The night had grown deep, and the entire City of Unjust Deaths had fallen back into darkness.

The city gates were tightly closed, and the high drawbridge outside had been raised.

The moat filled with lava flowed quietly.

Ten thousand li of wasteland stretched beyond the city walls, boundless as far as the eye could see.

Clusters of Sky Time Grass trembled in the cold wind, extending all the way to the distance.

Piercing through layers of mist, the towering Ghost Gate Pass stood grimly at the end.

The ghost messengers guarding the gate had already begun their shift change. Those who had finished their duties for the day made their way back to the Reception Department thirty li behind Ghost Gate Pass to report.

However, when several ghost messengers went to report today, they discovered something unusual.

Usually at this time, the ghost officials in the department would have mostly returned home, leaving the surroundings dark and eerie. But now they could see lights still burning in the rear hall of the Reception Department, suggesting someone was inside.

“What’s going on?”

After reporting, someone couldn’t suppress their curiosity and asked.

Those who knew the situation lowered their voices and pointed upward: “Lord Cui and Zhang Tang are inside.”

Thus, everyone understood.

Cui Jue had been at the Reception Department for a long time, and word was that he would return to Eight Directions City in a few days to report back to Lord Qin Guang. With the ding competition already begun and Zhang Tang being Lord Qin Guang’s favorite this year, there must be things to discuss before his departure.

Everyone set aside their curiosity and left in groups of two or three.

In the rear hall, lamplight flickered.

Cui Jue stood in the center of the hall, wearing a clear blue robe, but his brow was slightly furrowed.

Zhang Tang sat in a chair below, feeling somewhat heavy and lacking confidence inside, but outwardly appearing much more composed and steady than Cui Jue.

Today had been busy with many matters, especially the increase in new ghosts in the City of Unjust Deaths. Zhang Tang had worked until very late before preparing to leave.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Cui Jue had summoned him over.

During his time at the Reception Department, aside from necessary contact, this Chief Judge Cui rarely spoke with Zhang Tang. Being called over now made Zhang Tang’s heart skip a beat.

After arriving and sitting quietly for a moment, he spoke: “I wonder what matter Lord Cui seeks this subordinate for?”

Cui Jue’s expression wasn’t good.

He was still thinking about the orders transmitted earlier by the Yama Lord, unable to fully comprehend them.

Hearing Zhang Tang’s inquiry, Cui Jue only glanced back at him, his brow still furrowed: “Last month when you first took over matters concerning new ghosts in the City of Unjust Deaths, did you receive a female cultivator with strange cultivation?”

Zhang Tang raised his head, remaining calm and composed as he replied: “There was indeed such a person.”

Someone had asked about this before—that was just ordinary ghost officials and judges from the Reception Department. Why was even Chief Judge Cui from under Lord Qin Guang personally inquiring about this matter now?

Looking at Cui Jue’s demeanor, it seemed as if he had come specifically for this matter.

Zhang Tang knew the situation had probably changed. Without showing any nervousness, he continued looking at Cui Jue and added: “Others have asked about this recently too. Is there something improper about this person?”

“Improper…”

That was certainly the case.

Something like a “dust-sized soul pearl”—Cui Jue found it difficult even to imagine.

With such poor talent, how could she possibly form a soul pearl?

Once a soul pearl was formed, it couldn’t possibly be so small.

This description of “dust-sized” carried a self-contradictory feeling.

Cui Jue slowly paced out, then paced back.

“You sent her to the registration office in the City of Unjust Deaths. Can you still find her now?”

Looking for someone?

Zhang Tang was inwardly shocked, almost thinking the matter had been exposed.

But thinking again, if things were truly exposed, how could Cui Jue not be suspicious of him? And he probably wouldn’t be so pleasant either.

So he wasn’t trying to arrest Jian Chou?

A series of thoughts flashed quickly through his mind as Zhang Tang pondered for a moment.

Cui Jue hadn’t heard an answer and saw Zhang Tang seemed hesitant, becoming somewhat suspicious and asking: “Has she disappeared without a trace?”

“Not at all.”

In this brief moment, Zhang Tang had made up his mind. He shook his head in response to Cui Jue and spoke honestly.

“Though I don’t know what Lord Cui seeks her for, this subordinate knows this female cultivator’s residence clearly. If Lord Cui has matters to inquire about with her, this subordinate can lead people to arrest her.”

Cui Jue laughed.

