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

It took two full hours to travel the road to the underworld.

Qiao Kun led five underworld officials to clear the way, removing obstacles and removing stakes, followed by nearly a thousand remaining soldiers.

Meng Po walked beside Zhou Ran, carrying a bowl.

The soup noodles in the bowl kept sloshing around.

The further we went, the more violently it swayed.

Zhou Ran glanced at the bowl of noodles.

A crack was reflected in the yellowish-brown soup, and it was a bit wider than it had been half an hour ago.

The River of Oblivion is cracking.

As the fog ahead thinned, a golden curtain of light stretched across the sky and earth, cutting off the road to the underworld.

The screen was covered with inscriptions in dark script, each character slowly flowing, exuding the aura of authority of the orthodox underworld.

Qiao Kun stopped and turned around to shout at Zhou Ran.

"Grand Commander, we've arrived."

"The Barrier of Reincarnation in the Three Temples."

Behind the light curtain, a group of ghostly soldiers dressed in bronze armor stood in formation. The leader was a tall and thin man with his left arm severed at the elbow, the cut wrapped in black cloth. He held a bamboo scroll in his right hand.

The man saw Zhou Ran through the light screen and knelt on one knee.

"Warden Yan San of Black Rope Hell respectfully welcomes the Grand Commander into the palace."

Zhou Ran glanced at him.

Despite losing an arm, the aura of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator was still present, and the flow of magical power throughout his body was unimpeded.

"stand up."

Yan San stood up and pressed his right hand three times on the light screen. The golden inscriptions receded to the sides, revealing a passage ten feet wide.

Zhou Ran led his men through the fortifications.

Upon entering the territory of the Three Palaces, the concentration of Yin energy dropped by 30%, and a sense of order and discipline filled the air.

Yan San led the way, talking as they walked.

"The Palace Master is already waiting in the main hall, and King Qin Guang has also arrived."

He paused, then glanced at Zhou Ran.

"Grand Commander, the Palace Master has asked me to pass on a message."

"explain."

He said he would tell you everything you wanted to know, but after hearing it, you might regret coming.

Zhou Ran's lips twitched slightly.

"If I were afraid of regretting it, I wouldn't have jumped from the mortal world."

Yan San said no more and quickened his pace.

The main hall of the three halls was much smaller than Zhou Ran had imagined.

There was no magnificent throne for Yama, nor a grand court of judgment displaying all manner of things.

A stone table and a few wooden chairs.

A sheepskin map was spread out on the stone table.

A middle-aged man sat in a chair, holding a chess piece in his hand, staring intently at the parchment.

With regular features and a scholarly air about him, he looked more like a schoolteacher than a Yama, the ruler of life and death.

The master of the third hall is Emperor Song.

Across from the stone table, a golden mist floated in mid-air, and the outline of a figure could be vaguely seen within it.

The projection of King Qin Guang.

Zhou Ran sat down across the stone table without uttering a single polite word.

"What is that wreckage?"

Emperor Song placed the chess pieces in his hand on the table and pointed to the sheepskin map in front of him.

"See for yourself."

Zhou Ran lowered his head.

The parchment map depicts a cross-section of Jiangcheng's geological ley lines, extending from the surface to the deepest depths.

At the very bottom is a huge human figure outline.

Next to the outline, there are two words written on it.

Heavenly Corpse.

Zhou Ran stared at those two words for three breaths.

"What is it?"

Emperor Song leaned back in his chair, speaking in a flat tone, as if recounting old grievances from the next village.

"Tens of thousands of years ago, the Void Realm and the Underworld collided for the first time."

"The remains of a creator have fallen from the void."

Zhou Ran lowered his brows.

"The Creator?"

The projection of King Qin Guang spoke, its voice aged.

"The creators of the illusory realm have no names, no emotions, and no distinction between good and evil."

"They are the material manifestations of the will of the virtual world."

"There is only one responsibility."

The projection paused for a moment.

"definition."

Zhou Ran tapped his finger on the table.

"Define what?"

"The rules of a plane, the laws of physics, the laws of life and death."

Zhou Ran nodded slightly; this did indeed match the characteristics of that woman from the Void Realm.

Emperor Song took over the conversation and spun the chess piece halfway around the table.

