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

The thread was so thin and light that it was almost invisible.

But the direction it burrowed into was the deepest part of Jiangcheng's earth veins.

That ancient, sleeping remains.

The first offering is complete.

Su Xiaoxiao released her grip.

The bone nail stood firmly on the straw man's head, its white surface reflecting the dim light in the bronze mirror.

She took two steps back, staring at her handwriting, and managed a broken laugh.

"Zhou Ran".

She read the name aloud.

"Don't you like to defend your own?"

"Then protect them."

"Can we protect them?"

She stared at the bone nail on the straw man's head, and resentment slowly crept into her eyes.

Chen Ya.

Of course, she would choose Chen Ya first.

On what grounds?

Why was Zhou Ran able to be cold to her, his official girlfriend, but then turn around and get involved with Chen Ya?

Why can Chen Ya just wave her hand and pull him out of the mud?

Why did Chen Ya's words drive her and Zhao Tao to the brink of despair?

Why should Su Xiaoxiao be eating rotten steamed buns under the bridge?!

Scavenging leftovers in the garbage!

Chen Ya, however, can wear cheongsams and ride in luxury cars!

Standing in the manor, everyone calls him President Chen!

She wanted Chen Ya to wither away.

The flesh and blood dried up.

Spiritual energy depleted.

In the end, only a skin remained, hanging in front of Zhou Ran.

It would be best if Zhou Ran just watched from the side.

The more he tried to save her, the slower Chen Ya died.

The slower it goes, the more it hurts.

"elder sister."

Su Xiaoxiao reached out and touched the yellow paper on the straw man's face.

My fingernail scratched across the cinnabar writing, leaving several black marks.

"Don't blame your sister."

"It's because he feels sorry for you."

Black mist churned behind her.

The will of Black Impermanence was compressed in the fog, churning out waves of the rotten smell of the underworld.

"There's one more thing."

A bluish-black hand emerged from the black mist, its fingernails sharp and long.

He opened his palm, and in the palm lay a token the size of a copper coin.

The token has a "hook" engraved on one side and a "lock" engraved on the other.

"Hang this on the key point of the formation."

"Once all thirty-six nails are in place, I will be able to unleash the full power of the hook and chain from the underworld."

Su Xiaoxiao took the token and looked at it over and over.

She put the token and the defensive jade slip she had taken from Xu Changsheng together and hid them close to her body.

"Eighth Brother".

"Um?"

"Do you think I'll be able to kill Bai Wuchang after his powers are completely integrated?"

The black fog paused for a moment.

"Cannot be killed."

Su Xiaoxiao's smile froze.

Cannot be killed.

These three words stung her skin.

She hated Zhou Ran to the core.

But she also knew that the man was no longer the poor coach at the gym.

Charging in would mean certain death.

Death is too cheap.

What she wanted was to make Zhou Ran feel bad.

Let him choose.

Make him choose the wrong option time and time again.

She wanted to nail everyone around him into coffins, one by one.

Chen Ya was just the first.

She had to find the remaining thirty-five herself.

A year with a negative influence.

A cloudy month.

Extremely Yin Fate Pattern.

It's best to live a good life.

Ideally, one should have family, children, and something to look forward to.

The more reluctant you are to die, the better your life will be.

The Black Impermanence lowered its voice.

"We can't kill them, but we can trap them."

"The moment all thirty-six bone nails were activated, the boundary between Yin and Yang in Jiangcheng blurred, and the entire city became a coffin."

"No matter how powerful his Golden Core is, he can't protect 30 million people."

"At that time, he will either abandon the people in the city to kill you."

"Either we watch the people in the city become nourishment for the wreckage."

Su Xiaoxiao's smile returned.

It's bigger than before.

I prefer the second one.

She turned around and squatted down beside the coffin, laying out the remaining thirty-five bone nails one by one.

The bone nail was made from Xu Changsheng's bone.

Each one was a deathly white.

Su Xiaoxiao picked one up and weighed it in her palm.

"Old man, you deserved to die."

"Don't you think he's worth it?"

"Let's see if he can save the person whose bones are pinned down."

She pulled a crumpled old almanac from her bosom.

This is what she found over the past three days in urban villages, scrap yards, and funeral supply stores.

She circled dozens of dates on it with a black pen.

