The Eighteen Floors Underground Tower looked the same as before.

The heavy doors slowly opened, and standing outside, they could see straight in with one glance.

Dawn had only just broken recently.

But at this moment, the Extreme Domain’s sky no longer had day and night, because overhead wasn’t a changing firmament, but that unfurled nebula scroll.

It cast brilliant golden light onto the entire vast underworld, illuminating all seventy-two cities including the Eight Direction City.

In the central open space of the Eighteen Floors Underground Tower, hollow columns had already spiraled upward.

Brilliant golden light fell from that circular skylight, flowing through the eighteen floors. With one glance, Jian Chou felt the entire building was like a rotating kaleidoscope, possessing an illusory beauty.

“Are those the rules?”

Having just stepped into the building with everyone else, Jian Chou looked up and immediately saw the golden characters spiraling around the column—it was the flying Ding Struggle Golden Order.

“Most likely.”

Chen Tingyan walked beside Jian Chou, sweeping his gaze around.

Unlike when they had first come here, the Eighteen Floors Underground Tower now had almost no one inside, appearing cold and deserted, completely lacking the liveliness of that time.

However…

Chen Tingyan was also very familiar with the Ding Struggle. He pointed his fan upward in a circle and smiled: “Do you believe that as soon as we leave and the Ding Struggle truly begins, this place will immediately fill with people willing to pay?”

“I believe that.”

Wasn’t Jian Chou’s existence precisely for this purpose?

She smiled gently, but when her gaze swept through the crowd, she felt something wonderful.

Eighty days ago, she had just been a spectator here, dragged by Chen Tingyan to watch Brother Lihan fight for the Ding Ring.

But today, she was already in the game, about to participate in this slaughter and conquest.

Among those present, everyone actually had reason to give up immediately, but Jian Chou didn’t.

This was a dangerous situation she had to rush toward, and also the homeward journey she had to embark on.

The road to the Nineteen Continents would open tonight at midnight…

Her gaze held some distant thoughts, but the smile at her lips carried some real warmth.

Chen Tingyan found it strange: “Aren’t you worried at all?”

“I’m just like this now, probably about the same as you. So…” Jian Chou thought about those things in her Qiankun Bag, which should be enough to deal with things for a while, “I’m relatively relaxed.”

What did she mean by “about the same as you”?

Hearing this, Chen Tingyan was puzzled for a moment, meeting Jian Chou’s eyes.

Jian Chou nodded slightly and winked at him.

At that instant, Chen Tingyan nearly cried out!

What suddenly surfaced in his mind was the scene when he first encountered Jian Chou at Pinzi Tower!

Good fellow, he immediately understood—her entrance into the Ding Struggle was actually taking the same route as himself: using dark jade to smash people!

“Hey, we’re a perfect match!”

Chen Tingyan immediately became excited, quickly moving closer to Jian Chou and winking at her.

Jian Chou sighed inwardly. This Fourth Master Chen really had no proper form.

She naturally wouldn’t take his words seriously. Originally planning to see where Zhang Tang was, she unexpectedly looked up and directly met a pair of glazed deep blue eyes.

Brother Lihan.

At some unknown time, this killing god had come to stand beside them.

Whether he had heard her conversation with Chen Tingyan or not, unlike others who had all gone to look at the rules, he had turned his head to look at her.

Truly a pair of emotionless eyes. Looking at them directly, Jian Chou actually felt they were like glass marbles.

She remembered this person was also on the list, someone who would “take care” of her in the Ding Struggle.

He probably never imagined when fighting for the Ding Ring in this underground tower that after entering the Ding Struggle, he would have to “take care” someone like her who got in through connections because of the Eight Direction Yama Hall’s arrangements.

Since she had no intersection with Brother Lihan and their only connection was this, Jian Chou didn’t think deeply about it.

Brother Lihan also just swept a glance and withdrew his gaze, still standing alone in his dark blue long robe, looking solitary.

