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

In the study, the ticking of the second hand of the wall clock was barely audible.

The air was heavy and oppressive.

Zhou Ran, with his back to Miao Yingying, leaned over and stared at the map of the Yangtze River basin covered with red and blue markings on the desk, remaining motionless.

Two thousand years ago.

At this moment, several seemingly unrelated clues in Zhou Ran's mind suddenly connected.

Li Zhiyao, a female ghost who lived for a thousand years.

Her elder brother, Li Chengfeng, existed even earlier.

The monstrous dragon beneath the Yangtze River has lived for a full four thousand years.

A painting, sealed by the dust of time, unfolded in Zhou Ran's mind.

On a reef in the middle of the river, a man clad in heavy black armor stood alone, exuding an overwhelming aura. His left arm was identical to his current Taihuang Arm.

The man held a pitch-black chain in his hand, the chain piercing through the sky and the other end driven into the churning riverbed.

Underwater, a massive black shadow churned and rolled, stirring up the vast waves, yet it could not break free of the chains.

"So that's how it is."

Zhou Ran opened his eyes, his voice very soft, but it sent a chill down Miao Yingying's spine, making her hands and feet go cold.

"Four thousand years ago, a monstrous dragon wreaked havoc. Li Chengfeng used his Primordial Overlord Body to suppress it in the water's eye and set up an ancient seal."

"And Li Zhiyao, as Li Chengfeng's blood sister, her soul aura is a key to unlock."

Zhou Ran turned around, his gaze piercing through the floorboards and landing on the Yin-gathering banner in the first-floor guest room.

"That dragon is not waiting for an old friend."

"It is waiting for someone who can unlock its chains and take away its four thousand years of cultivation and life."

Miao Yingying subconsciously clenched the silver bell in her hand.

The cool bell-shaped tongue emitted a faint hum in her palm, as if responding or urging her on.

Zhou Ran didn't say anything more and turned to go downstairs.

For the next twelve hours, the entire Xiao family manor, like a war puppet with its strings wound up, entered its final adjustments.

An underground chamber.

The Su sisters were forced to drink three bowls of dark medicinal soup and fell into a deep sleep.

Their sacred bodies, whose seals had been violently torn open, needed this deep dormancy to barely control the surging power.

backyard.

Fatty Wang, shirtless with skin that gleamed a dark bronze hue, was doing squats while hugging a Roman column he had pulled from the garden.

With each squat, the half-ton stone pillar would crack anew from the force emanating from his body.

Miao Yingying sat cross-legged not far away, with the silver-armored corpse that had been severely injured standing upright behind her.

Its entire body was covered in scales that reflected a cold light under the moonlight, and its sharp claws could easily tear through the air.

Zhou Ran did not go downstairs.

He made two phone calls in his study.

The first one was allocated to Zhang Xuansu.

The call connected, and all I could hear was the howling of the river wind on the other end.

"Master Zhang."

"Fellow Daoist Zhou."

Zhang Xuansu's voice had washed away all madness, becoming as steady as a rock.

"The plan has changed."

Old Jiao had a past connection with Li Chengfeng, and it wanted to come out on its own.

Paijiao was just a butcher who happened to be there.

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"I brought three junior brothers with me, and we kept watch on the river for eight days."

The number of patrolling water ghosts around the perimeter of the cult was twice as many as the intelligence indicated.

"It doesn't matter."

Zhou Ran's tone revealed no emotional fluctuation.

"Stay on the perimeter and don't move."

"You only have one task."

"The Pai Sect used a live fish spirit-transmitting technique to send messages. After I entered the river, not a single live fish on the river surface that was sending messages could swim out of the blockade."

"I will execute him myself."

Zhang Xuansu's answer carried the resolute spirit of a true Taoist master.

The second call was to Xiaorou.

The signal in southern Xinjiang crackled and hissed in the electric current.

Xiao Rou's voice came from the noise, suppressed by her sickly breathing.

