together what was happening. The trial mission for the Return of the Dead was probably to assassinate the participants’ disciples.

“Disciple, leave this person to me.” Lu Ran sighed.

In a flash, he appeared behind Condor Hero and knocked him out with a chop to the neck, then tossed him into the ruin space.

“What are you doing?” Peanut frowned as Lu Ran made the assassin disappear.

“I’ll give you a proper explanation later. The waters here run too deep. Knowing now won’t do you any good. I need time to sort things out.”

Lu Ran brushed it off casually, then summoned #18. “From now on, it will be your instructor.”

“Ugh.” #18 materialized, looking aggrieved.

First, babysitting. Now, lecturing a Mythical plantmaster... Life is hard.

“Fine.” Peanut relented.

A level 6 assassin wasn’t worth fussing over. She’d give Lu Ran time.

“But... that?” Peanut eyed #18 skeptically.

Level 70, quasi-Legendary?

Not bad, but what could it possibly teach me?

“Don’t underestimate #18. As my contracted familiar and a witness to history, it has seen you at your peak and recorded your combat experience and growth trajectory. In other words, under its guidance, you can achieve in one month what would normally take you years to perfect.”

Peanut’s eyes widened slightly.

Is it really that miraculous?

Condor Hero felt something heavy on his face. When he opened his eyes, he found a dim-witted-looking husky stomping on him with its paws.

“Ugh... Wait, what the hell?”

Condor Hero shuddered. His Intermediate Eye of Detection couldn’t decipher any information about this creature, which shocked him. By all logic, he should be able to see through the details of any being below the Legendary rank.

Scrambling to his feet, he tried to flee, but spatial ripples shimmered as Lu Ran entered the ruin space. With a broad smile on Lu Ran’s face, he approached Condor Hero. He never expected to encounter his deceased senior, Jiang Man, during this ascension realm. If Master Jiang Dou learned that Jiang Man was still alive, he’d be overjoyed.

In contrast to Lu Ran’s excitement, Jiang Man recoiled in panic. “You... You’re the participant, right? Bro, are you freaking cheating?”

Lu Ran teased, “Yup, want to buy hacks? By the way, what’s your resurrection mission? It’s not to kill every participant’s disciple, is it?”

That was Lu Ran’s biggest concern.

“No. There are six participants. I just need to kill three to revive. Bro, please. Just treat me like air and let me go. I have elders to care for and children to raise. My family’s counting on me.” Condor Hero pleaded.

“Senior Jiang, no need for this. Get up. I don’t deserve such respect. Three? That makes things much easier!” Lu Ran sighed in relief, then smiled.

Condor Hero froze, scrutinizing Lu Ran carefully.

“Senior Jiang Man, don’t you recognize me?” Lu Ran gestured to his waist. “When I was about this tall, I trained at Rainbow Dojo. I’m Lu Ran. Master Jiang Dou even said my talent far surpassed yours.”

Jiang Man’s jaw dropped.

“What a coincidence. Who’d have thought that right after Limitless City updated the Return of the Dead version, I’d match with you? Master will be thrilled to know you’re alive.

“From the looks of it, you can track the coordinates of each participant, right? Perfect. Give me their locations, and I’ll help you capture their disciples for you to kill. That’ll complete your mission. As for the disciple I’ve taken, don’t even think about it. I can’t even beat her myself.”

Condor Hero stood dumbfounded.

Wait, my brain is short-circuiting.

“I get it now. HAHAHA, I must’ve died again... This is fantasy time!”