“Swish!”

“Swish!”

“Swish!”

…

Her wrist kept turning, and the two-chi deer-cutting blade traced different arcs through the air, bringing forth one sharp gleam after another. Yet none of them could match the blade light from that night on the night sailing ship.

Nearly two days had passed since she had explored the night sailing ship and returned to the inn. During this time, Jian Chou had spent most of her time contemplating that single strike.

That…

Strike that had surpassed her limits, approaching a moment of enlightenment.

However, the results of contemplation and research were often unsatisfactory.

Jian Chou had lost count of how many strikes she had delivered in these past two days, nor did she know how many calculations had passed through her mind. Yet the blade light produced by the deer-cutting blade remained the same as before.

At most, due to her more refined use of blade techniques, the blade light was somewhat more fluid than at the beginning.

“Is it true that moments of enlightenment are fleeting, and once lost, can never return…”

Her wrist turned once more, producing another blade light.

Jian Chou finally shook her head with a sigh, her gaze slowly settling on the blade itself—the gleaming edge that flickered with cold light…

As the one who had delivered that strike, she actually understood very clearly the flow of power within herself at that moment—

That extraordinarily special strike was not actually activated and composed of the common heaven and earth spiritual energy found in Shijiu Zhou. It was a mixture of two types of power: the heaven and earth spiritual energy of Shijiu Zhou, and the earth force dark essence of the Extreme Domain.

At that moment, she had only that brief time to deliver this strike, to make this counterattack.

So at that time, she hadn’t considered whether heaven and earth spiritual energy and earth force dark essence could merge, or what changes their combined use might bring. She had simply infused them and struck with her blade.

But now, she had to think about it.

Cultivators of Shijiu Zhou, before entering the world, all cultivated the “body,” and only after entering the world did they cultivate the mind. The so-called advancement of “divine soul realm” accompanied the entire cultivation process, especially in the later stages.

Cultivators of the Extreme Domain, before achieving the golden body, all cultivated the “divine soul,” and only after the golden body did they cultivate the “body.” Afterward, they would gradually enter the stage of body and soul unity, reaching the heaven-penetrating realm.

For cultivators of Shijiu Zhou, heaven and earth spiritual energy was the foundation of their cultivation, stored within the “body.” For cultivators of the Extreme Domain, earth force dark essence was the foundation of their cultivation, residing within the “soul.”

To a certain extent, this was caused by “place” and “people.”

Shijiu Zhou and the Extreme Domain were two different worlds.

Shijiu Zhou was filled with cultivators and abundant with heaven and earth spiritual energy, yet barely contained even a trace of earth force dark essence. The Extreme Domain was filled with ghosts and spirits, with earth force dark essence pervading the hundred thousand evil lands, while heaven and earth spiritual energy had completely disappeared.

Therefore, it was perfectly normal for cultivators of Shijiu Zhou to cultivate heaven and earth spiritual energy, and for ghost cultivators of the Extreme Domain to cultivate earth force dark essence.

But there was an exception…

And that exception was Jian Chou herself.

Due to an error in the teleportation platform, she had been cast into the Extreme Domain while still alive. With the help of Immortal Wuzhong, she had separated her body and soul, absorbing earth force dark essence with her soul, even reaching the “Jade Nirvana” realm.

Soon after, she left the Extreme Domain and reunited her body and soul.

When her body returned, she could once again utilize heaven and earth spiritual energy, but the soul power condensed during soul cultivation had not dissipated. Instead, they complemented each other, not only restoring her former cultivation level but even surpassing it.

In other words, soul power depended on the “divine soul” for existence and did not dissipate due to the body’s return.

The reason cultivators of Shijiu Zhou could not become “soul cultivators” was not because they had bodies, but because Shijiu Zhou completely lacked earth force dark essence.

A cultivator from Shijiu Zhou would inevitably have their strength greatly reduced if they went to the Extreme Domain without a supply of heaven and earth spiritual energy; conversely, the same was true for Extreme Domain cultivators coming to Shijiu Zhou.

Therefore, after returning to Shijiu Zhou, Jian Chou had naturally ignored the existence of the soul power hidden within her divine soul.

