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

The hundred-foot-long dragon lowered its head, its mountain-like head almost touching the bottom of the river.

Those vertical pupils, as large as cartwheels, were fixed on the pink rose projection with heart-shaped patterns on the belly scales.

The crimson light in his pupils spread rapidly from a single point until it filled his entire eye socket.

This smell...

It has nothing to do with magic, nor is it an attack.

It originates from the humble and harmless world.

Yet it carried a deep-seated offense...

That's the smell of cosmetics.

For a four-thousand-year-old ancient dragon, this was more humiliating than being imprisoned in chains.

The old dragon roared, and the sound waves transformed into a tangible impact, causing the rock strata at the bottom of the river to crack inch by inch.

The dragon's head suddenly turned, its gaping maw lunging straight at the location of the Grand Elder.

Hahahaha!

Zhou Ran! Han Xiaorou!

I'll haunt you even as a ghost!

The Grand Elder smiled.

But that smile was filled with overwhelming hatred and helplessness.

Immediately afterwards, his entire body was swept by the edge of the dragon's breath.

The mere outflow of heat burned the elder, skin and flesh, to ashes, leaving only a skeletal skeleton standing alone.

The natal White Bone Gu turned to ashes in the high temperature.

He never understood why there was a rose inside that jade slip until his death.

Zhou Ran, however, had a change of heart.

He watched from afar as the pink rose bloomed and vanished underwater, and the dough involuntarily twitched.

That was the jade slip he gave to Xiaorou as a "pledge of allegiance," containing a mark of the Primordial Origin for remote locking.

Originally, there was supposed to be a dazzling symbol after I activated the jade slip.

This allows me to quickly locate the positions of Paijiao and Heiwuzhai.

As for why it manifested as a rose...

That was Chen Ya's work. Back then, when she engraved the jade slips for me, it was all done by Chen Ya using the spirit of plants and trees.

Sister Chen's aesthetic sense is still quite good.

Right now, nobody cares about aesthetics.

That rose became the last spark that ignited the powder keg.

The old dragon's reason was completely destroyed, transforming it into a ferocious creature that knew only destruction.

The area swept by the dragon's tail expanded from a radius of fifty zhang to a radius of one hundred zhang.

The dragon's breath no longer gathered into a bundle, but poured out in a fan shape from its throat, turning the river water into boiling flames wherever it passed.

The water temperature suddenly rose.

Zhou Ran felt the dragon's might layer upon layer, and the old dragon's rage stirred the true dragon bloodline within its body, making its pressure 20% stronger than before.

Zhou Ran felt his blood and qi stagnating, and even the circulation of the Primordial Origin became sluggish.

The black and gold scales covering its body cracked under the immense pressure of the dragon's might, peeling off layer by layer.

The forces he could mobilize were reduced by nearly half.

Xiao Rou, in Su Qingwu's arms, had her wounds reopened under the impact of the dragon's might, and blood stained the surroundings red.

Su Qingling and Su Qingwu simultaneously activated their Tidal Sacred Body, and the azure water curtain barely managed to create a foothold.

But the two sisters had lost all color in their lips and were swaying precariously.

Their spiritual power had been depleted in the previous battle, and they were only holding on by their sacred bodies.

Above their heads, something even more terrifying than the dragon's might was taking shape.

Dark clouds rolled in from all directions at an abnormally fast speed, pressing down a thick, black cloud over the river.

Deep within the clouds, purple-gold lightning danced erratically.

In its rage, the old dragon triggered the prelude to its dragon transformation tribulation.

That was not magic, but the will of Heaven.

If it continues its tribulation in its current out-of-control state, it will only face certain death.

But before it died, the destructive power of the tribulation lightning, combined with the dying counterattack of the rampaging dragon, could completely sever the water vein, turning it into an abyss!

This is not a dragon walking.

This is divine punishment!

Zhang Xuansu's sword energy drew two characters in the water and delivered them to Zhou Ran.

"Heavenly Tribulation!"

In the distance, Old Miao sat paralyzed in the mud, his cloudy old eyes staring at the gathering thunderclouds overhead, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Zhou Ran inspected the entire room.

