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

"I see."

A cold glint appeared in Zhou Ran's eyes.

"The Song family not only wants to capture people to use as furnaces, but also wants to turn the entire Jiangcheng into a place for raising corpses."

"The location of this formation is extremely inauspicious, with the worst feng shui and the heaviest karmic consequences. It's meant to rot the Xiao family from the root, leading to their destruction and death."

His gaze fell on the cracked jade pendant at Xiao Jue's waist.

Zhou Ran picked up the jade pendant and brought it to his mouth.

His voice boomed through the wind and rain, each word like an icicle.

"Old man, this is just an appetizer."

"How did it feel to have your divine sense crushed just now?"

"Wash your neck and wait."

"I like your dog head too."

As soon as he finished speaking, he exerted force with his five fingers.

The jade pendant instantly turned into dust, which was swept away by the gale and disappeared into the world.

……

The underground palace of the Song family in the capital city.

"puff--!"

Inside the golden nanmu coffin, Song Wuji's body shuddered, and he spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling black blood, his aura immediately weakening.

Divine consciousness extinguished!

For his decaying body, which was clinging to life by the breath of death, this was nothing short of adding insult to injury!

"How is that possible... What kind of power is that...?"

Song Wuji clutched his collapsed chest, his eyes filled with horror and fear for the first time.

Just now, a chill rose from the depths of his soul!

That kid has an ancient, terrifying being hidden inside him!

That demonic power was purer and more ancient than any evil cultivator he had ever seen!

"Ancestor! Ancestor, what's wrong?!"

In a panic, Song Tiancheng rushed to the side of the coffin.

"It failed... Xiao Jue... is dead..."

Song Wuji was breathing heavily, his voice hoarse, revealing a morbid madness.

"We can't let him come to the capital... We absolutely cannot let him leave Jiangcheng alive!"

"Since a one-on-one fight won't work, let's use a formation!"

His claw-like fingers gripped the edge of the coffin so tightly that he didn't even notice his nails breaking off at the root.

"Send a message to the Wuji Sect Master!"

"Unleash the [Night Parade of One Hundred Demons]!"

"Turn the entire Jiangcheng New District into a ghost town!"

I will use the lives of an entire city to crush this little beast!

......

The sky over Jiangcheng has turned gray.

Within five days, Jiangcheng New District was completely turned into a forbidden area.

The city was shrouded in thick fog.

The fog was not water vapor, but a grayish-black color, emitting the stench of rotting corpses, which even the midday sun could not dispel.

The signal is immediately cleared once any electronic device enters.

The drone had only flown within ten meters when it was grabbed by an invisible force and crashed.

One of the workers who managed to escape was acting like a madman, screaming that he saw his coworker who had been crushed to death the day before yesterday stand up again, with a wicked smile on his face, biting anyone he saw.

The authorities immediately sealed off all roads and stated that it was an "industrial toxic gas leak".

Only a few people standing on the top floor of the Xiao family manor knew that this was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one.

It is the Wuji Sect's most treasured artifact—the "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade"—that has unleashed its power.

……

The door to the secret chamber beneath the manor, constructed of black steel, was tightly shut.

Zhou Ran is currently in seclusion, attempting to break through the final barrier to Foundation Establishment.

That night's battle deepened his understanding of demonic arts, and with the rare and precious materials he had plundered from the Song family's demonic lair, he had reached a critical point of transformation, isolating himself from all external perceptions.

"Is the boss still in seclusion?"

Fatty Wang carried a solid iron bar that he had taken from the gym, and his body was covered with yellow talismans drawn by Zhou Ran.

"Um."

Lin Qingxue stood in front of the French windows and pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses.

Her face was somewhat pale, but her eyes held an unprecedented resolve.

"The yin energy in the new district is increasing exponentially every day."

Lin Qingxue looked at the gray mist in the distance, which seemed to be constantly rolling like a living thing.

"I can see tens of thousands of vengeful spirits wailing in the fog."

"and……

The core of that formation is expanding outwards, devouring the vitality of Jiangcheng.

If left unchecked, the entire Jiangcheng will become a ghost town in three days at most.

Wang Pangzi's Adam's apple bobbed as he gripped the iron rod even tighter.

