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

The Moon Emperor's silver eyes were cleared, but the remaining scan records served as a reminder.

The resources of the Sixth Heaven were even less than Zhou Ran had imagined.

Mingcang stayed up most of the night comparing the scanned images with the data in his own military register line by line.

The result was disastrous; the Nine Nether Well was blasted into pieces from bottom to top, and the production area of ​​Cold Algae was completely wiped out.

The Blood Sea Ancestral Pool has shrunk by 30%, and the recovery period will be at least 100 days. The stockpile of high-level cultivation materials can at most last for two months.

Two months. When will the Imperial Prince return for the second round?

There is no timetable.

Three months, thirty days, tomorrow—anything is possible.

Mingcang laid out the total deficit on the long table, his expression almost like someone who had only discovered their insurance had expired after their house had burned down.

"Your Majesty, the loss of Hanzao is not fatal; there are substitutes to deal with it."

The real bottleneck lies in materials for repairing the primordial spirit.

Mingcang used a pen to check the accounts.

"The foundations of the three empresses' laws have all suffered backlash. Qin San and Gu Ji's meridians need to be nourished, and the wound in your own sea of ​​consciousness is still cracked. All these injuries need to be repaired with medicinal herbs at the primordial spirit level."

What does Curry have left?

"Thirty-two Soul-Gathering Grasses, enough for seven days. Sixteen bottles of Netherworld Elixir, enough for half a month."

Mingcang put down his pen and spread his hands. "From now on, it's just a matter of staring blankly."

Zhou Ran opened the old pages of the unified army register for archiving.

This set of military registers is based on the original text from the Tun Gu period. In addition to military personnel records, it also contains a large number of old records of geographical surveys in the four regions.

While swallowing bones is despicable, it has one redeeming quality—greed.

He sent people to investigate every place where he could exploit the land, and he remembered it all clearly.

Zhou Ran turned the pages one by one. He stopped on page 317.

"The Abyss of Despair," he uttered the name.

Mingcang leaned over to take a look.

An exploration record is written in cursive script from the time of the bone-swallowing era on an old page:

"At the intersection of the four regions, in the place sealed off by the night sky."

The abyss is divided into seven layers. The first three layers have a small number of mineral veins exposed, but their grade is unknown.

Unable to penetrate below the fourth level, the exploration team was blocked by the tomb-guarding demons, and was completely wiped out.

A big X was drawn at the end of the record, with a note next to it: "Not worth risking my life for, we'll talk about it later."

Swallowing bones is not worth it.

But that's because Tun Gu didn't have the Domain Heart Pill, and he didn't have a single Nascent Soul cultivator under his command who dared to face the Emperor's son head-on.

Zhou Ran tore off the old page and slapped it onto the long table.

"Qin San".

Qin San came in from outside, leaning on his knife. Most of his ribs had been set, and he could walk without staggering, but you could still hear his bones creaking when he took a deep breath.

"My lord."

Have you been to the Abyss of Despair?

Qin San shook his head. "During the Bone-Swallowing period, two prospecting teams were sent out, but they all died. Later, that place became a taboo, and no one mentions it anymore."

Zhou Ran pushed the old pages in front of him. "Lead the team on a trip. We'll tackle the things that Tun Gu wouldn't dare touch."

Qin San glanced at the exploration records and stared at the words "tomb guardian demon puppet".

"How many demonic puppets at the peak of the Fusion Realm are there?"

The quantity recorded in the old records is unknown.

Zhou Ran tapped on the table.

"But they were created by the Night-Bearing Heaven. There are rules for the things of the Night-Bearing Heaven—no matter how many there are, the key to pass through must be hidden in the first layer."

Qin San grinned, revealing bloodied teeth. "That's a nice thing to say."

A bloodthirsty voice drifted in from the corridor.

She leaned against the outer wall, gun in hand, and hadn't missed a single word of the entire conversation.

"Ten elites emerge from the sea of ​​blood." Her red eyes swept across the room through the doorway.

"Don't think it's too little; they're all from the early stages of the Fusion Realm and above. Enough for you to use as a shield."

Qin San turned and glanced at her.

When this Blood Sea Empress tried to talk to him, she would either scold him or show her disdain.

The fact that the Emperor Prince took the initiative to send troops to support them today shows that the battle with the Emperor Prince really brought everyone to their wits' end.

"Alright." Qin San picked up his sword and walked towards the door. He paused as he passed by Bloodthirsty.

"Your Majesty, whose orders will your ten elite troops take?"

The bloodthirsty spear pressed down, blocking his path.

"I'll listen to you."

Qin San was stunned for a moment. Bloodthirsty men never lent out their military power. This "I'll listen to you" was tantamount to handing over one's lifeblood to someone else.

"My men are dead, you'll pay with your life." Bloodlust raised his gun and strode away.

Qin San gripped the hilt of his knife and grinned at the bloodthirsty figure.

That's fucking invigorating.

Xiao Rou trotted over from the side hall, carrying a patched-up golden gu in her arms.

"Your Majesty, may I go with General Qin San regarding the Gu worms?"

Exploring the way is its forte; even with its wings broken, it can crawl faster underground than fly.

Zhou Ran glanced at the Gu worms.

Seven cracks were stitched with gold thread, and five wings drooped, but the dark gold light deep within the insect shell was half a degree brighter than before. The essence of the Domain Heart Pill was still surging outwards.

"Go. Focus on scouting ahead, don't engage in direct combat."

"You can't withstand another injury from the Gu worms."

Xiao Rou nodded vigorously.

The golden goose rubbed against her palm in her arms, its barbs all tucked in, behaving incredibly obediently.

Two hours later, Qin San led ten elite members of the Blood Sea, Xiao Rou, and the Golden Gu out of the north gate of Nine Nether City.

