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

The deep blue dragon breath condensed and took shape deep within the old dragon's throat, compressing rapidly.

The river water immediately boiled, and a large cloud of white mist spread out from the bottom of the river, obscuring everyone's view.

A scorching heat burned the Taihuang scales on Zhou Ran's body.

Zhou Ran stared at the deep blue ball of light.

His primordial energy was tightly bound by the dragon's might, forcing him to mobilize a small amount of demonic energy from his meridians to prepare for the killing blow.

Zhou Ran couldn't help but smile wryly.

His kung fu was far inferior to Li Chengfeng's.

Senior Li's primordial energy and blood can suppress dragons.

Now, they can only be suppressed by the dragon.

Just as the dragon's breath was about to erupt!

A slender figure with gray hair sped through the mud.

Her speed was so fast that even Zhou Ran's Purple-Gold Demon Eyes could only catch a fleeting glimpse of her.

She spread her arms and pressed her body against Zhou Ran.

It's Miao Yingying.

Her silver-armored corpse had already exhausted its ferocity in the chaotic battle and was paralyzed in the mud and sand.

At this moment, she had nothing left to rely on.

All that remains is a weakened physical body, its very essence depleted, and a pair of hands, scorched and mangled by the intense heat of the silver bell.

She was facing the enormous, four-thousand-year-old dragon's head.

He raised his head, veins bulging on his neck, and roared out an ancient, unintelligible prayer in the Miao language.

That was the "Corpse Removal Order" passed down for thousands of years by the corpse-driving lineage.

This ban has no effect on live dragons.

Yet, the roar carried within it the essence of the Miao people's bloodline.

This energy traveled through the boiling river water and struck the golden thread of the Silver Bell Spirit Control Contract directly.

The two resonate.

The old dragon's vertical pupils suddenly narrowed, and the scarlet ferocity deep within them froze.

The deep blue flame inside his throat was blocked and never erupted.

This was not due to Miao Laoshi Yinling's lax control.

It was the old dragon's remaining instincts that were causing a strong conflict!

Four thousand years ago, the first generation of Miao corpse drivers swore an oath with their blood and essence, forming a pact with the creature bound by chains.

Four thousand days and nights have passed, and generations of Miao descendants have nourished it with their pure Yang essence and blood to warm its body, which was frozen by the black iron.

That bond and gratitude that spanned hundreds of generations became fragments of memory, surfacing in its sea of ​​consciousness.

It is already deeply rooted in one's bloodline, and cannot be completely erased by a silver bell-shaped magical artifact devoid of emotion.

The old dragon let out a low, painful wail.

The enormous dragon head twitched, forcibly twisting three inches.

"boom!"

Deep blue dragon breath burst forth.

A thick beam of light grazed Miao Yingying's flowing hair and brushed past Zhou Ran's bare right shoulder.

The Taihuang scales on Zhou Ran's shoulder immediately vaporized, the skin and flesh turned inside out, revealing the stark white bones.

The dragon's breath shot obliquely into the rock strata at the bottom of the river behind it.

There was no sound of shattering or explosion.

The solid rock bed, tens of meters thick, was silently eroded by this deep blue flame.

It left behind a smooth, enormous pit, five zhang in diameter and bottomless.

Large swathes of magma surged at the bottom of the pit, with bubbles churning.

If the dragon's head hadn't turned, Zhou Ran and Miao Yingying would have had nowhere to hide.

The old corpse of Miao, perched on the shoulder of the golden-armored corpse, underwent a drastic change in expression.

His originally gaunt face was now flushed a dark red.

"You bastard!"

He bit his lip until it bled, then squeezed out a large amount of blood and essence, which he then sprinkled on the silver bell.

The wrist trembled rapidly.

The sound of the silver bell suddenly became sharp, possessing the power to pierce the soul.

The golden tadpole-like script spread rapidly, transforming into intertwined chains that forcefully probed into the old dragon's sea of ​​consciousness.

