People can be deceived, but Heaven cannot be deceived—those who deceive Heaven shall be punished by Heaven;

Hearts can be deceived, but the Dao cannot be deceived—those who deceive the Dao shall be destroyed by the Dao.

The moment she saw these four characters, the words she had once seen in the Scripture Repository at Yashan seemed triggered, suddenly leaping from her memory.

Hidden writing had actually appeared on the window paper, catching Jian Chou off guard; the content of this writing was such shocking four characters, also catching Jian Chou off guard; now corresponding words flashed from her memory, still catching Jian Chou off guard.

She stood before the desk with its writing implements, staring blankly.

I will deceive Heaven.

If paired with those two sentences above, what kind of audacity was this?

Those who deceive Heaven shall be punished by Heaven!

This person dared to defy propriety and oppose Heaven itself?

What tremendous courage!

Jian Chou recognized that the writing on the window belonged to the ninth type among all the handwriting in this study.

According to her previous speculation, the ninth type of handwriting was closest to her current time, likely belonging to the final master of the house, or the last words the master had left behind.

Behind those four large characters that couldn’t contain their sharpness and coldness, there were line after line of smaller text.

The blooming plum blossom had a faint redness that also dyed the writing on the snow-white window paper a pale red.

Jian Chou looked over, word by word, sentence by sentence, and for a moment couldn’t help but feel her heart shake!

Her pupils dilated as she became completely absorbed by the strangeness and audacity of what was described on the window paper…

Over four hundred years ago, the Extreme Domain’s underworld had been established for less than three cycles of sixty years.

The positions of the eight Yama Kings had just stabilized. The entire underworld, modeled after the closely related human realm, established seventy-two cities and seventy-two departments, with eight Yama Halls rising in the eight directional cities.

On a certain day in the one hundred seventy-sixth year, a new ghost, along with many other new ghosts who had died on the same day, was led by ghost escorts through the Ghost Gate and finally saw this world completely different from the human realm.

The new ghost clerk at the Reception Department told him that he was different from those around him—he was an unjustly deceased ghost with thirty-six years of yang lifespan remaining.

Therefore, he wouldn’t be directly escorted to the Mirror of Retribution, but needed to spend thirty-six years in the City of Unjust Deaths before entering reincarnation and rebirth.

Thus, this new ghost, after receiving his identity jade token at the Registry Office, directly went to buy a residence.

Here, the window paper didn’t mention where his jade came from.

Jian Chou speculated it was like Chen Tingyan’s case—offerings from friends and relatives in the human realm.

After settling in the City of Unjust Deaths, this person had the opportunity to encounter this entirely new world.

So he began preliminary cultivation and purchased a batch of books to deepen his understanding of this realm.

At that time, news about the Shijiu Zhou wasn’t particularly secret, so this person easily learned the full picture of this world.

This was Yuanshi Star.

Above ground were the Shijiu Zhou, the Western Sea, human islands; below ground were the Extreme Domain, the ten-thousand-li evil soil, the underworld, and the eighteen levels of hell.

Above and below ground were separated by a Yin-Yang boundary into two worlds.

Where he dwelt was “below ground,” known as the “Extreme Domain.”

Here, people could actually gain mountain-splitting, earth-rending power through cultivation.

But simultaneously, even more mysterious and strange things existed here—

Such as reincarnation.

Reincarnation washed clean a person’s lifetime experiences, like a blank sheet of paper, and placed them anew into a fresh body.

Thus, past life’s experiences and present circumstances were completely severed.

Heaven gives birth to all things to nourish them.

Among all things, humans alone are the most spiritual, yet cannot escape the six paths of reincarnation.

The world’s population keeps increasing—bodies come from all things, but what about souls?

Do they also come from all things?

But what kind of thing could give birth to “souls”?

All these confusions swirled around him.

Fortunately, he had a full thirty-six years to research everything and answer his doubts.

But the more he researched and pursued, the more he discovered a different emotion arising in his heart—

Unwillingness.

Since reincarnation exists, why must original souls be washed into blank sheets?

Buddhism teaches people toward goodness, beautifully calling it “peace in the next life.”

But whether the next life is peaceful or not—how could a soul that has become a blank sheet know?

Since all past events are washed away, is “you” still “you”?

Without origins, environment, memories, even gender no longer exists—how can one know?

Reincarnation was no different from erasing a person’s existence entirely!

Perhaps the only similarity was the “raw material”—still that blank sheet on which the next life could paint.

Because of memory and character, one can be called “I” rather than any other person.

However, so-called entry into reincarnation already has nothing to do with “me.”

