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

"Twenty-seven years ago."

Zhou Ran stared at the endpoint where the red lines on the map converged.

Jiangcheng First Maternal and Child Hospital.

The place where Lin Qingxue was born.

No one in the courtyard spoke.

The wind passed through the patterns, and the black and gold light moved along the cracks in the stone.

Five hundred demon soldiers lined up in the outer circle. Their armor occasionally brushed against each other, but the sound of the wind quickly covered them up.

Lin Qingxue stood opposite Zhou Ran.

She couldn't see the map, but she clearly heard the name.

Jiangcheng First Maternal and Child Hospital.

She was born there.

Perhaps what's hidden there predates even birth records.

Zhou Ran spoke up: "This is not an ordinary ley line node."

Li Zhiyao pressed the ancient music plate against the edge of the map.

The ancient characters on the plate are oriented towards the northwest, and the characters shine in concentric circles.

"The gray line winds around the eastern city, around Mangshan Mountain, around the manor, and finally returns to the former site of the Women and Children's Hospital."

She pressed her fingertips against the plate, and the ancient characters continued to tilt in the same direction.

"They are returning to their nest."

Chen Ya flipped through the documents, her brow furrowed with fatigue.

That hospital was closed ten years ago.

After the new hospital campus moved out, the old building remained sealed off.

"The ownership changed hands several times, and finally ended up in the name of an overseas fund."

Qin San asked, "Sacred Radiance?"

Chen Ya shook her head.

"Shenghui cannot be found on the surface."

Zhou Ran said, "Investigate further down the line."

Chen Ya lowered her head and tapped the tablet.

Give me ten minutes.

Zhou Ran turned and left before she could finish her investigation.

Lin Qingxue reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"I'll go too."

Zhou Ran stopped.

"no."

Lin Qingxue clenched her fingers even tighter.

No one in the courtyard spoke.

Fatty Wang had just returned from dismantling a piece of Holy Radiance artifact, his face still covered in dust.

He glanced at Zhou Ran, then at Lin Qingxue, and silently took half a step back.

Interjecting at this point will likely result in being punished by both sides.

Lin Qingxue raised her head, her brows furrowed and her eyes half-open.

That's where I was born.

Zhou Ran replied, "That's why you absolutely can't go."

Why?

"You've just regained control of the Dharma, and your foundation isn't stable yet."

He looked at the red line on the map.

"The former site of the Women and Children's Hospital is the place where the Moon Emperor landed in the mortal world."

"Your going there means delivering what she wants to her doorstep."

Lin Qingxue paused for a moment.

Then she asked, "If you can block the door with your own body, why should I just lie here and wait?"

The array patterns in the courtyard dimmed slightly.

Lin Qingxue neither cried nor got angry.

She just stood there, her hand still clutching his sleeve beneath her white dress.

"Zhou Ran, I am not the patient on the cold jade bed."

"I know."

"you do not know."

She lowered her voice.

"You always say you know, but then you leave the most dangerous path to yourself."

"I don't want to follow the arrangements this time."

Zhou Ran did not respond.

He flipped his palm, and the white bone pen appeared.

Lin Qingxue sensed the brushstrokes and her expression changed.

"Are you going to write about me?"

"Write the definition of survival."

"Zhou Ran".

Her tone turned cold.

The atmosphere in the courtyard also became more subdued.

Xu Youwei glanced at Lin Qingxue, then looked at Zhou Ran.

Her right palm was wrapped with a strip of cloth, which covered the missing right eye of her left eye. The cloth was now clenched so tightly that it was wrinkled.

She knew better than anyone what it felt like to have your fate arranged for you.

Zhou Ran did not put pen to paper.

He looked at Lin Qingxue.

"I won't forbid you."

"But you have to stay alive to see the way."

Lin Qingxue did not answer.

Zhou Ran raised the white bone pen.

"Lin Qingxue stayed behind to guard the manor."

A flash of black light appeared in Lin Qingxue's brow and eyes.

The white bone pen stopped in mid-air.

She is resisting.

Zhou Ran stopped writing and changed the words.

"Lin Qingxue is the key figure in Jiangcheng's formation."

The first character fell.

The underground tidal array in the manor lit up.

"What Lin Qingxue saw was not the return of the Moon Emperor."

The second character fell.

