Actually, Jian Chou felt somewhat strange. Previously, Qu Zhengfeng had only said he was in the vicinity, but this Medicine Peak was already nearly three hundred li away from Yashan. If not for the fact that she now possessed Void Refining cultivation, she probably wouldn’t have been able to find him.

For no apparent reason, he had come this far.

She couldn’t help but glance at Qu Zhengfeng, then look down at the seemingly bottomless cliff below. Naturally recalling that the Black Wind Cave lay beneath, she merely said: “The Sword Emperor’s definition of ‘vicinity’ is quite far indeed.”

“I suddenly remembered something and came to revisit old places, which led to some unusual discoveries.”

Qu Zhengfeng had also walked the path of “Human Vessel” body cultivation in the past. There weren’t many places with black wind in all of Jiushijiu Zhou. He had been here, and Jian Chou naturally knew he had been here, so there was no need for concealment in his words. Instead, he looked back at Jian Chou quite openly.

“Little junior sister’s tone back then was truly not modest at all.”

Indeed, he had entered the Black Wind Cave to look around again.

Jian Chou couldn’t help but laugh as well, remembering how eighty years ago, right after fighting with Qu Zhengfeng, she had been quite indignant and went to the Black Wind Cave to cultivate “Human Vessel,” recalling all the various circumstances, and also remembering how she had repeatedly carved words on the cave walls.

“Then it seems I guessed correctly. Only the Sword Emperor of those days could have done something like analyzing the various Dao seals of the Dragon Gate on the cave walls.”

“You flatter me.”

Qu Zhengfeng acted as if he couldn’t hear the slight teasing in her words. He simply raised his head to identify the direction, then stepped into mid-air with a single stride, his figure suddenly disappearing from sight.

A faint spatial fluctuation then reached them.

He had directly used the “Displacement” technique, heading north.

Jian Chou was startled but didn’t rush to follow. Instead, she turned to look down at the mountain cliff again, inevitably thinking of the various mysteries that had once existed in the Black Wind Cave.

The Wind-Swallowing Stone, the black wind, and that power that could almost destroy one’s soul…

She still remembered that when she had initially fallen into the Extreme Realm and secretly participated in the cauldron competition, she had also seen places similar to the Black Wind Cave where she re-encountered the nine-headed bird, and seemed to have glimpsed many affairs of Jiushijiu Zhou through that cave entrance.

She always felt that this Black Wind Cave was actually connected to the Extreme Realm, only with mysterious and unfathomable powers blocking the way between, making normal passage impossible.

After thinking it over, Jian Chou ultimately dismissed the idea of going in for another look. With a thought, her spiritual consciousness merged with the surrounding space, sensing the rhythm of spatial fluctuations. Then she stepped forward as if stepping into rippling water and disappeared from sight.

The Snowy Realm was on the easternmost ice plain of the Northern Territory, originally closest to Mingri Xinghai. However, since Jian Chou and the others needed to first return to their respective sects to deploy their disciples, they had no choice but to take the route through the Central Territory.

After leaving Medicine Peak, they headed directly northeast.

The mountains grew increasingly higher, and the scenery before their eyes increasingly resembled that of colder regions. Under the “Displacement” technique of powerful cultivators, the distant journey that would normally take several hours was completed in the blink of an eye.

With almost no time for further contemplation, the moment she stepped out from the fluctuating mid-air, the lofty and vast scenery of the Snowy Realm crashed into Jian Chou’s vision.

It was sunset at this time.

The snow peaks stretching for thousands of li were dyed a intoxicating golden-red by the setting sun’s afterglow, like a girl wrapped in red gauze, barefoot stepping through clear river water. The layered clouds in the vast sky were thin and ethereal, blown and rolled by the howling yet lonely wind from the ice plain into different shapes.

This wasn’t her first time in the Snowy Realm; she had even stayed here for a long period once. But seeing such beauty again after a brief absence still couldn’t help but evoke that indescribable sense of wonder.

What followed immediately was regret.

Such a beautiful, such a clean place, yet it gathered the most filthy and sordid evil from all of Jiushijiu Zhou. Human ignorance and malice were displayed here without any concealment, exhibited thoroughly and completely.

The last time she came here, she had traveled with Xie Buchen.

They had disguised themselves as a monk from Xinmi and a devotee of the Buddha Lord, entering the Sacred Temple. What they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears was all filthy.