Fatty Wang was unconscious, and his bandages were soaked with blood.

Miao Yingying held the old man's body in her arms; the grandmother and granddaughter were no longer able to fight.

Xiao Rou was barely breathing.

Zhang Xuansu was trapped on the water and unable to escape.

Only the Su sisters remained by his side.

Two women, both exhausted and on their last legs.

Zhou Ran closed his eyes.

He opened his eyes again and looked directly at Su Qingling and Su Qingwu.

"You two."

Su Qingling raised her head.

"I need your Tidal Body."

"To be a battery again."

The blood at the corner of Su Qingwu's mouth was still wet.

"How much?"

"all."

Su Qingling looked at her sister.

Su Qingwu looked down at Xiao Rou, who was unconscious in her arms.

Without hesitation, the two reached out and grasped Zhou Ran's wrists, one on the left and one on the right.

The azure aura of the Tidal Holy Body surged from their bodies.

That was not a gentle stream guided by the meridians, but a torrent that broke through the barrier of the dantian!

Su Qingling's approach was even more decisive; she directly shattered the Sacred Body Spirit Core that had just condensed in her dantian!

The shattered spirit core transformed into the most primal tidal force, violently surging into Zhou Ran's meridians along his palm.

The tearing sensation originating from her soul caused her vision to go black.

The color of her pupils dimmed rapidly as her spiritual energy leaked out, fading from its original azure blue to light gray.

She bit her lip hard, trying not to make a sound.

Su Qingwu held on longer, her sacred body foundation was stronger, and her spiritual power output was more stable, but the price she paid was also heavier.

Blood seeped from the corners of her mouth, nose, and eyes at the same time.

The tidal spiritual energy surged forth and poured into Zhou Ran's body.

The primordial energy of extreme yang and the tidal force of extreme yin collided in his meridians, causing his tendons to feel like they were about to burst!

Zhou Ran's twelve meridians burst open in three places on the spot, and fresh blood seeped out from his pores.

He activated the Yin-Yang Technique, forcibly directing the two violent forces to his dantian and pouring them into the core stone forging the dragon vein's spiritual essence.

The cornerstone began to greedily devour everything.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, Ye Futian's remnant soul also sensed this change.

"You're insane!"

The old devil's tone was no longer playful, only utterly horrified.

"You've forcibly combined the Primordial Origin and the Power of the Tides; the backlash from their mutual consumption alone could burn your meridians to ashes!"

Zhou Ran ignored it.

Seven seconds.

Su Qingling could no longer hold on.

Her eyes rolled back, her fingers slid off Zhou Ran's wrist, and her life force waned to almost nothing before she collapsed limply to the ground.

Su Qingwu held on for another four seconds.

In the eleventh second, she managed to squeeze out a few words with her last bit of consciousness.

"I can't take it anymore..."

The hand fell, and the person collapsed.

The two sisters lay side by side in the mud, and the azure aura emanating from them completely dissipated.

Only barely audible heartbeats remained, proving they were not yet dead.

Zhou Ran pushed the two of them toward the Daoist light screen that Zhang Xuansu had set up in the distance.

A golden sword aura swept up their limp bodies and brought them into the protective circle.

The next moment, the changes within Zhou Ran's body truly began.

The Primordial Origin, the Tidal Spiritual Power, and the Residual Demonic Essence—these three forces stirred up a devastating storm within his dantian.

Within the Qilin bone, the remaining fragments of Li Chengfeng's will played their final role at this moment.

That fighting instinct, spanning four thousand years, transformed into the most ruthless catalyst, forcibly twisting the three violent forces into one.

Zhou Ran's body surface is no longer covered with a single black and gold scale pattern.

Black and gold, jet black, and azure blue patterns spread from his chest to his limbs, intertwining to form a flowing, eerie pattern.

He raised his hands, looking at the three-colored light intertwined in his palms, feeling the power emanating from deep within his bones.

This is not simply the superposition of forces, but a qualitative change resulting from the fusion of three energies.

For the first time, Ye Futian's remnant soul did not mock him within his sea of ​​consciousness.