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

Just as Lin Qingxue was about to take a step, Zhou Ran reached out and stopped her.

"Step back."

No sooner had Zhou Ran finished speaking than a sudden change occurred.

ka ka ka-

The sound of machinery turning echoed in the enclosed corridor.

The rust on the surface of the two black iron statues closest to them instantly crumbled, revealing torsos covered with runes underneath.

Although they are inanimate, driven by the formation, they move with lightning speed.

call!

On the left, a figure wielding a vajra (a magical pestle) crashes down with immense force.

The force of this blow was enough to smash a tank into a pancake.

"The wrathful Vajra, who kills anyone who dares to challenge its formation."

Zhou Ran snorted coldly, without moving his feet, and clenched his right fist, instantly enveloping his fist with purplish-black demonic energy.

Instead of retreating, he advanced and threw a punch that struck the falling demon-subduing pestle squarely.

when--

A deafening metallic clang rang out.

The three-meter-tall black iron giant was actually forced back several steps by Zhou Ran's punch.

The vajra in his hand was bent at a ninety-degree angle.

"This hardness..."

Zhou Ran withdrew his fist and glanced at the white mark on his knuckles.

"It was mixed with black iron essence."

"Great, perfect for me to practice on."

At this moment, the remaining sixteen Black Iron Vajras also revived.

Inside the narrow corridor, eighteen steel behemoths rolled in like bulldozers, leaving no room to escape.

"You all stand guard at the door."

Zhou Ran left behind a sentence, and then transformed into a blur as he rushed into the formation.

What followed was an extremely violent visual feast for Lin Qingxue and Miao Yingying.

There are no fancy spells, only hard-hitting, visceral combat.

Zhou Ran was like a tiger among sheep; with every punch he threw, an iron statue would fly backward.

It could be a broken arm or a collapsed chest.

Zhou Ran let out a low shout, and his punching speed increased dramatically.

A sonic boom was even heard in the air.

The last burly iron statue, wielding two swords, was blasted into the chin by Zhou Ran's powerful cannon shot.

collapse!

The iron statue's head exploded, and its massive body fell backward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

In just three minutes.

The eighteen black iron Vajra statues were all reduced to scrap iron.

Zhou Ran stood in the center of the ruins and took out a fist-sized crystal that emitted a faint red light from the core of the formation.

"Using low-grade spirit stones to power the core, no wonder it's lasted this long."

Zhou Ran weighed the crystal in her hand, then tossed it to Miao Yingying without even looking at it.

"Here, take this. It will save you a lot of effort when you activate your corpse-driving formation in the future."

Miao Yingying caught it instinctively, and the pure and surging energy flowed into her palm, making her tremble all over.

She stared intently at the crystal, her breathing becoming rapid.

"This...this is the legendary spirit stone?"

"This one piece alone could buy a whole estate on the black market!"

"Don't act like you've never seen the world before."

"Keep up, there's something even better ahead."

Passing through the long corridor, you will find a side hall.

The words "Scripture Repository" are written above the gate, but the gate itself is already rotten.

Upon entering, one finds that most of the book shelves have collapsed, and the books on them turn to dust at the slightest touch.

"What a pity."

Lin Qingxue felt a little regretful.

"These should all be unique copies."

"Ordinary paper cannot withstand the erosion of time."

Zhou Ran's gaze swept around and finally settled on an inconspicuous stone niche in the corner.

He walked over and took out a sandalwood box from the stone niche.

Upon opening it, a string of Buddhist prayer beads made from the bones of an unknown animal lay quietly inside.

The prayer beads have 108 beads in total, each of which is intricately carved with a Buddha image and emits a faint sandalwood fragrance.

"This stuff is pretty good."

Zhou Ran handed the Buddhist prayer beads to Lin Qingxue.

"This string of 'mind-calming beads' is not a magic weapon, but it can nourish the soul."

"If you wear it, you will be spared the suffering of evil energy rushing to your brain when you awaken your yin-yang eyes in the future."

Lin Qingxue took the Buddhist prayer beads, and when her fingertips touched the warm, smooth bone beads, an indescribable warmth surged through her arm and spread throughout her body.

The dizziness and stinging sensation caused by witnessing too many illusions vanished in an instant.

