“Therefore, for this cauldron competition, our Ghost King clan will have more than twenty people participating in total. Five spots come from the Ghost King clan itself, while the rest come from the Eighteen Floors Above Ground. In our Wangsi City branch, Lihan leads the group—”

In the Ghost King clan’s inner hall, a branch elder named Sun Bing with a somewhat square face spoke with considerable pride.

When mentioning “Lihan,” he couldn’t help but glance toward the left side of the hall below.

The young man wore dark blue-black robes, his angular face still pale. Sharp energy could be seen gleaming in his eyes.

This was Lihan, the strongest ghost cultivator from the Wangsi City branch of the Ghost King clan.

However…

At this moment, Lihan seemed completely oblivious to what Sun Bing had just said. Instead, he stared straight at the sky outside the hall, his gaze seemingly fixed on some point in the void, though no one knew what he was looking at.

Sun Bing frowned and immediately said, “Lihan, is something wrong?”

Many people of various ages stood in the hall, apparently other participants from the Wangsi City branch who would join the cauldron competition.

They all turned their gazes toward the young man at the front following Sun Bing’s words.

Fu Chaosheng, who was currently “Lihan,” heard this as well.

His gaze remained fixed on that vast, dim yellow sky outside, unable to look away for a long time…

That feeling just now…

It was too shocking.

It was as if something had suddenly broken through the taboos of the Extreme Realm and descended abruptly into somewhere within Wangsi City…

And he couldn’t discern what it was.

Both Universe Eyes were on him, but at this moment, with so many eyes watching, he couldn’t take them out to examine.

This was the Extreme Realm.

His own strength was affected by the mayfly body, fluctuating from weak to strong and back to weak, changing between day and night. This wasn’t the peak of his power…

Lord Qin Guang was born in the Extreme Realm, the very embodiment of heaven and earth’s creation. He absolutely shouldn’t act rashly now.

A cold sense of displeasure slowly crept up.

Fu Chaosheng finally withdrew his gaze and looked at Sun Bing sitting in the hall. There was no fear, no apprehension—only a contemptuous calm.

“Reporting to the Elder, nothing is wrong.”

“Hmph.”

Sun Bing snorted, naturally seeing “Lihan’s” attitude.

This Lihan, relying on his outstanding talent, looked down on everyone.

Once he entered the cauldron competition, he would get his comeuppance!

Cursing inwardly, Sun Bing maintained the dignity of an elder on his face: “Lord Cui has already confirmed the name list. With only ten days left until the cauldron competition, you should use this final time to cultivate and not bring shame to our Ghost King clan. Everyone, disperse!”

“Yes, Elder.”

Several ghost cultivators from the Ghost King clan who had been summoned bowed in response, then scattered.

Fu Chaosheng also mixed in with the crowd, leaving the inner hall and arriving under the eaves.

At this moment, not a single person had seen through his identity.

He had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the little bookworm’s rampage in the mortal realm, causing scholars to die unjustly, and quietly entered the Extreme Realm during the most chaotic time of the wrongful death ghost escorts.

Originally, he hadn’t alarmed anyone, but unexpectedly encountered Han Zhanzhi, a chief judge under Jiang Chang, the City King of the Seventh Palace, and nearly ruined everything. He had no choice but to kill him to silence him.

Later, he entered Wangsi City and watched that slaughter at the Eighteen Floors Above Ground from afar, selecting this person called Lihan.

Lihan was a Ghost King clan cultivator.

Exceptionally talented but with a perverse and cold temperament, he had no friends or confidants whatsoever, but had offended many people.

Such a person wouldn’t be noticed by others even if someone suddenly replaced his core.

So when this person left the Eighteen Floors Above Ground and was about to return to the Ghost King clan, Fu Chaosheng intercepted and killed him on the street, taking his place and infiltrating the Ghost King clan.

He wanted to personally see what the Yin-Yang Realm looked like.

