This was the highest place in the entire snow region.

The massive snow peak was piled with snow that never melted year-round. Countless monasteries were built at its foot, prostrating beneath its majesty, while the peak’s summit held layer upon layer of exquisite and complex pavilions.

—The Snow Region Sacred Temple.

At this moment, Fu Chaosheng stood in the main hall of this sacred temple.

Cold moonlight streamed in from outside the hall doors. Several monks in deep red robes walked slowly past outside the hall, while three monks sat cross-legged inside the hall, all at Nascent Soul stage, each holding a hand drum in one hand and a vajra bell in the other, chanting incessantly.

But not one of them could see him.

Fu Chaosheng was a great demon.

Even though the sun had now set and his cultivation was nearly weakened to its lowest by the operating rules of heaven and earth, walking through this sacred temple remained like entering an uninhabited realm—no one could detect him.

Spreading his perception, the entire sacred temple and even the whole sacred mountain—every hall and pavilion, every table and chair, even every movement of every monk—appeared clearly before his eyes.

Some engaged in pure self-cultivation, others in unspeakable acts…

But not one was the person he sought.

The great hall enshrined a massive statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, but with little light in the hall at this moment, it gave off a sense of silence in the darkness.

Fu Chaosheng’s brow furrowed slightly as he glanced at it.

His gaze was indifferent, showing neither feeling nor any so-called reverence and devotion, as if viewing any clay or wooden puppet in the world.

Even if a true Buddha were here, he might not look twice. Much less at these lifeless objects in the hall?

Withdrawing his gaze, his steps carried composure as he passed between the three chanting monks on the ground, his robe hem with dark green embroidered patterns brushing past the vajra bells swaying in the monks’ hands.

They remained completely unaware.

Circling around the offering table in front and around the massive Buddha statue, Fu Chaosheng headed directly toward the rear of the hall.

The massive sacred temple was like a magnificent complex.

Towers stood tall, sutra pillars scattered about, and bright or dark shadows were cut and scattered by upturned eaves or spinning prayer wheels. He walked among them like a phantom.

Thus passing through layer after layer of pavilions, he finally reached the rear of the sacred temple.

There lay a vast ice field, illuminated by the moon at the horizon’s edge, appearing transparent as glass.

Yet the first thing to catch one’s eye was not the ice field itself, but a massive lake embedded in the ice field like a sapphire.

Under the moonlight, as wind blew across, gentle waves rippled the lake surface.

It was wide and vast, like a sea spread across the ice field.

—Sacred Lake Qielan, the highest lake in all of Jiushijiu Zhou, called “the lake in the sky” by the snow region’s monks and all believers.

A few days ago, Fu Chaosheng had not come here.

But perhaps these days of finding nothing had bred a somewhat idle exploratory spirit in him, so he had passed through the sacred temple and come to the lakeside.

The feeling in that moment was one of complete cleanliness and purity.

He possessed cosmic dual eyes, not to mention his own tremendous power. His body was like a mayfly but traveled with kun, easily traversing heaven and earth. He had long since seen all manner of fantastic and mysterious scenery from the mortal isolated island to Jiushijiu Zhou.

But none could give him the feeling this lake brought.

Forgetting where he came from and where he was going, his heart and eyes filled only with this lake, only with that pure breath that clung close to the firmament.

For an instant, Fu Chaosheng thought of one word: refuge.

But merely moments later, this word crumbled in his mind, and all thoughts and inclinations related to Buddha, related to the emptiness of the four elements, vanished completely.

A trace of dark blue-black appeared in his eyes that held the flow of years.

So all the mysterious and unfathomable qi emanating from the lake before him disappeared, leaving only the crystal-clear lake bottom that intoxicated the heart, and a pair of quietly opening eyes.

As if someone had shattered a beautiful dream, awakening from slumber, encompassing the lake water’s coldness and the night sky’s vastness, slowly and mysteriously…

Fu Chaosheng watched quietly, a slight smile at his lips, only saying: “Should I call you Ji Ye, or Qielan?”

“Splash…”

The eyes at the lake bottom opened, also watching Fu Chaosheng standing by the lake, but did not answer.

Only the wind came, stirring shallow waves that gently lapped the shore, adding moving sounds to this dark and quiet night.

The edge of the snow region.

Jian Chou and Xie Buchen had been standing for a long time.

Not until that thin slice of moon hid in the clouds, and the mirage-like scene at the world’s end slowly disappeared in the gradually darkening cloud shadows, did the two return to their senses.

What magnificent scenery was this?

Unheard of, unseen.