He was Zhang Tang’s senior and, though never getting along with Zhang Tang and being somewhat aloof, now looking at that serious, expressionless face that couldn’t stir up any waves, he couldn’t help but wave his hand.

“Arrest what? There’s news from Eight Directions City…”

“The Yama Lord has assigned Cui to handle this matter, and incidentally supervise the ding competition in the City of Unjust Deaths. Since you know her residence, come with me to the City of Unjust Deaths and we’ll discuss the details on the way.”

Cui Jue didn’t give Zhang Tang another chance to respond, directly standing up and walking toward the hall exit.

Zhang Tang rose from his chair, his solemn and cold gaze falling on Cui Jue’s retreating figure.

Unconsciously, his brow furrowed tightly.

What exactly was this about?

Not an arrest, yet requiring Cui Jue to handle it personally?

Slowly relaxing his brow, he still stepped forward to follow.

…

The nights in the Extreme Realm had no moon. The entire sky looked as if painted with a large brush dipped in ink, covered in layers of darkness.

In the City of Unjust Deaths, in the mysterious old residence.

Jian Chou had been staring at the pile of books before her in a daze for quite some time. She had spent nearly half an hour before pulling herself out of that heavy fog.

What she couldn’t understand, she simply wouldn’t think about. The urgent matter was to quickly break the array formation below her feet and see if there really was Reincarnation Pool Water underneath.

After all, if that pill formula book’s records were true, refining the “Soul Reversal Pill” required sixty-three days.

Jian Chou hadn’t forgotten about the Reception Department investigating her. Heaven knew whether she’d still be alive after sixty-three days.

If she was going to act, it had to be quickly.

Jian Chou quickly cast aside distracting thoughts and began thinking.

Earlier, because of the handwriting discrepancies, she had only focused on flipping through books. Now, to find the key to breaking the array formation, she needed to redirect her attention back to the books’ contents.

Quite a few books were already piled on the desk, mostly from the array formation category shelf.

Following old Zhou’s earlier statement about “changing tenants every fifty years or so,” the nine types of handwriting probably meant nine previous owners. Even not knowing whether they were the same person or nine different people, the contents of these books had definitely been completed within four to five hundred years.

Thinking this way, how amazing was that?

Studying array formations alone for four to five hundred years, reaching such a pinnacle—this was truly rare in the world. Even more terrifying was that this wasn’t limited to just array formations!

Cultivation methods, pills, artifact crafting, even more complex talismans…

Everything was here!

This study was actually a huge treasure trove!

Before Jian Chou came here and rented this residence, this secret had been well preserved because after each tenant disappeared and their lease expired, new people would come to rent it.

Even old Zhou, who served as the broker, probably never truly knew the mysteries within.

The more she thought about it, the more this seemed impossible to be coincidence.

Everything fit together seamlessly, as if someone had deliberately designed it all without showing any traces.

Jian Chou turned around and walked behind the desk, sitting down.

The chair was just an ordinary one made of black wood, the same material as the surrounding bookshelves. It looked unpretentious and rather common.

However, the armrests on both sides already showed a smooth, oily sheen, as if they had been touched many times.

Just looking at these armrests, Jian Chou knew this position behind the desk must have been where previous owners often sat.

After sitting down, she felt something indescribably wonderful.

Those with affinity for cherishing flowers…

She shook her head and carefully organized all the books piled on the desk by category.

These were some she had moved over earlier to verify handwriting, but she hadn’t actually read through them, so now she directly chose the array formation category and began reading.

The feeling from reading “Eight Trigrams Two Instruments” returned.

From shallow to deep, from surface to core, gradually becoming profound and abstruse, with handwriting changing again and again. Some were thoroughly researched early on, ending with the sixth type of handwriting, while others continued like “Eight Trigrams Two Instruments” until the ninth type of handwriting.

Books were taken from the right side by Jian Chou, and after reading, placed on her right.

But even after flipping through the entire pile before her, she hadn’t seen anything she wanted.

On the ground, the array formation composed of six semicircles had gradually faded, with only vague outlines remaining.

Time passed without her knowing.

She had activated the residence’s protective and soundproofing array formations, so even if it was chaos outside, it remained quiet here.

After finishing one pile of books without results, Jian Chou wasn’t discouraged.

She had always read quickly, taking in ten lines at a glance with perfect recall.

Even though she couldn’t understand much of the latter halves of many books, driven by a strange mentality of taking advantage, she wasn’t polite at all, forcibly memorizing those difficult-to-understand contents.

