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

Zhou Ran propped himself up on the ground and sat up.

Every bone was screaming, and the primordial spirit was scraped thin as paper.

But his right hand held the jade bottle firmly, with seven drops of imperial blood swirling inside.

He opened the jade bottle and poured the Emperor's Blood onto the central stone among the six Soul Abyss Stones.

The moment the black gold liquid came into contact with the Soul Abyss Stone, the pale blue halo turned into a vortex of interwoven gold and blue.

A crack appeared on the surface of the stone, and the Emperor's Blood seemed to come alive as it burrowed into it.

Zhou Ran pulled out a few pieces of bone fragments from his sleeve. They were powdered remnants of bones from a previous attack, which he had kept instead of throwing away.

The fragments fell onto the Soul Abyss Stone, which had absorbed the Emperor's blood.

A buzzing sound arose, but it was neither the sound of a sword nor the resonance of an array.

It's the bones that are growing.

The fragments of white bone expanded, condensed, and stretched on the surface of the Soul Abyss Stone.

Imperial blood seeped from inside the stone, filling the cracks in the stone bit by bit.

The pale blue light of the Soul Abyss Stone was completely permeated by the black gold of the Emperor's Blood. The entire stone collapsed to the size of a fist, then to the size of a walnut, and finally condensed into a short blade three inches long.

The brush tip is entirely grayish-white, with several dark gold lines floating on the surface.

It wasn't a complete bone pen; it was only three inches long. A drop of half-dry gray ink clung to the tip, a remnant of the memory he had previously erased.

A short pen, only three inches long.

The pen tip should be pointing upwards.

It stood amidst the six Soul Abyss Stones, humming incessantly.

Zhou Ran reached out and clenched it in his palm.

The moment the pen bone touched the lines of my palm, a line of words floated into my mind.

[This stroke of the pen can change three judgments. The price is the same as before: true memory becomes ink.]

three times.

Zhou Ran's fingers trembled as he gripped the short pen. Last time, one time was enough to rip him out completely, but now it had happened three times.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly.

The curve is not large, but it is eye-catching.

Huan Yin stared at the short pen for three breaths. Then she smiled.

"Three inches is enough."

Bloodlust clicked his tongue, his red eyes shifting from the short pen to stare at Zhou Ran's face.

"What are you laughing at? You're so weak that a gust of wind could blow you away."

Jiuyou said nothing.

She closed the coffin lid, the gray at her fingertips slowly fading in the flowing deathly aura. She paused at the doorway.

"I have the pen, but I'll keep my life."

Four words were left on the threshold, and the person had already walked away.

Zhou Ran tucked the three-inch pen into his sleeve and leaned against the side of the black coffin, panting heavily.

His primordial spirit was as thin as paper, and his magical power was almost completely depleted.

There was an extra pen in my sleeve.

The sound transmission jade tablet lit up.

The light spot flickered violently, even more rapidly than before.

Chen Ya's voice squeezed through the barrier between the two worlds, becoming so sharp that it changed tone.

"Zhou Ran! Stop the name-erasing order!"

Zhou Ran straightened up, supporting himself against the coffin wall.

"It wasn't blocked, it stopped by itself!"

Chen Ya's breathing was rapid, and the slight panting from exhaustion of her magical power was between each word.

"All the monitoring devices on the White Tower have returned to green. The causal pressure in the direction of Blue Star has reached zero. The Emperor's pen has been put away."

Zhou Ran tightened his grip on the short pen slightly.

"But it's not a good thing."

Chen Ya's last words were tinged with obvious fear.

"What is the prince waiting for?"

Something much larger is looking towards the Sixth Heaven.

The light spot on the jade plate disappeared.

Only the lingering buzz of the Soul Abyss Stone remained in the side hall.

Zhou Ran lowered his head and stared at the three-inch pen in his sleeve.

The gray ink at the tip of the pen jumped.

The emperor's son wasn't driven back; he was stopped.

The order to erase names has been suspended.

The news spread through the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace even faster than the day the Emperor's son was born.

Mingcang checked the data transmitted from the White Tower three times, and also ran through all the causal detection arrays in the unified military register. The conclusions were consistent.

The prince did indeed take back his pen.

It wasn't forced back by the Moon Emperor, nor was it held back by the three empresses, nor was it frightened by the reforging of the White Bone Short Pen.

Something shouted "Stop!" from a higher place.

Zhou Ran sat on the throne in the main hall, the Taihuang Black Blade resting on his lap. A three-inch white bone pen lay beside the military register, its tip trembling slightly with gray ink.

After his primordial spirit was drained of the emperor's blood, he became extremely weak, needing to lean on the wall to walk, yet his mind was clearer than anyone else's.

"Qin San".

"Your subordinate is here."

Qin San swaggered in from outside, leaning on the Taihuang Black Blade.

The effects of the Yu Xin Dan helped his broken ribs grow back to their original size, and he could walk without staggering, though he still had to be careful when taking deep breaths.

