Opening his mouth, Master Buyu seemed to want to say something, but ultimately said nothing.

He held that curved two-foot blade, examining Jian Chou, and after a long while finally burst into laughter: “Good, good! You people are quite interesting, quite interesting! If you want to eat, I’ll serve it up for you!”

Speaking thus, right before Jian Chou’s eyes, he summoned a large pot, cleaned the corpse properly, and threw it in to boil.

When the meat was thoroughly cooked, Master Buyu brandished his blade and in no time at all had cut several plates of white meat, placing them on the table before Jian Chou.

Jian Chou had already sat properly, just waiting to eat.

Seeing Master Buyu bring up the meat, she smoothly took the wine pot from the table, poured the jade liquid into a wine cup, first took a sip of wine, then picked up a piece of meat.

The wine entering her mouth was surprisingly sweet and cold; the meat dissolving on her tongue was actually tender yet elastic.

“Master has such excellent culinary skills!”

In that moment, Jian Chou truly couldn’t help herself and, with a strange expression, offered praise.

“Hehe…”

Master Buyu laughed once, then sliced down again with his blade, cutting off another piece of white meat.

The tip of the two-foot blade emitted a point of spiritual light, striking the white meat and actually breaking apart all the crisscrossing tendons within, so it was elastic when eaten yet not difficult to chew through.

As Jian Chou ate, her gaze fell on the blade in Master Buyu’s hand, though her thoughts drifted far away.

Master Buyu’s life experiences were truly astounding.

At the juncture between ancient and modern times, while Spirit Severing cultivators weren’t numerous, they certainly weren’t few either. Yet compared to the great cultivators of the Nineteen Continents, they still weren’t impressive enough.

That Master Buyu could be spotted by Ancestor Luye at such a time…

For some reason, Jian Chou recalled what she had learned about “Ancestor Luye” in the Crimson Slaughter Realm, and always felt that Ancestor Luye choosing Master Buyu was probably not entirely coincidental.

As for the reason…

Her gaze slowly moved from the two-foot blade to the steaming pot, and Jian Chou sighed inwardly.

After all, these were grudges between great cultivators, something she could only ponder.

Shaking her head to cast aside the complex thoughts in her mind, Jian Chou concentrated on eating the meat.

Ten plates of sliced Xie Buchen—though it sounded like a lot, when eating it didn’t feel quite enough.

Each plate brought up was just a thin layer of meat, and before she could eat her fill, the tenth plate was already empty.

Master Buyu had long since stopped, simply standing blade in hand before that large pot.

Watching Jian Chou eat bite after bite, chopstick after chopstick, he was somewhat surprised: looking carefully at Jian Chou’s expression, it was truly calm throughout, clearly showing no qualms whatsoever about this being her “ex-husband’s” flesh.

Such feeling, compared to hatred, was another kind of “heartlessness.”

Seeing that the ten plates of sliced meat were empty, Master Buyu stepped aside and casually waved his hand: “Your mind shows no hesitation—you may leave.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Master.”

Jian Chou was quite satisfied with her meal. Draining the last drop of wine from the pot, she felt warmth throughout her body as spiritual power gathered into streams, slowly converging into rivers flowing within her.

It seemed this pot of wine was indeed a fine thing.

She rose, holding Zhou Yin’s Xishan Demon Sword in her left hand and the Ghost Axe in her right, bowing respectfully to Master Buyu.

Looking up at Master Buyu now, she still felt his face was shrouded in a gloomy color that made one’s heart uneasy.

Jian Chou naturally wouldn’t think that Xie Buchen was the real Xie Buchen. What Master Buyu wanted to see was only the “intention” of the passerby at that moment. The Master Buyu appearing now was naturally not the real Master Buyu either, but merely a phantom, an inner demon, a strand of divine consciousness left behind…

Originally she had intended to leave, but as she took a step and was about to depart, somehow she suddenly stopped.

Master Buyu frowned.

Jian Chou stood still, facing Master Buyu. After hesitating, she finally spoke with quite respectful tone: “Master, this meat-cutting blade of yours—this junior rather likes it…”

“…”

Meat-cutting blade?

Master Buyu looked at Jian Chou, who had spoken halfway then stopped without continuing, unable to speak for a long time.

He stared at Jian Chou’s face, his two-foot blade trembling in his hand, his face also twitching as he smiled without warmth: “These youngsters nowadays have skin so thick you could roll donkeys on it!”

Roll donkeys?

Jian Chou nearly couldn’t help but reach up to feel whether her face was really that thick.

She had actually just asked casually, not really expecting to get the meat-cutting blade. Seeing Master Buyu’s reaction, she immediately prepared to give up.

