In the old Great Xia Dynasty, the sword and brush officials were already known for their swift and ruthless methods, employing vicious tactics.

Zhang Tang had witnessed countless instances of mutual deception and factional attacks in the imperial court, where people didn’t even blink an eye at one another. When facing Chen Tingyan, he was far too calm—so calm that it made Chen Tingyan feel looked down upon.

For a moment, Chen Tingyan didn’t respond, his face darkening as if water could be wrung from it.

Little Head Ghost and Big Head Ghost didn’t understand the situation at all, remaining silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to interject even half a sentence.

Only Jian Chou, after recovering from her initial shock and recalling what she knew from the past, managed to guess at some of the grudges between them.

Setting Chen Tingyan aside, Zhang Tang had been kind to her, helping her deceive the heavens and enter the City of Unjust Deaths, meeting Immortal Wuzhong and avoiding immediate danger.

Now that these two had met and immediately opposed each other, it made her, who knew both sides, feel somewhat awkward.

However, Jian Chou had no intention of playing peacemaker.

The Extreme Realm could also be considered part of the cultivation world. In a different place, old grudges should theoretically be set aside, but matters involving emotions and hatred had always been more enduring than other things.

She still remembered her own debts of gratitude and revenge, so she wouldn’t advise others to let go of theirs.

Looking between the two men, Jian Chou smiled, frank and sincere. As if she hadn’t heard the earlier tense exchange at all, she spoke to Zhang Tang with gentle civility: “Lord Zhang, it’s been a long time.”

Zhang Tang glanced at her, his eyes harboring deep shadows. Without saying anything, he nodded silently.

Jian Chou didn’t mind his cold attitude at all. She waved her hand, looked at Chen Tingyan, and continued her earlier introduction: “This is Fourth Young Master Chen. I met him recently at Shanhai Market—he helped me out of a difficult situation, and he’s also here today to watch the excitement.”

Chen Tingyan raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised. So Jian Chou not only knew Zhang Tang, but they could actually speak to each other? His brow furrowed immediately, feeling that something was amiss.

If Jian Chou had known Zhang Tang in Great Xia, it wouldn’t be strange. After all, the Marquis Xie’s mansion held a prestigious position, and being by Xie Buchen’s side, she could have known anyone.

But why was she so pleasant and agreeable toward Zhang Tang? He had heard people say that the destruction of the Marquis Xie’s mansion was entirely connected to Zhang Tang, this powerful and cruel official.

This was essentially a butcher whose hands were stained with the blood of the Marquis Xie’s mansion. Didn’t Jian Chou know this?

Chen Tingyan’s mind flashed with countless doubts. He wanted to speak but didn’t know where to begin.

Meanwhile, Jian Chou seemed not to notice his confusion, smiling at him again: “These three are also old acquaintances of mine—Big Head Ghost, Little Head Ghost, and Lord Zhang. They took care of me greatly on my journey to the City of Unjust Deaths.”

Hearing this, Chen Tingyan glanced at Zhang Tang again, then turned to look at Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost. Their names matched their appearances perfectly, making them easy to distinguish.

Chen Tingyan secretly wondered where Jian Chou had met these strange people, but he gave Jian Chou face and nodded to the two little ghosts: “Hello.”

Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost didn’t know Chen Tingyan’s identity, but seeing that his feet weren’t touching the ground, they guessed he must be one of the Day Wandering or Night Wandering clans.

Any random ant from the Ten Great Ghost Clans could crush them, so how could they dare to be negligent? Immediately, the two nodded and bowed, trembling with fear, repeatedly saying: “Hello, hello! Hello, hello!”

Chen Tingyan’s mood hadn’t been good originally. Seeing Zhang Tang was like opening someone’s ancestral grave—it felt unlucky. But being greeted by these two little ghosts with their comical appearance, he couldn’t help but laugh.

He said to Jian Chou: “These two friends of yours are really interesting.”

Much better than that one standing stiffly over there.

Jian Chou nodded, very much agreeing with Chen Tingyan’s words.

Little Head Ghost, hearing these words, nearly had his legs give out and almost knelt on the ground. Good heavens, did they still want people to live?

