“Nothing much…” Jian Chou suddenly found Fudao Shanren’s reaction quite amusing. She rolled her eyes thoughtfully for a moment and said, “I’ve heard that Kunwu is the absolute peak of the Central Domain, an existence even loftier than Yashan. I’ve long admired it and wanted to go see the scenery and such…”

“Bullshit! Kunwu is nothing!”

Fudao Shanren immediately became furious, then slapped his forehead.

“No, no no, you dead girl, don’t change the subject. Tell me quickly—could it be that your ex-husband is… is that one?”

“Which one?”

Jian Chou looked at him with a confused expression.

Fudao Shanren ground his teeth in hatred: “Stop pretending! That surnamed Xie who achieved Foundation Establishment in ten days!”

“…You should go out.” Jian Chou thought for a moment and directly pushed Fudao Shanren toward the exit. “I still need to cultivate. Master, please don’t disturb me.”

“Ahhhhh, just tell me if it is or isn’t!”

Fudao Shanren gripped the door frame with both hands, absolutely refusing to leave, locked in a standoff with Jian Chou.

“Is it really that ten-day Foundation Establishment one? It can’t be what I’m thinking, right? Why Kunwu! What’s your ex-husband’s name? Tell me quickly—”

Jian Chou was utterly helpless and only asked one question: “Master, what do you think are the chances he’s an absolute genius?”

“Killing his wife to prove the Dao, utterly heartless—definitely a bastard. Moreover, he even dug a pit, piled up a grave for you, and even erected a tombstone. You can tell at a glance that though he killed his wife, he still couldn’t prove the Dao.” Fudao Shanren analyzed and continued, “His cultivation should be slow, troubled by inner demons, likely stagnating.”

“Then isn’t that settled?”

Jian Chou spread her hands, indicating that Fudao Shanren could leave.

Fudao Shanren felt something was wrong: “Settled my ass! I feel like you’re fooling me! What’s your ex-husband’s name exactly? If you don’t tell me, I won’t leave!”

Xie Buchen of Kunwu.

How could Jian Chou tell him?

She said, “Master, stop overthinking. I know he’s in Kunwu, but he’s not Xie Buchen. When your disciple has cultivated enough, you just need to take me there, and I’ll tell you who he is.”

“Hey! You!”

Fudao Shanren put his hands on his hips, about to scold her. What kind of ability was this evasive behavior?

Unexpectedly, when he angrily raised his eyes, he suddenly froze.

Jian Chou’s eyes became utterly calm, without the slightest trace of a smile: “Master, even if you knew, what could you do? Could you go to Kunwu, drag him over, make him kneel before me, and let me kill him?”

Regardless of whether this person was Xie Buchen or not, Jian Chou had told him one thing: her ex-husband was in Kunwu.

What kind of place was Kunwu?

Like Yashan, they only accepted geniuses. Among the Nineteen Continents, unlike Yashan’s low-key and somewhat reclusive approach, Kunwu operated with great fanfare, bearing the banner of being the orthodox number one cultivation sect of the Nineteen Continents.

Even the Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand Assembly was hosted by them.

Kunwu’s power was naturally beyond question.

Her ex-husband being in Kunwu meant his talent was not lacking—otherwise Kunwu wouldn’t have chosen him.

Since he was a Kunwu disciple, what right did Fudao Shanren have to move against Kunwu?

If Jian Chou remembered correctly, Fudao Shanren was still the enforcement elder of the entire Central Domain. This position was supposedly very special—how could he provoke conflict between two sects?

No matter how you looked at it, something like “helping you capture that bastard” was impossible to achieve.

Though Fudao Shanren and Hengxu Laoguai didn’t get along, they had once risen to fame together and even emerged from the Left Three Thousand Assembly together. Though Fudao Shanren complained verbally, Hengxu Laoguai still sent him messages across the vast sea, so their relationship shouldn’t be bad.

Jian Chou saw all these things.

She didn’t want to put Fudao Shanren in a difficult position, nor did she want him to be troubled by this matter.

Walking up, Jian Chou smiled at him with narrowed eyes: “Master, let your disciple handle her affairs. After all, these are matters from before cultivation. If Master has to stand up for your disciple in everything, wouldn’t your disciple, who finally stepped onto the cultivation path, show no progress at all?”

“Well, that’s true…”

Fudao Shanren still hesitated.

Jian Chou said, “I promise that before reaching Spirit Separation, I will resolve this matter and not let Master worry!”

She looked completely earnest.

Fudao Shanren snorted sourly: “You’re not still harboring old feelings for that ex-husband of yours, afraid I might harm him, are you?”

