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

Xiao Rou clutched the Gu box tightly in her arms.

The golden gu rubbed its abdominal shell against her palm, and its five broken wings opened a crack, the remaining barbs gleaming with a dark golden light.

The hall was quiet for three breaths.

Qin San walked in from outside and stood in front of Xiao Rou.

He didn't look at Zhou Ran, but looked down at the girl who was a head shorter than him.

"The Gu worms are not ready yet."

Qin San kept his voice very low.

"If you go over there, no one will protect you."

Xiao Rou held the golden Gu in front of Qin San.

The cracks on the insect's shell had not yet healed, but the dark golden light grew brighter and brighter, steadily gleaming.

"Brother Qin, it follows me and can climb over anywhere."

She smiled.

"Besides, you have to eat to pull out nails. No one else can do this kind of work."

Qin San stared at the Gu worm for a long time.

He reached out and ran his rough fingers along the back of the Gu worm.

"If it's missing even one barb, come back and I'll settle the score with you."

Xiao Rou hugged the Gu box tightly and nodded vigorously.

She turned to Zhou Ran, bent down slightly, and straightened up with a smile on her lips.

"Your Majesty, please tell Sister Chen for me."

The gu box was closed and clipped to his waist.

When she reached the threshold, she turned back and scanned every face in the hall.

"I'll be back soon."

The footsteps disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Zhou Ran looked down at the military register.

Xiao Rou's military identification mark shone brightly on the paper, quiet and still, its color much restored since the day the Emperor Prince was born.

The bloodthirsty spearhead left a trail on the ground.

"Send her? She's only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm."

"What Earth wants isn't combat power."

Zhou Ran closed the military register.

"It is a mouth and a worm that can eat fragments of Emperor-level rules."

Qin San went but couldn't defeat the Emperor's Hidden Nail; Xiao Rou's Gu poison could be directly crushed and swallowed.

Bloodlust opened his mouth, but did not refute.

Logically, there's nothing wrong with it; only the Golden Gu can pull out nails.

Huanyin leaned against the long table.

There's one more thing you haven't said.

Zhou Ran looked at her.

"When the Moon Road is open, it is bidirectional."

"If you send Xiaorou over there, things from Blue Star can also be sent here."

A glint of light flashed in Huan Yin's dark red eyes.

"Are you planning to have Chen Ya send something over during this trip?"

Zhou Ran did not answer.

He looked down at the light gray "path of return" mark on his left wrist.

One pulse, two pulses, three pulses.

Lin Qingxue once said that the hidden mark of the scribe and the second use of the bone pen were all in her mind.

The road home cannot be opened, but the moonlit path can be borrowed.

Xiao Rou's task of pulling out the nails was the ostensible one.

He didn't mention the other task to anyone.

That record could only be brought back by someone he completely trusted.

Zhou Ran turned to the last page of the military register and wrote a line of very small characters next to Xiao Rou's military registration mark.

Only he and Xiaorou could see the handwriting.

The content is a single sentence:

"Find Lin Qingxue."

Tell her to carve that scan record into the shell of the Gu worm and bring it back.

From the moment he put pen to paper until midnight, Zhou Ran reviewed three more stacks of transfer documents in the main hall.

Mingcang changed two pens along the way and wore down half of the ink stick.

As darkness fell, Qin San led his men to the North Gate to set up defenses.

child time.

On the wasteland outside the north gate of Jiuyou City, all the patrol soldiers of the Four Domains Army Formation withdrew to a distance of three miles.

Qin San personally led the men to set up a cordon. The Taihuang Black Blade was held horizontally at his waist. Most of his broken ribs had just grown back, and his chest still felt tight when he took a deep breath.

The hour of midnight, as predicted by the Moon Emperor, was precise to the last breath.

The dome was torn open from the middle, and a silvery-white beam of light fell silently down.

The moment the beam of light hit the ground, all the rubble on the wasteland floated up and hovered in mid-air.

Gravity failed within the area covered by the silver light.

The silver passage extends from the ground to the depths of the dome's crack, about two zhang wide, its surface resembling a bridge paved with solidified moonlight.

There were no railings on either side of the passage; the sides were just empty space, dark and gloomy, making your head spin just by looking at it.

Zhou Ran stood at the entrance of the passage, leaning on the ground with the Taihuang Black Blade.