Even with ten times the courage, he wouldn’t dare call himself a “friend” of the great Dazun Jian Chou! But seeing that Jian Chou didn’t deny it, Little Head Ghost didn’t dare contradict her either. He kept it to himself, merely shuddering.

Jian Chou turned back to look at the main entrance of the Eighteen-Story Above Ground Tower, which opened high above eighteen stone steps, carved with various grim scenes from hell.

“It’s almost our turn. Since everyone knows each other, why don’t we go in together and have a look?”

Though she said “why don’t we,” Jian Chou didn’t give others a chance to refuse. After speaking, she walked directly toward the steps.

Chen Tingyan absolutely didn’t want to go together with Zhang Tang, his face immediately darkening. But since Jian Chou had already spoken, he found it difficult to refuse. With a cold snort, he flicked his sleeve and followed Jian Chou in one step, walking beside her.

Zhang Tang didn’t mind anything. After thinking carefully, he found Jian Chou quite interesting. Both sides had grudges, yet she knew both of them. She didn’t mention the enmity and conflicts between the two men at all, acting as if she hadn’t heard or known anything, even inviting them to go together. She was truly content and carefree, not caring in the least.

This could be described as “magnanimous.”

Zhang Tang had planned to go in and have a look anyway, so it didn’t matter who he went with. He said nothing more and stepped forward.

Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost, bringing up the rear, looked at the three figures walking not far apart and felt the atmosphere was strange—no matter how lively it was around them, it couldn’t suppress this eeriness.

“Should… should we go?”

Big Head Ghost swallowed nervously and couldn’t help asking.

Little Head Ghost was still lost in thought. Hearing this, he immediately snapped back: “Go! Of course we’re going! If we don’t go, are you going to pay the Azure Jade?”

He immediately chased after them, disappearing in a flash. Big Head Ghost called out “Hey!” twice anxiously, but Little Head Ghost didn’t wait for him, so he had to hurriedly follow up the steps.

Originally, this trip was Chen Tingyan bringing Jian Chou along, but after Zhang Tang and the others joined, Jian Chou, who had been the original “guest,” naturally became the host. So she took the initiative to pay the Azure Jade.

The one collecting Azure Jade at the entrance was a ghost cultivator from the Horse Face clan. His face was frightfully long, and he squinted his eyes, glancing at Jian Chou’s group: “Which floor do you want?”

Jian Chou figured that different positions probably had different prices, so she said: “We’d like good seats.”

The Horse Face clan cultivator didn’t even look up: “The eighth, ninth, and tenth floors are all full. The seventh floor is twenty Azure Jade per person.”

Such prices! Hearing this, Jian Chou couldn’t help but click her tongue inwardly.

Thinking of the reward that Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost had received from the Reception Department earlier—just ten Azure Jade pieces, which was probably quite a lot—yet watching this excitement in the Above Ground Tower required twenty Azure Jade!

Looking at the Horse Face clan cultivator’s unfazed expression, Jian Chou knew without thinking that everyone was probably used to these prices.

She said nothing and readily paid one hundred Azure Jade.

Only then did the Horse Face clan cultivator look at her again. This little ghost cultivator, whose clan he couldn’t identify, could actually produce a hundred Azure Jade pieces, which seemed to surprise him somewhat.

However, that was all.

“Here, the token.”

The Horse Face clan cultivator casually threw her a small pagoda-shaped iron token, then ignored her and went to attend to the next ghost cultivator entering.

Holding this iron token, Jian Chou was somewhat puzzled.

Chen Tingyan laughed and explained: “That’s how it is here. It’s all business of the Eight Directions Yama Palace and the Ten Great Ghost Clans. Who would dare muddy the waters here? A group of people with one iron token can go up, and coming down has no restrictions.”

Understood. The reputation was so big that they weren’t afraid of people sneaking in.

Jian Chou shook her head: “Let’s go in.”

With that, she passed through the main entrance and walked inside.

The Eighteen-Story Above Ground Tower had each floor standing several zhang high. When she looked at it from outside, she had only felt this tower somewhat resembled a Buddhist pagoda, standing tall like a heavenly pillar, though completely enclosed around the sides.