“…”

Jian Chou was stunned, then burst into laughter.

She hadn’t expected Fudao Shanren would think this way.

“Laugh, laugh, laugh—what’s so funny?” Fudao Shanren was annoyed and shouted, “Is it that amusing?”

It took Jian Chou a long time to stop.

She didn’t know what she should say, only lowering her eyes before slowly raising them again. Her expression had returned to calm, and in her eyes was a strange indifference.

“So in Master’s eyes, am I someone who so easily forgets grudges?”

“I…”

Fudao Shanren suddenly remembered her heartbroken crying in that mountain village house that day, and couldn’t speak.

Jian Chou acted relaxed and pushed him: “Alright, Master needn’t worry. Your disciple will go into seclusion now to cultivate properly. I will not disappoint Master’s expectations. When your disciple emerges, I’ll surely have learned many new skills!”

This time, Fudao Shanren was finally pushed out.

Jian Chou casually waved her hand and closed the door.

“Pushed me out… So bad! So bad!”

Standing outside, Fudao Shanren finally reacted and pounded on the door vigorously, but there was no response from inside.

Standing in the Dao Field, the door’s edge was the highest point, allowing her to look down at the giant axe placed on the round platform.

The fierce rust marks, mottled and patchy, resembled the bloodstains Jian Chou had seen that day.

Old feelings?

What old feelings remained?

If hatred could also be considered an emotion, then perhaps there were some.

Jian Chou slowly walked down, step by step, until she reached the Ghost Axe’s side. She casually sat down and placed her hand on the cold axe body. The ten thousand ghost patterns seemed ready to bite off her fingers.

She only laughed coldly.

So what if she fell eternally into Yama’s realm?

So what if Spirit Separation meant certain death?

So what if his talent was extraordinary?

As long as during this period she had any chance to surpass him, she would question him and kill him!

Jian Chou slowly moved her finger away, revealing the complete ghost pattern.

That evil spirit held its head high, one foot stepping on a female corpse, one hand holding up a terrifying human head, laughing maniacally as if mocking how foolish, bitter, and unbearable the people of this world were.

The Ghost Axe had once slain ten thousand spirits, but could it also slay the demons in her heart?

No.

It could not.

Nor would she want it to.

This was her Ghost Axe.

Even with demons in her heart, she would let them be.

Once the butcher’s blade is raised, how can it be easily set down?

Jian Chou looked for a long while, then laughed softly and simply flipped the Ghost Axe to the other side, no longer able to see that laughing ghost.

She began her second retreat.

This time would be much longer than the first.

Dao Seals valued refinement over quantity, so Jian Chou focused on practicing a lightness Dao Seal called “Duckweed Traces,” which could provide agility and evasion in combat.

She already had palm techniques, so she chose a finger technique with a name she liked: “Red Dust Shattering Illusions.” However, she seemed unable to grasp its essence, only learning the first form called “Entering Illusion.”

Having newly acquired the Ghost Axe, she also selected a Dao Seal specifically crafted for axe-wielding cultivators from the Scripture Repository: “Mountain-Opening Twelve Axes,” following the path of “overwhelming ten skills with one force.”

“Red Dust Shattering Illusions Finger” seemed related to some kind of comprehension. Jian Chou didn’t know if her difficulty continuing cultivation was due to her deficient souls and spirits, but “Mountain-Opening Twelve Axes” was different—simple and brutal, purely following the strength route.

This meant that as long as Jian Chou’s cultivation was sufficient and she used it properly, this complex composite Dao Seal made of twenty-seven Dao characters could let her use minimal spiritual power to unleash the axe’s maximum attack power.

For someone with a deficient soul and spirit whose specific situation was still unclear, this was perfect.

For female cultivators, purely following the strength route was probably quite shocking to the world.

Just thinking about herself chopping people with an axe, then imagining her nominal junior brothers’ reactions, Jian Chou knew what the effect would be.

But…

It no longer mattered.

After finishing learning Dao Seals, Jian Chou focused on absorbing spiritual energy and consolidating the “meridians” in her body. These so-called meridians were just pathways for spiritual energy flow. Though Fudao Shanren said she had no meridians, as long as spiritual energy followed these paths, there wasn’t much difference.

Jian Chou was rather optimistic about it.

Looking on the bright side, if enemies tried to destroy her meridians in the future, wouldn’t they be indestructible?

On the Dao Field’s round platform, the battle disc reappeared and began rotating.

Jian Chou’s ancestral aperture between her brows seemed to transform into a point in a brilliant starry sky, with stardust continuously being absorbed through her breathing and slowly dispersing.

