The shallow dust outlined the iron brush and silver hook hidden in the details of that neat small script, extremely powerful.

Jian Chou recognized each character one by one, reading aloud: “Hidden underground… Rebirth Pool water… grateful to you… in response…”

Thump!

The moment she saw clearly the remaining half of the sentence, Jian Chou’s entire heart nearly jumped out of her chest, and in her inattention, she almost bit her own tongue.

“Rebirth Pool water?!”

May those who cherish flowers and have fate, tend these plums in my stead.

Hidden underground Rebirth Pool water, grateful to you in response!

Earlier she had mocked this person as extravagantly wasteful – how many oddballs in the entire Extreme Domain could be counted who used Rebirth Pool water to nurture plums?

Therefore, the phrase “tend these plums in my stead” seemed like nothing but wishful thinking.

Who would have expected that such a sentence would follow afterward!

Hidden underground Rebirth Pool water?

Could it mean that beneath this ground there was still Rebirth Pool water hidden for nurturing plums?

Rebirth Pool water, from the end of reincarnation, capable of nurturing all things.

This was no ordinary thing…

Jian Chou knew without thinking that this item was precious to the extreme. Otherwise, with Chen Tingyan’s extravagant nature and broad knowledge, he wouldn’t have shown such an expression.

Taking a sharp breath, Jian Chou used this to calm her emotions before looking at the plum vase with some disbelief, slowly setting it down and looking toward the ground beneath her feet.

Blocks of floor tiles were laid tightly across the ground, ordinary and without any luster, like the most common black stones.

After brief contemplation, she dismissed the thought of examining them one by one.

Looking back at the plum vase, among the three plum branches, the only one still bearing a bud faced directly toward the window, motionless.

Although Jian Chou now had a soul body, with her physical body placed within that stone pearl given by Immortal Wuzhong, she seemingly escaped the constraints of the Extreme Domain, but in reality had entered another kind of constraint.

Her Pearl Formation cultivation level didn’t provide much assistance to her spiritual consciousness, and the distance it could separate from her body wasn’t far. Wanting to investigate the condition beneath this ground would be no different from ascending to heaven.

Moreover, she was still injured.

The thought merely stirred before being withdrawn by Jian Chou.

That momentary heat quickly cooled, and she became calm, discovering even more peculiarities.

The plums had already withered, and the house’s owner should have known this—

Who would want to move in and see a withered plum?

An empty plum vase placed here would definitely be moved away by someone. Once this windowsill was wiped clean, wouldn’t whatever was written become crystal clear?

This meant the house’s owner had deliberately left these words here.

“Boss Zhou said that the previous owner of this house mysteriously disappeared without any word…”

Jian Chou began thinking, her furrowed brow not relaxing but becoming even tighter.

“But judging from this sentence, this owner knew they would leave and deliberately left these words…”

Bizarre.

Thoroughly bizarre.

The celadon plum vase still stood on that snowy window sill, three withered plum branches inserted in the bottle, casting three thin shadows in that window light, possessing a withered yet proud temperament.

Jian Chou re-examined this study several times, then looked at that window scene again, suddenly feeling that this house rented for a mere seven hundred profound jade contained an indescribable depth and mystery.

She developed an intense curiosity about this house’s original owner, and even its successive owners.

However, this wasn’t the right time.

Jian Chou forcibly suppressed this curiosity, found a clean spot in the study, and tapped the ground with her black sword. Finding nothing unusual, she sat down cross-legged.

After another moment of contemplation, she retrieved an array disc from her qiankun bag. It was inlaid with eighteen spirit stones connected by silver lines, forming a protective array formation.

This residence had some peculiarities, but since Old Zhou had rented it to her, he must have inspected the house.

As long as she didn’t act recklessly, there should be no problems.

Therefore, Jian Chou currently neither went to browse through books looking for soul recognition methods, nor examined the plum vase again to dig three feet deep searching for hidden underground Rebirth Pool water.