Only after entering the main gate did she realize that the interior was truly a different world.

The entire Above Ground Tower was circular, with an open space of more than thirty zhang in diameter in the center. A deep black stone pillar stood in the middle, about the thickness of a person’s embrace, and as tall as the entire Above Ground Tower.

The tower featured painted galleries and carved railings, with long tables lined up side by side, and fine wine and delicacies arranged on the tables.

When Jian Chou and her group entered, the place was already bustling with voices.

Looking around, every floor from top to bottom was packed with people. Whether they knew each other or not, everyone was talking about something—either discussing who they should bet on this year, or talking about who else would come to today’s event.

There were also people carrying pagoda-shaped iron tokens ahead. After passing through the entrance, they occupied a marked circle below. The iron token lit up, and the circle immediately burst forth with a beam of light. Looking again, the people had disappeared.

This scene made Jian Chou’s heart skip a beat—it was actually a teleportation array!

“This is a teleportation array. Every city’s Above Ground Tower has one, capable of teleporting people from below to above. Without a token, don’t even think about going up. I’ve heard that more powerful teleportation arrays can transport people from the City of Unjust Deaths to the Eight Directions City, but that’s just rumor—I’ve never seen one.”

Perhaps seeing Jian Chou’s somewhat surprised expression, Chen Tingyan voluntarily explained a few sentences.

But it would have been better if he hadn’t spoken. Once he did, Jian Chou’s surprised expression became even more pronounced: “Just in rumors?”

“That’s right.”

Jian Chou’s expression seemed very strange to Chen Tingyan. He felt that sense of something being wrong again, but still couldn’t resolve it.

He said: “Teleportation arrays are extremely precious and rarely seen. Long-distance ones are rumored to exist only in the Eight Directions City area, though it’s unclear where they lead. Is there something improper about this?”

“…”

Jian Chou looked deeply at the circle ahead, feeling her emotions churning, unable to speak.

She thought of the Extreme Realm’s history, of its pills and magical artifacts, and of the current array formations.

She remembered that at Pinzi Tower, she had speculated that research into pills and magical artifacts required sufficient accumulated experience to gradually form perfect methods, so it was natural that the Extreme Realm’s pills and magical artifacts were far inferior to those of the Nineteen Continents.

Similarly, array formations were an even more time-consuming type of research. Those of ordinary aptitude couldn’t make an inch of progress without dedicating their entire lives to it.

She hadn’t expected to see and hear about such things so quickly.

In the Nineteen Continents, such teleportation arrays were everywhere. Whether it was her first entry into the cultivation world, traveling from the isolated human island to the Nineteen Continents, or her first time leaving the mountain gate, going from Yashan to Wangjiang Tower, or even after the Left Three Thousand small gathering, traveling from Kunwu to the Western Sea…

Each teleportation array spanned vast distances across land and sea—how remote they were! She had thought teleportation arrays were extremely common.

She hadn’t expected that in the Extreme Realm, they would become rare objects again.

Jian Chou naturally wouldn’t explain her knowledge and experiences to Chen Tingyan. After a moment of silence, she just nodded and said “I see,” then walked into the circle.

Five people entered together, and after a moment, they appeared on the seventh floor.

Probably because these floors were expensive, there weren’t as many people as below. Jian Chou’s group casually found a spot by the edge to sit down.

Outside the carved railings stood that long black cylindrical pillar. When she was downstairs, Jian Chou hadn’t noticed, but now that she was up here and looked carefully, she could see clearly.

It turned out the pillar wasn’t empty. At the height corresponding to the tenth floor of the Above Ground Tower, there was a stone ring suspended in the air.

The stone ring was circular, entirely ink-green in color, very deep, and faint striped patterns could be vaguely seen on it, spiraling into various designs.

This must be the circular ring mentioned in the rules.

Jian Chou looked at it for a long time but couldn’t determine what material it was made of.

The atmosphere at their table was stiff. Chen Tingyan naturally wouldn’t bother with Zhang Tang and was too lazy to say a word. Zhang Tang had never been talkative by nature, so of course he wouldn’t take the initiative to speak either.

Thus, only Chen Tingyan occasionally introduced the surrounding objects to Jian Chou, while Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost pricked up their ears, carefully “eavesdropping.”

