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

Chapter 453 Zhao Tao Returns to His Post

Han Yue's soul trembled, and he grabbed the broken halberd, intending to withdraw.

"withdraw!"

Zhou Ran raised his hand, his voice not loud, but it drowned out the noise in the hall.

Military status frozen.

The broken Grand Commander's seal on his palm lit up, spreading out golden light and directly imprinting itself on the ground.

Beneath the feet of all the rebellious ghost soldiers, their respective military records appeared out of thin air, their names locked firmly by a domineering black-gold rune, unable to move.

Han Yue growled, and countless gray lines twisted and emerged from the empty eye socket.

"Yama, the King of Hell, is immortal!"

Zhou Ran flashed forward and was already in front of Han Yue.

The Taihuang Black Blade pressed down, and with a crisp sound, the broken halberd in Han Yue's hand shattered into pieces.

Immediately following a powerful kick to the chest, Han Yue was forced to kneel before the Yinlu Well, his body bent over.

Zhou Ran reached out and pressed his head down, slamming his face against the well opening, forcing him to look directly at the densely packed, wronged souls below.

"call."

Han Yue gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Zhou Ran increased the force of his blow, and Han Yue's head slammed against the stone wall of the well, his soul shaking violently.

"Call your master out so he can see clearly!"

Han Yue trembled uncontrollably, and deep in the well, the laughter of Yama, the King of Hell, disappeared.

Zhou Ran picked up the white bone pen and wrote a character heavily after Han Yue's name.

"Lock."

The chain of judgment shot out from the well, piercing Han Yue's collarbone and pinning him to the well's edge.

A sharp wail echoed throughout the hall.

One after another, the rebel leaders of the Fifth and Seventh Palaces were imprisoned by the chains of trial.

The once orderly array of Yin soldiers instantly fell into disarray, losing all will to fight.

Emperor Song's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, but he remained silent in the end.

Zhou Ran turned to look at him.

"Still trying to stop me?"

Emperor Song lowered his eyes, looking at the injustices that kept churning in the Yin Law Well.

His eyes showed weariness and struggle, which ultimately turned into self-reproach.

He exhaled slowly, his voice hoarse:

"I couldn't stop this."

"I...shouldn't have stopped them."

The vibrations at Yinlu Well became increasingly violent.

The first batch of wrongful convictions have begun to be retried.

The cries of those wronged souls were no longer shrill, but gradually faded, as if in the long night, someone had finally lit a lamp for them and was willing to listen to them finish speaking.

Fatty Wang leaned against the palace door, looking at the scene, and couldn't help but rub his nose.

"elder brother."

"This job is much more troublesome than dismantling that pile of junk from Sheng Hui."

Zhou Ran asked, "Are you scared?"

Fatty Wang grinned and patted the Buddhist prayer beads hanging on his chest.

"I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid."

"I just think that those bastards in the underworld have a really disgusting way of behaving."

Emperor Song, standing by the well, heard everything clearly. His facial muscles tightened, but he did not utter a word in rebuttal.

Because it cannot be refuted.

As the first batch of wrongful convictions were about to be concluded, the Yin Law Well began to churn on its own, and a particularly worn and stained account book was pushed to the surface.

The ledger turned to the last page on its own, even without any wind.

A name, as bright red as blood, slowly emerged from the pages.

Zhao Tao.

Fatty Wang's eyelids twitched.

"Holy crap?"

Zhou Ran's expression darkened.

Next to the name, in the "Life or Death Status" section, a line of blood-red text slowly appeared:

They have been added to the list of those protected by Holy Light.

Fatty Wang's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Wait, Zhao Tao's got a knack for finding fathers, huh? Not satisfied with his biological father, he's got Sheng Hui as his foreign father too?"

No one made a sound in the third hall.

Emperor Song stared at the words, his face as gloomy as the black water at the bottom of a well.

"The list of those protected by Holy Light should not appear in the underworld's ledger."

Zhou Ran said, "So it appeared."

Emperor Song's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word, and his aura as a Dharma body diminished considerably.

