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

Inside the vault, the cold beam of a flashlight cut through the murky air, striking the piles of Wuzhu coins and gold bricks, reflecting a ghastly yellow light.

The stench of the leopard-skin silkworm's bodily fluids mingled with the pungent smell of rusted bronze, making one want to vomit.

Aning dragged the unconscious Aqin behind a well-preserved bronze box.

She tore a long strip of fabric from her close-fitting tactical vest and skillfully stabbed it at the base of Aqin's severed right finger.

The severed finger had long since blended into the pile of gold coins, which resembled mud.

"Sister Ning, please take care."

The other team members exchanged glances and all lowered their heads.

However, Ah Ning did not react upon hearing these words; she simply remained calm.

"You have done a great job."

If I don't come out within a day, you can take Ah Qin away.

Go as far as you can.

As Aning spoke, she gently stroked her younger brother's cheek with her palm.

After doing all this, Aning stood up and turned to face Zhou Ran.

He bent his knees and knelt firmly on the gold coins stained with blood.

"Take me down with you, keep me safe, I don't want a single one of these gold bars!"

The sharp edges of the gold brick dug into her kneecap, but she didn't even flinch.

Zhou Ran looked down at her, his gaze passing over the top of her head and landing in the shadows further away.

His voice was completely flat.

"I don't take in useless people, and I dislike anything that's a burden."

"I'll give you ten breaths. Tell me a reason why I should take you down."

Ah Ning lowered her head very low and bit her lower lip hard.

Blood seeped out, staining his chapped lips red.

She spoke in a hoarse voice:

"An unbreakable secret technique has been planted in my body."

Before we arrived, the employer had said that if we couldn't get that 'heart-pounding bone' down there...

Once the appointed time arrives, the spell will activate.

Not only me, but also Ah Qin and my parents back in our hometown, none of them will survive.

She paused, then raised her face, her eyes filled with pleading:

"Please take me down."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ran merely let out a short, mocking laugh.

With a light flick of his toe, a gold brick covered in verdigris rolled to A Ning's knee with a crisp sound.

"Your employer made you go down into the Black Well to rob tombs and make money."

"Isn't this mountain of gold and silver enough to buy your whole family's lives?"

Ah Ning smiled wryly and shook her head slightly.

She raised her hand and pointed to the few terrified, stunned soldiers behind her.

"These items scattered all over the ground are indeed enough to make a country richer."

But if we were to actually carry all that gold and silver out, given our current state, the foreign mercenaries guarding the outside, and the cunning underworld colleagues, would probably devour us alive.

"Once you get outside, you'll be doomed."

Besides, employers don't seek money.

Zhou Ran's eyes were indifferent.

"That's someone else's right to life and death, what does it have to do with me?"

Ten numbers have been reached.

Wang Yulin, clear the area.

Fatty Wang couldn't wait any longer.

He rubbed his hands together, his weight of over 200 pounds exuding a powerful presence, and strode forward.

A pair of rough, large hands were about to strike Ah Ning on the back of the neck.

At the critical moment, Aning went all out.

She suddenly raised her head and screamed in a hoarse voice:

"That piece of source bone was not a burial item at all!"

It's a key used to suppress a dimensional portal!

The moment those words left his mouth, Zhou Ran, who had been about to turn and leave, froze in place.

He already knew that this woman wasn't there for money.

Otherwise, given their squad's fighting strength, they would have been wiped out by those two groups of burly northerners long ago.

"The key to suppressing a dimensional portal..."

Zhou Ran repeated the phrase that had been tricked into being spoken.

Deep within his consciousness, the old demon Ye Futian, who had been firmly suppressed by the 108 Soul-Suppressing Nails, suddenly felt a stirring within him.

Beneath the skin and flesh of his left arm, the bloodline of the Primordial Desolation surged ceaselessly, causing even the third seal to loosen unusually.

He turned around again.

Those purple-gold eyes gleamed with divine light, locking onto A Ning's gaze.

After staring at him for a moment, his face twitched, and he let out a cold laugh.

"Congratulations, your life is spared for now."

Upon hearing this, Aning collapsed to the ground, her back soaked in cold sweat.

Zhou Ran casually took out a low-grade health recovery pill from his storage ring, flicked it with his finger, and it fell into A Ning's arms.

"Give this to your younger brother; he won't die."

Ah Ning held the pill, which emitted a faint medicinal fragrance, in both hands. When she looked at Zhou Ran again, her eyes were filled with only awe and obedience.

The low-grade Blood Restoration Pill melts instantly upon entering the mouth.

Ah Qin's dark complexion turned ashen at a visible speed, and his breathing gradually became steady.

Ah Ning breathed a sigh of relief and placed Ah Qin in a clean corner where there were no dead poisonous insects.

"Then I'll see your sincerity. You and this widow go ahead and scout the way."

Zhou Ran leaned against a bronze pillar, repeatedly pondering the phrase "dimensional key".

The Red Widow, who was standing not far away, was terrified when she heard that she was also going to detect mines.

She was originally hiding in a corner and crashed into something to die.

He scrambled forward, his head banging against the bronze slab on the ground with a loud thud.

"Master Zhou!"

Ancestors!

I'm just a traveling entertainer, how would I know anything about grappling and tomb raiding!

You're sending me ahead to scout the way? Isn't that sending me to my death?

The Red Widow's makeup was ruined from crying, and her face was covered in snot and tears.

"I'll serve you, I'll be your dog, don't make me go to the front!"

Before Zhou Ran could speak...

Xiao Rou, standing behind him, had a hint of impatience flashing in her infatuated eyes.

Slender fingers emerged from the sleeve, and a short flute made of white bone was brought to the lips and gently blown.

No sound came out.

But the Red Widow arched her back as if electrocuted, letting out a bloodcurdling scream.

Driven by the bone flute, the venomous insect implanted in her body began to frantically roam and devour her intestines and internal organs.

The Red Widow rolled on the ground in pain, her fingers gripping her scalp so tightly that she tore out clumps of hair.

"Your master thinks you're too noisy."

Xiao Rou put away the bone flute, her voice sweet yet tinged with cruelty.

"The road lies ahead."

"If you utter another word, the Gu worm will burrow into your brain and build its nest."

Overwhelmed by the excruciating pain, the Red Widow disregarded everything else.

She staggered to her feet, clutched her head, and stumbled toward the dark entrance to the tomb.

In contrast, Aning's performance was much more assertive.

She knew she was now nothing more than a stepping stone tethered to a rope.

She silently walked to her backpack, enduring the bruises on her shoulders and back from the recent brawl, and tightened the several bundles of climbing rope and the multi-functional folding shovel.

The two stepped into the dark tomb passage, one after the other.

Once inside the tomb passage, the air became unusually thin.

The blue brick walls on both sides were covered with slippery moss.

At intervals above the passageway hung an ever-burning lamp, the burning grease inside emitting a strong stench of corpses that stung the eyes.

The Red Widow, who was walking at the front, was trembling so badly that she took a long time to take each step.

The blue bricks underfoot were not flat, but rather uneven.

The moment Red Widow's toes touched the ground, a very faint "click" sound came from the mechanism.

"Get out of the way!"

Ah Ning, who was following behind, shouted loudly.