The Way of Heaven and Earth leads to the same destination through different paths.

Condensing a soul pearl requires gathering the power of the three souls and seven spirits, using unique cultivation methods. If one has sufficient power, it will condense into a solid soul pearl under the guidance of wondrous rules.

This soul pearl is similar to a cultivator’s Golden Core.

The difference is that a Golden Core is primarily composed of spiritual power—a tangible “force”—while a soul pearl is primarily composed of soul power, which is an intangible “force.”

Tangible things are more suitable for control than intangible ones.

Of course, for Jian Chou at this moment, there was no difference between them.

Even after these days of cultivation, the spiritual power in her body remained pitifully sparse. Her cultivation progress could not compare to when she was at Yashan.

Still, she wanted to—

Try.

Try desperately.

Human curiosity knows no bounds, and attempts know no bounds either, especially when people are driven into desperate situations—they often take desperate risks.

Jian Chou sat cross-legged in the room. The dense spiritual energy had reached the limit of what this house could bear, hovering precisely at that critical point where it was about to explode but hadn’t yet.

She skillfully manipulated the earthly yin essence flowing into her body, directing it most accurately toward the spiritual lights of the three souls and seven spirits above her head.

Bit by bit, soul power accumulated pitifully through this process.

Outside, the sky had passed its brightest moment and was beginning to show signs of darkening.

“It’s afternoon…”

With specks of spiritual light flowing in the depths of her eyes, Jian Chou looked up outside and accurately judged the time based on the sky’s color.

“I should be able to begin now.”

Taking a deep breath, Jian Chou allowed her somewhat violently beating heart to slowly calm down, letting her entire being enter a state of ethereal emptiness, just like…

Just like when she formed her Golden Core—without objects or self.

The cultivation realms of the Nineteen Continents begin with the most basic Qi Refining, then Foundation Establishment, then Core Formation—three realms. Generally speaking, all realms progress step by step.

A person would only attempt to condense a Golden Core after reaching the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Some succeed, some fail.

But failure doesn’t mean one can never form a core again.

On the contrary, if a cultivator doesn’t succeed, they theoretically have countless opportunities to form a core before succeeding, as long as they’re still willing to attempt breaking through to this realm.

Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment are like a child digging up several lumps of clay from a field. Attempting to break through to Golden Core is like using these lumps of clay to shape a complete clay figure.

Even if the attempt fails, the clay remains, providing countless opportunities to try again.

Cultivators with a solid foundation have advantages in “shaping clay figures”—they simply have more material (clay) and better quality clay, giving them higher success rates than others.

This is why cultivators prefer to wait until late Foundation Establishment before attempting a breakthrough.

But cultivators can also choose to attempt Golden Core formation from early Foundation Establishment.

Few people do this, however.

First, there’s too little clay—shaping an exquisite small clay figure is more difficult than shaping an exquisite large one, requiring more precision, like the difference between normal sculpture and micro-carving. Second, insufficient clay quality affects the final product’s quality—the Golden Core’s quality.

However, “few people” doesn’t mean “never,” and it certainly doesn’t mean “never in the future.”

Essentially, the cultivation methods of Extreme Domain ghost cultivators are no different from those of Nineteen Continents cultivators. The theories of Core Formation in the Nineteen Continents apply equally to pearl condensation in the Extreme Domain.

Now, Jian Chou intended to do something that would seem insane to ordinary people.

She would attempt to condense a soul pearl directly in the Spirit Nurturing realm and break through to the Pearl Condensation realm!

If any bystander were present, they would surely be scared out of their wits!

With only a small lump of clay in hand—not even tough enough, appearing soft and limp—what kind of terrifying control would be needed to condense a soul pearl?

No one knew.

Jian Chou at this moment didn’t know either.

But she believed she would soon find out.

Opening her ten fingers, she formed hand seals, slowly raising her hands from both sides of the ground toward the center position in front of her chest.

In her palms, one side glowed red, the other azure.

As Jian Chou’s hands gradually drew closer, the two masses of light showed signs of mutual attraction.

“Hum!”

At the final moment, Jian Chou brought her hand seals together, forming a completely new mudra.

Azure and red light instantly converged, spinning madly!

Centered on where Jian Chou’s palms met, the spiritual light spun frantically, actually causing the earthly yin essence in the room to rotate. Gradually, a vortex began spreading outward.

From above Jian Chou’s head, ten fine threads shot out simultaneously from the ten points of spiritual light—three azure, seven red—all projecting toward the vortex.

Though Jian Chou’s eyes were closed, the image of this vortex in her palms naturally appeared in her mind.