Unexpectedly, just as Jian Chou was about to bow again and leave, the sound of something cutting through air came.

“Swish!”

A brilliant flash of blade light!

Jian Chou reacted extremely quickly, almost the instant the wind sound arose, directly raising her hand to block.

Unexpectedly, what came wasn’t an attack at all, but that two-foot blade!

In extreme astonishment, Jian Chou almost didn’t react in time, hurriedly changing from blocking to catching, finally grasping the two-foot blade in her palm.

The blade surface was bright as a cold pool, the handle embedded in the blade edge. The overall craftsmanship wasn’t extensive, even somewhat rough, yet at first glance it gave one a sense of great skill without artifice, as if this blade was naturally meant to be this way.

Two ancient seal characters were engraved on the blade body, and the moment Jian Chou grasped it, those two characters naturally appeared in her mind—

Gelu! (Deer-Cutting)

When Qin lost its deer, the world pursued it together.

My heart has a blade, called Deer-Cutting!

Trap the deer in the wild, divide its flesh among the feudal lords…

This blade was named—the Deer-Cutting Blade.

Certainly no ordinary item!

Jian Chou gazed at the blade, not coming to her senses for a long time.

Until wind blew from outside the cave, her wandering thoughts were awakened: This meat-cutting blade—it was obtained so easily?

Turning to look, all the furnishings in the cave had completely disappeared. No more hanging pot, no more corpse of Xie Buchen reduced to bones, no more long table with cups and dishes, even Master Buyu had vanished.

At the end of the entire corridor, only the stone statue on the stone wall remained.

Jian Chou walked over, looking up at it. Reflecting back, though she didn’t know why the other party had given her this blade, it was still a favor.

She bowed to the stone statue: “Junior Jian Chou thanks Master for the blade.”

After bowing and rising, Jian Chou was about to leave when, in the instant she raised her head, her gaze swept through the gap between the stone statue and the mountain rock behind it, suddenly discovering something different.

The entire stone statue was no different from before except for appearing much older.

Even the Daoist robes it wore were no different.

The only difference was the hands.

Perhaps because the blade had been given to Jian Chou, the stone statue’s hand that had originally held a blade had crumbled into fragments and fallen.

Jian Chou’s heart suddenly trembled.

She extended the tip of the Deer-Cutting Blade almost stiffly, gently prodding at the statue’s broken palm, causing a piece of already crumbled rock to fall away with a “pop” at Jian Chou’s feet.

Jian Chou didn’t look down even once.

At the broken palm, after the rock fell away, a section of bone-white finger bone was finally completely exposed.

Jian Chou finally saw clearly—saw clearly the line of small characters carved into the rock wall.

“Bitter encounters in obtaining the River Map, a lifetime of bloody storms and rain, in the end, merely making wedding clothes for others.”

“Ultimately—”

“Unwilling!”

“Master Buyu’s true grave.”

The first half was still comprehensible, nothing more than describing what he experienced after obtaining the “Nine Bends River Map,” but what did “making wedding clothes for others” mean?

And the character “grave”—only the dead reside in graves. Master Buyu attained the Dao and ascended, so why speak of a “grave”?

What was the identity of the corpse hidden within this stone statue?

In just an instant, various mysteries emerged.

Jian Chou was momentarily stunned.

Outside the eight corridors.

Xie Buchen, or rather “Wei Xin,” was already standing before the mountain, surveying the view.

The entire area before the mountain was a deep jade color—actually a vast marsh that seemed endless.

Upon the great marsh was built a giant courtyard complex obscured by clouds and mist, occupying an enormous area. As far as the eye could see, there were blue-green tiles and azure walls, with flying eaves linking together, giving one a sense of worldly prosperity.

A long path extended from the mountain down to the mountain’s base, leading to a small plaza in front of that courtyard complex.

This frighteningly large courtyard complex almost filled the entire great marsh, also filling Xie Buchen’s field of vision.

He looked down carefully, trying to see through the drifting clouds and mist, but when he looked closely, a sense of bewilderment arose, making him dizzy and unable to look for long.

Frowning, Xie Buchen knew that the three from Shanyin Sect wouldn’t emerge for a while, so he simply walked down the mountain path.

After descending the mountain, the path directly crossed half the great marsh to reach the plaza.

As Xie Buchen walked along, only when approaching the plaza did he see the three characters “Yunmeng Daze” (Cloud Dream Great Marsh) on the path, presumably the name of this great marsh within the Hidden Realm.

With his mind shaken, Xie Buchen remained silent, only looking up as he stepped onto the plaza.

