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

The two characters "国师" (Guo Shi).

Zhou Yang stared at that figure from behind, countless thoughts racing through his mind.

He was calculating.

Calculate your current chips, calculate your opponent's hole cards, and weigh the gains and losses of this trade.

But first, he needs to know what the other party wants.

What do you want?

The figure moved.

He slowly turned around, revealing a pale and young face.

His face was wrinkle-free and hairless, making him look only twenty-three or twenty-four years old, but his eyes were as deep as two ancient wells, with unseen undercurrents hidden at the bottom.

He looked at Zhou Yang and suddenly smiled.

That laugh made Zhou Yang uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable.

"What do you think my purpose was in setting up this whole thing?"

The "Imperial Advisor" raised his hand, blood dripping from his fingertips.

The drops of blood fell to the ground, making a slight corrosive sound.

"You really think that fragment was for you?"

Zhou Yang's heart skipped a beat.

"You know who I am."

The "Imperial Advisor" strode closer.

His steps were light, like a cat's.

"Of course I know."

He looked at Zhou Yang as if he were looking at a piece of merchandise that had already been weighed.

"Zhou Yang, Lord Zhou, a disciple of Fang Tian of the Heavenly Principle Sect, a spy for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Qin Shuang's lover, and a vessel for a half-human, half-corpse."

Zhou Yang did not move.

He is waiting.

The "National Advisor" stopped three steps away from Zhou Yang.

The ripples in the blood pool have subsided.

But beneath that calm, a more turbulent undercurrent lies.

"Now, I'm giving you a choice."

The "Imperial Advisor's" voice was very soft, like a lover's whisper.

"Give me that piece of debris."

He stretched out a hand.

The hand was as pale as a corpse, but the knuckles were distinct and the palm was dry.

"I can spare your life."

Zhou Yang tilted his head, as if he was considering it.

But he was assessing the situation.

Assess the opponent's strength.

He assessed whether he could suddenly attack someone at that moment.

The "Imperial Advisor" seemed to know what he was thinking.

"You don't need to assess me."

He laughed, a laugh tinged with sarcasm.

"You currently have at most 30% of your strength remaining."

Zhou Yang's heart sank.

He's right.

That last strike had already depleted most of his true energy.

He's now less than 50% of his peak form.

"Do you know why that last stab didn't kill me?"

The "Imperial Advisor" raised his other hand.

There was a knife wound on that palm.

The wound was very deep, deep enough to expose the bone.

But the blood flow is very slow.

Something's not right about how slow it is.

"Because I am not human."

The "Imperial Advisor" opened his arms.

His body began to change.

The skin gradually turned blue and then gray.

The blood vessels bulged out one by one and turned black.

His eyes have changed too.

His black pupils spread out, filling his entire eye socket.

He was like a bloodless corpse, or a demon that had just awakened.

"I am half-human, half-corpse."

The "Imperial Advisor" opened his mouth, and his teeth became sharp, like a beast.

"Now, do you understand?"

Zhou Yang understood.

It turned out to be the case.

So this was the "Imperial Advisor's" trump card.

He is not human.

Or rather, he wasn't a pure human being.

Like Zhou Yang, he was a monster who was half-human and half-corpse.

"So you set up this blood sacrifice array not for those slaves."

The "Imperial Advisor" shook his head.

"No, those people were just sacrifices."

His voice changed, becoming hoarser and deeper.

"The real sacrifice is you."

Zhou Yang's pupils contracted.

"Your half-corpse body is the best vessel."

The "National Advisor" opened his arms as if to embrace someone.

"I have been preparing this blood sacrifice array for thirty years."

"Over the past thirty years, I have killed nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine slaves and used their blood, their lives, and their souls to create this pool of blood."

"But this blood is too mixed."

The "Imperial Advisor" looked at Zhou Yang with eyes burning like fire.

"A container is needed for purification."

"And you are the best vessel."

"You are Fang Tian's disciple, and the corpse poison in you was planted by Fang Tian himself."

"Your body has been tempered by corpse poison three times."

"You are half-human, half-corpse; your humanity has not been extinguished, but your corpse nature has taken hold."

"You are the perfect sacrifice—Zhou Yang."

Zhou Yang understood.

I understand everything now.

This is the real trap.

From the very beginning, this was a setup.

A scheme specifically targeting him.

The Imperial Advisor did not want the lives of those slaves.

What they wanted was Zhou Yang's life.

He used his body as a vessel to absorb all the mixed essence of the blood sacrifice.

Then refine him into a human pill.

A human pill that can allow him to break through to a higher realm.

"you……"

Zhou Yang was about to speak.

But the "Imperial Advisor" was no longer willing to wait.

He suddenly waved his hand.

The entire blood pool boiled.

The blood gushed out like a boiling pot.

One after another, streaks of blood rose from the blood pool, twisting like snakes and coiling towards Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang raised his knife.

The blade flashed.

But there were too many bloodlines.

One cut, two cuts, three cuts...

Cut one off, and another one comes.

It cannot be severed.

It cannot be eradicated at all.

"Save your energy."

