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

But no one dared to make the first move.

On the top floor of the inn, a three-layered, sky-covering array sealed off the entire space completely.

The luster flowing on the surface of the array pattern was different from that of ordinary defenses; it was the extremely restrained and unfathomable aura of the Demon Emperor's origin.

An assassin at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage released his divine sense from the opposite rooftop, attempting to penetrate the formation.

The moment his consciousness touched the outer edge of the great formation, it was instantly shattered by a powerful will. The assassin coughed up blood from all seven orifices, fell backward onto the roof ridge, and fainted on the spot.

This scene was observed by all the informants in the shadows.

Quiet conversations began to emanate from the dark alleys of Blackwind City, their voices filled with undisguised fear.

Inside the secret chamber on the top floor, Zhou Ran's body was enveloped in surging demonic energy. New flesh was sprouting from the ruptured wound on his chest, nourished by high-level magic crystals.

He needs time to fully establish himself in the newly attained Nascent Soul realm and allow his body to adapt to the high pressure of the sixth level.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Xuan Ying knelt down through the door, her voice seeping in through the crack.

"Your Excellency, the messenger of the Bone-Swallowing Duke has arrived."

His tone was a few degrees more subdued than usual.

"It is a Demon Lord in the Integration Stage who specifically requests to see you in person."

With the letter from the Grand Duke of Bone Swallowing, he had already driven away all the other forces in the hall.

He threatened to tear down the inn if you didn't show up within ten breaths.

Zhou Ran opened her eyes.

"Tell him to wait."

Inside the inn's lobby, the individual guests and the innkeeper had long since disappeared.

Standing in the center of the hall was a demon man over ten feet tall, wearing dark purple armor, with a pair of black curved horns on his head, and his aura of malevolence was so strong that it was visible to the naked eye.

The Demon Lord of the Fusion Stage, Ming Sha.

A capable general under the command of the Grand Duke of Tun Gu.

Ming Sha casually swept his gaze around, unleashing the oppressive aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator. The tables and chairs in the hall shattered into dust under the pressure.

Xuan Ying and Gu Li blocked the entrance to the stairs leading to the top floor.

The two men's bones cracked repeatedly under that oppressive force, and blood seeped from the corners of their mouths, yet they did not retreat an inch.

"Two stray dogs, how dare you block my path?"

Ming Sha looked at them with utter contempt.

"The Great Duke of Devouring Bones has decreed that no matter where these ants come from, if they steal the Primordial Black Blade and the Demon Emperor's legacy, they must hand them over immediately, and I will leave them with their complete corpses."

Otherwise, extract their soul and throw it into the Nine Netherworld Demon Fire to be refined for a thousand years!

"presumptuous!"

Xuan Ying roared,

"Is the Emperor's name something a lackey like you should utter?"

"Emperor?"

Ming Sha laughed loudly, his laughter so loud that dust fell from the inn's supporting pillars.

"Ye Futian has long been dead in the mortal realm!"

That mark was nothing but an empty shell.

The good-for-nothing hiding inside doesn't even dare to show his face, yet he dares to play tricks here?

He raised his palm, and purple demonic light gathered in his palm.

"Since he won't come out, I'll personally drag him out and skin him alive!"

As Ming Sha took a step, the stone steps beneath his feet shattered with a deafening crash.

The secret room on the top floor.

Zhou Ran heard the arrogant words below but did not get up.

He cannot show his face.

When someone appears before a Nascent Soul cultivator, their true or false cultivation level can be seen through at a glance.

Even with the Demon Emperor's essence, the sheer difference in power is too much for that trump card to sustain him.

A direct confrontation is a dead end.

However, the subordinates of the Bone-Swallowing Duke all derived their cultivation techniques and bloodlines from the Demon Realm royal family system established by Ye Futian back then.

From bloodline to the underlying logic of laws, the Demon Emperor's origin holds the highest authority.

Zhou Ran flipped his left hand over.

The remnant of the Grand Commander's seal floated in his palm.

This precious treasure of the underworld was nearly shattered by the Emperor's finger, leaving only three fragments that barely came together, with eerie green light leaking out from between the cracks.

The core of the law remains, but Zhou Ran can sense it—

This is the last time it can be activated.

He forced out the last wisp of the Demon Emperor's original demonic essence from his body and injected it into the fragment.

The remaining print emitted a low hum.

The light of the dark green and dark gold mingled together, and the light bursting out from the crack was even more dazzling than when it was whole.

The right hand was raised, and the illusory image of the white bone pen solidified.

Dipping his pen into the intertwined rays of authority light on the remaining imprint, Zhou Ran heavily inscribed six large characters in the void:

Those who are disrespectful will suffer a bloodline backlash.

These six words do not refer to any one person, but rather send a judgment directly to all bloodlines in the world that bear the royal covenant.

Inside the lobby.

Ming Sha was about to kill Xuan Ying and Gu Li, who were blocking his way, with a single palm strike.

The moment he raised his hand, an irresistible force pierced through the inn's floorboards and crashed into his body.

It wasn't a spiritual attack.

It was the activation of the deepest laws within his own body.

Ming Sha's expression froze. The vast, boundless demonic blood of the Nascent Soul stage within him completely spiraled out of control and began to flow backward.

"Uh—what is that?!"

He let out a scream and clutched his own throat with both hands.

His protective aura collapsed from within. Dark purple demonic fire erupted directly from his blood vessels and bone marrow.

This demonic fire does not burn external objects, but only burns the blood of rebels.

"Save... Your Excellency, save me!"

Ming Sha rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames with his cultivation, but this command superseded his cultivation—the more he activated his spiritual power, the more fiercely the fire burned.

Xuan Ying and Gu Li watched this scene unfold before them.

A demon lord in the Integration Stage burned himself without being attacked by any external force.

Within moments, the screams ceased.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Ming Sha's enormous body was burned to ashes, not even a wisp of his soul escaped.

In the ashes lay a challenge letter written on animal hide.

Outside the main hall, all the spies from various parties who had been secretly observing fell silent.

Without him even appearing or raising his hand, the Demon Lord in the Integration Stage instantly turned to ashes.

Gu Li was the first to come to his senses. He stepped forward, stomped on the pile of ashes, and crushed the challenge letter into dust.

He raised his head, glanced towards the door, and said in a voice as deep as iron, "This is the consequence of offending the Emperor. Anyone else want to test this?"

All the spies in the city severed their spiritual senses and sent messages to their respective factions.

"Blackwind City has changed."

"It's unstoppable, the true form has returned!"

In the secret room, Zhou Ran's face was as white as paper.

The instruction he wrote drained away all the energy he had just recovered.

He vomited a mouthful of black blood, and his breathing became rough and rapid.

The Grand Commander's seal on his palm faded completely, and the last three fragments shattered into powder, falling through his fingers.

This precious treasure, which traveled all the way from the underworld to the demon realm, ends here.

But it was worth it.

Zhou Ran closed his eyes again and continued to absorb the demonic energy from the array's core.

He sparsed a wisp of his divine sense and scanned the area downstairs. Sure enough, a very faint tracking mark had appeared in the cracks between the floor tiles next to the pile of ashes of Ming Sha.

Qin San is right.

The mark left by the demon general when he left had been transferred to the passing demon rhinoceros, but the Netherworld Demon added a new one when it entered.

Zhou Ran did not erase it.

The illusory image of the White Bone Brush solidified again, and the tip of the brush picked up the mark, silently transplanting it onto the back of a demon rat that was digging for rotten flesh in the back alley of the inn.

The demon rat, dragging its long tail, darted into the underground culvert and raced off in the opposite direction from the inn.