“We haven’t encountered any along the way.”

Allowing Chen Tingyan to drag her along, Jian Chou frowned as she answered, glancing at Pan Hexun at the same time.

Chen Tingyan asking questions was one thing, but his words actually carried barbs and thorns, incidentally mocking Pan Hexun in the process.

Everyone present wasn’t deaf—they could all hear it clearly.

Just in the instant Jian Chou looked over, Pan Hexun’s expression immediately turned ugly, his eyes carrying several degrees of coldness.

“What does Young Master Chen mean by this?”

Pan Hexun wasn’t someone who would take such treatment lying down.

With his current cultivation level, even in the entire Ding Zheng competition, few could match him. Chen Tingyan was merely someone who had eaten his way up with pills, yet he dared speak to him like this?

He let out a cold laugh, his gaze falling on Chen Tingyan, his words carrying an interrogating tone.

At this moment, Jian Chou had just walked to a position slightly ahead of Zhang Tang.

Hearing this, Chen Tingyan laughed, putting on the appearance of an easygoing, good-natured person. He pressed his fan against his chin and spoke with narrowed eyes: “There’s a Buddhist saying: ‘It’s not the wind moving, not the sail moving, but the benevolent heart moving.’ What kind of person you are determines what meaning you’ll hear in my words. What I mean isn’t important—what matters is how Fellow Daoist Pan interprets it, doesn’t it?”

“You!”

Pan Hexun’s pupils immediately constricted, his two long eyebrows instantly flying up like blades, carrying a sharp anger.

He wanted to retort, but his gaze flashed, and in the blink of an eye, he caught sight of Jian Chou in the group.

So his eyes rolled, and he forcibly suppressed that anger, actually laughing instead.

“It seems Young Master Chen doesn’t very much welcome Pan’s presence. I had hoped to make friends with everyone during our journey together, but now it appears I’d be better off traveling alone.”

These words seemed magnanimous, but as he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on Chen Tingyan.

His stare was ice-cold, as if laced with poison.

Seeing this, Jian Chou frowned.

Perhaps because Chen Tingyan was closer to her, she unconsciously favored him, and now found Pan Hexun’s words extremely hypocritical and distasteful.

Everyone had heard his words.

Even the old woman and Gu Ling, who had been talking to the side, stopped abruptly and looked at them with apparent surprise and wariness.

Who didn’t know what kind of place this was?

Fighting over a disagreement was the least of it—many would start fighting the moment they met.

Everyone had already raised their guard, secretly gripping their magical artifacts.

Pan Hexun, however, didn’t care at all. In his silver-gray robes, he appeared arrogant and superior.

Finally, he gave Chen Tingyan a contemptuous look, only turning sideways to face Zhang Tang with a courteous bow: “I had long admired Lord Zhang’s reputation and wished to form a deep friendship. However, Lord Zhang’s companions don’t seem welcoming. I originally had companions when I came, so I won’t overstay my welcome.”

Zhang Tang had maintained the same expression throughout.

He was the one who had originally forwarded that name list, and because he and Jian Chou both belonged to Lord Qin Guang’s palace, even Jian Chou’s entry into the Ding Zheng competition was intricately connected to him.

So he had long known Pan Hexun was on the list.

However, he hadn’t expected Pan Hexun to actively approach him.

Now, seeing the other party being so polite to him, Zhang Tang felt nothing particular, still coolly nodding: “No need to see you off.”

“…”

This single sentence nearly choked someone to death.

On the surface it was polite, but it sounded like he couldn’t wait for him to leave!

Fortunately, Pan Hexun had already gained some understanding of Zhang Tang during their journey and barely managed to suppress his impulse to turn hostile.

“Farewell!”

He let out a slight cold laugh and turned to leave directly.

His speed was surprisingly fast.

In the blink of an eye, he had already transformed into a streak of light, flying from one end of the canyon to the other, quickly disappearing from sight.

In a teahouse in Fengdu City, someone immediately cursed loudly.

“That Pan Hexun! How can he be such a coward? Doesn’t he know to kill that female cultivator before leaving?!”

“He actually just left?!”

“This group from Wangsi City is truly disgusting!”

“I feel like Pan Hexun treats Zhang Tang differently from everyone else—what a social climber…”

…

Several people who had been following Pan Hexun’s side all started cursing.

However, there were many other ghost cultivators in the teahouse.

Pan Hexun was formidable this year, so quite a few people were paying attention to him, but compared to the sensational aspects of others, he still had relatively fewer followers, with many people watching others instead.

At that moment, a cultivator who heard their discussion suddenly felt his heart skip a beat and interjected: “That… the person you just mentioned, was it Pan Hexun?”

