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

"Grandpa will take you back to Penglai."

Inside Xu Youning's cracked skin, the face of a young man was facing Xu Youwei.

She even imitated Xu Changling's voice.

He recreated that old gentleness very well.

At dusk in the ancestral hall, ascendant ash fell beside the bronze incense burner, the image of Xu Changling bending down to straighten her sword hilt was also forcibly brought to mind by this sentence.

Xu Youwei's finger twitched.

The silver eye in the palm must be opened.

Zhou Ran raised his hand and gripped her wrist.

Don't look at that face.

Xu Youwei forced out two words.

"I understand."

Of course she understands.

But that face was someone she had looked up at since she was a child.

He taught her how to hold a sword, how to recite ancient verses, and personally sent her to the sacrificial altar.

The area around the left eye was covered in gray and white.

Nine disciples of the Penglai Discipline Hall lay on the ground, their meridians destroyed, half of the silver needle between their eyebrows knocked out, and blood flowing down their noses.

Xu Youning stood in the center of the sacrificial array, her soul pouch in her abdomen already cracked open.

An old face floated inside the soul pouch.

Beneath the skin, that young face reached out to Xu Youwei again.

"Youwei".

"Penglai gave you birth, raised you, and taught you ancient laws."

"The Xu family bloodline has been dedicated to preserving the family line since its very first generation."

"You should come back."

Zhou Ran smiled.

The laughter was silent, yet it was clearly audible in this desolate place.

"To preserve the world?"

He raised the Taihuang Black Blade, its tip pointing towards the ground.

"Will you wait until you use your granddaughter to open your eyes, use Jiangcheng to feed the corpses, and gamble thirty million lives on the resurrection of the Moon Emperor?"

The young face turned to Zhou Ran.

The feigned gentleness has dissipated.

The aged face inside the soul pouch also opened its eyes.

Both faces spoke at the same time.

"An alien demonic species."

"You don't understand the predicament of the Heavenly Dao on Earth."

"The celestial corpses have fallen to earth, and the illusory realm is pressing down upon us. If it weren't for Penglai's 30,000 years of protection, Earth would have shattered long ago."

"Sacrifice one person to ensure the continuation of another world."

"Sacrifice one city to save one star from destruction."

"Why not?"

Among the nine disgraced disciples, one of them propped himself up on one side, blood oozing from between his teeth.

"The patriarch was right..."

"Without Penglai, there would be no Earth as we know it today..."

A demonic corpse raised its foot and stomped the disciple's face back to the ground.

Zhou Ran didn't even turn his head.

"I said I'd spare your life, so you might as well interrupt."

The disciple had several broken teeth, and only the sound of air leaking from his throat could be heard.

The surrounding area quieted down.

Xu Youwei stared at the First Ancestor.

Her eyes were so dry they felt sore, but she couldn't even shed a tear.

"So I have never been a disciple since birth."

"I am the material."

The First Ancestor answered very directly.

"You are of the Xu family bloodline."

"The Xu family has enjoyed the sustenance of Penglai, and should therefore return to Penglai."

Hsu Yu-wei asked, "What if I don't want to?"

The First Ancestor said, "Bloodline is not determined by willingness."

Hsu Yu-wei then asked, "Do my parents know?"

The First Ancestor did not respond.

Xu Youwei stared at him.

"They've been included in your ancestral precepts too?"

The First Ancestor's aged face showed signs of annoyance.

"Human life is short, why get trapped in petty emotions?"

Xu Youwei smiled.

A very short sound.

Blood dripped from her palm, her silver eyes lit up in the blood, but were pressed back into her palm by the black and gold contract markings.

"So the so-called righteousness of Penglai is to disregard whether one is willing or not."

"So the ancestral teachings are that the ancestors eat the food of their descendants, and the descendants have to kneel down and thank them."

A shadow fell over the eyes of the First Ancestor.

"presumptuous."

The ashen sky trembled.

More silver-gray liquid seeped from the closed left eye of the Heavenly Corpse, flowing along the ground gullies towards the sacrificial array.

Xu Youwei did not back down.

She took a step forward.

This time, Zhou Ran didn't stop her.

She stood beside Zhou Ran and spoke to the face bearing the features of Xu Changling, one sentence at a time.

I owe Lin Qingxue half a eye.

"We owe Jiangcheng a testimony."

"We owe an explanation to those you killed."

"But I don't owe any debts to our cannibalistic ancestors."

