Only red flowers, no green leaves.
The entire world was a brilliant red, with countless strange petals blown by the wind into the sky, drifting everywhere. Their edges held faint radiance, as if they were no ordinary things.
Jian Chou had only charged forward about one zhang when she saw a flash of red light before her eyes. A petal floating in mid-air suddenly transformed into a graceful beauty!
Dressed in red robes with a gold-threaded collar, she had an enchanting peach-pink gold-painted flower ornament between her brows. With distant mountain eyebrows, phoenix eyes, a delicate nose, and cherry lips, she seemed both alluring and pure.
Her snow-white thighs were hidden within a dress slit halfway up, appearing especially enticing.
She gazed at Jian Chou with a smile, but her eyes held deep death qi that made one extremely uncomfortable.
“Outsider, to pass this trial, you must defeat me.”
Was this the danger hidden within the chaotic red?
Jian Chou couldn’t sense this enchanting woman’s cultivation level at all. The flying flowers throughout the world became a beautiful decoration behind this woman.
Before she could react, a red shadow flashed before her eyes. The woman flew forward, cleanly and efficiently sweeping a leg directly at Jian Chou!
Power!
Pure!
Violent!
Jian Chou reacted extremely quickly, immediately raising her ghost axe to block in front of her!
Clang!
The moment the woman’s long leg collided with the ghost axe, Jian Chou heard the sound of metal and stone striking!
Terrifying!
Such incredible body hardness!
Her entire arm was numbed from the shock. Jian Chou was even forced to fall from mid-air, retreating several steps before finally stopping on the flower field path!
Where she landed, a huge mud pit appeared.
The power of one strike was so terrifying.
Jian Chou couldn’t help but flex her fingers, looking at the woman floating gracefully in mid-air. She was shocked: The opponent’s attack followed the body cultivation path?
For a moment, her heart sank. Looking at the woman’s back, the endless, vast flower field seemed boundless, with countless flying flowers drifting in the sky…
Since it was the body cultivation path, then…
It was time to test what level her first layer of “Human Artifact” could reach.
Jian Chou slowly lowered her body’s center of gravity, her entire flesh and blood tensing up. The ghost axe flashed from her palm and disappeared.
That enchanting red-dressed woman seemed completely unconcerned with what Jian Chou was doing. With empty, lifeless eyes, she directly swept another leg over!
At this moment, Jian Chou pushed off with her feet, actually rising from the ground simultaneously with this woman, fiercely striking out with one leg!
The beauty of combining hardness and softness bloomed in that instant!
Bang!
Explosive!
Southeast.
After seeing that emerald light leave its original position, Gu Qingmei knew that those three who showed no response, especially the one who directly left without giving her any face, would be the true enemy this time.
The Dijiang Guyu that Senior Brother Xie needed—she was determined to obtain it!
If anyone dared to steal it…
Gu Qingmei gripped the cold jade ice sword in her hand and charged straight forward!
Unexpectedly, the red flowers drifting in the sky transformed into a female cultivator also wielding an ice sword, staring at her with eyes devoid of warmth or emotion.
“Outsider, to pass this trial, you must defeat me.”
Defeat you?
What are you supposed to be?
Gu Qingmei’s cold jade ice sword was made from a thousand-year-old cold jade from the Northwestern Snow Region, extremely rare in the world. She was also at late-stage Foundation Establishment and had the power of weapons—she wasn’t afraid at all.
Coldly staring at that sword-wielding woman, Gu Qingmei unhesitatingly slashed with her sword!
“Get lost, don’t block the way!”
Due south.
“Outsider, to pass this trial, you must defeat me.”
The man holding the long staff couldn’t help but smile with amusement.
He, Meng Xizhou, had been mixing around these Nineteen Continents for so many years and had never seen such a beautiful woman say she wanted to fight.
Tsk tsk…
Such a good-looking one should be put on a bed…
Unfortunately, this little lady’s eyes were empty—probably not a living thing.
