“Kunwu, Xie Buchen…”

Such a development was truly beyond a million expectations.

A low, hoarse voice emerged from “Xiao Jin’s” throat, accompanied by that eerie and sinister laughter.

He stared at Xie Buchen, and from the moment he walked over, he had never shifted his gaze away.

Xie Buchen’s gaze was also on him, the only difference being that perhaps there was a bit more understanding, even bewilderment.

As early as when “Xiao Jin” suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Hidden Realm, he had harbored suspicions in his heart. It was just that he wasn’t familiar with Xiao Jin himself, and since he was considered to be in the same group as Jian Chou, it ultimately wasn’t appropriate for him to speak carelessly.

If this person could be used well, he might even become a sharp blade for dealing with Jian Chou.

Therefore, for various reasons, Xie Buchen did not inform Jian Chou of his suspicions about Xiao Jin.

He just hadn’t expected that this final move would be taken first by Jian Chou. Through a twist of fate, this “Xiao Jin” whom he had always suspected but never dealt with had now become a terrifying death warrant.

Xie Buchen looked at that somewhat familiar face, yet his heart was filled with an entirely strange feeling. He gripped the Human Emperor Sword tightly, his voice regaining its coldness and calm.

“So it’s Young Sect Master Song of the Shanyin Sect. My apologies.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the “Xiao Jin” dressed in beast hide vest immediately burst into laughter, his demeanor carrying several traces of madness.

The moment the laughter erupted, his figure also transformed into a flowing wind!

The assault was directed straight at Xie Buchen!

The instant he charged out, that face belonging to Xiao Jin finally changed. His eyebrows and eyes stretched and transformed, immediately revealing a completely unfamiliar face—cold, gloomy, and sullen…

It was a young man’s face!

Xie Buchen had not guessed wrong: the person before him was not the real Xiao Jin at all, but Song Lin of the Shanyin Sect!

Overwhelming black qi almost instantly shrouded Song Lin’s entire body.

Though he didn’t know why Xie Buchen and Jian Chou had to fight to the death like this, for him, this was an excellent opportunity. Regardless of whether the River Map Secret Talisman existed or not, just slaying Xie Buchen, currently Kunwu’s foremost figure, would be enough to bring sufficient excitement!

If he killed this rising star of Kunwu, even if he gained nothing else in the Hidden Realm of Qingfeng Nunnery, it would still be a great achievement worth boasting about!

How could Yong Zhou, who had accomplished nothing, compare to himself?

Just thinking this way, Song Lin was filled with excitement, a bloody hue faintly rising in his eyes.

Although Jian Chou had left, there were still several Central Domain cultivators in the corridor behind. The time left for Song Lin to make his move was not much.

Therefore—

A quick, decisive battle!

“Bang!”

Demonic qi crisscrossed as a palm struck toward Xie Buchen!

Above the small plaza, another scene of surging winds and clouds immediately erupted.

The illusory door had already disappeared some time ago.

Inside the door, Jian Chou looked back once, watching as those ripples disappeared into midair, feeling the trembling remaining in her body, and still somewhat shaking.

From exiting the corridor disguised as Zhou Yin, making contact with these several cultivators from the Shanyin Sect, then discovering Xie Buchen’s identity through various clues from among the crowd, and finally engaging in such a perilous battle…

It was not only a battle of strength, but also a battle of wits!

Now, suddenly separated from the combat state just moments ago, Jian Chou felt her mind suddenly empty, somewhat unable to react.

Xie Buchen probably never would have imagined even in death that she held the “key” to opening the door in her hands; otherwise he probably wouldn’t have dared to fight her so confidently.

This time, he had been thoroughly outmaneuvered by her.

“Xiao Jin” had come at just the right time. Jian Chou had suspected this fellow was problematic from the start, and after Xie Buchen’s reminder with the black and white chess pieces, how could she not be clear? His appearance this time, while seemingly coincidental, was inevitable.

With ulterior motives and exceptional strength, he would inevitably pass through first and be the first to appear in the plaza.

Jian Chou had ultimately bet correctly on this.

The severely injured Xie Buchen was facing off against the Shanyin Sect’s Young Sect Master, whose strength was nearly at peak condition…

Tsk, even if he didn’t die, he’d probably lose a layer of skin.

A strange smile hung at the corner of her lips. After a while, she felt her entire body relax, and then she looked around at her surroundings.

In the plaza, Jian Chou had already seen what looked very much like a maze map, and it was constantly changing.

Now looking around, she actually found herself truly within a maze, with gray high walls on all four sides, one layer after another. Occasionally there would be broken gaps exposed, which were the exits set up within the maze.

However, no one knew where they led, or whether they were actually dead ends.

The stone walls formed an overall “回” character shape, enveloping Jian Chou within.

Probably because few people came to the Hidden Realm, the ground was paved with gray stone slabs. There were narrow gaps between the slabs, and now large clumps of wild grass had grown from these narrow crevices, some withered and yellow, some overcrowded.