The appearance of the Holy Light's protective mark in the Underworld's ledger can only mean one thing: someone within the Underworld has already made connections with the Holy Light.

Zhao Tao didn't escape; he was "removed" from the old accounts of the underworld and brought into the system of the living.

Yin Lujing continued turning the page.

Following Zhao Tao's name, a series of old cases resurfaced.

One hundred and thirty-seven cases of forcibly taking souls.

Twenty-six cases involved the resale of souls.

Forty-nine forged life documents were seized.

Assisted Zhao Shijiang in handling one instance of abnormal records outside the hospital.

When the last line of text appeared, Zhou Ran's aura became so cold that even the surrounding yin wind stopped.

hospital.

Twenty-seven years ago.

The night Lin Qingxue was born.

Li Zhiyao's voice came from the bone fragment: "The ancient law compass has been verified."

Zhao Tao does indeed have a suppressed record of a ghost messenger's fieldwork, the location being the outskirts of Jiangcheng First Maternal and Child Hospital, and the time coinciding with half an hour before or after Lin Qingxue's birth.

Fatty Wang immediately cursed, "That bastard is rotten from beginning to end!"

Zhou Ran raised his hand.

The tattered seal of the Grand Commander's order lit up again.

"The Soul Locking Register".

Golden light fell into the Yin Law Well.

The well water trembled violently, and Zhao Tao's name was forcibly dragged half an inch off the list of those protected by Holy Radiance.

The next moment, a sharp mechanical alarm sounded from the bottom of the well; the sound did not belong to the underworld.

Emperor Song raised his eyes: "He is in the mortal realm."

Zhou Ran said, "Not only that."

He picked up the bone pen and wrote a character after Zhao Tao's name.

"Chase."

Within the Yin Law Well, a golden and black interwoven soul register suddenly taut, passing through the Third Hall, crossing the Yin-Yang interlayer, and pointing directly to the southeast direction of the Yang Realm.

Li Zhiyao immediately followed up:

"Coordinates have been obtained."

One hundred and seventy li southeast of Jiangcheng lies the former border experimental facility, a remnant stronghold of Sheng Hui.

Fatty Wang cracked his knuckles.

"Brother, I'll take some men."

Zhou Ran glanced at him.

"Bring one hundred demon soldiers."

"Understand."

Fatty Wang grinned.

"Buddhist prayer beads are for deliverance, demon soldiers are for carrying people away; it's a perfect match."

Emperor Song said in a deep voice.

"What should we do about the underworld?"

With a flick of his wrist, Zhou Ran sent the illusory image of the bone pen flying straight toward Li Zhiyao's location.

Li Zhiyao caught the bone fragment steadily, and she could feel a slight change in the bone's aura.

Zhou Ran said, "The temporary trial authority of the Third Court is entrusted to you. Emperor Song will cooperate."

Emperor Song frowned.

"Should I cooperate with her?"

Zhou Ran glanced at him:

"Not cooperating?"

I'll have Fatty get you an appointment too.

Fatty Wang immediately understood and poked his head out:

"Mr. Song, would you like a regular appointment or a specialist appointment?"

"Expert appointments are more expensive, but you'll get scolded less."

Emperor Song simply closed his eyes.

Li Zhiyao didn't waste any words:

"I'm taking over the case."

All old cases will be investigated by expanding outwards from the Zhao family's leads, with investigations conducted along three lines simultaneously: Han Yue, Zhao Tao, and Zhao Shijiang.

Zhou Ran nodded, turned around, and stepped into the crevice.

"Zhao Tao, return to your tent."

……

The world of the living.

The old border laboratory.

This place appears to be an abandoned sanatorium, with vines covering the buildings and all the windows sealed off.

The three underground floors were brightly lit.

Zhao Tao sat on a metal chair, his face pale, his left sleeve dangling empty.

He had more than a dozen tubes inserted into his body.

A researcher from Sheng Hui was debugging the teleportation capsule in front of them.

"Mr. Zhao, you will be escorted out of the country in five minutes."

Zhao Tao swallowed.