The river full of stern ice swords, under the moonlight, carried an even more bone-chilling sensation.

Upon hearing Jian Chou’s words, Zhou Chenjiang fell silent for a long while, finally letting out a rueful laugh: “In this battle, Zhou admits complete defeat. Thank you for showing mercy, Sister Jian Chou.”

Victory.

The outcome of this battle was clear.

The four people standing by the riverbank didn’t know what expression to make.

When Jian Chou’s final stratagem was revealed, their amazement was undisguised, but when the result truly arrived, they could hardly believe it.

Cross-realm battle.

This was a cross-realm battle!

Jian Chou was at Foundation Establishment peak. Though she was only one small step away from Golden Core, for most people, this step was an insurmountable chasm—how many cultivators were stuck at this final threshold, unable to find their way in?

One step was eternity.

But what about Jian Chou?

Her powerful attack force wasn’t limited to the Foundation Establishment realm. She had even comprehended alternative Dao Seals, allowing her to ride the wind and possess speed nearly matching Zhou Chenjiang’s before reaching Golden Core stage.

Powerful attacks, insane speed, meticulous planning—these were the keys to her victory in this battle!

Similarly, this was a battle worthy of being called classic.

The weak defeating the strong—cultivation realm didn’t completely represent battle strength.

Unfortunately…

Very few knew of it.

With this barrier around the riverbank, besides the six people within the barrier, no seventh person would ever know the result of this battle.

In the eyes of all the uninformed, Zhou Chenjiang remained the fourth-ranked hot favorite to ascend the One Person Platform in this assembly, while Jian Chou remained the hundredth-ranked tail-ender who could fall off the list at any moment.

On the river surface, after hearing Zhou Chenjiang’s words of concession, Jian Chou didn’t say much more, only responding: “You’re too kind.”

As her words fell, her raised palm gradually lowered.

Her five stiffly clenched fingers finally released from their previous tense state, relaxing.

Suddenly, a tremendous “crash” sounded across the river surface as all the ice swords floating on the river lost their supporting force and fell from mid-air like the Milky Way falling from the ninth heaven.

The entire broad surface of the Nine-Head River immediately surged with rolling waves!

Jian Chou and Zhou Chenjiang, who had turned around, looked at each other, seeing the complex and inscrutable expression on each other’s face.

Taking a step back, Jian Chou landed directly on the riverbank.

Crack.

The sound of fallen leaves breaking underfoot.

Autumn’s shallow presence.

Jian Chou turned to look, seeing Fudao Shanren with his eyes wide in shock, Elder Pang Dian with his face dark as iron, Qu Zhengfeng with a slight smile in his eyes… and Wu Duan staring straight at her.

This gaze…

Perhaps it should be called amazement?

The presence of Fudao Shanren and Pang Dian here was still within Jian Chou’s expectations. The appearance of Qu Zhengfeng was already somewhat surprising, but she hadn’t expected Wu Duan to be here too?

With all the commotion they had caused, yet no one had come to watch—presumably these two from Yashan and Dragon Gate were afraid of making too big a scene, so they had raised a spiritual barrier to keep people away.

But if that were the case, how had Wu Duan gotten through?

Jian Chou was somewhat puzzled but didn’t ask much.

Being able to be here without being driven away showed Wu Duan had some ability.

“Disciple pays respects to Master.”

Jian Chou bowed, first greeting Fudao Shanren.

Fudao Shanren slowly pulled the chicken leg he had nearly bitten through from his mouth, looking at Jian Chou like she was some kind of beast for a long while.

“What… what’s wrong?”

Jian Chou felt this gaze was somewhat frightening and couldn’t help but shiver.

The next moment, the entire Nine-Head River bank suddenly erupted with a string of maniacal laughter!

“Hahaha, hahaha, hahahahaha! Hahaha…”

Fudao Shanren’s body trembled as he held his chicken leg, absolutely triumphant!

Pang Dian’s already dark complexion immediately became several shades darker: “A petty person becomes arrogant upon success!”

“This mountain man is being arrogant—so what? If you have the ability, you be arrogant and show me! I have a disciple to be arrogant about—hit me if you dare!”

Upon hearing this, Fudao Shanren unhesitatingly retorted, not forgetting to tear off a large piece of chicken leg meat, looking smug.

