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

Seventeen black gold bone needles pierced through his spine.

"Make the Three Realms stop fighting and return the Devouring Heaven Seal. Otherwise, if this Primordial God disintegrates, none of these seventeen people will survive!"

Chi Lin gripped the bone needle, his eyes regaining their confidence.

Zhou Ran has saved thousands of people, demonstrating the new master's methods to the four realms.

Now there are only seventeen people left. He can save the situation if he makes a slight concession.

But Chi Lin also knew that Zhou Ran could not retreat.

The omnidirectional projection is still on.

If Zhou Ran were to hand over the Devouring Heaven Seal for the sake of the seventeen people, the Four Domains Military Council would believe that the Common Ruler could be controlled by any group of hostages.

If Zhou Ran gives up, the morale he had built up will be fractured.

This was the last option that Chi Lin had prepared for him.

The divine messenger inside the black coffin was also staring at Zhou Ran.

The vertical slit in his eye exuded a coldness.

The Emperor's son is most skilled at making people choose between quantity and human lives.

Once Zhou Ran makes a choice, he can force him to take the same path every time afterward.

Zhou Ran did not retrieve the military register.

"In the Nine Netherworlds, all seventeen threads of cause and effect are connected to the soul imprints of master and disciple. Can you distinguish which one belongs to the true immortal?"

Jiuyou stood beside the black coffin outside the city and placed his palm on his life soul line.

Chi Lin's smile deepened.

"Of course Master can tell the difference, but do you dare to touch them? These bone needles are learned from the Ninth Formation of the Nine Netherworlds. Every time one is pulled out, the karmic backlash will rush into your primordial spirit."

How much cultivation are you prepared to sacrifice for a sovereign you've only known for a few months?

Jiuyou closed his eyes.

Three thousand years of memories surged into the sea of ​​consciousness along the soul thread.

When Chi Lin first mastered the Netherworld Technique, he guarded her at the well for seven days.

Before he went to his eternal sleep, Jiuyou had personally handed him the main array token of the Nine Nether Twelve Arrays.

The trust within the soul imprint remains.

Red Scale is using it to lock up seventeen lives.

Jiuyou reopened his eyes, the black lines between his brows fully unfurled.

"You've miscalculated."

She spoke softly, but Chi Lin instinctively backed away.

Nine Nether Five Fingers pierced through the soul threads of the master and disciple, accurately grasping the eight bone needles hidden within.

"When I taught you formations, I left an opening. At that time, I was afraid that you would cultivate too hastily and be devoured by the death energy of the Netherworld, so I left you a way back in every formation."

All eight bone needles were pulled out at the same time.

The karmic backlash surged along the soul thread toward the Netherworld, but was completely absorbed by a small black coffin just as it approached her primordial spirit.

Red Scale's pupils contracted.

Jiuyou never concealed this escape route; it was only after he joined the Emperor's son that he personally deleted the relevant memories from his cultivation technique.

He believed it was a control method left behind by the Nine Netherworlds, and never imagined that it would save the hostage he had hidden in the Soul Seal today.

The remaining nine causal threads rose from below the anchor core.

The Formless Domain spread out beneath Huan Yin's feet, and the auras of the nine hostages were replicated into nine hundred phantoms.

The causal anchor cannot distinguish the true location, and all the bone needles lose their target at the same moment.

The transparent Gu worm in Xiao Rou's palm raised its six wings.

Nine transparent venomous insects burrowed into the anchor core and bit off the last nine threads of cause and effect.

Xiao Rou's face was pale, but a smile appeared on her lips.

"All seventeen people have escaped."

Red Scales has lost its bargaining chip.

Bloodlust also stepped forward with his gun at that moment.

Instead of attacking Crimson Scale, she thrust her spear into the bottom of Causal Anchor.

The Blood Sea Origin surged upwards along the seven broken pipelines, picking out all the secondary shadows of the three domain seals—Wu Xiang, Blood Sea, and Nine Netherworld—from the anchor body.

"They even dared to place a stolen copy next to the real seal."

With a jolt, the Bloodthirsty Spear shattered into a bloody mist, and the three secondary shadows were reduced to blood mist.

The causal anchor, having lost the support of the four realms, fell from the sky above the Nine Nether City.

The silver moon phenomenon did not disappear.

The moonlight fell on Zhou Ran, as if it were observing him from across endless space.

Zhou Ran ignored Yin Yue.