The early Foundation Establishment realm quickly stabilized and accumulated toward mid Foundation Establishment at an extremely fast pace…

The battle disc grew imperceptibly larger.

Generally speaking, a person’s innate battle disc size determined how much spiritual power they could contain. As cultivation increased, the battle disc continuously expanded. However, expansion required a foundation—the size of the innate battle disc.

Both Fudao Shanren and Jian Chou had one-zhang innate battle discs.

Fudao Shanren had now fallen to the Spirit Separation stage, with roughly three zhang.

According to the jade slips Jian Chou had read, using Spirit Separation as the dividing line, before Spirit Separation, ordinary cultivators’ battle discs could expand roughly one zhang per major realm.

Jian Chou remained continuously in the process of cultivating and absorbing spiritual energy. The Kunxian lines gradually solidified during cultivation.

Inch by inch…

The battle disc grew larger.

When she finished her final breathing exercise, a shallow layer of dust had settled around Jian Chou.

Opening her eyes, she saw that her battle disc was over one zhang and four chi.

Just from absorbing spiritual energy, this cultivation speed was indeed very fast.

Jian Chou didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, but she had roughly crossed the threshold of mid Foundation Establishment and stabilized her realm.

She stood up, stretched her muscles, and with a thought, the Ghost Axe flew up from the ground toward her body, instantly disappearing.

“So this is what storing weapons in the body feels like…”

Walking felt no different, except she could sense the axe at her brow center, ready to be drawn at any time.

Jian Chou touched the spot but didn’t understand the principle. She tucked the Qiankun Bag into her sleeve and walked toward the exit.

Standing again at the Dao Field’s entrance, Jian Chou took a deep breath. How were things outside now?

They say mountain dwellers don’t know the passage of time—now she finally understood what “mountain dwellers” meant.

“Creak.”

She pulled the door open forcefully.

A gust of wind laden with moisture hit her face, wetting Jian Chou’s cheeks.

The sound of “whooshing” torrential rain rushed toward her. A waterfall cascaded down the cliff face, and outside, thunder crashed!

“Rumble!”

The whole world flashed brilliant white as lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating Lingzhao Peak, shrouded in the storm.

The big white geese flapped their wings happily, frolicking in the Guihe Well where small bubbles continuously formed.

Several red-crowned cranes stood beside the Guihe Well, motionless, seemingly coldly observing these invaders who had occupied their nesting place.

In that instant, Jian Chou was stunned.

Cranes had returned to the Guihe Well?

Shen Jiu’s introductory words when she first arrived at Yashan echoed in her ears.

Every August, cranes return to the Guihe Well, circling here…

This meant that at least a month had passed?

Looking back at the wooden plaque by her door, Jian Chou walked over and picked at the words “Dao Field.” She saw a flash of light in her hand, and immediately, a “Dao” character token lay in Jian Chou’s palm.

The open Dao Field disappeared, and her long-absent small room finally appeared before Jian Chou.

Before her retreat, Fudao Shanren had already given her the “Dao” character token. This one in her hand was extra and should be returned to him.

Also, reaching mid Foundation Establishment in one breath, though not a breakthrough, was still a small achievement worth discussing with her master.

Thinking this, Jian Chou wanted to set out to find her master.

But after summoning the Liwai Mirror, Jian Chou was stumped: Where did Fudao Shanren live?

She had been a disciple for so long, yet didn’t even know this.

Thinking further, she didn’t know where any of her junior brothers lived either.

The torrential thunderstorm outside was irritating.

Jian Chou thought she might as well wait for the rain to stop before going out to find someone—she’d eventually encounter someone who knew the way. But just then—

Lightning split the sky!

However, this time it wasn’t across the horizon but struck straight toward the Guihe Well!

The big white geese in the well were so frightened they raised both wings high and buried their heads in the water, their webbed feet flailing outside, clearly thinking disaster was imminent.

But the red-crowned cranes across from them merely stepped leisurely, obviously not considering the pale lightning a concern.

Jian Chou had been somewhat worried, but seeing this scene, she relaxed and stopped in her tracks.

That lightning struck the center of the Guihe Well and, like other lightning, flashed and vanished without leaving a trace.

However, after the lightning disappeared, a lightning-shaped thin needle appeared above the floating water surface of the Guihe Well.

Jian Chou immediately understood—like “wind messages,” this was a “thunder message.”

Yashan’s Guihe Well automatically collected all information without specific targets or directly targeting the sect, waiting for appropriate people to retrieve it.

She had seen wind messages before—thin, streamlined like fine needles. She’d never seen lightning-shaped thin needles before.