The ten threads floated ethereally, even somewhat hazily…

Her heart leaped to her throat, knowing the most critical moment had arrived.

The threads were carried by the vortex’s airflow, getting closer and closer to the vortex’s center—Jian Chou’s palms…

But just as they reached the vortex, it trembled violently as if sensing something!

Boom!

Without warning, it collapsed with a thunderous crash!

Jian Chou felt her fingers tremble along with it, experiencing a sensation like tendons and bones tearing. It was as if an airflow had exploded in her palms, making it impossible to maintain that mudra.

“Whoosh!”

Like a great wind blowing through, all the earthly yin essence in the room instantly lost control, drilling madly downward into the ground!

Blood rushed backward through Jian Chou’s meridians. She felt as if someone had violently struck her head, causing severe pain, dizziness, and nausea.

“Puff.”

Unable to hold back, she suddenly pressed one hand to her chest and unexpectedly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

The heavy smell of blood immediately permeated the entire room.

On the black ground, the bright red blood spread out, quickly absorbed by the Extreme Domain’s evil soil below, leaving only faint traces.

But the heavy smell of blood remained.

Jian Chou blinked, trying to alleviate the nauseous feeling. When she looked up at her surroundings, everything was dizzy with double vision.

Her ten fingers throbbed with piercing pain, making it impossible even to faint.

Trembling as she raised her hands, her blurred vision revealed a bloody mess.

“This is…”

Since cultivating the sixth layer of “Human Vessel,” when had she ever been in such a sorry state?

Jian Chou smiled bitterly, merely touching herself casually to know that these wounds were deep enough to see bone.

When she formed her Golden Core, she had succeeded on the first try. Now she had nearly blown off her own hands.

“It seems it’s not as simple as just shaping a clay figure…”

Jian Chou frowned, forcibly enduring the pain’s interference.

Without spiritual power, she still maintained control over her body. Her terrifying self-healing ability allowed her to see the flesh slowly growing at her wounds.

“I need to stop and think more…”

Jian Chou murmured, casually resting her injured hands on her knees.

Light streaming through the wooden slats of the broken house was like blades and swords of light, carrying sharp angles as they crisscrossed through this somewhat dark space.

The folded paper lay on the already-cleaned table surface, with the chipped and mottled glazed oil lamp pressing down on the pages.

Everything carried an aged smell and was extremely quiet.

Her heart also became utterly quiet at this moment.

Failure was expected, so she remained relatively calm. Only the terrifying pain in her head earlier had made her feel a threat from death.

On that day, Fudao Shanren had once protected her soul with Soul-Fixing Nails. Later, when the Soul-Fixing Nails were destroyed, he hadn’t had time to replace them with new ones, only bringing many pills as backup.

But now this harm came from within.

Because Jian Chou intended to condense a soul pearl, even with stronger protection, there was no way to prevent damage arising from within the protected thing itself.

As long as she continued to fail, this damage would continue.

With incomplete three souls and seven spirits—missing four parts of soul and three parts of spirit—she would be more unstable when harmed, causing the damage to be more severe than with complete souls and spirits.

Experimental opportunities were certainly not endless, provided she wasn’t dead yet and could nurture her soul and spirit back to health before each experiment.

“Without some foundation, whether it’s Core Formation or Pearl Condensation, progress is impossible…”

Jian Chou contemplated, unable to help but sigh.

Perhaps the luckiest thing was still that she came from Yashan.

A slight smile appeared on her lips, though it carried a somewhat bitter and helpless flavor.

During Jian Chou’s contemplation, her ten fingers had mostly recovered. She raised her hand to take out a Qiankun Bag, retrieved a soul-nurturing pill, and directly put it in her mouth.

The azure pill dissolved in her mouth extremely quickly.

In an instant, the medicinal power transformed into a stream of azure current, circulating throughout her body before heading straight for her mind’s spiritual platform.

The azure glow, like seawater, instantly enveloped her soul and spirit.

Gentle, soft, warm.

Like an infant in its mother’s embrace, there was a natural sense of security.

The trembling spiritual lights of her soul and spirit finally seemed soothed by something, gradually becoming stable and quiet.

They absorbed power from this mass of azure light, desperately trying to strengthen themselves. Though more power was lost due to incomplete souls and spirits, the tiny bit that remained could still provide some comfort.

Thus, the piercing pain in the depths of Jian Chou’s mind finally found relief.

Her taut nerves finally relaxed.

Jian Chou slowly exhaled, blinking her eyes.

The blurry world with double vision suddenly became clear again.