She looked up, her gaze softening as she looked at Zhou Ran.

Zhou Ran spoke calmly, then turned and walked deeper into the area.

"Keep up, the temperature here is starting to rise."

The deeper you go, the more the eerie, damp chill gradually fades away, replaced by a kind of heat.

But this wasn't normal heat; it was a kind of dry heat that was unsettling.

It's like placing someone next to a volcano about to erupt, where the moisture in the air is gradually sucked away.

After passing through the side hall, the three arrived at a spacious courtyard.

This place was originally a medicinal garden where spiritual herbs were grown.

But at this moment, the black soil in the herb garden had long since dried up and cracked into clumps, and all the plants had withered and died.

Only some twisted, withered roots remained, stretching towards the sky like the fingers of a dead man.

Watch your step.

Zhou Ran reminded him.

Before she could finish speaking, a clod of earth at Miao Yingying's feet suddenly exploded.

A vine, as thick as a child's arm and dark red in color, shot out like a venomous snake, heading straight for Miao Yingying's ankle.

"ah!"

Miao Yingying reacted extremely quickly, shaking the corpse-driving bell in her hand, and an invisible sound wave struck the vines.

But the vines were incredibly resilient, ignoring the sonic attack.

It wrapped tightly around her left leg and tightened quickly, the sharp barbs instantly piercing her jeans and digging into her flesh.

Even more terrifying, after absorbing the blood, the vine swelled up and blossomed into a bewitching human-faced flower at its tip.

Right in the center of the flower's stamen was a small face that looked exactly like a crying baby.

Wow--!

The piercing cries gave Lin Qingxue a splitting headache.

"It's a variant of the Corpse-Scented Devil's Flower, the Blood-Eating Vine."

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Ran's eyes.

He flicked his finger, and a wisp of purplish-black demonic fire landed precisely at the base of the vine.

Zizizi!

The demonic fire ignited upon contact, and the vine let out a scream-like wail, quickly releasing Miao Yingying and trying to burrow back into the soil.

"Trying to run away?"

Zhou Ran made a grasping motion with his five fingers.

The demonic fire spread along the vines, engulfing the entire body and even burning the underground roots to a crisp.

Miao Yingying collapsed to the ground, staring at the blackened wound on her leg, sweating profusely from the pain.

"There's corpse poison..."

Zhou Ran stepped forward and squatted down.

He didn't shy away from it and directly reached out and pressed his hand on Miao Yingying's smooth calf.

"Bear with it."

He channeled his power into his palm, channeling domineering demonic energy into the wound.

"Hmm!"

Miao Yingying groaned in pain and gripped the withered grass on the ground tightly.

The next second, a few drops of black blood were forced out of the body, the blackness at the wound quickly faded, and bright red blood flowed out.

"It's alright now, take this half pill."

Zhou Ran casually tossed her half a dark pill.

Miao Yingying swallowed the pill and felt a cool sensation coursing through her body. Her wounds began to scab over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After treating their injuries, the three continued on their way.

At the end of the herb garden, there is a relatively well-preserved stone house.

As you push open the door, a strong aroma of medicine mixed with a burnt smell hits you.

This is a pill-making room.

In the very center stands a bronze alchemy furnace, about half the height of a person. The fire in the furnace has been extinguished for a thousand years, but the furnace itself still exudes a warm luster.

The shelves around the room were filled with bottles and jars.

Lin Qingxue picked up a small porcelain bottle, and as soon as she uncorked it, the pill inside turned into a wisp of green smoke and dissipated.

"It's all useless now."

Lin Qingxue shook her head in disappointment.

Zhou Ran walked straight toward the alchemy furnace.

He reached out and stroked the cloud patterns on the alchemy furnace, a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy emanating from his fingertips.

"Cast from the Earth's core copper, with a fire-gathering array engraved inside."

"Although it is only a low-grade magic artifact, it is already considered a rare treasure on this earth today."

Zhou Ran grabbed one leg of the alchemy furnace with one hand and exerted a little force.

He easily lifted the alchemy furnace, which weighed several thousand kilograms.

"receive."

The ring on his hand emitted a suction force, pulling the huge alchemy furnace directly inside.

"Let's go, it's getting increasingly hot here."

Zhou Ran looked at a stone door behind the alchemy room.