The master said not to judge people by their appearance

Just like what Xie Yunlan saw outside, Shen Fan's dream was an endless darkness, oppressive and gloomy. After walking a few steps, Xie Yunlan had that feeling of trembling in his soul again, just like It was he who walked alone in the eternity of darkness last time.

Meng Zejun snapped his fingers, and Xie Yunlan felt a gentle force covering his side, which isolated him from the erosion of the dark force.

After recovering, Xie Yunlan asked, "Is this Netherworld?"

Meng Zejun looked around and said "Yes".

"Shen Fan's dream is like this..." Xie Yunlan murmured, the eternity of darkness was even more depressing than the ever-recurring nightmare of slaughtering the city.

"Not all." Meng Zejun corrected him, "There are multiple layers of dreams. You usually dream of the first layer of dreams, which is the shallow dream. I will bring you the deep dream, which is related to memory. One weight."

"Here, we can see the more important fragments of his memory." Meng Zejun said, "Zhuyin is the god of death and life, and he stayed in the netherworld for a long time. His memory is the scene of the netherworld, which is normal. .”

Xie Yunlan listened, and suddenly asked: "Have you read my memory?"

He and Shen Fan knew about Meng Zejun's search for the inner demons so well, even some things he didn't remember, the other party knew, either the other party had the ability to know everything in the world, or he had peeped into his dreams.

"This..." Mengze Jun's eyes wandered for a while, and he said, "This is not important!"

"How much have you watched?" Xie Yunlan pressed.

"...Yeah, not much, I just looked at things related to Zhuyin." Meng Zejun suddenly remembered something, and assured him, "Don't worry, I won't say anything about you liking him!"

Xie Yunlan: "..."

There is an urge to silence, but [-]% of them can't do it.

"However," Meng Zejun said again, "I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult for you to be with him."

Xie Yunlan was taken aback, and asked, "Why? Is it because I am a mortal?"

It's not just the difference in lifespan. He thought of some folk legends and stories. When fairies fall in love with mortals, there is always no happy ending, because it violates the rules of heaven, and gods cannot be emotional.

"No, no, no," Meng Zejun quickly denied, "There is no such rule of heaven. Gods can be emotional, with other gods, with people, it doesn't matter. Lifespan is actually not a big problem. There are many ways to prolong life, and among mortals there are practitioners who can easily live for thousands of years."

"The only problem is that Zhuyin is not a god who is friendly to human beings." Meng Zejun gave an example, "Look at me, do you think it is different from the god you imagined?"

More than just different.Xie Yunlan nodded. In fact, Shen Fan's majestic and indifferent appearance in the dream was more in line with ordinary people's imagination of gods, but Meng Zejun...he didn't even have a sense of majesty like some high-ranking officials. He is casual, and his personality is also a bit out of character and loves to play. The snowman is the proof.

Probably seeing what Xie Yunlan was thinking, Mr. Mengze smiled: "I often walk in the three thousand dream realms, and the three thousand dream realms correspond to the three thousand major and small worlds. It can be said that I have been to many human worlds, and I have lived as a human in it, so I am a kind of god who is more friendly to humans. But not all gods are like me. Some gods are more cruel and irritable by nature. When they get angry, they don’t care about the life and death of mortals. of."

While talking, they walked into the depths of the Nether, where the ghostly shadow of the Candle Dragon with a torch in its mouth hung in the sky, which was the only light in the eternal darkness of the Nether.The candlelight illuminates a long, slowly flowing river. The Wangchuan River is long and endless, and the surface of the water is crowded with bustling tiny spots of light, which are the souls of mortals.

Meng Zejun looked at those souls that flowed up the river, and said: "For us, mortals are too small and too fragile, and we don't even need to do it intentionally. There is a Kunpeng in Beiming, and he can turn over on the sea. Caused a tsunami that would have been catastrophic to mortals."

"As for Zhuyin..." Meng Zejun suddenly asked, "Do you know why Zhulong has two soul fires?"