“Don’t waste time with nonsense. A win is a win—hand it over.”

Hand it over…

Hand it over…

Hand it over…

Fudao Shanren’s leisurely voice kept echoing in Pang Dian’s ears.

Pang Dian only felt that the chicken-leg-holding Fudao Shanren before him suddenly had green eyes, blood-red mouth, withered cheeks, and sharp fangs, wanting to drain his blood and devour his flesh!

His heart ached, bleeding.

“Are you giving it or not!”

Seeing his collapsed expression and hesitation, Fudao Shanren immediately became impatient, spreading his hand toward Pang Dian like a lord.

Pang Dian’s lips trembled as he said: “Give, give…”

He reached into his robes, fumbling around.

Fumbling, fumbling…

Finally, his fingers hooked out a small golden horn-shaped lock, hesitating with obvious reluctance!

“Stop dawdling, hand it over. Whether you stick your head out or pull it in, it’s still one stroke—what ghost are you afraid of!”

Fudao Shanren directly snatched the small lock away, showing an impatient expression as he looked at Pang Dian. He really did have some authority when scolding people.

This was originally a perfectly ordinary phrase, but when Pang Dian heard it, he suddenly froze.

After a long while, he sighed: “It’s been nearly six hundred years since I heard you say that!”

That small lock was made from a young dragon’s golden horn, carved with ancient patterns. Because it had been used for many years, the edges were smooth and rounded, radiating a lustrous glow.

Faint spiritual light flickered within the small lock, and just holding it revealed its extraordinary nature.

Fudao Shanren played with this dragon horn small lock, originally drooling over it with his eyes practically glowing gold.

When Pang Dian said those words, his movements suddenly stopped. He looked up and rolled his eyes at Pang Dian: “You’re sick!”

“…You!”

Pang Dian was nearly choked to death by those two words, his eyes bulging and chest heaving as if he wanted to argue with Fudao Shanren.

“Enough, enough!”

Fudao Shanren became somewhat impatient, directly clenching the small lock in his hand.

“Don’t try to establish any friendship with this mountain man. This wager is complete. From now on, you are you and I am me. Don’t come to our Yashan asking for your little treasury back. A bet is a bet—this mountain man won’t return it to you. Don’t think I don’t know that you Dragon Gate people accumulate various treasures the fastest and don’t feel bad about it at all!”

Though Dragon Gate had shown some signs of decline in recent years, it was still a sect with the “Dragon Gate” inheritance, always possessing things other sects couldn’t get, with amazing magical treasures frequently appearing within the sect.

If there were no secrets involved, Fudao Shanren wouldn’t believe it.

For Fudao, losing would mean losing his real little treasury; but for Dragon Gate’s Elder Pang, losing a little treasury was nothing—in a hundred years, he could probably gather another one!

Therefore, Fudao Shanren’s attitude was casual.

Seeing that he had no reaction at all, Pang Dian could only look at him deeply and sigh heavily.

“Forget it. Chenjiang, we’re leaving!”

After speaking, Pang Dian turned directly.

At some point, Zhou Chenjiang had also returned from the river to the riverbank, standing quietly not far from them.

Like Jian Chou, he also bore bloodstains.

Even…

On the fingertips of his right hand, there were still dried bloodstains—the traces left when his claw had pressed on Jian Chou’s shoulder.

Hearing Pang Dian’s words, Zhou Chenjiang nodded silently and turned to follow.

But just as he was about to catch up, Zhou Chenjiang’s steps suddenly paused.

He turned back to look at Jian Chou.

Jian Chou stood three zhang away from him, very close, with blood still wet on her body and her face bearing the pallor of near exhaustion.

Their eyes met.

Jian Chou said nothing, not knowing what to say.

Zhou Chenjiang, having just experienced defeat, had quite complex emotions.

Having stood on the river for a long time, reviewing every detail of this battle, Zhou Chenjiang could say he was completely convinced, but there was one thing he didn’t quite understand—what exactly were those scale-like things that appeared on Jian Chou’s shoulder in that instant?

So familiar…

It made him somewhat alarmed.

Some things were a sect’s closely guarded secrets, absolutely unknown to outsiders and impossible for outsiders to know.

Dragon Gate’s Dao Seals were one such thing.

His gaze toward Jian Chou suddenly carried a touch of indescribable complexity.