The "Imperial Advisor" stood by the blood pool, observing coldly.

"I spent thirty years setting up this great formation."

"You can't break it."

Zhou Yang did not speak.

He's trying to figure something out.

But the blood had already wrapped around his ankle.

The blood lines were like snakes, tightly coiled and intertwined.

It's cold.

biting.

And it's still climbing up.

calves, thighs, waist, chest...

"Give up."

The "Imperial Advisor's" voice sounded like a demon from hell.

"You can't fight back."

Zhou Yang gritted his teeth.

He wanted to move.

But his body was already bound by blood threads and he couldn't move.

Those lines of blood were like ropes, tightening more and more.

And it even burrows into the skin.

Like being pricked by a needle.

Like ants devouring.

Zhou Yang could feel the crimson power seeping into his body through his pores.

Meridians.

Dantian.

The five internal organs.

The six internal organs.

The crimson energy washed over his body like a flood.

His meridians began to break inch by inch.

"Well--"

Zhou Yang let out a muffled groan.

pain.

The pain was excruciating.

The pain felt like someone was holding a knife and slowly cutting his nerves.

He felt like his body was an overinflated balloon.

It could burst at any moment.

【warn! 】

Suddenly, the system's voice rang in my mind.

[Host detected being sacrificed!]

[Abnormal energy intrusion detected!]

[Lifespan loss is accelerating!]

[The system will automatically activate its defense mechanism!]

Zhou Yang was stunned for a moment.

system?

But he no longer has the energy to manage the system.

The crimson energy had already rushed into his dantian.

His dantian was like a balloon that had been blown up too big.

getting bigger.

It keeps rising.

He felt like he was going to vomit blood.

But I can't spit it out.

He wanted to scream.

But he couldn't make a sound.

He wanted to die.

But they won't die.

The "Imperial Advisor" looked at Zhou Yang and smiled.

That smile was a smile of satisfaction.

It's the hunter's smile as he looks at his prey.

"very good."

He nodded.

"It is indeed the best container."

"Now, you're mine."

He stretched out his pale hand and reached out to grab Zhou Yang.

He held a sharp awl in his palm.

That's a human pill cone.

An awl used to separate the soul of a sacrifice from its body.

Once that awl strikes, Zhou Yang will become a soulless vessel.

A perfect human pill.

The awl pierced Zhou Yang's forehead.

But at this critical moment—

The corpse poison within Zhou Yang's body stirred.

The long-dormant corpse poison, the corpse poison that had nearly killed him, and the "legacy" left to him by Fang Tian, ​​were all fully awakened at this moment.

At the same time, the "Innate Yang Technique" also started operating automatically.

The technique is incomplete.

But the corpse poison is intact.

At this moment, the corpse poison and the "Innate Yang Technique" resonated in a strange way.

The crimson energy that rushed into Zhou Yang's body was originally like a flood, destroying everything he had.

But now, those crimson energies seem to be guided by something.

They no longer cause damage.

They began to be purified.

Yes.

Purification.

The mixed, blood-red energy is purified into pure energy.

Then it nourishes Zhou Yang's body.

"Varied--"

The "Imperial Advisor's" expression changed.

He sensed something was wrong.

The blood sacrifice energy that should have been under his control is now slipping out of his grasp.

No.

It's not about breaking away.

It is being swallowed up.

It was devoured by the power within Zhou Yang's body.

"This is impossible—"

The "Imperial Advisor" roared.

He wanted to reclaim that energy.

But it was too late.

The crimson energy surged into Zhou Yang's body like a flood bursting its banks.

Then it is purified.

Then it is absorbed.

Zhou Yang's body was like a bottomless pit.

It can swallow any amount of energy.

"No--"

The Imperial Advisor struggled frantically.

But to no avail.

He had been planning this for thirty years.

A blood sacrifice array that took thirty years to prepare.

The blood pool was created by sacrificing 9,999 slaves.

Now, everything is working to benefit Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang's body began to change.

skin.

It gradually turned red.

Like blood.

But it wasn't the color of rotting blood.

It was that kind of powerful, blood-red color.

His meridians have been completely repaired.

And it's even stronger than before.

His dantian was completely saturated.

But it is still expanding.

He's making a breakthrough.

He is getting stronger.

The "Imperial Advisor" turned ashen-faced at the sight.

He wanted to stop it.

But it was too late to stop it.

"It seems—"

Zhou Yang spoke up.

His voice has returned to normal.

It was even more somber and powerful than before.

"This life."

He raised his head and looked at the "Imperial Advisor".

"You can't afford it."

The energy within Zhou Yang's body finally stopped increasing.

He took a look.

It has at least five hundred years of cultivation.

No.

more than.

Those blood sacrifice energies are too mixed.

After purification, the quantity is even greater.

He assessed his own condition.

well.

very good.

It's better than ever before.

"It seems—"

Zhou Yang slowly raised the knife.

The blade flashed like snow.

It reflected on his face.

There was a smile on his face.

That laugh was the laugh of a hunter.

It's a laugh that's a matter of life and death.

"This life."

He looked at the "Imperial Advisor" and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I need to pay more."