Xie Yunlan shook his head, Shen Fan only said that it was a gift from God, he was born with it, but he didn't say why. "All living beings have soul fires, which represent their own life and death numbers, and the same is true for gods. One soul fire in Zhuyin represents his own life and death numbers just like you and me, and the other is the most intense fire in the world. Fire." Meng Zejun said, "When a person is alive, he is protected by the soul fire. After the soul fire is extinguished, he is easily invaded by monsters, especially in the netherworld where there are so many dead, resentful, and even monsters. Heaven bestows candles The dragon's second soul fire is for him to use the most intense soul fire in the world to guard the road of reincarnation, lest the souls of mortals become food for demons in reincarnation."

"Zhuyin is not cruel, but he is not friendly to humans." Meng Zejun looked at Xie Yunlan and said, "He is the god of death and darkness, and the cycle of life and death of mortals is common to him, just like yours. After witnessing the withered glory of vegetation, after witnessing it thousands of times, will you still have feelings for vegetation?"

Xie Yunlan was silent, he thought of the unbroken candle shade in the dream, the other party was indifferent and alienated.

Meng Zejun said to himself: "Even if I often wander in the dreams of mortals, I have never developed feelings for mortals."

"However," he changed the subject and comforted, "It's not like you have no chance at all! After all, Zhuyin is no longer a god now!"

But Xie Yunlan was not happy, he frowned and asked, "Why?"

What kind of mistake did Shen Fan make to be cut off from the dragon's horn and be demoted from the divine book?

"I don't know either." Meng Zejun said, "In the heavens, there is only news of his being demoted. Only God knows why he was demoted."

"However, we should know the answer tonight."

They walked into the depths of the darkness, just like Xie Yunlan's dream last time, Shen Fan was dressed in white, sitting alone in the eternal darkness, only the candle in front of him was with him.

The candlelight reflected his perfect facial features, and he remained motionless, like a silent god.

Meng Zejun snapped his fingers to speed up the flow of time in this dream. Zhulong has lived for thousands of years. He is the first batch of gods born from the beginning of the world, even though this dream does not reflect complete memories. , but it is still huge, and at the same time, it is also very monotonous.

Meng Zejun snapped his fingers a few more times, and the speed of time was accelerated again and again. The slowly flowing water on the Wangchuan River in the distance turned into the rushing Nujiang River. Those souls walking slowly seemed to be in some kind of life-and-death race. Speeding up the flow of time hundreds of times and thousands of times, but Shen Fan still remained motionless.

After the flow of time could no longer be accelerated, Xie Yunlan and Meng Zejun waited in the dark for a long, long time, until it made people feel bored and could hardly bear the boring and endless darkness of Nether, but Shen Fan was still sitting there.

Xie Yunlan couldn't help but asked, "Is he always like this?"

A person, in such a lonely and vast darkness, guarding a tiny candle alone?

Meng Zejun said: "This is the case throughout the ages."

Under the shadow of the huge candle dragon in the sky, there are the bustling beings under his protection. He illuminates this place with candlelight, which will remain unchanged forever.

Time passed for a long time, and finally, after tens of millions of years of waiting, a vision appeared in this monotonous darkness.

Xie Yunlan and Mengzejun didn't even notice it, but they saw Shen Fan suddenly opened his eyes, and Mengzejun quickly restored the flow of time to normal, and they saw Shen Fan walking towards the Wangchuan River, and they followed to see, only to find Wangchuan A monster appeared on the river, with a strange shape, very similar to those monster fetuses in Beijing.

The river water is illuminated by the candlelight, and it stands to reason that monsters cannot set foot on this road of reincarnation.

But this monster probably found some kind of gap, it stepped into the river, but it was only at the very edge, before it could hurt anyone, Shen Fan found it and wiped it out in time.

The monster was turned into ashes in the soul fire, no innocent soul was injured, and the river of Wangchuan was still flowing. This should have been a minor episode, not even a mistake.

But Shen Fan left Nether, he came to heaven, the highest cloud.

