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

The Emperor's Hidden Nail could no longer erase the illusory sound, and the judgment of the rules shifted accordingly.

The person who altered the trial record has been identified as a new responsible party.

The black and gold cracks bypassed the bone pen and pierced directly into Zhou Ran's brow.

That was no ordinary wound, but a manifestation of the rules.

Black lines spread beneath Zhou Ran's skin, each one carrying an ancient and ruthless will of judgment.

The cracks that already existed in Zhou Ran's primordial spirit opened up to both sides under the impact of the rules.

A strange sound, like bones cracking, emanated from the depths of one's soul.

Zhou Ran swayed and fell backward.

The Taihuang Black Blade slipped from his hand, its blade plunging diagonally into the void of the Fragrant Bed Illusion.

There was no blood in the crack in the primordial spirit, but a large amount of black and gold light surged out.

Every ray of light was cutting through his consciousness, tearing his primordial spirit to pieces.

Huan Yin composed herself.

She stepped forward, supporting Zhou Hou's back with her right hand and placing her left hand on his forehead.

"Zhou Ran, withdraw the rule."

"no."

"You will die."

"The record has been archived and is now being retrieved. Dark Nail will find your Soul Lamp again."

"I have already reached the peak of the Tribulation Transcending Realm, and this rule cannot harm my foundation."

"You can withstand the test, but the evidence can't."

Huan Yin stared at him, a dark red light surging in her eyes.

Zhou Ran forced himself to stand firm, tightened his grip on the black and gold nail that had pierced his primordial spirit.

The Emperor's Rule pushed inward along his palm, attempting to completely tear open the original crack.

"It doesn't just want to kill people."

Zhou Ran grasped the hidden nail and pulled it out little by little.

"It is destroying its record of cross-industry ventures."

If the hidden nail returns, the testimony and delivery path will both disappear.

Huan Yin frowned as she looked at the cracks deep within his primordial spirit.

"You shielded those people from death, and now you want to take on my karma as well?"

Zhou Ran didn't let go, his voice hoarse:

"This is my primordial spirit. Since it has come, it shall remain."

Huan Yin raised her hand and crushed the already cracked Soul-Capturing Bell on her ankle.

The dark red fragment merged into her palm, and a pure illusory sound source surged forth.

Instead of trying to remove the hidden nails from Zhou Ran, she sent her essence into the crack in his primordial spirit, filling the edges that had been cut open by the rules.

The two souls had just ended their synchronized state, and now they were connected again without any obstacles.

Before Zhou Ran could refuse, Huan Yin saw more memories that did not fall within the scope of the soul examination.

She saw on White Tower Island, the sky was torn apart by lightning, and a giant eye formed from lightning coldly looked down.

The "Blue Star Reserve List" slowly unfolded in the void, exuding an ancient and solemn aura.

Zhou Ran's name was prominently displayed at the top of the list, but it had been forcibly crossed out by a thick black and gold line, signifying complete erasure and destruction.

Below the list, the names of Lin Qingxue, Chen Ya, Xu Youwei, Xiao Rou, Qin San, and others were arranged in order, each name flashing with a dangerous red light.

Without hesitation, Zhou Ran raised his right hand, and the bone pen drew mysterious trajectories in the void.

He forcibly modified the system's underlying rules, redirecting all threat markers to himself.

The red rays that were originally pointing at their companions transformed into countless black and gold chains under the guidance of the rules, tightly binding Zhou Ran's primordial spirit.

From that moment on, he became the only target in this world that needed to be eliminated first.

Huanyin also witnessed the horrific scene when the Emperor's projection descended.

The void collapsed, the earth trembled, and endless destructive power swept across the entire island.

Zhou Ran could have left alone with the Taihuang Black Blade, but he didn't.

He stood at the eye of the storm, using himself as a coordinate, and forcibly reversed the ancient formation of White Tower Island.

The Primordial Black Blade slashed out, tearing open a passage to the Demon Realm in the void.

He sent Qin San, Xiao Rou, and the others into the passage, while he stayed behind until he was sure that Jiang Cheng's spatial coordinates had been completely erased. Only then did he turn around and jump into the passage at the last moment before it closed.

Huan Yin pressed her fingers on Zhou Ran's forehead with a little force.

"You took the blame for everyone on the list."

"You've seen too much."

"My soul is already connected; I can see it even if I don't want to."

"Then forget about it."

"What I cultivate is illusionary sound, not amnesia."

Huan Yin closed her eyes and pressed more of her essence into the rift in her primordial spirit.

Her essence cannot heal the wounds, but it can temporarily disguise the cracks as intact, deceiving the Imperial Son's Dark Nail that is advancing inward.

The black and gold hidden nail did indeed pause for a moment.

Zhou Ran had been waiting for this opportunity.

He opened his eyes, grasped the end of the hidden nail, and instead of pulling it out of his primordial spirit, he turned it around and, following the connection left by the blood of the Bone Devouring Origin, drove it directly into the White Bone Pen.