If she survived and eventually left the Extreme Realm, there would be plenty of time to study them.

As they say, predecessors plant trees so descendants can enjoy the shade.

With such a huge treasure trove left by others, anyone who didn’t look would be a fool!

Jian Chou’s mind was sharp—she was no fool.

So she read while searching while memorizing, gradually entering a state of selfless concentration.

Books on the desk were moved when few remained, and when depleted, more were brought.

Books on the shelves went from the bottom level to the top level…

She didn’t know how much time had passed when Jian Chou once again carried a tall stack of books back to the bookshelf, wanting to put these read books back and get a new batch.

But when she habitually reached upward, she grasped empty air.

“Thud.”

Her finger hit the wooden carved frame of the bookshelf with a sound.

Jian Chou looked up and was stunned: Gone?

Actually gone?

All the books below were ones she had already read. During the reading process, she had naturally learned much, but still found nothing related to that array formation.

Her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Jian Chou began to doubt: Had she analyzed incorrectly? Was the method to break the ground array formation not hidden among these books at all?

But that shouldn’t be right.

If the other party wanted someone to tend the plums for them, the breaking method shouldn’t be hidden too deeply.

Had she missed something?

Jian Chou couldn’t help rubbing her temples, trying to organize her thoughts.

The reasoning should be correct; the problem might be in the details.

“Shouldn’t be hidden too deeply…”

She muttered, suddenly raising her head to look around at the shelves of books, then changing position to sit behind the desk, naturally raising her head to look ahead—

That was the most easily visible direction when sitting behind the desk.

An ordinary bookshelf appeared in Jian Chou’s field of vision, obviously much sparser than bookshelves in other positions. A book on the middle level’s outer edge was slightly tilted, protruding somewhat.

As if someone had put it back without fully inserting it, or as if someone was about to take out this book, got halfway, then was interrupted by something else and let go.

Though only protruding this little bit of the spine, from Jian Chou’s angle, it looked completely different.

This was the bookshelf Jian Chou could most easily see, and that was the most easily seen book on the shelf!

Jian Chou almost immediately stood up.

Without hesitation, she got up again and walked to this new bookshelf, reaching out to take down the book!

An old book with damaged corners.

Even before opening it, Jian Chou could already see vague ink marks on it, somewhat dirty, and the writing on the book was even harder to make out.

Staring at those blurry characters, Jian Chou looked for a long time before barely making out “Extreme Realm Thousand Maps,” though she wasn’t very certain.

However, she didn’t need to be certain.

Because the verification method was simple.

Jian Chou directly opened the book to look, and map after map quickly appeared before her eyes.

The entire vast Nineteen Continents landmass, the boundless Western Sea, the human isolated island—all were depicted.

However, this map was quite different from all those Jian Chou had seen before.

She was accustomed to seeing the human isolated island on the left, the Nineteen Continents mainland on the right, with the vast Western Sea in between.

But in this book’s map, the Nineteen Continents were on the left, the human isolated island on the right, with the island and mainland almost back-to-back, separated only by a narrow strait!

At the top of the map, three large characters were written neatly: “Origin Star.”

At the position where the Nineteen Continents mainland and human isolated island connected, a red dot was marked with the annotation “Extreme Realm.”

The handwriting was all the first type among the various handwritings Jian Chou had seen.

However, her attention was no longer on the handwriting.

Looking at this map, Jian Chou was greatly surprised—this was the first time she’d seen anyone dare to draw it this way!

On the human isolated island, Jian Chou, like everyone around her, thought Great Xia was vast and that their world was square earth under round heaven.

But reaching the Nineteen Continents and Yashan, she learned their world was actually a sphere.

Since Great Lord Pangu led the human race in migration from outside this universe, primordial chaos was opened, clear and turbid separated, chaos cracked, rolling into brilliant nebulae, contracting then exploding, so billions of stars gushed forth.

Some stars quickly dimmed, becoming cosmic dust.

Others stabilized during their cosmic drift.

Origin Star was such a “lucky one” that stabilized.

So Jian Chou’s map before her had no problems—

Looking from the Western Sea side as the front, the Nineteen Continents mainland and human isolated island were indeed very far apart, accessible only through the Thirteen Immortal Path Islands.

But looking from the other side, they were as shown in this map—ridiculously close!

The Nineteen Continents were divided into four regions: South, North, Central, and Extreme.

