Obviously, the powerful Khan Chi Yan did not appreciate Lan Ling’s cold humour. He simply stared at him coldly.
“What about that traitor, Xie Li?”
Lan Ling said, “Xie Li is not a traitor. You are the traitor to the Centaurs, Chi Yan!”
Lan Ling’s gaze was truly infuriating. He looked at Chi Yan with the eyes of a god, filled with reproach and compassion. It was as though he were looking at an ignorant child, which made Khan Chi Yan extremely displeased.
“Stop looking at me with that disgusting expression, or I will blind you,” Khan Chi Yan roared.
Then he suddenly reached out, grabbed Lan Ling by the neck, and lifted him high into the air.
“Aren’t you a god? How can there be such a weak god in this world?” Khan Chi Yan mocked. The surrounding warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe immediately burst into laughter.
Lan Ling said, “In your heart, does being a god mean having overwhelming physical strength?”
“Of course. If a god is not powerful, how can he deserve to be called a god?” Khan Chi Yan laughed.
Lan Ling shook his head. “A god is defined by compassion and protection, not by strength.”
“Slap!”
Khan Chi Yan struck Lan Ling hard, sending him flying.
Lan Ling’s injuries quickly healed, and the blood on the ground instantly turned into mist before returning to his body.
This scene immediately shocked all the surrounding Centaurs.
Khan Chi Yan was slightly surprised, then sneered. “You are nothing more than a descendant of demons. There is nothing special about that. Yet you used this trick to pretend to be a god and deceive the Xie Li Tribe. You deserve to be punished!”
Khan Chi Yan’s expression became vicious.
“Since Xie Li refuses to come, do not blame me for being ruthless. The Xie Li Tribe is foolish enough to be deceived by a lowly near-human and regard you as a god. This is an insult to the entire Centaur race. I hereby formally sentence the entire Xie Li Tribe to death! I will first kill all the old and weak members of the Xie Li Tribe, then lead twenty thousand Centaur soldiers north and kill all six thousand of Xie Li’s warriors. I will also wipe out your worthless Flame Demon Tribe and leave it in ruins.”
With that, Khan Chi Yan was about to order the slaughter of all the surviving members of the Xie Li Tribe.
“Prepare yourselves. Destroy the Xie Li Tribe completely!”
“Wait!” Lan Ling shouted.
“Hahahaha…” Khan Chi Yan stepped forward and placed his huge hoof against Lan Ling’s chest. “Lowly near-human, aren’t you their god? If you are a god, then save them! Show us your divine power and save your people!”
At these words, every survivor of the Xie Li Tribe looked towards Lan Ling.
Once again, they were not simply afraid of death. They were afraid that their faith was wrong.
Khan Chi Yan raised his hand high. With a single command, every survivor of the Xie Li Tribe, regardless of age or gender, would be killed.
“Lowly Lan Ling, if you are a god, then save your people. Show us your divine power now!” Khan Chi Yan laughed. “If you cannot do it, then that proves you are nothing more than a shameless fraud!”
“Fraud! Fraud! Fraud!”
All the Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe shouted loudly, mocking Lan Ling.
“Hahahaha…” Khan Chi Yan laughed wildly, waving his whip as he roared, “That fool Xie Li was actually deceived by you. Show your divine power and save your people!”
Lan Ling stood up and looked at the fierce and powerful Khan Chi Yan.
“Say that you are a fraud!” Khan Chi Yan grabbed Lan Ling by the neck again and shouted fiercely. “Tell everyone that you are a fraud, and I will spare your life. Otherwise, you will pay the price!”
Lan Ling’s eyes were still filled with divine compassion as he looked at every Centaur present, whether they belonged to the Chi Yan Tribe or the Xie Li Tribe.
“I am not merely the Moon Demon God worshipped by the Xie Li Tribe. I am also the Sea Demon Fire God worshipped by the Chi Yan Tribe!” Lan Ling said calmly. “I am the god of the entire Centaur race!”
“Boom!”
In his fury, Khan Chi Yan struck Lan Ling with tremendous force and sent him flying.
At that moment, no words could describe Khan Chi Yan’s rage.
Lan Ling’s body was severely damaged, but in an instant, he recovered and calmly stood up again, his eyes still filled with divine compassion.
“Say that again and I will destroy you completely!” Khan Chi Yan roared furiously, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
“Chi Yan, you destroyed my statue. I will not blame you for that,” Lan Ling said calmly. “But you killed so many members of the Xie Li Tribe. That is a sin, and I will punish you for it.”
“Boom!”