The entrance to the Abyss of Souls is at the bottom of a collapsed fissure at the junction of the four domains.

Light becomes a rare commodity here. The deeper you go, the thicker the air becomes.

It wasn't a stuffy, thick feeling; it was a sticky feeling with such high magical density that it almost solidified into a liquid.

The golden gu perched on Xiaorou's shoulder, its five broken wings slightly open, and a very thin thread of dark gold was spitting out from its mouthparts.

The silk threads stretched along the cave wall, bending when they encountered obstacles and hovering when they reached empty space. It was far more efficient than any array for detection.

There are no magical puppets on the first level. There are only low-grade ores scattered on the mine walls, not worth bending down for.

The second layer begins to show signs of old battles.

The cave walls were covered with charred claw marks, and the ground was littered with broken equipment left behind by prospecting teams from the time of the Bone Swallowing Era.

Qin San squatted down and picked up a blood-stained iron glove.

"The graves of these people are probably down there."

The third layer.

The moment the golden gu's silk thread touched the stone wall at the entrance to the third level, the entire thread exploded into dust.

The worm raised all five of its wings and opened its mouthparts wide, emitting a sharp alarm towards the depths of darkness.

There's something ahead.

Xiao Rou gripped the Gu box tightly. "There are many."

Qin San drew his Taihuang Black Blade.

The magic power of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was poured into the blade, and the newly grown patterns carried the sharpness nurtured by the Domain Heart Pill.

He nodded to the ten elite Blood Sea warriors behind him.

"With the shield formation in front, I will break through from the center."

Xiao Rou shrank back, telling the Gu worms to probe but not to bite.

Light came out from the darkness.

It's not a light. It's eyes.

Dozens of crimson lights lit up and were arranged on both sides of the third-level passage.

The Tomb Guardian Puppet.

The black-armored puppet, standing three zhang tall, had exposed rivets at its joints and a dark red magic core embedded in its chest cavity.

Their auras were all above the Integration Stage, with the leading ones showing mana fluctuations approaching the peak of the Integration Stage.

Quantity – Thirty-seven bodies.

Qin San's lips twitched.

Those guys who swallowed bones sent two mining teams to their deaths; anyone else would have perished by now.

This force is so formidable that even those in the early stages of the Tribulation Transcending Realm would have to think twice before attacking.

But Qin San noticed something.

The lead demonic puppet had a line of small characters engraved on its breastplate, which shared the same origin as the pattern on the Unified Army's official seal.

He tried to show the blade of the Taihuang Black Blade by turning it forward.

The Emperor-level dark patterns on the blade resonated with the patterns on the demonic puppet's breastplate. The thirty-seven demonic puppets paused simultaneously, their crimson light shifting from murderous intent to wary observation.

The attack intensity has been reduced by more than half.

The things created by Night Bear Heaven recognize Night Bear Heaven's sword.

Qin San grinned.

"superior."

With a single step, the Taihuang Black Blade swept across.

The blade sliced ​​into the waist of the first demonic puppet. The black armor cracked, revealing the demonic core.

The demonic puppet's counterattack was a beat too late—under the resonance suppression, its punching speed was reduced by 30%.

The elite Blood Sea warriors pressed forward simultaneously, their crimson blood energy transforming into a strangling net that trapped the charging demonic puppets within three steps.

Qin San did not linger in battle. After cleaving through the first corpse, he immediately advanced, his blade arcing as he slashed down the second and third.

Each cut is precisely aimed at the joint rivet, causing maximum damage with minimal force.

The Domain Heart Pill not only gave him an improvement in his cultivation level, but also gave him precise control over his magical power.

Two hours.

Thirty-seven Nascent Soul stage demonic puppets, along with three peak Nascent Soul stage puppets, were all cut down and felled to the ground.

Qin Sanhei leaned on the ground, breathing heavily for three breaths.

The new patterns on the Taihuang Black Blade have worn down a bit, but the blade itself is intact.

One of the Blood Sea Elite was lost, and the remaining nine were all wounded, but none of them died in battle.

At the end of the passage, the third layer of the mine wall was fully exposed.

The entire wall was embedded with fist-sized, translucent stones.

A pale blue halo flowed within the stone, the light source was extremely soft, and when it shone on a person's face, one could feel the depths of their consciousness gently unfolding.

Xiao Rou leaned closer to take a look, and her eyelids twitched twice.

"Soul Abyss Stone".

Her voice was trembling.

"Top-tier materials for cultivating the primordial spirit."

It's dozens of times more effective than Soul-Gathering Grass.

Without saying a word, Qin San tore off his cloak and used it as a pocket, starting to stuff stones into it.

The elite of the Blood Sea followed suit, and twenty hands worked together to dig through the wall.

The first batch of Soul Abyss Stones filled six temporary cloth bags.

Qin San shouldered the heaviest bag and started walking back. Just as he stepped out of the third exit, his feet suddenly trembled.

The sound came up from the bottom.

It wasn't a seismic tremor. It wasn't the activation of a demonic puppet.

It was a sigh.

An aged, indifferent sigh that has passed through millennia.

The lingering sound echoed back and forth in the passageway, so clear that one could almost make out the curve of the sigher's downturned lips just by listening to the sound.

Qin San's knife slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

The oppressive force contained in that sigh snapped his grip.

Xiao Rou's golden gu bristled. All five remaining wings stood up, its mouthparts closed, and its entire body shrank into a ball, desperately trying to burrow into Xiao Rou's arms.

After the sigh, there was a sentence.

Every word weighed heavily on everyone's soul.

"If anyone comes here, it means that I am dead."

Qin San bent down to pick up the knife, his fingers trembling.

"Then let's see—how many more days the new emperor can last compared to me."