What was this?

Jian Chou was somewhat surprised.

Perhaps this was the only thing among all the items this little marten had brought that might have some value.

Of course, maybe it was just another piece of junk like everything else.

The Thousand Cultivator Tombs buried Yashan cultivators—Jian Chou was only worried about the origin of this pile of junk before her eyes…

“Woo woo woo.”

The marten wagged its tail, looking at her with unusual expectation, extending one paw to point, signaling for Jian Chou to look.

Jian Chou finally bent down and picked up a one-foot stone disc covered in the marten’s saliva from the pile of junk.

Eight horizontal lines were distributed in positions representing eight directions, and the leaf on the protruding stone pillar in the center, though twisted in posture, had a strange character to it, seeming quite extraordinary.

When she had glanced at it roughly before, she hadn’t felt anything special, but now, taking a careful look, Jian Chou felt that once her gaze fell upon it, she couldn’t pull it away.

Strange…

This thing seemed somewhat remarkable.

Dawn was almost breaking, and soon Yashan’s recruitment of new disciples would begin.

After all this commotion tonight, there probably wouldn’t be time to rest.

That was fine.

Jian Chou simply settled her mind and continued examining this disc.

Apart from the carving of this leaf, there wasn’t anything else worth noting.

The marten stared at her expectantly, seeming very hopeful.

Jian Chou glanced at it and shook her head helplessly.

Running her finger along the edge of the stone disc, Jian Chou discovered that the carved patterns around it were leaves of different postures, encircling the entire disc, nineteen in total.

The eight horizontal lines on the disc’s edge were fixed to the stone disc, not moving at all, extremely rough.

Jian Chou’s gaze finally fell back on that green leaf, and when she reached out to touch it, she immediately froze.

Click.

When her finger touched the cylindrical protrusion carved with the green leaf at the top, she felt it give slightly—it wasn’t carved into the stone disc but was embedded.

She was immediately surprised.

Seeing Jian Chou touch that leaf carving, the marten immediately began “woo-woo” ing again, extending its paw to point at the disc, then at Jian Chou.

Jian Chou asked puzzledly: “You mean for me to press it down?”

The marten immediately nodded repeatedly.

Press it down?

Would there be some surprise?

Jian Chou pondered for a moment and laughed.

This marten was quite interesting, not like the scheming demons written about in books.

She slowly moved her finger to that leaf carving, and there was no other reaction.

Her finger slowly pressed down.

The wind across the entire riverbank suddenly seemed to sense something and stopped all at once.

Click.

The cylindrical protrusion was finally pressed all the way down by Jian Chou’s finger, making the sound of a mechanism snapping.

The leaf at the very top, originally gray-white stone, suddenly emitted a faint emerald light, as if it had come alive!

One turn.

Two turns.

Three turns.

The cylinder rotated, and the leaf at the top began rotating with it.

That point of crystalline emerald color became like beautiful jade in an instant!

Such a strange transformation immediately surprised Jian Chou.

However, before she could understand this change, she felt the stone disc in her hand begin to vibrate wildly. Suddenly, she couldn’t hold it, and an emerald light burst forth, actually bouncing Jian Chou’s palm away!

Jian Chou was greatly alarmed and let go.

The stone disc immediately flew out spinning, and the emerald leaf at the center, accompanying the rotation, actually grew larger with the wind!

One inch, two inches…

One foot, two feet…

One zhang, two zhang…

Growing larger and larger!

When this emerald leaf had grown to three zhang, the spinning stone disc finally stopped.

Looking over, Jian Chou could only see a huge emerald-green leaf floating in the void.

Dawn was dark, but this leaf radiated brilliant light.

All the grave mounds on the riverbank appeared and disappeared under the illumination of the leaf.

“What is this…”

Jian Chou couldn’t help but murmur.

“Woo woo woo…”

Upon seeing this leaf appear, the marten was so excited that it jumped several circles on that pile of junk!

Jian Chou’s gaze never left this leaf.

Originally, the stone disc had been rotating while the leaf remained still.

Now, however, the stone disc suddenly stopped rotating, while the huge leaf in mid-air suddenly began to turn.

Because it was so large, it rotated very slowly.

One breath, one breath…

Jian Chou counted a full nineteen breaths in her heart before this leaf completed one rotation.

