“Hehehe…”

Ximen Lu watched Jian Chou and gave his strange laugh again.

“From your cause, eat your fruit. With cause comes effect, with effect comes cause… Plant the cause, bear the fruit…”

A green apricot suddenly appeared in his palm, and the purple demonic patterns on his face seemed to come alive, twisting and writhing.

Ximen Lu bit down: sour and astringent, but very crisp!

Before him, Jian Chou’s eyes were slightly closed as she collapsed softly to the ground, yet Ghost Axe remained firmly gripped in her hand.

Northeast.

Liao Kong held his alms bowl, stuffing green apricots into his mouth one by one, feeling nothing but sourness and astringency filling his mouth. Tears and snot flowed together—the scene was tragic…

Seeing this, Ximen Lu was stunned for quite a while, then finally slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.

In the alms bowl before him, there were still more than half a bowl of green apricots remaining—who knew when he’d finish eating them all.

The bitter taste in his mouth seemed to sink deep into his heart.

Liao Kong silently chanted: Buddha is merciful, Buddha is merciful, Buddha is merciful…

Eh?

He froze. Originally, one hand had already picked up a green apricot and was about to put it in his mouth, but when he looked down at his hand, that green apricot had somehow disappeared!

What appeared between his right-hand fingers was a rope!

At this moment, tremendous force was transmitted from both his arms.

Liao Kong turned his head and was startled.

An unconscious woman was suspended by this rope over a cliff. One of his hands gripped the rope, ensuring she wouldn’t fall, while his other hand clung to a protruding rock, veins already bulging.

The weight of Liao Kong’s entire body, including that woman, rested on the one arm gripping the cliff!

Cold wind blew up from the cliff bottom. The woman below swayed back and forth, and Liao Kong swayed back and forth too.

“Buddha! What place is this? Please come save this humble monk! Buddha…”

Liao Kong never expected to be thrown into such a place. In panic, he shouted in all directions.

Mountains stretched endlessly.

His voice struck countless mountain ranges and echoed continuously.

The echoes of “Buddha, Buddha, Buddha” resounded throughout heaven and earth…

North.

“Clap clap clap…”

Dense, striking sounds rang out.

Qian Que, holding his golden abacus, moved his fingers extremely fast, leaving streaks of afterimages on the abacus.

Around the entire golden abacus, streams of golden light emerged, winding around Qian Que’s rapidly moving fingers.

“Upper five, three chi three fen six… here!”

Clap clap clap!

The abacus sounds finally stopped for an instant!

Qian Que looked toward a certain point on the ice surface, walked directly over, and inserted a small sword into the ground.

After completing this action, the dense sound of abacus beads colliding rang out again…

On the ice surface, sword after sword was distributed at strange points across the ice, perfectly encompassing an apricot tree beneath the ice.

The abacus rattled urgently as small swords after small swords flew out, stabbing into the ice surface.

When the last golden abacus bead was moved up by Qian Que, blazing light finally erupted from his eyes!

This was the place!

Taking out the last small sword, Qian Que stroked his chin, played with it briefly, then immediately threw it out!

The small sword immediately stabbed into the ice surface!

The moment this sword hit the ground, Ximen Lu immediately sneered—this was supposed to pass the stage?

However, what happened next made his smile completely freeze on his face—

“Boom!”

An explosion!

When the small sword landed at the position Qian Que had calculated, every sword emitted a beam of light!

All the light rays intertwined together, actually bursting forth with terrifying energy!

Just as all the sword lights flashed, the ice surface immediately shook violently!

Somehow, Qian Que had already flown high into the air. The moment the terrifying sword formation exploded, he used his golden abacus to shield his face, afraid of being affected even slightly.

Utterly insane waves of spiritual power swept in all directions—

Whoosh!

They swept past Ximen Lu.

His emerald green clothes were instantly torn apart, becoming tattered and hanging loosely on Ximen Lu’s body.

Only that green brocade hat, though askew, remained firmly on Ximen Lu’s head.