"Back then, this celestial corpse fell into the mortal realm and landed right at the core of Jiangcheng's earth veins."

"The first generation of Yama Kings of the Underworld joined forces to suppress it, using its body as the foundation of the barrier between the Yin and Yang realms."

He looked up at Zhou Ran.

"In other words, part of the rules governing the separation of Yin and Yang are based on this celestial corpse."

Zhou Ran's Taihuangyuan Bone in his spine trembled.

The graveyards of countless civilizations I saw while spying in the virtual world flashed through my mind frame by frame.

"It's alive?"

Emperor Song shook his head.

"The Heavenly Corpse will not die; it is merely in a deep sleep."

"In its dormant state, its body automatically maintains the stability of the barrier."

King Qin Guang's projection floated forward half a step, his voice lowering even further.

"But if it wakes up, it will resume its duties."

"And as the creator of the virtual world, it has only one definition."

Zhou Ran waited for the next part.

"Erase everything that exists into nothingness and start anew."

The main hall was quiet for a few moments.

Zhou Ran spoke, his voice flat.

"How much of it is awake now?"

Emperor Song extended two fingers.

"Both eyes are open."

"The eyelid of the third eye is moving."

Zhou Ran leaned back in her chair, her fingers interlaced and resting in front of her abdomen.

"I severed thirty-six bone nails and lifelines in the mortal realm, and also stripped away the essence of the White Impermanence."

"Do these things affect it?"

Emperor Song nodded, his tone now carrying a hint of approval.

"What you did was more important than you think."

"The thirty-six bone nails are channels laid by the rebels, each one infusing the corpse with the life force of the living souls of the living world."

"By cutting off all the pipes, you've essentially cut off its food supply."

King Qin Guang added.

"After you refined the essence of Bai Wuchang, a portion of the authority of the underworld flowed into your golden core."

"This caused a deviation in the resonance frequency between the Heavenly Corpse and the Underworld."

"It could have opened its third eye within three days."

"Now, it will take at least seven days."

Zhou Ran's fingers stopped.

"Seven days?"

"No."

Emperor Song shook his head.

"For you, it's three days."

"The River of Oblivion cannot be sealed off for more than seven days."

"Three days later, the river will be sealed off, and the unclaimed souls left in the mortal world will be harvested by the rebels and sent to the battlefield."

"At that time, the rebel forces will increase dramatically, and the three palaces will be unable to hold out."

"Once the three palaces are breached, the rebels will be able to access the spine of the Heavenly Corpse on the Yin side."

Emperor Song pressed the chess piece heavily onto the sheepskin map, placing it precisely on the spine of the humanoid outline of the celestial corpse.

"The spine of the Heavenly Corpse runs through both the Yin and Yang realms."

"The section in the mortal realm is underground in Jiangcheng."

"This section of the underworld is right at the foot of the Third Palace."

"As long as the rebels touch the spine, they can forcibly awaken the Heavenly Corpse from the underworld side."

"It doesn't take seven days."

"It might only take a few hours."

Zhou Ran didn't speak, and five breaths passed.

He asked a question that no one had expected.

"Where are the Five Ghost Emperors?"

The projections of Emperor Song and King Qin Guang did not respond at the same time.

Zhou Ran gave a cold laugh.

"Are they all just watching the show?"

Emperor Song sighed and pushed his chair back.

"The situation of the Five Ghost Emperors is more complicated than you think."

Zhou Ran did not ask for further details.

Judging from his tone, he's not someone you can count on.

The projection of King Qin Guang took over the conversation.

"Du Ziren, the Ghost Emperor of the South, guards Mount Luofu."

"He wanted to help, but Mount Luofu was dealing with a wave of extraterrestrial evil spirits pouring in from the South China Sea and was unable to spare the time."

Zhou Ran nodded.

At least there's one person I want to help.

Emperor Song finally mentioned a name.

"The Central Ghost Emperor Zhou Qi guards Baodu Mountain."

His tone changed.

"This person has gone missing."

Zhou Ran raised an eyebrow.

"Out of contact?"

"In our last communication three months ago, he said there were unusual movements at the foot of Baodu Mountain."

"There has been no further news since."