That voice was light and floating.

It went straight into Jian Chou’s ears.

Speaking of something extremely cruel, yet carrying a smile, it only made one feel increasingly cold inside, chilled to the bone and blood.

The hand holding the sword instantly stiffened.

She could even feel herself being locked onto by an aura descending from heaven. If she dared take another step forward, a thunderous strike would descend!

The Extreme Domain was different from the Nineteen Continents. The cultivators here all existed as souls and virtual bodies. Though they appeared no different from people, except for those who had cultivated to the fifth level Golden Body realm, none had true “physical bodies.”

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be “skinned.”

Jian Chou still remembered what she had seen in the study of that residence.

Peeling the skin of the living would make one’s face unrecognizable, identity indeterminate, suffering daily as if in a living hell on earth. Peeling the skin of souls would obliterate their nature and wisdom—

They would be neither human nor ghost!

Those whose “soul skin” was peeled would not perish.

But they would become monsters wandering between heaven and earth, even merging with chaos, roaming in that vast, boundless void surrounding the Extreme Domain…

For eternity, without liberation!

How was such suffering any less than the countless torments of the Eighteen Levels of Hell?!

Jian Chou’s eyelids began twitching uncontrollably. She forcibly tensed her face before slowly turning her head to look toward the source of that voice.

It was still that face.

A face that left a deep impression, unforgettable at first sight, a face that inspired both pity and fear.

Sima Languan stood there, gazing at her with an appreciative, even intoxicated look.

The deep blue cloak on his body swayed gently despite the absence of wind.

Faintly, it seemed as if some mysterious power was circulating around him…

Jian Chou understood clearly that this was the aura that had locked onto her!

All around were the shouts of chaotic battle and the whistling of magical artifacts, extremely noisy, yet falling on her ears, it all became somewhat blurred.

As if a huge stone pressed on her heart, making it hard to breathe.

He wanted to peel her soul skin?

To make her into a human skin lantern?

To turn her into a monster wandering between heaven and earth, neither human nor ghost?!

Facing the overwhelming pressure coming from the opponent, even able to feel the qi fluctuating around him, Jian Chou actually felt anger rising.

Sima Languan peeling human skin to make human skin lanterns as magical artifacts was well known.

But even in a place like the Extreme Domain where evil and heretical practices ran rampant, such terrifying magical artifacts rarely appeared!

Every time a human skin was replaced, it meant a cultivator’s death!

Her five fingers loosened one by one, then clenched one by one.

After a long while, she heard her own relatively calm voice, even carrying a hint of mockery: “I’m afraid Young Master Sima will be disappointed. Under Jian Chou’s skin is nothing but inferior bones. If this skin were removed, it would truly be ugly. Even if you kindly spare my life, it would be worse than death.”

“Hahaha…”

Hearing this, Sima Languan actually threw back his head and laughed, walking toward Jian Chou’s direction as if strolling in a garden.

“Since ancient times, cultivators whose skin I’ve peeled have either been pale with terror or glaring with anger. Someone like Miss Jian Chou, so composed and talking freely, is indeed quite rare. However…”

His voice paused.

A curve appeared on his half-handsome cheek, looking quite pleasing to the eye.

“The more Miss Jian Chou stands out from the crowd, the deeper my desire for your beautiful skin becomes. It’s all Miss Jian Chou’s fault for being too attractive, making me unable to extricate myself.”

Jian Chou almost slashed at him with her sword!

Her face twitched, her white teeth clenched tight. As her mind raced, countless plans had already flashed through her mind: “It seems that today, Young Master Sima is determined to peel off my skin.”

“The love of beauty is common to all.”

Sima Languan continued forward. As he stepped, the human skin lantern dangling from his fingers also swayed.

“Perhaps if you remove your beautiful skin, and I’m in a good mood, I’ll let all your companions go?”

“Someone like you who follows their whims so freely—when in a good mood, you might let my companions go, but when in a good mood, you might also slaughter them all!”