Ignorant people, Buddha Mother, evil monks…

Certain beings had left extremely deep impressions on Jian Chou: such as the Tantric initiation, that little girl Sangyang who had wounded her with a deer-cutting knife and ultimately died under Xie Buchen’s sword, another thin and small girl by the sacred lake, Meiduo, who was fearful and panicked, and the sacred lake in the sky, the lake demon or deity named Qielan, the mysterious youth always dressed in white monk robes, the Holy Son Jiye…

She remembered the snow lotus flowers, remembered the blue kingfisher.

She also remembered that sentence from Xie Buchen that she still couldn’t forget to this day: I told you, you cannot save them.

Xie Buchen and she were never on the same path regarding these matters.

He always carried the most extreme calm and coldness, as if never affected by worldly emotions and desires, never paying attention to others’ life and death.

What he cared about was only the objective at hand.

Even though she was later unwilling to admit it, Jian Chou had to acknowledge that what he said was actually correct. Such a Snowy Realm was frozen three feet deep – it wasn’t formed in a single day. It definitely wasn’t something she could easily save by herself. Without fundamental change, even spending another hundred or thousand years would be futile.

“I heard that twenty years ago, you once explored this place with that Daoist Xie from Kunwu. I wonder if you had any insights?”

Qu Zhengfeng stood beside her, looking at the same view.

However, neither of them had any intention of entering the Snowy Realm further. Firstly, they feared that rashly entering might alert their enemies; secondly, they still needed to wait here for Dakini Yang Jin and the people from Chanzong.

Before them stretched an extremely high precipice, the boundary line between the Central Territory and the Snowy Realm.

Jian Chou descended from mid-air, stepping onto the edge of this precipice. The Burning Lamp Sword in her hand faintly emitted warm light in the westward-sinking radiance, warding off the cold air rushing from the high mountain ice plain.

She didn’t look at Qu Zhengfeng either, only answering: “I did come to this place and had quite a few insights…”

If the plan proceeded without incident, once Dakini Yang Jin arrived to meet with them, they would enter the Snowy Realm. So Jian Chou thought it over and shared all her past experiences openly.

Starting from initially entering the Snowy Realm, investigating with Xie Buchen the incident where Yu Zhifei and other disciples of Yashan had been killed, to her taking the alias “Qiaguo Suba” and Xie Buchen taking the alias “Huaijie,” infiltrating the Sacred Temple all the way, then to secret assassinations, ambushing the Dharma King…

Finally, she mentioned the doubts that had always lingered in her heart.

“First is Xie Buchen’s purpose for coming to the Snowy Realm. Master Hengxu couldn’t possibly be unaware of the grudge between Xie Buchen and myself, yet still agreed to let us both come to the Snowy Realm together. His intentions are hard to fathom.”

“Second is the elusive Holy Son Jiye, who seems to consider himself my friend.”

“Third is the sacred lake behind the Sacred Temple, which contains a beautiful female demon, or perhaps a heavenly deity.”

“Fourth is what concerns me most…”

When she reached this point, Jian Chou’s voice paused. She turned to look at Qu Zhengfeng, seeming to deliberate for a moment before finally asking:

“I wonder if the Sword Emperor still has any impression of that being that appeared behind the cliff at Silver Tower back then?”

The Silver Tower cliff incident – Qu Zhengfeng naturally remembered it.

Jian Chou, who had returned from the Extreme Realm, had faced several experts of the same cultivation level in that series of battles, becoming famous in one fight and even rescuing Zuoliu. It could be considered unprecedented.

But the “being” she mentioned…

His brow suddenly furrowed as he finally recalled a certain extremely unpleasant memory, and of course also remembered the being he had discovered when he went to the nest of the Night Voyage Ship at Crow’s Crossing after the Silver Tower incident.

Ancient aura, powerful and evil!

“You mean this thing is now in the Snowy Realm?”

“Not necessarily.”

Hearing the words “this thing,” Jian Chou knew that Qu Zhengfeng had indeed encountered it before. For a moment she wanted to laugh, but what surfaced in her mind was the tragic scene from years ago in front of the canyon, where Yu Zhifei and other disciples of Yashan had died under its attack. No matter what, she couldn’t manage even half a smile.

