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

Then came the second statue, and the third statue.

The demons flying out of the rift grew denser and denser, the three Grand Dukes became ten, the ten became a hundred, and after the hundred came a massive, dark army.

Demon soldiers clad in black and gold demonic armor descended from the sky, suppressing all the gray light overhead and darkening the sky over the entire Void Realm.

The moment that demonic power descended, the high priest took three steps back, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

Zhou Ran stood in the center of the dark red pillar of light, the purple-gold law patterns of his nascent soul spreading outward from his chest, interlocking with the six-pointed blood array.

His gaze fell upon Yama, the King of Hell.

Yama, the King of Hell, is still in the square.

They didn't not want to run, they just couldn't.

As Zhou Ran inscribed the six-pointed blood array, he casually drew a closed circle around the perimeter of the plaza, just to illustrate the concept.

Those who exist within this space are not allowed to leave.

Yama tried three times, using two different spatial techniques, but all of them failed.

At that moment, three demon dukes descended from the sky and surrounded him.

The bone knife hovered three feet away from him, its dark red blade pressed against his throat, pinning him to the spot, unable to move even half a step.

He stood in the square, watching the demon army fall from the sky, and for the first time in front of so many people, he couldn't utter a single word.

"Zhou Ran".

He spoke, and his usual authoritative tone vanished from his voice.

"Whatever you want, we can provide it."

"Shut up."

Zhou Ran interrupted him, her tone flat.

"We'll settle all the debts you owed on Earth today."

He turned to the three demon dukes.

The one closest to us had an aura three times heavier than Du Ziren's Nascent Soul afterimage, and was more than one order of magnitude stronger than the High Priest.

Holding the bone knife, head bowed, awaiting orders, the tip of the knife leaving a thin mark on the ground.

Zhou Ran raised his hand, pointing in turn to the High Priest huddled behind the ruins of the banquet, the pale-faced Yama King, and finally to the afterimage of Du Ziren's Dharma image that was still inching towards the wall.

Just one sentence.

"Leave no one alive, devour their flesh and blood."

The Demon Grand Duke raised his head, and the bone blade hummed.

"Yes, ma'am."

The army moved.

No formation, no arrangement, just the most straightforward way to overpower.

The torrent of black and gold demonic armor crashed into the square from the sky, scattering the ranks of the Black River warriors.

The high priest unleashed his nine silver breath patterns at full power, creating a circular protective light shield around his body.

The light shield held for half a breath.

It was smashed to pieces by the bone sword of a demon lord.

They were slammed into the ground along with the high priest himself.

He crawled out of the pit, his left arm was gone, completely smashed from the shoulder down, with only a piece of bone sticking out.

He coughed up blood, crawled a couple of times, and was then trampled into the ground by the following demon army, where he never moved again.

The Black River warriors in the square were thrown into chaos.

Some ran towards the city gate, some knelt down and begged for mercy, and some took out their life's treasures and unleashed their strongest killing moves.

It blocked for a moment, two moments, and a third moment. The light of the magic weapon was extinguished by a large hand, crushed along with the caster's wrist, and thrown away.

Du Ziren's afterimage of the Divine Transformation Dharma Body retreated twelve steps in the chaos of battle, while the Yin Realm Origin desperately pressed outward, creating an extremely thick Origin Barrier on the outer perimeter.

Walk past the tallest of the three statues.

No bone knife was used.

He shoved the bone knife back behind his back, reached out a hand, and crushed the barrier of origin like paper. He then gripped the neck of the Nascent Soul avatar and lifted it up.

The Yin Realm Origin of the Divine Transformation Dharma Image continued to seep out from the Grand Duke's hands. The Dharma Image struggled for three breaths in mid-air before falling silent.

The Grand Duke threw the head, which was flowing with the golden essence of the underworld, at Zhou Ran's feet.

"The Dharma body of Du Ziren, the Ghost Emperor of the South."

The Grand Duke bowed his head.

"Demon Emperor, do you need the source of the Netherworld?"

Zhou Ran looked down.

Golden liquid seeped out from the incision in the neck bone, spreading out in a pool on the bone stone floor.

He picked up the head, weighed it in his hand, and put it into his storage space.

"Keep it."

He turned around and looked at Yama, who still had three large bone knives pressed against his throat.

"Yours isn't finished yet."

Yama, the King of Hell, was wandering around aimlessly like a headless fly.

The law of closure still applies to the entire square; no matter where you go, the result is the same.

He faced Zhou Ran, his face hidden by a mask, and the judge's pen at his waist was already drawn and gripped tightly in his hand, his knuckles taut and white.

Zhou Ran walked over to him.

The demon army swept across the rear, and the roars and the sounds of magical artifacts clashing filled the square. He couldn't keep up with their pace.

Stop five steps away from Yama, the King of Hell.

"Contain your Nascent Soul aura."

The tone of his voice was no different from when he said anything else.

"If you keep spreading out like this, I'm too lazy to wait. I'll just have them dismantle you for me."

Yama, the King of Hell, turned his head and glanced at the three demon dukes behind Zhou Ran.

One of them had its head bowed, a dark red master-servant mark etched on its neck, and remained still, hands hanging down, without uttering a word.

The aura of a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator slowly receded.

Zhou Ran approached.

What do you want?

Yama, the King of Hell, spoke.

"You need what you need in my sea of ​​consciousness: the complete defenses of the underworld, the distribution of power among the ten courts, and more..."

"Put that pen down first."

King Yama paused for a moment, then released his grip, the judge's pen hanging limply at the edge of his palm.

Zhou Ran extended his right hand, and the primordial energy and blood gathered from his palm, his five fingers slightly bent.

He had sensed the presence of Yama, the King of Hell, ever since their first encounter on the road to the underworld.

Half-step into the Divine Realm, comprehending authority from the fragments of laws that fell from the surface of the Heavenly Corpse, and then refining that authority into cultivation—this was the path the Ten Kings of Hell took.

That authority was within him, along with something else.

The core fragments of the illusory realm, hidden deep within, are as thin as a hair, but they do exist.

His outstretched hand did not grab Yama's neck.

Five fingers pressed into Yama's chest, and the laws of idealism traveled along the skin.

Yama, the King of Hell, changed his expression.

"What are you doing—"

"Quiet."

Zhou Ran probed inwards with his divine sense and touched that small fragment of the Void Realm core at the seven-inch mark.

The size of a fingernail, cool to the touch, with a grayish sheen.

He held it in place and pulled it out.

Yama's body trembled violently, black liquid seeped from all seven orifices, he let out a short, muffled groan, and his knees bent.

He gritted his teeth and held on.

Zhou Ran pulled out the fragment, held it in his palm, glanced at it, and then stored it in his mind.

Black blood was still seeping from Yama's seven orifices. He raised his head, his voice low and hoarse.

"Killing me won't do you any good."

The Holy Radiance Foundation has begun the final awakening ritual for the heart of the Heavenly Corpse.

"Killing me only severs the last line of defense in the underworld."

Zhou Ran withdrew his hand and wiped the remaining black blood on Yama's sleeve.

He paused for two breaths.

"You said something when you stopped me on the road to the underworld."

He looked at Yama, the King of Hell, his tone flat.

"You said, 'Wait until Zhou Ran gets fat before you slaughter him.'"

"The lives of 30 million people were your bargaining chips back then."

It was your idea to grind Xu Changsheng's bones into nails.

Those surrendered soldiers on their way to the underworld are a debt you owe them.

"Now tell me, will there be problems in the underworld without you?"

Zhou Ran raised his hand, and the primordial energy and blood condensed into a solid center in his palm.