The South, North, and Central regions were normal, but the “Extreme Realm” occupying a small area at the easternmost end was the taboo of the entire Nineteen Continents.

This wasn’t the true Extreme Realm, but an entrance to the Extreme Realm. It indeed counted as part of the Extreme Realm, so calling it the “Extreme Realm” wasn’t problematic.

Nine-Head River originated from here, and Nine-Head Birds carried ghosts upstream, also returning here.

Departed souls could enter the true Extreme Realm from this place.

However, after the Yin-Yang realm war, Nine-Head Bird died, Nine-Head River’s source changed to the Snowy Region, and this Extreme Realm entrance in the Nineteen Continents became an completely impassable chasm.

Whether cultivators or mortals, all who went there never returned.

So Nineteen Continents cultivators wanting to go to the human isolated island generally could only cross the sea; people from the human isolated island wanting to seek immortality in the Nineteen Continents could only embark on the Thirteen Immortal Path Islands.

Since this book was called “Extreme Realm Thousand Maps,” drawing from the angle of where the Extreme Realm was located was actually quite normal.

Jian Chou’s mind quickly sketched the real scenery corresponding to the map.

Then she flipped to the next page.

The scope of the next map had shrunk considerably.

This time it was the Extreme Realm’s ten thousand li wasteland, with edges marked in dotted lines, as if the mapmaker didn’t know where the Extreme Realm’s boundaries actually were.

The underworld was drawn at the center of the Extreme Realm, roughly circular in shape.

On the left side of the page, west of the underworld’s position, a stone gate was drawn and circled in red ink, marked “Ghost Gate Pass.”

Jian Chou noticed this marking but didn’t understand why.

The previous map had circled the Extreme Realm’s entrance; here it circled the underworld’s entrance—there seemed to be some connection.

Jian Chou frowned slightly and turned another page.

The map’s scope was still shrinking.

The third map depicted the underworld.

Roughly circular, starting from outside and shrinking inward layer by layer, with seventy-two cities scattered like stars throughout the circle.

Eight Directions City was at the underworld’s very center, not the square shape Jian Chou had imagined, but octagonal.

Simple palaces were drawn in each of the eight directions. Jian Chou thought for a moment and understood: these represented the Eight Directions Yama Palaces.

The City of Unjust Deaths was at the underworld’s edge, near Ghost Gate Pass.

The red marking on this page fell near the city gates of the City of Unjust Deaths.

“Another entrance?”

Jian Chou couldn’t help frowning.

This was already the third time…

Would the fourth map’s marking be at…?

Jian Chou’s heart stirred, and she stopped looking at the current map, directly turning another page.

Sure enough, the massive, unwieldy underworld was gone. This last map was drawn very carefully—it was the complete view of the City of Unjust Deaths!

Square-shaped, surrounded by a moat, with the tall Eighteen-Story Above Ground Tower in the center.

Streets ran vertically and horizontally, radiating outward from the Above Ground Tower as the center.

The red marking stood out glaringly among the black and white.

Looking at it, Jian Chou couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle.

What she had thought was exactly right!

This red marking fell at the side of a street in the city, in front of a residence’s main gate!

Three streets away from the Above Ground Tower, positioned to the right, at the end of the street…

If not the residence where Jian Chou currently was, which one could it be?

“What does this mean…”

Why did these gradually shrinking maps feel like precise guidance for entering this residence?

Coming from the human realm entrance, passing through Ghost Gate Pass, being sent to the City of Unjust Deaths, then arriving at the residence door…

The first three were all places a new ghost from the City of Unjust Deaths must pass through!

Jian Chou couldn’t figure it out.

She vaguely felt a sense of foreboding, feeling something was wrong, but couldn’t research anything concrete.

Pressing her forehead, Jian Chou forced herself to quickly turn this page, afraid that in an impulse, she’d interrupt her search and go directly to the main gate to see if there was anything unusual.

“Rustle.”

This time Jian Chou’s page-turning was somewhat loud, calling back her attention to some degree.

However…

“There are no more maps?”

Instead, there was dense writing.

“Great Lord Pangu established reincarnation. From ancient to far ancient to near ancient, three eras have passed.”

“The Extreme Realm is the land of reincarnation, originally without living beings. At the end of the far ancient era, in the Nine Nether Yellow Springs, spiritual beings suddenly grew, developing self-consciousness, commanding reincarnation, ruling the Extreme Realm, becoming like humans.”

Just reading the beginning, Jian Chou was completely stunned.