Crack crack crack…

The ice surface beneath his feet trembled.

A huge crack, centered on the sword formation, extended in all directions.

Crash!

With a tremendous sound, the ice surface surrounded by the small swords completely collapsed!

A tree of remnant red with small green apricots finally appeared before Qian Que.

“Success! Haha!”

Qian Que laughed heartily, flew down, directly plucked a green apricot from the branch, held it in his hand, and looked almost smugly at the extremely disheveled Ximen Lu.

“Oh my, truly sorry, seems I affected you. Sorry, sorry…”

Ximen Lu stiffly adjusted his green hat, looking at Qian Que.

Qian Que held his golden abacus. Those small swords he’d thrown out had cost him many spirit stones initially—thinking about it now still pained him. However, when he thought of the ice vine jade essence at the end of this stage, he felt—

Worth it!

He shouldn’t be slow. As long as he could get the ice vine jade essence, any sacrifice would pay for itself.

Thinking this way, Qian Que felt delighted, wanting to rush out immediately.

He looked at the green apricot in his hand and bit down without hesitation!

What was ice compared to this?

Knowledge was power!

How could breaking ice rely purely on fists? He relied on his brain!

As the fruit flesh entered his mouth, just as Qian Que was about to say he’d passed, his vision went dark.

In that instant, his heart turned cold!

Damn, why didn’t I check before eating? I fell for it!

Northwest.

Qin Ruoxu lay powerlessly prostrate on the ground, his fingers covered in blood, nails torn back—a terrible sight.

Obviously, as a mortal from a human island, the Killing Red Small Realm had given him no good fortune.

Why…

Why!

A broken monk could randomly chant a sutra and obtain green apricots to pass, but why couldn’t he?

Buddha…

Buddha!

Why do you protect your disciples but cannot protect the common people?

“Buddha’s protection… give me a green apricot…”

A hoarse voice spread across the ice surface.

Ahead, a pair of feet seemed frozen to the ice surface, not moving at all.

Ximen Lu smiled mockingly, as if watching a joke.

West.

The ice field before his eyes disappeared completely, and the familiar dungeon reappeared before Zhang Tang.

In dark corners sat various torture instruments, all ones he’d mastered skillfully, even very old-fashioned and outdated.

This looked like his prison cell from Great Xia.

Of course, he was the one responsible for interrogating prisoners.

However, Zhang Tang also knew clearly this was only similar.

Similar, but not the same.

The great prison he managed, the penal system he controlled, would never be completely empty without even finding a single jailer. At any time, there would be bailiffs following him, properly feeding those who’d committed crimes with knives and branding irons.

Now, not a single human shadow could be found here, so Zhang Tang remained calm.

Cruel punishments.

Various strange cruel punishments were what Zhang Tang liked to study.

He slowly walked down from the steps in front of the cell door. The damp ground was cleaned spotlessly—still his habit. Even in such a place full of darkness and despair as a prison, Zhang Tang didn’t want to dirty his shoes.

Of course, more often he dirtied his hands.

Official boot soles stepped on the dark ground.

Zhang Tang suddenly stopped slowly. A dark red bloodstain slowly flowed from the distance.

His gaze followed this still-flowing bloodstain forward.

Zhang Tang saw, not far ahead, a body hanging on the wall. Two sharp hooks were embedded in that person’s shoulder blades, blood continuously dripping from his chest.

On the ground lay a quiet heart.

This was heart extraction.

“Cruel official with brush and knife… return my life…”

A ghostly sigh that made one’s hair stand on end.

A woman with disheveled hair, wearing blood-stained white prisoner clothes, dragging long shackles on her feet and wearing a cangue around her neck, struggled step by step toward this direction.

Zhang Tang raised his eyelids, taking in this scene.

Row upon row of torture instruments lay before him.

Walking slowly, he moved forward again. Before him was a boiling oil cauldron with a large copper ladle beside it for stirring.