"What should we do then? Wait for Ran-ge to come out of seclusion? But this door..."

"It's too late."

Lin Qingxue turned around, her clear eyes filled with a resolute light.

"Zhou Ran is risking his life to protect us. We can't just hide behind him and do nothing."

"I am a being with both Yin and Yang, and I am born to be the nemesis of these evil spirits."

"As long as I can find the core of the formation, I am confident that I can destroy its foundation."

She looked at Fatty Wang.

"Fatty, are you scared?"

"Do you dare come with me?"

Wang Pangzi's legs trembled, and cold sweat streamed down his fat cheeks.

But he glanced at the tightly closed door to the secret room, gritted his teeth, and pounded his chest hard, making a "bang bang" sound.

"go!"

"What's there to be afraid of!"

"As long as it's for Ran-ge and his wives, I, Fatty, will risk all that extra 180 pounds!"

"Perfect timing to test the 'Immovable King Golden Body Technique' I've been practicing these past few days, and see just how tough it really is!"

……

Jiangcheng New District, central construction site.

This place is now a hell on earth.

Within the gray fog, countless twisted figures roamed mechanically; these were the "corpse puppets" controlled by Yin energy.

Lin Qingxue and Fatty Wang held their breath and carefully made their way through the ruins.

"Sister-in-law... Sister-in-law, this... this is fucking terrifying..."

Fatty Wang's voice trembled as he watched a headless figure drift by.

"Shhh."

Lin Qingxue took off her glasses.

Her eyes turned silvery white, from which two holy beams of light shot out, piercing through the thick fog.

"Dispel illusions!"

As the divine light swept across, the ghostly figure in the mist let out a shrill scream, and melted away rapidly, like ice and snow splashed with sulfuric acid.

"There!"

Lin Qingxue pointed to a huge, deep pit that had been dug in the center of the construction site.

Above the pit, a huge, ancient scroll floated, with hundreds of ghosts howling and continuously spewing out visible black gas.

Beneath the painting, a middle-aged man dressed in a dark blue Taoist robe sat cross-legged.

Mo Yunhai, the second elder of the Wuji Sect.

"Who goes there?!"

Mo Yunhai suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze shooting out like two sharp swords.

When he saw Lin Qingxue's face clearly, a look of wild joy appeared on his gloomy face.

"A spirit medium?!"

"Ha ha ha ha!

"This is truly a stroke of luck!"

"We were going to go to great lengths to capture you from the Xiao family, but you delivered yourself right to our doorstep!"

"Once you are trained into the main array eye, the power of the [Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts] will double!"

"At that time, not only will that little beast Zhou Ran be doomed, but even a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator would be killed on the spot!"

Mo Yunhai let out a ferocious laugh and pointed his finger in the air.

"Ghost General, go!"

"Capture that little girl alive for me!"

Roar--!

A deafening roar echoed from within the painting.

A gigantic monster, three meters tall, covered in green fur, with a blue face and fangs, leaped out from it!

A ghost general in the early stages of Foundation Establishment!

With a single step, the ground trembled, and its enormous ghostly claw, accompanied by a foul wind, reached straight for Lin Qingxue's head.

"Sister-in-law, run!"

Fatty Wang roared and advanced instead of retreating!

His muscles bulged all over his body, and his skin shone with a golden light, which was the ultimate manifestation of the "Immovable King Golden Body Technique"!

"You son of a bitch!"

"Take this!"

Fatty Wang channeled all his strength into his arms, swung the large iron rod, and smashed it down on the ghost general's knee with all his might.

boom!

A loud bang.

The solid iron rod, as thick as a bowl, was bent into a U-shape.

The ghost general merely swayed slightly, lowered its head, glanced at the foolish fat man with its scarlet eyes, and then impatiently slapped him across the face.

"puff!"

Wang Pangzi's nearly 200-pound body was sent flying by a palm strike, flying more than ten meters away before crashing into a cement pillar.

The talismans on his body spontaneously combusted and turned to ash, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Fatty!"

Lin Qingxue exclaimed in surprise.

"Run...faster..."

Fatty Wang lay sprawled on the ground, trying to get up, but his body wouldn't obey him at all.

His vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.