From attempt to failure to taking medicine to gradual recovery—the entire process took no more than a quarter-hour…

In just a quarter-hour, Jian Chou had experienced the same suffering as during her body refinement days.

Only then, body refinement meant physical torment of flesh, blood, tendons, and bones. Now it was the three souls and seven spirits.

Sometimes, mental torment is harder to endure than physical pain.

Still…

What needed to continue, had to continue.

Gritting her teeth, Jian Chou readjusted her mental state. She reviewed the problems that had occurred earlier but still couldn’t understand the reason, so she simply began experimenting again.

…

But all that awaited her was the next failure.

Raising hands, forming seals, creating mudras, condensing pearls, failing.

Once, twice, again and again.

Her shattered palms healed repeatedly, and the pills in the bottle gradually ran out…

Yet Jian Chou still hadn’t given up.

“Screech—”

Outside the small house, in the sky above, winged Rakshasa spirits swept across the high altitude, drawing deep blue lines against the dusky background, carrying the unique majesty and tragedy of the Extreme Domain.

Before the Ghost Gate, countless new ghosts were queuing, waiting for the ghost officials and messengers ahead to guide them to a completely new place.

Behind the Ghost Gate, layers of black mist shrouded countless cities and the vast underworld.

At the Reception Office entrance, people still came and went as usual.

It seemed that neither the arrival of Chief Judge Cui Jue from the Qin Guang Royal Hall nor the arrival of Chief Judge Elder Ni from the Song Emperor Royal Hall had caused any change here.

But in fact, changes existed.

Those who felt it most deeply were undoubtedly Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost.

Moreover, that terrifying feeling was rapidly expanding!

All unspoken words stuck in their throats.

Little Head Ghost felt his throat was very itchy and wanted to cough once or twice, but he didn’t dare—

How could he possibly dare?

Cold sweat had already soaked through his robes in an instant. Little Head Ghost’s two legs hidden under his long hem were even trembling uncontrollably.

Zhang Tang sat before him, his slender fingers grasping the edge of a yellowed paper page.

His transparent fingernails were very clean and neatly trimmed, completely different from the long black fingernails of so many unkempt underworld officials.

Those thick, long eyebrows originally gave people a sense of indifference.

But the moment he suddenly stopped speaking and stared directly at this name on the registry, those eyebrows acquired a cold, murderous aura.

The registry of new ghosts from the City of Unjust Deaths that Little Head Ghost had submitted had only one page, and that page contained only one name. This name consisted of only two simple characters.

Jian, Chou.

Written somewhat crookedly, as if by a child just learning to write, quite clumsy.

But these two simple characters, in this brief moment, stirred up terrifying waves in Zhang Tang’s heart!

Jian Chou!

How long had it been since he’d seen this name?

And on a registry like this, similar to case files.

In that instant, Zhang Tang uncontrollably remembered those case files still piled high in the Court of Judicial Review before his death.

One case stacked upon another, one case wrapping around another…

All were unsolved mysteries, all were incomplete arrests, all were unfinished interrogations and punishments, all were—

Fish that slipped through the net!

Among those case files, the one he cared most about was undoubtedly the thickest, most worn volume.

The case file’s edges had become very rough from long-term handling, looking like something from many years ago. Zhang Tang knew clearly that it actually wasn’t old.

Since returning to Great Xia from the Killing Red Small Realm, this name had been deeply branded in his memory.

Later, every official who handled this case would mention her more or less when writing reports to the Great Xia Emperor.

Lady Xie Jian Chou.

Or “Lady Xie”…

Jian Chou—this name always appeared near Xie Buchen’s name, following like a shadow, giving people a subtle feeling of living together in life and dying together in death.

In the eyes of all Great Xia officials who understood the inside story, these two people were closely related, sharing life and death, enduring hardships together. Even in exile, they were an inseparable couple in adversity, immortal lovers.

Their later mysterious disappearance added another layer of inexplicable mystique.

However, only Zhang Tang was perhaps the only one among all these people who had glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.

Now, this name appeared so unexpectedly before him.

He was completely unprepared.

The moment his gaze touched this name, everything flashed rapidly through his mind…

The mysteriously appearing ghost axe at the Ghost Gate, the remaining spiritual consciousness imprint, Lord Qin Guang’s judgment about the axe’s owner, Little Head Ghost’s suddenly completed “Heavenly Mandate Transcription,” and the steadily rising cultivation level in recent days…

Link after link, all connected in this instant!

She was not only nearby, but even secretly lurking beside them, stealing all the plans they were preparing…

“City of Unjust Deaths…”

Zhang Tang’s stiff fingers finally slowly relaxed.