Zhang Tang walked over, picked up the copper ladle, looked at it, then suddenly said to himself: “The oil temperature is sufficient. If I put a silver needle in here and make someone fish it out, that would probably be a good punishment…”

He habitually began thinking about relatively novel punishments.

That white-clothed woman continued mechanically and stiffly moving toward Zhang Tang standing beside the oil cauldron.

However…

Zhang Tang glanced at her: “Conspiring with an adulterer to poison her husband, the two murderers later committed adultery. Primary crime is murder, secondary is adultery. By law, death.”

As his calm voice emerged, that white-clothed woman’s originally sinister appearance suddenly changed, becoming frenzied. She shrieked and immediately lunged at Zhang Tang!

Quick as lightning, Zhang Tang casually overturned the oil cauldron before him!

Splash!

An entire cauldron of boiling oil poured out!

“Ahhhhhhh—”

The white-clothed woman immediately screamed miserably. With both hands and feet bound and boiling oil on her body, she instantly bled all over!

A tooth-aching, sizzling sound immediately arose. That white-clothed woman seemed to melt in this boiling oil, turning into wisps of smoke and dispersing from sight.

On the ground remained only scalding oil mixed with blood pollution…

Zhang Tang glanced down briefly, then put both hands in his sleeves, clasping them together as he slowly paced away from this place.

This place had countless torture instruments.

This place had countless dead people, called—

Evil spirits.

However…

Whenever Zhang Tang saw an evil spirit, he would stop and enumerate the evil deeds this ghost had committed in life, large or small, great or minute.

Sometimes, even very small matters required enduring extraordinarily painful torment.

“Crack…”

Red-hot branding iron was slowly picked up by him and branded on the chest of the evil spirit before him!

Terrible firelight penetrated the evil spirit’s body.

Zhang Tang’s indifferent face showed elegant ferocity.

On the long road, countless torture instruments seemed endless.

On the long road, countless dead people were all the killings he had committed…

However, in his view, these people all deserved to die.

Even as ghosts, some weren’t qualified to come before him seeking revenge.

Therefore, Zhang Tang—

Killed people in the yang world, killed ghosts in the yin world!

One scream after another continuously rang out.

What remained unchanged was only Zhang Tang’s slowly receding footsteps.

The vertical mark left by the azure lotus spiritual fire at his brow center gradually deepened during this process.

Finally, after executing the former Xie family head who had committed rebellion using the punishment of being torn apart by five horses, Zhang Tang saw nine new steps appear before him.

A great door was right before him.

He walked over, step by step, steady and calm.

“Creak.”

The great door was gently pushed open by him.

Snow-white bright light finally re-entered his eyes.

Zhang Tang opened his eyes. Before him was still the world of ice and snow from before, with a remaining bitter taste in his mouth…

Ximen Lu tilted his head, looking at him with near amazement, as if wanting to guess his true nature.

“Having the cause of killing… this fruit is also killing, also strange… You pass this stage.”

Though Zhang Tang didn’t understand what he meant, he didn’t ask further.

The lake that had been melted by a bit of firelight earlier had refrozen into ice. Zhang Tang nodded slightly and walked forward at an unhurried pace.

On the stone disc, this red light from the west finally escaped the predicament of circling in place, becoming the first light to move forward.

Soon, he reached the cliff wall at the end. Looking up, a crystalline jade cup actively flew into his hand.

Zhang Tang caught it and drank it all.

Behind him, Ximen Lu stared at Zhang Tang’s retreating figure with an almost playful expression.

His finger fell to his chin, as if about to contemplate something, but suddenly he looked down at his chest…

A transparent axe shadow abruptly appeared in his chest!

South.

Strangely enough, when Meng Xizhou cast his fishing rod, the hook traced a huge arc from high above. The moment it struck the massive ice surface, it passed through as if the ice didn’t exist!

The hook penetrated the ice surface and accurately hooked a green apricot from the tree!

Snap!

The green apricot was finally hooked up!

