“Seven Parts Soul?”

These three words were quite unfamiliar to Fu Chaosheng, and he didn’t know what they specifically referred to for a moment, so he was somewhat puzzled.

Jian Chou also realized that her question might have been somewhat abrupt, so she smiled and, with a kind of inexplicable emotion, explained a few sentences to him.

“Do you remember that I once drifted to the Extreme Realm due to a teleportation array malfunction? At that time, in Wrongful Death City…”

Everything about that mysterious old mansion was gradually revealed to Fu Chaosheng through her calm, water-like words.

That old mansion owner who had plotted for nine lifetimes and should now be in his tenth life;

Those various doubts and mockeries about reincarnation;

The mysterious plum in the bottle, the reincarnation pool water, and the incense stick that should have been lit by her;

And finally, that existence that suddenly appeared outside the window, interrupting her incense lighting, and that mysterious sentence, half a character.

“There’s deception… Kill Xie Buchen, sever the Seven Parts Soul?”

This was the first time Fu Chaosheng heard Jian Chou speak of this matter, and even from his perspective as a great demon, this affair revealed several aspects that were beyond imagination.

Who was the old mansion owner?

Was everything he had orchestrated truly “deceptive”?

What would happen if that incense stick was lit?

And those eight characters “Kill Xie Buchen, sever the Seven Parts Soul” seemed to reveal that this person had deep connections with both Xie Buchen and Jian Chou, definitely not some bystander.

Thinking this way, he suddenly remembered something: “When this happened, was it on the eve of determining the participation list for the Extreme Realm competition? At that time, Cui Jue and that Zhang Tang both came to find you.”

Jian Chou was immediately somewhat surprised: “Indeed it was.”

And precisely because someone had come to find her, she hadn’t been able to see clearly what the final character left on the window was, only seeing the remaining water traces, vaguely half of a character: “卩”.

But how did Fu Chaosheng know?

“My old friend forgot—I was in the Extreme Realm at that time, transformed into the Ghost King clan’s Lihan.” Fu Chaosheng had been in the Ghost King clan’s council hall then, “If it was indeed that moment, I sensed a force that absolutely shouldn’t belong to the Shijiu Zhou, breaking through boundaries to arrive.”

This made Jian Chou even more surprised: “A force not belonging to the Shijiu Zhou?”

“Before that, I had never sensed such powerful force in the Shijiu Zhou. Though it seemed somewhat weakened, killing me instantly would not be difficult. Stronger than Shaoji, obviously shouldn’t exist in the Shijiu Zhou. Perhaps it came from the Upper Void Immortal Realm.”

When Fu Chaosheng said this, his tone wasn’t entirely certain, even carrying a kind of strange wonder.

But falling on Jian Chou’s ears, it was like a string of thunderclaps—

Killing Fu Chaosheng at that time would not be difficult!

Even stronger than the “god Shaoji” they had previously experienced!

“The Upper Void Immortal Realm…” Jian Chou only felt the mystery had deepened another layer, “If the one who left the character was such a powerful existence, why not kill Xie Buchen himself, but specifically leave a message for me? And there’s also this ‘Seven Parts Soul’ that we don’t even know what it is.”

“What kind of existence left the character is unknown for now. But thinking carefully, I seem to have heard these three words ‘Seven Parts Soul’ when spying on Xie Buchen’s past…”

How powerful was Fu Chaosheng’s mental strength? After just this moment of recollection, he had results.

“It was a Kunwu female disciple asking him what sword hung on the wall. He then answered with these three words, saying this sword was named ‘Seven Parts Soul’.”

“A sword?”

This answer was truly unexpected for Jian Chou. In her impression, the sword Xie Buchen used was only that “Human Emperor Sword”—he actually had another sword named “Seven Parts Soul”?

Fu Chaosheng only said: “It’s an ordinary sword, with nothing special about it.”

“Then where is this sword now?”

“Before he departed, he placed it in the Qingfeng Hermitage’s hidden realm. But I spied with the Cosmic Eyes that on the day you stayed at the inn, he had already retrieved it from the hidden realm and placed it by his side.”

Jian Chou immediately fell silent, and couldn’t help but laugh.

Round and round, this circle upon layer…

Should this be called a twist of fate?

The day they stayed at the inn was the first day she mentioned “Seven Parts Soul” in front of Xie Buchen and successfully tested that Xie Buchen valued this thing greatly.

But she never expected that “Seven Parts Soul” had previously been stored in the hidden realm!