But at this moment, standing under the eaves, he raised his head to look into the distance: from a certain residence, a faint but intimidating aura emanated.

In the pair of deep blue eyes belonging to “Lihan,” light flashed.

Fu Chaosheng turned his wrist hidden in his wide sleeves, and two grayish-white fish eyes appeared between his fingers.

He wanted to see…

What exactly was this existence that had broken through and arrived.

“Rumble…”

Distant thunder rolled faintly across the sky.

The sky of the Extreme Realm suddenly became turbulent with swirling clouds and winds, changing unpredictably.

The pedestrians on the road continued talking and laughing, accustomed to this: the autumn and winter here were always like this, just without rain.

So they didn’t need to take shelter, continuing to walk and hawk their wares.

Cui Jue and Zhang Tang finally arrived once again at the residence that had been tightly closed for over seventy days.

They should have arrived earlier, but encountered an elder from the Fish Gill clan on the way and discussed some matters regarding this cauldron competition, causing a delay.

Two stone lions sat lifelessly on either side of the main gate.

Cui Jue stopped, holding the scroll of the cauldron competition name list, looking up and sighing: “I hope her cultivation hasn’t broken through yet.”

Then he looked back at Zhang Tang and said, “Lord Zhang is acquainted with her, so please knock on the door.”

Zhang Tang also looked at the residence gate, nodded upon hearing this, and walked toward the main gate.

The two doors were tightly closed, with narrow gaps between them.

The shadow of a ground orange tree in the central courtyard could be vaguely seen.

However, with the house protection formation in place, nothing else could be seen clearly.

The protective formation had been activated dozens of days ago, isolating all sounds from the outside world.

So Jian Chou inside the house couldn’t hear anything.

Except for the rustling of the wind.

Her gaze was fixed on the window paper.

“Kill Xie Buchen, sever the seven spirits…”

The rustling sound of writing had completely disappeared.

The sky was not bright.

In Jian Chou’s heart, stormy waves were already surging!

Kill Xie Buchen?

Sever the seven spirits?

She was all too familiar with Xie Buchen.

After the battle at Qingfeng Nunnery’s hidden realm, she had summoned the One-Person Platform, causing a billion stars to fall, delivering a single strike that ultimately seized the Human Emperor Sword—

Now, these written words spoke of “killing Xie Buchen.”

Did this mean Xie Buchen was already dead, or not dead?

Bit by bit, cold intent condensed in Jian Chou’s eyes.

She stood before the carved window, before the three plum branches, her icy gaze penetrating through to fall on those two lines of characters.

The person who left these words should be the one who had previously attacked with something resembling a ruler, interrupting her incense burning.

Jian Chou didn’t know what would happen after “lighting a stick of incense,” but she also didn’t understand these eight characters before her eyes.

Seven spirits…

What were the seven spirits?

The three characters “Xie Buchen” she had heard so often they nauseated her, and her reaction wasn’t particularly strong now, but these three characters “seven spirits” were strangely fresh to an odd degree.

Spirits.

Whose seven “spirits” were these, or was it the name of something?

Why sever the seven spirits?

By leaving these words here, was this person warning, prophesying, or instructing?

Jian Chou slowly clenched her five fingers. The Human Emperor Sword’s surface was entirely black, seemingly without luster, yet carrying an ancient and eternal meaning.

The water marks on the window paper showed signs of slowly fading under the gentle breeze.

She couldn’t determine from this crude handwriting what background this person had.

The only thing she could judge was that this person was either a young child or in an extremely weak state, even on the verge of death.

Every stroke and line was almost trembling, as if using all their strength just to write.

But…

This didn’t match the various previous signs.

The “hidden weapon” that broke through the window to attack her, the force that penetrated directly into the ground, the faintly displayed power—it seemed as if some taboo between heaven and earth prevented her from detecting this person’s existence…

Perhaps someone was indeed standing at the window, but with her current abilities, she simply couldn’t see them.