At this moment, she needed to do only one thing—

Cultivate!

“Snap!”

The array disc was placed, and the formation immediately activated against the ground.

A ring-shaped halo, centered on where Jian Chou sat cross-legged, immediately shot outward in all directions, faintly separating her from her surroundings with a strong defensive intent.

Jian Chou lowered her eyes and arranged ten mid-grade profound jade pieces in front of her before placing both hands on her knees and beginning to regulate her breathing in meditation.

Xing Wu’s sneak attack wasn’t light for Jian Chou, but it wasn’t fatal either.

She had already swallowed two pills earlier, and her injuries had been significantly suppressed. Now she needed careful adjustment to absorb all the medicinal effects.

Forming hand seals, Jian Chou guided the pill’s medicinal power to flow throughout her body, passing through her injured areas, beginning the long process of repair.

The light in the room gradually dimmed, leaving only the window paper snow-white.

Several rays of light passed through the window paper, illuminating Jian Chou’s straight back and her hand seals that formed and released rhythmically.

Before long, Jian Chou’s entire being became ethereal, as if she didn’t exist at all.

Only in her brow’s ancestral aperture, on the cool spiritual platform, a tiny speck of light dust slowly brightened. If one looked carefully, they could discover this was a round pearl, slowly rotating and absorbing medicinal power from throughout her body.

This was Jian Chou’s “soul pearl.”

Since its formation, it had hardly grown larger.

Jian Chou didn’t know what effect this Extreme Domain cultivation method would have on her. At least from current observations, it was completely separate from her cultivation in the Nineteen Continents, with no mutual interference.

Right now, healing and improving her strength were urgent matters. Jian Chou couldn’t afford to consider anything else and completely immersed her mind and spirit.

…

Outside the window, light dimmed and brightened, brightened and dimmed. Occasionally wind would blow past the window paper with rustling sounds, and sometimes fine rain would tap against the window frame, creating a patter of droplets.

But Jian Chou heard none of it.

Time slowly passed in the dusty study. A full half month went by, and the array formation’s light grew increasingly dim. The eighteen embedded spirit stones all appeared somewhat grayish-white.

Of the profound jade pieces placed before Jian Chou, nine had already exhausted their earth force yin essence and become a pile of powder on the ground.

“Snap!”

Just as the rain sounds outside the window stopped, the last profound jade piece arranged before Jian Chou finally shattered. A cloud of pale white smoke splashed outward, scattering into fine powder on the ground.

The final strand of earth force yin essence flew directly from the ground into the periphery of Jian Chou’s spiritual platform soul pearl, slowly merging into the soul pearl as it continuously rotated.

Then, as if it had been fed to satisfaction, it actually emitted a strange sound.

“Crack.”

An extremely faint sound.

The originally dust-speck-sized soul pearl, upon absorbing that final strand of earth force yin essence, suddenly expanded outward, growing a full circle larger!

In the blink of an eye, the soul pearl floating above Jian Chou’s spiritual platform had grown to the size of a fingertip.

Though it still appeared pitifully small, the mixture of multicolored light had begun showing hints of pale white.

The closer a soul pearl approached white, the purer its quality, representing more righteous soul power within the body.

The only flaw might be the crack after crack covering the soul pearl…

Although Jian Chou’s eyes weren’t open, she was fully aware of every change in her soul pearl.

Previously, the soul pearl had been too small to discern anything, but now that it had grown larger through cultivation, those cracks became clearly visible with just a bit of careful observation.

Jian Chou’s heart sank.

Since the day she forcibly broke through to form her soul pearl, her heart had never been at ease.

Unable to find a solution to her incomplete soul and spirit problem, she chose to directly skip the previous two realms and form her soul pearl directly – a desperate gamble seeking victory.

In fact, judging from this period of cultivation, forming the soul pearl early was indeed beneficial to her practice. The speed of absorbing earth force yin essence had increased, and less was lost.