She possessed Lijun’s scroll, after all. Even though Xie Buchen was now the master of the hidden realm, he couldn’t prevent her from entering with the scroll!

But now it was good—probably because of her testing that day, Xie Buchen became alert and retrieved “Seven Parts Soul” from the hidden realm.

If he hadn’t retrieved it, obtaining this sword would have been as easy as turning her palm!

“Human calculations cannot match heavenly calculations!”

Even someone as unyielding as Jian Chou, thinking through this chain of cause and effect, couldn’t help but feel a sense of “fate playing tricks,” of being toyed with by heaven’s will.

Fu Chaosheng could guess what she was lamenting, so he smiled: “Sometimes, no one knows what will happen in the future. Even the futures glimpsed by the Cosmic Eyes are strange and varied.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not so petty as to dwell on this and feel too regretful.”

Jian Chou heard the not-so-obvious comfort in his words and only shook her head. She wasn’t the type to blame herself for a long time over one mistake.

“Moreover, judging from the situation at that time, my choice was beyond reproach. We can never know what will happen in the future; we can only make the best choices under the circumstances at that time. After making choices, we shouldn’t regret them anymore. After all, at that time and place, it was the ultimate.”

So in a sense, she and Xie Buchen were remarkably similar.

The emotion of regret almost never appeared in them.

Just as she had never regretted choosing to be with Xie Buchen originally, never regretted later stepping onto the cultivation path and becoming his enemy, and such minor matters as testing the Seven Parts Soul were even less worth mentioning.

This speech of hers actually carried a kind of thoroughness that reached the essence.

Fu Chaosheng only vaguely remembered that when he had contacted quite a few people on the human island, ordinary vulgar people more or less had things they regretted, and often lamented “if only I had known” and such.

But she didn’t, never had before, and never would in the future.

Perhaps this was also one of the reasons he had decided on her, even felt his position could be left to her to decide?

Fu Chaosheng nodded, knowing she was open-minded, so he didn’t waste more words on this matter, only asking about another affair: “Earlier my old friend mentioned that in that mysterious old mansion, you almost lit an incense stick. I wonder, is this incense still with you?”

“I kept it.”

She was also cautious by nature. Having obtained this incense at that time and encountering such strange circumstances as the character left on the window, how could she be careless?

Now that Fu Chaosheng asked, she formed a hand seal.

Light flashed on the Qiankun Bag, and a slender brocade box appeared in her palm. Opening the box lid, the purple incense broken into several pieces lay inside.

Originally it was one incense stick, three pieces total.

Now broken like this, it wasn’t so distinct anymore. Only that deep, dark purple color faintly emanated a strange fragrance, giving one a sense of unfathomable depth.

Seeing this incense, Fu Chaosheng’s eyes showed several traces of amazement.

He took up a piece to examine carefully for a moment, then his face showed thoughtful expression as he gradually remembered.

“One who could make this incense is definitely not an ordinary person.”

“If my clan’s memory is correct, this incense is made from three drops of heart blood from the Extreme Realm’s Nine-headed Bird. The Nine-headed Bird once operated reincarnation, carrying ghosts in and out of the Ghost Gate. Its heart blood has only three drops. It’s commonly said that these three drops of blood can not only preserve one’s memories, but also preserve one’s state of mind.”

“As long as this incense is lit, one can sense where the original owner’s soul is and instantly merge with it.”

Hearing this, Jian Chou felt her hair stand on end: “Can preserve state of mind…”

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”

Fu Chaosheng’s gaze examining this object also carried several traces of admiration.

The Nine-headed Bird’s heart blood could preserve not only memories, but also “state of mind.”

Cultivators of the Shijiu Zhou, breaking through from Nascent Soul to Out-of-Body, would face the “Heart-Questioning Dao Tribulation” at the Out-of-Body stage. Before “heart-questioning,” it was all about cultivating the body; after heart-questioning, it was about cultivating the heart.

The so-called “state of mind” referred to the various insights when cultivating the heart, and even the “Dao” itself!

After receiving Fu Chaosheng’s affirmative answer, Jian Chou couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath, recalling the scene of herself lighting the incense that day, only feeling lingering fear.

“It seems that if I had lit this incense then, no matter where the old mansion owner’s tenth life was, he would immediately obtain all the memories and state of mind from his previous nine lives…”

Based on her understanding from being in the old mansion, what terrifying strength and state of mind would that be?