“Yeah, that bastard Pan Hexun! He’s been mixing with that group of cowards from Wangsi City, traveled with them for a while, and now he’s been driven away! So embarrassing!”

The one who answered was a thick-browed, big-eyed man with an expression of disappointment, looking quite disdainful.

Now the questioning cultivator was dumbfounded, his mind almost turning into chaos.

He pointed at his mystic ring, somewhat incoherent: “But, but, but I was just watching through Lihan’s perspective, and he… he went to find Lihan and almost got into a fight with him?”

“Pfft!”

The man had just lifted his tea to drink, and upon hearing this, he spat it all out!

“How could one person appear in two places? You must have seen wrong, right?”

“…”

In this instant, many cultivators around looked up, exchanging glances without speaking.

Due to the mystic ring’s limitations, they could only follow one person at a time.

Lihan originally wasn’t a particularly popular choice, but because this fellow had shown decisive and straightforward “first kill” performance on the eighteenth floor earlier, quite a few people had expectations for him and had been watching him.

That Pan Hexun who appeared midway—they had naturally seen him too.

Originally, no one thought anything of it, but when another group in the teahouse was also discussing Pan Hexun—things became strange.

“This… what exactly… is going on?”

In the Ice Prison, the group around Jian Chou still didn’t know that the Pan Hexun they had just encountered had already become a hot topic of discussion in the Extreme Domain.

After their conversation, she had roughly understood what had happened.

It turned out that upon entering the Ice Prison, Zhang Tang and the others had discovered that Jian Chou, Gu Ling, and Lihan had all disappeared.

But at the same time, a Pan Hexun had appeared beside them.

Perhaps because he saw Zhang Tang was there, this cultivator at the peak of Jade Nirvana didn’t attack them, but instead proposed traveling together.

Initially, everyone thought this was a good thing, but they later discovered that this person was really not very decent in his conduct.

The cultivation world reveres the strong, so the strong enjoy transcendent status.

Pan Hexun had sufficient reason to be proud, but he only showed special regard for Zhang Tang among their group, being indifferent to everyone else, which was quite annoying.

Everyone could see his attitude, and even if they didn’t speak up, they felt uncomfortable inside.

Chen Tingyan was especially the ultimate dandy among dandies, with a naturally bad temper.

Regardless of whether he had advanced through pills, he was still a mid-stage Jade Nirvana cultivator with a pile of magical artifacts on him—like Jian Chou, he could throw them around for half a day.

Yet Pan Hexun acted as if he looked down on him.

This created enmity with Chen Tingyan, which was why he had spoken so sarcastically earlier.

When it came to his own psychology, he was completely unashamed, even somewhat proud.

“You’ll see, that guy is no easy opponent. Zhang Tang has a map and identified the direction to find this essential path to the entrance, specifically waiting here for you all.”

In this freezing weather, Chen Tingyan waved his fan, stroking his chin and looking toward the other end of the canyon with a sneer.

“That Pan fellow already knew the way. I could see he was getting impatient waiting for Jian Chou earlier, so I deliberately said a few words to conveniently ‘send’ him away.”

Jian Chou understood, and recalling her impression of Pan Hexun, her mental speculation went beyond just that.

Impatience with waiting was probably just one reason.

Chen Tingyan had provided a way out, and Pan Hexun used it as an excuse to leave, which could only mean that Jian Chou’s team didn’t accept his presence.

Later, when the Eight Directions Yama Palace asked why he hadn’t “looked after” Jian Chou, he would have sufficient reasons.

In any case, if Jian Chou were Pan Hexun, she wouldn’t have stayed long either.

She smiled slightly, but wasn’t particularly bothered: The Eight Directions Yama Palace spoke of “looking after,” but there probably weren’t many people they could trust. They could “look after” her, but didn’t say they ultimately couldn’t kill her.

Her head was still safer in her own hands.

Having thought this through, Jian Chou became more vigilant, but her gaze toward Zhang Tang also carried a strange quality: “I’ve long heard that maps of the Eighteen Levels of Hell are very mysterious, though not impossible to obtain, just severely incomplete. I didn’t expect Lord Zhang to have one in his possession—we’re quite fortunate. Now that several of us are here, we’re only missing Lihan…”

“He was already gone when we came down. At first, we thought that since this person disappeared after you joined us, he might have gone looking for you. But unexpectedly…”

Now Jian Chou had appeared, but this strongest fighter was absent.

Chen Tingyan couldn’t help but look toward the direction Jian Chou had come from. There was still no sign of anyone, and it seemed unlikely anyone would come in the short term.

However, Lihan was temperamental and unpredictable, prone to killing at the drop of a hat.