Jian Chou thought and thought, the mystery of “severing the seven spirits” constantly lingering in her mind.

She saw no further movement on the window paper. Her five fingers gripping the sword showed white knuckles, revealing her current wariness and vigilance.

Silently.

Jian Chou suppressed that intense unease and took a step forward…

“BOOM!”

In that instant, the entire residence seemed to explode with a storm!

Something’s wrong?!

Jian Chou instinctively thought her step had triggered something and immediately prepared to draw her sword and strike toward the window. However, the next moment, she narrowed her eyes and noticed the situation in the courtyard.

The sky of the Extreme Realm was always a dim yellow.

Now, it was like a smooth lake surface suddenly disturbed by a thrown stone, creating ripples.

—That was Jian Chou’s house protection formation!

The two ground orange trees in the central courtyard began shaking violently due to this sudden “ripple”!

Wind swept up fallen leaves, some traveling along the ground, others flying into the air.

A familiar voice came from beyond the ripples, clear yet gentle.

“Fellow Daoist Jian Chou, Lord Cui Jue has business and wishes to visit.”

This voice…

Zhang Tang?!

When she heard the first word, Jian Chou had already made the judgment in her heart. However, the second half of the sentence made her spine run cold!

Cui Jue!

The chief judge sent by Lord Qin Guang of the First Palace to the Escort Department to investigate the Ghost Axe’s breakthrough into this realm!

Zhang Tang had brought him here?!

In that instant, Jian Chou instinctively pointed directly forward!

“Bang!”

A burst of deep white soul power shot from her fingertip, hitting the two carved windows.

The tightly closed carved windows immediately sealed completely, and a small concealment formation enveloped the snow-white window paper!

The writing on the window paper vanished as if it had never appeared.

Jian Chou’s heart pounded frantically; she was nearly overwhelmed by these successive changes.

Only after seeing the formation take effect did she slowly breathe a sigh of relief, her freed mind finally having time to consider her current situation…

Because she had already bound the residence formation’s control token to her spirit soul, even without looking, Jian Chou could clearly sense the threat the formation currently faced.

When she was in seclusion, she had fully activated the formation, preventing any outside interference.

But when attacks reached a certain level, the formation would still show certain flaws, like the current ripples.

The present situation indicated someone outside was forcibly knocking on the door.

And just now…

The speaker was Zhang Tang!

Jian Chou had been able to safely enter Wangsi City thanks to this person’s favor.

Since then, they could be said to be grasshoppers tied to the same rope—if one died, the other would likely be implicated and have no chance of escaping unscathed.

Zhang Tang was not a foolish person.

Even if the Escort Department had someone inquiring about a small matter concerning her, he would make a special trip to inform her.

If some life-threatening major issue had arisen, no matter how difficult, how could this former ruthless official with extraordinary methods fail to find an opportunity to notify her first?

So at this moment, though he had brought Cui Jue, the matter probably hadn’t been exposed.

With lightning-fast thoughts, Jian Chou understood everything in an instant.

However, that was still Cui Jue—the terrifying mental pressure that had once covered all of Wangsi City, nearly suffocating her, was still vivid in her memory.

Jian Chou couldn’t relax no matter what.

People were right outside the door; she had no choice but to go out and receive them.

Jian Chou took a deep breath, temporarily banishing the countless mysteries of this residence from her mind, suppressing her anxiety, and walked out of the study.

“Rustle rustle.”

The moment she stepped out and reached the eaves, that sound that had appeared twice before came from inside the room again!

Jian Chou’s steps immediately stiffened!

Her hands were on the two small silver rings on the door, about to close it, but hearing that extremely subtle yet extremely startling sound, she found it difficult to move.

From her fingertips to her heart, everything was ice cold.

After a while, the rustling sound disappeared.

