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

Jiuyou emerged from the shadows beside the hall, carrying a small, black coffin. The lid was half-open, and the deathly aura of the underworld churned within.

"Death disguise".

She handed the coffin to Huanyin.

"Obliterate the name to a certain extent, then you activate it."

Once the signal changes from 'alive' to 'dead', the Emperor's rule determination is complete, and then the writing ends.

Actually, you're just a fake.

Huanyin took the coffin and turned it over to look at the bottom.

There is a line of small characters engraved on the bottom of the box.

[Made by Jiuyou herself, for one-time use only.]

Huanyin tucked the coffin into her sleeve and glanced at Jiuyou.

"How long did it take you to carve these words?"

Jiuyou's face remained expressionless.

"It'll take longer than you expected."

In the few breaths that the two locked eyes, Bloodlust had already walked back to the center of the hall and slashed the stone ground with his spear.

"Once the plan is finalized, get to work immediately. Every extra quarter of an hour we delay will cause the black lines on our return path to fade a little more."

Zhou Ran gave the order.

Huan Yin returned to the Wuxiang Domain camp. Thirty thousand Illusionary Demon Guards stood in formation around her, and she sat cross-legged in the center.

The Soul Imprint of the Same Frequency rose from the depths of his consciousness. Dark red light enveloped his entire body. Layer upon layer of Formless Illusion Technique pressed down, amplifying the signal that was originally just a thin thread—to the point that the entire Nine Nether City could sense it.

That signal was too bright.

The Unified Army Register automatically added an extra line of annotation under Huan Yin's name.

[Depth of causality: Extremely heavy.]

Zhou Ran sat on the throne in the main hall. The black lines on his left wrist were still fading. He stared at the changes in the military register, waiting.

Half an hour.

Lin Qingxue's telepathic message pierced through the remnants of the formation.

"Zhou Ran. The pressure on the Soul-Stabilizing Sand is decreasing."

She paused, as if she couldn't believe it.

The brushstrokes stopped.

Xu Youwei quickly confirmed, "The Silver Eyes have detected that the direction of Mo Mingling's attack is veering off course. It's leaving the Return Path Black Pattern."

Inside the hall, someone murmured a cheer. Ming Cang let out a long breath, and Qin San's grip on the knife loosened by half an inch.

Zhou Ran didn't relax.

He stared at the line marked "Huan Yin" in the military register, his brow twitching.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Xiao Rou rushed in from the outer hall. Her natal Gu was flapping wildly on her shoulder, its six wings emitting a rapid buzzing sound.

"Emperor."

Her face turned pale.

"There's a problem. The speed at which the Nameless Decree turned towards Huanyin was too fast. More than three times faster than what Empress Huanyin and I calculated."

Zhou Ran stood up. "Explain yourself."

Xiao Rou placed the Gu worm on the military register. A trail of black and gold light was reflected on its golden carapace.

After the ray of light withdrew from the direction of the black lines on the return path, it did not hesitate.

No search results found.

No measurements were taken.

It pierced straight towards the direction of the illusion.

"There's a process to switching targets in the name-erasing system. First, you measure, then compare, and finally put it on paper. It takes at least two hours to complete." Xiaorou bit her lower lip. "It only took less than a quarter of an hour."

Qin San's brows furrowed into a tight knot.

"It's as if it knew in advance that there was this connection between Huanyin and the Emperor."

Xiao Rou nodded. She flipped the Gu worm over so its belly was facing up.

Another thin line was reflected deep within the carapace. The source of this line pointed to the interior of the Devouring Demon Palace.

To be precise—it refers to the secret room that Huanyin had previously opened in the side hall.

"Your Majesty," Xiao Rou's voice was strained and almost broke. "Do you remember that night? The Illusionary Empress was repairing your soul imprint in the secret chamber when the Bloodthirsty Empress barged in."

She swallowed.

"The natal Gu just compared the activity period of the black-gold eyeball. That night, the complete eyeball inside Tu Huai's body was in full operation."

The main hall fell silent.

Xiao Rou squeezed out the last sentence.

"The Emperor saw it all. The Illusionary Empress embraced you from behind to repair your soul seal. The Bloodthirsty Empress kicked down the door to test your blood. The Nine Nether Empress came to the coffin late at night to deliver the branding."

"Everything was transmitted back in real time by that black and gold eye."

"It doesn't need to measure. Because it already knew days ago that the relationship between Empress Huanyin and you was more than just a cooperative one."

The hall was deathly silent.

The pen in Mingcang's hand fell onto the stone slab with a crisp sound.

Qin Sanmeng turned around and looked towards the side hall. The so-called controlled black-gold eyeball was still obediently placed next to the military register.

When was the signal transmitted?

Nobody noticed.

Zhou Ran stared at the timeline reflected by the Gu worm.

That night in the secret chamber, he gave the order—Tu Huai's eyes would be open for monitoring during the day, and the Nine Netherworld Coffin would be closed at night for isolation.

However, the coffin's enclosure only covered the main hall area.

The secret chamber in the side hall is not inside.

He missed it.

The scene of Huan Yin repairing the soul seal. The scene of Xue Shi breaking down the door and biting his neck. The scene of Jiu You touching his forehead by the coffin in the dead of night.

The Emperor Prince clearly saw the attitudes of the three peak Tribulation Transcending cultivators towards him.

This is not an intelligence leak.

The Emperor's son watched it from beginning to end. After he finished watching, he remained silent, waiting for Zhou Ran to push Huan Yin to the bullseye himself.

The dual-anchor strategy was not a scheme devised by Zhou Ran.

It was the emperor's son who dug the pit for him.

Zhou Ran reached out and plucked the black-gold eyeball that was still spinning from beside the military register. He then closed his fingers.

The vertical pupils swept across his palm. Black and gold scales brushed against the lines of his hand.

"Qin San".

"Your subordinate is here."

"Go to the fifth floor and retrieve that semi-finished product as well."

Zhou Ran's five fingers snapped shut. He poured in the mana of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

Its eyes screamed. Scales shattered piece by piece. Its vertical pupils dilated sharply—as if it wanted to take one last look before it broke apart.

Zhou Ran didn't let it see clearly.

The demonic energy in his palm surged.

It shattered. Black and gold dust spilled from between his fingers.

Huan Yin sensed the signal anomaly and opened her eyes within the Wu Xiang camp. Her dark red soul power remained unabated, and the amplified signal from the same-frequency soul imprint still covered the entire Nine Nether City.

She saw all the scenes in the main hall through the military register.

Zhou Ran's voice entered her mind.

"The Emperor knows you're more than just a pawn. He anticipated this with his double-anchor strategy. The speed at which the name-erasing order shifted to you is proof—he's waiting for us to walk right into his trap."

Huan Yin remained silent for three breaths.

"so what?"

Her voice came from the military register. Calm and unhurried.

"I'm already in the bullseye. Withdraw the signal, and the black markings on the return path will fade. If you don't, the Emperor's pen will be aimed at my vitals."

The dark red soul power remained undiminished.

"But what if it knows? I possess military regulations, the bloodthirsty ancestral blood, and the Nine Netherworld Coffin. These three layers are laid out before me. Even if the Imperial Prince foresaw my prediction, its pen will still have to gnaw through each layer."

He paused for a moment.

There was something different in his voice. Something only Zhou Ran could hear.

"Besides—what it found wasn't fake."