Gu Youran held Shi Heng's hand tightly, "You are crazy!"

"Crazy?" Jiuchen laughed. "I'm just helping the Imperial Master make a choice. Just like five hundred years ago, he had to choose between me and the people of the world."

She suddenly reached out and grabbed her own neck. "Do you want me to show you what will happen to this bride if I'm unhappy?"

Gu Youran's body trembled violently, and his hands pinched his neck uncontrollably, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Shi Heng's expression suddenly changed, and he grabbed her wrist, "Youbao! Let go!"

He tried to pry her fingers apart, but it felt like he was prying apart a piece of hard stone.

"It's...useless..." Gu Youran squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, his face turning purple.

Shi Heng turned to Jiuchen, panic showing in his eyes for the first time, "Stop! I'll agree to whatever you want!"

Jiuchen admired Gu Youran's struggle and slowly let go of his hand.

Gu Youran immediately collapsed, leaving dark purple finger marks on her neck.

Shi Heng stroked the scars with trembling hands, anger welling up in his eyes, but he forced it down.

He couldn't be impulsive, otherwise Jiuchen would hurt Gu Youran again.

Jiuchen said proudly: "Do you understand now? Her life belongs to me. I want to make her suffer as much as possible..."

His fingers gently placed on his neck again, "How painful it will be."

"What exactly do you want?" Shi Heng roared angrily.

Jiuchen blinked, and suddenly revealed a girlish expression, "What do I want? I told you five hundred years ago."

She walked slowly closer, her red skirt swaying, and her fingertips gently touched Shi Heng's chest.

"I want you to choose me."

A cold light flashed in Shi Heng's eyes, and his five fingers suddenly tightened to clasp Jiuchen's wrist, "Don't even think about it!"

In the blink of an eye, the eagle tattoos on Gu Youran and Renault's backs simultaneously lit up with dazzling golden light.

The flying eagle badge on Gu Youran's chest shattered and turned into a shining eagle-shaped shadow.

"Now!" Gu Youran shouted and raised his hand at the same time as Renault.

The shadow of the flying eagle let out a long and clear cry, flapped its wings and swooped down towards Jiuchen.

Shi Heng let go of Jiuchen and quickly stepped aside.

Jiuchen flashed and grabbed Su Manyun who was standing aside and blocked him in front of him.

"No--"

Su Manyun's eyes widened in horror, and before she could finish her words, the shadow of a flying eagle pierced her chest.

She looked down at the bloody hole in her chest, her lips trembling, "I was clearly...about to..."

Before he could finish his words, he fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide open and full of unwillingness.

"mean!"

Gu Youran shouted angrily, but saw black mist swirling around Jiuchen's fingertips, turning into chains that wrapped around the wings of the flying eagle's phantom.

The eagle let out a painful scream, and the golden light suddenly dimmed.

"puff--"

Gu Youran and Renault spat out blood at the same time.

Renault staggered in front of Gu Youran, but was hit in the chest by Jiuchen's palm, and he flew backwards like a kite with a broken string.

"Renault!"

Gu Youran shouted loudly.

However, he fell heavily to the ground.

He turned his head with difficulty, raised a bitter smile at the corner of his blood-stained lips, and looked at Lina who was unconscious in the corner.

Gu Youran knelt on the ground, pressing Renault's bleeding wound with trembling hands, tears blurring her vision.

She had never hated her own powerlessness as much as she did at that moment.

"Han Jingchen!" Shi Heng shouted.

Han Jingchen moved as fast as lightning, and at the moment when Jiuchen was distracted, he pressed the silver key accurately on her back.

The moment the key touched, Jiuchen's body suddenly stiffened and his movements froze.

"Do you think you are the only one who can control the contract?"

Shi Heng slowly raised his left hand, and the snake-shaped ring on his little finger emitted a strange glow.

The light moved like a living thing, outlining ancient runes in the air.

"Five hundred years ago, the Imperial Master left behind more than just regrets."

Jiuchen's beautiful face suddenly twisted, and she was horrified to find that her wrist was wrapped by a dark golden snake shadow.

The snake's shadow seemed to be substantial, its scales gleaming with a metallic luster and tightening inch by inch.

"This is impossible!" Jiuchen's voice trembled.

She struggled frantically, trying to break free from the snake shadow, but found that her strength was being continuously devoured.

"This is... the Soul-Eating Snake?!"

Jiuchen's scarlet eyes suddenly turned to the crowd, his gaze locked on the Jiuchen bracelet on Vivian's wrist.

"Ryan!" she screamed.

Almost at the same time, Ryan flashed behind Vivian like a ghost, grabbed her wrist with his big iron-like hands, and dragged her in front of Jiuchen roughly.

“Ryan you…!”

Before Vivian could finish her exclamation, Jiuchen had already grabbed the Jiuchen bracelet on her wrist.

Jiuchen quickly recited the ancient spell, and the snake shadow that was originally wrapped around her wrist suddenly changed direction and wrapped around Vivian's slender arm like lightning.

"ah--!"

Vivian let out a shrill scream.

Everyone watched in horror as her skin shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, her once beautiful face quickly aged, and her long black hair turned gray in the blink of an eye.

Jiuchen watched Vivian turn into a mummy with cold eyes, and threw her aside.

After her strength was restored, she turned around suddenly, waved her long sleeves, and a violent gust of air blew Han Jingchen away, and he hit the stone pillar in the distance heavily.

“Pah—”

Shi Heng's blood dripped onto the Phoenix rings. The bright red blood beads rolled on the ring surface and suddenly burst into a dazzling red light.

"Do you think you're the only one who can play with blood?" Shi Heng sneered. More blood gushed out from the wound on his palm, forming strange patterns on the ring. "You collect faith, and I collect despair!"

The ring vibrated violently, and the phoenix pattern on the ring surface seemed to come alive, and a beam of blood shot up into the sky.

The blood light transformed into a huge blood phoenix, and its spread wings covered the sky and the sun.

"Is this... the blood of hemorrhagic disease?!" Jiuchen's face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly opened the soul power barrier.

However, the blood phoenix swooped down, and the corrosive blood raindrops fell on the barrier, making a "hissing" sound, and the barrier melted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Impossible!" Jiuchen screamed and stepped back. "How could the blood of a violent hematitis patient possibly hurt me?!"

Gu Youran suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at the scene of the blood phoenix corroding Jiuchen's barrier. A thought flashed through his mind: Shi Heng's blood can restrain Jiuchen's power!

"So that's how it is..." Gu Youran looked down at her glowing right hand. All nine silver needles on the Nine Star Ring suddenly popped out and rotated into a dazzling star map in her palm.

"Nine Star Needle Technique, Tenth Level—"

A glint of determination flashed in her eyes, "God-killer!"

The right hand, emitting a burst of golden light, suddenly grabbed the Nine Star Ring. The moment the five fingers clenched together, nine silver needles turned into streams of light and pierced into the ring.

With a crisp cracking sound, the Nine Star Ring exploded in her palm, and countless golden runes gushed out from the cracks.

"No--!"

Jiuchen let out a heart-wrenching scream, his body shaking violently, and black blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, "How could you have such a move?!"