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

The thick fog split open from the middle.

The crack spread out to both sides, revealing a path of white bones ten feet wide.

A figure walked from the end of the bone path.

With each step, the remaining soul-binding stakes on both sides of the Yellow Springs Road would tremble, and the inscriptions buried in the mud would turn red and then quickly darken.

Zhou Ran squinted at him.

In folk legends, the Black Impermanence wears a tall hat, has a long tongue hanging down to his chest, and has a fierce appearance.

The person in front of me has absolutely no connection to those portraits.

Black Impermanence was wearing a set of dark black ghost armor.

The nail plates interlock in layers, with fine, closely spaced edges, producing a low scraping sound as you walk.

Dark gold patterns floated on the nail surface, and as the patterns undulated, the aura of underworld authority pressed outward along with the mist.

His face was deathly pale.

High brow bone, straight nose bridge, thin and tight lips.

This face is beautiful.

It is also cold and hard.

He was so cold and hard that he was unlike any ordinary ghost messenger, let alone a soul that had lived a past life.

He had a broken chain hanging from his waist.

Black energy swirled at the break, and the other end of the chain disappeared into the void, its end nowhere in sight.

Zhou Ran's gaze lingered on the broken chain.

Twin Soul-Hooking Ropes.

The natal magical artifacts of the Black and White Impermanence.

The two chains were originally one; one turned black, and the other turned white.

The White Impermanence's robe had already been torn off by his own hands in the mortal realm.

That wisp of origin was also refined into the embryo by the Golden Elixir of the Mind, becoming part of the Cold Phase Pattern.

Through the yin energy, the demonic eyes could see a thick layer of yin energy within the dense fog behind him.

The aura was rough and pungent, carrying the savage scent unique to the Bull-Headed Yin General.

Qiao Kun lay behind him, his lips moved, but he ultimately didn't dare to shout out again.

Black Impermanence bypassed Meng Po, Qiao Kun, and several underworld officials, finally fixing his gaze on Zhou Ran.

"You swallowed Lao Fan's essence."

Zhou Ran didn't try to hide it either.

"He delivered himself to our door."

Black Impermanence's eye twitched twice.

The next moment, a surge of yin energy rose from his body and spread outwards in all directions.

The oppressive aura of a Golden Core cultivator at the Great Perfection stage descended.

Qiao Kun's five underworld messengers couldn't stand firm at all.

thump.

Five ghostly bodies slammed onto the black stone road one after another, their faces pressed against the ground, their bones creaking under the pressure.

Meng Po's hand holding the bowl trembled slightly.

A few fine ripples appeared on the soup noodles in the bowl.

She did not retreat.

Zhou Ran didn't either.

The Primordial Bone resonated within his body.

Black and gold veins climbed up the spine to the back of the neck, emerging from under the skin and suppressing the oppressive aura of the underworld.

Mid-stage Golden Core, facing off against the Great Perfection of Golden Core.

Moreover, it's a local deity from the underworld.

He has to fight this battle, and he has to fight it brilliantly.

We must establish the title of Grand Commander of the Underworld to deter the wicked.

Only in this way can one gain a foothold in the underworld.

Only then can one plunder rare and precious materials for one's own use.

It can even enter the virtual world!

The joints are under pressure, and the blood and qi under the skin and flesh begin to heat up.

His knees remained straight.

Black Impermanence stared at him for three breaths.

Then, he raised his hand and waved.

Behind them, in the mist, the sounds of armor clashing echoed continuously.

The first rank of rebels stepped forward.

Zhou Ran's eyes narrowed; the soldiers looked very strange.

The skeleton was large and thick, with silver rivets at the joints.

He has two more ribs than the average person, and a cross-shaped crack runs down the center of his skull.

He had seen those cross patterns before.

This is a skeleton created by a Western necromancer.

Within it flows the energy of the soul.

This spiritual substance can only be formed after the soul of the East is shattered.

Two things that were dead were forcibly sewn onto the same body.

The stitched-up area is the fiery hell of Avici Hell.

They penetrate bones, penetrate the spirit, tightly lock every connection, and forcefully press two mutually exclusive things together.

A purple-gold light shone in Zhou Ran's eyes.

With a sweep of his demonic eyes, the entire structure inside the fusion soldier's chest cavity came into view.

Each fusion soldier has two cores.

A dark gold item, a fragment of a spirit sacrificed in the West, used to support the skeleton and the killing instinct.

