Jian Chou still didn’t know the outcome of the battle behind her.

She just fled desperately. The isolated peak behind her vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, hidden behind the continuous mountain ranges she had passed.

Whoosh—

The speed was too fast, cold wind rushing toward her face like blades and swords.

After passing through a vast ice field, then circling around a boundless ice mountain range, what she saw was no longer ice fields, only ice mountains of various sizes or ice-covered hills.

They were all covered in ice and snow. Beneath the ice layers that had endured countless ages, some were deep black, others gray-white.

Jian Chou had actually experienced such environments very little.

So much so that upon seeing this, she immediately thought of the past… Yashan Armory.

Their group of newly Foundation Establishment Yashan disciples, led by Qu Zhengfeng, rushed through the night and stood on the mountain peak, watching him rise with the Haiguang Sword and split open the armory with one strike.

Thus countless brilliant lights flickered, and before them appeared a strange world of ice and snow.

That time, she had seen countless swords there, even “One Line Sky,” one of Yashan’s three great swords.

But not a single sword was moved by her incomplete soul. Only a broken axe resonated with her and followed by her side ever since.

“What a pity…”

Through various changes, the Ghost Axe was no longer by her side, probably lying in some corner of the Eight Directions City.

Yet she didn’t dare disperse her spiritual stones to summon it.

She couldn’t help but sigh softly. Jian Chou’s brow furrowed slightly as she thought of these old matters and old friends, feeling a sense of being from another lifetime.

Her speed remained constant as she circled around a cone-shaped mountain peak, wanting to find a place to stop, identify directions, and figure out how to find her “teammates.”

Casually lowering her gaze, Jian Chou wanted to first explore the situation below.

At the base of the cone-shaped mountain range was scattered ice, originally nothing worth noting.

However, an anomaly at the mountain’s foot immediately caught her eye.

Broken ice scattered on the ground had accumulated into a small mountain due to its quantity and size. But behind this small mountain, in one corner, several brightly colored feathers were visible through the cracks in the broken ice, quite conspicuous.

Isn’t this?

Jian Chou immediately had a guess and silently descended, circling behind that small ice mountain: “Gu Ling?”

“Ah!”

A trembling scream immediately pierced the silence!

Gu Ling, hiding behind, was startled so badly her hair stood on end, jumping up at once!

A burst of deep red, nearly black flames ignited around her, actually enveloping her entire body!

She instinctively was about to throw out a hand seal, but the moment she looked up and saw Jian Chou floating in the air, she immediately changed from alarm to joy: “Fellow Daoist Jian Chou?!”

Jian Chou was actually startled by her, looking at the hand seal she held but hadn’t thrown, then at the strangely colored flames around her body, secretly alarmed.

Almost the instant the flames ignited, terrifying heat waves arrived.

The pile of broken ice on the ground like a small mountain actually turned into flowing water all over the ground in an instant. Even where Gu Ling stood became a small pond.

With her—or rather, the flames emerging from her body—as the center, the surrounding ice and snow were continuously melting!

“You scared me to death. I… I thought it was… almost attacked…”

Gu Ling looked shaken, not yet noticing the strange expression on Jian Chou’s face.

She seemed to finally relax, sighing in relief. The flames around her body slowly disappeared, and the flowing water on the ground quickly froze again.

This scene in Jian Chou’s eyes had an indescribable strangeness, and even her gaze toward Gu Ling became different.

If she remembered correctly, Bird Beak Tribe cultivators had no combat power, which was universally acknowledged?

How was Gu Ling…

Giving her a completely different feeling?

“Are… are you alright?”

Seeing Jian Chou silent for a long time, Gu Ling finally remembered her earlier rashness and became flustered, speaking timidly with a stutter.

“I… I didn’t mean to…”

“I’m fine.”

Only then did Jian Chou come to her senses, landing on the ground and looking around: “I was just passing through and didn’t expect to encounter you here. But… where are the others?”

Logically, Gu Ling should be with Zhang Tang, Lihan, and the others, but now she was alone.

“I… I don’t know either.”

