“Boom!”

Terrifying power instantly arrived before Xie Buchen.

A moment of shock earlier had already cost him the initiative.

Even with Xie Buchen’s shocking cultivation, he had no time to resist at this moment. In haste, he raised his sword to block, but couldn’t withstand the terrifying might of the Heaven-Overturning Seal at all!

Such frightening power!

Like a mountain slapping toward a person.

The distance was far too close!

So close that Xie Buchen could even see his own reflection in Jian Chou’s eyes.

A pair of ice-cold eyes without the slightest mercy, only killing intent!

Such pure killing intent…

It even carried an indescribable beauty.

Only unfortunately, hidden behind this beauty was ultimate danger.

“Boom!”

The massive Heaven-Overturning Seal filled the entire end of the corridor, almost instantly colliding with the long sword he held before him.

The huge force caused the tiger’s mouth of his right hand to instantly split open, blood flowing freely.

At the same time, Jian Chou’s incredibly hard leg had already directly collided with his leg.

After Black Wind body tempering, and experiencing the Golden Core lightning tribulation, her entire body had been perfectly tempered by lightning.

At this moment, Jian Chou was a genuine sixth-layer “Human Weapon” body cultivation practitioner!

With such an undefended leg strike, what was flexible was flesh and blood, but what was hard was bone.

Crack crack crack…

In that instant, everyone who had been pushed aside by the terrifying power of the Heaven-Overturning Seal actually heard subtle sounds in their ears.

A layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on Xie Buchen’s body.

Tremendous pain instantly came from where he collided with Jian Chou. Though his face showed not the slightest trace of pain, that suddenly pale complexion couldn’t be hidden from anyone.

The smile at the corners of Jian Chou’s lips suddenly widened.

In just one encounter, Xie Buchen had already suffered a hidden loss.

Under the fierce strike of the Heaven-Overturning Seal combined with Jian Chou’s leg, his entire body was actually sent flying backward!

After entering the Hidden Realm, the corridor had painted walls on both sides, with only ten zhang between the two hundred-zhang-high walls.

So, in just a blink of an eye, Xie Buchen crashed into the painted wall covered with various carvings!

“Bang!”

A solid hit!

Blood and qi churned within Xie Buchen’s body.

But he was no ordinary person either. The instant he crashed into the wall, he directly pushed hard against the stone wall behind him with one palm, his five fingers deeply embedded in the carvings, leaving a clear palm print!

Using the force!

He completely ignored his injuries and, in extreme motion, transformed again into extreme motion, leaping up and becoming a residual shadow, slashing toward her with his sheathed sword!

Jian Chou naturally guessed that the head of the thirteenth disciple, the most talented under Kunwu’s Real Person Hengxu, wouldn’t be so easy to “borrow.” So the moment her Heaven-Overturning Seal succeeded, she had already directly raised her hand to her forehead!

Swish!

The Ghost Axe traced a ferocious shadow in mid-air and was already gripped in Jian Chou’s hand.

The instant Xie Buchen counter-charged, she also struck with her axe!

Two Golden Core cultivators, each the leading disciple of their generation from Kunwu and Yashan, in this mere ten-zhang space, clashed together almost in a flash of thought, followed by lightning-fast exchanges.

The massive Ghost Axe collided fiercely with the sword sheath in Xie Buchen’s hand.

“Clang!”

Immediately, bright sparks bloomed from the clash of weapons.

That Jian Chou’s Ghost Axe was a supreme treasure still coveted by the Northern Region’s Yin-Yang sects, with special material and extreme durability, suffering no damage was expected.

But unexpectedly, the sheath of Xie Buchen’s sword was also incredibly hard.

After the collision, his sheath was merely knocked aside but didn’t even leave a single gap!

Truly carrying divine weapons…

When Jian Chou’s axe failed to succeed, she directly flicked her wrist, and immediately a Dao seal lit up from the ferocious Ten Thousand Ghosts pattern on the Ghost Axe!

Cleaving Sky Slash!

The Ghost Axe flew again, the attack strengthened by another level!

