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

"Once the heart rate doubles, other organs activate, so things progress very quickly, right?"

Zhou Ran asked directly.

"According to the observation data of Penglai over the past 30,000 years, it would take seven days for the liver of a celestial corpse to be activated when its heart rate is 30 beats per minute."

"It's doubled now."

"Three and a half days."

Zhou Ran's Primordial Chaos pattern shone for a moment on his forearm, the golden light hidden and not yet released.

What does liver activation mean?

"Detoxification."

Old Xu took a step forward, leaning on his cane.

"Once the Heavenly Corpse gains metabolic abilities, all external seals placed upon it will be decomposed more quickly."

Zhou Ran pressed his thumb against the crack in the tabletop, applying slight pressure with his fingertip.

"The Nascent Soul level sword intent on the frozen surface of the River of Oblivion, the idealistic laws you carved on the seventh level, the thirty-seven Nascent Soul level suppression talismans left by Penglai Pavilion on the surface of the Heavenly Corpse..."

All of these will become ineffective within 48 hours of liver activation.

His cane slammed heavily on the floor tiles.

"At that time, the Heavenly Corpse's heart will beat without any restraint."

"The last line of defense of the Yin-Yang barrier snapped."

"The gray lines above the heads of 30 million people in Jiangcheng will increase from 7,400 to 30 million overnight."

The middle-aged swordsman beside him gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

"Master, that madman Yama went in before us."

If he finds the heart…

"He can't find it."

Zhou Ran interrupted the swordsman.

All eyes were on him.

Zhou Ran took the bronze token out of his pocket.

The surface, mottled with verdigris, gleamed with a dull luster under the indoor lights.

"The spine is the only entrance to the central plane."

"King Yama didn't have this key. He entered the Heavenly Corpse from the eighth floor, taking the same outer route as Penglai Pavilion."

Old Xu's brow twitched.

"All he can do is remove my restrictions and accelerate the activation of the Heavenly Corpse's organs."

But to reach the heart, it still has to pass through the spine.

Zhou Ran put the token back into his pocket.

"I have the key."

The living room quieted down.

The young Taoist nun held a whisk to her arm.

"Then we can't wait any longer."

"can not wait."

Zhou Ran turned to Old Xu.

"The Gate of the Spine is on the eighth level below the Third Hall."

How long does it take at the fastest from here?

Old Xu looked up.

"Six hours."

The premise is that the Song emperor doesn't block the way.

"He won't block it."

Zhou Ran raised his hand and tapped the table twice.

"He couldn't wait for me to go in, to pave the way for him, to shield him from the devil, and to find the weakness in his heart."

He was calculating from beginning to end throughout this game.

He stood up, walked to the table, and laid out the three-dimensional structural diagram of the Sheng Hui Group on the crack in the solid wood tabletop.

The gray model of the celestial corpse floated on the paper, with the spinal canal running straight from the bottom to the central nervous system, surrounded by densely packed data and symbols.

"Three days."

Zhou Ran's finger touched the entrance to the spine.

"I will get in from here within three days."

He turned to look at Old Xu.

"Penglai enters from the left eye, with support from the outside."

"You three Nascent Soul cultivators are responsible for keeping Yama and the people he brought in on the outer planes, preventing them from approaching the central area."

The middle-aged swordsman took half a step forward.

"You expect us three Nascent Soul cultivators to cover for you, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator?"

His sword-like fingers gripped the edge of the cloth strip, his knuckles taut and white.

They clearly don't take Sudden seriously.

"Penglai has been explored six times in 30,000 years, resulting in the loss of four lives."

What right do you have to walk the main path of the spine?

Old Xu raised his hand.

"shut up."

The swordsman's mouth was still open, not closed.

"Master, I—"

"I said shut up."

The swordsman shut his mouth and returned to his original position.

His muscles tensed, and resentment flared from his spine, but it was forcefully suppressed.

The old man looked at Zhou Ran, then loosened his crippled left hand from his cane and drew a circle next to the spinal canal on the table.

"This is the entrance area of ​​the central plane. According to our calculations over 30,000 years, it takes about half a day to travel from the spinal gate."

"Beyond the entrance area lies a deeper level we've never explored before."

His fingertips hovered above the drawing.

"I lost two fingers at the boundary between the entrance area and the outer plane."

"Penglai knows nothing about what lies beyond that."

Zhou Ran's purple-gold demonic eyes swirled halfway around his eyes, scanning every mark on the structural diagram into his memory.

"If I don't know, I don't know."

He rolled up the blueprints.

"No path I've walked in my life has been explored by anyone else."

Old Xu stared at him for a moment, then gripped his cane tightly again.

"it is good."

"Three days later, the Penglai people will meet in the Third Palace of the Underworld."

He turned and walked towards the door, but stopped after taking two steps.

"Young friend Zhou".

The old man did not turn around.

"I have lived for 2,700 years and have seen eleven geniuses."

The cane tapped the ground.

"You are the twelfth."

The first eleven are all dead.

The sound of the cane faded into the distance.

My heart was still pounding beneath my feet.

thump.

thump.

thump.

Every tick is a countdown.

Li Zhiyao walked from the window to the table, picked up the lid of the small brass box from before, glanced at it, and threw it back onto the table.

Three days.

Who are you planning to bring?

Zhou Ran pulled out a chair and sat down.

"you.

Fatty Wang.

Xiaorou.

Bai Xuan.

"What about the manor?"

"I'll make arrangements for things at home right now."

The Taihuang pattern shone with a thin layer of golden light on Zhou Ran's entire right arm.

"Summon everyone to the underground meeting room."

Fifteen minutes later.

Underground conference room.

The long table was filled with people on both sides.

Chen Ya sat to Zhou Ran's right, holding a newly replaced fountain pen in her hand.

Lin Qingxue was second from the left, her eyes covered by a thin film of light blue spiritual energy, a side effect of monitoring the gray lines for three consecutive days.

Xiao Hongli leaned back in her chair.

Su Qingling and Su Qingwu sat side by side, their spiritual cores depleted below the warning line, their lips turning pale.

Fatty Wang stood at the door, arms crossed.

Xiao Rou knelt on a prayer mat in the corner, with a bone flute across her lap.

Qin Sanli stood behind Chen Ya.

Bai Xuan lay on the table, the mycelium quietly seeping into the cracks in the wood grain to absorb spiritual energy.

Zhou Ran sat in the main seat.

"I will enter the Heavenly Corpse in three days."

There were short, rapid breathing sounds inside.

"Let's deal with the rear matters now."

Zhou Ran looked at Chen Ya.

"You are fully responsible for the asset integration of the Shenghui Consortium. The key is not to make money, but to eradicate every bit of their influence in Jiangcheng."

"Those pharmaceutical companies and military research institutes that were acquired should immediately initiate internal audits, and all data involving the underworld or supernatural technologies should be physically isolated."

Chen Ya's pen tip landed on the paper.

"time?"

"I landed before entering the Heavenly Corpse."

"clear."

Zhou Ran's gaze slid towards Lin Qingxue.

"The gray line monitoring must not be interrupted."

During my absence, the number of gray lines was like Jiangcheng's electrocardiogram. You decide for yourself how to react when it rises to a certain number.

Lin Qingxue's eyes shifted slightly, her pupils beneath the blue light membrane fixed on Zhou Ran.

"What if it rises to ten thousand units?"

"Send me a message when it rises to nine thousand."

If it can't be passed on, then pass it on to the people of Penglai.

Zhou Ran didn't say what would happen if the price rose to 10,000.

Lin Qingxue didn't press the matter.