Though he considered his tastes heavy, he didn’t have the guts for this kind.
After sighing in his heart, Meng Xizhou stroked his chin and immediately swung his staff forward!
Who would have thought that at that moment, an identical long black staff shadow would fly from the red-dressed woman’s hands!
“What?!”
The same weapon?
Meng Xizhou was stunned and was smashed heavily to the ground by this staff strike!
Bang!
His sinews and bones nearly cracked!
So strong…
Due west.
The man in official robes had been standing in place for a while.
He had also clearly heard the conversation coming from within the stone disc…
However, he wasn’t very fond of talking.
Especially not fond of this kind of unfamiliar atmosphere.
This place seemed to be a completely different world.
One moment, he was in the heavenly prison, severely torturing criminals; the next moment, he was in this ever-changing place.
Thinking of the stone disc that the old Daoist had given him, Zhang Tang couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
With an expressionless face, always called a “petty clerk” and “dead man’s face” by court and countryside alike, and with countless lives’ blood on his hands, wherever he resided, one could catch sparrows at his door. Even the trees in his courtyard only had ravens coming to roost.
Zhang Tang had long grown accustomed to all the cold stares and harsh words and was fearless toward all terrifying things in the world.
Before his eyes was a field of chaotic red flying flowers—who knew what was there.
He pondered with lowered eyes for a moment, then stepped forward without ripples in his heart, following the flower field path straight ahead.
After walking about one zhang, a petal flew from afar, and a wailing cry came through the air: “Cruel petty clerk, you’ve skinned countless people—give me back my life…”
Sobbing, shrill and piercing.
Zhang Tang looked up and saw a red-dressed woman covered in blood with white bones showing, appearing before him.
A wronged soul seeking vengeance?
Zhang Tang’s cold gaze showed not the slightest emotional fluctuation. His right hand reached into his left sleeve and withdrew a thin, sharp skinning blade, then looked up to examine the red-dressed woman.
At this moment, the red-dressed woman showed an expression of fear.
“Don’t block this official’s path.”
When he spoke, his voice was flat, still like interrogating criminals in the great prison.
As his words fell, the blood marks around the red-dressed woman seemed to crack madly.
A sharp, miserable scream was heard—
The red-dressed woman’s entire body exploded out of nowhere, turning into a mass of bloody filth.
A red petal slowly fell to the ground.
All around, countless red flowers transformed into countless corpses—some had endured the punishment of branding irons, some had their tongues cut out, some had been skinned by someone with exquisite skill, some had slave marks branded on their faces, some had broken fingers, some had thick, wet paper money pressed on their faces…
These people, these corpses, all opened empty eyes and stood on both sides of the flower field.
Zhang Tang stepped forward, fearlessly stern.
They were just people he had killed once before—mere dead people.
In the great prison, he could torture these people to death with cruel punishments. Here, he might not be unable to do it again.
Walking forward step by step, these corpses seemed to see something that terrified them—not one dared to pounce forward!
…
Northwest.
The disheveled man looked somewhat pale and fearfully at the red-dressed woman appearing before him.
“Outsider, to pass this trial, you must defeat me.”
Defeat?
He was just an ordinary wealthy family obsessed with the immortal path, wanting to seek immortality and ask about the Dao here. He hadn’t expected to reach Severing Karma Island. Seeing the countless magical treasures’ radiance flying through the sky, he no longer had the strength to advance.
Now, by coincidence, he had entered this place.
Endless potential suddenly burst from his originally withered body!
He didn’t know who the others were, nor what the Dijiang Guyu was. He only knew—
There was an opportunity in this Shered Small Realm!
The opportunity for him to become immortal and live on!
He absolutely couldn’t give up!
His gaze suddenly became as fierce as a wild beast. This man threw himself forward and began grappling with the red-dressed woman.