Swish swish swish!

Three axe shadows almost overlapped into a string, slashing toward Xie Buchen without any interval!

Fierce attacks, one wave after another.

Xie Buchen’s right hand had just gripped the sword hilt, withdrawing the sword that had been knocked aside, when Jian Chou’s second wave of attacks was already before his eyes.

The gentleness on his face finally disappeared completely, frost and snow condensing at the corners of his eyes and brows, becoming cold to the extreme: If Jian Chou wanted to seize the opportunity to kill, who wasn’t thinking the same?

As early as when they decided to maintain surface harmony between them, traveling here with mutual deception, they already knew that between the two of them, only one could remain.

One singlemindedly seeking the Dao, one singlemindedly seeking revenge!

When it was time to act, why hesitate?

As this thought flashed through his mind, Xie Buchen’s left hand, which hadn’t been holding the sword, finally closed, his index and ring fingers instantly joining like a blade, immediately condensing a distinguished aura at his fingertips, forming a startling sword qi!

In that instant, Xie Buchen’s figure swayed, actually like a crane.

As his right hand withdrew the sheathed Human Emperor Sword, his left hand gestured toward Jian Chou with joined fingers!

“Thrust!”

An extremely subtle sound, yet with speed almost impossible to catch with the naked eye!

The moment Jian Chou’s three-layered axe shadows struck Xie Buchen’s body, that sword qi was already thundering toward her!

Though it was merely sword qi emitted from two fingers, in that instant it was as if a swordsman stood proudly atop a mountain peak, slashing down at her with a sword, carrying the pride and excellence of mountains standing tall between heaven and earth!

“Distinguished Sword Intent!”

Without needing to think further, Jian Chou almost instantly connected this sword intent with what Wuduan had said earlier!

If an ordinary person faced this sword qi, they definitely wouldn’t dare face its sharpness directly…

But she was Jian Chou!

She was Jian Chou of the sixth layer of “Human Weapon” body cultivation, a “dead pervert” in others’ mouths!

The moment that sword qi reached her, Jian Chou actually directly raised her left hand, grabbing toward this sword qi!

“Boom!”

The vertical and horizontal sword qi immediately struck Jian Chou’s palm, instantly blasting away a mass of flying flesh and blood!

Only…

After the flesh and blood flew away, what remained on Jian Chou’s palm were five jade-like finger bones, with black patterns spiraling up along the finger bones and palm bones, actually flowing faintly!

Even that sharp sword qi, when it struck these jade-like bones, only left a few tiny cracks.

The Azure Lotus Spirit Fire burned once, and the cracks instantly disappeared without a trace.

“Snap!”

As if unable to feel that heart-and-lung-tearing agony, Jian Chou’s face only carried a nearly cruel smile as she fiercely clenched her five fingers!

The Distinguished Sword Intent was actually crushed to pieces by her bare hands!

Jian Chou’s left palm also instantly shed all its flesh and blood, becoming five “clean” finger bones…

When the three axe shadows struck his body, Xie Buchen wasn’t like Jian Chou with the powerful body of sixth-layer “Human Weapon” cultivation. Though his body’s strength far exceeded many Kunwu fellow disciples, compared to Jian Chou in this aspect, he was still far behind.

In just a blink of an eye, Xie Buchen’s front was already covered in blood.

His ink-blue robe was soaked with seeping blood, turning a deep dark purple, shocking to behold.

Enduring the pain, he squinted slightly at her, his voice still relatively calm: “It seems you chatted quite a bit with Senior Brother Wuduan.”

“Not much, just a little about you.”

A hearty laugh, carrying a kind of satisfaction!

Jian Chou nimbly twisted her neck, immediately exuding a demonic aura.

Wuduan actually hadn’t said very much, only giving Jian Chou a general understanding of Xie Buchen’s strength. But Xie Buchen’s true strength would be considerably greater than what Wuduan had said.

In fact, what Wuduan said provided no substantial help to Jian Chou’s battle.