A high wall stood at the plaza’s end, enclosing the entire courtyard complex behind it, thick and solid, with only a totem about ten zhang high at the position directly facing the plaza’s center.

The ground was clean, without even a speck of dust.

Xie Buchen walked step by step across the plaza, soon reaching the base of this high wall to examine that totem.

Or rather, it wasn’t a totem, just a diagram.

In the center was a large circle, intricate and complex, with many crisscrossing lines that looked like a maze diagram. After Xie Buchen looked at it, it seemed to sense something, with certain lines suddenly twisting and connecting into new patterns.

Xie Buchen was somewhat surprised.

However, after the lines changed once, they became still.

Among the chaotic lines, at the very center, they encircled a strange pattern.

As Xie Buchen looked at it, he spread his palm, revealing a small mark: this was the mark used to open the Hidden Realm gate of Qingfeng Nunnery, left by Real Person Hengxu when he departed Kunwu.

It seemed Hengxu had given him this mark for other purposes.

Perhaps it was the key to this puzzle.

Temporarily suppressing this doubt, he slowly clenched his hand again, guessing that this diagram might represent the enormous, jaw-dropping courtyard complex behind.

At the four corners of the maze diagram were several incomplete star points, like shattered dao seals. Directly below, at a position Xie Buchen could reach by extending his hand, was a deep black hexagonal groove densely covered with many recessed small points, like the battle disc cultivators stepped on.

A formation?

It didn’t quite seem like one.

Xie Buchen had considerable knowledge of formations, but no matter how he looked, he couldn’t discern any traces.

He stared at this hexagonal groove for a long time without getting anywhere. Just as he extended his hand to try something, spiritual power fluctuations suddenly came from behind, followed by a loud shout: “Haha, I finally got out, got out!”

Standing in the plaza, Xie Buchen turned to look up and saw two figures rushing out from the left third and left fourth corridors among the eight passages on the mountainside—exactly Shanyin Sect Protector Yang Lie and ordinary disciple Feng Qi.

Feng Qi’s cultivation was merely early Core Formation, but Yang Lie was a solid late Core Formation cultivator.

With Xie Buchen’s injuries still not fully healed, if he had to fight Yang Lie head-on, it would be quite difficult, which was why he was disguised and infiltrating now.

Seeing his “companions” emerge, Xie Buchen knew it was time to enter character.

He formed a blade with his fingers and slashed across his shoulder, creating a long bloody wound that immediately burst open, covering him in blood. However, with a surge of spiritual power, his flesh began healing automatically, and in the blink of an eye, only blood remained visible without any wound.

But this was exactly the effect Xie Buchen wanted. He walked over from the base of the high wall, looking up at the two people above from a distance.

Yang Lie’s face was gloomy, with blood still on his body.

However, having emerged alive from within, his face still bore traces of excitement that hadn’t cooled down.

He flew down the mountain path with the shifty-eyed Feng Qi, immediately spotting the figure below: “Wei Xin?!”

Xie Buchen came before Yang Lie, who wore black martial attire, and bowed respectfully: “Greetings, Protector.”

Among the three demonic paths of the southeastern wilderness, Shanyin Sect ranked first.

Wei Xin was one of the more outstanding members of Shanyin Sect’s younger generation. Usually relying on his high talent, he was quite arrogant toward his sect brothers.

While demonic cultivators acting according to their hearts made arrogance nothing remarkable, within the sect, this Wei Xin had repeatedly contradicted Yang Lie, often making this protector lose face.

When they came from the southeastern wilderness to kill at the human isolated island to explore Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm, Yang Lie originally hadn’t expected the young sect leader to bring Wei Xin along, much less that now, a mere early Core Formation Wei Xin would be waiting here early for him.

Two blade-sharp eyebrows flew toward his temples, and his hooked nose added several degrees of coldness to Yang Lie’s already gloomy expression.

His cold, sharp gaze swept over “Wei Xin,” seeing that his originally intact clothes now showed considerable damage, with traces of blood creating a disheveled appearance, making him look nothing like his former glory within the sect.

Perhaps because he looked too disheveled, Yang Lie actually felt that Wei Xin at this moment seemed beaten down.

“You don’t look too good.”

Yang Lie paused, walked past Wei Xin, and also came to the plaza to look at the high wall and the totem above it.

Xie Buchen maintained an expressionless face, glancing at the gray-clothed Feng Qi beside him who wore a mocking expression, saying stiffly: “Nothing wrong, just used a bit of force coming out.”

Hmph.

Still trying to save face?