After the long trial, the great and forbidding voice said:

"Zhuyin, you are not worthy to be a god."

Then, it was the scene that the people of Cangzhou saw ten years ago, the thunder rumbled non-stop, the thunder was so fierce that it was dazzling, and all the thunderbolts struck Zhulong's dragon body.

He let out bursts of dragon moans in the wind and rain, as if crying for pain, but his voice was completely covered by the rumbling thunder.

The thunder flashed all night, and with the last loud noise, Zhulong's left horn was cut off by the thunder, and he fell from the sky.

After smashing a [-]-foot-long hole in the ground, it seemed to be too painful. The broken horn kept spilling blood, and the scales were also covered with scorched marks. He didn't get up for a long time.

"Why?!" Xie Yunlan couldn't help asking.

He felt absurd and angry at the judgment of the sky. Shen Fan had been guarding the netherworld for thousands of years, and he would be punished like this just for a mistake that was not considered a mistake? !

"You haven't found out what happened in Yazhou City for so long, and God hasn't punished you, why are you so harsh on Shen Fan?!" Xie Yunlan was so angry that he couldn't choose what to say.

Meng Zejun: "..."

"I was busy with other things before, the Dreamland is huge, and I can't take care of all places at the same time..." He weakly argued.

But... Xie Yunlan is right, this is indeed too harsh, after thousands of years of protection, who can guarantee that there will be no mistakes?Shen Fan didn't even cause any serious consequences, he soon discovered the monster that broke into the Wangchuan River, why did Heaven make such a judgment?

Meng Zejun thought about it, and suddenly said: "Actually, there is another rumor about Zhuyin in the heavens."

"What is it?" Xie Yunlan asked immediately.

"Do you know how many dragon gods there are in the heaven?" Mengze Jun said.

Xie Yunlan recalled what Shen Fan had said to him. Shen Fan changed his words twice when mentioning the number of dragon gods. He said, "Three?"

"There are three now, and there were three before." Mengze Jun said, "But during the period from 100 years ago to ten years ago, there were four."

Xie Yunlan was taken aback: "Four?"

Meng Zejun nodded: "When the world first opened, the world was disorderly. Wind, fire, thunder and lightning raged between the sky and the earth. The sun, moon, and stars rotated irregularly. They might still be in the sky one moment, and fall to the ground the next moment, causing huge damage. The disaster, the souls that died in the disaster are drifting in the world, not knowing where to go, and there is no order of reincarnation at this time."

"The gods were born to regulate this world, and also to protect it. Like me, I guard the dreams, and the candle dragon guards the order of reincarnation. There are many other gods. They also have their own things to protect, but the world needs to protect Things are counted, so the number of gods is also counted. After the chaotic time when the world first opened, no new gods were born, until there was an exception a hundred years ago."

"That's a jiao." Mengze Jun said, "You all say jiaolong, but in fact jiao has nothing to do with dragons. Jiaos are just ordinary monsters. There are thousands of them, but dragons are heaven and earth." Righteous God, each of them has the power to change the world, and there are only three in number, the Candle Dragon of the Netherworld, the Genlong of Kunlun, and the Canglong of the East Sea."

"Jiao can't become a dragon, just like a person can't become a god. This is a well-known rule." Meng Zejun said, "But that jiao broke the rules. He cultivated into a heaven-penetrating power with his ordinary monster body. Ying Long."

"This is the first time in the creation of the world. Since the chaos, the Heavenly Dao has never granted a new god, but he was recognized by the Heavenly Dao, and he was named the God of War, Yinglong. So far, there have been four dragon gods in the heavenly world."

"Then ten years ago, less than a hundred years ago, it was a long time for you, but it was just a blink of an eye for us. Another unprecedented event happened in the heaven, that is, the candle dragon was demoted, so the dragon The gods have become three again." Meng Zejun said the rumors he heard, "Although everyone doesn't know why Zhulong was demoted, many gods guessed that it might be related to Yinglong's conferment. The incident happened too recently, why did the three dragon gods suddenly add one more? All the gods have their own responsibilities, what responsibilities should Ying Long have?"

