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

The ground collapsed.

The red light in the old delivery room suddenly came on.

From underground, countless gray lines burst forth from the soil, twisting and turning wildly.

The demon soldiers guarding the old building were forced back, and panicked shouts came through the communicator.

"Emperor Zhou!"

"Something's changed in the basement of the maternity and children's hospital! Something's been moved up!"

The footage was simultaneously broadcast to the manor, and everyone saw the scene.

In the deep pit below delivery room number three, the skeleton of a headless infant is slowly rising.

It was tiny, yet it possessed a power that made the surrounding swirling gray lines retreat in fear.

The surface of the bones was covered with unfamiliar runes, the system of which was completely different from that of Penglai, Yinsi, Shenghui, and even the Moon Emperor.

Chen Ya stared at the screen, her face already pale.

Zhou Ran put away the white bone pen.

"I'm going back to Jiangcheng."

Eileen let out a miserable laugh behind him.

"You only realize this now? The Moon Emperor has never been looking for just Lin Qingxue."

What she's looking for is what the person who shattered her path back then left behind.

Zhou Ran turned to look at her.

Eileen's laughter turned low.

"The discovery of the Emperor's remains is just the appetizer; the White Tower is merely a prelude. Zhou Ran, the Jiang City you protect harbors a minefield even older than the Moon Emperor's."

Zhou Ran raised his hand.

The chain of judgment flew out, piercing through Eileen's soul and dragging her toward the underworld.

"Go queue up."

He took a step forward, his figure disappearing into the crevice.

The next instant, the night sky over Jiangcheng was torn apart by a black and gold blade.

The former site of Jiangcheng First Maternal and Child Hospital.

The ground collapsed into a huge, circular crater.

Delivery room number three hangs precariously over the edge of the pit, with most of the plaster peeling off the walls, and the red light still stubbornly flashing.

What surged from underground was neither yin energy nor the gray mist of the void, but an extremely ancient suppressive force, as if something had been nailed here for 30,000 years.

Zhou Ran landed at the door of the delivery room.

Li Zhiyao's Yin-Yang communication was immediately established: "The Yin Realm sensed the vibration, but the Yin Law Well could not find any record of it."

Xu Youwei arrived as well. The left eye, pinned to the ground by a broken hairpin, was tightly sealed by the fine black and gold lines on it, but the silver eye remained tightly closed, as if it dared not look at what was in the deep pit.

Lin Qingxue's voice came from the center of the manor's formation, carrying a hint of solemnity.

"Zhou Ran, be careful."

I cannot see it clearly; its rules are beyond my ability to observe.

Zhou Ran stood at the edge of the pit, looking down.

At the bottom of the pit, the baby's skeleton hung quietly, headless, with its limbs curled up.

The surface of the bones is crystal clear, unlike human bones, and each bone fragment is engraved with fine lines.

These patterns have no spiritual energy, no demonic energy, and no trace of Yin law.

The door mark on Zhou Ran's chest suddenly felt burning hot.

The Moon Emperor's sinful blood sealed inside was restless, conveying an instinctive fear.

Zhou Ran raised his hand, and the White Bone Pen appeared in front of him.

Before the pen even touched the ground, a silver command surged forth from the bottom of the pit. It was a remnant of the Moon Emperor's command, emerging from the gray lines beneath the earth and transforming into hundreds of tiny silver hands, reaching for the headless skeleton.

Their goal is not to destroy, but to drag it away, to drag it back to the heart of the Heavenly Corpse.

Zhou Ran's eyes turned cold, and he drew the Taihuang Black Blade without hesitation.

"Sever."

With a single slash, hundreds of tiny silver hands shattered.

But more remnants surged from underground, the old delivery room began to shake, and the red light turned into a blinding silver-white.

The Moon Emperor's voice came from the depths of the gray line: "Zhou Ran, that's not something you can touch."

Zhou Ran stood at the edge of the pit, but instead of immediately removing the bone, he took a step back.

Fatty Wang arrived, panting heavily: "Brother, aren't you going to take it?"

