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

At the bottom of the underground palace, the cold mist was almost liquefied, flowing through the gaps between the stone bricks.

The spatial rift that Li Zhiyao tore open lay across the pile of rocks, and was at least ten zhang wide.

Beyond the crack, the stagnant waters of the underworld, where no living being can tread, churn endlessly; it is the Yellow Springs, into which no living person can enter.

The door opened wide, and the surrounding air was swallowed up by the suction force.

The hundred or so armored warriors at the front could not stop and fell into the underworld.

Crimson armor and pale bones collided with the waters of the underworld, creating a sound like hot oil being poured onto snow.

Thick smoke spread along the water's surface.

Before the warriors could even utter a cry of agony, they were reduced to a pool of foul-smelling black mud.

The Gates of the Underworld devoured these soulless bodies.

Zhou Ran stepped to the door, his eardrums throbbing painfully from the dull thud of stagnant water hitting the rocks.

He turned his head and stared at Li Zhiyao.

She is depleting her very essence.

As a reincarnated being with the body of a Yin spirit, she is overdrawing the Yin virtue she has accumulated over a thousand years.

Li Zhiyao's figure flickered in and out of sight, the hem of her moon-white cheongsam turning into a stream of light and disappearing.

She swayed, about to fall into that abyss that swallowed everything.

Zhou Ran moved extremely quickly, reaching out to firmly support Li Zhiyao's waist.

The touch was bone-chilling; the cold was enough to crack the bones of an ordinary person.

A chill crept into Zhou Ran's arm through his palm.

He raised his brow, exerted force with his fingertips, and pulled the woman back.

"Save your energy."

Zhou Ran shielded her behind him, scanning the dark mass of crimson armor opposite them.

"If you leave here before obtaining the Earth Vein Dragon Essence, who's going to guide me?"

Li Zhiyao bit her lower lip and stared intently at Zhou Ran.

"Let go!"

She tried to break free, but found herself completely powerless.

The black jade kylin pattern on Zhou Ran's arm was scorching hot, and the domineering aura made her soul unstable.

The samurai opposite them stepped over the black mud that their comrades had melted, and charged forward with their swords drawn.

Zhou Ran's patience ran out. He clasped his hands together, thumbs touching, and the purple platform in his dantian trembled incessantly.

The demonic energy of the seventh level of Foundation Establishment flowed into the earth's core through the meridians.

A wave of purplish-black fire swept out from beneath Zhou Ran's feet.

The Mars fell into the crack and instantly ignited the ground.

The samurai writhed in the sea of ​​fire, but the speed at which his body reformed could not keep up with the speed at which he turned to ashes.

The tide of battle turned in an instant.

"Still not giving up?"

Zhou Ran swept his hand across the ground.

On Song Zhentian's mangled face, his teeth were tightly gripping a jet-black jade pendant.

The Eight-Foot Magatama!

This is the Black Dragon Society's magical projection.

He poured out all his remaining strength.

The black light swept across the sky and penetrated the widest crack deep within the earth's veins, which was the fatal weakness of the Dragon Vein Formation.

The jade pendant fell to the ground, and Song Zhentian's remains turned to ashes and scattered.

Dramatic changes occurred in the underground palace.

The rock face collapsed in sections, and tons of boulders rained down.

The giant dragon stone sculpture, which was originally radiating golden light, was now completely locked up by thick, foul-smelling black mist.

The resentment of the 80,000 people who were buried alive for thousands of years was drawn out by that magatama.

The malevolent aura turned the dragon's body black.

The golden dragon transformed into a monstrous dragon, and the bronze chains binding its body snapped one by one, the clanging of metal echoing through the abyss.

"It's going to smash into the array's core and ruin that skeleton!"

Li Zhiyao's voice trembled.

On the high platform are enshrined the jade remains of Li Chengfeng.

The evil dragon raised its head and roared, its enormous head hurtling towards the high platform.

If this blow lands, the foundations of the surrounding area for hundreds of miles will collapse.

"Crazy woman."

Zhou Ran cursed under his breath.

He saw Li Zhiyao rush out again, opening her weakened soul body in an attempt to block the dragon's head's impact.

She's willing to risk her life just to protect those bones.

The evil dragon didn't even need to attack; a mere gust of air was enough to send Li Zhiyao flying dozens of meters away.

A trail of green, spiritual essence was scattered along the way.

Zhou Ran felt a surge of anger in his chest, not out of pity for her.

It was simply her agreement with this persistence.

"Tsk!"

Zhou Ran clenched his right hand into a hook and plunged it heavily into the ground.