The only benefit was letting him know just how “pleasant” it felt to be stabbed in the back by someone!

Her left hand’s five fingers lightly turned, and finger bones with three-quarters black wind patterns closed together, immediately summoning several gusts of wind that gathered in her palm, forming wave after wave of black wind blades, with ice-blue wind blades occasionally mixed in, sometimes blue, sometimes black.

Without warning, killing intent overflowed!

Black Wind Blade Lotus, a combination of two types of wind blades!

Jian Chou watched his face grow suddenly pale from blood loss and closed her five fingers together, already lunging toward Xie Buchen!

Though she didn’t know what was special about that sword of his, still…

It would be best if this sword never had a chance to leave its sheath!

In battle, Jian Chou was definitely not one to be softhearted.

This battle had only one word: “Kill”!

A brutal and exciting battle immediately unfolded in this short corridor!

Bang bang bang!

Countless carvings on the painted walls suffered as a result!

…

Everyone below was dumbfounded.

No one had expected these two to start fighting without any warning, and whether it was Jian Chou or Xie Buchen, every move was filled with killing intent.

Every technique and style aimed to put the other to death!

Xiao Jin’s jaw was about to drop to the ground, his hand went soft and he almost couldn’t hold the watermelon in his arms: “Wh-why did they start fighting directly? Didn’t Senior Sister Jian Chou just say something about ‘mutual support’ and ‘sharing the same boat’?”

Mutual support?

Sharing the same boat?

Damn it, she said it and you believed it?

Though Zuoliu hadn’t spent much time with Jian Chou, he now knew she was someone who lied without blinking, and when she spoke to you with a very kind smile, eight out of ten sentences couldn’t be trusted!

Hearing Xiao Jin’s incredibly naive question, Zuoliu frantically wiped away cold sweat.

But seeing the nearly insane battle between those two, he was also completely confused about the situation: There were three choices! If you wanted to fight, at least listen to them all before fighting! Starting a fight just like that – isn’t that a bit too willful?!

If Zuoliu and Xiao Jin were like this, the pig carved on the stone gate was even more so.

Having guarded the gate for so many years, this was the first time seeing such straightforward and fierce “uninvited guests.”

It stared wide-eyed, mouth agape, both ears nearly standing up, its brain completely unable to process what was happening!

They started fighting?

“I… I haven’t finished speaking yet…”

“Hey, you two don’t rush to fight, okay? Let me finish talking first!”

“You can also choose to sing me a song or dance! Hey—”

“Do you damn well respect pigs or not?! Do my words have any authority left?!”

…

Without even hearing the choices, without a word, they directly started killing – so you just came here to find a place to fight?!

The gatekeeper pig shouted and yelled, but unfortunately, neither of the two people locked in deadly combat heard its words.

Or perhaps, even if they heard, they simply didn’t care.

This was exactly the choice they wanted!

This was exactly what they wanted – to start killing at the slightest disagreement!

Having endured until reaching Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm, from the moment they stepped into this place, killing intent had been swirling in her mind, never dissipating.

Was there a better opportunity than now?

There would never be another!

Though the gatekeeper pig said there were three choices, they absolutely wouldn’t listen to them all.

Because the first choice was already enough—

An excellent reason for killing provided by a guardian of Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm!

This trip was to investigate the “Nine Bends River Map,” so they must enter Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm; to enter Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm, they must kill one of their companions.

This was the rule given by Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm!

By timing their actions precisely, in the end, no matter who died, the one who lived could openly tell everyone: The Hidden Realm forced me to kill, it wasn’t my will!

No matter how ridiculous the reason, as long as there was one, it was a good reason!

This “Choice One” mentioned by the gatekeeper pig was practically tailor-made for the two of them!

Jian Chou absolutely didn’t believe she was the only one moved by this. Just looking at Xie Buchen’s incredibly fierce attacks, she could guess: He had the same thoughts as her!

This wasn’t Kunwu with its heavy restraints, nor did they need to consider the relationship between Kunwu and Yashan.

Except for the five companions, no one would know they fought in the Hidden Realm, and not a single person could immediately report to the outside world.