Heaven knew whether having him stay with them would be good or bad.

Now that he was missing, everyone actually felt a sense of relief, as if his disappearance was actually better.

Zhang Tang kept his hands tucked in his sleeves and hadn’t expressed any opinion during the previous discussion.

Only now did he lift his eyelids, his penetrating gaze focusing on Jian Chou: “After a long time, everyone will discover this path. Lihan still hasn’t appeared—he may have already left. Should we go or stay?”

Although he didn’t know the truth or the reasons, Lihan had indeed joined their team because of Jian Chou.

Moreover, Zhang Tang knew that Lihan was also on the list.

If one more person traveled with them, it would provide an additional safeguard for Jian Chou.

But such matters weren’t easy to explain clearly. They couldn’t be sure where Lihan was, much less confirm whether he had left on his own.

Everything depended on Jian Chou’s choice.

Zhang Tang and Chen Tingyan naturally had nothing to say, and the old woman and Gu Ling, who weren’t particularly close to them, also didn’t speak up, just watching.

Only Wang Renjie of the Day Wandering Clan frowned.

Originally, when the strong reinforcement Pan Hexun had suddenly arrived, he had been very pleased. At least Pan Hexun appeared more formidable than Lihan and wasn’t moody and unpredictable.

But as soon as Jian Chou arrived, Pan Hexun left, which was truly too much.

Now Zhang Tang, who had the highest cultivation among them, was actually handing the decision over to Jian Chou…

This was simply too unreliable, wasn’t it?

Wang Renjie was someone who studied and cultivated diligently, and wasn’t really the same type as Chen Tingyan.

He admitted he didn’t understand this group deeply, but there was no need to understand them either.

Immediately, he objected: “Now that someone has already gone ahead, how can we still stay here? That Lihan looked malicious from the start—how can he be considered our companion? I think we should leave early!”

As soon as he said this, Jian Chou’s brow immediately furrowed almost imperceptibly.

The others also frowned darkly.

Even Chen Tingyan, as a fellow clansman, flashed his eyes and glanced at Wang Renjie.

However, Wang Renjie hadn’t yet noticed the subtle change in atmosphere. He felt he was simply expressing his opinion, and seeing Jian Chou look at him, he even said to her: “Jian Chou, what do you think?”

“Jian Chou, what do you think…”

When Chen Tingyan said this, he was deliberately pretending they were very close, but even Zhang Tang, to maintain proper etiquette, would at least call her “Fellow Daoist Jian Chou.”

This Wang Renjie wasn’t familiar with her, yet he simply called her “Jian Chou,” which only made people feel disrespected and lacking in manners.

From the beginning, this person had joined reluctantly, barely following along.

Jian Chou understood this clearly.

She just hadn’t expected this person’s attitude to become increasingly unbearable.

Her gaze appeared calm, but often at times like this, the deeper the turmoil beneath those eyes.

Jian Chou’s furrowed brow had already relaxed, and she only glanced once at the direction she had come from before saying: “I imagine Lord Zhang and Young Master Chen have already waited here for us for quite some time, delaying considerably. The longer we stay in this place, the more likely we are to encounter those who come later.”

Indeed, the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.

Through the Ding rings on their hands, they could interpret the star cloud scroll that should have been hanging in the Extreme Domain’s sky, knowing how many opponents remained alive.

This was only the first level, yet of the original eighty-six people who had entered the third round of Ding Zheng, only fifty-one remained.

One could imagine that besides them, many others had likely encountered battles of various sizes.

Jian Chou naturally understood this clearly and quickly made her decision.

“On the first level, we should avoid fighting when possible. It’s better for us to reach the seventeenth level as quickly as possible. However, Fellow Daoist Lihan’s temperament may be eccentric, but he is still our companion. Simply leaving would be unrighteous. Since this is a necessary passage, we can leave a message for him here. If he comes by, he’ll naturally see it and can find us later.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Renjie frowned again and was about to speak.

Unexpectedly, Chen Tingyan responded even faster, directly glancing at him before saying: “No problem. If he’s already gone down to the second level, then he won’t see it anyway; if he does see it, then we’ll have done our duty.”

Zhang Tang also nodded.

The old woman didn’t speak, but Gu Ling’s eyes sparkled brightly, finding Jian Chou even more trustworthy, smiling like a little sun: “This is perfect!”

Only then did Wang Renjie suddenly realize that everyone actually agreed with Jian Chou!

This…

What was wrong with this team?

He frowned, finding it somewhat incredible, but also feeling annoyed that everyone seemed to be opposing him.

However, since the others were unanimous in their attitude, he couldn’t very well object and had to close his mouth, watching coldly.

“Since no one objects, I’ll leave a mark here.”