Among wind, thunder, rain, and snow “messages,” lightning was probably the fastest, though not by much. For the sender to争这一点点的时间, it must be an extremely urgent matter.

Just as she was thinking this, Jian Chou saw a man in dark robes emerge from the Administrative Hall on that side of Lingzhao Peak, causing her to exclaim, “Oh!”

The person who came out was none other than Qu Zhengfeng.

She usually saw him in gray robes, which weren’t particularly eye-catching, but now, in heavy, dark colors, he appeared distinguished.

Standing on his Seashore Light Sword at the edge of Lingzhao Peak, he looked out and reached toward the lightning-shaped message above the Guihe Well in the center of Lingzhao Peak. It flew rapidly toward his fingers.

Seemingly sensing someone watching, he glanced toward the cliff wall as the message reached his hand.

However, Jian Chou soon saw him enter the Administrative Hall.

After thinking, Jian Chou placed the Liwai Mirror in her hand, and a glassy golden light suddenly appeared.

She stepped onto it and flew toward the rain curtain.

The Liwai Mirror automatically created a light barrier, blocking the falling rainwater outside. Jian Chou rode her instrument through the rain without getting wet at all.

The Administrative Hall was built at the edge of Lingzhao Peak, several dozen zhang to the right of the Sword-Drawing Platform. Jian Chou landed under the flying eaves and looked up to see that the outside was a reception area with tables, chairs, benches, and various drinking utensils, but no one was seated.

Instead, there was a commotion from behind, as if they were arguing about something.

“This Jianzhu Sect dares to criticize us?”

“Shameless!”

“Has our Yashan been too polite lately?”

“Master Uncle Fudao, Master Uncle Fudao? What about the Wuyi Sect matter?”

“Master Uncle, Master Uncle?”

…

“Stop your damn arguing! I have business—you discuss it first!”

A roar came from inside. Standing outside, Jian Chou jumped—this was Fudao Shanren’s voice.

Before she could react, two people emerged, one after another—Fudao Shanren and Qu Zhengfeng, whom Jian Chou had just seen. The thunder message Qu Zhengfeng had retrieved was now in Fudao Shanren’s hand.

Just emerging, Fudao Shanren’s face was dark as water: “Really… if they provoke me further, I’ll personally take a sword and level the Jianzhu Sect!”

Looking up, he saw Jian Chou.

“Oh, Jian Chou girl, finished your retreat?”

Qu Zhengfeng also looked up and saw her, smiling slightly: “Eldest Senior Sister Jian Chou.”

Jian Chou felt somewhat embarrassed. She had originally wanted to ask Qu Zhengfeng how to find her master, but unexpectedly encountered both of them here.

From their appearance, they seemed to be handling official business.

She bowed: “Greetings, Master. I’ve met Junior Brother Qu. Your disciple has just entered mid Foundation Establishment and ended her retreat, thinking she should first pay respects to the Master. I originally wanted to ask Junior Brother Qu about your residence, but unexpectedly found Master here.”

“Sigh.”

Fudao Shanren looked back at the Administrative Hall, where arguing voices continued.

He really didn’t want to deal with it and walked directly outside, standing under the high steps of the eaves, listening to the rain sounds filling the world, finally feeling somewhat better.

“Your master is suffering here. About to die of anger… The Nineteen Continents have accumulated so many issues over the years… Look, here’s another one?”

As he spoke, he crushed the silver light with a “snap.”

Fine silver dust recombined, forming lines of text. Fudao Shanren slapped himself: “Serves you right for being blind back then, listening to Hengxu Laoguai’s deception. Now you’re in deep trouble! Deadly…”

“What’s happened now?”

Qu Zhengfeng seemed accustomed to this and asked casually.

Fudao Shanren wanted to roll in the rain, sighing: “There’s a small matter at Wangjiang Tower. You go handle it.”

Finished speaking, he irresponsibly grabbed the floating text screen in front of him, compressed it back into a thin silver light, and threw it directly at Qu Zhengfeng beside him, ready to leave.

This was truly a disaster from nowhere—Qu Zhengfeng was stunned.

“Master, this…”

Fudao Shanren directly turned his back and waved: “Master admits fault, Master admits fault. Master will never slack off again—just this once. You’re also a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator; this small matter won’t trouble you. Take Jian Chou girl along to see the world. Oh…”

He muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered something and shouted toward the Administrative Hall.

“Fatty! Little fatty! Seventh… no, Eighth! Come out!”

There was a commotion inside, then Jian Chou heard thumping footsteps.

After hearing Fudao Shanren’s call, little fatty Jianghe quickly ran out on his short legs and stood before Fudao Shanren: “Master, are you finally letting me go back?”