Faintly, it also carried a kind of pure power difficult to capture, momentarily making one feel as if all dust and grime on body and heart had been washed away, returning to the most authentic state.

Even…

Hatred was forgotten.

After a long silence, Jian Chou finally recovered her thoughts, took a deep breath, feeling the cold air surge in her chest, and turned back saying: “Going further should be the true snow region. My master has always been unreliable—I wonder if Hengxu Laoguai gave Fellow Daoist Xie any instructions?”

This was probing.

Xie Buchen naturally wouldn’t mention anything about the Nine Doubts Cauldron, only saying: “The snow region is dangerous. Master didn’t say much—everything depends on adapting after we enter. But when Kunwu and Yashan had their incident, Master investigated the location where it happened, right at the snow region’s periphery. I plan to quickly go to the incident site to see if I can collect our sect members’ remains. What does Fellow Daoist Jian Chou think?”

She naturally had no objections.

In fact, regarding the approximate location where Yashan disciples had their incident, Jian Chou also had information—given by Fudao Shanren when she left.

If they could arrive quickly, perhaps some traces could still be found.

So she said nothing more. The Burning Lamp Sword that had been stationary in mid-air for so long turned toward the north-northwest without hesitation and shot forward.

Xie Buchen immediately followed.

After entering the snow region’s territory, what they saw differed greatly from before.

At the junction between Mingri Xinghai and the snow region, it was desolate with few people, and even cultivators’ shadows were rarely seen. But after crossing this cliff and going over thirty li further in, they could actually see scattered settlements.

Low houses built on gentle slopes of mountain ranges or distributed in valleys.

From her high position, looking down, Jian Chou could see countless colorful prayer flags hung at high places near these settlements—red, yellow, blue, green, white…

Most houses were darkly quiet, with only scattered ones showing dim yellow lamplight.

In the deep night, occasional howls of nocturnal beasts could be heard.

After all, they had entered the snow region—who knew what they might encounter here.

Though both carried breath-concealing methods given by Fudao Shanren and Hengxu Laoguai, they were still much more careful, not daring to travel as brazenly as before.

This slowed their speed considerably, and when they reached the incident site, dawn was already breaking.

Heavy mist buried the valley ahead.

The wide riverbank became blurred in the white expanse, impossible to see clearly with the naked eye. But the sound of flowing water penetrated the mist and reached Jian Chou’s ears.

The bloody smell had faded considerably but still lingered in the air, stimulating Jian Chou’s sensitive sense of smell.

“Pat…”

When landing, her feet stepped on small stones piled at the riverbank’s edge, making a slight sound as if disturbing this quiet dawn.

Jian Chou held the Burning Lamp Sword, standing at the edge of the riverbank and mist, yet inexplicably felt suffocated, her feet heavy as if filled with lead.

In contrast, Xie Buchen beside her was unaffected.

They both knew the valley ahead was where Yashan and Kunwu cultivators had died, but the difference was that Jian Chou regarded Yashan as her home, while Xie Buchen’s feelings for Kunwu were merely lukewarm.

Kunwu had shown him no life-saving grace, and Hengxu Laoguai shared no deep master-disciple bond with him. Coming to the snow region to investigate was merely a cold task for him.

Or rather, even if there were master-disciple feelings, in his view they meant nothing.

So at this moment, Xie Buchen’s performance was much calmer and more cold-blooded.

Without even a trace of change in his expression, he stepped directly into the thick mist. The Human Emperor Sword lifted lightly forward, sending transparent ripples spreading in all directions.

Like a clear breeze passing through, the thick mist that had buried the entire valley immediately dissipated by more than half.

So the riverbank mottled with bloodstains appeared clearly before his eyes without any obstruction, and also before Jian Chou’s eyes.

Clear, shallow river water flowed quietly.

Some bloodstains on riverside stones and in crevices had been washed clean by the water flow, showing no trace. But further from the river water, deep sword marks remained!

Large patches of dried reddish-brown bloodstains were smeared across the chaotic riverbank…

Clearly much time had passed—even the bloody smell had faded to nearly undetectable.

Yet seeing it clearly, Jian Chou still felt her heart sink.

The bloody taste in her throat was heavier than the bloody smell drifting outside. She had to clench her hands and use all her strength to suppress it before she could lift her heavy steps and slowly walk over.

Walking through the flowing river water, through the sword marks distributed on the ground, through this blood spilled everywhere…

Jian Chou’s expression was somewhat numb.

She clearly knew these sword marks all came from Yashan, and clearly knew this blood also came from Yashan. But nowhere in sight was there a single corpse, as if those who had died here had vanished into thin air.

