The Ordinary Me is Worshipped as a Deity by the Extraordinary Them-Chapter 24 - Youre Beyond Salvation

Lan Zhe was the name of the irritable little brother.

When Egbert went to the Beast Forest trying to improve his strength, he encountered Lan Zhe, who was very displeased with Egbert’s one-sided beating of monster beasts.

However, before actually meeting Lan Zhe, Egbert already knew about him.

The intelligence network that Euphia lent to Egbert was mostly used by him to investigate people related to the Dark Church.

Su Li’s theory about everything having two sides and requiring balance had influenced Egbert more than imagined.

The former Son of Light’s psychological journey was very straightforward.

From wanting to die, to finding a reason to live for Su Li; then, wanting to become better for Su Li; and now, willing to accomplish everything Su Li wanted to achieve.

Though Su Li had no idea about Egbert’s desire to bring the Dark Church back into the open.

As for Lan Zhe.

Through Euphia’s intelligence network, Egbert discovered that Lan Zhe was one of the more easily traceable members of the Dark Church.

Lan Zhe was no different from those children in the past who were immediately executed upon detection of dark elemental powers.

He too had faced one-sided persecution from the church members. Despite merely possessing dark elements, he still faced hatred from the Church of Light members.

However, compared to those dark element possessors who died before seeing what the world was really like, he had slightly better luck.

After his elemental affinity was exposed, Lan Zhe first faced hatred from his parents, then confronted church members who, with their superior religious attitudes, sentenced him to death.

Though filled with grievance, Lan Zhe didn’t hesitate to flee.

Like Egbert who immediately headed to the Beast Forest after leaving the Church of Light, Lan Zhe did the same.

His luck came in meeting an adult male Crystal Winged Dragon who was seeking to improve its strength.

The sight of that dragon devouring the corpse of the church member who had sentenced him to death reshaped the worldview of a child abandoned by the world.

From that moment on, Lan Zhe believed that humans, a species that hurt and opposed each other, were inferior even to non-human monster beasts.

However, the instinct of being a social creature ingrained in his blood and bones meant Lan Zhe couldn’t completely ignore the fact that he was still human.

And moreover, a weak one.

To the Crystal Winged Dragon, he was just a child not even worth eating, too small to even fill the gap between its teeth.

The powerful monster beast, possessing both arrogance and the strength to treat humans as toys, chose not to kill Lan Zhe and allowed the child to follow it.

Sometimes when the Crystal Winged Dragon looked at Lan Zhe, it would think of the two eggs its mate had recently laid.

While it couldn’t be called a loving father, the Crystal Winged Dragon didn’t believe it would develop any unbreakable attachment to humans.

Therefore, when the Church of Light learned that one of their members had been devoured alive by a monster beast, they immediately sent people there.

The Church’s terms were simple: submit or die.

But for a dragon, this was nothing short of an insult. Moreover, while fighting with it, the church members didn’t forget to try to kill Lan Zhe as well.

This caused the Crystal Winged Dragon’s killing intent to surge.

However, the outcome was obvious.

A solitary monster beast couldn’t defeat humans who had set up traps to surround it. Before dying, it barely managed to use its power to transport Lan Zhe out of that besieged area.

It was a long time before Lan Zhe returned to the place where the Crystal Winged Dragon had died.

At that time, only a large pool of blue blood remained on the ground, along with a few crystal-like scales – nothing else was left.

For a child who already felt abandoned by the world, to finally meet a kind creature from another race, only to watch them die before his eyes…

While Lan Zhe didn’t completely lose his sanity, it was natural that he ended up on the edge of madness.

How one’s spirit and elements resonate is a topic many instructors in elementalist academies deliberately study. That time, the Beast Forest experienced a very obvious dark element disturbance.

When the Church of Light sent people to investigate again, Lan Zhe was taken directly by people from the Dark Church.

Years later, when Lan Zhe had become strong enough that even an adult Crystal Winged Dragon couldn’t easily kill him, he left the Dark Church and chose to live in the Beast Forest.

He told the mother Crystal Winged Dragon everything about what happened back then, emphasizing that all mistakes were his fault.

The reality was that the monster beasts weren’t indiscriminately hostile.

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“That one always had an obsession with reaching the peak of ninth-rank monster beasts that I could never understand. I expected this situation from the moment he chose to leave us,” the mother Crystal Winged Dragon wasn’t sad, but instead focused more intensely on hatching her two offspring.