The last remaining pattern flickered uncertainly under the silver light. His primordial spirit, weakened beyond repair after having its imperial blood extracted, stood before this moonlit path, its meridians convulsing involuntarily.

The Moon Emperor's rules are too high-level; the aura emanating from the passage itself is enough to give a Nascent Soul stage cultivator a hard time.

Xiao Rou stood three steps behind him, the Gu box tucked into her waistband.

The golden gu remained huddled inside the box, its five broken wings clinging tightly to its body, its barbs all retracted, quiet and still.

Zhou Ran reached out his hand.

Give me the Gu box.

Xiao Rou paused for a moment, then handed over the Gu box.

Zhou Ran opened the box and pressed his right index finger against the inner wall of the golden gu's shell.

The Demon Emperor's essence seeped from his fingertips, imprinting a line of dark runes on the shell's surface.

The golden lettering seeped deep into the carapace, invisible to the naked eye, and could only be triggered by magical penetration.

"Find Lin Qingxue and burn the scanned data."

Seven characters.

When Zhou Ran finished writing the last stroke, his fingertips paused for a moment.

Xiao Rou didn't see the contents of the coded message, but she did see the very brief pause when Zhou Ran withdrew his finger.

The lid of the Gu box was put back on and returned to Xiaorou.

The three empresses were already in place. Huan Yin was the first to make a move.

She walked up to Xiaorou, spread her fingers, and dark red soul power flowed out from between her fingers, wrapping around the shell of the golden gu in a very thin layer of water.

Concealment membrane. The aura of the Gu worms was completely sealed off, and even the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator could not detect it.

"Once we get there, don't release the Gu worms easily."

Huanyin's tone was different from usual; there was no laziness, no calculation, just a clean and earnest admonition.

"The concealing membrane can last for seven days."

The matter must be completed within seven days.

Xiao Rou nodded.

"Thank you, Sister Huanyin."

Huan Yin smiled slightly and took two steps back.

Bloodlust pulled a crimson pill from his waist, about the size of a thumbnail, its surface burning hot to the touch.

Ancestral Blood Pill.

The Blood Sea Ancestral Pool's top-tier life-saving technique was extracted from the remaining stock after Bloodlust had scraped away 30% of his own resources.

She shoved the pill into Xiaorou's hand with a bit too much force, making Xiaorou's fingers turn white.

"When you encounter something you can't beat, swallow this."

Within half an hour, nothing below the Nascent Soul stage can do anything to you.

Bloodlust released his grip, his red eyes sweeping over Xiao Rou's face.

"The effects of the medicine will wear off in half an hour; your life will depend on yourself."

Xiao Rou clenched the pill tightly and carefully put it close to her body.

"Thank you, Bloodthirsty Sister."

Bloodlust snorted, slammed the gun on the ground, and turned to leave.

Jiuyou was the last to emerge.

She walked barefoot on the gravel of the wasteland, her black dress trailing down to her ankles.

There were no pills, no magic arrays, and his hands were empty.

Xiao Rou looked at her, a little nervous.

Jiuyou stopped in front of her and lowered his head.

His pale face was almost transparent in the silver light, and the black lines between his brows flickered in and out.

"If you die over there, don't come back."

Xiao Rou's lips twitched.

Jiuyou turned and left.

Barefoot, I walked across the gravel, and there wasn't a single drop of blood on my feet.

Qin San watched this scene from the other side of the cordon, a smirk playing on his lips.

Jiuyou speaks in a manner as rigid and unyielding as her coffin, yet her meaning is always implied.

If you die over there, don't come back. Just turn over and come back alive.

Xiao Rou hugged the Gu box tightly and took her first step into the silver passage.

The surface of the moonlit road was pressed against the soles of my feet, and the temperature was extremely low, seeping into my bones through the soles of my shoes.

The silver light gathered around her, and a transparent coat wrapped around her.

She took three steps and then stopped.

Zhou Ran stood at the entrance of the passage, his left arm wrapped in cloth around his neck, and his right hand resting on the Taihuang Black Blade, which only had one pattern left.

Behind me lay the ruined outline of the Nine Nether City, and further away, the half-collapsed observatory of the Devouring Heaven Demon Palace.

Xiao Rou smiled at him.

Her teeth were white, and her eyes were curved into two crescent moons.

"Your Majesty, I will be back soon."