Jian Chou should have been happy, but the moment she clearly saw the cracks on her soul pearl, her heart quietly sank again.

Cracks on the soul pearl…

No matter how one looked at it, this didn’t seem like a good thing.

Jian Chou slowly opened her eyes and withdrew the hand seals on her knees.

The earth force yin essence that had been surrounding her throughout the room finally began slowly dispersing to the surroundings and disappeared.

Her body gradually became solid again, while the floating soul pearl hid from sight.

Her brow furrowed tightly as that previous feeling of being unable to move forward appeared again.

“After Pearl Formation comes Jade Nirvana…”

If she remembered correctly, so-called Jade Nirvana meant “shatter the soul pearl, scatter into powder, transform into the entire body” – using the soul pearl as the origin point and borrowing vast earth force yin essence to lay the foundation for the soul and spirit, ultimately reaching the fifth realm of “Golden Body.”

Jade Nirvana.

Also carrying the meaning of “nirvana,” representing the dangers inherent in this realm.

Shattering the soul pearl brought the agony of spiritual tearing. With the slightest carelessness, one would be utterly destroyed during the breakthrough attempt, completely ceasing to exist in the world with even their soul and spirit disappearing entirely.

Therefore, Extreme Domain cultivators also called “Jade Nirvana” the “Lesser Tribulation.”

The Nineteen Continents only had Major Tribulations at the Soul Separation stage, called “Questioning the Heart.” Though previous cultivation also held dangers, they weren’t excessive and didn’t reach the level of “perilous.”

Relatively speaking, Extreme Domain ghost cultivation was filled with unpredictable excitement.

All of this was because starting cultivation from the soul and spirit was too difficult.

Of course, though cultivators’ Questioning Heart dao tribulations came late, they came most fiercely – form and spirit annihilation was common, and falling into demonic paths was like daily bread.

Jian Chou unconsciously compared the similarities and differences between Extreme Domain and Nineteen Continents cultivation in her heart, seeking inspiration.

“From Pearl Formation to Jade Nirvana means shattering the soul pearl, nurturing the soul and spirit, preparing for condensing a physical body…”

“Which means the soul pearl will have to shatter sooner or later…”

Thinking to this point, Jian Chou couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

The soul pearl would shatter, but not just any time would do.

Shattering when cultivation was complete to undergo Jade Nirvana cultivation would naturally be icing on the cake, but if it shattered before reaching the proper stage, she would probably vanish into smoke before managing to break through this realm.

“Lesser Tribulation…”

Others’ Lesser Tribulation was, for her, a Major Tribulation that could explode at any unknown moment.

Jian Chou’s heart developed that bitter taste again. She could only hope for better luck – that her soul pearl would crack at just the right time.

At worst, she’d risk everything again for a forceful breakthrough of “Jade Nirvana.”

Making this fierce resolution in her heart, that bit of fear brought by her incomplete soul and spirit disappeared completely.

Jian Chou’s face showed determination as she laughed, clapped her hands, and stood up, digging up the array disc that had little spiritual energy remaining and tossing it back into her qiankun bag.

After that month and a half of seated meditation and cultivation, Jian Chou’s injuries had completely healed, and her cultivation had advanced considerably.

Earth force yin essence flowed abundantly and fully within her body.

Despite her soul pearl’s flaws, Jian Chou was quite curious about her current strength.

Especially…

Her gaze flashed as her thoughts returned to that day when she battled Xing Wu, scene by scene passing before her eyes…

Jian Chou’s wrist turned, and wind suddenly rose in the quiet study.

The black sword left its sheath, silently falling into Jian Chou’s hand. That feeling of blood pulsing and wind howling immediately surrounded her heart.

She slowly closed her eyes, allowing her mind and spirit to sink with the arriving darkness.

The moment it fell to its limit, Jian Chou suddenly opened her eyes—

Sword riding the wind!

Boom!

In that instant, a bizarre scene finally appeared!

