Extreme Domain, Eight Directions City.

This was the most orderly and majestic city among all seventy-two cities throughout the Extreme Domain. From a distance, it looked like a towering octagonal platform.

The Eight Directions Underworld Palaces floated high in the eight directions of Eight Directions City, casting their massive and dark shadows onto the earth below.

Below the city were stationed the Ten Great Ghost Clans.

On the intersecting streets at this moment, some ghost cultivators with considerable cultivation passed through, and various palace judges traveled between the Underworld Palaces and the city below.

The walking cultivators had grown accustomed to not looking up.

Because these eight mountain-like Underworld Palaces suspended high above their heads had been floating in such a lofty manner for many years. No matter what changes occurred in the Extreme Domain or what chaos it was experiencing, the eight Underworld Palaces were always stable, never wavering in the slightest.

Cui Jue had also grown accustomed to this.

When Lord Qin Guang sent Zhang Tang to Ghost Gate Pass to investigate the frontline situation, he remained in Eight Directions City to guard the rear, and his heart held no imbalance about this.

Over these years, Zhang Tang’s abilities had been evident to all.

Although he had once envied how Zhang Tang was so favored by Lord Qin Guang in the Eight Directions Underworld Palaces, he didn’t think Zhang Tang was unworthy of his reputation, so everything remained merely envy.

At this moment, he was coming out from the First Lord Qin Guang Palace, planning to go to the Ghost King Clan’s encampment below to discuss some urgent matters with the Ghost King Clan elders.

But who would have thought that just as he landed, anomalies had already begun in the void!

At his level of cultivation, he had developed extremely keen perception of certain spatial fluctuations. So in an instant, he turned around and raised his head, looking toward the high void behind him!

“Rumble!!!”

A terrifying roar spread throughout the vast void!

How solemn and majestic were the Eight Directions Underworld Palaces that usually floated ethereally in the high sky? But almost simultaneously with Cui Jue’s gaze reaching it, the Underworld Palace located in the northwest corner suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash!

As if struck by some terrifying force…

From inside to outside, completely crumbling!

The formation that originally maintained its floating and defense seemed to lose its source of power sustenance at this moment, becoming soulless. After throwing up a brilliant radiance, it fell together with the entire collapsed Underworld Palace!

Like the collapse of a celestial platform!

In the magnificent spectacle, it gave people incomparable shock!

Instantly dust rose everywhere, burying the entire northwest corner of Eight Directions City, smashing all the buildings into a pile of ruins!

Cui Jue couldn’t believe his eyes.

He felt that the moment that sound rang out and the Underworld Palace crashed down, his mind was also filled with a thunderous, indistinguishable noise, making him feel as if struck by violent lightning, standing frozen in place, not daring to move a single step.

An Underworld Palace!

That was an Underworld Palace!

The Second Lord Chu Jiang Palace of Eight Directions City had actually collapsed!

How could this be possible…

Such terrifying commotion almost made the entire Eight Directions City shake like mountains swaying and earth moving, alarming countless ghost cultivators in the city.

When they came out to look, where was the Second Underworld Palace in the sky?

The originally solemn and majestic eight Underworld Palaces suspended high above everyone’s heads had actually been reduced to only seven!

The remaining seven palace Underworld rulers, including Lord Qin Guang, naturally also detected this commotion in the first moment, each manifesting from their respective Underworld Palaces.

All seven great Underworld rulers fell silent!

When the Third Palace Lord Song Di saw the ruins collapsed on the ground, his pupils suddenly contracted. No matter how scheming and calculating he was, he couldn’t help but reveal an undisguisable shock at this moment.

Only the First Palace Lord Qin Guang maintained his expressionless face as usual.

On the contrary, when he witnessed the Underworld Palace collapse, he seemed not surprised at all, remaining overly calm. Even after watching for a moment, he directed his gaze toward Lord Song Di.

The other’s reaction was completely within his sight.

Behind him, other judges from the great palace had followed out. Seeing this scene, how could they not understand what had happened?

Underworld Palace collapsed, Underworld ruler fallen!

This clearly meant that the Second Palace Lord Chu Jiang had already perished!

“Your Highness…”

A judge spoke tremblingly, seemingly wanting to inquire about something.

Unexpectedly, although Lord Qin Guang stood with his back to them, hands clasped behind him, looking at the now-empty northwest direction, he seemed to know what they wanted to say and said: “Lord Chu Jiang is stationed at the Ghost Gate Pass watchtower, and Zhang Tang is also there. Don’t act rashly for now—wait for him to return and report.”

Everyone immediately looked at each other, no matter how they thought about it, this matter didn’t seem reasonable: the one who had the incident was an Underworld ruler!

Even if Lord Chu Jiang was currently the weakest among the eight palaces, he shouldn’t…

Shouldn’t be treated so carelessly, right?

But no one dared to object, only responding: “Yes.”

The moment the Second Palace of Eight Directions City collapsed and fell, all the ghost cultivators throughout the entire city saw it clearly. The news of Lord Chu Jiang’s fall was like dropping a strategic bomb into already turbulent waters, rapidly spreading to every corner of the Extreme Domain’s ten thousand li of evil soil, stirring up tremendous waves.

