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

Qin San squatted outside the west side hall of the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace for three consecutive days.

During the day, he continued to inspect the various sentry posts as usual, taking turns with Gu Ji to guard the side hall of the throne.

After nightfall, he tucked the communication jade into his pocket, shrank into a dead corner deep in the corridor, and held his breath.

The shadow cast on the ground by the burial site shortened by three inches.

He didn't mention it to anyone, not even Gu Ji.

Zhou Ran explained everything very clearly.

You are allowed to look, but not touch. Make a note of anything unusual.

The next day, Mingcang added a dispatch order to the Unified Army register.

It states that Zhou Ran will go to the Nine Nether Well alone on the fifth day to collect the core cold algae used to repair his primordial spirit.

This military order was issued in the usual format and passed down through the military registers of the four regions to all commanders and above.

Qin San knew perfectly well that this was a ruse.

Zhou Ran was lying in the black coffin recovering from his injuries. The Nine Nether Essence was poured into him, and his injuries healed very quickly. He didn't need to make a trip to the Nine Nether Well himself.

On the third night, something happened.

The person involved was unexpected.

A faint fluctuation of magical power emanated from the third room at the end of the side hall.

The house was inhabited by Tu Huai, a former general of the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace. In his early years, he was in charge of the eastern route's grain and supplies for Devouring Bone. After Devouring Bone fell from power, he surrendered.

Previously, when Chi Lin caused trouble, this person behaved abnormally.

Huan Yin personally sealed his five senses, allowing him to retain only his basic mobility.

Judging by the days, the lockdown won't be lifted for another four days.

Right now, the Formless Seal on Tu Huai's body is falling off piece by piece.

The crimson restriction patterns peeled off his arm and fell to the ground, burning to ashes.

He gripped a palm-sized communication talisman tightly in his right hand; the black and gold patterns on the talisman were identical to those of the Emperor's Hidden Nail.

Qin San suppressed the sound of drawing the Taihuang Black Blade, the blade covered with a layer of demonic energy.

He climbed through the window and slashed diagonally into the room, the blade cutting all the way down Tu Huai's elbow joint.

Blood spurted out.

The communication talisman flew out of his hand, and the black and gold patterns on it lit up for half before going completely dark.

Tu Huai's right forearm, still attached to the communication talisman, slammed to the ground.

The old general let out a suppressed roar, his left hand tightly covering the severed wound. He looked up at Qin San, his eyes filled with hatred.

"You lackeys!"

Tu Huai smashed open the door and rushed desperately into the corridor.

Blood from the severed arm was splattered all over the ground.

He had only taken three steps when his feet sank into the red swamp.

The bloodthirsty aura had long since filled the entire corridor.

Without showing her face, she tightened the blood swamp from a distance, sealing Tu Huai from his ankles all the way to his waist.

Gu Ji approached from the other end of the corridor, carrying shackles engraved with patterns of deathly energy from the Nine Netherworlds.

He locked the shackles tightly to Tu Huai's intact left arm, and the death energy seeped into his meridians, completely cutting off the other party's ability to mobilize magic power.

Qin San walked up to Tu Huai, the Taihuang Black Blade lying horizontally.

The blade was still stained with hot blood.

Qin San spoke in a calm tone.

"Who are you calling a lackey?"

"You kneel before Tun Gu when he's alive, and you submit to my Emperor when he's dead. And now you're trying to tip off the Emperor's son."

"A traitor who serves three masters, doesn't he feel ashamed of his foul mouth when he calls others lackeys?"

Tu Huai spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Who does Zhou Ran think he is!"

"Having usurped the Demon Emperor's throne, he'll be dragged down to his grave by the Sixth Heaven sooner or later!"

"The Emperor's son promised that as long as this person's coordinates are handed over, all military personnel in the Sixth Heaven will be spared the fate of being erased from their records!"

Qin San squatted down and looked directly at Tu Huai.

"The Emperor's son made a promise to Lieshan."

"You haven't forgotten what happened to Lieshan, have you?"

"His limbs and meridians are completely destroyed, and his blood and energy are drained. Even Chi Feng, who is in the early stage of the Fusion Realm, can shatter his spine with a single punch."