At the same time, incantations were being chanted in the air.

A moment later, a long, black nail appeared.

With a dragon's roar, the Soul-Suppressing Wedge burst forth from the earth.

It shot towards the giant dragon.

At the same time, the black jade unicorn suppressed beneath the Demon Flame Lotus Platform seemed to be drawn by something.

It roared and broke free from the lotus platform's suppression.

"go!"

Zhou Ran formed his right hand into a claw and fiercely grabbed at his left arm.

The tearing pain of being separated from one's own flesh and blood made Zhou Ran's eyes feel like they were about to burst, and the meridians on her face were twisted due to excessive force.

He clenched his five fingers and suddenly pulled them outwards.

Blood spurted out.

The old demon's maniacal laughter echoed in Zhou Ran's mind.

"Now that things have come to this, are you still trying to play the hero?"

If this kid wants to use all his demonic energy, he naturally has to force that beast out of his body first.

Otherwise, if it backfires, even a miracle won't save you.

However, the weakness that followed was the perfect opportunity for him to possess the body!

Zhou Ran ignored the old devil's clamor.

His left arm was ripped off, and jet-black scales grew wildly down his shoulder.

He's losing control.

He has fallen into the depths of demonic ways.

But Zhou Ran couldn't care less about any of that.

He bent his knees, creating two deep craters in the ground, and leaped into the air.

A hundred meters can be covered in an instant.

Clutching the blood-stained Soul-Suppressing Wedge, he plummeted from the sky like a cannonball.

Below, the monstrous dragon, its color stained black by the resentment of the eighty thousand who were buried alive with it, raised its massive head, preparing for a desperate fight.

That earth-shattering pressure would probably make an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator lack the courage to even look directly at it.

Zhou Ran insisted on a head-on confrontation.

With his knees slightly bent and a downward force of immense weight, he slammed his feet hard onto the dragon's broad forehead.

The crisp sound of bones shattering echoed through the empty underground palace.

He gripped the Soul-Suppressing Wedge with one hand, aimed it at the most vulnerable gap between the dragon's eyes, and poured all his Asura Demonic Energy into his arm without reservation.

Get in there, you son of a bitch!

The long nail pierced through the hard scales, penetrating deep into the hilt.

The evil dragon let out a mournful cry of extreme resentment, its massive body violently tumbling and twisting, trying to shake off the tiny human above it.

Zhou Ran gripped the dragon's horns tightly with his legs and pressed down on the nail heads with his hands, letting the raging air currents cut hundreds of bloody gashes into his body like knives.

The stalemate lasted for several breaths.

As the runes on the Soul-Suppressing Wedge lit up one by one, the extremely yin and cold suppressive power spread along the dragon bone to the whole body.

The dragon's struggles grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, the enormous creature seemed to have all its strength drained away, collapsing heavily at the bottom of the abyss.

The wind stopped.

The dust has settled.

On the high white marble platform, the jade skeleton remained unharmed.

Li Zhiyao slumped down in the pile of rocks, her beautiful eyes wide open.

As a spirit who travels between the two realms and has witnessed countless cycles of life and death, what kind of desperate criminals hasn't she seen?

But someone like Zhou Ran, in order to preserve her brother's remains, didn't even blink before removing the restraints on her left arm.

Even ruthless individuals who are willing to risk their lives.

In all her thousands of years of life, this was absolutely the first time she had ever encountered such a situation.

A corner of my body that had been parched for thousands of years suddenly melted open.

An indescribable feeling of bitterness welled up in my heart.

She quickly turned her face away.

He bit his lower lip hard with his teeth.

Long fingernails dug deep bloody marks into the palm of her hand.

His tone when he spoke remained cold and unapproachable.

"That's really sick."

"Who asked you to meddle and play the good guy?"

Although she spoke coldly, her shoulders, which were trembling slightly, betrayed all her lingering fear and panic.

This little madman.

For his thousand-year-old obsession, he was even willing to risk his life?

Zhou Ran stood atop the dragon's head, coldly observing the scene below.

"Unrequited love."

He saw right through the woman's thoughts.

This female ghost is really prone to self-pity.

He pulled out the nail to suppress the dragon, but he couldn't bear to part with the peerless skeleton of that ancient powerhouse on the high platform.

For these top-tier resources, what's a little risk?

However, the biggest crisis has only just begun.

In the deathly silence of the underground palace, the suppressed roars of ancient ferocious beasts could be faintly heard.

The pure black magic patterns had already crossed the collarbone and climbed up Zhou Ran's neck.

It spread rapidly to the right half of his face at a speed visible to the naked eye.