At the scene of the incident, everything still appeared quite calm.

In the great hall of the Ghost Gate Pass watchtower, several people stood in silence.

When Jian Chou first explored the watchtower, she only knew that both opening and closing the watchtower required “keys,” but didn’t know what these “keys” specifically looked like or how they were called. Only after the negotiation with Lord Chu Jiang did she understand that these “keys” were called “Waxing Moon Order Token” and “Waning Moon Order Token.”

Now suddenly seeing Zhang Tang produce this item, she couldn’t react immediately.

Her mind, which had already been buzzing and dizzy from shock, seemed to stop functioning at this moment. Her gaze involuntarily fell on that crescent moon-like white jade token. When she finally realized what this item was, she raised her eyes and looked at Zhang Tang with undisguised shock.

If earlier it was the shock and terror of witnessing Zhang Tang kill Lord Chu Jiang, then at this moment it was the wild excitement and madness of suddenly soaring from the deep abyss to ten thousand li of clouds!

No one had expected this!

No one had expected that this Grand Judge Zhang, whose actions were anything but ordinary, would quickly give them an unbelievable surprise after such a despair-inducing tremendous shock!

Zhang Tang had already produced the Waning Moon Order Token, but Jian Chou didn’t give a definite response for a long time. His eyebrows furrowed coldly: “Don’t want it?”

“No!”

How could Jian Chou not want it?!

She was just shocked speechless by this sudden dramatic reversal and hadn’t had time to respond!

After coming to her senses, she directly stepped forward.

Without any hesitation, she took the order token from Zhang Tang’s hand and gripped it in her own, actually feeling her heartbeat quicken somewhat, saying only: “Thank you, Minister Zhang.”

Zhang Tang appeared completely indifferent.

Jian Chou secretly injected a strand of soul power into this snow-white jade token and indeed saw a faint radiance and a water-like flowing sensation, knowing this item was correct.

However…

Reason finally slowly gathered and returned to her mind at this moment. Jian Chou became somewhat puzzled and began questioning.

“How did this item come to be in your hands, Minister?”

“This official is the First Judge under Lord Qin Guang’s palace. If it’s not in this official’s hands, could it be given to you?”

“Then you giving this item to us…”

“Wasn’t it seized from this official by you people?”

“Then Lord Chu Jiang—”

“Dead people have their reasons for deserving death. This official knows what he’s doing—no need for you to be talkative.”

“…”

In just five or six exchanges, Jian Chou discovered that no matter what, she couldn’t continue questioning. When those very impolite words “be talkative” came out, even Qu Zhengfeng raised an eyebrow, Xie Buchen’s eyes showed some displeasure, and Lu Xiangleng felt even more surprised.

Who was Jian Chou?

One of the few great powers in the Nineteen Continents today. Although her cultivation time was brief and her seniority not very high, her strength could already match other long-renowned great powers. Even when Hengxu Zhenren, Xuanyue Fairy, and others saw her, they would kindly and friendly, yet carefully call her “Young Friend Jian Chou,” subtly implying treating her as an equal.

But this Zhang Tang…

His cultivation wasn’t much—at most early Golden Body stage, equivalent to early Nascent Soul stage in the Nineteen Continents, a whole level lower than Jian Chou.

To put it dramatically, Jian Chou could crush him with one palm!

But he actually dared to speak to Jian Chou in such a somewhat impatient tone, even with dignified authority secretly rebuking her for being “talkative”…

This was a natural attitude.

As if cultivation levels and situations didn’t exist for him at all—only differences in status mattered, and he was the official while Jian Chou was a commoner.

Even his facial expression was harsh, indifferent, dignified, and stern.

Jian Chou was stunned for a moment, detecting something familiar in Zhang Tang’s attitude, as if she had returned to the time on the isolated island.

She couldn’t help but smile and didn’t get angry.

She continued: “Jian Chou is also grateful that Minister Zhang is willing to help, and worried about your safety. From your words, it seems you have great confidence in resolving this matter. If so, Jian Chou can rest assured. I just wonder, what is the current situation in the Extreme Domain, especially with the eight palace Underworld rulers of Eight Directions City?”

Zhang Tang was a very decisive and independent person.

In his eyes, he really didn’t regard Jian Chou as anything formidable. Although Jian Chou was indeed very powerful, in his view, she more likely represented trouble.

And it’s quite normal for people not to like their own troubles.

He actually wanted to leave already, but having stepped one foot onto this pirate ship, it wasn’t so easy to leave. So he glanced up at Jian Chou and still forcibly suppressed the urge to turn around and leave, organizing the thoughts in his mind and answering her questions clearly and systematically.

Moreover, they were all somewhat related to her.

There were mainly three points—

First, the Eight Directions Underworld Palaces.

Among the several Underworld rulers, Lord Qin Guang’s strength was undoubtedly the strongest, and no one knew what level he had actually reached. Except for the already fallen Lord Chu Jiang, the remaining Underworld rulers’ strength basically followed the ranking order, but both Lord Du Shi and Lord Wu Guan had impressive methods and might be able to match Lord Song Di.

