If I, a death row inmate, am not to become a demon, am I to become a member of the Imperial Guard?

The underground palace was eerily quiet.

Only that eerie blue light continued to dance tirelessly. It was like cold snakes, coiling around the broken copper pipe. The torn wounds in the metal were slowly healing.

The Dharma King stood there, his back like a mountain. He didn't turn to look at Zhou Yang and Qin Shuang. That indifference was more hurtful than any mockery. In his eyes, these two people were already corpses.

Zhou Yang leaned against Qin Shuang. Every breath was accompanied by excruciating pain, as if his lungs were being torn apart. His internal organs felt like they were shattered. He could even feel warm blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth.

Qin Shuang supported him. Her hands trembled. Not from fear, but from anger and helplessness. She gripped the knife, its blade still bearing the marks of the battle. But now, the knife could do nothing. The distance between them was the distance between life and death.

"Give up," the Dharma King finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and devoid of any emotion. "You've ruined my plans; you deserve to be torn to pieces. But for the sake of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I'll grant you a quick death."

His words were like a hammer, shattering Zhou Yang's last shred of hope.

The gap. An insurmountable chasm. The other person, standing still, is an insurmountable mountain. And I, I can't even stand still.

Zhou Yang's vision began to blur. Not from excessive blood loss. It was a despair that caused his focus to waver. He looked at the Dharma King, at the eerie blue light, at the pipes that were being repaired.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

Bathed in that eerie blue light, he saw the enormous bronze alchemy furnace. The carved human faces on it continued their silent roars. During the violent impact, something amiss had occurred at the junction of the furnace's base and body.

That wasn't a crack.

It was more like a tiny crack. Extremely, extremely thin. You wouldn't notice it at all unless you looked closely. A sliver of light peeked through. Not a deep blue, but a...dark red.

Like blood.

Zhou Yang's heart skipped a beat.

The Dharma King was repairing the pipes. He focused all his attention on maintaining the operation of the grand formation. He confirmed that Zhou Yang had lost his ability to move. He confirmed victory.

He failed to notice that his most precious possession, the alchemy furnace, had been internally damaged in the chaotic battle.

A single thought, like lightning, cleaved through the chaos in Zhou Yang's mind.

That's the core of the alchemy furnace. It's the heart of the entire underground palace's grand formation! If something goes wrong there…

The Dharma King can repair the copper pipes. But he absolutely dares not, and has no way of, repairing the furnace itself while it is still running!

That is the opportunity.

A chance to gamble with your life.

Zhou Yang's breathing suddenly became rapid. He raised his head, and the cold calm in his eyes was instantly replaced by a frenzied flame.

Qin Shuang noticed his change. She looked down and saw Zhou Yang's eyes. There, burned the intensity of a gambler. "Zhou Yang, you…"

"Hold me up." Zhou Yang's voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable strength. "Wait for me."

After saying that, he closed his eyes.

In his dantian, the last vestiges of true energy flickered like a candle about to go out. He no longer held back. He frantically urged, mobilized, and squeezed it out! He burned it!

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through his meridians. It was a sign of his vital energy being depleted. He didn't care. He needed power, even if it was only enough to sustain him for a moment.

Zhou Yang's body began to feel slightly hot. His chapped lips even oozed a little blood.

Qin Shuang hugged him even tighter. She didn't know what he was going to do, but she could feel that something terrible was happening inside Zhou Yang's body. Like a piece of rotten wood, bursting into flames at the last moment.

The Dharma King seemed to sense something as well. He paused in his repair work and slowly turned his head. "A death throes?"

Before he could finish speaking...

Zhou Yang moved.

He abruptly broke free from Qin Shuang's support. Like a ferocious beast cornered, he let out a suppressed roar. Not forward, not backward, but charged to the side! Charged towards the enormous bronze alchemy furnace!

He wasn't fast. Each step left a bloody footprint on the ground. But every step he took was incredibly determined.

"A madman!" Qin Shuang cried out.

For the first time, astonishment appeared in the Dharma King's eyes. He hadn't expected that this man, who was practically dead, would still have the strength to move, and with such a clear objective.

"Stop him!" the Dharma King growled.

The two guardians who were closest immediately pounced on him.

But it was too late.