I, Qin Ruoxu, must become immortal!
Let those mortals who look down on me open their dog eyes and take a good look!
His eyes had already turned blood red!
Due north.
The red-dressed woman raised her hand, and countless gold, silver, and treasures appeared throughout the flower field.
Raising her hand again, lines of text also appeared in the void.
Golden Abacus Qian Que stared almost dumbfounded at everything before him—
Question: There are roosters worth five spirit stones each, hens worth three spirit stones each, and three chicks worth one spirit stone. With one hundred spirit stones buying one hundred chickens total, how many roosters, hens, and chicks respectively?
The red-dressed woman said coldly, “If you can’t answer, you die!”
Qian Que held his golden abacus in bewilderment: “Your mother! This is possible too?!”
Northeast.
“Come on, little master, look at this slave…”
The red-dressed woman seductively lifted her split dress hem, revealing snow-white thighs.
“Ahhhhh, see no evil, see no evil… Please show restraint, benefactor. Amitabha, sin, sin…”
The young monk Liao Kong had been practicing for over ten years. He had only heard his master-uncles and master-seniors say that wine was poison through the intestines, and lust was a steel blade scraping bones, but he never expected to encounter it himself!
Liao Kong was about to cry.
That red-dressed woman directly pulled at her front with both hands, and her already thin garment immediately fell to the flower-covered ground.
Snow-white skin immediately appeared before Liao Kong’s eyes…
Simultaneously, brilliant radiance lit up the ground as countless alluring beauties stood up completely naked.
Where were these growing flowers—they were all growing people!
“Don’t touch this poor monk—”
“Bang!”
Another violent collision!
Due east, Jian Chou heard that wailing cry from the stone disc, “Don’t touch this poor monk,” and felt all her hair stand on end. What exactly had that seemingly Buddhist sect cultivator encountered?
Actually…
Crying so miserably.
After this collision, the red-dressed woman staggered back three steps.
Her empty, lifeless pupils slowly raised, looking at Jian Chou again.
Body cultivator against body cultivator collision—no flashy power at all!
Jian Chou was quite satisfied with the first layer of “Human Artifact” she had currently cultivated. Her flexible flesh and blood could store spiritual energy the moment it struck out, thus becoming hard as iron and gold!
However, this red-dressed woman was even more terrifying—she seemed to feel no pain at all. No matter how violent the collision, she remained expressionless.
After several collisions, Jian Chou easily understood—
Indeed, not a living person.
She had heard that some cultivators who followed crooked, evil paths would use strange arts to refine human corpses into dead things that feared no pain, called “puppets.” Even if this red-dressed woman wasn’t a puppet, she was probably similar to one.
Jian Chou kept panting, fine beads of sweat falling from her forehead.
She licked her somewhat dry lips and slightly narrowed her eyes.
Looking at the stone disc, the red line due west had moved far forward. Though the speed wasn’t fast, it maintained a very steady pace, seeming to encounter no obstacles at all.
Strange…
All the others, like herself, had encountered trouble.
Just then, a delicate shout suddenly came from the stone disc!
It was Gu Qingmei!
“Bang!”
As if something had exploded.
Jian Chou focused her attention and saw on the stone disc that the red line in the southeast, which had been stalled suddenly, rushed toward the center of the disc at extremely high speed after this explosion!
Gu Qingmei had succeeded?
She still had some ability.
It seemed she needed to hurry, too.
There were only three Green Lotus Spirit Fires—if she was late, there would be none left.
Turning back, Jian Chou stared at the red-dressed woman walking toward her again and revealed a strange smile.
She twisted her neck.
As if loosening her muscles and bones.
Jian Chou only heard “crack crack” sounds between her sinews and bones.
Her originally gentle gaze suddenly became fiery and sharp, like an unsheathed steel blade!
Body cultivator?
She wasn’t merely a body cultivator!
But rather—
A formidable body cultivator with a terrifying Dao seal!