Until that strike that night…

In that wonderful state, she had naturally drawn out the soul power from her divine soul, allowing it to easily merge with her spiritual power, thus forming an entirely new force.

Looking back, Jian Chou felt this force was very similar to those deep gray things outside the Heaven-Creating Formation Array in the Extreme Domain.

It was neither heaven and earth spiritual energy nor earth force dark essence, but “chaos.”

Logically, as long as she could recreate this process and allow these two forces to merge within her body, she should be able to reproduce that strike from that night.

But after trying so many times, even nearly exhausting the soul power within her divine soul, she had never succeeded once.

At most, when she first attempted to merge them, there would be that faint hint of chaotic energy, as if it might succeed. But the moment she tried to go a little further, it would immediately fail and collapse.

“Soul power in Shijiu Zhou is not so easy to replenish…”

Sitting here, Jian Chou could easily replenish the spiritual power she had consumed through cultivation and multiple experiments, because she was surrounded by heaven and earth spiritual energy. However, the soul power she had consumed was finite—once used, it was gone.

A few days ago, she had not realized what impact soul power would have on her cultivation, but after that strike, she understood.

Therefore, every bit of soul power consumed made her feel pained.

Shijiu Zhou had no earth force dark essence. The only thing she could rely on to replenish soul power and continue cultivating was the “mysterious jade” left in her storage bag from the Extreme Domain’s cauldron competition.

But Jian Chou didn’t think their quantity was sufficient for her cultivation.

So, after much thought, despite her reluctance and unwillingness, she finally sighed and declared a temporary abandonment: “The method of combining spiritual power and soul power is correct, but there must be some key details I haven’t grasped. I’ll think it through carefully and try again slowly later…”

Her wrist turned once more, and the two-chi deer-cutting blade disappeared into the arc of its movement.

Jian Chou raised her eyes to look outside. The sky was already beginning to brighten. This meant that the most attention-grabbing Silver Building auction of the past three days was about to begin.

But…

The reply from Yashan still hadn’t come.

Whether it was to her master Fudao Shanren or to the sect leader Zheng Yao, the lightning messages she had sent seemed to have sunk without a trace. Even when she later tried sending lightning messages to old friends, there was no response.

In Jian Chou’s view, even if they didn’t know Zuoliu’s identity, Yashan couldn’t possibly stand aside in this matter, much less remain indifferent to her return.

Her friends were even less likely to ignore her.

Unless they hadn’t seen the messages, or simply had no way to reply.

“Is it because of the soul repair…”

Jian Chou couldn’t help but rub her temples, feeling quite troubled. She naturally had her own theories about why this was happening, but she couldn’t be certain.

After all, there was no precedent for such a situation.

Cultivators of Shijiu Zhou communicated through “divine consciousness imprints.”

Divine referred to the divine soul; consciousness referred to spiritual consciousness. As long as one had another’s divine consciousness imprint, they could send messages; and if the recipient’s divine consciousness matched the imprint, they could read the message.

Jian Chou had the divine consciousness imprints of her old friends, so she could send messages. Her old friends had Jian Chou’s divine consciousness imprint, so they should be able to reply.

But what if her divine consciousness imprint had already changed?

During her time in the Extreme Domain, she had obtained the formula for the Soul Reversal Pill in an old residence and had refined pills to repair her soul.

Although the transformation pool water was insufficient and the pills were inadequate, ultimately leaving a crack unrepaired with some regret, it was still different from before.

In other words, her current divine consciousness imprint should be different from what it was sixty years ago.

So, she could send lightning messages but couldn’t receive replies—this became an explainable situation.

But…

“If that’s the case, where can I find strong allies for this matter?”

Zuoliu’s situation was already urgent.

These three days had been tumultuous indeed. From the news disclosed daily in the “Zhilin Sou Daily News,” many people and factions had shown extreme interest in Zuoliu during these three days, frequently infiltrating the night sailing ship’s headquarters at Crow Ferry, but not a single person had succeeded.

Among them, the most talked-about was undoubtedly “Purple-Robed Sword Marquis” Xue Wujiu.

Not only was he caught red-handed during his night exploration of Crow Ferry, but he stubbornly insisted that the previous intruder wasn’t him. After a big fight, he returned empty-handed.