Yang Lie had already found reasons for Wei Xin’s current condition in his heart, speaking as if magnanimous: “Nephew Wei is a high disciple under Elder Liu. It’s better to be more careful after all. There’s no need to rashly seek merit and rush forward. After all, we’re all accompanying the young sect leader on business now—no matter how great the achievement, it belongs to the young sect leader.”

“…Yes.”

Xie Buchen didn’t argue, just responding once.

He showed no expression, his features actually quite unremarkable, only his eyes carried a sharp quality that wasn’t difficult to disguise.

As for his “yes,” falling into Yang Lie’s ears, it naturally became reluctant acquiescence, even disdain.

One sentence heard by a thousand people might have a thousand meanings.

Yang Lie truly didn’t suspect anything at all.

How could he know that the one speaking with him now was no longer the previous “Wei Xin”?

After staring at the diagram for a long time, Yang Lie’s gaze quickly moved to the seemingly incomplete dao seal marks at the four corners, unable to figure anything out. Just as he was about to ask if the other two had discovered anything, he turned his head and asked: “By the way, where’s that Zhou Yin kid? Why hasn’t he come out yet?”

Even the low-cultivation Feng Qi had already emerged. How could Zhou Yin, who was usually a bit stronger than Feng Qi, be missing now?

Could it be…

He died?

Yang Lie’s brow immediately furrowed as he looked back at the eight corridors, just in time to see a familiar figure emerge from the first corridor on the right. Judging by the dress, build, and the Xishan Demon Sword at his waist, who else could it be but that stuffy gourd Zhou Yin?

However…

This Zhou Yin was a bit different now.

His thick black robes were soaked with blood, making the color deep, and his pale face had no trace of color.

At this moment, besides the Xishan Demon Sword at his waist, “Zhou Yin” was also holding a strangely shaped curved blade—two feet long, somewhat familiar at first glance…

Perhaps seeing them from afar, “Zhou Yin” directly rode his Xishan Demon Sword down the mountain path.

When “Zhou Yin” reached them, the three finally got a clear look at that blade. Ancient characters were engraved on the blade surface, difficult to recognize.

In that instant, all three—Yang Lie and the others—changed color: Wasn’t this the blade that Master Buyu’s inner demon had used to cut meat?! How, how did it end up in his hands!

Moreover, neither Yang Lie nor Feng Qi remembered Zhou Yin having such a blade.

The only explanation was…

“Your blade…”

Finally unable to restrain himself, the shifty-eyed Feng Qi couldn’t help but point at “Zhou Yin,” hardly daring to believe.

According to the jade slip, Zhou Yin had a taciturn personality, less talent than Wei Xin, and was extremely low-key within Shanyin Sect…

Only his methods were cruel, not inferior to Wei Xin’s.

Seeing everyone looking at her two-foot blade, Jian Chou adhered to the principle that saying more led to more errors, simply saying: “When passing the last stone statue, the old Daoist gave it.”

Gave it?

The old Daoist gave it?

Feng Qi’s eyes nearly popped out: “Wasn’t he using this blade to cut meat? He could give it to someone?! You…”

Yang Lie temporarily remained silent, looking at Jian Chou with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, saying: “I heard that Little Brother Zhou once ate the brain matter of sixteen virgin girls raw. It seems the rumors weren’t false. That Master Buyu’s inner demon was wickedly evil—he probably felt Little Brother Zhou was a kindred spirit and saw you as fated.”

“But this luck is really too good…”

Feng Qi also seemed to think Yang Lie made sense, but thinking about it, he couldn’t help but envy Zhou Yin’s gains.

His gaze stuck to that two-foot blade, almost becoming substantial.

Jian Chou’s gaze quickly swept over everyone:

One with a hooked nose and gloomy face, appearing to have high cultivation—probably Protector Yang Lie;

One shifty-eyed with only early Core Formation cultivation, likely the most adaptable Feng Qi;

Another covered in blood, disheveled all over, looking ordinary yet with hidden arrogance in his eyes, though probably having just suffered some setback, looking thoroughly unlucky—this should be Wei Xin, who relied on his high talent to act tyrannically.

With just one glance, she already had the situation figured out, but still couldn’t discover which one was Xie Buchen, much less determine whether Xie Buchen was actually among them.

Possibly, Xie Buchen wasn’t here.

He was, after all, someone full of schemes. Among the two pieces of information he’d given, which was true, which was false, or whether all were true or all false, was difficult to determine.

Seeing that no one recognized her, Jian Chou only sensed considerable hostility and remained silent.

Xie Buchen’s gaze swept over her, also lingering on her blade for a long time.