The bluish-white light in her eyes was suppressed by black.

"If Lin Qingxue is drawn in, Zhou Ran will know it first."

The third character was completed.

Zhou Ran felt a burning sensation on the gray markings on his chest, as the backlash pressed into his body along with the contract.

Lin Qingxue's lip color was a little lighter.

She understood.

These three words did not trap her.

She stayed at the manor, not to lie down and wait for her fate.

She was to keep watch on the paths that the Moon Emperor couldn't see for Zhou Ran.

Zhou Ran put away the white bone pen.

"I need you to keep an eye on me."

Lin Qingxue loosened her sleeves.

"Did you misread it?"

Zhou Ran replied, "Then I admit it."

Fatty Wang muttered under his breath:

"Dude, what you're saying sounds like a boss trying to shift the blame."

Chen Ya looked up at him.

Fatty Wang immediately shut up.

Zhou Ran turned to the crowd.

"Li Zhiyao, Qin San, Xu Youwei, come with me."

"Fatty Wang continues dismantling the remnants of the Holy Radiance artifacts."

"Xiao Rou is staring at the gray line."

"The Three Great Dukes".

Three demon dukes stepped forward.

"exist."

"Each of you take a hundred demon soldiers and seal off the perimeter of the former site of the Women and Children's Hospital."

Zhou Ran lowered his voice.

"Even a fly that flies in has to announce its name first."

"Yes, sir."

Qin San looked at Xu Youning and the nine Penglai disciples who were being held captive in the corner.

"What happened to those who survived?"

Zhou Ran said, "Keep them at the manor, heavily guarded."

"Don't let the remnant soul of the First Ancestor awaken."

Qin San nodded.

"I'll have the demonic corpse guard it."

Xu Youwei walked to Zhou Ran's side.

Her right hand was wrapped with a strip of cloth.

Beneath the strip of cloth, Silver Eyes was unusually quiet.

Zhou Ran glanced at her.

"Afraid?"

Xu Youwei shook her head.

"I'm afraid I'll still go."

"reason."

"There lies the truth about Lin Qingxue, and also the truth about the eye in my palm."

She paused, then continued, "I don't want to wait for anyone else to tell me what I really am."

Zhou Ran nodded.

"Stay close."

Half an hour later.

Northwest of Jiangcheng.

Outside the old maternity and children's hospital.

Three hundred demon soldiers dispersed and took their positions, blocking the four street entrances.

Chen Ya used official resources in advance, under the pretext of a gas leak, to clear the surrounding three kilometers.

Ordinary people were evacuated to temporary shelters, and three layers of police tape were set up along the streets, with ambulances and engineering vehicles on standby in the distance.

The old hospital sat shrouded in gray fog.

The exterior walls of the building are mottled, and half of the red cross on the outpatient building has fallen off, with the remaining half hanging crookedly on the wall.

At the far end of the third floor, a red light was still on.

delivery room.

The red light in the delivery room, which had been out of use for ten years, still shines deep inside the abandoned building.

Qin San pressed down on the hilt of the knife.

"A living building?"

Li Zhiyao looked at the ancient law plate.

"It's not a living building."

She looked up at the third floor.

"Someone has designated this place as the location for that night."

Zhou Ran walked up the steps.

The hospital gate was unlocked.

He pushed the door open.

The door hinges made a screeching sound.

No dust settled.

The lobby was strangely clean.

The floor, wall tiles, and registration window were all wiped clean. The old hospital had been sealed off for ten years, but there was no musty smell or dust inside.

Behind the registration window, the queuing screen flashed briefly.

The red text pops up.

Please have the family members of delivery room number 3 pay the fees 27 years ago.

Wang Pangzi's voice came from the bone fragment.

"Brother, why do you still have payments to make?"

"Even the underworld wouldn't dare to be this dark now."

Zhou Ran replied, "Shut up and get to work."

Zhou Ran withdrew the bone fragment's senses and walked deeper into the corridor.

The doors to the wards on both sides were half-closed.

There was no one inside.

On each bed, there was a baby swaddle blanket.

There was no baby in the swaddle.

Only a grayish-white umbilical cord, coiled in circles in the cloth, with the end still attached to a dried-out playing card.

Xu Youwei paused, her breath catching in her throat.

Qin San whispered a reminder: "Don't look at the bed."