Just as Qu Zhengfeng dared to strike against Xie Buchen here, as long as she was here and succeeded in her underhanded attack, making him die completely in the Hidden Realm, who would know what happened in the Hidden Realm?

Right and wrong, black and white – all left to my mouth to tell!

If you’re dead, you deserved it!

The cold smile at Jian Chou’s lips intensified. The Black Wind Blade Lotus was scattered by Xie Buchen’s Distinguished Sword Intent, immediately transforming into violent blade streams that exploded against the stone walls on both sides with popping sounds.

The human figures carved on the painted walls immediately lost arms and legs!

A scene of devastation.

Because his right hand held the sword and his left hand used the Distinguished Sword Intent, Xie Buchen’s reaction speed was constrained.

After releasing one sword qi, before he could withdraw his hand, Jian Chou’s axe flashed and the second innate Dao seal was already lighting up on the axe surface—

Hum!

The entire Ghost Axe trembled, and starting from where Jian Chou gripped it, it shed its ghostly aura and began emitting endless golden light instead.

This was…

Red Sun Slash!

Everyone present had witnessed the power of this slash at the small meeting!

It was this slash that made Xu Lan’er lose all fighting ability and left her severely wounded near death!

Now she was actually going to use this Dao seal on Xie Buchen…

Zuoliu and the others all gasped, and even Xia Houshe frowned slightly.

Young Master Ruhua squinted slightly, his gaze following the entangled figures of the two fighters, observing very carefully.

Lu Xiangleng’s eyes were already filled with worry.

When she heard the gatekeeper pig announce “Choice One,” she had already felt an ominous premonition in her heart.

Unfortunately, Jian Chou and Xie Buchen moved too fast, far too fast, so fast that she couldn’t react in time and had no chance to intervene. These two had already engaged in battle.

Intertwined figures, startling speed, each exchange leaving only residual shadows in mid-air!

The golden light on Jian Chou’s axe had appeared, and as it raised high, the axe head instantly became scorching hot, like a ball of rolling magma gripped in Jian Chou’s hand…

Only deep hatred that wouldn’t end until death would make these two fight so desperately, right?

Kunwu and Yashan…

Lu Xiangleng’s heart again brought up the names of these two sects.

This might be personal enmity between Xie Buchen and Jian Chou, but whether it was Fudao Shanren or Real Person Hengxu, their regard for these two disciples was extraordinary.

If anything happened to either one, it could potentially trigger warfare between the two sects…

The Central Region couldn’t gamble and couldn’t afford to gamble.

The purple-golden light in Lu Xiangleng’s palm flowed outward, and her steps moved slightly, about to take action.

But just as she was about to step forward, a paper fan decorated with flowers casually blocked her path.

Lu Xiangleng looked up and immediately saw Young Master Ruhua.

In his embroidered robe, vulgar to the extreme, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he held his paper fan horizontally, calmly blocking her way.

“What does Young Master Ruhua mean by this?”

Lu Xiangleng’s brows furrowed, and faint coldness emerged.

“Heh.” Young Master Ruhua laughed softly, his voice carrying languid charm, speaking leisurely, “Isn’t Fairy Lu curious about these two first-class geniuses among our Central Region peers?”

Such as what trump cards they each possessed, what kind of terrifying combat power they actually had, who would win if they fought…

Others might not be curious, but he had been curious for a long time.

Especially…

At this moment, Young Master Ruhua sensed something distinctly different.

As the saying goes, the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the reckless, the reckless fear those who don’t want to live.

Jian Chou struck first, seizing the initiative, then continuously used injury-for-injury, life-for-life methods to maintain fierce attacks, thus able to continuously suppress Xie Buchen.

But…

Without sufficient strength, no matter how good the initiative or how fierce the fighting style, one could be counter-attacked into complete defeat.

Strength…

Jian Chou’s strength was different now!

She was strong to a shocking degree, surpassing even her peak moment at the Left Three Thousand small meeting with the Dijiang Wind Thunder Wings strike!