"You should consider whether you're worth more than Lieshan."

Tu Huai's lips moved, but Qin San's words stifled his hatred.

Zhou Ran's voice came from the military register, calm and even.

"Soul Search".

The deathly aura of the Netherworld surged out along the shackles, directly flooding Tu Huai's sea of ​​consciousness.

Tu Huai screamed repeatedly, his body convulsing in the blood swamp.

After a while, the screams subsided.

The deathly aura of the Nine Netherworlds that had been searching for the soul dissipated on its own.

Ming Cang stood beside the military register, his brows furrowed.

"His memories of contacting the prince were all a blur."

"The other party did not show their face or reveal any fluctuations in cultivation. They only conveyed a message through a voice, and the source is deep within the Nine Nether Well."

"He can't even remember when he started receiving orders."

Zhou Ran paused for a moment.

"Where is the communication talisman?"

Qin San bent down to pick up the communication talisman on the ground, but his hand stopped halfway through its reach.

The message talisman was placed next to Tu Huai's severed arm.

The blood had congealed, but the skin and flesh at the cut were rolling back and forth.

The severed arm's flesh was stretched open by the foreign object inside.

A black and gold sphere the size of a fingernail was squeezed out of the minced flesh and rolled into the pool of blood.

The surface of the sphere is covered with fine lines, and its color is exactly the same as that of the Emperor's Hidden Nail.

It's blinking.

This is a complete eyeball covered with black and gold scales.

His vertical pupils darted around, scanning his surroundings.

Xiao Rou's natal Gu sprang from her shoulder, its six wings spread wide, and it emitted a warning hiss.

Xiao Rou spoke up to remind her.

"Don't touch it."

"This thing is alive; it's sending signals outwards."

Xiao Rou placed the Gu box three inches above the black and gold eyeballs.

The golden Gu worm circled the eyeball twice, its abdomen reflecting a black-gold ray of light that stretched from the depths of the eyeball all the way to the Nine Nether Well.

Xiao Rou squatted on the ground, sweat beading on her forehead.

"It's synchronizing."

"These eyes can transmit everything the host sees back to the light source in real time."

"Tu Huai has memorized everything he has seen, walked, and heard in the past three days."

The veins on the back of Qin San's hands were bulging.

He squatted in the corridor for three nights, deliberately concealing his presence.

If Tu Huai's eyes were the Emperor's eyes, his defenses would have been exposed long ago.

Zhou Ran stepped out of the black coffin and left the side hall, the faint blue light of the Nine Netherworld Cold Algae still lingering on his fingertips.

He glanced at the black and gold eyes that were pressed down by the Gu box.

When was Tu Huai parasitized?

Xiao Rou shook her head.

"The Gu worm only recognizes the current state and cannot detect the implantation time."

"Judging from the extent to which the eyeball and muscle are fused together, it's been at least three months."

Three months ago, Tu Huai was still delivering grain to Tun Gu.

At that time, Zhou Ran had not yet stepped into the Demon Realm.

Mingcang opened the Unified Army Register and pointed out two more names.

"Qiu Feng, the Blood Sea General; Ye Han, the Scout of the Formless Domain."

"If Tu Huai hadn't willingly accepted the black-gold eye within him, would the other two have ended up in the same situation?"

Zhou Ran turned towards the Nine Netherworlds.

Jiuyou stood at the entrance of the side hall, her black dress remaining unmoved in the deathly mist.

The dark lines between his eyebrows opened and closed twice.

After a while, she spoke up.

"Six months before Chi Lin joined the Emperor's Prince, he scattered a large number of black gold fragments into the third to seventh levels of the Nine Nether Well."

"I thought he was reinforcing the formation, so I didn't stop him."

Her tone was calm, but the deathly aura emanating from her fingertips froze the door frame, causing cracks.

"Those fragments have long since merged into the earth veins of the Nine Nether Well."

"Anyone who has gone down to the third level is at risk of inhaling debris."

"After the fragments enter the meridians, they will slowly gather together and eventually grow into a complete observation object within the host's body."

Xiao Rou took half a step back.

"So, these three might not necessarily be traitors."

"They have no idea they've been parasitized."