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

"Ten minutes."

Chen Ya's voice became hoarse.

"Three hundred and twenty-seven people have been confirmed dead."

More than a hundred people suffered physical dislocations, and the hospitals were completely overflowing.

Fatty Wang didn't understand.

What is physical misalignment?

Chen Ya glanced up at him.

"Someone lost their left arm, but the cut was clean, without a drop of blood."

Someone's lungs have grown into the wall.

There's someone whose torso is half here, panting, while the other half lies three kilometers away.

Fatty Wang opened his mouth, but this time he couldn't utter a single word of the swear words he usually had on his lips.

Zhou Ran closed his eyes.

Take a breath.

Two breaths.

When I opened my eyes, all the warmth was gone.

"We cannot wait for the Song emperor to show his face any longer."

Li Zhiyao understood.

"You're going to seal off the earth's ley lines?"

"Um."

No sooner had these words left her mouth than Lin Qingxue, who was standing beside the platform, stood up, supporting herself on the edge of the platform.

"My blood resonates with Yue Zhao's body."

She wiped away the bluish-white blood that had seeped from the corner of her eye.

"The Heavenly Corpse is using gray threads to bind Jiangcheng, but my blood can lock up the earth's veins."

Zhou Ran's brow twitched.

These words should have come from his mouth.

She spoke first.

Li Zhiyao reached out and pressed down on her shoulder.

"You will die."

Lin Qingxue ignored her, her eyes fixed on the dark golden light in the bone fragment.

"He won't die."

"He hasn't come back yet, I can't die."

Zhou Ran felt a sharp, tug at his chest.

He opened his mouth as if to tell her to sit back down, but then swallowed the words back down his throat.

Trying to persuade her at this point would be a complete waste of breath.

"Take her to the heart of the manor."

Chen Ya turned and left.

"The spare array plate on the third basement level is still there."

"Light up all the spirit stones."

"Yes."

Three minutes later, the underground array core of the manor was activated.

A circular array plate is embedded in the ground, with array patterns spreading out into a network that connects to the earth's veins throughout the entire Jiangcheng.

Lin Qingxue walked to the center of the array plate.

With a flick of the wrist.

A bluish-white blood gushed out, flowing continuously down the skin and flesh in a line.

The blood fell into the array plate, condensing into strands of light that spread outwards along the array grooves.

At the same time, deep within the heart of the Heavenly Corpse, Zhou Ran raised his hand and plunged his five fingers into his own chest.

He forced out the essence of the Primordial Desolation, and black-gold blood beads floated in his palm.

Using the bone fragment, he sent the drop of essence into the center of the formation.

Two drops of blood touched.

The array plate trembled, and a low rumble echoed from the ground.

Black gold and cyan white intertwined into a torrent, surging towards Jiangcheng along the earth's veins.

Underground, fifteen thousand gray lines trembled all at once, rushing back towards the torrent like living creatures.

The gray filaments wrapped around the torrent of black and gold, tightening desperately.

Zhou Ran let out a groan, blood trickled from his nose, and his nascent soul throbbed painfully in his dantian.

The situation is even worse for Lin Qingxue.

As soon as I stood still, I fell forward.

Li Zhiyao rushed forward to support him.

"Don't let her fall."

Zhou Ran's voice was already hoarse. "The moment she collapsed, the earth's veins were severed."

Fatty Wang lunged forward, bracing his hands against Lin Qingxue's back, and forcefully poured Buddhist energy into her.

"Sister-in-law, hang in there!"

Xiao Rou channeled the Gu Qi into her wrist, stopping the bleeding.

Bai Xuan's mycelium burrowed into the cracks of the array plate, pressing down on the erosion of the void realm inch by inch.

half an hour.

A battle that no one could see was fought underground in Jiangcheng.

The gray line was cut off, but it reappeared in the blink of an eye.

The black and gold torrent surged forward an inch, only to be pulled back half an inch by the gray line.

Zhou Ran bled from all seven orifices, his hands pressing down hard on the Grand Commander's Order and the Taihuang Black Blade.

"retreat."

The gray line does not fade.

"I'm telling you to back out!"

The nascent soul opened its eyes.

The purple-gold law surged outwards in all directions.

More than 10,000 gray lines underground emitted an inaudible scream together.

The torrent of black gold finally overwhelmed the gray tide.

The numbers continue to move down.

Thirteen thousand.

Ten thousand.

8,700.

Li Zhiyao stared at the array plate, her voice trembling.

"It's stable now."

The fire in the eastern district is still burning, and rescue boats are shuttling back and forth on the river.

The hospital lights stretched out in a continuous line.

The crack in the sky stopped growing larger.

The twisted spaces on the street slowly returned to their original state.

