(This chapter is normal. There will be an occasional protective chapter next chapter, please forgive us. It's best to refresh and watch it tomorrow at noon. Thank you for your understanding, dear audience!)

"Has the fire burnt out yet?"

In a sunken mountain hollow, a slightly cracked slab of stone, scorched by heat, is pried open, revealing two rather young-looking teenagers, a boy and a girl.

The terror and helplessness on their faces still hasn't faded, yet despite this, their expressions remain resilient, keeping calm and carefully observing the surrounding environment.

Only after confirming no threats, do they pull the girl out of the pit.

"Ah-Lan, it's not burning anymore."

The boy shows a look of lingering fear from their narrow escape, and finally says bitterly, "I don't know what happened to our clan inside, we..."

He doesn't continue speaking, but understands that no matter what, the fact remains as it is.

The girl named Ah-Lan seems a bit dazed. The fire came too suddenly, almost incinerating everything in its path. If they hadn't hid in time in a concealed spot in the hollow, the outcome might have been terrifying.

Ah-Lan climbs to the mountain top, looking utterly stunned.

Seeing this, the boy calls Ah-Lan's name twice, but seeing that there's no response, he quickly climbs up the mountain himself and is taken aback by the sight.

"Mani Temple is gone? Mani Temple is gone?!"

Looking at the collapsed mountain in the far distance, which used to be the site of Mani Temple, though it once emitted a sacred golden glow with majestic power, what they saw under the facade of harmony was all sin.

Now the Buddha statue has collapsed, the mountain shattered, the entire Mani Temple utterly vanished, even the foot sheep farm buildings that once stood there as a visible presence are burnt to ashes, gone without a trace.

And it's understood that those trapped in the foot sheep farm from their clan likely all perished in this fire.

The boy's emotions are a mixture of sorrow and joy, with complicated feelings spreading in his heart.

After a long while, tears streaming down his face, he cries out sorrowfully.

"It's good that it's burnt, it's good that it's burnt."

"You also think I did the right thing?"

A calm voice comes from not far from the two, startling the boy and girl. Already on edge from the slightest disturbance, they have no idea how a living person suddenly ended up beside them.

The boy quickly composes himself, pulls out a dagger from his waist, and stands protectively in front of Ah-Lan, full of vigilance towards Lu Ren.

Lu Ren glances at him nonchalantly, but doesn't mind, still quietly gazing at the ruins where Mani Temple once stood.

All that's left there now is a charred black ruin.

The boy bites his teeth, "You set this fire?!"

Lu Ren nods slightly, "This land harbored too much sin. To clear it all would have been too time-consuming, so instead, I set fire to it to settle the matter."

Hearing Lu Ren admit it without hesitation, although he understands that the person who set the fire must possess unimaginable power, the boy is still enraged by the other's nonchalant attitude.

"Don't you know there were many innocent people inside."

"I know."

Seeing Lu Ren not denying it at all, the boy is momentarily speechless, pointing at Lu Ren but unable to speak.

"Didn't both of you survive? I actually left a way out, refraining from letting the fire create thick smoke that would penetrate the ground."

Lu Ren's expression remains calm, "Maybe your current task is to search for the clansmen who got separated and leave this plain to go deeper for survival."

The boy grips his dagger tightly, relinquishing it helplessly in the end, "We're just ordinary humans, how can we have any vitality left? When the monks of Mani Temple return and see this, our days are numbered."

"You have quite a temperament," Lu Ren can't help but praise, noting how, in such surroundings and overwhelming emotions, he still attempts to evoke guilt to bind Lu Ren.

Unfortunately, Lu Ren wasn't a saint, or rather, he felt he had done enough for these people.

"Even without my fire, did you think those captured by the monks of Mani Temple would have a good end? They'd either be used to forge magical treasures or become food."

Lu Ren says calmly, "I was liberating them from the sea of suffering."

Faced with Lu Ren's words, the boy is rendered speechless because the fact of the matter is, against the Mani Temple with extraordinary attributes, they were like lambs to the slaughter, mercy might not even have been considered. The monks only spared them for their own amusement during boring times.

He turns his gaze to the two young teens.

"You're free now."

Saying this, Lu Ren leaves without hesitation.

Watching Lu Ren getting further away, the boy becomes anxious. Having always had a good sense of foreboding, he fears if Lu Ren leaves and he does nothing it's a regret that will haunt him for life.

He drops to his knees with a plop towards Lu Ren, shouting, "Ah-Nu, shamelessly, begs the Immortal for a path to life!"

Lu Ren carries on, oblivious, walking into the distance.

Beside him, Ah-Lan also drops to her knees with a plop, despair in her voice.

"With only the two of us left, how can we survive in this barren land? We dare not hope for the Immortal to save us, only to guide us!"

Lu Ren sighs inwardly, ultimately stopping in his tracks, turning back to look at the two youths, not yet sixteen.

He speaks calmly, "Tell me a reason why I should guide you."

Ah-Lan's expression is sorrowful, but in her eyes shines a resilient will to survive amidst the despair.

"I once asked my elders why we still want to live despite our miserable fate, when dying would mean not facing this anymore and those monsters of Mani Temple couldn't do anything anymore."

At this moment, her eyes are brilliantly bright.

"My elders replied to me, even ants cling to life, let alone humans. Even if our growth is accelerated, and our lifespan shortened, we still want to live!"

Lu Ren's face remains impassive, yet he feels inwardly enlightened. After a while, he points to a mountain two hundred miles away, towering ten thousand meters high.

He stretches out a hand, flicks a finger, and a golden light transforms into a thread, swiftly shoots up to the summit of the mountain.

Meeting the gaze of Ah-Lan and Ah-Nu, his expression is indifferent, "I placed something there that can change your life. If you two can reach it, the opportunity is yours."

Ah-Lan and Ah-Nu exchange a glance, just as they turn back to plead again, they discover Lu Ren has vanished without a trace.

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