Jian Chou’s entire being actually transformed into a raging black wind, like a mass of thick black ink tide, occupying most of the study and causing the bookshelves to shake!

There was no trajectory, only that faint black sword surrounded within.

Strand after strand of black wind frantically shuttled through the black sword’s apertures, intertwining into one entity!

Swish!

After expanding for a moment, that mass of black wind immediately contracted frantically inward.

When Jian Chou’s figure re-condensed, she was already standing at the door!

Nearly instantaneous movement!

Ghostly unpredictable form and speed!

If Xing Wu and Chen Tingyan were here witnessing this scene, they would probably cry out in alarm immediately—

How similar this scene was to that previous one in the deep alley!

Jian Chou stood at the door with a wonderful expression on her face.

She gazed at the long sword in her hand, savoring the feeling just now – that fusion where all things in the world became one with her!

She had truly merged with the wind and transformed within it…

With the help of the uniquely crafted Swallowing Wind Stone black sword, she had taken a nearly terrifying step forward in her cultivation of “riding the wind”!

Any technique that connected with nature and approached the “dao” relied on a cultivator’s inner comprehension. Someone like Jian Chou with an incomplete soul and spirit could basically not sense the existence of heavenly and earthly rules after entering Soul Separation, so merging with “wind” was impossible to discuss.

But with the Swallowing Wind Stone’s assistance, she could trigger this feeling, allowing herself to merge as one with the black sword and become that long wind passing through apertures!

Riding wind and controlling sword – how carefree and unrestrained?

Though before her was only this not-very-spacious room, Jian Chou’s heart had already flown toward the vast blue sky thousands of miles away, breaking through misty clouds…

A smile at the corner of her lips finally flowed out uncontrollably.

Jian Chou stroked the black sword, slowly returning it to its sheath, her heart already lightened by more than half.

“After entering the Extreme Domain, I’ve been constrained everywhere. Now I finally possess an ultimate technique that can at least serve for self-defense, so I don’t need to be so anxious…”

She stretched lazily, moving her muscles and bones, sighing comfortably, then turned and walked back from the door, planning to study that plum vase again.

Unexpectedly, just as she was about to reach out, the wide sleeve hanging at her side suddenly began swaying chaotically without warning.

As if something bulging was jumping around inside her sleeve.

Jian Chou was startled and finally remembered: Little Marten!

She reached out and took the spirit beast bag hidden in her sleeve.

Sure enough, the bag seemed to have something frantically burrowing inside, with some urgency, as if wanting to come out immediately.

Little Marten had never signed any contract with Jian Chou, so she couldn’t sense Little Marten’s current state. Just as she instinctively opened the spirit beast bag, she thought of a serious problem—

She had sold that pile of junk it had painstakingly collected without Little Marten’s consent…

Not good!

She couldn’t let Little Marten out right now!

Jian Chou instinctively wanted to withdraw her hand and tie the spirit beast bag shut again.

However…

It was too late!

“Swoosh!”

A gray shadow shot out from the bag like lightning, as agile and swift as a cat that had caught a whiff of fish!

It landed precisely on Jian Chou’s shoulder, “Awoo!”

Its tongue extended, “slurp slurp,” licking Jian Chou’s neck with sticky saliva!

In that instant, Jian Chou froze.

She stood in place without moving, feeling like half her neck had lost sensation, as if she’d been licked by a wolf.

Only one image floated in her mind.

Back in the Crimson Kill Realm, this adorable little furry creature had suddenly opened its mouth without warning – a bloody maw fully three to five zhang wide!

One “Vajra Lion’s Roar” had shaken Gu Qingmei directly out of the Third Heaven!

If…

If she told Little Marten that the pile of junk it had painstakingly collected had been sold by her, would it open its mouth and bite her half to death?

Jian Chou slowly turned her neck to glance at the furry ball crouched on her shoulder, watching it lick her neck again and again, feeling chills rising from the soles of her feet…