Jian Chou finally couldn’t hold back and let out a cold laugh. Seeing the opponent getting closer and closer, she unhesitatingly activated her soul power to surge through her palm, re-raising her protective array formation.

At the same time, her long sword suddenly turned, pointing directly ahead!

Her voice carried unprecedented firm determination.

“Others can never be relied upon. My life, my fate—I’m afraid you cannot make decisions about them!”

“…”

In this instant, the smile on Sima Languan’s face finally gradually disappeared.

It was as if the stiffness and ferocity of his right half-face had devoured the handsomeness and charm of his left half-face.

His entire being was like a wasteland about to collapse, or a fierce beast about to devour people!

“Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

He almost ground his teeth saying this, then slowly and stiffly raised his eyes…

Jian Chou only saw those deep and eerie eyes, clearly seeing every expression and demeanor on his face. She could even clearly see that face still remaining in place!

However, an identical figure actually flew out from his form!

In the blink of an eye, it was already only one zhang away from Jian Chou!

This Sima Languan who flew out still held the lantern, perfectly composed, but his other hand was now joined like a blade, reaching toward Jian Chou’s forehead!

What an incomprehensible scene was this?

One Sima Languan still stood in place, maintaining that expression of murderous intent, while another one that flew out from his body was already launching a deadly strike at her!

So close!

A tiny distance that could very well be the distance between life and death!

Jian Chou’s scalp went numb. Though she had array protection, at that moment, a mysterious premonition appeared in her mind with unusual certainty!

She couldn’t block it!

Her nearly exhausted array formation couldn’t block this hand!

So, in that instant when there was almost no time to react, Jian Chou unhesitatingly held the Tunfeng long sword horizontally, forcibly blocking it in front of her forehead at the last possible moment!

“Bang!”

The array formation that had blocked many attacks for Jian Chou shattered thunderously the moment Sima Languan’s palm arrived!

The originally transparent ripples immediately surged in all directions!

Rumble…

Across the entire ice field, there was suddenly a sound of surging!

Countless transparent ripples instantly shattered, transforming into misty, infinite white light that enveloped Jian Chou!

Sima Languan’s strike hit its target, but his iron-hard palm showed no pause, as if completely unaffected, not caring at all as he charged into this mist!

One palm, still aimed at—

Jian Chou’s forehead!

“Ding!”

“Clang—”

Those outside the snow-white mist only heard two sounds—one short and one long, one urgent and one drawn out!

Then they saw a blue figure fly backward from the white mist, as if struck by tremendous force!

“Jian Chou!”

“Sister Jian Chou!”

…

Several cries of alarm immediately came from the field!

But in Jian Chou’s ears, there was only the whistling of wind!

Her body almost lost her control. Her two arms holding the Tunfeng sword horizontally had nearly lost all feeling, shaking from the impact!

Sima Languan’s palm was actually more fierce and powerful than the final sword of her previous series of consecutive strikes!

Though she held her sword horizontally in front of her forehead, avoiding a catastrophic disaster, she couldn’t completely dissipate the tremendous force of his palm.

Being knocked flying was completely normal.

For a moment, she was like a stubborn stone, crashing toward the other end!

Due to the sharp soul power overflowing from his palm, though Jian Chou avoided vital points, her forehead still suffered impact, immediately leaving a deep white mark!

Within her ancestral aperture, the originally imperfect soul bead was further shaken, constantly trembling as if it would shatter at any moment!

Eerie, enchanting, violent!

That was a stupefying kind of power!

Fengdu Ghost King!

At this moment, Jian Chou actually felt that such a title, placed on Sima Languan, made perfect sense!

Her face had already turned deathly pale. While in the air, her gaze didn’t dare shift even slightly, staring straight at the white mist ahead where the array formation had exploded.

At the same time, her right hand waved, and the long sword suddenly stabbed downward!

“Rip—”

The sword tip scratched across the ice surface, immediately carving out a straight and terrifying deep furrow!

Countless ice fragments scattered and flew!