Second, Lord Qin Guang.

Over these eighty years, Lord Qin Guang had managed fewer and fewer affairs, leaving most matters to be handled by judges below, while he himself spent most of his time by the Reincarnation Pool beneath Eight Directions City. The pool contained Ghost Axe, which had fallen into the Extreme Domain with Jian Chou back then. Zhang Tang had seen large masses of heavily resentful black shadows hidden at the bottom of the water—he didn’t know what existence they were.

Meanwhile, the Underworld Palaces had sent people along the Yellow Springs to search downstream for the Two Principles Pearl.

This item should have been embedded on the spine of Ghost Axe. Because it contained yin and yang Two Principles, it had the ability to communicate between the two realms, but it had been lost in that battle eleven cycles ago.

Third, the old residence in Wrongful Death City.

Back then, Jian Chou had caused quite a commotion in the tripod competition and exposed her identity as a Yashan cultivator. The Eight Directions Underworld Palaces naturally had to send people to investigate thoroughly. But Zhang Tang, fearing that his previous connections with Jian Chou would be exposed, worked together with “Lihan,” who was similarly involved with Jian Chou at the time, to hide many key clues when the palace judges investigated.

He had sealed away that rather suspicious old residence of Jian Chou’s.

“If one day you wish to revisit the old place, the residence remains exactly as it was—this official hasn’t touched a thing.”

Zhang Tang concluded with this sentence.

Although he didn’t state it explicitly, his words clearly indicated that he was honest and upright, hadn’t touched any of her belongings, and was also warning Jian Chou to hide things well and not expose anything else that would drag him into trouble.

Jian Chou and the others listened to him speak. When hearing about the cultivation levels of the various Underworld rulers of the Eight Directions Underworld Palaces, she didn’t think much of it. But when she heard words like “Ghost Axe,” “black shadows,” and “Two Principles Pearl,” her heart immediately became stern, recalling how she had barely been able to sense Ghost Axe, which should have had a spiritual connection with her, since entering the Extreme Domain. This intermediate information made her eyelids twitch and generated many ominous premonitions. The originally most mysterious old residence in Wrongful Death City seemed less concerning by comparison.

Zhang Tang didn’t watch her reaction. He simply placed his left and right hands together, tucking them into his wide sleeves and positioning them in front of his body, adopting a somewhat composed posture, saying only: “This is all the help this official can provide. This official takes his leave.”

“Minister Zhang?”

Hearing him say “takes his leave,” Jian Chou couldn’t help feeling somewhat surprised.

“Where are you going?”

Naturally, back to the Eight Directions Underworld Palace.

Zhang Tang couldn’t be bothered to answer her. He lifted his leg, turned around, and walked away.

The development of events was completely beyond Jian Chou’s expectations, making her slightly widen her eyes, completely unable to understand at this moment: “Minister, you’re returning to Eight Directions City? But you first killed Lord Chu Jiang and have already opened convenient doors for us. Going back will surely be extremely dangerous. Why not directly join the Nineteen Continents openly?”

“Wait until you’ve taken Wrongful Death City and attacked Eight Directions City before discussing that.”

Zhang Tang wasn’t stupid!

Although this Yin-Yang Realm war was restarted by the Nineteen Continents side, it was still far from determining victory. Returning to Eight Directions City was indeed dangerous, but if he openly joined the Nineteen Continents and their side didn’t win, wouldn’t he just be waiting to die?

Eighty years of development destroyed in an instant, betting everything—

Zhang Tang wouldn’t do such a thing.

He didn’t even give Jian Chou an extra glance. His face was the same harsh, indifferent dead man’s expression when he came as when he left, without the slightest change.

Jian Chou still wanted to persuade him.

Even if Zhang Tang was pulled into the Nineteen Continents camp, with his understanding of the Extreme Domain, whether in battle or strategic deployment, he should be quite useful.

But Zhang Tang seemed to completely know her thoughts.

At this time, he had already reached the palace entrance. Before Jian Chou could speak again, he threw out a sentence without looking back, blocking all her unspoken persuasions.

His voice was light and airy, like his official robe’s hem being blown by the wind.

“This official is a civil official—how could he engage in the crude violence of rough commoners? It’s not appropriate.”

As his voice fell, the person was already gone.

Leaving only silence filling the hall.

No one spoke.

Civil official…

Crude violence of rough commoners…

Not appropriate!

Jian Chou felt her eye corners twitching uncontrollably. For a moment, she almost wanted to rush out and grab this dead-faced scribe by the neck to demand: if crude violence isn’t appropriate, then who exactly was the one who just sliced Lord Chu Jiang to death with one blade? What kind of civil official is that?!

He came unexpectedly, handled affairs decisively and efficiently, and left cleanly and decisively, not giving anyone a chance to detain him.

Clearly—

Avoiding Jian Chou like avoiding the plague!

This was the first time Qu Zhengfeng had seen such a person. Standing before Lord Chu Jiang’s broken corpse, he looked down once and actually laughed sincerely for once: “This person’s temperament is quite interesting!”