Jian Chou pondered for a moment, then raised her finger.

With a “whoosh,” a snow-white paper talisman flew out from her sleeve and stuck to the canyon cliff wall that hung with countless icicles.

With a mental command, a spiritual light emerged from her fingertip, winding and spiraling before landing on the paper talisman.

Chen Tingyan’s eyes immediately lit up.

He was the little ancestor of burning mystic jade, a great expert. As soon as he saw the paper talisman fly out, he recognized it and slapped his fan: “Excellent, excellent! It’s actually a Cloud Crane Letter! One costs thirteen hundred mystic jade, and that’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen. Jian Chou, isn’t your spending a bit too extravagant?”

Upon hearing this, everyone around secretly gasped.

Thirteen hundred mystic jade was no small sum—you could barely buy an ordinary magical artifact suitable for the Jade Nirvana stage with that much, and now it was just a paper talisman for sending messages?

This… this was too luxurious, wasn’t it?

For a moment, everyone became suspicious about Jian Chou’s background. Looking up at the paper talisman she had finished inscribing on the cliff wall, they all felt as if their hearts were bleeding.

Although it wasn’t their mystic jade being spent.

However, Jian Chou herself didn’t care.

She didn’t turn around, focusing on the paper talisman, the divine light in her eyes quite mysterious: “Making the best use of things. Right now, only the Cloud Crane Letter can barely serve the purpose.”

Cloud Crane Letters were the most useless type of communication talisman.

They could hardly move and couldn’t fly across heaven and earth like the Wind Thunder Rain Letters of the Nineteen Continents, only able to stick obediently in one place, waiting for someone to open them.

Generally, they were used for leaving last words, and could only be designated for specific people to read.

If others tried to force them open, the Cloud Crane Letter would actively resist.

Once the person trying to forcibly open the letter was too powerful to resist, the paper talisman would automatically self-destruct rather than let anyone else see its contents.

It could be said to be extremely useless, yet extremely secure.

However…

As someone who also understood the uses and flaws of Cloud Crane Letters, Zhang Tang’s eyes flickered with divine light as he gazed at Jian Chou’s back, his angular face remaining coldly stern.

“Cloud Crane Letters require knowledge of the recipient’s soul imprint to be opened, otherwise they become ‘dead letters.’ Fellow Daoist Jian Chou, do you have Lihan’s soul imprint?”

“…No.”

Truly worthy of being Zhang Tang—one sentence struck right to the heart of the matter.

Jian Chou turned around, looked steadily at Zhang Tang, then smiled and answered.

“However, this talisman of mine has some special properties. There’s a small array formation beneath it, and with Fellow Daoist Lihan’s combat ability and skills, he should be able to discover it.”

She appeared quite confident in Lihan’s abilities as she stepped back among the group.

“Now, we should hurry on our way. We’ve already delayed for quite some time.”

Wang Renjie didn’t think deeply about Jian Chou’s explanation. Hearing they were finally leaving, he was barely satisfied and agreed.

But Zhang Tang wasn’t so easily fooled.

He took another look at the paper talisman stuck on the cliff wall, but couldn’t detect any trace of an array formation, unsure whether Jian Chou’s concealment method was too good or if there simply wasn’t one.

His thoughts turned slightly, but Zhang Tang ultimately said nothing more, only watching Jian Chou’s retreating figure as she began to walk, making his own calculations.

The group then left this shadow-covered area and quickly headed toward the other end of the canyon.

Jian Chou, walking ahead, naturally sensed Zhang Tang’s suspicion, but had no intention of explaining.

An array formation?

Of course it didn’t exist—she had made it up on the spot to fool them.

A soul imprint?

Of course she didn’t have one either.

The only thing that existed was indeed a “dead letter” without a soul imprint.

However, she wasn’t at all worried that the person who should see this letter wouldn’t be able to, and could even easily make the decision to abandon her teammates, completely unconcerned that the other party might get lost or simply be unable to keep up with their progress.

In this Extreme Domain Ding Zheng, anyone might lose their way, anyone might die in slaughter at any moment, anyone might be tormented into a disheveled state…

But he was the exception.

If the Bimu Cosmic Eyes couldn’t even spy into a small Extreme Domain, why would he have bothered back then, risking discovery by Kunwu Cliff Mountain, personally coming in a small boat to borrow them?

After all, he was a demon born from heaven and earth, an ultimate evil monster.

Everything about him was small except his audacity and ruthlessness.

A thin, faint smile curved at the corners of her lips, and beneath Jian Chou’s eyes, deep as an abyss, a brilliant divine light flashed.

Her gaze merely swept across this magnificent, winding world of ice and snow, leaving no trace behind.