His features were clear and handsome, but his eyes were cold and indifferent, carrying a scrutinizing quality, sharp and thin as a carving knife.

All the turbulent waves were hidden in the deepest depths of his eyes, leaving no trace.

He looked up at Little Head Ghost, who was already scared weak in the legs. His voice was inexplicably hoarse: “It seems you never mentioned my name to her…”

“…”

Little Head Ghost, whose legs had gone weak, finally couldn’t hold on when he clearly heard this sentence. He completely collapsed to his knees.

Village cottage.

Night was beginning to fall.

This was after countless failures.

At first, Jian Chou could still count the attempts in her mind, but later, as the pain grew more intense with each failure, nearly causing her to faint, even her memory became briefly confused.

She finally lost count.

Her clothing was stained with blood. Due to repeated torment from pain, her back was already soaked with cold sweat, and even the few strands of black hair hanging by her forehead carried traces of moisture.

Jian Chou once again swallowed a pill and repeated the healing process.

Looking outside, Jian Chou’s heart gradually sank.

“There’s not enough time…”

Trying to break through to Pearl Condensation from the Spirit Nurturing realm was like attempting Core Formation from the Qi Refining stage—almost tantamount to a fool’s dream.

Jian Chou’s only reliance was her control.

She wasn’t truly a low-level cultivator after all. Having once touched greater powers, she possessed complete control over power far exceeding ordinary cultivators of the same realm.

Even now, with soul power instead, it was the same.

Failure after failure had accumulated enough experience for her in using soul power.

Time was running short. Soon, Little Head Ghost and Big Head Ghost would return, possibly bringing good news or bad news.

Either way, she needed to prepare to receive that news.

As she placed her hands on the ground again to begin extracting earthly yin essence, Jian Chou secretly told herself this would be the last time.

If this attempt also failed, she could only wait for the next cultivation opportunity.

Perhaps because she had failed so many times, Jian Chou’s mental state had entered a strange calm.

Moreover, too many previous experiments had nearly exhausted her energy. At this moment, Jian Chou was even slightly distracted.

Raising hands, forming seals, creating mudras.

These were actions so familiar they were almost carved into her bones.

Jian Chou completed all this almost habitually.

Above her head, the ten points of spiritual light still flickered.

Her lowered eyelashes suddenly trembled slightly.

In her mental world, that vortex of soul power stirred up all the earthly yin essence in the room, completely agitating everything within the small house.

The ten points of spiritual light were all drawn by the vortex’s power, like flickering stars.

Jian Chou could clearly see the vortex and the ten “stars.”

Thus, in that instant, a wondrous illusion appeared in her mind.

The vortex of earthly yin essence seemed to devour everything, even wanting to swallow the light emanating from those ten points of soul and spirit.

Stars flickered above her head, just like the moment of launching a hidden attack from the Solitary Platform.

The vortex continued rotating, and with each rotation, its suction intensified.

The trembling spiritual fires finally couldn’t hold on and released a thread of weak light, like silk fluttering and swaying as the vortex pulled it toward the center.

This scene…

Was just like that day on the Solitary Platform, when a line of light was suddenly drawn out, connecting star after star in the sky into a mysterious symbol.

Symbol…

In that instant, brilliant light suddenly burst forth from Jian Chou’s spiritual platform!

The moment she thought of that symbol, it also lit up in her mental consciousness!

Thus, a thread of starlight-like brilliant golden light separated from the depths of Jian Chou’s spiritual platform, like drawing silk from a cocoon, continuously lengthening, lengthening…

When the vortex’s power swept it up, this starlight-like golden thread actually followed those ten rays of light—three azure, seven red—drilling toward the vortex at Jian Chou’s palms!

The light threads drawn from the ten points of spiritual light were slightly earlier, so when the golden light thread projected toward the vortex, they were already halfway there.

Even with the golden thread’s appearance now, it couldn’t catch up to their speed.

So they reached the vortex first.

“Hum!”

The moment the ten threads thin as gossamer touched the vortex, the entire vortex trembled violently as if struck by some impact.

For Jian Chou, how familiar was this trembling?

Every previous time, as soon as the ten light threads reached the vortex, collapse would immediately occur, and the pearl condensation attempt would instantly fail.

Feeling this tremor, Jian Chou’s heart sank heavily…

Most likely, the result would be the same again.

The tremor from her soul made her entire face instantly pale and bloodless, with another mouthful of blood nearly spilling out.

But her two clasped hands desperately maintained the original mudra.