Lan Zhe felt deeply ashamed, and therefore spent several years helping the mother Crystal Winged Dragon hatch the two young ones. When Lan Zhe learned of herbs in the far southern part of the incredibly vast Beast Forest that could accelerate the young ones’ growth without harming their foundation, he informed the Crystal Winged Dragon and chose to leave temporarily.

Crystal Winged Dragons, a race whose scales and wings were almost indistinguishable from crystal except for their internal blood and bones, use much of their power during reproduction to hatch their young, ensuring the offspring won’t die from crystallization – a trait that serves as powerful protection for their race – before birth.

Already weakened, with offspring at risk of lethal crystallization before birth, and her husband, who should have been their protector, long dead years ago.

Even the human who appeared later was temporarily gone…

The death of one child and loss of another became the source of despair for the mother Crystal Winged Dragon, who viewed racial preservation as more important than self-awareness.

This was the initial reason for the monster beast tide that swept through Siliqing City…

After learning all this, no matter how complex Egbert’s feelings were, he still maintained his composure when he actually met Lan Zhe.

They had quite a discussion about getting stronger by fighting monster beasts, until they couldn’t convince each other with their arguments and decided to have a proper fight.

During the fight, they couldn’t avoid using elements.

The moment Lan Zhe detected light elements, he wanted to kill Egbert, while Egbert became interested upon realizing the first person he met in the Beast Forest was his target.

The battle escalated from there.

The more they fought, the more Egbert found Lan Zhe’s power astounding, thinking the Dark Church might have more potential than he imagined.

Meanwhile, Lan Zhe wondered why this person from the Church of Light didn’t show inexplicable hatred toward him.

Thus, when both were about to deliver fatal blows to each other, they simultaneously chose to stop.

Egbert noticed Lan Zhe’s concern for monster beasts and voluntarily explained that he had neither sales channels nor need to use monster beast corpses to strengthen himself. When fighting monster beasts, he only fought without killing them.

First showing weakness to the enemy, then decisively revealing his identity as a “traitor.”

This was something Egbert learned from Su Li’s kidnapping incident.

If nothing else, it was highly efficient for gaining trust.

And because Egbert had already investigated Lan Zhe’s general situation, he felt it would be unfair if he didn’t say something.

As a result…

Lan Zhe was forced to listen to a lot of: “Lord Su Li’s wisdom is unmatched by anyone I’ve ever known.”

“He gave me the drive to keep living, and gave me, a lost dog who had lost faith and fallen into confusion, a completely new belief. But most importantly, I think he gave me a new choice without going against any of my established habits.”

Terms like Holy Father and Holy Mother weren’t derogatory. Completely breaking down and rebuilding Egbert’s past would be no different from training a dog in Su Li’s view, something he would absolutely never do.

“What makes up a person should be chosen by that person themselves, not forced upon them by others,” Egbert said to Lan Zhe with a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. “This was Lord Su Li’s guidance when I once asked him ‘what should I do?'”

Lan Zhe looked at Egbert with displeasure, feigning indifference. “Lord this, Lord that, are you some brainless fanatic?”

“Don’t you think what he says lacks all the possibilities you imagine?”

Egbert firmly shook his head. “Of course not.”

“When you meet him in person, you’ll understand that he truly sees through everything.”

“He doesn’t show it because he hopes we won’t pay too much attention to him. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know everything – on the contrary, Lord Su Li knows everything, he just habitually doesn’t say it.”

Regarding Su Li, Egbert believed he understood more than everyone else combined.

Even Su Li himself, who habitually avoided taking things to their worst conclusion and maintained peaceful social distances while trying to direct possibilities toward peace and beauty, truly understood just how bad things could get at their worst.

He just didn’t say it.

And it was this silence, along with his natural and habitual actions buried in his heart, that made Egbert find him even more extraordinary.

This wasn’t silence chosen to avoid trouble. It was simply Su Li being considerate of how others might feel upon learning the worst possibilities.

Someone who could easily see through others yet never pointed things out, while still being inclusive and giving guidance – this made it natural for Egbert to say: “If we can’t understand what Lord Su Li thinks, how could we possibly receive his correct guidance?”

Lan Zhe just gave Egbert a “you’re beyond help” look.

Their relationship grew closer as Egbert voluntarily explained his situation.

But just as they were about to become friends, Jisuo Town was invaded by monster beasts.