Meng Xizhou swung his fishing rod, controlling the hook to swing up again, bringing the green apricot out of the ice surface!

He jumped up to catch it without hesitation and, under Ximen Lu’s scrutiny, bit down!

However, at that very instant—

Before him, Ximen Lu’s expression suddenly changed.

Wearing his ridiculous green hat, he stiffly looked down at the huge opening in his chest…

This was…

Southeast.

A sword suddenly pierced through her chest.

Gu Qingmei looked up in surprise at the person standing before her. For a moment, she could barely make out the backlit face!

What expression was that?

A smile, or indifference?

Why…

Gu Qingmei couldn’t understand.

Why do this?

“Senior Brother Xie…” Her voice was hoarse and strained.

“In this life, I have wronged you. If there is a next life, you may come find me to claim my life.”

An indifferent voice, like his entire being, devoid of emotion, even seeming mechanical and rigid.

Next life?

Gu Qingmei’s heart ached unbearably.

What next life was there for common cultivators of the Nineteen Continents?

Since the great battle in the Extreme Domain six hundred years ago, when the Nine-Headed Bird perished at Ghost Gate and the Western Region esoteric sect forcibly altered the Nine-Head River source, cultivators of the Nineteen Continents had lost the qualification to enter reincarnation.

She gazed at him in infatuation: “Why…”

Xie Buchen watched her, yet seemed to be looking at another person.

He slowly withdrew his sword, blood from the blade falling to the ground.

This sword looked very familiar to Gu Qingmei.

Wasn’t it the one Xie Buchen had hanging on his wall?

As the blade withdrew, more blood poured from Gu Qingmei’s body, also staining red the exquisitely crafted patterns on the blade inch by inch.

In that instant, Gu Qingmei saw clearly.

Carved on the blade were three simple seal characters, as if cast by Xie Buchen himself—

Seven-Part Soul.

This sword was named Seven-Part Soul.

Gu Qingmei’s vision gradually darkened.

But in a flash, it brightened again.

Blinking, the severe pain in her body seemed like just a dream.

She was dazed for a long time, then touched her face—there were tear stains—

Ximen Lu stood ahead, watching her, tilting his head and smiling.

An illusion?

The moment she realized this, Gu Qingmei finally flew into a rage, actually losing her reason. In her shame and anger, she struck at Ximen Lu with her sword!

Ximen Lu smiled mockingly, not taking Gu Qingmei’s attack seriously, directly raising both hands to block—

A huge hole suddenly pierced through his chest…

Ximen Lu looked down in surprise.

Gu Qingmei’s sword finally struck, but couldn’t hit Ximen Lu.

Because at this moment, he had already dispersed into a blurry shadow!

East.

Ximen Lu gave a soft “eh,” looking at Jian Chou lying on the ground.

At this moment, Jian Chou’s body was gradually floating up!

The world in Jian Chou’s mind remained that vast expanse!

The river water rushing toward her seemed to pour down an entire celestial river!

One axe strike was earth-shattering!

When the fierce axe shadow with towering flames appeared, all surrounding evil spirits seemed to begin trembling…

The thunderous sound of water suddenly drew near.

This bold axe stroke split the entire great river in half!

However…

Water has no fixed form!

After the axe split the river water, the original great river divided into two streams, but like living things, they struggled with eerie behavior. After passing the huge axe shadow, the two streams reunited!

The axe shadow was like a lonely island in the river’s heart—though it could temporarily split the current, it couldn’t split it permanently!

Boom!

The sound of the great river reuniting shook heaven and earth!

Jian Chou stood holding her axe directly in front of the rushing river water!

No time to dodge!

Fierce waves immediately submerged the axe-wielding figure.

Jian Chou’s consciousness instantly detached from its original place…

She seemed to float up into mid-air, above this rushing great river, overlooking the entire battlefield covered in cultivator blood!

The axe-wielder was not her.

