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

Bloodlust loosened his grip on the back of his neck and gently patted his shoulder with his fingertips.

"There's no lingering smell of stale debt. Three thousand years of old ties—all he left behind was decay and scheming; you don't have that."

She tucked her gun into her waistband, turned, and walked out of the secret room.

As he passed Huanyin, Bloodthirsty paused slightly and glanced at her sideways.

"My dowry is still listed in the Unified Army register."

The bloodthirsty voice reached the doorway, but he didn't turn around.

"Whenever you want the complete allegiance of those 300,000 Blood Demon soldiers, come and take it from the Blood Sea yourself. But when that time comes, I will be testing more than just blood."

The woman in the red dress disappeared at the end of the corridor.

The room fell silent again.

Huan Yin straightened up from the wall and walked to Zhou Ran. Her gaze fell on the side of his neck, where a small, blood-red mark the size of a grain of rice had appeared. The mark was not deep, but it exuded an extremely rich aura of the Blood Sea Ancestral Blood.

Huanyin stretched out her finger, wanting to touch the bloodstain.

When her fingertips were still half an inch from her neck, Bloodstain spontaneously emitted a wisp of blood light, forcing her soul power back.

"Ancestral blood mark".

Huan Yin withdrew her hand, a dark red light flashing in her eyes.

"She left the oldest sensory imprint of the Blood Sea on you. If you are on the verge of death, she can sense it within three breaths, even across the entire Six Heavens."

Zhou Ran raised his hand and touched the side of his neck. The bloodstain had sunk into the skin and was almost invisible from the outside, but he could feel a trace of life force that did not belong to him there.

"I haven't finished planting my location talismans yet."

Huan Yin looked at him, her tone returning to its previous composure.

"Do you want her ancestral bloodline to take its place first, or should I finish the repairs?"

Zhou Ran pushed the Taihuang Black Blade back into its sheath.

"Keep both."

Huan Yin paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

There was a hint of surprise in that smile, and a hint of satisfaction that was hard to define.

"You're not picky at all."

She didn't go behind him again. She simply extended her right index finger and lightly tapped his forehead.

The unfinished essence of his life seeped into his fingertips and merged with the soul imprint at the edge of his sea of ​​consciousness.

The movements were quick, much more restrained than the previous embrace.

"alright."

Huan Yin withdrew her finger and glanced down at her fingertip. A trace of golden light lingered on it, an unconscious response from the Primordial Origin within Zhou Ran's primordial spirit.

"Next time you are corrupted by the rules, I will find you in three breaths and enter your sea of ​​consciousness in five breaths. Two breaths faster than her."

Zhou Ran didn't respond to the implied comparison in that sentence.

He straightened his collar and walked towards the door of the secret room.

Huan Yin followed behind him, her fingertips tracing the cracks left by the bloodthirsty spear as they passed the shattered door frame.

"Zhou Ran".

He stopped.

"She tested your blood, but I implanted a location."

Huanyin's voice came from behind, carrying a meaning that only the two of them could understand.

"But have you ever wondered why two peak Tribulation Transcending cultivators are both rushing to leave something on you tonight?"

Zhou Ran did not turn around.

"Because the imperial decree states that an official named Mo Ming will personally arrive in seven days."

Huanyin stopped in her tracks.

Zhou Ran continued walking forward.

"You're not sure if I'll still be here in seven days. So save everything you can now."

There was silence behind me for a long time.

Huanyin only let out a soft breath after Zhou Ran's figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

She leaned against the broken door frame, her dark red dress fluttering slightly in the night breeze.

"You see through everything yet still continue; you're even more unpredictable than Ye Futian."

Late at night.

The lights in the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace gradually went out, with only the low rumble of the underground demonic veins continuing to echo.

When Zhou Ran returned to the side hall of the main hall, Jiu You's black coffin had already been moved there. According to the previous arrangement, he needed to use Jiu You's cold algae to repair his primordial spirit inside the coffin.

The black coffin stood quietly in the center of the side hall, its lid half-open, the inner walls covered with a thin layer of ghostly deathly aura. Cold algae covered the bottom of the coffin, emitting a cold, eerie blue light.

Zhou Ran untied his outer robe and lay down in the coffin.

The cold algae adhered to his back, and deathly energy enveloped his entire body, isolating him from all the chaotic energy of the night. The bloodthirsty ancestral blood mark quieted down, and the essence of the illusory sound's location sank into the depths of his consciousness, no longer pulsating.

He closed his eyes, and his primordial spirit sank into a state of repair.

I don't know how much time passed.

A faint wisp of death energy rose from outside the coffin. It wasn't the power of the black coffin itself, but came from outside.

Zhou Ran's primordial spirit had just relaxed, but his senses were not completely shut down. He caught that fluctuation.

There were no footsteps.

Even breathing was almost nonexistent.

But someone was standing beside the coffin.

A wisp of Netherworld essence seeped in from the gap in the coffin lid and merged into the cold algae. The eerie blue light, which could only repair the surface cracks, suddenly intensified and began to penetrate deeper into the old wounds of Zhou Ran's primordial spirit.

Zhou Ran opened her eyes.

Jiuyou stood beside the coffin, her bare feet treading on the thin mist formed from the deathly aura. Her black dress cascaded down to her ankles, and her pale face appeared even more desolate in the pale blue light.

She leaned down and stared at Zhou Ran in the coffin, less than a fist's distance away.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

"I am not as straightforward as bloodthirsty."

Jiuyou's voice was soft and devoid of warmth.

"And unlike Huanyin, who would beat around the bush."

She straightened up, raised her right hand, and placed her index finger on the center of Zhou Ran's forehead.

The death energy condensed into a brand at that point, seeping into the skin.

"I raised Chi Lin. I have watched him for three thousand years and I was sure I hadn't misjudged him."

Jiuyou's finger did not retract, but remained an inch above his forehead.

"As a result, he sold Nine Nether City, his own domain seal, and the person he had called Master for three thousand years."

Her gaze fell on Zhou Ran's eyes.

"You cleaned up the mess for me. I didn't feel bad when I handed over the Nine Nether Domain Seal; what I felt bad about was that I had raised a dog for three thousand years for nothing."

Zhou Ran did not speak.

Jiuyou doesn't need comforting; she needs to be told what's going on.

"I cannot repay this debt."

Jiuyou withdrew her finger and turned to walk out of the coffin. Her black dress brushed against Zhou Ran's hand, which was resting beside the coffin, carrying a trace of the lingering warmth of death.

"I can only look at you a few more times to make sure you won't become the second Red Scale."

She paused at the doorway.

There was no turning back.

"If you find the cold algae too cold, you can call for me when you cultivate in the future. My black coffin is safer than the secret chamber; at least no one will kick the door open."

The footsteps disappeared.

The side hall returned to silence.

Zhou Ran lay in the coffin for a moment, then raised his hand to touch his forehead.

The Death Mark has sunk into the skin, residing in three places: the Illusory Sound's Positioning Essence and the Bloodthirsty Ancestral Blood Mark.

The auras of three peak Tribulation Transcending experts each occupied a corner of his body, without interfering with each other, yet all pointing to the same goal.

He shifted his gaze to the inner wall of the black coffin.

After the Nine Netherworld Origin was injected, a ring of cold algae grew at the bottom of the coffin, and a line of extremely small characters appeared on the originally blank inner wall.

The characters were formed from the condensation of death energy, etched into the bone texture deep within the inner wall. They were completely invisible unless observed closely by the primordial spirit.

This coffin contains the remains of only one person.

Below the handwriting is Zhou Ran's name.