But now, she clearly hadn’t used the Dijiang Wind Thunder Wings yet.

The power in her every gesture was about to overflow, radiating an almost explosive surge;

Even just a small dodge could bring up strings of residual shadows, her speed so fast it was jaw-dropping;

As for the refined power when condensing Dao seals to use techniques, and her unimaginably quick speed, it was even more incomprehensible.

…

As if after the small meeting alone, her entire strength had directly jumped up a level!

Power, speed, extraordinarily skillful use of Dao seals…

Everything combined to form her current almost exaggerated combat ability!

Young Master Ruhua could be completely certain: If he faced Jian Chou head-on right now without revealing his trump cards, he definitely wouldn’t last ten rounds!

Could a small meeting improve a person this dramatically?

Young Master Ruhua didn’t believe it!

He stared at Jian Chou, his eyes already filled with indescribable emotions.

Slowly withdrawing his paper fan, Young Master Ruhua had almost forgotten about Lu Xiangleng beside him, only using the fan’s ribs to gently rub his palm, as if trying to drive away that unbearable itching sensation from his heart…

Unfortunately, even his gaze was hard to withdraw, let alone his inner feelings.

The more he observed, the deeper his doubts became…

For Xie Buchen, the doubts were equally present.

He had heard about her from others long ago, not to mention he had deliberately investigated some situations. What Dao seals Jian Chou knew, what characteristics her fighting had, what tactics she had used…

It could be said that though he had never personally seen Jian Chou fight, it was no different from having seen it with his own eyes!

Only Jian Chou’s current strength performance completely exceeded his previous judgment!

Even…

It wasn’t just exceeding by a little bit!

It was nearly a thirty percent increase in power!

“Boom!”

The Red Sun Slash, in the narrow space, had an even more scorching, searing sensation.

Red light illuminated both painted walls, actually turning the entire space into an area covered by magma!

That axe shadow was like a red sun hanging high in the sky, and Jian Chou was the one holding sun and moon in her hands, swinging the axe down with unstoppable force!

The Distinguished Sword Intent at Xie Buchen’s left fingertips instantly faded, and just as Jian Chou’s axe fell, his five fingers spread wide, forcefully grasping at something in the void!

Whoosh!

Within the painted corridor that had no trace of water, the sound of rushing rivers suddenly arose, momentarily surging.

He seemed to be grasping something in the void, and with his pale complexion, slowly drew that thing outward…

It was actually a sword!

A long sword condensed from river flow!

But where did the river flow come from here?

There wasn’t even half a drop of water!

It was all sword intent!

What Xie Buchen grasped wasn’t the river-flow sword he had once held on the Nine-Head River, but merely River Flow Sword Intent!

Only this sword intent was extremely strong, and as soon as it appeared, it gave people the feeling of facing a real river flow.

The entire space had originally shown a red color, but the moment Xie Buchen swung this River Flow Sword Intent, transparent ripples spread outward, dispelling the red!

“Boom!”

River Flow Sword Intent against Red Sun Slash!

The red sun fell, the great river flowed!

The terrifying red color surged forward, and after being blocked by those transparent ripples, a portion still remained, fiercely rushing toward Xie Buchen!

He simply held the sheathed Human Emperor Sword vertically in front of him!

Hum!

The red light struck the sword sheath, and most of it was actually blocked back, with only a tiny remainder that could no longer cause much damage to Xie Buchen.

This exchange was basically a draw.

However…

How could it end so easily?

Since speed was her advantage, she would use that speed advantage to the extreme!

A moon-white residual shadow was instantly before Xie Buchen!

“Boom!”

Pure physical power, one leg smashing out!

Xie Buchen slapped the painted wall and dodged to the side.

“Bang!”

The painted wall immediately bore a terrifying deep mark!

Though Jian Chou’s strike missed, she had already closed the distance with Xie Buchen again. Her right hand changed from palm to claw, forcefully grabbing toward his right shoulder!

“Pfft!”

Having just avoided one leg, Xie Buchen finally couldn’t dodge this close-range claw.