Bang!
Her body transformed into a stream of light!
The battle disc over one zhang appeared from her knee, spinning madly, causing all the petals in this entire flower field to dance wildly with its rotation!
Flowers flew throughout the sky!
Chaotic red covered the ground!
Jian Chou’s figure charged out boldly!
The red-dressed woman had transformed into lightning, striking straight toward Jian Chou.
This time, it was still a leg!
A huge phantom, centered on Jian Chou’s knee, suddenly spread forward.
The distance from that red-dressed woman seemed extremely far, but at this moment, it was rapidly closing.
In just an instant, she had already appeared before the red-dressed woman!
Raising her knee!
Bang!
A fierce collision!
It was as if this leg wasn’t her own, this knee wasn’t her own—they were cast of iron and forged of gold, incredibly hard!
At that moment, Jian Chou seemed to hear the sound of bones shattering.
However…
Not her own.
The red-dressed woman’s knee immediately caved inward at that instant, as if the bones inside had been fiercely shattered by Jian Chou’s leg!
Puff!
Flesh and blood flew everywhere!
The red-dressed woman’s thigh was directly smashed apart under Jian Chou’s collision!
Her rosy-cloud-like garment danced in mid-air as the red-dressed woman’s enchanting and eerie figure was heavily smashed into the flower field!
Bang.
Another sound.
Her limbs sank deeply into the muddy ground, actually soft and rotten like a pile of scrap metal, unable to move anymore.
Her empty gaze looked toward the vast sky, pupils congealed.
Dead.
Or rather, finally completely dead.
Jian Chou landed on the ground and shook the leg she had just used, only feeling sharp pain in her knee area…
Without reaching the second layer of “Human Artifact,” using such fierce force to collide was indeed somewhat lacking.
Jian Chou steadied herself and looked at the battle disc again. Gu Qingmei from the southeast had already used her excellent speed to surpass that mysterious person from due west, becoming the current leading person.
And she had become the third person to escape this flower field’s predicament.
Without hesitation, she directly raised her hand, sending the ghost axe flying forward!
The emerald light on the stone disc finally moved!
Once it moved, it was like lightning!
Gu Qingmei, who was speeding along, saw this and immediately sneered.
In that previous battle, Gu Qingmei never expected that red-dressed woman to be so troublesome. Seeing herself trapped while that person from due west went straight forward, Gu Qingmei finally couldn’t help but use a “Hundred Thunder Talisman” that Kunwu Elder Gu Pingsheng had left for her, blasting that red-dressed woman to pieces before she could escape.
Seeing herself suddenly surpass that person from due west, Gu Qingmei was extremely pleased.
At this time, the green light suddenly broke free and caught up, giving her a terrible sense of crisis!
Forming hand seals, Gu Qingmei unhesitatingly increased her spiritual power output!
Being a high-level spirit treasure with late-stage Foundation Establishment’s powerful cultivation, Gu Qingmei’s speed immediately became much faster!
The originally vast flower field was instantly swept past!
Before her eyes immediately appeared a solitary high black cliff stretching straight up. In the middle of the cliff, a light blue spirit fire floated quietly, as if it had been burning here for hundreds of years.
Green Lotus Spirit Fire!
Gu Qingmei’s eyes lit up as she flew up and grasped the Green Lotus Spirit Fire in her palm.
She looked at it joyfully for a long while, then glanced at the stone disc. Only then did that emerald light catch up, about to reach the endpoint.
“Hmph, so what if you have the Kill Disc? Incompetent…”
A faint mocking sound came from her mouth.
Gu Qingmei wanted that person holding the Kill Disc to hear it, preferably to die of anger.
Snorting contemptuously, she directly stored the spirit fire in a small white jade box and immediately prepared to fly up the cliff.
Above must be the second trial, “Flowers Fade to Remnant Red.”
She must reach the third trial before everyone else to ensure she can seize the “Dijiang Guyu”!