“Seems like this guy doesn’t have good relationships…”

Chen Tingyan naturally noticed this scene and couldn’t help muttering.

Jian Chou also noticed that the Ghost King clan didn’t just have Brother Lihan in the third round this year, but the others all stood on the other side, singling out Brother Lihan.

Like isolation…

But in a sense, it could also prove that Brother Lihan was strong enough not to need companions.

Since speaking here wasn’t private, Jian Chou didn’t want to discuss too much.

She gave Chen Tingyan a look and walked toward Zhang Tang’s position, soon standing in that inconspicuous corner.

Because of the world-shocking second round written test earlier, many people’s peripheral vision still watched Jian Chou. Seeing her walk toward Zhang Tang, quite a few immediately showed disdain, some even rolling their eyes.

Undoubtedly, they definitely thought Zhang Tang and Jian Chou both came from Lord Qin Guang’s Palace spots, so they were definitely in cahoots.

“How is it?”

Jian Chou naturally noticed those people’s reactions, secretly laughing in her heart while only able to mourn silently for Zhang Tang.

This guy definitely wasn’t truly that mediocre in the written test—he was just deliberately hiding his abilities to avoid attracting attention.

But he was in the same group as Jian Chou.

As long as he walked with her, being low-key was impossible.

So Zhang Tang’s attempt to hide his abilities was really quite pitiful in effect.

When Jian Chou walked over, the surrounding gazes automatically intensified.

Zhang Tang’s eyelid twitched. He turned his head slightly and saw Jian Chou had already come to stand beside him with Chen Tingyan.

“How is it?”

Jian Chou asked, also raising her head to look at the column.

The Ding Struggle Golden Order was a mass of shifting golden light that had now condensed into article after article of text, clearly displayed before everyone.

Three examiners now stood beneath the column, sweeping their gazes over the eighteen people.

The eldest among them stepped forward: “The rules have been engraved here. You may all study them freely.”

“From this moment until the Ding Yuan is determined, no one may break boundaries to cheat or interfere with results within the Ding Struggle arena. During this period, no one, regardless of life or death, may leave without permission.

“The gates of the Eighteen Floors of Hell will automatically open tonight at midnight. Your lives and deaths rest with fate…”

After a few sentences, the voice gradually became lower.

Jian Chou was surprised to find that these three examiners’ figures were gradually becoming transparent, soon disappearing into a mass of golden light and vanishing from sight.

“Such masterful movement techniques!”

Chen Tingyan watched with bright eyes.

Jian Chou also found this method of disappearing quite remarkable, but…

She quickly noticed that with the disappearance of these three examiners, the atmosphere in the building became somewhat strange.

On this circular open space, only the eighteen people participating in the Ding Struggle remained.

Almost the instant the three examiners disappeared, everyone’s bodies became tense, as if guarding against something, vigilant about something.

Sweeping her gaze around, Jian Chou found only Brother Lihan remained as usual.

This was…

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she couldn’t help but look up at the third round Ding Struggle rules.

First, the gates of the Eighteen Floors of Hell open at midnight, with uncertain landing points;

Second, the third round begins when the second round ends and stops when the Ding Yuan is determined;

Third, whoever remains alone on the eighteenth floor becomes the Ding Yuan;

Fourth, the Eighteen Floors of Hell are connected layer by layer through various prison wardens, allowing movement up and down, with unknown passages throughout hell that may allow traversing all eighteen floors;

Fifth, killing has no rules!

After this came some simple text about the Eighteen Floors of Hell, generally covering names and what crimes the imprisoned suffering souls had committed.

The real rules were only the first five!

As soon as Jian Chou read the second rule, her scalp exploded!

The starting time for the third round, according to the rules, wasn’t based on the midnight opening of the Eighteen Floors of Hell, but from the moment the written test ended and the third round list came out!

That is to say…

The slaughter had already begun!

Even if someone died right now, it would be within the rules’ calculations!