Khan Chi Yan struck Lan Ling again with tremendous force.
Lan Ling was sent hundreds of metres into the air before falling back down. Yet once again, he recovered and stood up.
“Chi Yan, you asked me to display my divine power and save the Xie Li Tribe,” Lan Ling said. “What divine power do you want me to display? Should I simply wave my hand and destroy your entire Chi Yan Tribe? I am sorry, but I do not kill Centaurs. I do not kill my own people.”
“Nonsense! You fraud! You do not have such power. You are not a god. You are only a fraud!” Khan Chi Yan charged forward and struck Lan Ling again, sending him away.
Yet once again, Lan Ling recovered and stood up.
“Chi Yan, do you know what a god is?” Lan Ling said calmly. “A god does not demonstrate strength by destroying thousands of people. A god has compassion for his people and is willing to sacrifice and devote himself for them. Therefore, being a god means sacrifice!”
Lan Ling found a stone coffin.
He looked at the confused survivors of the Xie Li Tribe, then at the murderous Khan Chi Yan, and finally at all the Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe.
Then, under the astonished and confused gazes of everyone present, Lan Ling slowly entered the coffin.
“Chi Yan, you destroyed my statue, and I will not punish you for that. But you killed the people of the Xie Li Tribe, and that cannot be forgiven. As punishment, I will take away your sacred waters, the Chi Yan Sea. In half a month, the sea will burn fiercely, the heavens and earth will tremble, and the entire Chi Yan Sea will be consumed by flames. All its waters will be dried up,” Lan Ling said. “You asked whether I could display divine power to save the Xie Li Tribe, perhaps by killing all of you. I cannot do that, because a god is about devotion and sacrifice!”
“Chi Yan, whatever decision you make, wait until half a month has passed. Do not truly anger the heavens and bring the entire Centaur race into destruction.”
“If I am a fraud, let my body decay. If I am a god, then when the Chi Yan Sea is consumed by flames, open this coffin and repent before me!”
After saying this, Lan Ling looked at every Centaur present with divine compassion.
Then he drew his sword and ended his own life.
“Ah!”
Every Centaur present cried out in shock.
Lan Ling had unexpectedly sacrificed himself.
There was no blood at the wound.
A moment later, Lan Ling’s body fell, while the stone coffin lid came down and sealed the coffin.
At that moment, Khan Chi Yan felt genuinely horrified. The instant Lan Ling sacrificed himself, he felt as though an ancient force had awakened above him.
From beginning to end, Lan Ling had never become enraged.
Whether Khan Chi Yan had grabbed him by the neck or repeatedly struck him with tremendous force, Lan Ling had remained calm.
Each time he was severely injured, he recovered almost instantly and stood up again.
He never became angry. He remained calm and peaceful, his eyes still filled with divine compassion.
This scene alone was already astonishing.
Lan Ling repeatedly recovered from injuries that should have been fatal, yet his expression remained calm and free of anger. His eyes continued to show nothing but compassion.
It looked far too much like the behaviour of a true god.
And finally, he had sacrificed himself.
This was truly terrifying.
They knew that descendants of demons could recover from injuries.
But recovering almost instantly from such devastating injuries was something they had never witnessed before.
And sacrificing himself in such a manner was completely unprecedented.
“A god is devotion. A god is sacrifice!”
Those words had previously sounded light and powerless, but now they echoed like thunder in everyone’s minds.
The entire battlefield fell into complete silence.
“Hahahaha…” Khan Chi Yan’s face had turned pale. He suddenly burst into mocking laughter. “He knew he could not fool anyone, so he ended his own life. Good riddance!”
The entire scene remained silent.
After their initial shock, none of the Xie Li Tribe survivors cried. Instead, they all knelt towards Lan Ling’s stone coffin, clasped their hands together, and closed their eyes in prayer.
The atmosphere was solemn and sacred.
Khan Chi Yan shouted, “Fire! Kill all these Centaur traitors!”
He suddenly waved his hand and ordered eight thousand Centaur warriors to slaughter the survivors of the Xie Li Tribe.
However, the Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe looked at one another. Not a single one moved.
What had just happened had truly shaken them.
Lan Ling’s astonishing recovery had already shocked them, but his final sacrifice to save the survivors of the Xie Li Tribe had completely demonstrated the meaning of his words.
A god was devotion.
A god was sacrifice.
Everything that had happened had deeply shaken their hearts, and they no longer dared to desecrate him.
“He’s already dead, yet he is still pretending to be a god!” Khan Chi Yan roared furiously. “I will destroy that coffin myself. Then you will see exactly what kind of fraud he is!”