At that moment, it was like gears meshing with each other.

Click.

Strange sounds seemed to come from the void.

After the leaf rotated once, it immediately stopped.

A hazy green light finally appeared, then blazed brilliantly, shooting straight to the clouds!

The moon at the horizon that was about to set seemed unable to compete with this radiance at this moment!

The originally one-foot diameter disc slowly faded under such dazzling brilliance.

Ripples spread outward from where the disc disappeared as the center.

All the wild grass that touched these ripples lay prostrate on the ground, no longer trembling.

There was no wind.

Only the sound of the flowing river remained in her ears.

Jian Chou couldn’t help but hold her breath, her spirit completely captivated.

A green vortex ten zhang in diameter suddenly collapsed from the void, using the place where the disc had disappeared as its base point!

An ancient and mysterious aura emanated from this vortex, immediately enveloping Jian Chou, who stood nearby.

The green leaf disappeared.

The disc also vanished.

Before Jian Chou’s eyes remained only this emerald vortex.

Heaven and earth were vast, the river flowed urgently, flowing mightily away…

And she stood before this towering vortex.

“Woo woo woo.”

The marten jumped to Jian Chou’s feet, biting her clothes with its teeth and pulling her toward the vortex, as if wanting her to hurry inside.

Go in?

Into the vortex?

Jian Chou blinked, somewhat dazed.

The night wind brushed past, and Jian Chou remained unable to come to her senses.

She had no idea that the moment her finger pressed down on the green leaf on the disc—

Across the lands of the Nineteen Continents, in deep mountains and old forests.

A woodcutter was walking on a night path, his waist bulging as if hiding something.

“Sigh… when will this training end so I can return to the sect? I’m really tired…”

Complaining words came from his mouth, and this woodcutter sighed deeply.

Ahead was a small stream. Just as he was about to cross it, an emerald light shot out from his waist!

The woodcutter stopped in surprise, eyes wide.

Immortal Path’s Thirteen Islands, Severing Karma Island.

Splash…

Waves struck the shore. A disheveled man lay on the sand, his lips cracked and dry.

He blinked, and all he could see was a golden, bright moon.

“Immortal path, immortal path…”

A hoarse voice emerged from deep in his throat, carrying a strange bitterness.

The path of seeking immortality and asking about the Dao…

Increasingly heavy fatigue swept over him, and his eyelids grew heavier.

Just then, emerald light suddenly emerged from the shallow seawater in the sand beside him, and a vortex slowly appeared…

On a reef somewhere in the vast Western Sea.

“Ten spirit stones, not one less!”

Snatching the spirit stones from several Qi Refining stage cultivators, the fat man chuckled and shook the golden abacus in his hand, handing a paper talisman to these cultivators.

“This talisman was personally refined by me and will ensure your safe passage at sea. Go!”

The several Qi Refining cultivators accepted it with half-belief.

The fat man waved his hand: “I, Golden Abacus Qian Que, have a golden reputation—how could I deceive you? Hurry up and get lost!”

After speaking, he glared fiercely, and the several Qi Refining cultivators were immediately scared away.

Qian Que worked his abacus: “Made quite a bit again today…”

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly sensed something. With a flip of his hand, a half-foot stone disc flew out from his Qiankun Bag, blazing with light.

The human world is an isolated island.

In the government office’s prison, a man in official robes sat before a long table. On the table was a half-foot-long stone disc left by a Daoist who had come to curry favor some time ago.

He had no interest in it.

Lifting the teacup from the table and blowing away the foam on the surface, the man gently took a sip.

“Ahhhhh—”

Anguished screams came from not far in front of him.

The man lifted his eyelids for a glance—that person had already been cut into a human stick and thrown into a large pool crawling with snakes and scorpions.

“Zhang Tang, you dog thief! How can a petty clerk determine the fate of the realm? You will surely face retribution! Ahhhhhhh—”

Hearing this, the man’s face didn’t even twitch as he said lightly: “Next one.”

The prison guards all trembled, but none dared disobey his orders.

“Clap.”

The man gently set down his teacup, about to continue the interrogation. However, just as he looked down, the stone disc he had casually thrown aside suddenly emitted emerald light!

Northwestern snowy region.

