A single word: “Kill”—simple and straightforward.

It sounded no different from any previous word.

But in the next moment, everyone witnessed the magic of this single word—no one had expected that so suddenly, without warning, a massacre that could be recorded in Mingri Xinghai’s history had begun just like this.

Countless shadows of cultivators leaped up from all sides of the White Silver Tower. With blades rising and falling, blood already flowed like rivers…

The “spectators” within the building trembled;

In the elegant room, Wang Que’s already furrowed brow never relaxed again amid this blood and blade light;

Little Jin, who had arrived late, hadn’t even had time to put away the joyful expression on his face. Seeing this blood flowing everywhere, he turned pale with fright and couldn’t even eat the watermelon he’d brought…

At this moment, Jian Chou suddenly remembered what she had seen in the eighteen levels of hell in the Extreme Domain: an Asura battlefield was nothing more than this, surely?

Qu Zhengfeng was no longer the Yashan eldest senior brother of the past.

From the moment he stole Yashan’s sword and destroyed most of the Jianzhu Sect with one strike, he was no longer that person. It was just that after that, Jian Chou had never had another chance to interact with him, so this recognition had always remained somewhat confused.

Screams were everywhere, slaughter was everywhere.

But Jian Chou didn’t intervene, nor did she say anything more. Like everyone else, she simply watched quietly.

Blood flowed to her feet. She looked down.

A similarly bright red shadow appeared in the blood pool’s reflection at this moment.

Thus, when Jian Chou raised her head, she saw an unexpected old acquaintance. A gorgeous red dress, silver butterflies with spread wings ready to fly, sandalwood lips and jade nose, enchanting eyes with painted brows.

Hong Die was like the most brilliant flower in this world.

A naturally formed demonic aura made her look dazzling, yet carried a hint of worldly detachment.

She stood before Jian Chou, examining her, though her voice carried an inscrutable sense of vicissitude: “Though we’ve only met a few times, seeing you return safely after disappearing for sixty years makes me quite happy. I wonder if you would honor me with a visit to Jiexing Mountain Manor for a talk?”

Jiexing Mountain Manor.

Everyone knew this was Sword Emperor Qu Zhengfeng’s residence. Jian Chou actually didn’t understand how Hong Die had become connected to Qu Zhengfeng, nor did she quite understand why she had agreed to come here for this talk.

Unknowingly, it was already the day after the White Silver Tower bounty.

“You’re keeping these two broken axes—do they still have some use?”

A voice as alluring as her appearance arose by the window.

On the table sat a purple-gold Boshan incense burner. A wisp of blue smoke curled up from within, trembling slightly when touched by the gentle breeze from outside the window before slowly dissolving into the void.

Jian Chou’s gaze lifted from the two shattered mandarin duck battle-axes on the table, settling on this wisp of blue smoke.

Hong Die leaned against the window, gazing at the lush green trees outside.

Jian Chou couldn’t see her expression, nor could she discern her current mood. She only replied faintly: “Looking at these two mandarin duck battle-axes just reminds me of some old matters…”

Though both Liang Tingyu and that male cultivator had their souls completely destroyed, such a pair of “tragic mandarin ducks” was truly rare.

Though Hong Die hadn’t been at the White Silver Tower yesterday, such a grand event had already spread far and wide outside—how could she not know clearly? In fact, she knew even more clearly than others.

Especially regarding Jian Chou’s current statement.

Old matters…

Suddenly, Hong Die remembered that phrase from the Qingfeng Nunnery’s hidden realm, in the lamp of a thousand zhang of mortal dust: Xie Buchen’s words “the more love, the more killing”…

She couldn’t help but turn her eyes toward Jian Chou: “Don’t you want to ask what purpose I have in inviting you for this talk?”

“If there’s no purpose, a simple talk will suffice; if there is a purpose, I’ll know when the time comes. Why should I ask more? Moreover…”

Though Jian Chou didn’t know, since she had come, she accepted it peacefully without the slightest worry.

Her voice paused slightly, then she smiled: “Moreover, even if you hadn’t invited me, I would have come anyway.”

“Would have come anyway?”

This was strange. Hong Die had thought Jian Chou would draw clear lines with Qu Zhengfeng.

“I have doubts in my heart and am bound by promises to others, so I dare not refuse to come.”

Jian Chou thought of the sixty years that had passed, from the strange and wonderful Qingfeng Nunnery hidden realm to the eerie Extreme Domain’s Wrongful Death City. Those events, those people, all floated through her mind one by one.

“When exploring the hidden realm initially, Lijun had words to entrust me to convey to Qu Zhengfeng. Though sixty years have passed, I dare not violate promises made to others. Additionally, during my sixty years of disappearance, I had quite remarkable encounters and met a strange senior. Since I thought the fairy originated from the hidden realm, I originally intended to come seeking verification.”

