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

Three golden rune barriers were layered on the surface of the eight-foot-long jade ornament.

Each layer was extremely thick, with condensed light, as if it were tangible.

Zhou Ran's fist had already arrived.

Primordial Origin and Demonic Essence intertwined on his left arm, forcibly combining two completely different forces—black gold and pitch black—into a spiraling fist force.

The force of the punch pushed aside the river water, carving out a three-zhang-long vacuum tunnel in the deep water.

The first barrier.

The fist struck the golden light barrier, and a dull cracking sound suddenly rang out.

As the barrier collapsed, numerous golden fragments scattered and flew everywhere, each one imbued with the heat of a scorching soul.

The fragments struck Zhou Ran's entire body from every angle.

The scorched scales were marked with black marks, and a burning, stinging pain came from the subcutaneous muscle fibers.

Zhou Ran clenched his teeth, his punches unabated.

The second barrier shattered.

The shockwave from the burst of golden light dislocated his right shoulder, and the sound of bones shifting could be heard underwater.

He used his left arm to withstand the recoil, and with the activation of his primordial energy, the bones in his right shoulder returned to their original position, producing a dull thud.

The third barrier shattered.

The backlash from the triple Nine-Character Mantra surged into Zhou Ran's fist, causing the skin and flesh of his five fingers to burst open, exposing the finger bones, and the blood to disperse into a red mist in the water.

The old man's expression shifted.

It's not fear.

It was an accident.

He never expected that Zhou Ran, with his Foundation Establishment stage body, could forcefully penetrate the three layers of the "Lin Bing Dou" golden barrier.

These three words represent the most basic and solid defensive framework in the Japanese Yin-Yang Art system. Any one of these layers would be enough to give a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment a hard time.

"者".

皆。

Formation.

List."

Undeterred, the Master once again uttered the four-word mantra.

Four even thicker walls of runic light stacked up in front of him.

Unlike the previous three, these four walls of light were not static. They squeezed inward the instant they took shape, enclosing the area on all four sides, forming a solid magical iron cage.

Zhou Ran was trapped inside.

The space inside the cage shrank rapidly.

The golden, magically formed wall was sharp, clinging tightly to Zhou Ran's body and scraping away the Taihuang scales.

The scales are broken and visible to the naked eye.

One, three, ten.

Where the scales cracked, the skin was cut open by golden light.

It eventually spread to dozens of areas.

Blood seeped from every tear and spread in the water.

Within his mind, Ye Futian spoke in a stern voice.

"Use my magic power!"

Full power!

"If you don't let go, this broken cage will grind you into mincemeat."

"Shut up."

Zhou Ran didn't explain further.

He was well aware of the limits of his own demonic energy.

Once the critical line is crossed, the old devil's rate of erosion will increase dramatically.

Even if he wins against the Great Master, he will become a vessel for Ye Futian.

The cage continues to shrink.

Zhou Ran's shoulders were pressed down by the two walls, and his shoulder blades could not bear the weight.

He looked down at his left arm.

Qilin bone.

Li Chengfeng's will.

He used that punch once before.

Now, he only has the strength for one punch left.

Li Chengfeng's lingering fighting spirit was reignited within the Qilin bone, causing the ancient, primordial patterns deep within the bone fragments to vibrate at an unprecedented frequency.

A black and gold light shone in the cage.

The light did not spread outward, but rather contracted inward.

The light gathered in the palm of the Qilin Arm, compressed, and compressed again, until it condensed into a semi-transparent phantom of a short halberd.

The phantom was only two feet long, with a blade as thin as a cicada's wing, but the halberd body was covered with patterns that originated from the same source as the Primordial Chains.

In an instant, images from four thousand years ago flashed into my mind.

A spirited Foundation Establishment cultivator stood on the turbulent river.

Opposite him was a dragon hundreds of feet long!

Four thousand years ago, Li Chengfeng used this halberd technique to forge chains to suppress the dragon!

Zhou Ran gripped the illusory gun barrel.

His elbows were already stuck to the four walls of the golden cage.

In half a second, his skeleton would be crushed.

劈。

The phantom short halberd slashed down from top to bottom in one strike.

The four golden walls cracked simultaneously the moment the halberd blade touched them.

Cracks burst forth from the point of contact and spread to every corner of the four walls.

blasting.

Golden fragments and shockwaves spread outwards.

A large piece of steel plate was torn off the deck of the Susa by the blast wave, and the sound of the metal bending was like the mournful cry of a giant beast.

The man's clothes were torn, revealing the black inner armor underneath.

He took three steps back to steady himself.

The deck beneath our feet was twisted and deformed.

The old man's lips moved, but the last two words stuck in his throat.

He stopped.

This wasn't because of Zhou Ran's offensive.

Instead, a crack appeared in the eight-foot-long magatama in his palm.

As fine as a hair, it grows from the inside and extends to one-third of the way up the vessel.

The young man's pupils twitched.

He raised his left hand, spreading his five fingers.

On the skin of my left hand, cracks of the same origin as those on a magatama (comma-shaped pendant) spread between my knuckles.

"What?! This is a magical artifact personally crafted by Kamo no Tadayuki!"

His voice was deep.

Zhao Tao's face is distorted; it's no longer an expression change.

The skin on the left side of his cheek bulged out, revealing an aged, emaciated face struggling to break free.

Although it only lasted for less than a second.

Zhou Ran's purple-gold demonic eyes saw all of this clearly.

This vessel, forged from Zhao Tao's bones and blood, is rapidly collapsing after bearing the full power of the reincarnated soul of the ancient Yin-Yang Master.

The magatama is cracked, and the container is cracking too.

I truly underestimated you!

The eldest son realized the weakness he had exposed.

He no longer engaged in close combat with Zhou Ran.

His right hand suddenly rose, and the eight-foot-long magatama flew out of his hand.

The golden light did not shine on Zhou Ran, but instead drew an arc, heading straight for the remaining Primordial Chains on the old dragon's body.

The eighth chain.

It is the thickest of the nine chains, located at the old dragon's neck, bearing nearly half of the suppressive force of the entire sealing system.

Golden light fell on the chains.

Gala!

A crisp cracking sound echoed through the water, accompanied by arcs of light as metal fragments flew everywhere.

The roar of the old dragon echoed throughout the bottom of the Yangtze River.

A frenzied howl, suppressed for four thousand years, about to break free.

The ninth chain, and also the thinnest one.

The old dragon struggled violently, emitting a creaking sound as if it were about to break.

The crack spreads from the middle of the chain segment to both ends.

The dragon broke free, and the old master looked back at Zhou Ran with a smile.

"You choose, Zhou Ran."

"Kill me, or save Jiang?"

Zhou Ran stood on the deck of the Susanoo, blood dripping from his left arm, his right hand clutching a broken, illusory fragment of a short halberd.

His gaze passed over the old man and landed on the last chain in the distance.

The cracks in the chains are still widening.

Further away, the light from the silver bell in Old Man Miao's hand was surging wildly.

Zhou Ran made a decision instantly.

He chose to intercept the old man's corpse first.

Whether the chains break or not depends on the old dragon's own struggle; he cannot stop it.

However, once Miao Laoshi seizes control through a blood pact before all the chains break, the nature of the entire battle changes.

He went from seizing the Dragon-Dragon Elixir to working for an old coffin-driving corpse-driver.

Unexpectedly, the moment he moved, the killing intent came from behind him.

There were no signs.

Behind him, the master formed a hand seal and used something even more insidious than the Nine Syllable Mantra.

"Curse Return".