A young monk in kasaya held a golden bowl and wielded a demon-subduing vajra, gazing at the ice and snow across the plateau.

Before him was a huge blue lake, lying quietly on the highest plateau of the northwestern snowy region.

Was this the holy lake?

His eyes revealed some fervor.

Just as he was about to step forward, a disc hidden among the scattered rocks and ice, and snow not far from his feet suddenly manifested into a vortex…

…

At this moment, in the Kunwu mountain hut.

Gu Qingmei stared intently at that round stone disc. Not knowing what method she had used, she kept moving those eight horizontal lines, shifting them bit by bit on the stone disc.

“Click.”

A soft sound.

The stone disc suddenly cracked open, and a cylindrical button rose, with a simple little flower carved at its center.

Gu Qingmei immediately cried out in delight: “Success!”

She couldn’t help but look toward Xie Buchen, who had been sitting quietly in meditation: “Senior Brother Xie, look! Now the red disc is open. As soon as I press it down, the gates of the Shered Small Realm will immediately open! The Dijiang Guyu has hope!”

Xie Buchen nodded, about to say something.

Unexpectedly, a dazzling emerald light suddenly burst forth from the red disc placed on the ground!

At that moment, Xie Buchen suddenly stood up, his robes fluttering and billowing in the wind as he frowned and looked over.

Gu Qingmei turned back, but her eyes widened and her mouth gaped…

No…

This wasn’t right!

She hadn’t activated the red disc at all!

“How is this possible…”

Unbelieving murmurs came from her mouth.

Gu Qingmei’s mind was in complete chaos.

Wrong, wrong…

She hadn’t opened the red disc, so the only explanation could be—

Someone had opened the Kill Disc!

Once the Kill Disc opened, it meant that if the keys were well-preserved, seven doors would open throughout the world, allowing seven people to enter!

This meant there would be six other people appearing to compete with her for the Dijiang Guyu?!

The expression on Gu Qingmei’s face immediately turned cold, becoming extremely gloomy.

She stood rigidly in place, fingers clenched, teeth gritted.

A vortex quickly formed before her.

“Who is it… who exactly…”

Who exactly had disrupted her plan?!

Great fury arose from Gu Qingmei’s heart. She stared intently at the vortex before her and declared: “I must see who it is!”

As her words fell, Gu Qingmei leaped directly into the vortex, her figure immediately disappearing.

Xie Buchen had originally intended to follow, but that vortex instantly vanished from its spot, leaving no trace.

The stone disc disappeared, the light scattered—it was as if nothing had happened.

Before the ten-zhang vortex.

Jian Chou had been standing for a while, facing this vortex with some disbelief.

The marten woo-woo-ed constantly, wishing Jian Chou would go in immediately. It pulled at Jian Chou with its teeth, but its strength was too small to move her at all.

Dawn was about to break, and Jian Chou still had to oversee the recruitment of new disciples. Although she could vaguely sense this vortex was extraordinary, and seeing the marten so urgent suggested it was probably a good place, but…

How could she leave?

If this trip took a long time, wouldn’t it delay Yashan’s important affairs?

Therefore, Jian Chou stood hesitating with furrowed brows.

Should she leave first and ask her master?

As this thought arose, Jian Chou was about to make her decision.

Unexpectedly, just as she was about to turn around, a delicate shout came from within the vortex.

“Everyone, listen to me! I am Gu Qingmei of Kunwu Sect. My Senior Brother Xie Buchen’s cultivation lacks only one piece of Dijiang Guyu. I don’t care who you are—if you dare compete with me for it, once you leave this realm, all of you will be killed without mercy!”

“…”

Her footsteps suddenly stopped.

Jian Chou’s gaze was immediately drawn into the vortex, unable to escape.

She almost doubted she had heard wrong.

For a long time, she couldn’t come to her senses.

“Woo woo woo…”

Seeing that the vortex was gradually beginning to shrink, the marten was extremely anxious, constantly circling Jian Chou.

Kill without mercy?

Kunwu, Xie Buchen?

Ha.

This land of the Nineteen Continents was small.

Jian Chou suddenly smiled with narrowed eyes. Without hesitation, she leaped up and threw herself into the vortex!

Dijiang Guyu?

You need it?

Then I’ll steal it from you!