The ground was clean and showed no trace of any arrays being laid.

Jian Chou investigated for a while and finally cautiously landed on the ground.

Nothing happened. It was extremely quiet.

There was no danger for the time being, and she couldn’t find a second “uninvited guest” who had broken into the Hidden Realm besides herself.

The tightly wound string in her mind suddenly relaxed the moment she confirmed safety.

Then, piercing pain instantly spread from her palm throughout Jian Chou’s entire body, nearly making her cry out in agony!

Pain.

Tearing pain.

After separating from the combat state and confirming current safety, her tense body relaxed, and the agony that had been completely ignored due to highly concentrated attention immediately erupted.

Xie Buchen was indeed an existence like Kunwu’s prodigy after all.

The Human Emperor Sword’s clash against her “Red Sun Slash” executed with the Deer-Cutting Blade had forcibly created the effect of a white rainbow piercing the sun, which could not be called anything but earth-shattering.

While Xie Buchen’s situation had worsened from their exchange and he was now severely injured, she herself was not without damage.

The Deer-Cutting Blade was quietly held in her hand.

At the blade’s tip, a trace of dark light flashed by.

“Drip, drip.”

This was the sound of fresh blood flowing along the handle, climbing up the blade edge and blade back, slowly gathering at the tip, and finally dropping to the ground.

Jian Chou gritted her teeth, enduring the pain, switched the Deer-Cutting Blade to her other hand, and opened her right hand.

A pale palm, slender fingers, carrying a somewhat delicate feeling.

However, at this moment, a wound deep enough to see bone appeared in the center of her palm, two inches long and narrow, instantly destroying the beautiful impression the entire palm gave, leaving only a kind of broken ferocity.

It was the sword qi from Xie Buchen’s strike.

Jian Chou looked at the wound in her palm, a cold light flashing in her eyes.

The Human Emperor Sword…

An eerily powerful sword.

She had never heard of such a sword’s existence before.

If there was a chance, she would have to snatch this sword from Xie Buchen’s hands to get a clear look at it.

But there was no such opportunity now.

The spiritual power in her body was also more than half depleted. No one would be coming in for the time being, and even if Xie Buchen and Song Lin had keys in their hands, they were currently constraining each other and wouldn’t have a chance to enter.

She looked around, walked to the base of a high wall, sat down cross-legged, put several pills in her mouth, closed her eyes and focused her mind, beginning to restore her vitality.

Whether facing enemies or breaking through barriers, if like Xie Buchen, her strength was not at its peak for extended periods, she would inevitably suffer losses sooner or later.

Jian Chou had already calculated against one Xie Buchen, but she wouldn’t let herself fall into the same situation as Xie Buchen.

She sat cross-legged in meditation, her mind serene. Combined with her robust physique and the fact that her injuries weren’t severe, she completed her breathing regulation in less than a quarter hour. When she reopened her eyes, brilliant light radiated from them. Although her strength hadn’t fully recovered, she had regained seventy to eighty percent of it.

In the maze formed by stone walls, a second person had yet to appear.

Jian Chou stood up and looked around. Feeling reassured, she began to contemplate: “On the wall I saw the maze had four layers, one nested within another, with the center seemingly being the maze’s endpoint, exactly four Dao Seals…”

In other words, if she wanted to exit the maze, she would definitely need to use those four Dao Seals.

Jian Chou had a Dao Seal in her hand, but she didn’t know where to find the second hexagonal seal platform.

She was about to take a step forward when she moved her foot.

“Rumble…”

A tremendous earth-shaking sound suddenly rang in her ears!

The stone wall behind Jian Chou, and even the wall opposite, actually retreated backward like building blocks, and soon new stone walls moved up to replace them, everything spinning like heaven and earth turning upside down.

Never mind the walls—she even felt like the ground beneath her feet was rotating along with everything else!

The maze had changed!

With the Deer-Cutting Blade in her left hand and the Ghost Axe in her right, Jian Chou looked at the drastically changed layout around her. While remaining alert, her face was also shrouded in gravity: when outside the high walls, that maze diagram changed its configuration every quarter hour. She hadn’t expected that after entering, the maze would also change its configuration every quarter hour!

The maze itself was already headache-inducing, but a moving maze was like a wild beast that devoured people at will.

Jian Chou was inside this beast’s belly.

The familiar stone walls had disappeared, and the new stone walls that appeared before Jian Chou were not empty.

When Jian Chou turned around and frowned to examine them, she discovered the difference.

On the stone wall behind her, there was actually a hollow carved like a window, resembling a cave-like recess. It was pitch black inside, making it impossible to see what was actually there. Only at the top of this round opening was carved a lifelike little cricket.

Around the little cricket were circles of intricate small carvings. Jian Chou focused her gaze and was immediately reminded of the painted walls, of the “Wandering in Hesitation” she had passed through earlier.

Another creation left by Shangren Buyu?

Another spiritual beast that had appeared?