After I stopped trying, a rich woman trained me into a demon emperor.

Zhou Ran gazed at the golden sedan chair on the north bank, separated by the frozen River of Oblivion.

The sedan chair curtain was half-drawn, and Yama, the King of the Fifth Court, still had not made a move.

However, the balance of power between the two sides has already begun to shift.

Li Zhiyao spoke from within the Gathering Yin Banner, her voice low.

"He's betting that you won't dare to unleash that sword intent."

Zhou Ran lowered his eyes and looked at the ice patterns on his feet.

Beneath the black ice, countless souls clung to the ice layer, their eyes fixed upwards, their mouths agape.

Someone had half a hand pressed under the ice, their fingernail broken, yet they still maintained the posture of seeking passage.

The pale blue sword intent flickered slightly in his palm.

"He was half right."

Li Zhiyao asked:

"What do you mean?"

"Sword intent cannot sever a bridge."

Zhou Ran looked up, his gaze falling on the rebel ranks on the north bank.

"It can kill people."

Li Zhiyao's tone became more urgent.

"King Yama is on the north bank, with Black Impermanence by his side and sixteen black-armored guards."

"Your attack missed, and the sword intent left by Li Chengfeng is now useless."

"Therefore, I will not kill him."

"Then who will you kill?"

Zhou Ran did not answer.

Ahead, the first batch of fusion soldiers has already stepped into the second line on the south bank.

Those monsters were covered in dark armor on their upper bodies, with Eastern souls locked in their chests, and Western skeletons attached to their lower bodies.

The bony feet pounded on the frozen ice, the dense cracking sound pressing down all the way to the south bank.

After the battle, Qiao Kun raised his arm high, his wrist bones stiff.

A ghostly soldier rushed to his side and said urgently:

"Lord Night Wanderer, if you don't burn it soon, the front row will be over the ditch!"

Qiao Kun gritted his teeth.

"Wait ten more steps."

"Ten steps later, yin fire rose from both wings."

"Only the skeleton is burned."

The ghostly soldier was taken aback.

"Just burn the skeleton?"

Qiao Kun kicked him in the back of the knee.

"The Grand Commander said that the fusion soldier has the soul of the East locked in his chest."

"It's easy to burn a soul, but difficult to save it."

"If you want to accumulate three times the merit, then do three times the amount of good deeds!"

The ghost soldiers lowered their heads and gritted their teeth.

"Yes, sir!"

On the north bank, Hei Wuchang, who had been observing the Three Palaces' defensive line for a long time, remained motionless and let out a cold snort.

"The guards of the three palaces are terrified."

He ordered his men to suppress the enemy.

"Proceed!"

The fusion troops suddenly accelerated, crashing into the second line in swarms.

Qiao Kun chopped down with his arm.

"Burn the flanks!"

The array patterns beneath the ice lit up, and dark blue flames shot out from both sides, avoiding the soul lamps in the chest cavity and targeting the skeletons of the dead.

The first rank of fusion soldiers had just crossed the line when their lower limbs were bitten by Xinghuo.

The bones broke into pieces, and the Eastern Soul inside the chest cavity cried out.

"Help me..."

"Don't burn me..."

A young ghost soldier held a spear, the tip of which hovered in mid-air, unable to pierce down.

Qiao Kun roared:

"Don't listen to the crying, listen to the Grand Commander!"

"Cut off the legs!"

"Don't touch the Soul Lamp!"

The ghostly soldiers on the south bank suppressed their fear and charged out, their spears aimed specifically at the bones and joints.

A group of fused soldiers fell, their chest cavity soul lamps sealed by the Yin Talisman, temporarily preventing their souls from dissipating.

Upon seeing this scene, Zhou Ran's eyes held a hint of scrutiny.

"Qiao Kun is still usable."

Li Zhiyao said:

He was not weak to begin with.

The underworld has rotted for too long; those who can hide have all learned to hide.

The cyan and white sword intent in Zhou Ran's palm sank into his left arm, flowing along the Taihuang pattern to his fingertips.

"There's no escaping it today."

Inside the golden sedan chair on the north bank, Yama, the King of Hell, noticed something amiss.

"Zhou Ran".

His voice crossed the glacier, suppressing the fighting on both sides.

"If you draw your sword, I will have Black Impermanence destroy the hole you dug."

"The Meng Po bowl will break a second time."

Zhou Ran looked up.

Are you scared?

Black Impermanence roared:

"Your Majesty, at the half-step into the Divine Realm, would you be afraid of a mere living person like you?"

Zhou Ran sneered.

"If he's not afraid, why is he threatening me with a bowl?"

