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

He paused for a moment and added the last line.

"The black lines on the way home still remain."

The color faded from dark gray to light gray, but the remaining patterns were still pulsating.

Zhou Ran looked down at her left wrist.

The black lines are still there; their shape hasn't changed, and their position hasn't moved.

The color is so light it looks like it was drawn with a pencil, and if you're not careful, you might mistake it for an old scar.

Qin San sat in the rubble pit, coughing.

With each cough, the broken rib pierces deeper into the lung.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed the blood back, then looked up at the sky.

The two-colored cracks in the dome are slowly healing.

The intertwined silver and black-gold marks stretched across the night sky like two giant scars with stitches still in place.

"Did we win?"

Gu Ji leaned against Qin San.

Three deep wounds on his back, exposing bone, were still bleeding.

Qin San shook his head.

"We didn't lose."

He was silent for a while.

"You heard what the Emperor said: seven days is just an appetizer."

Next time you come, it won't be about bringing a flag.

Gu Ji muttered a curse under his breath.

He turned to look at Zhou Ran in the center of the ruins.

The young man sat cross-legged in the pile of rocks, his left arm stained with blood, and his right hand gripping the Taihuang Black Blade, which had only one last line remaining.

His magical power was nearly exhausted, and the Demon Emperor's essence had been consumed by more than half.

Two trump cards, the broken bone pen and the knife pattern, have been played out; one is almost gone, and the other is nearly depleted.

This mere mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator managed to withstand something that even three peak Tribulation Transcending cultivators couldn't stop, dragging the Emperor's son down until the Moon Emperor made his move.

Qin San gripped the knife handle tightly, and even the broken bone piercing his lung didn't hurt.

value.

It's worth following this person.

Xiao Rou huddled in the back corner, her ten fingers tightly gripping the golden Gu in her arms.

The eight-winged golden gu fainted, its shell cracked with seven gaps, three of its membranous wings broke off, and most of its barbs fell off.

A faint breath escaped from the crack in the shell, rising and falling gently.

Xiao Rou's eyes were red, but she didn't shed a tear.

The successive battles wiped away all her tears.

She looked up at Zhou Ran.

His lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

The Emperor was more severely injured by the Gu than she was, but he wouldn't show it.

Zhou Ran closed his eyes.

Deep within the sea of ​​consciousness, the lost memory leaves behind a bare blank space.

He remembered having interacted with Lin Qingxue.

But the specific details—the scene, the weather, what she said, and her facial expression—are all gone.

The base coat is still there, but the color has been scraped off.

He spent three breaths checking the state of his primordial spirit.

The silver consciousness was still crouching at the very bottom of the sea of ​​consciousness.

Zhou Ran extended his divine sense to touch it again.

His mind trembled for a moment, then he remained calm and still.

It is not aggressive.

But he could feel that it was simultaneously absorbing every fluctuation that occurred in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The Moon Emperor placed an eye inside his primordial spirit.

This is similar to how the imperial prince stuffed the black and gold eyeballs into Tu Huai's body.

The prince's one was used to parasitize and manipulate the host's mind.

The Moon Emperor's wisp simply observed from the sidelines, touching nothing and leaking nothing.

Zhou Ran clenched his fist.

He could pluck out the Emperor's son's eyeballs, but the Moon Emperor's wisp of silver will was embedded in the primordial spirit, entangled with his soul power.

Forcibly stripped away, half of the sea of ​​consciousness collapses first.

It just stayed there, watching with a legitimate reason.

And he had no way to deal with it.

Zhou Ran clenched his teeth, swallowing the metallic taste and blood from his throat.

He forcefully suppressed the disturbance in his mind, preventing it from showing any sign of arousal.

The skin and flesh of his left arm were loose and drooping, and the meridians were completely destroyed.

The true essence in the dantian has dried up completely.

He supported himself solely with his sturdy frame, gripping the hilt of the Taihuang sword tightly with his right hand, forcefully straightening his back.

The ruins were filled with the people of the four regions lying haphazardly.

Wounded, digging in the dirt, slumped over – the scene was one of rubble and ruins.

Countless gazes pierced through the dust and smoke below, converging upwards.

On the dilapidated observatory, a blood-stained man with one arm holding a knife looked down at the crowd.

Zhou Ran stabbed the black knife into the rocks with his other hand.

The last remaining pattern on the blade shimmered with a faint light, illuminating the bloodstains on his jaw.

"All troops in the four regions, heed my command!"