Lijun had words for Jian Chou to convey to Qu Zhengfeng…

Hong Die wasn’t very clear about this matter, but since it was between Lijun and Qu Zhengfeng, she naturally couldn’t inquire further. However, the latter half of Jian Chou’s statement was quite interesting.

“Seeking verification?”

“During the Buddha Peak battle that day, after my fierce fight with Xie Buchen, I fell into the Extreme Domain. That place, the fairy should have heard of it. All mortal reincarnation must pass through there.”

Once Jian Chou began speaking, she shocked Hong Die.

A living person had actually fallen into the Extreme Domain?

Jian Chou naturally knew of Hong Die’s surprise, but what she wanted to say came next.

“In the Extreme Domain, I had various encounters and met many people, including an elder. When I first saw him, I detected nothing unusual. But after leaving the Extreme Domain and returning to the Nineteen Continents, thinking back on everything before and after, I found it extraordinarily strange and thrilling.”

“An elder?”

Hong Die’s brow furrowed slightly as she waited for Jian Chou to continue.

“This elder was aged and frail, withered in appearance, living alone in dilapidated old alleys. In his room were countless rough stones, while he held a carving knife, carefully sculpting stroke by stroke…”

As Jian Chou spoke, the hunched figure of the Immortal Wuzhong appeared in her mind.

“Though he was in the Extreme Domain, he knew of Yashan. When I left, he gave me a stone bead, from which I comprehended the true ‘Heaven-Overturning Seal.’ After returning to the Nineteen Continents, I also discovered a message he left: telling me to go to the hidden realm, restore the formation, break the prohibition, and free the living beings.”

“…”

Hong Die suddenly froze.

She stood before this carved window, looking at the shadows of the lush green trees outside. In this instant, she felt her mind suddenly struck by lightning, with countless electric lights coursing through, leaving her somewhat confused and bewildered.

Vaguely, that most impossible possibility surfaced in her heart, making her body tremble!

“You mean…”

Jian Chou raised her eyes, her gaze bright as snow, her voice extremely clear as she asked directly: “Fairy Hong Die, hundreds to nearly a thousand years ago, who achieved enlightenment and ascended to the upper realm—was it Shangren Buyu, or his heart demon?”

…

Was it Shangren Buyu, or his heart demon?

What a shocking and scandalous question this was, yet on this lazy afternoon illuminated by sunlight, it was asked by this unassuming female cultivator before her.

Hong Die had never expected this.

Her slender fingers pressed against the window frame, like a butterfly’s most fragile antennae, gently moved, as if trying to relieve the coldness her fingertips felt at this moment.

Her gaze turned to the distant clouds outside the window, instantly entangled with countless complexities.

Her eyelashes, slender and dense as butterfly wings, gently fell.

Hong Die slowly closed her eyes, as if wanting to suppress that suddenly swelling emotion in her chest. But at this moment, only the final stone statue in the hesitant long path of yesteryear filled her mind!

How could such feelings be calmed!

“Crack!”

A delicate lacquered carving on the window frame was actually broken off by her!

Jian Chou sat behind the table. Seeing her in such a state, how could she not understand the final answer? Not to mention, she had actually suspected this in her heart.

Coming to ask personally was just to verify clearly.

Unfortunately, old matters inevitably caused heartache.

Though Hong Die seemed detached among the demons of the Qingfeng Nunnery hidden realm, if she had no connections with Shangren Buyu, how could she have guarded that place of absolute death for hundreds of years?

People all said Shangren Buyu was murderous by nature, fundamentally emotionless.

But in Jian Chou’s current view…

His tumultuous life truly warranted a single word: “tragedy.”

Knowing Hong Die was likely immersed in old memories at this moment, Jian Chou watched for a while, then silently collected the pair of mandarin duck battle-axes left by Liang Tingyu’s “tragic mandarin ducks” from the table, walking out soundlessly.

After yesterday’s torrential rain, it seemed to have washed clean even the perpetually gloomy skies of Mingri Xinghai.

This afternoon’s pleasant sunlight was somewhat lazy, shining under the covered walkway, dividing the steps ahead into clear yin and yang sides. In the distance, one could still hear water sounds from a tributary of the Lan River not far below the mountain.

Walking down along the covered walkway, Jian Chou felt this place was nothing like a cultivator’s residence.

Pavilions and towers, lake stones and artificial mountains.

A white wall’s shadow vaguely passed through the lush, dense trees, disappearing into the faint outlines of this low, small mountain.

—This was Jiexing Mountain Manor.

She had come here yesterday at Hong Die’s invitation. Coming with her were also Bai Yin, Zuoliu, and a very unreliable watermelon-eating youth, Xiao Jin.