Jian Chou glanced sideways at the two carved windows—the formation covered them completely and undamaged. Even she couldn’t see clearly whether new writing had appeared.

Zhang Tang and Cui Jue were right outside the door. Even if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, she didn’t dare look now.

Perhaps…

She should deal with the immediate trouble first, then return to check.

“Bang.”

Decisively pulling, Jian Chou completely closed the two study doors, separating inside from outside, then directly formed hand seals to temporarily remove the entire residence’s protective formation.

“Rumble…”

The sound of rolling thunder in the sky immediately filled the courtyard.

Jian Chou looked up, feeling that the rolling mass of black-yellow clouds overhead was constantly changing, as if faintly foreboding something.

Without the formation’s obstruction, the sounds from the street also entered.

Even without releasing her spiritual sense, Jian Chou could clearly sense two people standing outside the door—one familiar, one strange.

—With her soul repaired, her perception had become more acute. This was a good thing, right?

She stepped forward, walking calmly and composedly to the door, and pulled it open.

Zhang Tang and Cui Jue had been waiting for a long time.

When the door slowly opened, they both looked over simultaneously.

In light blue robes, with a cold look between her brows, and concealing an extremely subtle and hard-to-detect wariness.

But this cultivation level…

Cui Jue looked up and sighed inwardly: Such an extreme weakling in the Extreme Realm—how on earth did the eight Yama Kings learn of her?

“Lord Zhang.”

Jian Chou glanced and saw the elegantly dressed person beside him, guessing this was Cui Jue.

Since she really wasn’t familiar with this chief judge, and he wasn’t the one who had knocked, she only greeted Zhang Tang.

Zhang Tang looked the same as always.

He tucked his hands into his sleeves like a deep lake where even throwing a large stone wouldn’t create the slightest splash.

When Jian Chou greeted him, he naturally looked at her as well.

However…

This look left him quite puzzled and even somewhat surprised: Why was the soul orb at her spiritual platform smaller than it had been dozens of days ago?

Moreover, there was a faint purple color winding through it.

In the Extreme Realm, the purer the soul orb’s color, the purer the soul power.

But Jian Chou’s soul orb was rather dim and mixed.

Cui Jue nearby had long been shocked by Jian Chou’s cultivation level and soul orb size. Even with all his experience, seeing Jian Chou now would probably make him gasp.

Cui Jue slowly examined Jian Chou, suddenly feeling something indescribable was wrong.

But he couldn’t say what it was.

Perhaps it was because this female cultivator was too special?

He could see the wariness in Jian Chou’s eyes but took it as perfectly normal.

Holding the scroll of the cauldron competition name list, Cui Jue stepped forward, quite politely smiling as he spoke: “This must be Miss Jian Chou? The Extreme Realm cauldron competition is about to begin. I, Cui, have come under orders from the eight Yama Kings to invite Miss to participate in this competition.”

“…”

Jian Chou was stunned.

The wariness lingering in her heart disappeared, the killing intent disappeared, and fear disappeared too.

Everything vanished, leaving only a strange feeling slowly rising.

She looked at Cui Jue, whom she was meeting for the first time, with an expression that seemed both bewildered and as if she were looking at something bizarre, somewhat doubting she had heard wrong…

Inviting her to participate in this cauldron competition?

And it was under orders from the eight Yama Kings?

In that instant, Jian Chou thought of her predicament of having to pass through the Yin-Yang Realm to return to Shijiu Zhou, thought of the troublesome fact that the Yin-Yang Realm was at the bottom of the Eighteen Levels of Hell, thought of the brutal killing and ruthless struggle of the Extreme Realm cauldron competition…

Participate in the cauldron competition?

Was this a case of someone bringing a pillow when she was sleepy, or someone bringing a coffin when she was about to die?

A chill quietly emerged.

Jian Chou stared at Cui Jue, almost unable to find her voice: “Lord Cui, have you perhaps… found the wrong person?”