Gu Ling shook her head blankly and told Jian Chou about her experience.

When she entered, she naturally didn’t suffer the misfortune of being ambushed like Jian Chou, nor was she affected by standing nearby like Xing An.

But when entering the ring formed by the Ding Zheng Golden Order, she vaguely felt resistance from within, like a net trying to bind her there and prevent her from entering.

“Then I fell in and ended up like this. This place makes me uncomfortable…”

Her tone gradually grew low.

Gu Ling’s thin shoulders sagged with some defeat, not understanding the reason.

As Jian Chou listened, she unconsciously glanced at the ground—mottled ice marks, newly frozen.

Mutual generation and restraint?

Because this place should be the legendary Ice Prison.

But since she couldn’t be certain, she didn’t voice her speculation.

“Now Sister Jian Chou, you’re also separated…”

Gu Ling was completely unaware of her sudden change in address.

She lowered her eyes, fingers tugging at her clothes corner, both anxious and worried.

“I wonder how Grandma is doing now… Will she be traveling with Master Zhang and Young Master Li?”

“If they didn’t encounter accidents like us, they should be together.”

Jian Chou could see that the relationship between Gu Ling and that strange grandmother wasn’t shallow.

Moreover, with this timid appearance, she couldn’t treat her as someone with higher cultivation than herself. Hearing her call “sister” felt natural.

Feeling helpless but also growing worried, she asked: “You’re not injured, are you?”

“No.”

Gu Ling shook her head, looking at her.

Jian Chou smiled at her, patted her shoulder comfortingly: “It’s good you’re not injured. This is only the first layer of hell. Everyone will search for the entrance to the next layer. Even if we can’t encounter them along the way, if we can find the entrance early, there’s a good chance we’ll meet.”

“Ha! How easily said!”

On Fengdu City’s main street, a cold-faced ghost cultivator closely following Jian Chou’s movements immediately scoffed.

“At first, seeing her skills on that peak, I thought I had misjudged her, but it turns out… what a waste of my time!”

Several friends traveling with him also shook their heads and laughed coldly.

They were all Ghost King Tribe cultivators who had paid close attention to the Ding Zheng for years.

Wrongful Death City had always been Fengdu City’s mortal enemy, so these few habitually observed the situation there before the Ding Zheng began. Unexpectedly, they happened to witness the lightning-fast exchange between Jian Chou and Xing Fei.

Everyone was shocked for a moment.

When everyone entered the Eighteen Layers of Hell, these few immediately switched the images in their Mysterious Rings, accurately focusing on Jian Chou.

Jian Chou indeed didn’t disappoint them.

She happened to land between Zhong Lanling and a mysterious female cultivator, even triggering the battle.

If they had thought Jian Chou’s strike that nearly killed Xing Fei despite being launched second was coincidence, their doubts were completely dispelled now.

Because even facing an opponent an entire major realm higher, she remained calm despite being startled.

Whether her reaction speed, shrewd judgment, or demeanor and bearing during combat, all showed the style of a great master.

They even began believing that Lord Qin Guang had keen insight, and Jian Chou’s performance this time far exceeded everyone’s expectations, greatly surprising them.

Since one Mysterious Ring could only observe one location, when Jian Chou fled from the peak, they rarely chose not to watch Zhong Lanling but followed Jian Chou instead.

They wanted to see what this female cultivator would encounter and what secrets lay behind her.

But who would have thought she would encounter Bird Beak Tribe’s Gu Ling halfway and say such idiotic words!

“The entrance to the next layer—where could it be so easily found? Look how confident she sounds!”

“Forget it, probably just this much. What a waste of my high expectations…”

“Hehe, let’s go watch Lihan instead. With Jian Chou not there, do you think he’ll go on a killing spree given his nature?”

“Right, right! Quick, find Lihan!”

…

The surrounding people became excited at this point, all beginning to control their Mysterious Rings with soul power, communicating with the Ding Rings worn by cultivators in the Ding Zheng to find Lihan’s location.

However…

The moment they found him, everyone couldn’t help but exclaim “Eh?”