If his cultivation had already passed “heart-questioning” at that time, reaching the peak of “Heaven-Piercing” and ascending in broad daylight would probably be effortless!

“Through three lives and seven existences, across countless ages, even through billions of reincarnations—I am still myself!”

The words the old mansion owner had left behind echoed again in Jian Chou’s ears at this moment.

She couldn’t hide the shock in her heart for a moment. Even though she felt extremely frightened thinking back, she couldn’t ignore the spontaneous admiration rising in her heart at this moment.

“A single mansion in Wrongful Death City, hundreds of years of deceiving heaven’s plans—what a grand scheme!”

Even if not a hero among men, he could be considered an ambitious character.

“If my old friend is curious about this person’s current identity, just light this incense and you’ll know immediately.” Fu Chaosheng said with a smile, actually somewhat curious himself.

But hearing this, Jian Chou shook her head without the slightest hesitation.

Regarding this mysterious old mansion owner who had plotted meticulously for nine full lifetimes and skillfully deceived the Eight Directions Yama Halls, she always had a strange sense of dangerous premonition in her heart.

“Whether it’s disaster or opportunity is truly hard to determine. Unless absolutely necessary, this incense must never be lit.”

Very rational and clear-headed thinking.

Fu Chaosheng was curious, but his earlier statement was just ordinary jest. If Jian Chou really wanted to light it, he would probably be the first to stop her.

At this time, he put the piece of incense in his hand back.

However, the moment he watched Jian Chou cover the incense box again, his mind flashed like lightning with his earlier conversation with Jian Chou.

Xie Buchen’s previous lives couldn’t be spied upon.

As if this lifetime of his had suddenly jumped out of the six paths of reincarnation.

Could it be a coincidence?

Even Fu Chaosheng couldn’t be certain.

If he could think of this, Jian Chou should have thought of it too. That’s why she had spoken so decisively earlier about “absolutely cannot light it.”

“Better add a few more arrays to isolate others’ investigation…”

Though not knowing if it would be useful, Jian Chou still cast arrays on the incense box, then put it away before looking at Fu Chaosheng.

“Now that Shaoji has allied with the new esoteric teachings, what are your plans?”

“During the days I’ve been here, there have been no traces of Him in the snow region. But Buddhism still has reincarnation, and the new esoteric teachings have schemes with the Extreme Realm, so Shaoji naturally went to the Extreme Realm.”

Fu Chaosheng pondered for a moment, then stated his plan.

“So after seeing my old friend, I will re-enter the Extreme Realm to investigate.”

Actually, mainly to investigate Shaoji.

This legendary “god,” supposedly a “primordial survivor” born together with the universe in chaos, truly made him uneasy, even…

Haunted his thoughts.

Jian Chou remembered his earlier words about always feeling he and Shaoji came from the same place and were the same kind of existence, so she understood his thoughts and concerns, saying: “It seems we’ve reached the time to part ways again.”

“Perhaps we’ll meet again soon.”

After all, in these current times of rising winds and gathering clouds, no one knew what the next day would bring.

As Fu Chaosheng spoke, he had already risen, only saying to Jian Chou: “The Extreme Realm and snow region are intimately connected, with almost no restrictions on travel. If my old friend has any matters, you can call my name—I can hear it.”

If he could hear it, he would come.

Jian Chou smiled: “Then until we meet again.”

“Mm.”

Fu Chaosheng looked at her once, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his lips as he nodded. While that faint afterglow still lingered in the room, unable to dissipate, his entire figure became as blurred as the moon hidden by thin mist in the sky, becoming indistinct before disappearing completely.

In the dark, quiet room, only the sound of wind blowing from the highest reaches of the snow region could be heard.

Jian Chou looked at the empty seat across from her, then at all the furnishings in the room. Beyond the calm in her heart, she increasingly felt that the entire Shijiu Zhou at this moment was already shrouded by rolling dark clouds.

When the winds rose, all creatures and races would probably be unable to escape.

She rose and sat cross-legged on the couch, closing her eyes to concentrate, quietly waiting for this night to pass.

Snow began falling again in the latter half of the night, and the dense, continuous sound of falling could be heard.

But Jian Chou never opened her eyes to look, not until the next morning when the tightly closed door was suddenly knocked upon, and Sangyang’s clean, cheerful voice rang out from outside: “Qiagguo, Sister Qiagguo, we’re going to see the sacred lake in the back—do you want to come with us?”