349 Friend and Foe

After chatting for a while, Lin Ran was about to check how the interrogation was going when he suddenly heard light footsteps. He turned around and saw Xue Gie walking out of the forest.

“It’s over so quickly?”

Lin Ran raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Did you get anything out of him?”

Xue Gie nodded, but there was a strange look in her eyes. “You should listen to it yourself.”

Lin Ran agreed and was about to set off when Xue Gie reached out to stop Ye Jin. “That person is a little afraid of me now. Go by yourself. We’ll wait for you here.”

“Afraid?”

Lin Ran looked puzzled. He didn’t hear anything just now. Xue Gie probably didn’t torture the young man. Why should he be afraid of her?

However, seeing that Xue Gie was holding Ye Jin’s hand as if she wanted some time alone with her daughter, Lin Ran didn’t think too much of it. He nodded and turned to walk into the forest.

Before Lin Ran arrived at the empty space, he saw the young man lying on the ground with a deep cut on his neck.

Lin Ran’s expression changed and he quickly went forward. He realized that the young man was no longer breathing. There was a piece of freshly cut bark on his chest. On it were a few small words written in blood. “You’re right. I’m going to reunite with my family.”

“Damn it!”

Lin Ran cursed and threw the piece of bark to the ground. Before the bark fell to the ground, he had already flashed out of the forest.

It was not until this moment that Lin Ran realized what Xue Gie’s strange gaze meant. Unfortunately, he was a step too late. Outside the forest, Xue Gie and Ye Jin were long gone.

“Damn it!” “Damn it!” “Damn it!”

Lin Ran stomped his feet in exasperation.

Lin Ran was frustrated. Although Xue Gie might not kill her own daughter, after seeing the young man die, how could Lin Ran dare to take the risk?

“Family reunion!”

In his anger, Lin Ran suddenly thought of the message on the tree bark. Xue Gie didn’t know that he had sent Ye Shixiao away. If she really wanted to reunite with her family, she would definitely go to the Iron City to look for Ye Shixiao!

Thinking of this, Lin Ran’s eyes narrowed. The Yin-Yang Sword instantly appeared in his hand. Then, he rode his sword and soared into the sky, turning into a stream of light that headed straight for the Iron City!

With Lin Ran’s full speed, the journey of more than ten miles was completed in an instant.

Lin Ran flew into the city on his sword. Then, he cut open the roof of the Ye family’s house and landed in the living room on the first floor.

The charcoal fire in the furnace had long been extinguished. There was a faint smell of coal smoke in the air.

Lin Ran was about to release his divine sense to search the surroundings when his heart skipped a beat. His expression immediately turned strange. “Liu Hongshan?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure descended from the sky and fell through the hole that Lin Ran had just created. It smashed into the metal ground with a loud bang, causing the entire house to tremble!

Almost at the same time, a strong smell of blood filled the air.

Lin Ran took a closer look and his expression changed drastically. The person who fell from the sky was indeed Liu Hongshan, but the wounds all over his body made him almost unrecognizable.

Liu Hongshan’s clothes were all torn. His muscular upper body was almost covered in cuts. Even the shallowest one was more than half an inch deep.

His entire left arm was cut off. Through the badly mangled wound, one could even see his beating heart!

Lin Ran was stunned on the spot by such a tragic injury, not because he was afraid, but because he couldn’t understand what was going on.

Firstly, Liu Hongshan should be in the Heavenly Saint Dynasty at this moment. Why did he suddenly appear here?

Secondly, even if Lin Ran’s cultivation was comparable to Liu Hongshan’s, he might not be able to severely injure him in a head-on confrontation. Who could’ve injured him like this?

Liu Hongshan, who was lying on the ground, suddenly coughed violently. Blood splattered out with every cough. It was obvious that his time was up.

Lin Ran suddenly came back to his senses and hurriedly went forward to transfer internal energy to Liu Hongshan. “What happened? Who beat you up like this?”

“Lin… Ran…”

Liu Hongshan recognized Lin Ran and forced a smile. “I lied to you previously… I had no choice. Please forgive me…”

Lin Ran was so anxious that his eyes turned red. “Tell me who hurt you! Aren’t you supposed to be in the Heavenly Saint Realm? Did something happen to the Heavenly Saint Dynasty?”

“Xuan Wushang… is a lunatic… We… were all deceived by him…”

Liu Hongshan panted heavily and replied stutteringly. His eyes were still burning with anger. “Hurry up and return to the Heavenly Saint… I’m already… Ahem! I can’t make it through. I’ll leave the Heavenly Saint to you!”

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Hongshan started coughing violently again. His entire body was bent like a cooked prawn, and he looked like he was about to cough his lungs out!

“Hey! Hold on! At least make yourself clear before you die!”

Lin Ran shouted and was about to increase the flow of internal energy transfer when Liu Hongshan stopped coughing. His body became weak as if his bones had been removed, and the light in his eyes quickly extinguished.

“Hey! Wake up! Stop pretending!”

Lin Ran patted Liu Hongshan’s face. As expected, there was no reaction.

However, Lin Ran still refused to give up. He raised his hand and pressed it against Liu Hongshan’s chest, which was covered in wounds. He released his divine sense to heal Liu Hongshan, but the result was the same every time. This was a lifeless corpse.

“Is he… really dead?”

As soon as this thought appeared, Lin Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

Although he had wanted to kill Liu Hongshan for a long time, when Liu Hongshan really died in front of him in this way, he suddenly felt that it was unreal.

However, what Lin Ran cared about the most was what Liu Hongshan said before he died—

“Xuan Wushang… is a lunatic… We… were all deceived by him…”

“Hurry up and return to the Heavenly Saint. I can’t take it anymore. I’ll leave the Heavenly Saint to you.”

These words sounded quite confusing at first because Liu Hongshan was from the Great Yong Dynasty! Before he died, he came all the way here to deliver a letter to Lin Ran. Was their relationship so good?

Just as Lin Ran was in a daze, a low horn sound suddenly made him come back to his senses. Then, he heard a sharp voice echoing in the Iron City. “The war has begun! Citizens of the Iron City, get ready!”