Because at this moment, there wasn’t a single person beside Lihan—whether he had already killed them all was unknown.

His dark blue robes meandered as he stood motionless like an ancient statue. Even his hanging robe corners showed no movement, having maintained this posture for who knows how long.

Before him was a cliff reaching to the sky.

The deep gray stone wall was covered with thick ice layers that, reflecting light from the sky, made it difficult for eyes to penetrate the ice and see what was actually on the stone wall.

The surroundings were extremely quiet.

Behind him was boundless wilderness, a dazzling white expanse.

Light was refracted by the uneven ice surface, illuminating his silhouette but unable to light his face turned away from the light source.

His expression was unclear in the darkness; his gaze flickered uncertainly.

The hand hanging at his side, tucked in his sleeve, slowly clenched, then gradually relaxed, finally extending out to press solemnly against the cliff face.

When his palm touched that bone-chilling ice layer—

“Crack!”

A crisp sound originated from his palm as a terrifying crack shot straight upward!

In the blink of an eye, a earth-shaking roar thundered!

The ice layer that had formed on the entire thousand-zhang cliff for countless years suddenly peeled away, crushed to pieces by this palm strike like destroying dry weeds!

Countless transparent, turbid, snow-white, and light blue ice fragments fell from above, piling into a high mountain base below the cliff.

The cliff originally covered by ice was now completely revealed.

The deep gray stone surface was actually covered with carved runes!

From left to right, top to bottom, ancient and massive characters covered the entire cliff surface—obscure and profound!

Fu Chaosheng stood below this.

How tiny was his figure compared to this thousand-zhang cliff? Like a grain in the vast ocean, like a mayfly compared to a great roc. As if he might be swallowed by this explosive avalanche at any moment.

Yet he remained unmoved.

Eyes that seemed both aged and youthful slowly lifted as skylight gradually entered those deep blue glazed pupils.

But these were Lihan’s eyes.

What skylight couldn’t illuminate was the darkness named “morning birth, evening death” in the depths of those eyes.

Fu Chaosheng’s gaze moved slowly upward from bottom to top, taking in each rune, carving them into his heart.

He stood for a long time, motionless.

From afar, a brilliant light flew from the horizon, seemingly attracted by the recent commotion here.

However, upon discovering this solitary figure below the cliff, he stopped with vigilance and wariness.

This person wore silver-gray robes, standing in mid-air with silver crown binding his hair, red lips and white teeth, eyes carrying some arrogant disdain as if looking down on everything.

Anyone who had seen the star cloud scroll would recognize him: Wheel-Turning King Palace, Jade Nirvana Peak, Pan Hexun!

He observed that motionless figure across most of the ice field for a long time. His eyes turned slightly, gaze shifting as he flew directly toward Lihan.

“I didn’t expect to encounter Brother Lihan here. What are you doing?”

While speaking, he kept one hand hidden in his sleeve, ready to strike at any moment.

However, after hearing his words, “Lihan” didn’t even turn around, continuing to gaze at the cliff.

Pan Hexun immediately frowned, following his gaze.

The writing above was so ancient it was unclear which era it came from, but upon seeing it clearly, he couldn’t help but exclaim: “The Reincarnation Canon?!”

Fu Chaosheng finally glanced back at him once, then looked away.

His gaze held neither sorrow nor joy.

“Yes, truly a fateful encounter—accidentally broken open. Six paths of reincarnation, four types of birth transformation…”

The six paths: heaven, human, asura, hungry ghost, beast, and hell.

Those with good deeds and merit are born into heaven, human, or asura paths; those with the heaviest and most evil karma are born into hungry ghost, beast, or hell paths.

The six paths revolve, life and death continue.

The four births: womb birth, egg birth, transformation birth, moisture birth.

Womb birth exists through emotion, egg birth through thought, moisture through combined sensation, transformation through separated response, all differentiated by good and evil.

The four births cycle endlessly without cease.

It seemed every canonical law conformed to the principles of heaven and earth’s creation.

But in that instant, countless voices from his clansmen who composed his life roared and echoed in his heart: Nonsense! All nonsense!