The volume was not loud, but through the military charts and diagrams, each word was poured into the ears of the entire army.

"The official who erased his name has retired; we will surely meet again in the future."

There was no encouragement or clamor, and no mention of victory or defeat, or of grudges.

"Starting today, all four regions will undergo comprehensive recuperation."

"Treatment of the wounded is the top priority, and supplies are allocated according to the severity of the injuries. The underworld warehouse is in charge of the accounts."

"Anyone who has objections, come and find me, the Emperor."

Zhou Ran drew his black knife and turned to walk towards the side hall.

After taking only three steps, his knees bent due to the force.

Qin San and Gu Ji both jumped up from the ground, wanting to go forward and help him up.

Zhou Ran swept his cold gaze across the room, and the two men immediately stopped in their tracks.

His right knee was barely hanging on the ground, while his right hand pressed down hard on the hilt of the Taihuang Black Blade.

Supported entirely by the blade, he forcibly straightened his crooked torso, dragging his right leg with stiff steps, and stepped over the threshold with uneven strides.

The wooden door closed.

A heavy thud came from inside the house as a body slammed hard onto the blue bricks.

Outside the door, Qin Sanshi dug his fingers into his palm, drawing blood.

Gu Ji turned his head to the side, his back molars grinding together with a clattering sound.

The two remained rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.

There was no further sound coming from inside the door.

For this Demon Emperor, falling down once in front of others was enough.

Dawn breaks.

The ink-black color of the six-layered celestial canopy faded to gray-white.

The black and gold and silver-white cracks that intersected in the sky had mostly healed.

The pale sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, striking the charred remains of the Demon Palace with a brutal thud.

The observatory was mostly destroyed, and the left wall of the main hall was covered with cracks.

The two side halls were razed to the ground.

The former barracks of the Bone-Swallowing Tribe are now just a few pieces of burnt wood.

Zhou Ran sat in the side hall for two hours.

When he stepped out of the threshold again, his left arm, with all its meridians broken, was hastily wrapped with coarse linen, the knot tied awkwardly and crookedly.

The bloodstains on his face were washed away, leaving only a pale, paper-white complexion and an undeniable bluish-gray tinge in his sunken eye sockets.

He walked around the ruined platform, entered the main hall, and sat down behind the long table displaying military records.

Ming Cang stayed up all night without sleep. When he caught sight of his master, he instinctively tried to get up and pay his respects, but the wound on his waist was suddenly pulled, and he groaned and fell back onto the wooden chair.

"Emperor."

"Reimburse the expenses."

With trembling hands, Ming Cang opened the cover of the unified military register and read out the list of casualties, the treasury deficit, and the allocation details one by one.

"The cold algae seedbeds at the bottom of the Nine Nether Well are completely destroyed, and production has ceased. The remaining grain in the granary can only last for two months at most, and it can only be supplied to generals above the Nascent Soul stage."

"The Blood Sea Ancestral Pool has evaporated by 30%, and the Bloodthirsty Empress has stated that it will take 100 days to replenish it. During this period, the production of high-grade blood crystals will decrease by 40%."

"Empress Huanyin lost half a step in rank, the formation of 30,000 Huanmo Guards was shaken and broken, and 3,000 soldiers still have not awakened their five senses."

"The Nine Netherworld Empress has lost the outer and middle layers of the Black Coffin Laws, and needs to mobilize a century's worth of resources to rebuild them. Her defense zone's vigilance will inevitably be reduced by 20%."

Upon arriving at this point, Mingcang paused, swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva, and looked up to observe the situation.

"Your Majesty, the wealth we've accumulated over the past six months has been wiped out by 40% in this one blow."

The truth... has come out in blood.

Zhou Ran turned the pages of the book, his fingertips coldly gliding over the dim characters of names.

"How is Qin San's condition?"

Mingcang answered.

"He had three broken sternum bones, but they have been set. He refuses to rest and is currently leading a patrol around the camp."

"The bones are silent."

"The three deep grooves on its back were stitched up, and the effects of the Domain Heart Pill helped it shed its skin. All the old marks from swallowing bones were peeled off, and its foundation greatly improved."

"Can Xiaorou survive the Gu poison?"

Mingcang hesitated for a moment.

"I am currently in seclusion."

The insect's shell split open with seven large slits, and three of its wing membranes were broken.

Xiao Rou boasted that her life could be saved, but her eight wings had fallen back to six, and rebuilding would take at least a hundred days.

Zhou Ran slammed the roster shut.