Letting you go back?

Dream on!

Fudao Shanren touched his neck with a lazy expression.

“Not letting you go back, but letting you go out. Follow your Eldest Senior Sister Jian Chou and Second Senior Brother Zhengfeng to get some practice. If I remember correctly, you’re also at late Golden Core stage. Though your constitution is special, you can’t just waste away like this. Go out once—maybe you’ll breakthrough when you return?”

Jianghe was about to start wailing.

Fudao Shanren glared: “Shut up!”

Jianghe felt wronged.

Seeing the little guy behave, Fudao Shanren earnestly said to Qu Zhengfeng: “I’m leaving the rest to you—Master won’t interfere.”

He then reached out to pat Jian Chou’s shoulder.

As for Jianghe…

He reached out, then withdrew his hand and patted his own bottom instead.

Little fatty Jianghe just wouldn’t grow up or tall, really…

Forget it, time to go!

Having just met her master and barely exchanged two sentences, Jian Chou was assigned some strange “mission.” Her mind couldn’t process this at all.

“This… this is…”

Qu Zhengfeng shook his head with a smile, probably feeling bitter inside too.

“Master is the enforcement elder of the Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand Assembly. He should be swamped with miscellaneous affairs, but now he’s slowly picking up the burden, and he’s lazy…” Qu Zhengfeng paused here, then said, “In any case, this time I must trouble Eldest Senior Sister and Eighth Junior Brother to accompany me to the Western Sea.”

He had already investigated the cause of this incident. Wangjiang Tower was at the mouth of Nine-Head River, involving Wangjiang Tower people, but the incident occurred in the Western Sea.

Jian Chou held her Liwai Mirror and stiffly asked: “Do you need my help?”

Qu Zhengfeng looked at her Liwai Mirror, was silent for a moment, then replied: “I hope not.”

In that instant, Jian Chou couldn’t help but hold her forehead.

Meaning it depended on luck.

Little fatty Jianghe was already used to being exploited: “They all have the heart to lock such a cute, small child like me in the Administrative Hall to handle miscellaneous affairs. What’s a little exploitation of you?”

This tone was quite rude, quite disdainful, quite arrogant.

Hearing something was wrong, Jian Chou looked up at him.

This must be the eighth-ranked little fatty Jianghe?

Seeing Jian Chou looking at him, Jianghe snorted: “Actually, I don’t really like you.”

“Why?”

Jian Chou remembered having no interaction with him—how did she become disliked?

Jianghe looked away: “They all lied to me, saying a little junior sister was coming… But Master directly made you the eldest senior sister… Wuwuwu, unfair… Why not let me be senior brother…”

Her smile stiffened for just a moment.

Jian Chou blinked. She wasn’t angry, just a bit surprised.

But another legendary figure who was “completely black inside” might not be so understanding…

Qu Zhengfeng slowly walked over, holding the Seashore Light Sword, and gently planted it on the ground.

He lowered his eyes to look at Jianghe, his voice light and shallow.

“Eighth Junior Brother, what did you just say? I didn’t quite hear clearly.”

“…”

In that instant, Jianghe’s hair practically stood on end. Before Jian Chou could react, he shrieked: “I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong! Ahhhhhhh—”

A red light shot skyward, and Jianghe had vanished.

His voice came from far away through the rain: “Let’s hurry to the Western Sea on business! Haha, we get to fight again!”

He’d been scared away.

Jian Chou couldn’t help but glance sideways at Qu Zhengfeng.

Qu Zhengfeng showed no unusual reaction, simply throwing the Seashore Light Sword and stepping onto it: “We should go too.”

“Mm.”

Jian Chou responded and also mounted the Liwai Mirror.

The moment the glassy golden light appeared, Qu Zhengfeng glanced back at her.

Jian Chou blushed slightly and explained: “The Ghost Axe is fine for fighting… For daily use, the Liwai Mirror isn’t bad.”

As for the reason…

Qu Zhengfeng smiled slowly and transformed into a streak of light heading into the distance. Jian Chou followed.

“This trip to the Western Sea is to handle a troublesome matter. The person involved actually has some connection to Eldest Senior Sister…”

A connection?

Speaking of the Western Sea, Jian Chou’s impression was still vivid.

She had her first combat with someone on the sea surface and sustained some injuries; she met her first group of friends after coming to the Nineteen Continents; she had also encountered an ephemeral youth named “Zhaosheng” on Dengtian Island…

Looking up at the sky, Jian Chou suddenly felt unable to distinguish day from night.

Smiling strangely, she thought she was probably remembering those heart-stopping words.

Jian Chou collected her thoughts and only asked: “What connection?”