Entering rebirth is true “death”—permanent extinction…

He realized he had no past life, nor future life.

The him of past lives wasn’t him; the him of future lives wouldn’t be him either.

All he possessed was this one life—all experiences, all thoughts and feelings.

He sat before this window for a very long time, also hearing about the Cauldron Competition again and again.

He thought of cultivation.

But after cultivating for a long time and achieving terrifying progress, he heard about the eight Yama Kings’ cultivation levels and thought of above and below ground, of the Yin-Yang boundary.

Why was there a difference between above and below ground?

What difference was there between cultivators of the Shijiu Zhou and cultivators here?

Could reaching the ultimate in cultivation—the so-called “Penetrating Heaven” realm—truly allow ascension to higher realms, escaping this world?

The answer was: no.

The Shijiu Zhou was a normal world, but this ten-thousand-li Extreme Domain evil soil was not.

The moment the universe and myriad phenomena were first born, the moment Pangu Dazun’s first step fell on this star, this underground million-li evil soil was enclosed.

Humans weren’t allowed; Heaven wasn’t allowed!

At this moment, only six years remained until the thirty-six-year deadline.

He had already spent long periods on research and cultivation.

When the time came, he faced only two choices.

One was entering reincarnation, being completely erased by the Reincarnation Pool water at reincarnation’s end; the other was remaining in the Extreme Domain, continuously cultivating to become a judge, grand judge, or even Yama King.

But that would be all.

Becoming a Yama King—what then?

The Extreme Domain’s sky became more oppressive the higher one went!

One path was a dead end; the other was also a dead end!

The difference was only sooner or later.

This new ghost who had been in the City of Unjust Deaths for thirty full years sat withered in his room for seven days and nights.

When he reopened his door, he was already disheveled with bloodshot eyes.

He crossed the quiet courtyard and carved some characters under the stone lions outside the mansion’s gate.

He walked through long streets, leaving symbols outside the City of Unjust Deaths gate that unjustly deceased ghosts must pass.

He crossed that vast evil soil where timeless grass swayed, carving an inconspicuous pattern on the giant pillars of Ghost Gate that all new ghosts must pass…

Then he returned to the City of Unjust Deaths as if nothing had happened and participated in that session’s Extreme Domain Cauldron Competition.

In the Cauldron Competition, he didn’t become first, but due to outstanding performance, he became a judge under Qin Guang King at that time, competing among judges for supervisory authority over the Reincarnation Department.

In these short six years in office, he did one shocking deed after another!

Using modified array formations to deceive everyone, he stole large quantities of pool water from the Reincarnation Pool, hiding it in his residence in the City of Unjust Deaths.

Through his position’s convenience, he had opportunities to observe the true Book of Life and Death.

Thus he found methods to add marks to blank paper souls, enduring the agony of splitting souls and severing spirits to leave a mark on his own soul that only he knew.

Through his exceptional ability, he requested from Qin Guang King an opportunity to reincarnate again as human, returning to his old clan.

Even though Qin Guang King warned him: “Being human for a second life violates heavenly principle. Even with a lifespan of forty or fifty years, you will surely die unjustly within thirty years.”

Six years passed in a flash.

Under Qin Guang King’s infinite regret, he ultimately chose to re-enter reincarnation.

Before being escorted to the Mirror of Retribution, he renewed the lease on this residence for thirty years, completely copied all his memories, stored them in some corner of this residence in the City of Unjust Deaths, and left clues in this boundless sea of books.

“When I die unjustly as scheduled, I will again enter Ghost Gate, again enter the City of Unjust Deaths, again approach my old residence door…”

The pale red writing floated lightly like smoke on that snow-white window paper.

That kind of deep planning, seasoned scheming, almost made Jian Chou unable to breathe!

What terrifying thoughts!

What heaven-shocking schemes!

Jian Chou stood frozen before the carved window, her feet planted on the ground as if rooted, unable to move even slightly…

Images flashed rapidly through her mind.

The bird’s-eye view map of Yuanshi Star she had opened, those bright red marks at Ghost Gate, the City of Unjust Deaths, the residence gate, the purple-gray Reincarnation Pool water she saw when opening the array formation…

Everything matched up perfectly at this moment, seamlessly integrated!

She also remembered those nine types of handwriting, remembered how later handwriting showed traces of earlier influence…

At that moment, a terrifyingly extreme thought quietly emerged.

Jian Chou couldn’t control her gaze, as if to verify her thoughts, or as if completely mesmerized by these pale red writings—

This unjustly deceased ghost who had laid out everything finally stepped onto the reincarnation path, reaching reincarnation’s end, throwing himself into the Reincarnation Pool water to be washed into a blank sheet.