“This being is called a ‘deity’ by people, seemingly named ‘Shaoji.’ Back then, to save Zuoliu, I had infiltrated Crow’s Crossing at night, going deep into the Night Voyage Ship’s dungeon, where I personally witnessed this creature awakening before my eyes. It was irresistibly powerful and unfathomably deep. Later, during the Silver Tower bounty incident when fighting that Liang Tingyu, I sensed an aura belonging to this deity Shaoji from her body, identical to what I later detected in the Snowy Realm.”

When Fu Chaosheng initially came to the Snowy Realm, first it was to investigate matters of reincarnation, and second it seemed he was pursuing this creature, vaguely displaying a persistent concern about its existence.

It was an ancient fierce creature.

Jian Chou didn’t know its most specific origins, but from the Extreme Realm to the Star Sea, from the Star Sea to the Snowy Realm, she could glimpse its shadow everywhere. The thought truly sent chills through her heart.

“However, this fierce creature later disappeared without a trace. At the time, Daoist Chaosheng speculated that it had gone through the Snowy Realm to the Extreme Realm on the other side, and no trace of it could be detected anymore.”

Thinking it over, Jian Chou suddenly remembered the remaining writings Xie Buchen had left here.

“Moreover, speaking of it, even if this fierce creature had some connection with the Snowy Realm, it would have developed some enmity. After all, it is an unparalleled being – even if Xinmi relied on it, they would still be afraid. Not to mention, back then Xie Buchen collected the aura it left behind from its killings and slaughtered more than forty Xinmi monks in this Snowy Realm’s Sacred Temple, framing it for the deed. When it comes to calculating human hearts, if Xie Buchen dared claim second place, probably no one would dare claim first. No matter what, it should have made Xinmi wary of this being, not daring to trust it completely.”

“…”

Upon hearing this, Qu Zhengfeng gazed up at those snow-covered peaks of the Snowy Realm for a long time, a certain extremely hard-to-describe eeriness rising in his heart.

He was contemplating something and didn’t speak again.

Jian Chou didn’t mind either. She found a reasonably clean rock on the mountain cliff and sat cross-legged, placing the Burning Lamp Sword across her knees before closing her eyes to meditate.

The sun set and moon rose.

Frost-like moonlight soon shone down from the gray-dark night sky, illuminating the vast sea of clouds and the cold celestial mountains.

Dakini Yang Jin didn’t arrive until after midnight, rushing to meet them. However, unlike when she had left the Star Sea alone, when she arrived at this Snowy Realm precipice for the rendezvous, she was accompanied by two others.

The moment she arrived, both Jian Chou and Qu Zhengfeng sensed it.

Both raised their heads and opened their eyes, looking over.

Yang Jin wore a peacock-blue dress with a style unique to the Snowy Realm, though under this moonlight, it inevitably appeared somewhat lonely and cold.

The other two stood somewhat to her side.

The first person wore snow-white monk robes, with refined features and eyes that held the flavor of pear blossoms after snow. Yet in those compassionate eyes, when the flowing light moved, it revealed a faint loneliness. Clearly a person of noble character like clear wind and bright moon, yet giving others a sense of being like withered wood.

Jian Chou was immediately startled upon seeing him.

This eminent monk – when she had lingered at the Western Sea’s Chanzong due to the demon Jian Chou incident, she had once briefly met him.

Among the three masters of Western Sea Chanzong, the one with the highest cultivation!

— Master Xuelang.

She was somewhat surprised for a moment. She had expected that Western Sea Chanzong would certainly send someone very capable, but she hadn’t expected it to be such a famous figure as the “Emotion Master” among the “Three Masters.”

Legend said that Master Xuelang had been troubled by emotions in his early years before later escaping from demons into the Dao.

From then on, he had gained the title “Emotion” and it had been passed down to this day.

He clearly recognized Jian Chou as well. After landing on the precipice, he pressed his palms together and recited a Buddhist invocation: “Amitabha, this poor monk is Xuelang. My respects.”

Both Jian Chou and Qu Zhengfeng returned the courtesy.

At this time, a young voice laughed nearby, faintly carrying some excitement: “Senior Sister Jian Chou, this little monk also pays his respects.”

Jian Chou turned to look and saw a delicate and kind face, with eyes that were lively and possessed natural wisdom light. Who else could it be but the Chanzong “Little Wise Monk” Liao Kong, with whom she had already had several encounters?

Someone who could break through the Killing Red Small Realm purely by luck…

In this instant, Jian Chou’s lips twitched slightly, but the thought that arose in her mind was: This trip is settled.