With that, he drew his great sword and walked towards Lan Ling’s stone coffin.
At this moment, the survivors of the Xie Li Tribe rushed forward and blocked Khan Chi Yan’s path.
It was not only the Xie Li Tribe.
Even the elders and warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe, as well as the chiefs of other tribes, stepped forward and blocked Khan Chi Yan.
“What are you doing? Have you also been deceived by this lowly near-human?” Khan Chi Yan roared. “I will destroy him right now and make all of you see the truth!”
Suddenly, countless Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe knelt down.
Two elderly elders of the Chi Yan Tribe knelt before Khan Chi Yan and held onto his legs.
“Great Khan Chi Yan, please listen to me. At the instant he sacrificed himself, I felt something deep within my heart, something deep within my bloodline. It felt as though an ancient power was trembling.”
“You were simply frightened by his performance,” Khan Chi Yan said coldly.
“Fine, even if that is true,” the elder of the Chi Yan Tribe said. “What if he really is our great Sea Demon Fire God?”
Khan Chi Yan burst into laughter. “He says he is the Moon Demon God, and then he says he is the Sea Demon Fire God. Is that possible? He is obviously a fraud!”
The elder of the Chi Yan Tribe said, “There is nothing impossible about it. Almost every Centaur tribe has its own god. However, these gods may actually be the same god appearing in different forms. A god may have countless incarnations!”
Khan Chi Yan was about to lose his temper again. His expression was vicious and fierce, showing just how volatile he was.
“But what if he really is the god?” the elder said. “Would you lead the entire Centaur race to destruction?”
Khan Chi Yan said coldly, “I have already said it many times. He is a fraud. I will destroy him, and then you will see the truth with your own eyes.”
“Better to believe it than regret ignoring it, my Khan!” the elder of the Chi Yan Tribe said tremblingly. “He has already given us half a month. He said that the Chi Yan Sea will be consumed by flames and that its endless waters will turn into a raging inferno. That is precisely the power of the Sea Demon Fire God.”
“He is lying,” Khan Chi Yan said.
“But what if it happens? What if it really happens?” the elder asked.
Khan Chi Yan fell silent.
The Chi Yan Sea had existed long before the Chi Yan Tribe itself, for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
How could such an enormous sea, with its endless waters, possibly turn into flames that consumed the heavens? It seemed impossible.
But if it really happened, there would be only one explanation.
Lan Ling truly was the Sea Demon Fire God, and he was punishing the Chi Yan Tribe.
Khan Chi Yan looked at the countless Centaurs kneeling before him, his face twitching.
Lan Ling’s warning had been too frightening. If the Chi Yan Tribe truly went too far, the entire Centaur race could suffer complete destruction.
It was truly better to believe it than to risk ignoring it.
“Fine…” Khan Chi Yan roared. “I will wait half a month. After half a month, if the Chi Yan Sea has not been consumed by flames and its endless waters have not turned into a raging inferno, then it will prove that Lan Ling is a fraud. I will destroy him, and I will wipe out the Xie Li Tribe!”
“Yes!” all the Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe replied.
“Return to the tribe. Return to the Chi Yan Sea. I want to see how this fraud is exposed,” Khan Chi Yan said coldly. “Bring all the prisoners. Bring this fraud’s stone coffin as well!”
Half an hour later.
The survivors of the Xie Li Tribe watched Lan Ling’s stone coffin leave their tribe with the most sincere and sacred expressions.
More than twenty thousand Centaur soldiers escorted several thousand prisoners from the Xie Li Tribe as they marched towards the shores of the Chi Yan Sea.
A huge gamble had begun.
Of course, the gamble was not about Lan Ling’s life. He would not die.
Before setting out, he had repeatedly confirmed the matter with the Mirror Demon King.
In the end, they established that Lan Ling’s life had already become a form of energy. Physical damage could no longer truly harm his life, even if he suffered a fatal injury.
To kill Lan Ling, an extremely powerful energy attack would be required, one capable of destroying his soul and his energy-based life.
But this gamble concerned Lan Ling’s future.
If he won, he would become the supreme leader of the entire Centaur race and gain the allegiance of more than twenty thousand additional Centaur soldiers.
If he lost, not only would he lose all dignity, he might also lose the loyalty of Khan Xie Li and become the sworn enemy of the entire Centaur race.
When that happened, the entire Flame Demon Tribe would face complete destruction, and everything Lan Ling had built would be lost.
Lan Ling was truly a mad gambler.