Just hold on…

As long as she could prevent further collapse and wait for all ten light threads to merge into the vortex, the soul pearl would be condensed.

She still didn’t want to give up!

Blood had already flowed from her five fingers, and flesh had instantly burst apart, revealing stark white bone.

The vortex Jian Chou maintained in her palms had cracks appearing all around its edges. Even with her utmost effort to maintain it, she couldn’t prevent the dissolution…

But just at this moment, when the entire vortex was about to collapse.

That golden thread that had emerged from Jian Chou’s spiritual platform finally arrived, like a brilliant starlight suddenly cast into the vortex.

Instantly, the entire vortex was ignited by starlight and burned frantically!

Boom!

Flames of starlight suddenly exploded in Jian Chou’s palms!

The golden thread intertwined with the other ten threads, coiling together, clustering like a ball, tightly wrapping into a cocoon!

The ten points of spiritual light above Jian Chou’s head were finally drained of power by those ten threads and completely disappeared.

Simultaneously, the tail of the golden thread also drilled into that small cocoon.

“Crack crack crack…”

Several tight, concentrated sounds!

All light instantly vanished. The original thumb-sized light cocoon suddenly compressed to the extreme, becoming as small as a speck of perfectly round dust!

The surface of this “dust speck” had colors like ink wash painting.

Three parts azure, seven parts red—you within me, me within you, mutually blending yet distinctly separate.

A golden thread curved in gentle lines on the surface of this perfectly round “dust speck,” outlining a mysterious pattern like an unfamiliar seal.

It quietly floated between Jian Chou’s palms, with mesmerizing colors, so small it was hard to believe…

Jian Chou stared at it with open eyes, still feeling like she was dreaming.

Three parts azure, seven parts red, perfectly round throughout, with a completely different feeling from the previous three souls and seven spirits…

A soul pearl!

This was actually a soul pearl!

Jian Chou could hardly believe it—she had actually succeeded!

She had used a small lump of clay to shape a clay figure that, while small, still appeared exquisite!

It was a feeling of mental connection.

It was part of her, her soul and spirit…

Her hands remained extended in the mudra position.

Jian Chou still maintained her original posture. That soul pearl, which might make people laugh if released, floated quietly there, spinning at one moment and stopping at another according to her will…

“Thock, thock thock.”

In the silence, knocking suddenly sounded.

Jian Chou, still lost in thought, was startled.

She instinctively looked up, about to say “come in,” but lightning flashed through her mind—if Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost were returning, why would they need to knock?!

Her exceptional combat instincts granted Jian Chou extraordinarily rapid reactions.

Almost the moment she looked toward the door, Jian Chou had already grasped the soul pearl in one hand while the other struck directly toward the door with no flourish!

From within the soul pearl, refined soul power immediately surged out. Simultaneously, the golden thread on the soul pearl flashed, and a wisp of golden light silently mixed into the soul power, instantly transferring to Jian Chou’s other hand!

One palm strike carried soul power like a blade!

That hint of hazy golden light carried an even more heart-trembling majesty!

As if from a deity!

“Boom!”

Flying wood fragments scattered frantically in all directions, even embedding in the ground!

The domineering, sharp palm force instantly pierced through both broken doors, revealing the dark figure standing behind them.

Whoosh!

The palm force swept past with fierce winds, yet that person stood in the wind, in the raging waves of palm force, completely motionless!

Only his somewhat simple official robes fluttered in the wind…

Familiar.

Even in such dim light where faces couldn’t be seen clearly, Jian Chou dared to be certain she had seen this person before!

Just standing there carried an almost harsh coldness.

Like standing in a criminal court, casually casting down execution tokens…

A skin-peeling cruel official, and an executioner.

Unbothered by Jian Chou’s palm strike, a faint azure glow flashed at his brow, creating ripples before slowly fading and returning to a vertical mark at his forehead.

One step from outside the door into the room.

Thus, Jian Chou could see clearly now.

The approaching figure, the somewhat familiar form, and…

Those memorable cold, stern eyes!

Zhang Tang!

Great Xia’s young but powerful cruel official, Court Minister Zhang!

It was actually him!

In that instant, her heart couldn’t help but grow cold, freezing and trembling.

Zhang Tang hadn’t come alone.

He dragged two dejected yet indignant little figures in his left and right hands. After stepping into the room and standing firm, he casually threw these two little ghosts before Jian Chou.

“Thump thump”—two sounds as dust flew up.

Zhang Tang’s gaze was cold and obscure. Calmly placing both hands into his sleeves, he said peacefully, “Madam, Zhang has intruded.”