He raised his hand to recall the broken white bone pen and wrote two lines on the Red Scale Army register.

[Red Scale, the right to maintain the Nine Nether Array Stones is revoked.]

[Red Scale, removed from the military register of the four regions.]

The Nine Nether Armor on Chi Lin's body went out first.

All the death energy from the Nine Netherworld was stripped from his body.

Over the past three thousand years, the foundation of his cultivation, accumulated through the array's core, military records, and the Nine Nether Well, has crumbled layer by layer.

The pinnacle of fusion.

Mid-stage of fusion.

Initial stage of fusion.

Chi Lin lunged at the military register, but Qin San, who had reached the seventh floor, kicked him back onto the battle platform.

Six thousand demon soldiers have taken over the first three layers of defense.

The Taihuang Black Blade on Qin San's back was still pinned to the spatial node left by the divine messenger. He did not draw the blade, but only used the scabbard to press down on the back of Chi Lin's neck.

"The Emperor has registered you in the military so that he can review your three thousand years of array stone records."

Since you find this name bothersome, I'll cross it out for you today.

Chi Lin braced himself on the ground with both hands, still trying to activate the Emperor's Decree.

Jiuyou had already appeared before him.

She looked down at the disciple she had raised herself, her expression devoid of anger.

That calmness made Chi Lin feel fear for the first time.

"Master, I pledged allegiance to the Emperor's son to secure a way out for the Nine Netherworld. Zhou Ran may have won against me today, but he cannot prevent the erasure order in seven days."

"If you cripple me, Nine City will disappear along with him!"

Jiuyou raised his hand and pressed down on the top of Chilin's head.

"If you want to keep Jiucheng, you should first tell me the conditions of the Emperor."

You didn't speak because the position of Lord of the Sixth Heaven, promised to you by the Emperor's son, can only be occupied by you alone.

The death energy flowed into the Crimson Scale's dantian.

The Netherworld Nascent Soul that Chi Lin had cultivated for three thousand years was forcibly extracted, and a tiny imperial son mark was hidden inside the Nascent Soul.

Jiuyou shattered the mark, but preserved his soul.

"The techniques I taught you are being taken back today."

Chi Lin's cultivation level plummeted to the Void Refinement stage, and his body slumped heavily onto the array platform.

He was not unconscious.

Jiuyou wanted him to live and read through the Jiuyou City military register, to see clearly whether those he had used as sacrifices would choose Zhou Ran.

Outside the city, the Nine Netherworld Seal rose into the sky.

Huan Yin sent the Wuxiang Domain Seal into the Unified Army Register.

Bloodlust also loosened its grip, and the Blood Sea Domain Seal landed to the right of the Devouring Heaven Seal.

Four domain seals rotated around the main tent.

The Nine Netherworld Cities, the Formless Snowfield, the Twelve Cities of the Blood Sea, and the Thirty-Six Demon Veins of the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace lit up in turn.

The previously separated ley lines between the four regions were reconnected, and the military registers damaged by the rebellion and the defection of the imperial prince were restored one by one.

Zhou Ran stood in the center of the seventh-level array platform.

The celestial energy flowed into his body along the Devouring Heaven Seal.

The cracks in the primordial spirit left by the black coffin were filled layer by layer, and the aura that had fallen to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage crossed the threshold of the Divine Transformation stage again.

Luck did not forcibly boost his combat power, but only consolidated his original foundation.

Early stage of the Nascent Soul stage.

Mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Zhou Ran opened his eyes, and the memories of the gym that had been partially erased by the black coffin in his sea of ​​consciousness stopped fading away.

Qin San was the first to kneel down on one knee.

Six thousand demon soldiers bowed down as their commander followed, and the sound of clashing armor echoed throughout the Nine Nether City.

In the twelve cities of the Blood Sea, Chi Feng raised the seal of the newly appointed garrison commander.

The 300,000 Blood Demon Army bowed their heads simultaneously toward the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace.

Thirty thousand Illusionary Demon Guards from the Boundless Domain arrayed themselves on the snowy plains.

Inside the Nine Netherworld Cities, the Netherworld Guards, whose bone needles had just been removed, helped each other to their feet.

They looked at Chi Lin, who was being held captive on the platform, then at the names that had reappeared in the military register, and finally knelt in salute.

"Military registration in the four regions is unified."

"Welcome, Lord of the Sixth Heaven!"

The soul's voice crossed the earth's veins and converged in the sky above the entire sixth heaven.