Lan Zhe chose to find the Crystal Winged Dragon.

When he gave the mother Crystal Winged Dragon the herbs he found that could substitute for her power in hatching, he also asked about her purpose in invading Jisuo Town and if there was anything he could help with.

But then, Lan Zhe was cruelly told by the mother Crystal Winged Dragon. “You can’t help me with anything. Humans are destined to be my enemies.”

Afterward, he was directly driven out of the Crystal Winged Dragon’s nest.

Deep in the nest, beside the large crystal-like scales that Lan Zhe had taken and stored for many years after the male Crystal Winged Dragon’s death, only returning them to the mother when he had enough strength to stand before her, there was an egg shell taller than a person.

Inside that shell, there was no sign of life, only a pool of foul-smelling red liquid…

Lan Zhe was a very sensitive person, shown in various ways. Perhaps he wasn’t clever enough, but he could definitely sense that something must have happened to make the mother Crystal Winged Dragon drive him away like this.

But he had no choice but to leave.

Under the command of the eighth-rank monster beast, all the monster beasts in the forest, whether Lan Zhe could interact with them or not, were baring their teeth at him.

It was a situation where Lan Zhe would definitely face one-sided attacks if he didn’t leave the Beast Forest’s territory.

For a human who had lived in this forest and spent countless hours building relationships with the monster beasts, he shouldn’t have been treated this way.

The reluctance in the monster beasts’ eyes as it drove Lan Zhe away was clearly visible. Yet Lan Zhe remained confused, not knowing what had happened.

He began to consider what changes had occurred recently.

His first thought was that a second person who would be accepted by the monster beasts had appeared in the forest.

That person being Egbert.

The healing power of the light element allowed him to heal both himself and his opponents after each battle with monster beasts. This behavior, like that of a crazy battle enthusiast, wasn’t disliked by the monster beasts.

But what if…

What if he wasn’t the traitor he claimed to be?

Hadn’t the death of the Crystal Winged Dragon’s child already proved how evil those people with light elements were?

So why should he trust someone with the same abilities?

Even so, Lan Zhe didn’t backstab Egbert. Instead, when they next met, he voiced all his suspicions and attacked before Egbert could explain.

This was a battle to vent frustrations.

Lan Zhe fought especially frantically, often trading blow for blow.

For Egbert, who had worked hard to gain trust, this was a dangerous signal.

At this moment, Egbert’s mind was working at full capacity.

Based on the news of Jisuo Town being invaded by monster beasts, something unknown must have happened in the Beast Forest.

During their fight, amid trash talk, Lan Zhe revealed that he had been driven out by the monster beasts.

So…

Egbert voluntarily said, “This invasion is led by the Crystal Winged Dragon, right? What does it want? Is it seeking revenge against humans or something else? Does it know who really killed its offspring…”

“You probably don’t know either,” Egbert muttered.

“I don’t know how to gain your trust, but I know who the Crystal Winged Dragon really wants revenge against,” Egbert had a moment of clarity. “I can enter the Beast Forest in your place and tell the Crystal Winged Dragon who the real mastermind is.”

Lan Zhe was stunned.

“Do you know what you’re saying? Even though that creature never showed it clearly, it extremely hates humans with light elements.”

“Moreover, a human entering the forest during an invasion is itself a provocative signal to the monster beasts. You’re seeking death!”

Lan Zhe rambled. “You’ll die! If your Lord Su Li is as amazing as you say, he must have more important things to do and definitely won’t come save you!”

Egbert responded matter-of-factly. “Lord Su Li wouldn’t focus long on a small town. His vision should be on the entire world.”

Lan Zhe: “You’re still saying such things at a time like this! Do you want another beating?!”

Egbert looked at Lan Zhe with clear eyes. “I don’t. And I don’t think I’ll die.”

“Because a domesticated mercenary like Eg only dies when his master needs him to.”

Lan Zhe angrily punched a tree until it broke, ignoring his bleeding knuckles as he roared. “You’re truly sick in the head!”

But in the end, he compromised.

Lan Zhe wanted to stop the Crystal Winged Dragon’s rampage once it knew the truth, but he also understood the risks Egbert, whom he didn’t even consider a friend, would face entering the Beast Forest.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” Lan Zhe said to Egbert’s retreating figure, words only the wind could hear.

Because of this, deep in his heart, Lan Zhe developed a curiosity about this “Lord Su Li” whom Egbert viewed as extraordinary.