Jian Chou barely stopped thirty zhang away, but her entire sword-holding palm had almost lost all sensation, even the shape of her five fingers slightly twisted.

Her whole body seemed to be prostrate on the ground, supported only by the Tunfeng long sword inserted in the ground!

At the original spot, the white mist gradually became transparent, dispersing into this world.

The form of one “Sima Languan” standing within it slowly became visible…

There really were two Sima Languans!

Jian Chou’s heart was filled with ice-cold terror.

Only now did she realize that these two Sima Languans each had only half a face!

Standing behind, the one who had never moved, with empty hands and a fierce right half-face; standing ahead, the one who had just attacked Jian Chou, holding the human skin lantern from before, with a handsome left half-face!

As if this person had split in two.

Or as if this Sima Languan had originally been two people!

“Their” remaining half-faces were both complete voids, looking extremely eerie!

Had they gone mad…

In that instant, whether on the field or outside the Eighteen Levels of Hell in the underworld, there was complete silence.

Everyone was stunned by such a change.

Even Jian Chou couldn’t help trembling in her heart, completely horrified!

Probably only the “Sima Languans” themselves felt nothing at all.

That Sima Languan with the handsome half-face, one hand still shrouded with undispersed soul power, the other holding a lantern, looked at Jian Chou with that same intoxicated gaze.

But now, it carried a sense of superiority.

As if he could control Jian Chou’s fate!

“Escape? Where can people like you escape to? A place like the Eighteen Levels of Hell is fundamentally unsuitable for weaklings like you.”

He smiled, the light flickering in his eyes becoming increasingly cruel.

“Being chosen by me to become a lantern, you should feel honored, yet you dare refuse me…”

“Honored?”

Jian Chou gripped the Tunfeng sword with her numb palm, letting out a cold laugh filled with chill, sternly questioning—

“Young Master Sima should ask himself this! Being a running dog under Pan Hexun—does that make you feel so honored?!”

Her words fell like thunder!

Zhang Tang and others, still in battle and unable to spare attention, heard this and their minds were almost simultaneously filled with lightning!

Those watching outside the Eighteen Levels of Hell were completely dumbfounded. Their perspective had been following Jian Chou and her group, so naturally they hadn’t seen more of the conspiracy.

No one understood why Jian Chou had suddenly said such a thing.

Running dog?

Pan Hexun’s running dog?

What did this mean?

Everyone was stunned.

Only the two Sima Languans in front of Jian Chou gradually froze, their respective half-faces covered with gloom, their voices turning cold…

“It seems you not only have beautiful skin, but also a clever heart…”

How eager he was to dig it out and have a look.

Jian Chou laughed, not missing the threat in his words, but…

So what?!

“Pan Hexun merely preceded us by a step, left the canyon, and passed through this Warden Office without any incident. When we arrived, we encountered an ambush led by you. If Pan Hexun hadn’t calculated this deliberately, if you weren’t all in cahoots, how could someone as ruthless as Young Master Sima let a lone Pan Hexun go?!”

This judgment had already appeared in her mind the moment they were surrounded.

She just hadn’t found the opportunity to voice it until now.

Now speaking it all at once, it had the sharp impact of striking directly at the vital point!

“…That’s exactly right.”

The Sima Languan behind, with his ugly half-face, actually clapped his hands, but his gaze at Jian Chou was already like looking at a dead person.

“But you’re about to die, about to perish. What meaning is there in saying all this?”

Meaning?

There was great meaning!

Since entering the Extreme Domain, Jian Chou hadn’t met many people, but in the Nineteen Continents she had already seen the brilliant stars of the Left Three Thousand, and had been influenced by cultivators from both Cliff Mountain and Kunwu sects. Her knowledge far exceeded that of cultivators at her level.

Though Pan Hexun’s cultivation was high, his character was truly arrogant and conceited, with a petty air about him.

These two in front of her, or rather this one, Sima Languan—how was he not a thousand times, a hundred times stronger than Pan Hexun?