In that instant, an absurd thought flashed through Jian Chou’s mind: perhaps what she saw was all illusion, perhaps those Yashan disciples whose names were written on soul tablets were not yet dead…

But just the next moment, this unrealistic fantasy shattered.

Xie Buchen’s footsteps stopped ahead.

It was a steep valley, the upstream of that river. There were countless blade and sword marks, mottled splattered bloodstains, and also…

Corpse after corpse lying in rows!

By their clothing, they all came from Kunwu.

Most corpses were intact, even still bearing frozen expressions on their faces, as if life’s departure had been instantaneous and they hadn’t had time to adjust their facial expressions to face death.

Some showed despair, some fear, some anger…

Twenty-three people, not one missing—all were here.

Xie Buchen’s indifferent gaze swept across these people’s bodies. Without turning back, he said: “All twenty-three from Kunwu are here. None from your Yashan.”

But Jian Chou seemed not to hear.

When Xie Buchen turned to look, he only found her staring at a certain spot in the river water before her, not moving at all. After a long while, she bent down and reached into the shallow river water, picking up two fragments.

That hand seemed to tremble slightly.

Two pieces of dark black fragments.

Ancient mountain and water pattern carvings, with the two characters “Yashan” that should have carried a sense of ethereal transcendence, now slanted and broken from the middle, split into two irreparable halves.

Yashan token…

At the broken edges, bloodstains the river water couldn’t completely wash away remained, a thin line…

At this moment, Jian Chou thought of the armory.

Thought of those dozen-plus long swords that had returned to Yashan after losing their masters, thought of the still-warm blood on the long swords, thought of that streak of blood red that kept spreading and growing on the Sky Line!

Yashan disciples, whether in their conduct or character, had never done anything shameful before heaven and earth.

Yet now, such calamity had befallen them…

Snow region…

Esoteric sect!

Her five fingers, made ice-cold by the river water, slowly closed, pressing this broken Yashan token tightly in her palm. The sharp edges of the break pricked her palm painfully, finally calling back her rationality.

A heart full of ice-cold murderous rage hid in the depths of her flickering eyes.

Jian Chou looked calmly once toward where Xie Buchen was, then finally stepped over.

Twenty-three corpses, not one missing, lay before them.

Looking at the traces left around, it was much the same as what Zheng Yao and others had said when Yashan had its incident—almost simultaneous deaths, killed with one strike, without even room to resist.

“There aren’t many external wounds, no mangled flesh and blood, and your elder didn’t self-destruct his Nascent Soul either.” Jian Chou also looked around once. “It seems the perpetrators’ strength was at least Soul Separation stage, using techniques targeting the soul. But such techniques are rare even in Yashan’s Scripture Pavilion, extremely difficult to cultivate, and easily cause backlash if careless. Appearing at the snow region’s periphery is quite strange.”

Whether listening to her voice or watching her expression, she showed no flaws.

But Xie Buchen knew her heart wasn’t as calm as she appeared.

But this had nothing to do with him.

To some extent, the more chaotic Jian Chou’s heart became, the smaller the predicament he faced.

Xie Buchen showed no trace of grief on his face, only glancing back at the bloodstains on the riverbank once, saying: “The people are all dead—nothing unexpected there. But all of Kunwu’s people are here while there are no traces of any Yashan cultivators nearby—that’s quite mysterious.”

There were no traces of any beasts passing through on the ground.

And even if beasts had passed through to devour flesh and bones, there was no reason they wouldn’t touch the Kunwu cultivators not far away.

This situation looked more like someone had deliberately come here to collect Yashan disciples’ remains first. But this was also wrong—if such a thing had happened, whoever did it must have deep connections to Yashan, yet Jian Chou, a Yashan disciple, knew nothing of it.

Not just Xie Buchen—even Jian Chou couldn’t understand it.

But compared to Xie Buchen, she had even more thoughts. In an instant, she thought of Zhong Lanling, whom she’d met in the Extreme Domain…

The snow region still had reincarnation and many connections to the Extreme Domain. Who knew whether these missing corpses hid conspiracy underneath?

Jian Chou’s brow furrowed deeply. The myriad thoughts flashing through her mind tinged her eyes with persistent malice, though she didn’t let it show.

She couldn’t answer Xie Buchen’s question, so she didn’t answer.

She just stepped forward, walked two circles among the corpses scattered everywhere, then suddenly looked at the oldest corpse among them.

It was a Kunwu elder.

The deep gray robe showed not a drop of blood, only dawn dew dampening the surface, making the color appear a layer deeper, closer to black.

Perhaps because the corpse had been there for some time, his entire wrinkled face was somewhat darkened.