"Perhaps, the heavens don't need four dragon gods." Mr. Mengze repeated what others said.

Xie Yunlan understood that the heavens do not need four dragon gods, so Zhulong was demoted.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in the mortal world. There are many official positions in the imperial court. When the emperor does not want to use a certain person, he will naturally find a reason to demote him and promote a new one.

It's not that the demoted officials are at fault, but that the emperor has someone he likes and wants to use more.

But will God do the same?

Jun Mengze didn't know either, these were just speculations and rumors.

While they were talking, Zhulong seemed to have finally recovered from the pain of the broken horn. He crawled out of the hole and turned back into a human form. His white robe was covered with mud and there were many bloodstains on his body, which Xie Yunlan had never seen before. The most embarrassing look I've ever seen.

He stood there, as if he was at a loss, not knowing where he should go.

After the divine book was demoted, he naturally no longer had the duty to guard the Nether, but he had stayed in the darkness of the Nether for thousands of years, and he almost never left that place.

After being confused for a long time, he went back.

Returning to the eternity of darkness, he continued to burn the candle. With his eyes slightly lowered, he watched the candle flicker in front of him, and it became weaker and weaker as his divine power dissipated.

Meng Zejun sped up the time again, and at the time flow rate dozens of times faster, the decline of the soul fire became more obvious. This fire, which was once bestowed by heaven and can break through the eternal darkness, gradually became It was as weak as when Xie Yunlan saw it, and he didn't know when it would go out.

The heart demon escaped from the nether world a year ago, and they are very close to this time period. Meng Zejun restored the time to normal, and then looked at Shen Fan intently.

At a certain moment, the frail candle flickered as usual, but what was different was that under the flame, a small shadow suddenly appeared that could not be illuminated by the flame.

Meng Zejun's expression changed: "That's..."

He couldn't continue, as if he accidentally let out his breath, when he said this, Shen Fan suddenly raised his eyes, and at the same time, a huge and terrifying force attacked Meng Zejun.

Xie Yunlan didn't even have time to react, he just felt a gust of wind passing by his ears, and Mr. Mengze disappeared. He didn't know whether he was dead or alive.

Before he was startled, he saw Shen Fan walking towards him slowly.

The speed was not fast, but perhaps because he was found breaking into Shen Fan's dream, every step he took made Xie Yunlan feel oppressed by turning around and wanting to escape.

Shen Fan walked up to Xie Yunlan and said, "What did you see?"

His tone was very light, but against the cold darkness of the dream, there was a hint of danger and gloom for no reason.

"I saw you staying by the candlelight all the time, nothing else..." Xie Yunlan lied subconsciously.

"Really?" Shen Fan looked at him.

"Yes." Xie Yunlan insisted.

Shen Fan didn't speak any more, he didn't know whether to believe it or not.He looked at Xie Yunlan silently, the weak soul fire was flickering not far away, and the flame was flickering on and off, making his expression a little dark and unclear.

Xie Yunlan tried hard to keep his expression natural and calm, but his body was still tense uncontrollably. The Shen Fan in the dream was completely different from the usual Shen Fan, even different from the Shen Fan who had not broken his horns. This man gave him an unprecedented sense of crisis.

For a moment, he felt that Shen Fan wanted to kill him.

The perception of time in the dream was very chaotic, and after an unknown amount of time, Shen Fan lowered his eyes, and all the coldness and danger disintegrated, as if he was surviving a near death, Xie Yunlan subconsciously let out a long sigh of relief.

Just when he thought the matter was over, Shen Fan suddenly spoke.

"It's not an example."

He stretched out his finger and tapped Xie Yunlan's forehead lightly. It didn't hurt much, but it still revealed a sense of punishment.

Xie Yunlan wanted to say something more, but his consciousness suddenly sank, the illusion was pulled away, and he woke up from the dream.The officials themselves are at fault, but it's just that the emperor has someone he likes and wants to use more.