Immediately, Jian Chou’s five fingers sank into Xie Buchen’s right shoulder, blood gushing out!

Another successful hit!

Unfortunately, he was left-handed, but this time it was his right shoulder that was injured.

Just as Jian Chou was about to attack his left shoulder, she unexpectedly looked up and, at this distance where she could feel his breath, actually saw his emotionless, unfeeling eyes…

Tsk!

So it was a trap!

“Hiss!”

Her blood-stained five fingers pulled out from Xie Buchen’s shoulder, bringing out a spray of splattered blood, leaving five dripping blood holes.

The moment Jian Chou withdrew, an extremely obscure deep gray sword qi suddenly arose, brushing past Jian Chou’s cheek.

“Hidden Sword!”

Too dangerous!

If she hadn’t seen the opportunity early enough and been fast enough, in that instant, she would probably have had half her head sliced off by this sword qi!

A moon-white residual shadow flashed, and Jian Chou had already retreated to another painted wall ten zhang away.

“Good calculation. I thought you, Xie Buchen, wouldn’t use this method of harming the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred yourself!”

After all, he was the widely acclaimed “first in wisdom and strategy” in the Great Xia capital!

Her five fingers still had Xie Buchen’s blood on them.

Jian Chou casually waved her hand, and all the blood drops left her pale palm. She hooked them with her fingers and lightly turned them, instantly transforming them into a blooming, flowing “blood flower” balanced on her fingertip.

The blood from Xie Buchen’s right arm had already stained the Human Emperor Sword’s sheath red as it flowed down his arm.

But apart from pallor, his face still showed no trace of pain.

Being able to endure what ordinary people cannot endure – this was what made one superior to others.

His left hand vaguely held something, with faint gray-black glimmers, so subtle they were hard to detect, giving people a feeling of having emerged from the world yet being difficult for worldly people to find.

Hidden Sword Intent, learned from Fourth Senior Brother Wang Que.

Among the sword intents he had learned from others, this was the most unconventional and uniquely creative one, rarely seen in the world.

Without even using the Dijiang Wind Thunder Wings, Jian Chou had already forced him to switch to his third type of sword intent.

Even with the advantage of striking first, plus the difference between her having the Ghost Axe while he hadn’t drawn his sword, still…

Xie Buchen actually had an indescribable premonition: Even if Jian Chou didn’t use the Ghost Axe, the battle between them would probably still have this result!

What a startling judgment!

In Xie Buchen’s eyes, several traces of wariness had already appeared: She was much, much stronger than he had originally predicted. If he didn’t put forth his full spirit, the one who died in the Hidden Realm might very well be himself!

However…

This kind of strength increase from Jian Chou came too terrifyingly.

He couldn’t judge her strength for the moment, much less predict her trump cards.

Was it talent?

Was it effort?

Or was it some…

Factor he had overlooked…

Perhaps seeing through the contemplative look in Xie Buchen’s eyes, Jian Chou crushed that blood flower outlined with Xie Buchen’s blood in her pale palm.

She understood him far too well, from his reactions during combat to his current expression…

She could actually guess most of it.

Just how much had she once liked the person before her?

Jian Chou sighed softly: “You must be thinking right now about what crucial things you’ve overlooked, right? Unable to understand my strength at a glance, not knowing where my trump cards lie…”

“Pop!”

Like crushing a berry, the blood flower burst into a spray of blood mist under her five fingers’ pressure!

Actually, she was also very curious about what kind of combat power she currently possessed.

Jian Chou floated in the void dozens of zhang high, behind her the painted wall recording Buyu Shanren’s half-life of ups and downs.

In the void, a battle disc two zhang four chi seven suddenly began rotating, and the wing-shaped golden Dao seal lit up bit by bit. Behind Jian Chou’s shoulder, a burning sensation also arose.

She squinted, watching Xie Buchen, slightly lowering her body.

The smile at her lips suddenly widened, carrying full malice: “Since you’re curious, I’ll reveal them to you one by one!”