By all rights, this was the most normal corpse possible.

But Jian Chou’s gaze lingered on it for a long time—or rather, lingered long on those darkened areas of the face and the seemingly dew-dampened dark spots on the robe.

Xie Buchen naturally noticed her gaze too: “Does Fellow Daoist Jian Chou have some discovery?”

“Hum!”

What answered him was not Jian Chou’s voice, but a burst of spiritual light shooting from Jian Chou’s fingertips, like a golden waterfall descending from heaven, washing over that Kunwu elder’s corpse!

Pure spiritual power almost instantly filled that withered body.

The elder’s gaunt face seemed to glow with divine light. Under the infusion of Jian Chou’s spiritual power, even those wrinkles were stretched out, making the entire face smooth.

So the abnormality previously hidden under the withered skin finally had nowhere to hide.

In that instant, a bone-chilling feeling instantly spread through her entire body, making Jian Chou’s whole scalp tingle!

This was actually a mass of black qi like a living thing!

She had previously thought the elder’s face was faintly darkened perhaps because the corpse had been there for several days, but now, under spiritual power’s pressure, she was shocked to realize: where was there any facial darkening due to corpse storage?

The Kunwu elder’s complexion was clearly pale as ash—the darkness was all due to this black qi lurking beneath!

And not just on the face, but on the body too.

Right at those places that looked like they’d been dampened by dew and appeared darker in color.

They were all masses of black qi, as if disturbed by Jian Chou’s spiritual power pressure, forced to float up from the elder’s body, yet seemingly unwilling to leave their original location, so they struggled and writhed outside that spiritual light!

Even someone as composed as Xie Buchen suddenly changed color upon seeing these emerging masses of black qi.

His slender five fingers lightly tapped the Human Emperor Sword’s scabbard. Instantly the sword hummed low in its sheath, and a string of dark gold runes accompanied the sword’s hum, immediately floating from the scabbard and wrapping around his fingers.

“Puff!”

Fingers together like a blade, pointing lightly at the black qi!

Like a drop of cold water splashing into hot oil, when the dark gold runes fell, those masses of black qi trembled violently, seeming to emit a piercing shriek!

They writhed madly, actually instantly converging, then splitting into two streams, condensing into two ferocious giant maws that pounced toward the two people!

The cold aura, carrying ancient savagery and ferocity, was like a sharp needle stabbing into Jian Chou’s mind!

She immediately paled and sucked in cold air.

Only because facing this black qi at this moment felt exactly the same as when she had faced that centipede-like supreme evil in Night Navigation Ship’s dungeon!

This change happened in an instant.

Jian Chou had no time to make more reactions. At this moment, as if blessed by sudden inspiration, her left hand shook. Her thumb that had been pressed against the sword guard pushed upward, and the Burning Lamp Sword originally hidden in its sheath immediately left its scabbard!

“Puff!”

A phantom lotus platform lamp instantly activated.

Warm yellow flames burned at the lamp’s center. Just as the black qi transformed into ferocious giant maws pounced forward, it was precisely blocked by this lamp!

“Hiss hiss hiss!”

The lamp wick blazed with great light, seeming to form a solid barrier that firmly blocked the black qi outside. With that dim yellow flame flickering, all the black qi seemed to be ignited, turning into wisps of green smoke!

When the green smoke dispersed, the entire lotus lamp slowly dimmed, a small “卍” character light seal appearing at its base before quickly disappearing along with the dimming lotus lamp.

From the black qi’s transformation to the lotus lamp’s disappearance took only moments.

The sudden change was extremely dangerous. Not until the Burning Lamp Sword automatically returned to its sheath with a light sword hum did Jian Chou come back to her senses.

Then she discovered her back was already covered in cold sweat.

That black qi just now had aimed straight for her soul. If her reaction hadn’t been fast enough, she would probably be keeping company with these corpses by now.

Only then did she have time to turn and look at Xie Buchen.

The Human Emperor Sword had left its sheath at some point, and the black qi had also disappeared. Presumably Xie Buchen, like her, had responded at the critical moment and escaped disaster.

But his complexion looked terrible—pale throughout, even his lips had lost their color.

Jian Chou felt unwell because her soul was originally incomplete, showing clumsiness when dealing with attacks targeting the soul. But for Xie Buchen’s complexion to also be this poor…

Was it because his cultivation wasn’t sufficient?

This thought flashed through her mind.

But clearly now wasn’t the time to think about such tangential matters.