Zhou Yang burned everything he had. All his life force and all his will coalesced into an obsession that drove him toward the alchemy furnace. His body no longer contained true essence; only pure willpower remained to drive him.

A guardian's knife struck him in the back.

puff.

His flesh was torn and rolled back. His bones seemed to be cracked. Zhou Yang swayed, but didn't fall. He didn't even look back. He simply used the force to take another step forward.

Another guardian's claw reached for his back.

Zhou Yang didn't dodge. He simply took the blow with his shoulder. The excruciating pain made his vision go black, and the blood spurting from his mouth splattered onto the bronze alchemy furnace.

He arrived.

He stretched out his right hand. That hand, congested with blood and in excruciating pain, had already turned somewhat purple.

Under the horrified gaze of the Dharma King, Zhou Yang plunged his hand fiercely into the crack in the furnace wall!

The scorching heat instantly engulfed his arm.

That wasn't ordinary high temperature. It was a destructive heat flow condensed from the essence of medicinal power refined through countless trials inside the alchemy furnace.

scoff-

A soft sound.

Zhou Yang could clearly smell the flesh and blood on his arm being instantly roasted and charred. His white bones were exposed to the air.

pain.

The pain was indescribable. It felt as if his nerves were being pulled out one by one and burned on a fire.

But he didn't call out.

His eyes were fixed on the inside of the furnace. In the blood-red light, he saw something. A crystal core, the size of a fist, dark red in color, pulsating slightly like a heart.

that's it!

Danmu!

The core power source of the entire magic array!

"My hand!" The Dharma King finally reacted, letting out a beast-like roar. He hadn't expected Zhou Yang's target to be this! He had even less expected that Zhou Yang would dare to use such a suicidal method!

Zhou Yang's teeth were already clenched to powder. With his last bit of strength, he groped inside the furnace with his fingers and finally grasped the scalding hot elixir.

He's stingy.

Use your fingernails, your finger bones, anything you can use.

The Pill Mother seemed to be connected to the Pill Furnace. A tremendous suction force emanated from the Pill Mother, trying to pull his soul in.

Zhou Yang's vision was now filled with black spots. He felt like he was about to die.

No.

I can't die here.

He pulled suddenly!

"Bang bang."

A crisp sound.

He forcibly pried that elixir mother from the internal structure of the alchemy furnace!

The instant he succeeded, Zhou Yang didn't hesitate. With his intact left hand, he shoved the scalding hot Danmu into his arms. The fabric instantly charred, and the flesh sizzled from the heat. He didn't care.

After he finished all that, his body had reached its limit.

The Dharma King's figure had already transformed into a blur, striking the top of his head with a palm. This palm strike was enough to reduce him to dust.

The shadow of death loomed over us.

A bitter smile curled at the corner of Zhou Yang's mouth.

The Unseen!

In his heart, with the last of his consciousness, he roared out these three words.

The long-depleted dantian seemed to be ignited by this frenzied will, squeezing out the last, and weakest, wisp of true essence. It didn't flow to the limbs, but instead surged entirely to the soles of the feet.

boom!

The marble floor beneath Zhou Yang's feet suddenly cracked open.

He was like a cannonball that had been forcibly launched, not backward, but upward! He crashed diagonally into the dome-like top of the underground palace!

"boom!"

Earth and rocks flew everywhere.

The Dharma King's palm strike missed its mark. He only felt a blur. He looked up, staring incredulously at the dome that had been smashed open with a large hole.

Night sky.

The cool moonlight streamed down from the cave entrance.

A blurry figure, covered in blood and scorch marks, rushed out of the underground palace and disappeared into the vast night.

The Dharma King stood still, motionless.

The light on his alchemy furnace began to flicker erratically. A faint, ominous crimson tinge mingled with the eerie blue light. The entire underground palace began to tremble slightly.

The alchemy furnace... is broken.

The core... has been taken away.

He lost.

It wasn't a matter of martial arts skill. It wasn't a matter of strategy.

They were defeated by a reckless madman.

The Dharma King slowly raised his head and looked at the hole. The night wind blew in, carrying the bloody smell of the outside world.

A low, suppressed roar escaped his throat, fueled by boundless rage.

The voice didn't sound like a human voice.

Like a primordial beast whose heart has been stolen, it roared in despair and rage in its lair.