Lightning-fast thoughts flashed through Jian Chou’s mind of all the previous information…

The sky over the City of Wrongful Death had only just brightened, with a long time until midnight, meaning these eighteen people would have to stay in the Eighteen Floors Underground Tower for quite a while.

This meant…

Thinking of this, Jian Chou’s eyelid began jumping uncontrollably.

This meant they had time here to communicate with each other and form alliances; it also meant that among the eighteen people, someone might act at any time to take lives!

Her fingers tightened slightly, gripping the Tunfeng Sword newly delivered by the short shopkeeper. She actually felt unprecedented tension.

Different from cultivation, even more different from the open and honorable battles of the Left Three Thousand small gathering.

This time was true slaughter!

“Hey, why is everyone so tense?”

In this subtle and tense atmosphere, a wild laugh suddenly came from somewhere near the center.

Many people couldn’t help being startled, almost breaking and attacking.

Fortunately, the string of reason held a bit longer, and everyone restrained themselves at the most dangerous moment.

However, after calming down, many people began cursing in their hearts, wanting to slap this speaker to death.

Including Jian Chou.

Standing beside Chen Tingyan and Zhang Tang, she looked toward the sound and saw it was actually several from the Wuchang clan.

The Wuchang clan’s luck this year seemed outrageously good.

They had a total of five people participate in the second round: Xing’an, Xing Fei, Xing Feng, Xing Zhan, and Xing Wu.

Now standing over there were actually four remaining.

One was Xing Wu whom Jian Chou knew, who should also be isolated by the Wuchang clan, standing alone in a corner like a passerby;

The second was one of the Xing Fei-Xing Feng brothers, tall and thin, high-spirited—this was Xing Fei;

The third was easily recognizable, fat and plump with a blessed appearance matching his name, called Xing’an;

The last one was the one who had just broken the tension and silence by speaking.

Jian Chou remembered that earlier in the plaza, she had heard this person from afar mocking her name, saying something about “seeing anyone brings sorrow,” making quite an impression.

Now she recognized him at a glance.

His body was lean and muscular, short hair neat like bristles, eyes slanted upward, very shrewd and tough, with an evil air between his brows.

Just looking at him, one could tell he was a character.

Unfortunately…

His mouth was too cheap.

Jian Chou silently made this evaluation and watched for developments.

Xing Zhan was undoubtedly the leader of the Wuchang clan’s side.

He looked around in a circle, face smiling, voice also tough: “Although the rules mean we’re already in the third round, we’re all ghost cultivators from the City of Wrongful Death. If we start fighting and consuming each other here, we’d just be giving advantages to Fengdu City.”

“The days of slaughter are still long anyway—why rush to act now?”

Seeing no one responded, Xing Zhan didn’t care at all.

“This tournament, my Wuchang clan has extremely good luck—four people actually made it to the third round. Originally the brothers planned to support each other. But seeing the current situation, I actually think if we all group together and then go pit and kill Fengdu City’s ghost cultivators, it would be more interesting. What do you all think?”

Good fellow!

This person’s plan wasn’t just about a ceasefire!

As soon as Jian Chou heard this, she understood this person’s intentions. Chen Tingyan beside her scoffed without courtesy, while Zhang Tang remained unmoved, standing in place.

Indeed as Xing Zhan said, the Wuchang clan had extremely good luck this year, with four people entering the third round.

The City of Wrongful Death had eighteen total:

Ghost King clan, three people;

Day Wandering clan, two people;

Night Wandering clan, two people;

Wuchang clan, four people;

Bull Head clan, one person;

Leopard Tail clan, one person;

Fish Gill clan, one person;

Bird Beak clan, one person;

First Lord Qin Guang’s Palace, two people;

Eighth Capital King Palace, one person.

Jian Chou and Zhang Tang both came from First Lord Qin Guang’s Palace spots. Others were either from the Ten Great Ghost Clans or had fought for Ding Rings at the Eighteen Floors Underground Tower.

In this situation, the Wuchang clan having four familiar people enter the third round together was greatly disadvantageous to others.

