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

At this point, Mr. Xu's tone changed.

The previous relaxed, casual conversation was gone; now, every word was being thrown out.

"The Heavenly Corpse is not Ji Yue's weapon."

Zhou Ran tightened his right hand on the railing, making the metal bars creak.

"Young friend, the Heavenly Corpse is Ji Yue herself."

The light in the hallway flickered.

Zhou Ran remained silent.

The scales were stuck between his left index and middle fingers, and a gray glint reflected on his knuckles.

He remembered.

In the graveyard of the heavens, the silver-haired woman cast her gaze.

Light and airy, devoid of warmth, affection, or dislike.

That is will.

The will without the body.

Beneath the ground of this city beneath my feet lies my body.

A body without will.

"Legend has it that a wisp of the Lord of the Void Realm went wrong during his tribulation."

Old Xu's voice seeped out from the receiver.

"The physical body couldn't withstand it and shattered."

But his will did not shatter; it remained in the void.

The remains of the physical body, carrying the remnants of the laws, plummeted downwards, crashing into Earth, where they lay for thirty thousand years.

Zhou Ran loosened the railing.

A faint ring of fingerprints was left on the railing.

"The first Pavilion Master obtained a cultivation inheritance far surpassing that of his contemporaries from the fragments that fell from the Heavenly Corpse."

Old Xu continued, his tone returning to normal.

"The Penglai Pavilion was built for this reason."

For 30,000 years, generations have guarded this secret.

He paused for a moment.

"At the same time, I'm waiting for someone."

"Who are you waiting for?"

"Waiting for someone who can enter the Heavenly Corpse but will not be assimilated by the rules of the Void Realm."

Zhou Ran put the scales back into his pocket.

"You think it's me?"

"Your idealistic golden elixir can define itself within the laws of the virtual world."

"I've lived for two thousand seven hundred years, and I've never seen another like it."

"What did you mean when you made that you'd only show up after the gray lines expanded by three more when you made that first call?"

"Test your tolerance limit."

Mr. Xu answered frankly.

"The more gray lines there are, the higher the synchronization rate between your Golden Core and the Heavenly Corpse."

If the synchronization rate is too low, you won't be able to enter; if it's too high, you'll be attacked by the Heavenly Corpse.

Three is the lower limit, and six is ​​the upper limit.

You have three points now, barely enough to qualify.

Zhou Ran's left index finger touched his middle finger.

"so what."

"I have a suggestion."

"explain."

"Penglai Pavilion contributed manpower and resources, and teamed up with my friend to enter the Heavenly Corpse."

Penglai was in charge of navigation. We studied the internal structure of the Heavenly Corpse for 30,000 years, and every passage and every blind spot is on the map.

"Young friend, you are responsible for fighting against the laws of the Void Realm. The Golden Core of the Mind is your pass; without it, no one can take more than three steps."

Zhou Ran remained silent.

"Young friend Zhou, please do not doubt."

It's simply a matter of each party getting what they need.

"We'll retrieve what we need from Penglai. My friend, you can find a way to completely suppress the gray cracks within the Heavenly Corpse."

"So what do you want to take?"

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"This, I'll discuss it when we meet."

Zhou Ran didn't press further, but changed the subject.

"Do the King Song and King Yama of the Underworld also want to enter the body of the Heavenly Corpse?"

This time there was no further movement from the other end.

It went on for so long that Zhou Ran thought the signal had been lost.

"They've already gone in."

Zhou Ran's fingers turned white as he gripped his phone.

A picture flashed through my mind.

The main hall of the three halls.

On the Song emperor's desk lay a scroll of bamboo slips, the ink still wet.

The bamboo slips that he casually covered with his sleeve.

This is not a battle report.

It is an exploration notebook from inside the Heavenly Corpse.

"Young friend?"

Zhou Ran loosened his fingers.

"What else?"

Old Xu's tone softened, revealing a greater degree of caution characteristic of the elderly.

Three days later, I will personally visit Jiangcheng.