Zhou Ran said, "The Moon Emperor's eagerness to seize it may not be a good thing for us."

Fatty Wang pondered these words for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. Those people giving away free stuff on the street are all after your money."

Qin San glanced at him but did not refute him.

Zhou Ran opened the communication interface: "Qingxue".

Lin Qingxue immediately replied, "Yes."

"Confirm whether it belongs to the Moon Emperor."

At the heart of the manor formation, Lin Qingxue's inner eye opened fully, her pure black gaze piercing through space and landing on the bone fragments at the bottom of the pit.

One breath, two breaths.

A thin line of blood seeped from the corner of Lin Qingxue's eye.

Su Qingling exclaimed, "Sister Qingxue!"

Lin Qingxue raised her hand to stop her from approaching. After a moment, she uttered four words.

"The Moon Emperor Who Will Never Return".

Zhou Ran turned to Xu Youwei.

Xu Youwei raised her palm, and her left eye, which was still partially open, was forced to open a crack.

As soon as the silver eyes saw the bottom of the pit, it let out a sharp cry of pain. Xu Youwei's face turned pale, and her palms were almost cracked by the force.

Zhou Ran reached out and pressed down on her wrist bone, using his black gold qi and blood to protect her meridians.

"Confirm whether it belongs to the Heavenly Corpse."

Xu Youwei bit her lip and pressed the broken hairpin down hard, blood dripping from her palm.

She stared intently at the bottom of the pit, and in the remnant of her left eye, a line of silver fragments appeared.

The Unreturning Corpse.

Xu Youwei breathed a sigh of relief, her body swayed, and she almost knelt down.

Zhou Ran helped her up: "Can you still stand?"

Xu Youwei raised her head, her eyes defiant: "I'm not made of paper."

Fatty Wang muttered under his breath, "Even a paper doll wouldn't bleed as much as you."

Xu Youwei glared at him, and Fatty Wang immediately shut up.

Zhou Ran then contacted Li Zhiyao: "Investigate from the underworld."

On Li Zhiyao's side, the Yin Law Well was flipping through the files. She pressed the ancient law disc into the well opening, and the sound was rapid:

"I checked the soul registers on Blue Star, and there are no records of birth, death, or reincarnation."

Zhou Ran, it does not enter the underworld.

All three parties reached the same conclusion.

He will not return to the Moon Emperor, nor to the Heavenly Corpse, nor to the Underworld.

This thing does not belong to any known system.

Zhou Ran looked down into the pit and made a judgment.

"The sealing nails left by outsiders."

Lin Qingxue asked softly, "The Imperial Prince?"

Zhou Ran did not answer immediately. He recalled the afterimage in the silver sea, the young man whose face was not visible, who shattered the outer shell of the Heavenly Corpse's heart with just one finger.

"Old gods are not allowed to enter this realm."

That sentence sealed the Moon Emperor's fate for 30,000 years.

If this bone fragment at the bottom of the pit is truly related to the Emperor's son, then it's not some kind of coincidence, but rather the beginning of another cause and effect.

Zhou Ran reached out his hand.

The Moon Emperor's remnant decree erupted once more, and gray threads surged from the hospital's underground, weaving into a giant silver net that enveloped the bone fragments.

This net also contains residual code symbols from the Holy Light White Tower. The Moon Emperor wanted to use the Holy Light's last system privileges to forcibly drag the bone fragments into the heart of the Heavenly Corpse.

Zhou Ran neither absorbed nor integrated it, nor did he let it get close to his nascent soul.

He raised the white bone pen, and his voice transformed into decrees.

"Evidence box".

As the three words fell, the first layer of the Forgotten River Heart Seal unfolded, and a ghostly yellow light enveloped the bone fragments.

"Not spoils of war."

As the second layer descends, the rules of the bone pen seal off the bone surface patterns.

"Non-cultivation resources."

The third layer fell, and the Grand Commander's incomplete seal and the left eye's incomplete power jointly stamped the mark.

"Cannot be activated by a single person."

The triple evidence box was formed, with the bone fragment sealed in a transparent box, suspended above Zhou Ran's palm.