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

Chapter 311 The Gears Stop Turning

The manor's underground secret chamber.

Zhou Ran sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, his three-colored dantian swirling with light that flickered on and off.

His cultivation at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm had only been stable for less than a month.

Although the four fundamental forces were forcibly kneaded together by the laws of idealism, a subtle tearing sensation still emanated from the depths of the meridians each time the Yin-Yang Technique was activated.

Four stray dogs with different temperaments were tied to the same rope. They appeared to be well-behaved, but secretly they were biting each other.

Zhou Ran closed her eyes and breathed steadily.

He didn't rush to the outskirts of the city to track down Xu Changsheng's whereabouts.

Given that old man's skills, it wouldn't be difficult for him to find something.

Qin San dragged his still-growing skin in, carrying a stack of yellowed files and several rubbings engraved with ancient text.

"Boss."

"explain."

"I've dug up everything I could find about the Jiangcheng ley line remains that you asked me to investigate."

Qin San placed the rubbing on the ground, squatted down, and pointed to the characters on it.

"There's a construction record in the old archives of the Urban Construction Bureau from the 1950s that says they unearthed an 'unidentified skeleton' when they were building a civil defense structure."

The construction team foreman went mad that night and bit off his own tongue.

"And then?"

"It's been filled back in."

The instructions above simply stated: "Refill the site at its original location."

Qin San flipped over the second one.

"In the 1960s, they made another one. This time it was even more outrageous. The drilling rig that broke through the rock layer caught fire on its own, and seven people burned to death in the well."

Zhou Ran frowned slightly.

It's not because of dead people.

It's because of the timeline.

In the 1950s, in the 1960s, and now, as Bai Xuan said, "it has come back to life."

The intervals are getting shorter and shorter.

"Qin San".

"exist."

"Go and compare each of the three possibilities Bai Xuan mentioned with these old files."

Zhou Ran opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the character "bone" on the rubbing, its strokes thickened.

The Golden Core of the Mind rotated half a circle in the dantian, and a pure divine sense flew out from the Mud Palace, enveloping the entire manor.

Everyone's presence was within his perception range.

Chen Ya meditated in the east wing, and the wood-type spiritual energy in her meridians was 30% more stable than last month.

Xiao Hongli moved in and out of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Soul Array, with a few wisps of unclean Yin energy hanging from the hem of her clothes.

Su Qingling and Su Qingwu squeezed together around the heavy water vat, one wringing out her wet hair, the other lying on the edge of the vat in a daze.

The black-gold baby dragon was curled up in the corner of the greenhouse, dozing off, its scales still covered with unwashed lava slag.

Li Zhiyao is not at the manor.

She said she went to find Fengxi to deliver a message, and she has been gone for three days.

He had a vague feeling.

Jiangcheng is eerily calm.

Zhou Ran withdrew his divine sense and immersed himself in cultivation again, focusing his attention back on the restless golden core in his dantian.

......

at the same time.

suburbs.

Xu Changsheng leaned against the bridge pier.

The Tang suit on my chest was frozen as hard as a sheet of iron, and the fabric made a crackling sound with every breath.

He glanced down at the pocket watch parts scattered in the sewage.

Second hand.

Minute hand.

gear.

Wind-up.

It's all broken.

The coppery luster gradually dimmed, making it look no different from an outdated light bulb.

"Seventh Brother, if you're going to take action, why beat around the bush?"

Xu Changsheng coughed up a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth.

Su Xiaoxiao stood barefoot three steps away.

His grayish-white pupils showed no sign of life.

The black bloodstains on the white robe froze into ice crystals in the cold, falling off piece by piece into the sewage without even a bubble.

She didn't rush to act; the power of Bai Wuchang surged within her.

"Xu Changsheng".

She spoke.

Her tone of voice reverted to Su Xiaoxiao's, soft to the point of sounding fake.

But beneath this soft exterior lies a hatred seeping from the very marrow of one's bones.

"How long have you been with him?"

"Not long."

Xu Changsheng wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"But that's enough."

"Enough of what?"

"Enough for me to see clearly."

He paused for a moment.

"That kid deserves it."

Su Xiaoxiao's face twitched.

"worth".

The two words pierced her ears, making her feel even more uncomfortable than the chains of the underworld she had just heard.

Those two words are what she hates most.

Back when she was by Zhou Ran's side.

He's a poor coach, stubborn, and all he knows how to do is teach others squats and bench presses.

She gave him so many hints, but he couldn't catch any of them.

Nobody thought Zhou Ran was worth it.

She herself didn't realize it.

What now?

A reincarnator who has lived countless lifetimes would risk completely scattering his essence to shield him.

On what grounds?

Su Xiaoxiao didn't say anything more.

She raised her right hand.

Five pale fingers spread open, and a white chain flew out from the cuff.

It wasn't aimed at Xu Changsheng's chest, but at his hand.

To be precise, it was aimed at the direction of his right pocket.

She saw it.

Xu Changsheng kept his right hand in his pocket, his thumb resting on a hard object.

That was a defensive jade slip given to me by Zhou Ran.

"Seventh Brother has a good eye."

Xu Changsheng did not withdraw his hand.

He was indeed waiting for an opportunity.

The defensive jade slip contained a mental barrier at the Golden Core stage that Zhou Ran possessed.

The instant it's crushed, it can sustain an absolute defense for three breaths.

Three breaths.

Enough for him to tear a hole and run out of the bridge arch.

But the prerequisite is that he still possesses sufficient resources.

The chains have arrived.

The soul-snatching aura of Bai Wuchang is not the same as ordinary cold air.

It doesn't freeze the skin and flesh, but the very foundation upon which the soul operates.

Xu Changsheng's reincarnation source had just completely nourished that bronze light screen, leaving his meridians empty and unable to even sustain the most basic spiritual energy circulation.

Without spiritual power, one cannot activate the array patterns on the jade slip.

His fingers were frozen in his pocket, his thumb resting on the edge of the jade slip, unable to move an inch.

"You can't move anymore, can you?"

Su Xiaoxiao tilted her head to look at him, as if she were looking at a mouse that had fallen into a sticky trap.

Xu Changsheng looked down at his stiff right hand.

Laughed.

He pulled out a piece of yellow paper from behind his back with his left hand. He had bitten his tongue and soaked it in blood beforehand, and had prepared it before leaving the house.

The reincarnated person spent his entire life delivering messages.

How could we not have a backup plan?

The blood-stained paper was folded twice with the fingertips, forming a rough paper crane with extremely fast movements.

Xu Changsheng poured his last breath into the paper crane.

Paper cranes shot out from between the fingers, flying outwards close to the top wall of the bridge arch.

fast.

But the white chain is faster.

Su Xiaoxiao didn't even turn her head to look at the paper crane.

A second chain shot out from her left sleeve and embedded itself directly into the bridge pier.

The blood-stained paper crane, frozen into an ice sculpture by the cold air, hung on the cement wall, its wings slightly upturned, like a specimen.

"Look."

Su Xiaoxiao walked up to the paper crane and pinched it. The ice shards crunched and crackled.