So Master Buyu’s meat-cutting blade was also useful…

This Zhou Yin, previously unremarkable, could he actually be someone who played pig to eat tiger?

His gaze became slightly strange, then quickly suppressed it. Xie Buchen turned and said: “Those Central Domain cultivators are probably not far behind us. Rather than having time to look at blades here, better to think about how to proceed. Protector Yang, as for the secrets of this Hidden Realm, only the young sect leader knows a bit. We…”

“The young sect leader has his own plans!”

Before “Wei Xin” could finish speaking, Yang Lie directly interrupted, simultaneously giving him a warning look.

“Wei Xin” snorted coldly and said no more.

Only then did Yang Lie continue: “I know you all don’t understand the young sect leader’s risky actions, but how many of you have the young sect leader’s abilities? None of us are permitted to contradict the young sect leader’s decisions!”

“Yes, yes, yes, Protector Yang is absolutely right.”

Feng Qi immediately nodded obsequiously: “What kind of person is our young sect leader? He’s never wrong! That group of little bastards from the Central Domain—if they didn’t hold information about Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm, why would our young sect leader need to personally take action?”

Listening, Jian Chou clicked her tongue inwardly: It seemed one of the pieces of information Xie Buchen had given could be confirmed as true.

Among their group, there was indeed a “spy.”

Previously unclear, but after taking on Zhou Yin’s identity, she had gained some understanding of Shanyin Sect’s situation.

As one of the three demonic paths, Shanyin Sect had always been a tyrannical presence in the southeastern wilderness, with an extremely wide sphere of influence. They had always intended to expand their power to other places and, due to the southeastern wilderness war years ago, had formed a blood feud with the Central Domain, always intending to strike back and reclaim the “Nine Bends River Map.”

This journey to Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm was for this purpose.

The “young sect leader” Yang Lie spoke of was Shanyin Sect’s Young Sect Leader Song Lin, whose cultivation was extraordinarily high with exceptional talent. Combined with his cruel methods, even among the southeastern wilderness demonic cultivators, few could match him.

Originally, such a person could be called the foremost in the demonic path in recent years.

Unfortunately, among the three demonic paths of the barbarous wilderness, the originally last-ranked “Heroes’ Tomb” had produced a freak named Yong Zhou. Famous for only ten short years, he ranked first on the Third Heaven Tablet, the strongest among Core Formation cultivators.

Though Song Lin was brilliantly talented with Shanyin Sect’s backing, he still fell short compared to Yong Zhou.

These two were evenly matched, having competed openly and secretly countless times over ten years. Demonic cultivators called them the “Two Little Heavenly Demons” of the southeastern wilderness, certain to inherit the mantle of the “Three Great Old Demons” and carry forward the demonic path’s bloody traditions.

In half a year would be the famous “Tongguan Station Situ Competition” of the demonic path.

Song Lin was unwilling to lose in this competition. Somehow stealing confidential information from Heroes’ Tomb, he learned of the Qingfeng Nunnery Hidden Realm matter and personally led people to investigate.

Now everyone said this Young Sect Leader Song Lin wasn’t here but was among the Central Domain group. Jian Chou had roughly guessed this person’s true identity.

She looked back—for now, no one else had emerged from the eight Yi Zhizhu corridors.

Ahead, Yang Lie was already standing beneath the high wall diagram, studying it.

Jian Chou’s gaze swept over them again.

Feng Qi’s posture was too low—Xie Buchen, coming from a marquis family, even if begging on the roadside, would never display such perfectly mimicked servility;

Yang Lie’s cultivation was too high—one person disguising lower cultivation might work, but disguising higher cultivation would expose flaws without special methods. If Xie Buchen had the ability to kill Yang Lie, he wouldn’t need to disguise himself;

Finally, only this Wei Xin remained.

If anyone could be Xie Buchen, it was only this choice.

This person was disheveled and full of arrogance. At this moment, raising his head to look at the diagram, his eyes sparkled with light as if he was also thinking.

Jian Chou discovered no flaws for the moment, only casually concealing her gaze and also looking at the diagram.

A large maze diagram in the center, changing every half-quarter hour, with only a central diagram remaining constant each time; below was a hexagonal groove like a battle disc; at the four corner positions were several scattered star points like four incomplete dao seals melted together, their original appearance unrecognizable.

Star points…

Dao seals?

In that instant, Jian Chou’s gaze fell on those four diagram marks, her eyelids suddenly jumping violently: These outlines…

Too familiar!

Weren’t these the four dao seals she’d obtained from the gate of Qingfeng Nunnery’s Hidden Realm but had never been able to cultivate?