Zhou Chenjiang’s lips moved as if he was about to say something, but Jian Chou continued to look back at him with an extremely calm expression.

In that instant, all words vanished completely.

Zhou Chenjiang ultimately didn’t ask anything, only saying to Jian Chou: “If we meet again at the minor assembly, Zhou would still wish to battle with Sister once more.”

After speaking, he smiled slightly and finally caught up with Pang Dian’s indignant steps, disappearing into the dark dense forest.

In place, Fudao Shanren’s strange gaze wandered between the direction Zhou Chenjiang had disappeared and Jian Chou for a long time, clicking his tongue twice: “You two fought and actually developed feelings, didn’t you?”

“…”

What was he even talking about?

Only Jian Chou knew what Zhou Chenjiang’s final glance meant.

In that moment during their battle, she had actually lost control.

The memories deeply engraved in her mind couldn’t be erased. Everything about that Dao Seal was clearly written on the Black Wind Cave walls. Others who saw it might not be able to use it, but for Jian Chou, everything became replicable.

So when Zhou Chenjiang’s dragon-scale-covered claw reached for her shoulder, she unconsciously used Dragon Gate’s Dao Seal.

That was the real reason Zhou Chenjiang had been distracted for a moment.

He ultimately didn’t ask.

Jian Chou didn’t know what to say either. Faced with Fudao Shanren’s teasing, she only smiled and didn’t answer.

But…

She didn’t know how this smile appeared to others.

Qu Zhengfeng’s gaze swept past her shoulder, which still bore five blood marks, seemingly with some interest, though he didn’t say much.

Wu Duan stroked his chin and suddenly transmitted a message to Qu Zhengfeng: “Does your Senior Martial Sister have a dao companion?”

“…”

Qu Zhengfeng squinted slightly, looking up at Wu Duan, but his mind suddenly thought of Xie Buchen, whom he had severely injured and trapped in the Qingfeng Nunnery hidden realm.

Come to think of it, Wu Duan was also Xie Buchen’s senior brother.

As for Jian Chou and Xie Buchen…

Hmm, things seemed to be getting interesting.

“This dragon horn small lock—as long as it’s brought to the underwater lake of Little Dragon Gate, it will automatically open, hahaha… This time I’ve really struck it rich…”

On Fudao Shanren’s side, he vigorously wiped the small lock with his greasy sleeve, seemingly not caring at all about the departure of the master and disciple pair, laughing lecherously.

Watching this, Jian Chou couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

The moon had set.

The eastern horizon began to show a fish-belly white, and the frost moon’s outline gradually faded.

Jian Chou glanced at Qu Zhengfeng and Wu Duan, who were clearly communicating through voice transmission, but ultimately said nothing.

After this battle, a night had passed.

The thirty-li barrier was completely removed, and everything returned to its original state.

Fudao Shanren led the three people back along the original path, as if nothing had happened.

There were only three days left until the Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly officially began.

When Jian Chou and the others returned to Kunwu’s main peak, they discovered that the entire mountain base had completely changed.

At some unknown time, one hundred and twenty irregular high platforms, each ten zhang in circumference, had appeared at the foot of Kunwu’s main peak.

All the platforms stood surrounding the main peak, in various shapes, extremely natural, generally presenting an inverted triangle appearance with flat tops where people could stand.

Each platform had its pointed end downward, standing on the ground. They were seven or eight zhang high, casting thick shadows on the ground.

At this moment, many Kunwu disciples were busy beneath the platforms, seemingly inspecting each one, occasionally looking up at the sky as if checking something.

“What are those?”

Jian Chou vaguely felt they were related to the Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly, looking like fighting platforms.

Fudao Shanren glanced at them and immediately stroked his chin with a mischievous laugh, his eyes showing smug satisfaction: “These are naturally prepared for the Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly, and this was this mountain man’s idea too. With just that old monster Hengxu’s barren brain, he could never think of such a good idea. This mountain man truly is a genius!”

“…”

Then why don’t you tell us what the rules actually are?

Jian Chou was helpless inside.

Seeing Fudao Shanren’s smug yet tight-lipped appearance, he probably wouldn’t say anything.

She couldn’t help but become curious.

She’d heard that the rules of the minor assembly were different every year, and when Fudao Shanren was present, every assembly would become hellish and inhumane. She wondered… what about this year?