Which expert didn’t have some eccentric habits?

Yet Sima Languan was willing to serve Pan Hexun? To cover his retreat and help him block pursuers?

Not even in dreams would such a bizarre thing happen!

Unless Pan Hexun, like her, was someone the Eight Directions Yama Palace was “looking after”;

Or…

From beginning to end, Sima Languan had no interest in “Ding Yuan” whatsoever. What he cared about was only the Ding Zheng competition!

Struggle, slaughter.

A feast of killing, a mad game!

As for Pan Hexun, he was merely a chess piece in this game that could trigger chain reactions.

Sima Languan agreed only because he found it more “interesting”!

Jian Chou had a strange certainty about her speculation and judgment.

Because…

She had actually encountered such people before. Whether it was Xia Houshe or Young Master Ruhua, they were all unique flowers among ten thousand people.

The current “Sima Languan” was just more unconventional.

“Young Master Sima thinks I’m about to die and perish, but I don’t think so.”

Her voice was steady, just carrying a hint of hoarseness.

Due to Sima Languan’s terrifying palm earlier, she had already suffered internal injuries, and even her vision was somewhat blurred.

But this didn’t prevent her from casting her gaze around the surroundings.

Zhang Tang held a thin blade, fighting three people simultaneously. He seemed to have gotten truly fired up, his movements filled with murderous intent. With one gesture, he directly severed someone’s head;

The old woman swung her cleaver, and it transformed into a long crescent blade as it caught the wind, striking downward with rainbow-like momentum;

Gu Ling had only one opponent, but she lacked combat experience after all. She was already struggling, injured in several places;

Chen Tingyan was surrounded by countless magical treasures and talismans—all exploding!

Wang Renjie was still trapped in that giant net, his eyes blood-red, having screamed and struggled until hoarse, yet still no one came to save him…

—They couldn’t wait any longer.

If they continued waiting, everyone would die!

All the soul power in her body surged due to this sudden realization.

Jian Chou withdrew her gaze, staring intently at the deadly demon-like Sima Languan before her, breathing heavily, but her voice was terrifyingly clear!

“Pan Hexun arranged this ambush precisely because he didn’t want me to know he was behind it. But now that I know, such arrangements have lost their meaning. Since Young Master Sima enjoys games, Jian Chou has a better proposal here. I wonder if you might be interested?”

“Oh?”

Both Sima Languans made sounds simultaneously.

That Jian Chou could say such a thing proved she had already made speculations about “them,” and was even completely correct.

Indeed, he just liked games.

So they graciously raised their tones.

But the mockery in their gazes at Jian Chou was completely undisguised.

Jian Chou didn’t care either. Her gaze had been fixed on them from beginning to end, never moving away for a moment.

Such focused, even desperate attention could firmly capture any opponent’s notice.

“Release me and my friends. From this moment on, from the first level to the seventeenth level, Young Master Sima will have no more chances to catch me. If you can, feel free to peel my skin. However…”

She suddenly began to smile slowly.

Both Sima Languans almost simultaneously frowned, feeling extremely strange!

But Jian Chou had already continued her previous words: “However—whether you can peel it off depends on your abilities!”

“Such arrogance!”

The handsome half-faced Sima Languan immediately let out a cold laugh.

The scarred half-faced Sima Languan behind him showed a bloody expression, even unable to hold back as he walked toward Jian Chou, who still leaned on her sword, saying fiercely: “The plan is a good plan. But… do you have the qualifications to negotiate conditions with us?!”

“Qualifications?”

Jian Chou pulled at the corners of her lips, actually revealing a smile filled with chill.

Something was wrong!

Really wrong!

Both Sima Languans felt it extremely clearly and immediately sensed the abnormality—

Only then did they realize: during that brief conversation, their attention had been focused entirely on Jian Chou’s face.

More precisely, on those eyes filled with hostility!

They had ignored her hands!

That empty left hand, that left hand not holding a sword, that left hand reaching toward her qiankun bag!

They realized it, but it was too late!

