A chill truly rose from the soles of her feet, like thunder suddenly exploding on level ground!

Jian Chou’s footsteps had just settled when she heard such words. She immediately felt as if an ice blade had sliced across her back—cold and sharp!

At this moment, Zhang Tang stood two steps ahead of her, also just preparing to greet this shabby, destitute old man whose appearance couldn’t be clearly seen.

Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost didn’t dare enter, still cowering at the doorway.

But upon hearing the words “Yashan,” these two little ghosts jumped up as if someone had grabbed their tails, looking around frantically and crying out in panic: “Yashan? What Yashan? Has Yashan attacked?!”

“…”

Jian Chou’s hands, hanging at her sides, were concealed by her somewhat loose sleeves as she quietly clenched them.

She didn’t speak.

She heard Big Head Ghost and Little Head Ghost’s shouts but gave no reaction, only using the greatest restraint of her life to maintain calm on her face.

The old man sitting on the wooden stool looked incredibly aged.

His hair was disheveled, but his face bore the weathered look of someone who had experienced countless changes, worn down into this ghostly appearance.

If Fudao Shanren could be called an old child, this person before her could only be considered a piece of lifeless, rotting wood that seemed ready to crumble at the slightest touch.

Old, and decrepit.

His entire being carried the putrid smell of someone ready for the coffin.

Yet it was such a seemingly dying old man who, with just a casual glance, had revealed her origins…

Her being a living person was already quite dangerous, but if people knew she was a living person from Yashan—

Thinking of the role Yashan played in the Yin-Yang Realm War, Jian Chou didn’t believe she could leave the Extreme Domain standing.

She looked at this old man warily, and in just this moment of silence, her thoughts had turned a thousand, ten thousand times.

Finally, though, she settled into calmness.

Jian Chou clasped her hands and bowed, immediately showing no trace of wariness or hostility, only composed self-possession: “Senior has keen eyes. This junior is Jian Chou, indeed from Yashan, paying respects to Senior Immortal Wuzhong.”

“What keen eyes or not—isn’t it written right there on your Qiankun Bag…”

The hoarse voice spoke a line, still extremely unpleasant to hear.

Immortal Wuzhong’s murky eyeballs turned, covered with a thick layer of shadow, like the sky of this Extreme Domain that would never brighten.

His beard was like weeds, grown together with his hair.

He vaguely laughed, seeming to find Jian Chou’s “keen eyes” comment rather interesting.

Hearing this, Jian Chou was startled.

She looked down at her waist, where the hanging Qiankun Bag indeed bore a small emblem belonging to Yashan. Though it was a subtle pattern, those with intent could easily discover it.

This time, she had made a fatal error.

Originally, she had been puzzled about what means Immortal Wuzhong had used to investigate her identity, never expecting it was simply because of this small Qiankun Bag.

Understanding the reason, Jian Chou merely frowned and calmly removed the Qiankun Bag, tucking it back into her sleeve.

“Thank you for senior’s guidance.”

Interesting.

Just casually mentioning the Qiankun Bag, and in this little girl’s mouth it became “guidance.”

A disciple of Yashan…

Immortal Wuzhong remained seated, slowly loosening his five fingers, revealing the shape of the cold stone fragment in his hand.

He glanced at the two little ghosts behind them before looking back at Zhang Tang: “You brought someone here—what is the purpose?”

Zhang Tang frowned, actually quite surprised in his heart.

He had met Jian Chou in the Crimson Slaughter Small Realm, but didn’t know her identity or origins. Even when he suddenly encountered her half a day ago, she had never mentioned which school she belonged to.

Now thinking about it, she had done it deliberately.

What kind of place was Yashan?

Before Zhang Tang had contact with the cultivation world, he didn’t know what these two characters meant to the Extreme Domain. But once he had read the relevant records, a chill would rise in his heart.

Ten cycles of sixty years ago, during the Yin-Yang Realm War, Kunwu and Yashan both emerged, along with the Central Domain’s three thousand and Buddhist-Daoist cultivators, killing until the sky went dark on the Extreme Domain battlefield.

Today, beneath the Yellow Springs lay countless white bones, most left by Yashan cultivators!

The Reception Bureau’s files had recorded fragments about Yashan with a tone mixed with fear.

A thousand years ago, half of the powerful cultivators who ascended from the Nineteen Continents to the upper realm came from Yashan!

Drawing swords to fight, never retreating once engaged—how many Extreme Domain ghost cultivators had they terrified?

Today, in this small broken house, he had so unexpectedly heard the words “disciple of Yashan”?

This feeling was momentarily hard to describe.

Zhang Tang had always been one to hide stormy waves in his heart, so his face showed nothing as he answered Immortal Wuzhong: “The one with a request of senior is not Zhang Tang.”

“The one with a request is this junior.”

Since her identity had been exposed, Jian Chou became frank.

She continued Zhang Tang’s words: “This junior accidentally broke through realms to arrive here, trapped in the Extreme Domain unable to leave. Currently facing crisis at every step, I heard that Senior Immortal Wuzhong often responds to those with affinity, helping and supporting them. Jian Chou seeks a method to conceal her living person’s identity, thus coming in the starry night. Please forgive this senior.”