"Bring up those captured divine messengers."

Qin San accepted the order and left.

A quarter of an hour later, three sixth-level celestial messengers, who had been imprisoned in the dungeon of the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace, were dragged into the main hall.

The three of them lay sprawled on the ground, half-dead.

Since being incorporated into the unified military register, these guys have become empty shells. The Emperor's rule imprint has been covered by the military register, so they can neither contact their master nor use their original spells.

They still have imperial markings on their bodies.

That thing was branded deep in the marrow of the divine messenger; it was an identification mark implanted simultaneously with the arrival of the imperial prince.

It cannot be removed, nor is it necessary to remove it. It only transmits command signals within the Imperial Son System and poses no direct threat to Zhou Ran.

Until now.

The imperial markings on the three divine envoys lit up simultaneously.

It wasn't Zhou Ran who activated it; the patterns lit up on their own.

A dark gold light seeped from between their bones, making their skin almost transparent.

The patterns formed a line of text.

Mingcang leaned closer to try and decipher it. The handwriting was in the ancient script of the Imperial Prince system, completely different from the cursive script used during the period of bone swallowing in the Unified Army Register. However, Mingcang had been dealing with this script for half a year and could barely read it.

"Imperial Court... Inspection..."

The tone of Mingcang's voice grew slower and slower as he recited it.

"Order to suspend... execution... pending acceptance and ruling..."

He looked up at Zhou Ran, his expression almost as if he had seen a ghost.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Court is investigating the Crown Prince's records."

Zhou Ran leaned back in his chair.

Imperial Court.

Nightfall Shadow mentioned this name. The judicial body above the Emperor's Son governs all realms. The Emperor's Son is merely a hand sent by the Imperial Court.

The hand was stopped by those above, not because the Sixth Heaven was resisting too fiercely, but because the Imperial Court wanted to confirm whether the Emperor's son's actions were compliant.

During the acceptance period, all name-erasing orders were suspended.

This is a window.

No one can say for sure how big the window is.

Three days, thirty days, three months—it all depends on the speed of the Imperial Court's acceptance inspection.

One thing is certain—the prince will not write again until the acceptance process is complete.

Zhou Ran tapped his fingers three times on the military register.

"Mingcang, recorded."

"First, Qin San will lead the team to continue mining in the Soul Abyss."

The reserves of Soul Abyss Stones have been increased to a level sufficient to strengthen a hundred generals at the Nascent Soul stage or above.

The veins from the fourth to the seventh layer were completely hollowed out; not a single fragment was left for future generations.

Mingcang quickly put pen to paper.

"Secondly, while the order to erase names is suspended, send a second batch of resources to the direction of Blue Star through the material channel."

Coordinate with Chen Ya to reinforce the White Pagoda defense line. The return route is blocked; use the underground channel instead.

"Mingcang, check the channel's capacity with Xu Youwei's side, make sure it's not overloaded."

Mingcang paused for a moment.

"Your Majesty, the underground channel has limited capacity; transporting large quantities of supplies may be..."

"I say that's enough."

Chen Ya is on the other side of the White Pagoda, so you don't need to worry about receiving the goods.

Mingcang shut up and continued taking notes.

Article 3.

Zhou Ran paused for a moment.

My gaze fell on the last page of the military register.

At the corner of that page, the data array left behind after the silver fragments merged into the paper was still faintly glowing.

The Moon Emperor scanned the complete map of the six layers of heaven and earth veins.

"Have Yue Zhao deliver a message to the Moon Emperor."

Mingcang looked up at him.

Zhou Ran gripped the short white bone pen and made a stroke on the cover of the military register. No ink touched the pen tip; it only left a very faint white mark.

Tell her the terms of the deal have changed.

Mingcang awaits the next installment.

"This emperor will not repay the blood of the guilty."

Zhou Ran tucked the short pen back into his sleeve.

"But I can do one thing for the Moon Emperor."

His finger touched the imperial markings that were still shimmering on the divine messenger's body.

"I can inform her of the Imperial Court's acceptance results in advance."

Mingcang's pen tip hovered in mid-air.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then felt that his limited knowledge was insufficient to judge such an operation.

The Imperial Court inspects the Imperial Prince to check whether all of his actions in the Sixth Heaven have exceeded the scope of his authorization.

The Moon Emperor's act of sealing away the Sinful Blood itself crossed the Imperial Court's red line; she used methods outside her authority to deal with the Imperial Court's forbidden items.

After the imperial prince passed the inspection, the next one to be inspected was the moon emperor.

Zhou Ran possesses the imperial runes within the divine envoy's body, enabling him to intercept the imperial court's command signals in real time.

It's like having an internal communication device of the other party, allowing you to eavesdrop on the progress and results of the acceptance process at any time.

Will the Moon Emperor accept the request?

Mingcang couldn't help but ask a question.

Zhou Ran did not answer.

He closed the military register, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.