Due to his extraordinary relationship with Sword Emperor Qu Zhengfeng, countless people in Xinghai were now speculating whether Qu Zhengfeng intended to intervene in this matter.

As someone who had personally witnessed that night, Jian Chou naturally guessed that this “Purple-Robed Sword Marquis” had probably taken the blame for her, but since they had no deep connection, she didn’t feel much about it.

All she could think about now was the Silver Building.

The night sailing ship’s defenses were more formidable than anyone had imagined.

Since no one could rescue Zuoliu in advance, his final “ownership” would naturally be determined in today’s Silver Building auction, testing real “financial power” and “strength.”

Looking at the Silver Building auction rules:

First, highest bidder wins;

Second, bidders must defeat three defending cultivators arranged by the night sailing ship, with no more than three participants per side.

Jian Chou was currently alone, unable to contact her sect or old friends—she was truly fighting alone, isolated and without support.

“Not enough money, no people, the only plan now is to take it step by step. They might not be able to reply, but that doesn’t mean they’re not taking action…”

Perhaps some unexpected opportunity would arise?

Although her current predicament was somewhat embarrassing, she wasn’t one to give up easily.

After calculating the time, she tidied up in her room, read today’s “Zhilin Sou Daily News,” then pushed open the door and followed the familiar path to the small boat. She crossed the waves to the shore, left the inn, and headed out.

Without going far, Jian Chou could easily sense the fervent atmosphere surging through Xinghai today.

Throughout the streets and alleys of Shattered Immortal City, discussions could be heard everywhere, and the direction of the cultivators’ movements was uniformly toward the west.

The west was the direction of the night sailing ship.

The Silver Building was established by the night sailing ship specifically for selling goods, created entirely by them, so it naturally was near Crow Ferry, just located in a more prosperous area of Shattered Immortal City.

Jian Chou didn’t even need to identify directions. Just by listening to everyone’s discussions and following the crowd, she soon saw her destination.

A massive tall building.

The wide street was paved with snow-white flat bricks.

The buildings on both sides were each more magnificent than the last, but none could compare to this tall building hanging a plaque with the three characters “Silver Building.”

The hundred-zhang-high building was actually constructed entirely of translucent silver stone, with carved cranes and engraved bamboo, resembling a majestic crystal palace!

The front entrance was already open to welcome guests.

Many cultivators were either walking inside or gathering outside the building to talk—elegant beauties, seductive women, well-behaved children, handsome young men, stooped elders…

“You came too?”

“Haha, how could I miss such excitement today? Even if I can’t afford to go in, I have to listen to the latest news outside the building!”

“Did you hear? The night sailing ship is really bold, they even sent an invitation to His Majesty the Sword Emperor.”

“What! Really? Are they seeking death?”

“Whether he’ll come is uncertain. The night sailing ship probably figured he wouldn’t bother with them.”

“Why focus on them? Shen Yao is the real highlight!”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t know? Yesterday’s news said that Grand Marshal Shen Yao of Tongguan Station has arrived at Xinghai and might come to the Silver Building today. I’m just waiting to see her in person!”

…

The discussions continued endlessly.

Jian Chou stood among the crowd, not in a hurry to enter, wanting to listen to their conversations. But unexpectedly, after just a moment, a delighted voice came from behind her.

“Oh my, it seems I chose the right day to go out. Miss, how have you been?”

Miss?

Who was this greeting directed at?

Jian Chou didn’t react immediately and instinctively turned to look. In that instant, she felt as if she had been blinded:

Behind her, a magnificent group of people had somehow appeared!

Seven or eight female cultivators, all at least at the Nascent Soul realm, wearing either long dresses or Daoist robes, some coldly aloof, others charming and seductive, but without exception, all clustered around a handsome male cultivator in a silver-blue robe, walking toward her.

A single green leaf among ten thousand red flowers—nothing more fitting than this.

Under the Silver Building, countless cultivators immediately turned their gazes toward this scene.

Dantai Xiu had a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes, and his mysterious dark silver pupils, which usually gave people a sense of mystery, were now filled with delight, his face beaming with smiles.

He walked gracefully to Jian Chou’s side with utmost refinement.

“I only came to the Silver Building to join in the excitement, but unexpectedly encountered Miss again. This is truly a pleasant surprise.”