Of course, there were also many people around discussing related topics.

“Brother Lihan is really too unlucky. If I were him, I definitely wouldn’t participate this year—I’d wait until later, then I’d be the ding champion!”

“Where is it that easy? It’s not just about having strength to win—this is about competing in ruthlessness!”

“Right! I remember which year it was, there was this guy who was only at the early Jade Nirvana stage and won the ding championship, right?”

“Really?”

“Of course! Haven’t you heard about this? He was incredibly lucky. Several masters didn’t pay attention to him, and he fought his way through. In the end, when the snipe and clam fought, the fisherman benefited. Without any effort, he took down several major masters of that year and won the championship in a shocking upset!”

“Wow! That really was lucky!”

…

Jian Chou also heard this and understood the situation of this ding competition clearly: it was indeed a feast of slaughter. It was about tactics and ruthlessness—without a black heart, one probably couldn’t win.

Thinking this, she couldn’t help but look toward Zhang Tang. She had heard about it too.

Zhang Tang, who had gained Lord Qin Guang’s favor, was one of the major favorites for this year’s ding championship. He hadn’t joined any of the Ten Great Ghost Clans, yet his cultivation speed was astonishingly fast.

With this person’s methods, plus his performance in the Crimson Killing Small Realm where he moved as if entering an uninhabited territory with just a mortal body, the so-called “ding competition” shouldn’t be difficult for him.

As for Chen Tingyan sitting opposite her, his cultivation level wasn’t necessarily very low, but if compared to Zhang Tang in terms of black-heartedness and ruthless methods, he was probably lacking by ten Xing Wus.

As Jian Chou listened and thought, time unknowingly passed.

More and more people came to the tower. Looking around, there was a dark mass of people that made one’s scalp tingle.

However, that legendary genius from the Ghost King clan, the main character, still hadn’t appeared.

“Could this guy surnamed Li be chickening out?”

“He’s not going to not come, is he?”

“What’s going on exactly?”

“Could it be that the Ghost King clan has another spot available?”

“Damn it, I was planning to bet on him winning this year!”

…

Gradually, anxious cursing voices arose from the crowd.

Even Little Head Ghost was getting restless: “Is he coming or not?”

Jian Chou leaned over to look down, but still no one was there: “The more important the person, the less likely they are to come too early. But why isn’t anyone else going to compete for the circular ring?”

“The Ghost King clan has always been domineering and has already put out word that today’s circular ring belongs to Brother Lihan. Who would dare seek death by competing?”

Chen Tingyan snorted, his words full of sarcasm and bitterness.

Jian Chou was somewhat surprised. The Ghost King clan ranked first among the Ten Great Ghost Clans and had the fewest members, only accepting the capable, so there were few walking around outside.

At least during Jian Chou’s time in the Extreme Realm, she had seen people from other ghost clans and could identify them, but she had never seen a single person from the Ghost King clan.

The more this was the case, the more curious Jian Chou became. She was about to ask about other aspects of the Ghost King clan when someone below suddenly cried out: “Who is that?!”

All eyes were immediately drawn over.

Jian Chou and her group were already in a position by the edge, so with one glance downward, they could see that a ghost cultivator was already standing at the edge of the circular field at the bottom.

But Jian Chou recognized at a glance that this ghost cultivator was from the Fish Gill clan, ranked ninth among the Ten Great Ghost Clans. He looked no different from ordinary people, but silver-white light spots flickered faintly at his gills—these were fish scales that appeared and disappeared.

This man wore thin scale armor, had thick, bushy eyebrows, and quite a bit of heroic spirit. However, his somewhat narrow eyes destroyed this sense of magnificence, creating several points of sinister cunning that made people dislike him.

Obviously, the many spectators in the tower also recognized that this wasn’t the person they were waiting for.

Immediately someone cursed: “Causing trouble for nothing! Get lost!”

“Such nerve! Are you tired of living?”

“Look, what does he want to do?”

While everyone was discussing, the man below raised his head, surveyed the surroundings in a circle, and actually began laughing loudly, his voice rough: “If Brother Lihan doesn’t come, I, Yu Chen, will take this circular ring in his place! Haha!”