Brilliant radiance shot from Jian Chou’s eyes. Her left hand suddenly gripped the qiankun bag, grasped something, and cleanly pulled it out!

“Whoosh!”

That object began opening as it caught the wind.

It was actually an umbrella!

An umbrella a full zhang in length.

Its design was eerie and ancient, yet carried an air of looking down upon heaven and earth.

The umbrella surface was deep black, also with a zhang’s diameter, with red-gold patterns painted and drawn upon it. Faintly, they seemed alive, flowing across the umbrella surface, emitting a heart-trembling aura!

The umbrella handle was also interwoven with red-gold and black, but each of the umbrella ribs was pure gold!

Jian Chou’s left thumb pressed where the umbrella ribs met the handle, continuously pushing this umbrella slowly open!

“Boom!”

The tremendous momentum, when the umbrella surface was half-opened, could no longer be suppressed and went mad, raging in all directions!

The entire heaven and earth changed color!

The originally azure sky seemed covered by a curtain, or obscured by this half-opened black-gold giant umbrella, turning into a dim gray-blue!

Terrifying crisis swept the entire field like a storm!

All those fighting or not fighting, under this suddenly darkened sky, felt a killing intent like a blade at their throats!

Formidable, magnificent!

Like Mount Tai pressing down, domineering beyond compare!

The two Sima Languans ahead, who had no time to act, changed color dramatically!

Whether the handsome half-face or the fierce half-face, both carried complete horror and shock. Under this terrifying magical treasure’s pressure, they could only feel overwhelming oppression!

Jian Chou already held three pills in her mouth, her right hand tightly gripping the Tunfeng sword nailed in the ground to support her tense body, while her left hand held this black-gold giant umbrella at an angle.

The medicinal power quickly transformed into pure soul power, flowing madly toward this umbrella!

After the battle with Fan Qian, she was already exhausted.

Then Sima Languan’s palm broke her array formation and injured her forehead ancestral aperture with palm force, making her soul bead unstable.

Now this umbrella extracted most of the soul power from her body, and she had to continuously convert medicinal power into new soul power to supply it!

Even if Jian Chou’s spirit was made of gold and iron, she couldn’t sustain it!

Her originally distinct black and white eyes were now crawling with streaks of blood.

Her consciousness had even entered a wonderfully blurred state, but she knew she was very clear-headed, and also very mad!

To return to the Nineteen Continents, she must enter the Eighteen Levels of Hell!

Entering the Eighteen Levels of Hell, any kind of danger was possible, and she had long been mentally prepared.

Now that everything had come to pass, why shouldn’t she go mad?

In battle, how could one not be mad?!

Though her spirit, limbs, and body all transmitted burning agony like being cut by a thousand knives.

Jian Chou’s lips still carried a smile!

She didn’t have supreme cultivation—Soul Bead cultivators were as insignificant as ants!

She also had no reliable backing—the Eight Directions Yama Palace merely treated her as a clown-like existence, just a gimmick. The so-called “care” would shatter at any moment as she had originally expected. She could only trust those few!

She had nothing…

But she was wealthy beyond measure, with countless magical treasures at her side, with three insanely powerful trump cards!

This Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Void Demon Umbrella was one of them!

Instant annihilation of Jade Nirvana!

“…”

Complete, terrible silence filled the area before the Ice Warden Office.

Only Jian Chou stood at the end of the deep furrow carved by the Tunfeng sword, holding that majestic black-gold giant umbrella, her thumb positioned on the umbrella handle, ready to fully push open this Void Demon Umbrella at any moment!

Once opened, blood would be seen!

Her robes flew in the wind, her body like a rock, her eyes filled with madness pushed to its extreme of calmness.

Though she could barely see the figures of the two Sima Languans ahead, the divine light in her eyes hadn’t scattered at all, and there wasn’t even any excess emotional fluctuation on her face.

She even heard her own hoarse voice mixed with blood foam and ice shards—

“Are my qualifications sufficient now?!”