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

Huan Yin raised her eyebrows.

"What should Sorahara see?"

"Let him see that I am doing my best to repair the Nine Nether Well."

Let him see that the Four Regions Army is tightening its defenses.

This allowed him to see that the foundations of the three empresses were damaged far more severely than they actually were.

Zhou Ran lowered his voice to the lowest point.

"The Imperial Court's report states that the current rulers of the Sixth Heaven are at their last gasp and are easily defeated."

Huan Yin chuckled. It wasn't a loud laugh, but it sounded more genuine than usual.

"You need to show weakness."

"It's a treat. The Emperor only felt comfortable coming in after seeing that I was on my deathbed."

Zhou Ran leaned back in his chair, his face, devoid of any superfluous expression, remained expressionless.

"After entering..."

He slapped the cover of the military booklet with his palm.

"The door was closed."

Gu Ji stood at the corner of the hall, his molars grinding together with a clattering sound.

To fight alongside this person, one's heart must be made of iron.

The sky outside the palace had completely darkened.

There was no sun or moon in the sixth heaven; the gray pillars of light shrank into the clouds, leaving only a few wisps of cold white light peeking through the cracks in the dome.

Half an hour later, Qin San's military report came back.

"The burial site was excavated from under the foundation of the grain transport road."

Once the signal is sent, it is received immediately, leaving no trace.

Afterwards, he and a few of his men repaired a section of road, ate, and went into their tent without contacting anyone.

Zhou Ran flipped through the military report, stopping at the last line.

Qin San's hidden Gu captured a scene.

After entering the tent, Zang Yuan took out the fragment of the Imperial Court from his pocket and examined it for a long time under the lamplight.

The dark gold light from the fragments reflected on his face.

The expression on the face doesn't look like a secret agent checking communication devices; it looks more like someone who has been crouching in the shadows for too long is reading a letter home.

Zhou Ran stared at that face for three breaths before closing the military report.

This chess piece is not simple.

He lay prostrate in the Sixth Heaven for decades. During the Bone Devouring period, he was treated as invisible, but when the Imperial Prince descended, he was able to stand without kneeling.

He wasn't being loyal; he was just waiting.

Wait for the imperial court to give him a chance to speak.

The signal was sent. The Imperial Court received his report.

The next step is either for the Imperial Court to reply or for someone from the Imperial Court to come.

Regardless of the method, Zhou Ran needs to change the lock on this door first.

"Mingcang".

"Your subordinate is here."

"I am sending this message to Yue Zhao in my name. The Imperial Court is about to conduct an independent investigation into Emperor Yue, and the case file has been listed in the appendix of the Imperial Son's acceptance process."

I have the complete waveform record of the first round of review.

The intelligence was transmitted via a face-to-face handover during the second lunar mission.

Mingcang's hand finally stopped trembling as he put pen to paper.

Working can really cure fear.

"Add one more."

Zhou Ran's finger pressed on the last page of the military register.

"Tell the Moon Emperor that I have also intercepted another piece of intelligence."

The ghost looked up.

"Three words appeared in the Imperial Court communication fragments."

Prohibited items, awakening, legal provisions.

Mingcang's hand trembled, and ink splattered across half the paper.

Zhou Ran stood up.

"The Moon Emperor understands better than anyone what the words 'forbidden items' and 'lawful laws' mean when put together."

This intelligence wasn't sold to her. It was used to force her to the negotiating table.

He carried the Taihuang Black Blade, his ethereal body supporting the edge of the military register as he walked towards the side hall.

After taking three steps, the ancient inscription on his left wrist burned again.

It was even more intense than the last time.

The heat penetrated from under the skin to the bone marrow, spreading along the veins of the gray lines all the way to the elbow.

Zhou Ran gritted her teeth and kept her steps steady.

The ancient symbol he had never seen before was slowly unfolding its second stroke beneath his skin.

When the ancient symbol unfolded its second stroke, Zhou Ran's entire left arm went numb.

He went into the side hall, closed the door, and rolled up his sleeves.

The gray lines on the return path still looked half-dead, but the symbols at the ends of the gray lines had indeed changed.

The ancient pattern, which originally had only one stroke, now has an extra horizontal stroke and a bend, resembling an unfinished radical.

Strokes don't appear out of thin air.

Zhou Ran could sense that the source of each stroke was a force transmitted from the deepest part of the gray lines, across the barrier between the two worlds, and from the direction of Blue Star.

Lin Qingxue's Dharma name.

What is she doing?

Zhou Ran stared at his left wrist, his back teeth clenched tightly.

He had personally blocked the way back.

All power supply nodes to the channel were cut off, and anyone attempting to open it from this end would be considered a traitor. This was a rule he himself established.

However, Lin Qingxue channeled her power into the gray veins from the other side of Blue Star without using the passageway.

That force seeped in along the causal lines, so thin it was almost like a mosquito's leg, and the military's causal detection array couldn't detect it at all.

Zhou Ran wanted to curse.

In a corner he wasn't aware of, the woman was carving things for him stroke by stroke using the Dharma Source.

It's like someone who, if they can't open the door, slips notes into the room through the window crack.

He neither demolished it nor stopped it.

He may criticize, but he's not stupid.

Each stroke of the ancient symbols carries a micro-encoder of the scanned data.

Lin Qingxue was using the simplest and safest method to gradually transfer the scribe's hidden markings onto him.

If the route back is not taken, the Emperor's nameless flag cannot be detected.

One shipment a day, it takes an unknown amount of time to complete, but the coordinates of Earth will not be revealed.

Zhou Ran lowered his sleeves, covering the gray and ancient patterns.

I closed my eyes and sat for a while.

Steady footsteps echoed outside the hall.

It wasn't Qin San, nor Gu Ji. His stride was extremely narrow, his landing point extremely stable, just as measured.

The door was pushed open, and Zangyuan stood at the entrance of the side hall.

He looked to be around forty years old, with an ordinary appearance that would make him blend into a crowd.

He was of medium height and build, and even his aura was that of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

He carried no weapons, wore an old armor of a grain transport soldier, and had half-dried mud on his shoulders.

He looks like a laborer carrying grain.

But his eyes are not right.

Those eyes were too clean. Someone who had struggled in the Sixth Heaven for decades should have bloodshot eyes, ruthlessness, and a hint of distrust in them.

Zangyuan's eyes were empty. They were as calm as bronze artifacts that had been polished for decades.

Zhou Ran did not get up. The Taihuang Black Blade rested in front of his knees, its last remaining pattern glowing faintly.

Zang Yuan stood at the threshold and gave a standard four-field military salute.

"Emperor."

"Come in."

Burial ground crosses the threshold.

The distance of each step is the same as the measurement with a ruler.

He stopped three zhang in front of Zhou Ran and knelt down on both knees.

This is not the kneeling method used in the four regions.

The angle at which the knees touched the ground, the position of the hands clasped together, and the curvature of the back were exactly the same as the posture of the three divine messengers when their divine runes were activated.

The rites of the imperial court.

The tension inside the hall had reached its limit.

"The burial site of the Imperial Court's inspector."

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and every word carried the composure honed over decades.

"Request an audience with the current ruler of the Sixth Heaven."

Zhou Ran tapped the hilt of the knife lightly with his fingers.

He showed no surprise. He had been waiting for this step ever since Mingcang reported the results of the Imperial Court's acceptance inspection.

After Zangyuan sends the signal, he can either continue to lie low and wait for the Imperial Court's reply, or he can take the initiative to reveal his hand.