Everyone was stunned, then reacted—

“So shameless!”

“Yu Chen, this guy actually dares to stroke the tiger’s whiskers? Is he out of his mind?”

“Didn’t get his clan’s nomination, so he’s taking desperate risks.”

“Damn it, well done! Haha!”

…

As the scale-armored Yu Chen walked toward the tall black pillar, cheers and curses intermingled around him, making Little Head Ghost, whose brain wasn’t working well enough, completely confused: “How… how is this shameless?”

“How is this not shameless enough?”

Chen Tingyan looked down with contempt and shook his head, clearly looking down on Yu Chen’s behavior.

“Everyone is intimidated by the Ghost King clan’s announced intentions. Even though Brother Lihan only ranks sixth in the Ghost King clan, no one dares compete with him, and everyone is just watching the excitement. He’s taking advantage of Brother Lihan’s absence to take a circular ring first. It won’t affect Brother Lihan, but it eliminates countless competitors!”

Jian Chou nodded, sharing Chen Tingyan’s opinion. She sighed: “This person is clever and knows how to opportunistically take advantage, but he’s gone too far—it might not be a good thing.”

Little Head Ghost felt ashamed listening to their discussion. He couldn’t think of any of this, so he decided to stay quiet and just see if Yu Chen had the ability.

Below, Yu Chen was in high spirits, surveying his surroundings with no opponents in sight. For a moment, a sense of self-satisfaction arose spontaneously.

As they say, wealth comes from taking risks, and one must enter the tiger’s den to catch the tiger cubs. He had gambled correctly this time!

“Haha!”

Thinking this, Yu Chen couldn’t help but laugh again. Standing beneath the pillar, he raised his head to gaze at the heights. The ink-green circular ring seemed to glow, attracting his gaze like a magnet.

His heartbeat quickened, and his mouth even went dry. Yu Chen hesitated no longer and directly leaped up, climbing toward the heights.

The Eighteen-Story Above Ground Tower had restrictions between each floor. However, during the first round of the ding competition, these restrictions would be relatively weakened to reduce the difficulty for everyone and increase the intensity of the entire first round.

Under these circumstances, the scale-armored Yu Chen needed no protection at all. When he charged upward, the scale armor automatically rippled with several waves, shooting outward.

“Crack crack” several sounds—the restrictions shattered!

With this charge, Yu Chen actually broke through the lower seven floors directly!

Jian Chou only blinked once and saw Yu Chen reach the height of their floor. She was also somewhat shocked: though he was an opportunistic and sinister villain, his strength was actually quite good!

Anyone who took the circular ring from here would become an opponent later. So Chen Tingyan was also watching very carefully. The moment he saw Yu Chen charging straight up, his expression changed.

As for Zhang Tang, he didn’t look at Yu Chen’s face but only glanced at the scale armor he wore, showing no extra expression.

All the attention in the venue had originally been prepared for Brother Lihan of the Ghost King clan, but at this moment, it was all focused on Yu Chen alone!

After passing the first seven floors, the remaining two floors of restrictions were not worth worrying about.

Yu Chen was already getting excited, his eyes slightly narrowed. In front of everyone, he thunderously struck upward with his palm!

“Crash!”

Like white waves hitting the shore, the force was infinite.

“Crack!”

The eighth floor’s restriction also shattered!

Yu Chen’s form didn’t stop. As if he had expected this all along, without any surprise, he let out a long whistle and continued ascending!

The ninth floor restriction—the final restriction!

Everyone couldn’t help but hold their breath and watch intently.

Yu Chen himself felt his heart burning with excitement. Determined to make those rats who had cursed him earlier look at him with new eyes, he no longer used fists or feet. Instead, he directly took a deep breath into his belly, his cheeks puffing up, then suddenly exhaled!

“Boom!”

Like a mountain flood bursting through a dam, countless streams of light poured from his mouth like water!

Refined soul power surrounded Yu Chen’s entire body, making him appear to glow with a faint white light, very much like the light Jian Chou had seen on her own soul pearl before.

This was… the mark of the Jade Nirvana realm?