"Owner."

Two words: humble yet fanatical.

"How many people are in the choir?"

Zhou Ran asked.

"The sect leader personally oversaw the underwater battle, accompanied by three hundred water ghosts and a 'Frostscale Python' that had been raised for five hundred years and was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage."

"Susanoo".

Xiao Rou paused for a moment, and even stopped breathing.

"Stand by in the deepest part of the river."

There are at least three Onmyoji (yin-yang masters) from the Black Dragon Society on board the ship.

"besides."

Zhou Ran's tone was calm, but it sent chills down Xiao Rou's spine on the other end of the phone.

"...'Master'."

She finally uttered the name.

"It's uncertain whether it's the real body or a projection, but his voiceprint has appeared in the encrypted communication band of the Susanoo."

Zhou Ran hung up the phone.

My fingertips slowly traced across the map.

The sect consists of three hundred water ghosts, ice-scaled pythons, and the Golden Core Sect Master.

The Black Dragon Society's Susanoo submarine, three Onmyoji, and the Song family's "Master" whose files were erased.

Furthermore, there are 120 elite members of the Black Witch Village, who are nominally allies but could turn on you at any time.

Now look at your own side.

he himself.

Two girls who had just broken through the second layer of the seal.

A fat guy who acts as a meat shield.

A female corpse-driver and a silver-armored corpse.

In addition, there's a half-dead mushroom and a ghost that could be extinguished at any moment.

The two sides are vastly different in strength, with a difference of more than fifty times.

Zhou Ran's lips twitched slightly, but it wasn't a smile; it was the excitement a hunter feels when he smells blood.

into the night.

The manor's underground secret chamber.

Everyone is here.

The Su sisters stood on the left, their eyes filled with exhaustion from being pushed to the limit.

Fatty Wang stood on the right, the straps of his Xuanwu vest tightening so much that he could hardly breathe.

Miao Yingying sat in the corner, holding the silver bell, with the silver-armored corpse casting a large shadow behind her.

In the sealed room, you could hear a pin drop.

Zhou Ran stood in front of the huge sand table depicting the Yangtze River, scanning each person.

There was no mobilization.

There was no encouragement.

Only commands.

"Light and graceful, you are the underwater spirits."

The Tide Sacred Body can sense all spiritual energy fluctuations, life signs, and formations within a ten-mile radius.

A safe passage was created through purification.

"Fatty, protect Miao Yingying."

She was the only coordinate to find the water eye.

She's dead. All of you will be buried with Li Zhiyao.

Su Qingwu's lips moved as if she wanted to ask something, but Zhou Ran's gaze froze her back.

Zhou Ran took out a cracked bronze bowl from his thumb ring and tossed it into the center of the sand table.

Tianshui Bowl.

"This object can create a waterless area hundreds of feet deep underwater."

"The water ghosts of the Pai Church, once out of the water, are just a bunch of dried fish waiting to be slaughtered."

Fatty Wang grinned, his teeth gleaming under the light.

"I'm good at making dried fish."

However, that Foundation Establishment stage Ice Scale Python...

"I'll kill."

Zhou Ran's voice put an end to all potential questions.

Miao Yingying raised her head, her pale face filled with worry:

"Brother Zhou, what Sister Li mentioned..."

'Waited for two thousand years'...

What if the old dragon…”

"There's no 'what if'."

Zhou Ran's gaze swept over the crowd.

"It owes Li Zhiyao."

"Debts should be repaid."

At 2 a.m., the phone screen lit up.

Lin Qingxue sent me a photo.

A string of bright red candied hawthorns, the hawthorns coated with a glistening sugar coating, was Xiaoqi's favorite food when she was alive.

A line of text was attached to the photo.

"Give the Black Dragon Society a stab for me, and settle the score between me and Xiao Qi."

Zhou Ran turned off the screen, leaving him alone in the study, and the light in his eyes dimmed as well.

He stood up.

"Set off."