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

Xu Youwei's eyes were red.

"You know that, yet you still protect her?"

Zhou Ran didn't respond to that sentence.

He looked at Yue Zhao.

Yue Zhao stood behind Xu Youning, her soul shadow so thin it was almost scattering, her pale outline pressed against the ground, even the corners of her clothes revealing her weakness.

But she never stepped back.

Zhou Ran spoke:

"reason."

Yue Zhaodao:

"She can't die now."

Hsu Yu-wei let out a cold laugh:

"When would be a suitable time to die?"

Penglai Ancestral Temple?

Or is it in front of the monument to ten thousand people in Jiangcheng?

Zhou Ran raised his hand, directly silencing her.

"Xu Youwei".

Xu Youwei gritted her teeth and ultimately did not push any further down.

Zhou Ran continued to stare at Yue Zhao: "I do not accept deals that come at the cost of other people's lives."

You want me to take Xu Youwei to her left eye? Okay.

You can help Lin Qingxue fill in the missing words in her name.

But Xu Youning's life cannot be saved with just a few words from you.

Yue Zhao remained quiet for a while.

Zhou Ran finished speaking: "How she should die depends on what she did."

It's not your place to decide, nor is it the Moon Emperor's place to decide for her.

The palm lines on the writing table lit up one by one, and the white bone pen vibrated deeply in Zhou Ran's palm, as if protesting, or as if waiting for the next sentence to be written.

Xu Youwei looked down at the silver eye pinned to her palm by the broken hairpin, blood trickling down between her fingers.

She didn't cry, nor did she loosen her grip; her knuckles tightened inch by inch, stubbornly suppressing the pain.

Yue Zhao looked at her and said softly:

"You can choose for yourself."

Xu Youwei looked up:

"Don't speak up for me."

Yue Zhao nodded and didn't continue the conversation.

She raised her hand and pointed to Xu Youning's abdomen:

"She's hiding something inside her."

Zhou Ran lowered his brow and looked in the direction she was pointing.

In the scene, Xu Youning is kneeling upright, her lower abdomen slightly bulging under her white clothes.

Ancient patterns circled around that area, moving slowly yet steadily, as if something was being pushed outwards by an array.

Hsu Yu-wei's throat tightened:

"What is that?"

Yue Zhao replied, "The last soul of the first master of Penglai Pavilion."

As these words were spoken, Xu Youwei froze completely.

The silver eye in her palm also fell silent for a moment, and even the blood flowed more slowly.

Zhou Ran stared at the ancient soul pouch in Xu Youning's abdomen, his voice very calm:

"Didn't the first sect leader fail to ascend and die outside?"

Yue Zhao said, "That's how it's written in the records of Penglai."

Zhou Ran asked, "What's the truth?"

Yue Zhao looked up at her closed left eye:

"Back then, he entered the left eye of the Heavenly Corpse, took away the first fragment of the bronze ruler, and also left a wisp of his soul inside."

Xu Youwei clenched her fists: "Why?"

"He saw the Moon Emperor."

Yue Zhao's tone was flat, as if she were talking about an old story from 30,000 years ago.

"I also heard what she said. The left eye is good at finding its way, and anyone who looks directly at it will have their deepest desires revealed."

The first Pavilion Master was inside and witnessed the destruction of Earth.

Xu Youwei's throat tightened.

Yue Zhao continued:

"The Moon Emperor pointed out a path to him."

As long as Penglai guards the fragments of the Heavenly Corpse and waits for the correct key, Blue Star still has a chance to survive.

Ye Futian snorted coldly in his sea of ​​consciousness:

"This is the same old story from 30,000 years ago; there's nothing new about it."

Zhou Ran replied calmly:

"As long as it works."

Xu Youwei raised her head:

"So Penglai was polluted from the very beginning?"

Yue Zhaodao:

Not everyone.

But the roots of the Discipline Hall had long since gone astray.

The scene in the void shifted, and the outline of Penglai Mountain Gate emerged.

Fragments of a bronze ruler were placed on a stone platform, with the elders of the Discipline Hall kneeling before them, writing the rules in their blood.

With each stroke, the fragment would light up briefly.

Every commander believed he had taken on the responsibility of protecting the planet.

Little did anyone know that beneath the stone platform, those fine silver-gray lines had long since seeped into the ancient laws.

Zhou Ran watched the scene, his voice turning colder: "They think they're protecting Blue Star."

Yue Zhao said:

"They were actually patching up the door for my sister."

Xu Youwei took a half step back.

She thought of Xu Changling, the East City altar, and the words "do not harm her life".

It turns out that people in Penglai have been being pushed forward since 30,000 years ago.

As I walked along, I became both a gatekeeper and someone who handed knives to others.

She asked in a low voice, "Was my grandfather also affected?"

Zhou Ran glanced at her.

Xu Youwei didn't defend Xu Changling. She just wanted to know where that thread actually started.

Yue Zhao said, "Xu Changling is not a puppet."

He has a choice.

But he had listened to ancient, corrupted laws his whole life, and in the end, he saw sacrificing you as the easiest solution.

Xu Youwei curled her lip slightly: "He's really good at calculating."

Zhou Ran said, "If the accounts are miscalculated, you have to pay with your life."

Xu Youwei lowered her eyes, and the silver eye in her palm slowly closed amidst the fine black and gold lines.

She then asked, "What would happen if the soul sac in Xu Youning's womb moved?"

Yue Zhao said, "The remnant soul of the first generation will awaken."

It will immediately burrow into the left eye, the left eye will reopen, the eye power will return to its original position, and Yue Zhao's journey back to the afterlife will be completed ahead of schedule.

Xu Youwei suddenly looked up: "That's why you wouldn't let me kill her."

Yue Zhao nodded: "It's not about protecting her."

We can't let her die too quickly.

After listening, Zhou Ran raised his hand and gently touched Xu Youning's brow with the bone pen in the virtual image.

"Capture them alive."

"Soul extraction".

"Trial of crimes."

"Interrogate them first, then kill them."

Xu Youwei pursed her lips, her face still pale, but her expression had calmed down somewhat: "Then capture them alive."

Zhou Ran looked at her: "You want to go?"

"I have to go."

Xu Youwei raised her right hand, the broken hairpin still embedded in her palm, her silver eyes pressed into the blood.

"The power of sight is in my hands, and the evidence of Penglai is also in my hands."

Even if I hide behind you, you still have to pay attention to protecting me.

I don't want to be carried onto the altar again, nor do I want to wait for you to return and hear you tell me how rotten Penglai has become.

She paused for a moment, then lowered her voice.

"Even if this eye isn't mine, I still want to see it with my own eyes."

Zhou Ran stared at her for a couple of moments.

The girl's face was frighteningly pale, and blood was still flowing from her palms, but the energy hadn't dissipated.

It's different from when I was nailed to the altar earlier.

Back then, she was being pushed along. Now, she's standing up for herself.

Zhou Ran said, "Okay."

Xu Youwei's shoulders relaxed a little.

He immediately cut to the chase with the next sentence:

"But this is an order. Come back alive."

Xu Youwei nodded and stopped being stubborn.

Zhou Ran carefully put away the white bone pen and turned to Yue Zhao:

"lead the way.

First, go and collect Xu Youning, then collect the hidden soul pouch.

The dark history of Penglai spanning 30,000 years is being unfolded page by page today.