A bluish-gray object, from a fragment of a living soul from the East, used to circulate spiritual power and adapt to underworld magic.

The two cores are connected by gray lines, forcibly synchronized.

Zhou Ran lowered his brows.

Black Impermanence caught his reaction.

"Can you understand it?"

His tone was flat.

He even stepped aside to give Zhou Ran a clearer view.

"Things made by the Holy Radiance Foundation and the Eighth Palace."

As he said this, his lips twitched slightly.

That doesn't count as a laugh.

"The City King has opened the Avici Hell."

"Use the punishments within to fuse the Western dead and the Eastern living souls together."

Black Impermanence raised one finger.

"An ordinary fusion soldier has combat power equivalent to a late-stage Foundation Establishment Yin Messenger."

He paused for a moment.

"Three thousand."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Kun pressed his face to the ground, his eyes almost bulging out.

The late stage of Foundation Establishment is not considered top-tier on its own.

If three thousand late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators lined up in an army formation and pressed forward, that would be a disaster.

Meng Po spoke.

"The laws of the underworld clearly state that the spirits of the dead from the East and West should each return to their respective underworlds."

She held the bowl, her voice hoarse, yet it echoed throughout the underworld.

"Forcing a fusion is digging up the roots of the underworld."

Black Impermanence turned to look at her, a cold laugh escaping his throat.

"Laws?"

He stared at Meng Po.

"When Lao Fan had his essence stripped away by a living person, which of the Ten Kings of Hell stood up and spoke of any law?"

Black Impermanence turned around.

He didn't press the matter further.

"I don't want to fight you today."

He looked at Zhou Ran.

"The conditions are simple."

"Hand over Lao Fan's original essence."

Zhou Ran raised an eyebrow.

Black Impermanence continued:

"Spit out the wisp of underworld authority you swallowed, and I'll make way."

He paused for a moment.

"I can pretend I didn't see your past."

Qiao Kun lay on the ground, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

Give Way?

Did the Black Impermanence himself say to make way?

This is the vanguard general of the three thousand fusion soldiers, a person personally appointed by Yama, the King of Hell.

By saying those words, he was essentially entrusting the military order to the authorities.

All for a single thread of origin.

Just for Lao Fan.

Zhou Ran laughed out loud after hearing this.

He flashed his white teeth, which were particularly dazzling in the dim light of the underworld.

"What a deep brotherly bond."

The essence of the White Impermanence has already been refined by my Golden Elixir.

He raised his hand and patted his stomach.

The elixir of the mind is hidden there.

"It has merged into the cold pattern of the cinnabar embryo and grown together with my cultivation."

Black Impermanence slowly curled his fingers.

Zhou Ran's smile remained.

"want to?"

"Can."

"Then kill me and dig out my golden core."

The face of Black Impermanence, which was as white as a sheet of paper, finally changed.

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!"

As the yin energy pressed down layer by layer, the vertical lines under his eyes tightened, and the plates on both sides of his nails emitted a low hum.

Behind him, three thousand fusion soldiers raised their weapons in unison.

At the same time, a thin crack appeared on the road to the underworld beneath their feet.

The gap was only as wide as a palm.

The thing that crawled out of it caused half of Qiao Kun's soul to dissipate on the spot.

Dozens of deformed ghosts climbed up the road to the underworld.

They were covered in black iron chains.

Two words are cast on each link of the chain.

No gaps.

They do not have complete facial features.

The only thing left on his face was a mouth that was split open to his ears.

Its mouth was full of backward-growing teeth, with yellowish-black grime hanging between them.

With limbs bent backward and joints everted, bones dislocated one after another as the person crawled, and chains dragged on the ground, making a screeching sound.

Qiao Kun's voice changed.

"That is..."

"The Avici Hell..."

"Hungry Ghost Realm Executioner!"

His eyes, bulging like braised eggs, were wide open to the limit.

"The City King's Soldiers!"

A hungry ghost executioner opened his mouth.

It churned deep in its throat for a moment, then spat out a human eye.

The human eye hovered in mid-air and spun around.

A face was reflected in the cloudy pupils.

That face didn't belong to anyone present.

His official hat was neatly arranged.

Their court robes were neat and tidy.

He sat in a high position.

His face was expressionless.

That was none other than the Urban King Big Face.

He was watching the battle personally through the eye spat out by the executioner.