It was a towering, majestic figure whose powerful muscles made him look like an ancient war god. The massive axe still maintained its striking posture!

On the axe’s spine, a black and white bead was struck away by the river’s great waves the moment they crashed down, mixed into the flowing water, and disappeared.

That magnificent figure was finally submerged by the vast river water…

A celestial river spread out, extending across the entire battlefield…

All evil spirits bathed in this river seemed to gain greater power, howling madly toward the sky!

And all cultivators, after this celestial river washed over them, seemed to suffer the punishment of flesh-scraping…

Where the river water passed, fresh lives were swept away one by one. The cultivators’ flesh seemed to dissolve in the river water. After the river flowed across the wasteland, only white skeletons remained, standing stiffly and rigidly in the water.

A great battle thus ended.

Only a few survived. High on the cliff, not a single figure could be seen, with several shadows floating ahead…

Jian Chou’s gaze in the void finally looked toward the river’s source.

It was a long river flowing through the wasteland. Beside the river, a huge stone tablet had stood since ancient times.

—Underworld.

In the vast Underworld waters, the axe, missing a bead, slowly began to glow, flying up from the white-boned corpse’s hand, breaking free of the murky Underworld waters, actually flying toward the gloomy high sky in the distance!

It broke through boundless oppression and broke through the forbidden land of a hundred ghosts’ wailing, finally rushing into the boundless blue sky!

It escaped the dark times, traveling from east to west, crossing vast mountains, passing the rushing Nine-Head River, and finally arriving near a tributary of the Nine-Head River.

A basin surrounded by mountains was already in sight.

Ghost Axe’s light wasn’t intense, but as it approached the basin, that basin exploded with myriad brilliant lights, thunderously opening!

Massive stone pillars shot skyward as a stone palace opened!

Ghost Axe’s speed didn’t decrease at all, crashing straight into that stone palace!

Ripples suddenly spread.

Endless glacial snowfields finally appeared before them.

Yashan Arsenal!

Ghost Axe seemed to finally lose all strength. After entering this ice field, it fell straight down, crashing into ancient ice and snow, sinking into six hundred years of slumber.

Until…

A Yashan disciple with an incomplete soul came here and awakened the equally incomplete it—

Awakened.

Jian Chou’s eyes suddenly opened!

The Ghost Axe in her hand felt warm.

She loosened her five fingers, then tightened them again.

Her body, floating in mid-air, slowly straightened.

Looking up, the distant high cliff stood like a heavenly pillar.

However, falling into Jian Chou’s eyes, it was just some illusory images…

What she saw seemed to be this Flowers Fade, Red Remnants stage, yet also seemed to be that tragic yet magnificent battlefield she’d just witnessed!

Hum…

From Ghost Axe came an extremely strong sensation of spiritual connection.

Battle intent!

Awakened battle intent!

Jian Chou raised Ghost Axe with extremely slow speed, yet this stagnant pace contained earth-shaking, terrifying power!

Ximen Lu had his pupils contract sharply. He almost instinctively turned to flee!

However—

Too late!

Just as he turned around, having gone only three feet, an axe shadow swept from behind, penetrating his entire body. The fierce force immediately scattered all spiritual energy in his body, never to reunite…

How… was this possible…

In this Flowers Fade, Red Remnants stage, he was supposed to be invincible!

No…

The green figure finally gradually dispersed.

In Ximen Lu’s final glance, all he saw was Jian Chou suddenly appearing very far ahead.

After that axe strike, her figure seemed to teleport, standing before the cliff.

Before her, two crystalline cups floated, slowly flying toward her.

A thought suddenly appeared in Ximen Lu’s mind.

So the ancestor’s setting for this stage was that killing him would grant all rewards…

He had already…

Died?

His final consciousness finally dispersed.

Between heaven and earth, all was peaceful.

Jian Chou seemed completely unaware of what she’d done, or perhaps simply didn’t care, looking up at those two cups of ice vine jade essence.

This stage was over.

Yet it also seemed like just a beginning.