Jian Chou was momentarily stunned, then noticed Yu Chen’s gills. The scale light spots that had been faintly flickering before had now become substantial, attached to his gills, making him look like a fish.

The restriction between the ninth and tenth floors was, after all, not like the usual restrictions.

Under the assault of this Fish Gill clan’s ultimate technique, it couldn’t last two breaths before shattering with a “crack” like the previous eight restrictions!

“Haha!”

Yu Chen was exhilarated. He reached out toward the circular ring suspended in the pillar!

He had thought it would go smoothly because he had made complete preparations for today. Whether it was wearing scale armor to charge through the first seven floors or using fierce attacks to resolve the last two floors, everything was within his plan.

But he hadn’t expected it to go this smoothly!

Not a single opponent! No one came up to stop him!

The incident happened so suddenly that hardly anyone had time to stop him!

He had actually approached the circular ring so easily, even able to grab it with a simple reach!

Yu Chen even had a dreamlike feeling, but then he was delighted by his decision today: this was absolutely the most brilliant decision he had ever made in his life!

The smile on his face was like the blazing sun. Yu Chen couldn’t help but start imagining the expressions of the people around him. Those who had mocked him earlier would probably all look like they had swallowed flies!

Refreshing! Truly refreshing!

Yu Chen couldn’t help but laugh loudly again: “It seems this circular ring is destined to be mine, Yu Chen!”

Having said this, his fingertips had already touched the circular ring.

But at this very moment, a chilling cold laugh suddenly entered his ears—

“Oh? Is that so?”

This cold laugh came without warning, accompanied by an extremely frigid aura.

Yu Chen couldn’t help but shiver in his heart. Instinctively, he tried to grab the circular ring, but he could no longer move.

“Puff!”

A violent tearing sound!

Black energy splattered! Flesh and blood flew!

In mid-air, a pitch-black ghost claw appeared from behind Yu Chen, piercing through his chest!

Those sharp black fingernails still had several fallen armor scales hanging from them, and blood threads could be vaguely seen between the fingers…

“Boom!”

At this moment, almost every ghost cultivator in the entire tower was terrified and rose from their seats!

What a bloody and brutal scene!

Even Jian Chou was completely unexpected.

She reached out one hand, pressing it on the carved railing, looking at the suddenly still scene high on the pillar, and couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

Yu Chen’s hand rested on the circular ring, as if he was just one instant away from claiming the victory.

His originally beautiful scale armor now had a large hole broken through it.

The ghost claw that had pierced his body slowly withdrew, gave a light flick, and transformed into a normal hand.

Sinewy and somewhat withered, with slightly pointed fingernails that were translucent.

Following this hand upward, the figure that had somehow appeared in mid-air was revealed.

It was a man wearing a dark blue long robe, with the edges of the robe trimmed with layer upon layer of deep black patterns. Looking closely, one could see they were all evil spirits stepping on skulls and roaring toward the sky.

This man’s face was quite angular, not gentle at all, with considerable vicious and malevolent energy.

His skin was slightly pale, and his pair of ink-blue eyes showed not a trace of warmth.

After he withdrew his hand, Yu Chen, who had long since lost all vitality, fell straight down.

“Bang!”

When he hit the ground, the corpse’s limbs scattered, actually transforming into a mass of black sand and dark energy, dissipating completely. Only a set of broken scale armor remained, scattered on the ground.

The man hovering in the air curled his lips into a mocking arc. Without looking down, his cold gaze slowly swept around the surroundings.

Complete silence.

For a moment, no one made a sound.

Everyone watched him.

He casually extended his finger to hook the ink-green circular ring, turned it slightly in his hand, then wore it on his left index finger.

At that moment, the entire quiet Above Ground Tower immediately exploded!

“Rumble!”

Applause, shouts, and cheers burned fiercely!

Jian Chou felt a roaring in her ears and couldn’t even hear clearly what the people at the nearest table were saying.

She looked around with great astonishment. Everyone’s face bore an indescribable excitement, opening and closing their mouths, shouting loudly in celebration, like a carnival.

After watching with difficulty for a long time, Jian Chou finally barely made out two words from their lip movements—

Brother Lihan.

Ghost King clan, Brother Lihan!