After all, if they united, their combat power would be considerable.

And others either weren’t from the same clan or had poor relationships. For example, among the three with outstanding combat power from the Ghost King clan, Brother Lihan definitely wouldn’t fit in.

Calculating this way, the four Wuchang clan members led by Xing Zhan could be said to be a huge threat.

But he actually proposed taking the initiative to cooperate with everyone, all going down together to pit and kill Fengdu City ghost cultivators…

First, it could avoid the Wuchang clan being targeted early; second, they could profit from it; third, many hands make light work—at least in the early stages of the third round, having many people together could provide considerable advantages.

As for danger, there was definitely some.

But how could such a Ding Struggle completely avoid danger?

So from any angle, this was a tempting decision.

For a moment, many people began considering.

The first to agree was a Bull Head clan cultivator who looked honest: “I’m just one person anyway, so joining you is fine.”

“Haha, good!”

Xing Zhan laughed and went to pat the tall, sturdy cultivator’s shoulder.

With the first one, the rest naturally came faster and faster.

Leopard Tail, Fish Gill, Night Wandering all went, and even two ghost cultivators from the Ghost King clan, after glancing at Brother Lihan, both sneered coldly and directly turned to join the camp.

Soon, the situation on the field became subtle.

As more and more people joined Xing Zhan’s side, the remaining people became increasingly conspicuous.

Needless to say, Jian Chou, who had been standing motionless for ages, received the most attention.

Of course, most people were gloating: with such a Soul Pearl realm cultivator, even if given to them for free, they wouldn’t want her—she would only become dead weight.

Where could she find a camp to join? She probably didn’t even dare speak up now.

Xing Zhan even looked at her with mocking, disdainful eyes, with no intention of speaking.

He just directed his gaze elsewhere.

At this moment, besides Jian Chou, six others hadn’t joined camps yet.

Zhang Tang needn’t be mentioned—with his consistently aloof personality, he seemed incompatible with everyone and had no intention of joining them;

Another obvious one was Chen Tingyan, standing right beside Jian Chou, clearly showing they were acquainted and wouldn’t join. Probably influenced by him, another Day Wandering clan ghost cultivator also stood unmoved, only frequently glancing at Chen Tingyan.

The remaining three were quite interesting.

One white-haired old woman of unknown background, one timid Bird Beak clan little girl, plus one more…

Brother Lihan.

The Wuchang clan and Day Wandering clan had always been enemies, like natural rivals. Xing Zhan hadn’t wanted Chen Tingyan’s pair to join anyway;

This old woman from the Eighth Capital King Palace, wearing coarse hemp clothes, looked exactly like a peasant woman from the fields, even carrying a vegetable cleaver—Xing Zhan really looked down on her;

As for the Bird Beak clan, they had always been the weakest in combat. This little girl had only gotten up by occupying the Bird Beak clan’s spot, and her cultivation wasn’t worth mentioning.

In short, the remaining ones were either strange in temperament or misfits.

The only valuable one was Brother Lihan.

Among these eighteen people from the City of Wrongful Death, forgetting others didn’t matter, but forgetting Brother Lihan would be deadly.

He might not be the highest in cultivation, but in terms of combat power, he was definitely the most terrifying.

The Ghost King clan’s “Immovable Wisdom King Dharma Body” was already outstanding in combat, and they had personally witnessed Brother Lihan kill Fish Gill clan’s Yu Chen with one move—how could they dare overlook him?

If he could join…

Xing Zhan’s eyes flickered slightly.

Currently, eleven people had joined the Wuchang clan’s side, spontaneously standing closer together, while the remaining seven seemed automatically divided into the “leftover” camp.

Xing Zhan stood among these people. Looking at the motionless Brother Lihan over there, he took two steps forward and smiled: “Brother Lihan, I’ve always known you prefer acting alone. But every year in the Ding Struggle, people form alliances. What we’re doing is just ordinary business—it just gives us more confidence when facing other teams and avoids internal consumption…”

This was trying to win over Brother Lihan.