I will bring a gift for the little friend then.

"What gift?"

"This is what your friend Meng Po entrusted to me before she left."

Zhou Ran stopped in his tracks.

Meng Po.

The broken bowl on the frozen surface of the River of Oblivion.

When she disappeared, the River of Oblivion was still in operation.

A person whose life force has been exhausted should not be able to leave that ice surface alone.

Her things ended up in the hands of Penglai Pavilion.

See you in three days.

The phone hangs up.

Zhou Ran stared at the call log that had jumped back to the homepage on the screen.

Turn around and walk towards the main building.

He needed to process all the information from that phone call.

When I pushed open the meeting room door, Li Zhiyao was already sitting inside.

She changed into a dark-colored cheongsam, the cuffs were very clean, and a silver hairpin was crookedly inserted into her hair bun.

"I woke up when you were in the greenhouse."

She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head slightly.

"Penglai Pavilion, 30,000 years ago, the Heavenly Corpse is Ji Yue's physical body."

Zhou Ran pulled out a chair and sat down.

"How much did you eavesdrop on?"

"It starts when you call back."

Li Zhiyao wiped her fingers on her sleeve.

"Emperor Song entered the body of the deceased."

Zhou Ran nodded.

Li Zhiyao's gaze darkened slightly.

"My elder brother suppressed the cracks in Mangshan four thousand years ago in order to prevent the Heavenly Corpse from reviving."

If he already knew about it, or even scouted the route himself...

The conversation between the two lasted for a long time.

It turns out that, in the grand scheme of things, Senior Li Chengfeng also left behind many valuable things.

Zhou Ran sat in the conference room for a long time.

There were two things on the table.

The data jade slip that Qin San copied from the underground of the East City, and the palm-sized Heavenly Corpse scale.

A gray glimmer seeped from the edges of the scales, casting a small shadow on the table.

Li Zhiyao sat opposite him and didn't urge him.

The faint sound of white mycelium crawling could be heard from the greenhouse, a rustling sound that was particularly clear in the manor at three in the morning.

"Does Emperor Song know about the sword intent your elder brother left beneath the pillars of the River of Oblivion?"

Li Zhiyao's fingertips paused and tapped on the edge of the table.

"When my elder brother suppressed the rift, the first Yama King of the Third Court was still in office."

Several people were appointed later, but I can't guarantee whether the details have been passed down.

"But Emperor Song gave me the Guiyang Decree."

"The Guiyang Decree was left by my elder brother and placed next to the bridge pier."

The Song emperor knew that location.

Zhou Ran rested his elbows on the table, with two fingers pressed against his temples.

"He knew there was something under the bridge pier, but he didn't know whether it was sword intent or something else?"

"Maybe they know, maybe they don't."

Li Zhiyao leaned back in her chair, the silver hairpin swaying slightly under the lamplight.

"In the underworld, there is no trust, only transactions."

The more trouble you can shoulder for him, the more he'll reveal his true colors to you.

Zhou Ran put his hand down.

"He told me to go to the River of Oblivion to seal off the river, and to fight the Black Impermanence and the rebels."

I took on every responsibility for him.

The scroll on the table contained notes found inside the corpse of the celestial being; he covered it with his sleeve.

He stood up and walked to the window.

"Even Yama, the King of Hell, wants to go in."

Penglai Pavilion has been waiting for 30,000 years to enter.

The Sheng Hui Consortium is building equipment on it.

Zhou Ran turned his head and glanced at Li Zhiyao.

"Old Xu said he would bring Meng Po's belongings to see me in three days."

Li Zhiyao's fingers tightened on the edge of the table.

"Her life force has been exhausted; she cannot leave the River of Oblivion on her own."

Zhou Ran didn't respond to that sentence.

He walked back to the table, picked up the scale, and flipped it over.

The gray light clung to his palm, echoing the cracks in his dantian.

"Let's go to the greenhouse first."

He clutched the scales in his hand and pushed open the door to go out.