No past events, no knowledge of his experiences in the City of Unjust Deaths.

A completely new environment created his entirely opposite character and behavior…

Even completely different handwriting!

He was reborn and completely died.

Twenty-eight years later, he again died unjustly, taking the path to Ghost Gate for the second time.

He had no knowledge of any “previous time,” but the moment he passed Ghost Gate, a mysterious connection appeared, making him look up and notice that pattern no one else would notice!

Then came the City of Unjust Deaths.

Before the city gate, the connection appeared again, directing him toward a certain location.

Thus, after registering at the Registry Office, in complete confusion, he finally saw that residence and the writing on the stone lions at the gate…

Renting that house, entering that room, reading those books—thus all past memories returned.

Three lives and seven worlds, thousands of autumns and hundreds of generations.

Even through billions of reincarnations, I—

Am still I!

“…”

Jian Chou was completely speechless. She looked up at the writing on the window paper, feeling an oppressive force rushing toward her.

As if a living person had walked out from these writings, standing with hands behind his back, looking down at her.

She didn’t know how much terrifying energy it required to spend thirty full years researching those things, or how much willpower was needed to persist.

She didn’t know how difficult it was to participate in the Cauldron Competition, perform excellently, then retreat unscathed to become a judge appreciated by Qin Guang King.

She also didn’t know what terrifying consequences would follow if his theft of Reincarnation Pool water and carving soul marks—this deception of heaven and earth—were discovered.

She equally didn’t know how amazing someone who could carve out this inconceivable path between two dead ends must be…

Any single mistake in any link would lead to eternal damnation.

With what kind of coldness and self-control had this person calmly and systematically advanced his plan step by step?

Those nine types of handwriting were indeed left by one person.

But because of repeated entries into reincarnation, the new him primarily used this life’s handwriting, and after recovering and integrating memories, would carry traces of the previous life.

This was why she saw slight continuity between those handwritings, and why she found each change of handwriting somewhat awkward in those book records.

All doubts were completely resolved at this moment.

Jian Chou no longer knew whether her heart held admiration, wariness, fear, or some other more complex emotion…

The pale red writing on the window had a small tail.

This person walked proudly through reincarnation again and again.

In the third life, he began comprehending all arrays that could deceive heaven and earth. To avoid arousing Qin Guang King’s suspicion, he directly altered the Book of Life and Death, killed someone in the City of Unjust Deaths who had reincarnated in the same year as himself, entered reincarnation to become human again, dying unjustly again within thirty years.

In the fourth life, he used the same trick…

Though worldly affairs conform to “reason,” there are always “exceptions”—this too is within worldly reason.

Life after life of reincarnation, but he didn’t intend to exist permanently as human.

He had higher, higher aspirations.

Namely, comprehending heaven and earth’s rules, living as long as heaven and earth, able to roam the universe—an “Immortal”!

Through life after life of reincarnation, he researched everything he could possibly research with all his might.

After the ninth life ended and he returned to the City of Unjust Deaths, he had finally read all the books in the Extreme Domain that could and couldn’t be read, glimpsing heaven and earth’s secrets.

Thus, he set up a scheme, making the next life his final life.

The writing didn’t mention what this “scheme” was.

Jian Chou couldn’t deduce from fragmentary clues either, only vaguely feeling that since this person’s final life was already a blank sheet, the key point was probably—

Memory?

Her brow slowly furrowed as her gaze finally fixed on those final two lines—

“My heart is greatly pleased. A bright pearl should not be dust-covered; fine clothes should not travel by night. Thus I record here my nine lives’ schemes of deceiving heaven and defying the Dao, to show future people, hoping someone will break this scheme for me.”

“Three plum branches by the window, one incense stick burning on the desk.”

“Heaven above, earth below, immortals and demons—I promise you this!”

Heaven above, earth below, immortals and demons—I promise you this!

Jian Chou slowly recited this sentence, her voice like a murmur, but her heart beating rapidly.

Three plum branches by the window were already there; one incense stick burning on the desk was not.

So…

If she lit an incense stick on the desk right now, could she receive this “promise” from this cultivator who “deceived heaven and defied the Dao”?

What if it was about leaving the Extreme Domain?

Heaven above, earth below, immortals and demons…

Had he already achieved immortality? Was she facing words left by an “Immortal”?

Jian Chou’s mind became somewhat chaotic, unable to judge.

The faint fragrance of plum blossoms lingered around her heart.

She looked at those final lines for a long time, then withdrew her gaze and swept across the desk, seeing a black wooden long box pressed to the side.

Opening the box, a foot-long deep purple incense stick lay quietly inside.