Fudao Shanren seemed to see Jian Chou’s curiosity and became even more spirited.

“Don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious. You’ll know in three days!”

Jian Chou rolled her eyes internally and finally gave up on trying to get information from Fudao Shanren.

The newly appeared 120 platforms obviously attracted more than just Jian Chou and the others’ attention.

Countless cultivators were now gathered at Kunwu, whether wanting to participate in the minor assembly or just to watch the excitement and see the world—almost all were paying attention to Kunwu. After all, the Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly rules were different each year. Selecting the person to ascend the One Person Platform from countless applicants was no simple matter. Though the rules had tended toward simplicity during the three hundred years Fudao Shanren was absent, who didn’t know that Fudao Shanren had returned this year?

So when these 120 platforms appeared, the entire Kunwu territory exploded with discussion.

Not everyone could enjoy the same treatment as the great sect Yashan and be arranged to stay on the main peak by Kunwu. Most cultivators followed the principle of being close to nature and simply sat cross-legged in meditation in the mountain forests.

After all, Kunwu’s territory was rich in spiritual energy—a perfect place for cultivation.

During this process, they could also observe Kunwu’s preparations.

This year’s minor assembly clearly exceeded the excitement of previous years.

Too many unexpected things had happened this year.

Fudao Shanren’s return brought changes to the assembly rules.

The list ranked by Zhilin Sou had some mysterious figures and some inexplicable ones. There were outstanding talents who had always been hot favorites like Young Master Ruhua, Zhou Chenjiang, Xie Ding, and Gu Qingmei; there were dark horses who suddenly appeared on the rankings like Xia Houshe and Xiao Jin; and of course, there were those considered to be making up numbers like Xie Buchen and Jian Chou…

Just discussing these people took up much of the cultivators’ time.

However, after all the talk, almost no one had actually seen these people fight. All the mysteries could only be explored when the Left Three Thousand Minor Assembly officially began.

Three days passed in a blink.

On an autumn morning, the red sun rose from the eastern horizon, spreading its gentle warmth across the entire Nine-Head River bay.

Crossing the sparkling waves and walking through the towering ancient trees toward the center, Kunwu’s eleven main peaks bathed in brilliant sunlight, misty with clouds, displaying a majesty that stood proud above the Nineteen Continents.

At the mountain’s base, surrounding the main peak, countless human figures had gathered densely.

Some stood on the ground, others sat high on tree branches, and still others floated in mid-air riding artifacts or flying… Some sat alone in meditation, others gathered in groups of three or five to chat.

But regardless of where they were, everyone’s gaze fell without exception on the long mountain path leading to the peak!

The mountain top was hidden in deep clouds, where the outline of a massive bell and drum tower could be vaguely seen.

A huge bronze bell hung suspended in mid-air.

A Kunwu disciple, tall and straight, stood solemnly beside the bronze bell.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the shadows people cast on the ground grew shorter and shorter.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the Kunwu disciple who had been standing like a statue finally moved.

He raised his hand and, using all his strength, struck the massive bronze bell hard!

“Dong——”

The great bell’s sound suddenly scattered all the morning’s layers of white clouds!

Centered on Kunwu’s main peak, all the white clouds dispersed completely, clearly revealing the outline of Kunwu’s eleven peaks!

The figures of True Person Hengxu and Fudao Shanren were also finally completely revealed in the golden sunlight!

At the mountain’s base, the dark-red-robed youth, the boy hugging a watermelon, the young man still boredly flipping through his little yellow book, the man with two small mustaches holding a long staff and standing lecherously among the crowd, the arrogant Gu Qingmei, the now-calm Zhou Chenjiang, the frighteningly pale Lu Xiangleng…

Countless people, some already famous throughout the land, others still unknown.

In the moment the bell rang, in the moment those two voices appeared, all became equal.

Everyone looked up!

Jian Chou also stood at the mountain’s base, among the Yashan group, her calm gaze falling on the figures at the mountain path’s end.

The outstanding figures of the age had all gathered here.

This year, who would be able to defeat all heroes and cut down all champions?

The One Person Platform…

In a corner, a red-faced old man with crane-like hair bit the back of his pale gold carving knife, holding a copy of the “One Person Platform Manual” that was a full six feet long, his eyes flashing with divine light.