"Where are you going to send it?" Huanyin asked.

"Return it to the person who sent the letter."

Zhou Ran used the last bit of his primordial spirit power to activate the broken pen.

The illusory fragrant couch shattered on the spot.

The main hall reappeared before the two of them.

Qin San, Xiao Rou, and Ming Cang stepped forward at the same time, only to see a dark red soul light entwined between Zhou Ran and Huan Yin, while a black gold nail was stuck in the broken pen, struggling.

"Go to the sound transmission array!" Zhou Ran shouted in a low voice.

Qin San, with his hand on his knife, pushed open the heavy door to the secret room.

Xiao Rou released a golden Gu worm, which burrowed into the crack in the broken pen and bit the dissipating Bone Devouring Origin Blood for Zhou Ran.

When everyone entered the underground chamber of the Demon Palace, the Emperor's Bone Transmission Array had already lit up on its own.

The secret chamber was built of black boulders, and the walls were covered with ancient demonic runes.

The sound transmission array is located in the center of the secret chamber and is supported by twelve huge white bone pillars.

The formation sensed the primordial aura of the Bone Devourer, and the central bone fragments flipped over one by one, attempting to receive new information from the Bone Devourer.

Zhou Ran arrived at the front of the formation and pressed the broken pen with the hidden nails directly into the formation's core.

A burst of black and gold light erupted.

The entire Devouring Heaven Demon Palace trembled, and the thirty-six underground demonic veins roared simultaneously.

The sound transmission array could originally only transmit divine sense and a small amount of supplies, but now that the Emperor's Son's Dark Nail has been forcibly inserted into it, the array has to expose its complete delivery path.

A thin black-gold line extends outward from the center of the formation.

It passed through the underground of the Devouring Demon Palace, avoided three spatial turbulences in the Sixth Heaven, and finally pointed to an abyss at the northernmost end of the power map.

Nine Nether Wells.

Ming Cang saw the end of the path and his expression changed slightly: "This is the territory of the Nine Nether Ancestor."

Huanyin stood to Zhou Ran's side and slightly behind, her palm still pressed against his back, helping to stabilize his primordial spirit.

"The Emperor's messenger is to descend from the Nine Nether Well; that old man from the Nine Nether Well couldn't possibly be completely unaware of this."

Xiao Rou controlled the Gu worms to crawl through the formation, quickly memorizing every spatial node.

"There are twelve layers of disguise in the path, seven of which belong to the demon realm array patterns, and the other five do not."

As long as we don't alert them, this path can still be used in reverse.

Qin San looked at Zhou Ran: "Should we send someone to the Nine Nether Well?"

"The original plan was for twelve days later."

Zhou Ran pulled out the broken pen, and the black gold hidden nail had already been locked in the center by the sound transmission array.

It could neither return to the Emperor's son nor continue to pierce Zhou Ran's primordial spirit; it could only continuously release its remaining power.

Huan Yin raised her hand and grabbed, and the dark red soul sound transformed into chains, sealing off the entire array's core.

"Now we have evidence and a path forward."

When the divine messenger arrives, I can follow this path to see how many people he has brought.

Are you planning to stay?

"My soul lamp was just burned by it."

Huan Yin glanced at the hidden spikes in the formation.

"If I don't hold this grudge, I won't be able to sleep peacefully even when I return to Wuxiang Pavilion."

"Besides, you are not Ye Futian. I want to see just how much trouble a new emperor in the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm can cause in the Sixth Heaven."

Mingcang and Guji exchanged a glance and then lowered their heads at the same time.

Huan Yin did not refer to Zhou Ran as Ye Futian, but instead used the term "new emperor".

If this message gets out, it will be more useful than any Demon Emperor's token.

Ye Futian's closest and most untrustworthy former subordinate personally admitted that the person on the throne was not a substitute, much less an imposter.

Zhou Ran put away the broken pen and was about to have Qin San seal the secret room when the black gold hidden nails in the sound transmission array suddenly stopped struggling.

An unfamiliar divine sense descended along the exposed path.

"Swallowing bones."

The sound was clearer and more even than during the last cross-border communication.

Zhou Ran remained silent.

Huan Yin raised her hand and set up the Formless Domain, concealing the aura of everyone in the secret room.

Xiao Rou's Gu worms quickly spit out fine threads, re-simulating the fluctuations of the original blood of the Bone Swallowing Technique.

At the other end of the formation, the monotonous voice paused slightly.

The black and gold light of the entire sound transmission array intensified, and the spatial path began to distort violently.

"The evidence you sent back is incorrect. Zhou Ran has not been erased yet, and Huan Yin has also intervened."

"The twelve-day agreement is cancelled."

From the direction of the Nine Nether Well, an aura far exceeding the Tribulation Transcending stage began to forcefully penetrate the barrier of the Demon Realm.

"This envoy will arrive tonight."