The Yin-Yang realm war was deeply taboo for the Nineteen Continents, but utterly mysterious to her.

Now this page, with just a few sentences, clearly explained the causes of the Yin-Yang realm war, hitting the key points!

Jian Chou still remembered that day in Fish Eye Tomb when the flounder fish used its Universe Eye power to show her the cosmic evolution.

In the primordial universe, dark and profound, deities were born in darkness, immortal and undying, slaughtering each other.

Then a ray of light came from the universe’s edge, breaking through this ignorant chaos, and true evolution began from there…

That was a towering figure holding an axe, called—

Great Lord Pangu!

The ancient era was when the entire universe was ruled by immortal chaotic deities.

Later, a long war erupted between the human race and deities, plunging the entire universe into an era of cold and darkness.

After the eternal long night, light reappeared.

The powerful deities disappeared, Great Lord Pangu also fell in this battle, and rare vitality appeared on the earth as all living beings regenerated.

The struggling people finally gained new life.

After comprehending heaven and earth’s rules, they called themselves “immortals,” fighting and battling with various alien beasts and demon gods newly emerged on earth, gradually winning ruling positions like the deities.

This long era of mixed warfare was called the “far ancient.”

The so-called “near ancient” was the era Jian Chou now lived in.

The entire universe was ruled by “humans” and “immortals,” beginning the most peaceful and prosperous development…

However…

Jian Chou never expected this writer to claim that reincarnation was established single-handedly by Great Lord Pangu!

One person’s power could rewrite heaven and earth’s rules, affecting countless millions in this world?

She unconsciously frowned.

This writer also said the Extreme Realm originally had no life, being merely a transfer station for reincarnation, but after millions of years of evolution, “spiritual beings” were born there.

They developed self-consciousness and began commanding the Extreme Realm, ruling reincarnation.

So Jian Chou thought of the Ten Great Ghost Clans, thought of the Eight Directions Yama Palace…

The leaders of the Ten Great Ghost Clans were the Ten Great Yin Commanders, not originally human; among the eight Yama Lords in the Eight Directions Yama Palace, she’d heard several weren’t ghost cultivators from the human realm either.

All the scattered clues seemed to match up.

That sudden feeling of shock was truly indescribable.

Jian Chou didn’t know what emotions she held as she continued reading.

“The Nineteen Continents heard of these changes and investigated them. For a time, above and below ground were like spear and shield, so they fought at the boundary between yin and yang.”

“Yashan and Kunwu, along with both Dao and Buddhist sects, devoted all efforts to attack.”

“In the Yellow Springs battle, the Nineteen Continents suffered crushing defeat while the Extreme Realm achieved great victory.”

“Qin Guang, Chu Jiang, Song Di, Wu Guan, Yanluo, Taishan, Du Shi, and Zhuanlun were each listed as the Eight Palace Yama Lords, sealing the Yin-Yang boundary battlefield with the Heaven-Releasing Creation Array.”

“Outside this array, bodies of flesh and blood cannot enter; within this array, souls and spiritual beings cannot exit.”

“Heaven-Releasing Creation Array…”

Jian Chou had actually heard of this!

Earlier when she visited Immortal Wuzhong, hadn’t he pointed out that reaching the Yin-Yang boundary and finding the Heaven-Releasing Creation Array, then releasing her physical body, would naturally allow her to leave—

So that was it! So that was it!

Everything suddenly became clear at this moment.

Living people couldn’t enter outside the array, while ghost cultivators inside couldn’t leave.

But Jian Chou was precisely a living person inside the array!

If she reached the array, wouldn’t leaving be as easy as turning her palm?

“But… where is the Yin-Yang boundary…”

As soon as this question arose, Jian Chou’s previously relaxed brow furrowed again.

The breadth of knowledge and learning of this residence’s former owner far exceeded her imagination.

Now that the Yin-Yang realm war was mentioned, the Yin-Yang boundary mentioned, even the Heaven-Releasing Creation Array mentioned—could there be no related records afterward?

Jian Chou didn’t believe it!

Holding the book, her eyes bright and brilliant, she quickly flipped backward.

The fifth map finally appeared.

It was a folded world.

A red dotted line divided upper and lower halves.

Above the line, mountains, rivers, grass, and trees were placed normally—Kunwu, Yashan, Buddhist and Dao sects.

Below the line, cities, palaces, houses, and buildings were placed upside down, along with an inverted triangular Eighteen Layers of Hell!