A year with a negative influence.

A cloudy month.

Cloudy day.

not enough.

Having the right time isn't enough; we also need to find the right people.

The hospital's birth records room.

Household registration database.

Fortune-telling stalls in urban villages.

As long as a living person has left their name, there is a thread.

Su Xiaoxiao tucked the almanac back into her bosom and pressed her fingertips against the bronze mirror.

Blurry faces appeared in the mirror.

There was a woman holding a child.

There are nurses going home from their night shifts.

There were food delivery workers squatting by the roadside eating boxed meals.

There were elderly people lying in hospital beds receiving intravenous infusions.

She looked at them one by one, without any pity in her eyes.

What is her relationship with these people?

When she was shivering with cold in the bridge arch, who cared about her?

Zhou Ran is at the manor.

Chen Ya was beside him.

Xiao Hongli was beside him.

Those women were all around him.

On what grounds?

They all deserve to die.

Su Xiaoxiao murmured.

"They should all come down with me."

The sky turned grayish-white.

Dawn is approaching.

The black mist rapidly contracted, and the aura of the Black Impermanence retreated into the underworld.

"It's dawn."

"I'll go back to the underworld first, and check on the progress in three days."

"Remember, all thirty-six, not one less."

The black fog dissipated.

Su Xiaoxiao was the only one left in the bridge arch.

She looked up at the sunlight outside the bridge arch.

The first ray of sunlight shone in.

Su Xiaoxiao's body became transparent the moment the light touched it.

It didn't disappear.

It blends into the shadows.

Her body merged into the shadow beneath her feet, seeping down the ground.

Inside the bridge arch, everything sank into the ground, following her shadow.

The bridge arch has been restored to its original state.

At the same time.

The underground secret chamber of the Xiao family manor.

Chen Ya was meditating in the center of the formation on the east side.

In the past month, Zhou Ran burned her meridians with demonic fire, and her wood-type spiritual power was broken and rebuilt, making her much more stable than before.

But just as the bone nail sank into the straw figure, she suddenly opened her eyes.

"cough!"

A mouthful of black blood spurted from his throat.

Black blood fell onto the array patterns, hissing and smoking.

Xiao Hongli was the first to notice and rushed to her side.

"Sister Chen!"

Chen Ya's face was frighteningly pale, and she clutched her chest.

At the location of the heart, a thin, dark red line, as fine as a hair, is wriggling beneath the skin.

The thread, as it was being drilled, seemed to be sewing her heart back together.

Chen Ya gritted her teeth, trying to use her wood-elemental spiritual power to force it out.

But as soon as the spiritual energy touched the red line, it was swallowed up by the red line.

Her fingers began to feel cold.

She felt that someone was using her as bait to take her life elsewhere.

"Don't move."

Zhou Ran's voice came from the center of the formation.

The next moment, he was already standing in front of Chen Ya.

He glanced down at the red line, his brows furrowed, and the murderous intent in his eyes diminished slightly.

They arrived as expected.

He has not left the estate for more than a month.

It's not that we're ignoring Xu Changsheng.

After Xu Changsheng's jade slip was taken away, he knew that the old man was most likely not coming back.

But Chen Ya is still in the manor.

There are also Su Qingling and Su Qingwu.

There's also Xiao Hongli, who has just broken through and is still establishing herself, her foundation not yet stable.

Last time they used a diversionary tactic, the manor was almost destroyed.

This time, the other party used his jade slip to lure him out. If he were to leave again, that would be truly foolish.

Therefore, he changed the manor's formation to allow direct supply of Golden Core True Essence.

He then instructed Qin San to disperse his men and make preparations in advance.

He is waiting.

Wait for the other party to make the first move.

As long as the line moves, he can follow it and pull the hand out.

Zhou Ran raised his hand and pressed down on Chen Ya's shoulder.

The golden elixir circulated within the dantian.

Golden true essence flowed into Chen Ya's body through her fingertips.

The thin, dark red line immediately straightened.

The other end leads to the underground.

Further down lies the deepest part of Jiangcheng's geological formations.

Zhou Ran frowned, and the cultivation techniques from Ye Futian's memories flashed through his mind.

In his memory, there was a method of human sacrifice that was somewhat similar to the current situation.

"Bone suture technique".