Deal struck: Old Demon, I want this blade to slay gods!
Deep within the bamboo forest in the backyard of the Xiao Family.
In a secret chamber forged from black steel.
The Spirit Gathering Array had long been overloaded, and the jade stones serving as its foundation had all shattered, turning into a pile of pale white powder.
Zhou Ran was bare-chested, his skin as red as a boiled crawfish.
Rolling white mist spurted out from his pores, producing a sizzling sound upon contact with the cold air.
In front of him, the pile of priceless spirit herbs had already turned to ash.
Zhou Ran suddenly snapped his eyes open, his pupils filled with violent bloodshot streaks.
Inside his Dantian's Sea of Qi, the vast spiritual power was like a caged, enraged beast, repeatedly slamming against that invisible barrier.
With every impact, his internal organs shifted, and a mouthful of black blood sprayed out, splattering onto the ground.
Heaven and Earth were like a cage.
This planet was a desert of spiritual energy.
Without a heaven-and-earth spiritual object like the dragon blood grass as a catalyst, forcing a breakthrough would only result in severed meridians and becoming a cripple.
"Damn it!"
Zhou Ran smashed his fist onto the ground, causing the black steel-cast floor to dent inward with a fist print.
Just as he was trying to suppress that violent true qi, a hoarse laugh filled with sinister evil echoed from the depths of his mind.
"Give up."
"This barren planet has incomplete rules, and the spiritual energy is as thin as water.
Your crude swallowing method might work in the cultivation world, but here?"
"It's useless except for blowing yourself up."
His Sea of Consciousness churned.
In a dark corner, the remnant soul of Ye Futian materialized.
The Old Devil was no longer dormant; instead, he mockingly stared at Zhou Ran's nearly collapsing physical body.
Zhou Ran was not panicked.
He raised his hand, wiped the bloodstain from his chin, and looked directly at the phantom image in his Sea of Consciousness.
"Old Devil, stop the nonsense."
"You and I are now grasshoppers on the same rope.
If my body collapses, your wisp of remnant soul will vanish along with it.
You sensed it too, the surrounding Yin energy is abnormally dense.
If I don't reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, I'll have no defense against the killing move of the Wuji Sect."
The illusory demonic shadow of Ye Futian froze, then let out a strange laugh.
"Heh heh... Kid, you're threatening this Venerable One?"
"But you are right; the commotion caused by those ants outside truly displeases this Venerable One."
Ye Futian withdrew his mockery, and greedy light shot from his soul-eyes.
"Let's make a deal."
"The 'Soul Suppressing Nails' held by the Wuji Sect can help this old man stabilize his divine soul.
This Venerable One senses the Daorhyme of an ancient spiritual treasure on them, which is of great use in repairing my divine soul."
"You promise to seize those nails and use your demonic blood to cleanse the imprints on them for me."
"In exchange, this Venerable One will help you enter the 'Pseudo Foundation Establishment' realm!"
Zhou Ran slightly raised his eyelids:
"Pseudo Foundation Establishment? If it's a flawed product, I don't want it."
"Foolish!"
Ye Futian scolded.
"The pseudo I speak of means without needing recognition from the rules of Heaven and Earth!
Forcibly forging a 'Demonic Dao Platform' using primordial demonic energy!
Although this method harms the natural order and cannot last long, within the time it takes an incense stick to burn..."
"Your burst power will be double that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator!"
"The price is that you will be weakened for three days afterward, reduced to a mortal."
Double burst power? That's enough.
As for being weakened? If he kills all the enemies, naturally no one can hurt him.
If this Old Devil tried to take advantage of his weakness, he could still suppress him with the curse mark.
"Deal."
Zhou Ran replied crisply, without a single wasted word.
"Good!
Ruthless enough!
This Venerable One likes your kind of madness!"
Dong!
Deep in the Sea of Consciousness, the seal loosened.
A thick, inky, supremely pure ancient demonic energy poured into Zhou Ran's dried-up and depleted meridians like a breaking black river.
Pain. Heart-rending pain.
If the previous breakthrough attempt was like hitting a wall, then now it was as if someone was using a red-hot sledgehammer to smash and reassemble his bones piece by piece.
Zhou Ran gritted his teeth, letting out beast-like growls from his throat, fiercely maintaining a sliver of clarity in his spiritual platform.
In the Dantian's Sea of Qi.
The chaotic true qi was forcibly compressed and collapsed by this tyrannical demonic energy.
A miniature altar, entirely pitch-black and wreathed in purple flames, rose from the center of the Sea of Qi!
Not a Dao Platform.
It was a Demonic Altar!
Although this Demonic Altar appeared illusory and unstable, threatening to collapse at any moment, the terrifying pressure it emitted caused the entire secret chamber space to begin distorting.
Simultaneously.
Ye Futian separated a wisp of his primordial Demonic Fire and wrapped it around the zanpakuto at Zhou Ran's knee.
"This piece of scrap iron has decent material, but your refining technique is absolute garbage."
"Since entering the demonic path, how can one be without a fierce weapon?"
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!
The Demonic Fire burned.
The zanpakuto trembled violently, and the sound it emitted was no longer a clear blade chime, but a sharp screech like a vengeful ghost's wail.
The impurities in the blade body were burned away completely, and the blade edge rapidly narrowed, becoming thin as a cicada's wing.
The originally silver blade body became covered in dark red blood patterns, like human blood vessels, subtly pulsing.
A thirst for blood rushed straight from the hilt into Zhou Ran's mind.
It was hungry.
It wanted to drink blood.
"It's done!"
Zhou Ran suddenly looked up.
At this moment, his entire aura had drastically changed.
The previous sharp edge had completely receded, replaced by an unfathomable darkness.
The person standing there seemed not like a human.
But like a dormant volcano on the verge of eruption.
Zhou Ran grasped the zanpakuto.
Man and blade became one.
An absolute sense of power, controlling life and death, flooded his entire body.
"Wuji Sect..."
Zhou Ran's voice was hoarse, purple light flickering in his eyes.
Just as he was about to rise.
A very crisp sound suddenly came from his embrace.
Snap.
The sound was extremely light, but in the quiet secret chamber, it exploded like a thunderclap.
Zhou Ran's pupils contracted.
His hand trembled as he pulled out the protective jade talisman he had instructed Fatty Wang to give to Lin Qingxue before leaving.
It was a mother-child talisman.
The mother talisman remained with him, the child talisman protected the person.
At this moment.
The warm jade pendant had cleanly fractured in the middle, its luster completely gone, turning into a piece of dead stone.
It was shattered.
Only when subjected to an attack powerful enough to be fatal, one that even the talisman's energy couldn't resist, would the mother talisman shatter.
Zhou Ran stared at the shattered jade in his palm, his entire body frozen.
"You seek death!!!"
Boom!
A monstrous killing intent instantly erupted from Zhou Ran.
This killing intent was so strong that it directly shattered the Spirit Gathering Array inside the secret chamber, and even the half-meter-thick black steel door groaned under the force of the air wave.
"Song Family! Wuji Sect!"
Bang!
The ground beneath Zhou Ran's feet cracked.
His entire body shot up like a human cannonball, directly smashing through the solid dome of the secret chamber and soaring toward the sky!
In the darkness of the night.
A crimson blood streak, carrying monstrous demonic might, streaked toward the direction of Jiangcheng New District, riding the blade.