Her extreme speed made the wind howl in her ears!
However…
“Bang!”
Just as she kept flying upward to a certain height, an invisible barrier suddenly appeared, blocking her!
Gu Qingmei immediately felt her meridians’ qi and blood surge. She was sent flying back into the air and fell heavily to the ground!
“Puff.”
A small mouthful of fresh blood was spat on the ground.
Gu Qingmei stared in shock at the red-glowing stone disc…
What kind of joke was this?!
Could it be…
That entering the second trial also require the Kill Disc to enter before they can enter?!
After a mocking sound came a collision, followed by a muffled “puff” groan…
As Jian Chou reached out to take the “Green Lotus Spirit Fire,” she heard this series of sounds.
She was slightly surprised.
That Gu Qingmei had indeed been faster—Jian Chou couldn’t deny that she had wasted too much time in hard collisions with the red-dressed woman. Now she also felt a sense of emptiness in her body, her spiritual energy nearly exhausted.
However…
Looking at this spirit fire in her palm, several points of pleasure appeared in Jian Chou’s eyes.
Green Lotus Spirit Fire had a gentle nature but extremely high temperature, and also had a heart-clearing effect. Using it to refine bones was truly perfect.
Seeing the red light representing Gu Qingmei on the stone disc seeming to be blocked by something and unable to advance further, Jian Chou couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
That red light from due west, though moving slowly, had also approached the endpoint by now.
Presumably, this would be the third person.
Jian Chou became curious about this person who, like herself, had never spoken—what exactly was their background?
She glanced at that high cliff and suddenly guessed in her heart.
The red light from due west finally reached the endpoint.
Like Gu Qingmei’s red light, the opponent also stopped at the endpoint without moving at all.
At that moment, the smile at the corners of Jian Chou’s lips immediately widened.
The marten crouching on her shoulder seemed to sense her pleasure and began “woo-woo-woo” ing along, appearing lively and jumping about.
Jian Chou petted its head almost as if praising it.
It seemed the so-called “Kill Disc” indeed very much fit the name “Shered Small Realm.”
How about it…
If she didn’t move, others couldn’t move either.
Hadn’t Gu Qingmei said that having the Kill Disc wasn’t so great?
Jian Chou also felt she wasn’t particularly remarkable.
Mm, might as well just sit down and directly use this spirit fire to refine her bones a bit. Let everyone rest together, then slowly proceed forward.
Thinking this, Jian Chou wore a strange and benevolent smile as she directly sat cross-legged.
On the stone disc, red lights one after another finally slowly reached the endpoint in succession.
However, not a single person could pass through that barrier on the cliff to proceed to the next trial.
Gu Qingmei waited for a long time, feeling that she had just mocked someone one moment and was immediately controlled by them the next—her face hurt terribly.
At worst…
She’d wait here a while.
She gritted her teeth and said nothing, waiting.
But seeing that everyone had arrived yet that green light hadn’t moved at all, the anxious Gu Qingmei finally couldn’t bear it and shouted: “Are you going to move or not?”
Jian Chou heard the voice coming from within the stone disc and leisurely raised her eyelids for a casual, light glance.
After this loud shout, there was an eerie silence within the stone disc.
Move?
No rush—I’ll move after I finish cultivating.
Jian Chou raised her eyebrows with interest, her smile deepening as she calmly closed her eyelids and directly began meditating and regulating her breathing on the spot.
The marten jumped down from her shoulder and walked two circles around that stone disc.
“Chee chee chee chee…”
It sounded like gloating laughter.
In the southeast, Gu Qingmei, who had just spat blood, felt her qi and blood surge again. A breath stuck in her chest—she wanted nothing more than to drag that person from the other side of the stone disc over for a beating!
However—
She couldn’t!
The opponent said not a word—she didn’t even know the opponent’s identity!
When exactly could they continue to the next trial?!