Urged on by the magical artifact, the old dragon twisted its hundred-foot-long body wildly, stirring up the river water and creating turbulent waves.

Its vertical pupils flickered alternately between ferocious crimson and clear-eyed pain.

Miao Yingying knelt in the mud.

The aftershocks of the dragon's breath ruptured her eardrums, caused blood to seep from her seven orifices, and sank her knees deep into the mud.

She glanced at Fatty Wang, whose fate was unknown, gritted her teeth, and did not retreat an inch.

Then, she turned her head with difficulty, her empty, bloodshot eyes staring directly at her grandfather above, tears and blood mingling in the corners of her mouth.

"grandfather!"

She screamed with all her might,

It remembers us!

It remembers its great-grandfather's scent!

Why force it?!

"You once said that corpse drivers only deal with the dead, do not harm the living, and do not hurt the innocent!"

"This is not an item belonging to my Miao people!"

The blood-stained question pierced through the water layer, striking Miao Laoshi's heart with a heavy blow.

The old man's wrist trembled, and the silver bell's light flickered erratically.

In that instant, Zhou Ran's Purple-Gold Demonic Eyes captured the deepest emotional fluctuations in Miao Laoshi's eyes.

That was not the weariness caused by the backlash of magic, but rather a wavering of the mind.

This stubborn old man, who had spent his entire life dealing with corpses and whose skin was stained with blood.

Seeing his granddaughter risk her life to appease the old dragon's kindness, a crack appeared in his rock-solid defenses.

However, the crack lasted for less than a second.

"What do you know!"

Miao Laoshi pressed his lips tightly together, forming a bloodless straight line.

He squeezed the silver bell again to stabilize his magical output.

"Yingying, you don't understand, you're too naive."

His voice was rough, revealing both exhaustion and determination.

"Without the protection of the dragon, the Miao people's tradition of corpse driving will be cut off in my hands."

"To preserve the thousand-year-old traditions of the Miao people..."

All sacrifices are acceptable.

Even if it's just me, even if it's just you!

Zhou Ran stood behind Miao Yingying and slowly straightened up.

The pain in my right shoulder is stimulating the nerves.

He reached out his undamaged left hand, grabbed Miao Yingying's swaying collar, and lifted her up.

A powerful yet gentle primordial energy immediately flowed into her meridians, stabilizing her life force which was on the verge of collapse.

He looked over Miao Yingying's thin shoulders and stared directly at the silver bell in Miao Laoshi's hand.

"Old scoundrel."

Zhou Ran's tone was cold, like permafrost.

"Your granddaughter sacrificed her life to resolve a karmic debt for you."

There won't be a second time.

"I will destroy the bell in your hand with my own hands."

With a flick of his arm, he tossed Miao Yingying into the water curtain barrier erected by Su Qingwu behind him.

Then, Zhou Ran shattered the rocks beneath his feet with a single step, and the Primordial Origin and the Purple-Gold Demonic Essence accelerated their circulation within his body.

The roaring sound, surging with energy, drowned out the turbulent river.

He withstood the pressure from the three golden-armored corpses and launched a fierce attack on Miao Laoshi.

The moment he exerted his strength, the Yin-gathering Banner in his ring opened on its own.

Li Zhiyao's almost transparent soul light broke free from the banner and condensed into a pale, ethereal shadow, hanging on the murky water.

She didn't look towards the battlefield ahead, but instead pointed her slender finger at the old dragon's churning belly.

There, a faint blue light pierced through the darkness of the underwater world, pulsating powerfully.

Its frequency was synchronized with the old dragon's heartbeat, but the light was gradually moving away from the center of the old dragon's body.

"It... is spitting out cinnabar."

Li Zhiyao's voice was faint, like a whisper in a dream, yet it clearly entered Zhou Ran's consciousness.

"It spit out the pill on its own."

It was willing to give up its cultivation...

I don't want to be with anyone anymore...

Like a dog, it was restrained.