Immortal Wuzhong remained seated in his original position, his feet surrounded by fragments of stone broken for unknown reasons, matching the stones filling the house, only giving one the feeling of being in a pile of rubble.

He heard Jian Chou explain her purpose but showed no surprise at all.

A living person—what else could they want here?

However…

Immortal Wuzhong asked: “It seems you are indeed an accident, not Yashan wanting to restart the Yin-Yang Realm War… But since the Yin-Yang Realm War, the Extreme Domain has set up the Heaven-Release Fortune Array at the Yin-Yang boundary, using life and death as the boundary. Even heaven-reaching great powers cannot enter with a living body. You’re merely a small Golden Core cultivator—how did you break through realms to arrive?”

“…”

Jian Chou suddenly fell silent.

After quite a while, she finally answered with three words—

“Yiren Platform.”

The moment these three words left her mouth, those murky eyes seemed to finally clear somewhat.

Immortal Wuzhong sat on that wooden stump, his head that hadn’t moved for a long time finally slowly raised, looking at Jian Chou with a gaze that carried unprecedented scrutiny for the first time.

Yiren Platform.

This was a term almost never heard in the Extreme Domain.

But now, it came so clearly from this girl’s mouth. His numb and sluggish senses finally began to return under the stimulus of this word.

Slowly turning his eyeballs, Immortal Wuzhong suddenly developed a slight interest in Jian Chou.

“No wonder. You’ve climbed the Yiren Platform?”

No wonder?

She had only said “Yiren Platform,” and he already understood why she could break through realms, saying such words…

Jian Chou pondered in her heart—this “Immortal Wuzhong” was so familiar with Central Domain affairs, he must have been a cultivator from the Nineteen Continents in life, definitely not a mortal from the isolated islands!

Her thoughts raced, but her answer was crisp and brief: “Over a month ago, I was fortunate enough to reach the summit.”

“Fortunate?”

Hearing these two words, Immortal Wuzhong actually laughed inexplicably.

It was still that harsh, grinding sound like a whetstone, making one’s heart crawl.

He looked at Jian Chou—clearly someone with unbending pride, naturally carrying an edge of exposed sharpness, quite confident in her own will and intelligence. To say “fortunate” was truly false.

Immortal Wuzhong wasn’t used to hearing such things.

“When has there ever been fortune in this world? If you can win, that’s real skill. Winners and losers are decided—you needn’t be modest before this old fool…”

Jian Chou hadn’t expected him to say such words.

But inexplicably, it rather matched her own feelings.

Her victory at the Yiren Platform was indeed because Xie Buchen hadn’t come, but if Xie Buchen had come, would she truly have had no chance of winning?

Not necessarily.

She had won because she had won—the matter was settled and couldn’t be changed.

She smiled slightly and merely clasped her hands: “Junior is enlightened.”

Immortal Wuzhong paid no attention, only saying: “I’ve always had rules for helping people. Zhang Tang should have told you, right?”

Jian Chou glanced at Zhang Tang beside her.

Zhang Tang hadn’t moved a step since standing still, and now only listened to their conversation without any intention of interrupting.

So Jian Chou spoke: “Master Zhang has explained one or two points. I just don’t know if senior can help conceal my identity, and if so, what price must this junior pay?”

Immortal Wuzhong didn’t answer, instead asking: “You’re concealing your identity to stay in the Extreme Domain and seek a way to return to the Nineteen Continents?”

“Yes.”

Jian Chou didn’t know his intent, only answering truthfully.

“…”

Another long silence.

Only this time, the silence no longer came from Jian Chou, but from Immortal Wuzhong, who seemed half-buried in the earth.

A lamp was lit by the window, its bowl containing no visible oil, only a wick burning with flame, illuminating everything around.

Jian Chou didn’t know what this being, comparable to the Yama Kings of the Eight Directions City, was thinking at this moment. Unable to disturb him, she could only stand silently to one side.

Zhang Tang’s brow was now tightly knitted.

In the vertical line between his brows, wisps of condensed malevolent energy faintly appeared.

He had dealt with Immortal Wuzhong before and knew this was a great cultivator who spoke so little he had almost forgotten how to talk.

When someone came who suited his taste, he would state his requirements. If the other party could satisfy them, he would help them accomplish their task.

Generally speaking, it could be resolved in just a few sentences.

This was the first time he had heard Immortal Wuzhong say so much, and he still hadn’t stated his conditions to Jian Chou.

Perhaps because he had once been a cultivator from the Nineteen Continents, he had particular interest in Jian Chou, who came from Yashan of the Nineteen Continents?

Zhang Tang couldn’t be certain.

His searching gaze swept over Jian Chou—a cultivator from the Nineteen Continents wanting to leave the Extreme Domain—then over Immortal Wuzhong—a former cultivator from the Nineteen Continents…

Bit by bit, fragments began automatically assembling in his mind.

But Zhang Tang stood there, still appearing unmoved by the eight winds.

During his contemplation, Immortal Wuzhong seemed to have finished considering as well.

His hair, so long it nearly touched the ground, remained disheveled. He looked down at the stone fragment in his palm, then slowly placed it back on the ground.

His voice remained slow and halting, with the stiffness of someone long unused to human interaction.

“I and Yashan are not exactly enemies. Since you are a disciple of Yashan, I can lend you a helping hand. As for the price…”