This Xing Zhan actually had some courage.

Jian Chou knew Brother Lihan was on the list, but it only mentioned “taking care,” not necessarily traveling together. Recalling his strange smile during the written test earlier, she became curious: How would he answer?

So Jian Chou turned to look.

Brother Lihan still stood in his previous position, hadn’t moved at all, looking at the third round rules announced on the Ding Struggle Golden Order. His pair of cold glazed blue eyes, under the building’s flickering golden light, actually revealed a hint of strange dark green, eerie and mysterious.

He heard Xing Zhan’s words and slowly turned his eyes to look at him, his voice flat and cold: “Do you all think avoiding internal consumption is a good thing?”

At that instant, everyone who heard this almost jumped in unison!

Xing Zhan’s expression changed dramatically, directly raising his hand to grip a deep purple banner: “What does Brother Lihan mean by this?”

“I think, rather than forming alliances…”

Looking at them expressionlessly, his lips curved upward with a hint of mockery, his eyes holding strange almost-smiles, Brother Lihan was calm yet sinister.

“Killing all of you before midnight would also be a good choice.”

“Bang!”

Almost the instant his words fell, a mass of dark light flew from his sleeve, rolling toward the nearest Leopard Tail clan ghost cultivator!

“Brother Lihan!”

“What are you doing?!”

The surrounding ghost cultivators were horrified and furious, shouting angrily!

Unfortunately, it was too late.

That Leopard Tail clan ghost cultivator never expected Brother Lihan to suddenly attack and had no room for resistance.

In just a blink, that dark light had already dragged him flying toward Brother Lihan’s outstretched palm!

There weren’t even the terrifying ghost claws from before, only those pale, transparent five fingers that suddenly clenched tight!

“Crack!”

A terrifying crisp sound!

This unlucky ghost cultivator’s head was immediately crushed, instantly bursting into exploding black mist. In the blink of an eye, even his body turned into black quicksand, falling to the ground.

The Leopard Tail clan ghost cultivator was dead!

From start to finish, it didn’t even take one breath!

How could anyone react in time?

If the previous battle at the Eighteen Floors Underground Tower was distant observation without strong feelings, then this was real close-up viewing—striking and succeeding in an instant, giving people shock beyond words.

Even Jian Chou, who had seen many great cultivators from the Nineteen Continents act, couldn’t help but feel chilled.

She actually felt that in just eighty short days, this Ghost King clan’s Young Master Lihan had become even more terrifying than before!

Everyone present was intimidated by his lightning-fast strike, faces iron-blue, all raising magical artifacts in hand, unanimously aiming at him, faintly surrounding him in the center.

But…

Not one person dared to attack Brother Lihan first.

However, the encirclement was formed. As long as Brother Lihan dared to act, the remaining sixteen people here would almost instantly spare no effort to kill him together!

For everyone, his threat was simply too great!

Everyone tensed their bodies, as if ready to strike the next moment.

Only Brother Lihan, who had just killed a ghost cultivator, seemed completely unaware of the crisis he faced. His gaze swept over everyone, and when passing Xing Zhan, carried obvious mockery.

Finally, that gaze fell on Jian Chou.

“You’re the weakest one in this tournament?”

At that instant, everyone’s gazes followed to fall on Jian Chou.

But no one could guess why Brother Lihan asked this or what he intended to do after asking.

Jian Chou was puzzled.

The Eight Direction Yama Hall’s list included Brother Lihan, so he couldn’t possibly not know her identity, yet he deliberately asked…

What medicine was in his gourd?

Jian Chou was confused inwardly but remained composed on the surface. Meeting those glazed deep blue pupils, she corrected: “Lowest in realm.”

But not the weakest.

“Makes sense.”

After hearing her answer, Brother Lihan’s lips actually curved up, greatly surprising everyone!

“Originally I wanted to kill you next, but now… I quite like you. You’re lowest in realm, I’m strongest in combat—it’s just right. How about we team up?”