At the bottom of the page was the first layer of hell, moving up were the second layer, third layer…

Counting upward like climbing, reaching the layer closest to the horizontal line—the eighteenth layer!

The entire composition presented a “mirror image” feeling.

Though the patterns were different, the upper and lower worlds were inverted, vaguely having a corresponding meaning.

The red dotted line should represent the earth between the Extreme Realm and Nineteen Continents, with neat small characters annotated beside it…

Yin-Yang Boundary, Heaven-Releasing Creation Array!

At that moment, Jian Chou’s expression changed dramatically, incredibly vivid—

The Yin-Yang boundary was actually at the bottom of the Eighteen Layers of Hell!

The Eighteen Layers of Hell were heavily guarded, with no entry allowed except for evil ghosts, messengers, judges, and similar personnel.

When Jian Chou forged records to sneak into the City of Unjust Deaths, she wrote that her yang lifespan still had decades remaining and she had to wait until her lifespan was complete before leaving to be sent to the Karma Mirror Platform to see good and evil.

Not to mention whether she had the courage to be examined, even if she successfully bluffed her way through, with her actions on the human isolated island, she probably couldn’t go down to hell anyway.

If she considered becoming a ghost messenger and sneaking in with them…

Thinking of Zhang Tang’s earlier words about the “Reception Department” investigating her, Jian Chou felt only bitterness.

“This year’s ding competition is amazing—it’s actually set in the Eighteen Layers of Hell. Whoever ultimately stays in the eighteenth layer becomes this year’s ding champion…”

Chen Tingyan’s voice echoed in her ears.

But Jian Chou’s mouth was bitter, and she couldn’t even smile.

Relying on the ding competition to enter the Eighteen Layers of Hell was even less reliable than pretending to be a ghost messenger to sneak in.

Passing five barriers and slaying six generals, not to mention deceiving the heavens, she’d also have to fight people half to death…

Jian Chou didn’t think she could stand out among this group of ruthless people and enter the eighteenth layer alive…

“The Eighteenth Layer of Hell…”

Now it truly had become her hell.

Originally seeing a ray of hope, but thinking of these words felt like being suddenly doused with a basin of cold water, chilling Jian Chou to the bone.

She stared at this map for a long time, unable to suppress the irritation rising in her heart, feeling like everything was ready except for that final kick.

After enduring several times, she finally pressed her brow and directly turned this page over.

At this moment, Jian Chou, disturbed by the earlier contents of this “Maps” book, had actually almost forgotten why she had opened this book in the first place.

So when the pattern on this page appeared before her eyes, she unconsciously blinked, not reacting for quite some time.

Six semicircles, paired opposite each other, arcs facing inward, straight lines facing outward, intersecting with each other, forming a contracted pattern.

A note beside it: Heaven-Releasing Creation Array.

Heaven-Releasing Creation Array?

Even if you were a Heaven-Destroying Earth-Annihilating Array, I don’t want to look at you now!

Can’t even get to the Eighteen Layers of Hell, still talking about reaching the Yin-Yang boundary and returning to the Nineteen Continents?

Jian Chou shook her head.

Having concentrated intensely earlier, reading hundreds and thousands of books, she was already extremely exhausted. Now experiencing this rise and fall from hope to disappointment, she didn’t have much energy left to study such a complex array.

The book was here; she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. She could look at it again later.

As Jian Chou closed the pages, she casually glanced one last time at that pattern and picked up the book to put it back on the shelf.

However…

Just as this “Extreme Realm Thousand Maps” was about to be put down, something flashed through Jian Chou’s mind like lightning.

That pattern just now—wasn’t it a bit…

Familiar?

At this moment, Jian Chou froze entirely before the bookshelf, her eyes widening suddenly!

The bamboo-green array pattern on the floor tiles and the black-and-white pattern on the book page simultaneously surfaced in the depths of her mind, one left and one right, slowly approaching…

Finally, they completely overlapped!

Identical!

She almost couldn’t hold the book steady. Jian Chou’s mind exploded with a “boom” as she stiffly turned around, staring at the center of the study.

On those perfectly fitted floor tiles, the bamboo-green light had long since mostly faded, showing only an extremely vague outline of the array formation.

“How is this possible…”

This unremarkable thing on the ground was actually the Heaven-Releasing Creation Array used by the Eight Palace Yama Lords to seal the yin and yang realms!

What exactly had gotten into this study’s former owner’s head?!