As soon as he finished speaking, the silver eye in his palm twitched violently.

The faces of the nine disciples from the Discipline Hall changed color.

The young face inside Xu Youning's body also twitched.

Zhou Ran turned his head and glanced at her.

Row.

This girl really stood up.

From offerings to creditors.

The First Ancestor said coldly, "The Xu family bloodline dares to betray their ancestor."

Xu Youwei said, "If our ancestors were human, I would respect them."

"If my ancestors are ghosts, I will kill them."

Zhou Ran raised the white bone pen.

"Well said."

His palms were still healing, and blood trickled down the pen.

The white bone pen hangs in mid-air, its tip aimed at the First Ancestor.

When the First Ancestor saw the white bone pen, a change finally appeared in his eyes.

"The right hand holds the pen..."

"You actually took it."

Zhou Ran said, "Not many, just a few questions will suffice."

The First Ancestor sneered.

"You think you can judge me just because you have the power to punish me?"

Zhou Ran didn't argue with him.

He only wrote two words.

Ask your heart.

Bloody words fell.

There was no thunder, no strange light.

The gray-white ground sank an inch.

The Heavenly Corpse's left eyelid twitched.

The First Ancestor's expression finally changed.

His aged face seemed to want to close his mouth.

It won't close.

The rule of the White Bone Pen has nothing to do with judgment.

It only records.

It doesn't ask about right or wrong.

It needs facts.

Zhou Ran spoke.

"Xu Wentian".

"Back when you entered the left eye of the Heavenly Corpse, did you actively make a deal with the remnant spirit of the Moon Emperor?"

The First Ancestor did not answer.

Xu Youning's skin began to twitch.

The old face inside the soul pouch wanted to shrink back in.

The white bone pen trembled.

The blood-red characters "Question My Heart" were etched into his brow.

The progenitor let out a suppressed growl from his throat.

Then he spoke.

"Yes."

The nine disciples of the Discipline Hall shrank back.

Zhou Ran continued, "What are the details of the transaction?"

The first ancestor's eyes showed a sudden surge of silver-gray color.

"I... offer up the protection of Penglai for thirty thousand years as a sacrifice."

"To mend the gate for the Moon Emperor."

"After she is resurrected, she will help me break through the shackles of the Heavenly Dao on Earth."

This statement has been made.

The nine disciples were even struggling to breathe.

A disgraced disciple looked up, half his face covered in mud and ash, his eyes unfocused.

"wrong……"

"Master, didn't you say... for the sake of Blue Star..."

The First Ancestor wanted to shut up.

The rules of conscience weighed on him, so he could only continue speaking.

"The Heavenly Dao of Blue Star is incomplete."

"The Nascent Soul stage is the end."

"I am not reconciled."

"If the Moon Emperor returns, the Void Realm will devour stars, and the old Heavenly Dao will collapse. I can then use the rules of the new realm to complete my tribulation and ascend to a higher realm."

The fervor in the eyes of the nine disciples was shattered by these few words.

Xu Youwei steadied her grip on the broken hairpin.

She looked at the First Ancestor.

"So what Penglai has been guarding for 30,000 years is not actually the Earth."

Zhou Ran continued.

"What I'm guarding is your old dog's dream of ascension."

The First Ancestor turned to Zhou Ran.

"shut up!"

Zhou Ran picked up his pen and wrote another character.

"real."

The blood-red words were nailed into the void.

Scenes from the past emerge behind the First Ancestor.

The left eye area from 30,000 years ago.

The young man, Xu Wentian, knelt before the silver eyeshadow and presented the bronze ruler with both hands.

The Moon Emperor lowered his eyes in regret.

He said, "I am willing to guard this corpse for 30,000 years, only asking that on the day the Emperor returns, he grants me the path to break through the boundary."

The image fades away.

The nine disciples completely collapsed.

Someone burst out laughing.

He was laughing for a while when he vomited blood.

"guard……"

"What are we guarding...?"

Xu Youwei closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes, all that remained in them was a coldness as sharp as a knife.

The First Ancestor's aged face lost its composure.

"Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trivial matters!"

"If I succeed in transcending the tribulation, I can protect the Blue Star for eternity!"

Zhou Ran said:

"You're using Earth as firewood first, and then you talk about protecting the fire?"

"A logical genius."

Ye Futian sneered in his sea of ​​consciousness.

"If this old man were in the Demon Realm, he wouldn't even be considered a beginner in scamming."