The Black Impermanence's noodles have a bluish tinge.

Inside the sedan chair, Yama, the King of Hell, spoke.

"The rules of the underworld are not for you to change."

Zhou Ran flipped his right hand, and the Grand Commander's jade tablet hung in his palm.

"I just altered the Book of Life and Death."

"You're talking to me about rules now?"

Sixteen black-armored guards stood around the golden sedan chair, all looking up.

Behind the sedan curtain, the finger wrapped in gold trim twitched slightly.

"You touched the Book of Life and Death?"

"It wasn't just touching."

Zhou Ran took a step forward, the black and gold patterns beneath his feet pressing into the frozen River of Oblivion.

"He also wrote some words."

Black Impermanence's expression changed drastically.

Yama, the King of Hell, stared at Zhou Ran.

"What did you write?"

Zhou Ran did not answer.

The rebel flag on the north bank trembled wildly in the eerie wind.

On the south bank, Qiao Kun muttered a curse in a low voice.

"He got provoked."

Leopard Tail, gripping his spear, asked:

"Did the Grand Commander do this on purpose?"

"nonsense."

Qiao Kun stared intently at the golden sedan chair.

"The King of Hell is the kind of person who is most afraid of others touching his authority."

"He's also afraid that others are more like the King of Hell than him."

In the center of the battlefield, the second batch of fusion soldiers bypassed Yin Huo Gou.

The necromancer in the back row raised his bone staff, and the gray-white curse light smashed into the ice surface, causing the Yin Fire of the Three Palaces to dim inch by inch.

Qiao Kun lowered his brow.

"Third team, use bone sticks!"

A volley of crossbow bolts.

The arrow was swallowed up by the black mist on the north bank halfway through its flight.

Qiao Kun's jaw was grinding.

"Can't reach it."

"I can't reach it!"

Zhou Ran looked at the group of necromancers. These Western undead had a long casting range.

He raised his left arm.

The azure and white sword intent did not strike at Yama, nor at the Bridge of Helplessness.

It slipped from my fingertips, skimming the ice as a thin line, heading straight for the north shore.

Wherever the sword intent passed, the lower half of the fusion soldier's skeleton broke in rows, while the soul lamp in his chest cavity remained intact.

Black Impermanence's expression changed.

"Stop it!"

Four of the sixteen black-armored guards stepped forward, their iron shields pressing down on the ice.

The Fifth Court's legal code emerged from the shield.

The blue and white lines collided with the iron shield.

Large spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ice surface.

The color drained from Zhou Ran's face.

The sword intent of the Nascent Soul stage was too strong.

With each inch forward, a large portion of true essence is drawn away. The outer layer of the Golden Elixir of the Mind in the Dantian glows with golden light, and the Heavenly Dao begins to settle accounts.

Li Zhiyao said urgently:

"Stop!"

"If you keep pushing, you'll be drained dry!"

Zhou Ran stared at the Black Impermanence behind the iron shield.

"Almost there."

"You want to kill the necromancer?"

"No."

Zhou Ran held the Grand Commander's jade tablet in his right hand.

Ice-blue light flowed from the jade tablet, and the essence of Bai Wuchang was infused with sword intent.

"I'm going to raise his flag."

The blue and white line suddenly sank, bypassed the bottom of the iron shield, and passed under the feet of the four black-armored guards.

The next instant, the Imperial Command Flag in Black Impermanence's hand broke in two from the middle.

The flag fell and became frozen.

The four inscriptions "Welcoming the Emperor Back to His Position" were engulfed by the primordial blood energy and burned into four black holes.

The south bank was briefly silenced.

Qiao Kun was the first to yell until his voice was hoarse.

"The Grand Commander has cut down the flag!"

"The guards of the three palaces, advance half a step!"

"Don't cross the line! Keep them at bay by half a step!"

Two hundred ghost soldiers roared in unison.

The second line of flags was pushed forward by half a zhang (approximately 1.3 meters).

The fusion soldier formation was thrown into chaos.

Black Impermanence stared at the broken flag, his face twitching.

"Zhou Ran!"

"You're asking for it!"

Zhou Ran withdrew his left arm, the skin on his palm split open, and blood dripped from between his fingers.

He looked at the Black Impermanence with a mocking smile.

"Even the flag couldn't be protected."

"Why bother welcoming an emperor?"

Inside the golden sedan chair, the curtain was finally completely lifted.

The Fifth King of Hell stood up.

The face was covered with old gold cracks, and gray light spots slowly flowed between the vertical lines between its brows.

The gray crack in Zhou Ran's dantian jumped slightly.

Li Zhiyao whispered, "He also touched the Heavenly Corpse."