Lin Qingxue finally couldn't hold on and collapsed into the light and shadow of the laws that Zhou Ran had conjured from afar.

Zhou Ran reached out and caught it.

Separated by the two realms, he could only hold a phantom in his arms, yet he still held it tightly.

He lowered his voice.

"Go to sleep."

Lin Qingxue did not respond.

Her face was completely drained of color, and blood was still seeping from her wrist.

Zhou Ran's eyes were bloodshot.

At this moment, Qin San rushed into the basement, clutching a newly arrived intelligence report in his hand, and spoke in a very low voice.

"Boss."

"The people from Penglai Pavilion kidnapped Xu Youwei and took her to the Dongcheng Cultural Center."

Zhou Ran looked up.

Qin San gritted his teeth.

"They want to sacrifice her to open the left eye of the Heavenly Corpse."

No one spoke in the basement; only the array plate continued to ring softly.

Zhou Ran, holding Lin Qingxue's illusory figure, raised his head.

"Who tied him up?"

Qin San handed the intelligence to Li Zhiyao.

"Penglai Discipline Hall".

"The one leading the group is Xu Zhenhai, the second protector of Elder Xu."

Fatty Wang didn't react for a moment.

"Isn't Hsu Yu-wei Old Master Hsu's biological granddaughter?"

Qin San made his words even harsher.

"It is precisely because she is my own granddaughter that she is qualified to be a sacrificial offering."

Zhou Ran looked towards the other end of the living room.

At the other end of the bone fragment, Old Xu was still in the manor, and he heard these words as well.

Old Xu showed no outward movement, only lightly tapping the ground with his bamboo cane.

Zhou Ran's words came from the bone fragment.

"Mr. Xu, give us an explanation."

Old Xu remained silent for a moment.

"The order was not issued by me."

Li Zhiyao scoffed.

"How dare the Penglai Discipline Hall kidnap Xu Youwei without the Pavilion Master's order?"

Old Xu looked at her.

"Girl, Penglai is not the Xiao family manor."

"Even in a place I've guarded for 30,000 years, there's always someone more afraid of losing than I am."

This sounds like an explanation.

Zhou Ran, however, sensed something else.

Mr. Xu was aware of the situation.

Even if we take a step back, he at least guessed it.

The deal he proposed earlier was to help Lin Qingxue suppress the backlash in exchange for Zhou Ran taking Penglai alone into the heart of the Heavenly Corpse.

That's not cooperation; it's clearly just stalling for time.

The Dongcheng Cultural Center, the projection of the Heavenly Corpse's left eye onto the mortal realm.

Penglai wanted to use Xu Youwei's pure Yin body as a starting point to bypass Zhou Ran and forcefully open her left eye.

What a remarkable feat, guarding it for 30,000 years.

In the end, they even used it as a sacrifice for their own family members.

Zhou Ran chuckled softly.

When Fatty Wang heard this laughter, his scalp tingled.

Having known Zhou Ran for so many years, he knew that this smile had nothing to do with happiness; it meant he was plotting to kill.

"Chen Ya".

"exist."

"Take care of Qingxue."

"Yes."

"A death trap has been set up in the basement."

With a flick of his finger, Zhou Ran sent a black-gold law into the array plate.

"Apart from you, Li Zhiyao, Xiao Rou, Bai Xuan, Fatty Wang, and Qin San, anyone who gets within ten feet of Lin Qingxue will be killed."

Chen Ya nodded.

"clear."

Fatty Wang eagerly spoke up.

"I'll go with you."

Qin San took a step forward.

Count me in.

Zhou Ran glanced at the two of them.

"The East City Cultural Center is currently where the Heavenly Corpse's left eye has awakened. When the laws of the city are in disarray, it's at least ten times worse than the manor."

Fatty Wang patted his chest.

"I have thick skin and a tough body."

"If someone enters during the Golden Core stage, they will be torn to pieces by the laws of the Void Realm within three breaths."

Fatty Wang's facial muscles twitched.

"Then I'll stay outside and provide backup."

"You will guard the manor."

Zhou Ran's words left no room for negotiation.

"While I'm away, Lin Qingxue can't afford to cause any more trouble."

Fatty Wang fell silent.

This sentence is more effective than any command.

Qin San lowered his head.

"Then I'll guard the street corner."

"it is good."

Zhou Ran turned to Xiao Rou.

"The Gu worms spread across three kilometers outside the manor."

"The remnants of Penglai, Yinsi, and Shenghui—anyone who gets close will have their cultivation crippled."

Xiao Rou nodded.

"Yes."

The mycelium of the white mycelium wrote words on the ground.

"Dongcheng has a left eye."

"I will see you."