But Qu Zhengfeng hadn’t returned.

After the anomaly appeared at the Night Navigation Ship, he had pursued directly to investigate. A whole night had passed without his return.

Even a blind person could see that yesterday’s situation indicated two formidable powers had engaged at the Night Navigation Ship. Only that might was truly terrifying.

When had such formidable figures come to Mingri Xinghai?

No one knew, no one could figure it out.

Only Jian Chou and Bai Yin, having night-raided the Night Navigation Ship and personally witnessed that strange and terrifying existence in the dungeon, knew something.

Before dawn today, Bai Yin had left the manor to make external contacts.

First, to communicate with Yashan about subsequent situations and send back Jian Chou’s current spiritual consciousness imprint; second, to investigate the origins of the Night Navigation Ship anomaly.

That existence in the dungeon could be called an absolutely fierce creature.

But yesterday’s situation clearly showed it had fought with someone, fighting quite intensely, with victory and defeat uncertain!

So who exactly was fighting that existence?

As Jian Chou walked, she pondered, searching through various clues in her memory, suddenly remembering: when first sensing that existence’s aura in the dungeon, she had felt a vague familiarity…

This vast land of the Nineteen Continents was boundlessly broad. How many unknown secrets lay buried beneath it?

Perhaps one day, it would stir up storms no one could stop…

Though her cultivation time wasn’t long, what she had seen of the world’s magnificent strangeness had already surpassed most cultivators in the Nineteen Continents.

Inexplicable feelings suddenly arose in Jian Chou’s heart.

“Hopefully it’s just unfounded worry…”

Thinking this, she couldn’t help but laugh at herself.

She was currently walking to a corridor corner. After passing through another courtyard, she would reach the guest room where Zuoliu was staying.

After being captured by the Night Navigation Ship, he had suffered greatly. Even with his Karmic Fire Red Lotus body, he couldn’t endure it, and his injuries were very serious. Originally, Jian Chou had planned to take him directly back to Yashan to recover after rescuing him.

But now staying at Jiexing Mountain Manor was acceptable too.

At this time, he should have already taken medicinal pills and was recuperating.

As for Xiao Jin, he spent all day clutching a large watermelon, with a very lively personality that should match Zuoliu’s temperament perfectly. If she hadn’t misjudged, he was probably with Zuoliu now.

Thinking this, Jian Chou changed direction toward the front courtyard.

But before reaching the courtyard gate, her brow suddenly raised.

With her current mid-Nascent Soul cultivation, her spiritual consciousness usually spread quite far around her body. Now she sensed a strong fluctuation coming from the southwest direction—

Someone was coming.

Jian Chou immediately stopped, turning around to look in that direction.

She saw a pool of deep blue seawater rolling from the edge of the sky under the bright morning sun, like the Milky Way hanging down from the ninth heaven, thunderously falling. But when it actually descended, it suddenly restrained all its radiance, becoming silent.

“This direction…”

This shadow was undoubtedly Qu Zhengfeng.

Only Jian Chou inexplicably felt that this departing light was much dimmer than when he left yesterday. Observing the direction of its disappearance and landing, it was actually the courtyard at that end of Jiexing Mountain Manor.

If she remembered correctly, she had left that courtyard not long ago.

“Creak…”

The originally ajar door was suddenly pushed open. Qu Zhengfeng’s figure entered, but he immediately pressed the door closed with his back hand. On his handsome, distinguished face, layers of black energy now swirled, and his two sword-like long eyebrows were tightly furrowed.

Hong Die, still by the window, had barely noticed his arrival and just turned her head when she saw Qu Zhengfeng “puff” and actually spit out a mouthful of blood!

“You—”

The bright blood color stained his black gold-threaded robe, only appearing somewhat darker and not very obvious, but it gave his tightly pressed lips a gloomy, eerie color.

Accompanying this mouthful of blood, Qu Zhengfeng’s face turned deathly pale.

Since Hong Die had come to Mingri Xinghai, when had she ever seen him in such a disheveled state?

For a moment, she was extremely shocked!

“What did you encounter?”

What did he encounter?

Qu Zhengfeng felt all the meridians in his body were about to shatter. He leaned against the door panel, pressing his palm forcefully against his chest. His deep eyes had gathered heavy gloom.

After going to the Night Navigation Ship, all the inconceivable sights he had seen in that great hall immediately surfaced in his mind. And also, that young man in green robes…

Suddenly, it reminded him of that glimpse on the Great Dream Reef in the Western Sea years ago.

A grain of millet, the vast sea.

That youth who broke through ten thousand waves, stood alone on the sea, and departed riding a kun…

“Great demon, mayfly…”