In a flash, she had already gathered all her scattered thoughts back, gripping the Burning Lamp Sword tightly in her palm, raising her guard to maximum, and glancing at the Kunwu disciples’ corpses lying around them, only feeling coldness in her heart and a forest of ghostly qi!

Every corpse had faint traces of black qi clinging to it.

But whether Jian Chou or Xie Buchen, neither dared act rashly now—just that tiny bit had nearly cost both their lives!

What terrifying, what vicious methods were these?

People had been dead for several days, yet this black qi attached to them was like a malignant tumor, never leaving. As if swallowing souls wasn’t enough—it wanted to absorb even the flesh’s vital essence completely…

“It’s Shao Ji…”

Jian Chou finally remembered this name, this name that even Night Navigation Ship cultivators dared not mention easily. It was the statue in the depths of Night Navigation Ship’s lair, also the existence in the dungeon that carried savage aura, and also the existence that had fought the great demon Fu Chaosheng…

She still remembered when they last met at Xinghai, Fu Chaosheng had said he would go to the snow region.

He said he had unresolved doubts and wanted to find Holy Son Ji Ye for answers.

But in all this…

Was there also a connection to the black qi at this moment, to that centipede-like statue that had mysteriously appeared at Xinghai?

Jian Chou’s mind was filled with complex thoughts.

But Xie Buchen knew nothing of these things. Hearing her mention “Shao Ji” just now, he already realized Jian Chou knew more about this matter than he did, and his brow tightened imperceptibly.

But he didn’t ask more, only saying: “It seems this journey to the Extreme Domain will be ten times more dangerous than we imagined.”

Just arriving at this incident site, they had encountered such unexpected dangers. It was easy to imagine—if they followed their original plan and continued deeper, how many unimaginable perils would they encounter?

Thinking of this, Jian Chou’s eyes were also filled with frost.

The doubts hanging over their heads were too deep and heavy—

Why did the Kunwu and Yashan disciples meet with disaster?

This was clearly the incident site—why were there only Kunwu disciples’ corpses with no trace of Yashan disciples?

Where did this strange black qi with countless connections to the so-called “Great Honored Shao Ji” come from?

…

“Since we’re here, we should still investigate thoroughly. Besides, I think Hengxu Laoguai went to great lengths to arrange for Fellow Daoist Xie to come to the snow region—he must have business, so you can’t just return like this, right?”

Jian Chou finally slowly smiled once, turning to gaze at Xie Buchen.

“These corpses everywhere—with just our two people’s abilities, we can’t investigate them. Fellow Daoist Xie should—”

Her words reached this point, but the ending suddenly became sharp.

In that instant, Jian Chou’s body tensed to the extreme. Almost simultaneously with detecting that aura, she whirled around, looking toward the other end of the deep valley!

But Xie Buchen’s reaction was even faster than hers!

The moment she looked, the figure originally not far from her side had already vanished from its original position, appearing where her vision reached, standing beside that “intruder”!

His slender five fingers, like life-taking blades, coldly and precisely clasped that person’s neck!

It was a young man.

He should have just walked over from nearby, wearing the deep red monk robes they had seen before. On his originally handsome face, his eye sockets were dark, his pupils darting about randomly with floating divine light, while his cheeks were deeply sunken, giving an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

At this moment, only complete terror remained on his face. He was so frightened by the suddenly appearing Xie Buchen that he couldn’t even cry out!

An esoteric sect monk.

Though still some distance away, having had several encounters with the esoteric sect, Jian Chou recognized this “uninvited guest’s” identity at a glance!

But in this instant, the question surfacing in her mind wasn’t why this esoteric sect monk had appeared here, or what connection he had to these dead Yashan and Kunwu disciples.

But rather…

Xie Buchen’s instantaneous movement!

Foundation Establishment controlled artifacts, Golden Core controlled sky, only Nascent Soul could teleport!

But she had clearly sensed that Xie Buchen had vanished from her side without any warning, then appeared where the esoteric sect monk was…

So words Wu Duan had once said about Xie Buchen echoed in her mind:

“Junior Brother Xie is extraordinarily talented. When he was just at Foundation Establishment, I saw him able to fly over rivers…”

Her tense body, constricted pupils…

All these details instantly brewed ice-cold and terrifying killing intent. Jian Chou stared at Xie Buchen’s distant figure without moving a step.

But Xie Buchen seemed oblivious to all this. The spiritual light emanating from his five fingers had already easily locked onto this panic-stricken esoteric sect cultivator.

Mid-stage Golden Core—easy as turning his palm.

His cold brows and eyes showed no change. He only glanced at this person once before turning back coldly to ask Jian Chou: “Fellow Daoist, do you know soul-searching techniques?”