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

Jiangcheng, Hilton Hotel, Presidential Suite.

The entire living room was transformed into a gloomy altar, with red candles dripping tears and paper money scattered everywhere.

An old Taoist priest dressed in a black robe and sporting a goatee held a peach wood sword, stood on the Seven Stars formation, and chanted incantations.

In the center of the altar, on a scarecrow, Xiao Zhenguo's name and birth date were clearly pasted.

"Old man Xiao, you have a path to heaven but choose not to take it, you have no gate to hell but choose to barge in!"

"You've ruined Young Master Song's grand plan; tonight is your death night!"

Master Huang's face was filled with resentment. He bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the peach wood sword!

hum!

The sword immediately emitted a dazzling red light.

He raised his longsword high, aiming it at the scarecrow's skull, ready to deliver the final, soul-snatching blow!

Just stab it!

Xiao Zhenguo, who is hundreds of miles away, will surely be annihilated. Even if a celestial being descended to earth, he would be powerless to save him!

But just as the tip of the sword was about to touch the straw man...

A sudden change has occurred!

The candles that were originally flickering upwards on the altar suddenly sank downwards, turning into a chilling, eerie green!

Master Huang's heart pounded wildly.

What happened?

Before he could even figure it out, the lifeless scarecrow began to tremble violently on its own.

next second.

From the dark, cursed hole in the scarecrow's abdomen, a stream of purplish-black flames spewed forth.

The flames had no temperature, yet they possessed the power to burn away even the most divine soul.

"This is... demonic fire?!"

"impossible!

In such a degenerate age, how could there be any true demonic cultivators!

Master Huang let out a strange cry that didn't sound human, and instinctively tried to throw away the peach wood sword.

But he found that the sword hilt was stuck firmly to his palm and he couldn't shake it off at all!

The purplish-black demonic fire, like maggots clinging to bones, instantly spread along the sword to his arm!

what--!

A bloodcurdling scream, so piercing it was almost unbearable, echoed throughout the entire hotel floor!

The curse he had just cast on Xiao Zhenguo was amplified a hundredfold and returned to him!

"puff!"

Master Huang coughed up a mouthful of black blood and collapsed to the ground like a limp rag.

He watched helplessly as the altar he had painstakingly set up over ten years exploded, and the statue of the evil god he worshipped cracked inch by inch!

"My cultivation... it's the culmination of ten years of arduous practice!"

Master Huang let out a desperate wail.

boom!

The door was violently kicked open.

Qian Jin, the vice president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, rushed in with several bodyguards, his face beaming.

"Master Huang! Is it done? Has old man Xiao already...?"

Qian Jin's words caught in his throat halfway through.

He used to be a sage-like figure, a Hong Kong master who was arrogant and aloof.

At this moment, his body was charred black, he was convulsing on the ground, spitting out black foam, and emitting a foul stench of burnt flesh.

"This...this..."

……

At the same time, at the Xiao Family Manor.

The eerie wind in the cemetery behind the mountain suddenly stopped, the dark clouds that had shrouded the night sky quietly dispersed, and the cool moonlight once again bathed the earth.

Inside the bedroom.

Xiao Zhenguo, whose face was originally ashen and whose breathing was weak, trembled violently.

"Wow!"

The old man suddenly turned to the side and spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling, viscous black blood.

As the black blood left his body, the deathly aura on his face receded like a tide, and he quickly regained some of his long-lost rosy complexion.

"grandfather!"

Xiao Hongli burst into tears of joy and rushed over to support the old man.

Xiao Zhenguo opened his eyes; though his gaze was still tired, it had regained its clarity.

He exhaled a long breath, his gaze sweeping over the anxious crowd before finally settling on Zhou Ran, who remained calm and composed.

He never wanted to experience that feeling of his soul being choked and about to be dragged into endless darkness again in his life!

"Xiao Zhou...again..."

"You saved this old man's life again."

Xiao Zhenguo's voice was weak, but his eyes were filled with awe and gratitude.

In his nightmare just now, he saw a black serpent that seemed to devour him.

At the critical moment, a colossal hand burning with purple demonic flames descended from the sky and crushed the black snake with a single, gentle squeeze!

Who else could possess such an arrogant and domineering air, looking down on the world and regarding all things as ants, but this unfathomable young man before them?

Zhou Ran smiled, her tone calm.

"You flatter me, sir."

"Since we're all family, this is just our duty."

The words "family" made Xiao Hongli's pretty face turn bright red instantly.

She stole a glance at Zhou Ran, her eyes sparkling with a seductive charm.

Chen Ya glanced at him with a meaningful smile, her eyes containing three parts teasing and seven parts pride.

"Alright, stop being so cheeky."

Chen Ya stepped forward and expertly tucked the blanket around Xiao Zhenguo.

"The old man has just woken up and needs to rest. Let's go out first."

"The culprit who did this has been dealt with by Zhou Ran, so I can finally get a good night's sleep tonight."

Zhou Ran nodded.

"The hundredfold backlash has taken effect; the caster will be crippled, if not killed."

"In the short term, the Song family shouldn't be able to find a more powerful feng shui master to send to their death."

The group left the room.

As soon as she closed the door, Xiao Hongli could no longer hold back.

She grabbed Zhou Ran's arm and pressed her soft body tightly against him, as if she wanted to embed herself into him.

"Zhou Ran, thank you..."

Her voice was soft and sweet, carrying a sense of reliance and lingering fear after surviving the ordeal.

Zhou Ran looked down at the little woman in his arms, who was acting coquettishly, and was about to tease her a bit.

A sharp pain shot through the soft flesh of my lower back!

"hiss!"

Zhou Ran gasped, then turned to see Chen Ya smiling as she withdrew her hand.

"Now that the crisis is over, it's time for us to settle the score."

Chen Ya crossed her arms, exuding a queen-like aura.

"Just now at the cemetery, someone was quite the big shot, with demonic fire and blood talismans."

"Shouldn't you reveal how many other skills you have that we 'insiders' don't know about?"

Zhou Ran chuckled twice:

"Sister Ya, I was just afraid of scaring you..."

Don't give me that.

Chen Ya stretched out her slender, jade-like fingers and drew circles on Zhou Ran's firm chest.

"Tonight, come to my room. I'm going to conduct an 'in-depth interrogation' of you."

"Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely."

Lin Qingxue, who had been silent the whole time, lowered her head silently upon hearing these suggestive words, her ears turning red.

She subtly pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, pretending to be invisible.

……

The next day, early in the morning.

Jiangcheng, an extraordinary gym.

Even on weekday mornings, the gym is already bustling with activity and filled with the aroma of perfume.

Since Zhou Ran's return, this place has become a must-visit spot for Jiangcheng's top socialites and wealthy ladies.

Those usually reserved and elegant wealthy women were now dressed in figure-hugging yoga clothes, sweating profusely in the equipment area.

Of course, most of their gazes were drawn to the young man leisurely drinking tea in the rest area.

"Boss Zhou, do you think my glute bridge posture is correct?"

I feel like I'm applying force from the wrong point.

"Ranran, my chest feels really tight lately, could you massage it for me?"

Zhou Ran was holding a thermos cup filled with goji berries.

Faced with this group of beautiful women, he could only put on a standard, stiff business smile.

Just as he was about to call out Fatty Wang to "take the bullet"...

Fatty Wang rushed out of the manager's office in a panic, his face ashen.

"Boss! Something terrible has happened!"