You, come down!

Simple, direct, brutal, with clear purpose, yet carrying an extremely repulsive air of superiority. As if when he spoke these words, others must obey.

At this moment, Jian Chou almost didn’t react at first, and when she did, she nearly let out a cold laugh.

How long had it been since she’d heard such shameless words?

Never mind that now wherever she went, people would call her “Nascent Soul Elder,” even when she first entered Jiushijiu Zhou, few people dared speak to her this way.

Except for those desperadoes in the eighteen levels of hell back then…

But regrettably, those people’s ends weren’t very good.

The old inn, under Jian Chou’s silent gaze, had not a sound.

She stood upstairs, looking down from above, a mocking smile curving at the corners of her lips, her composed expression unchanged in the slightest.

Also unchanged were her footsteps.

Where she stood before, she still stood now, not moving an inch.

The monk below holding the conch shell almost immediately sensed Jian Chou’s uncooperative attitude. This was completely different from the reactions he’d received when announcing consort and Buddha mother selections before!

So his expression grew ugly.

His dharma name was Mojia, a disciple under Master Hongren, an ordinary dharma teacher who regularly served at the Holy Temple.

Throughout the snow region, wherever there were settlements of any size, there were temples, and these temples had fixed masters presiding over them. But everyone knew the true holy land was the Holy Mountain, the Holy Temple.

Here gathered the most profound in Buddhist doctrine and highest in cultivation among all the monks in the snow region.

From three thousand monk congregants to seventy-two masters, three great dharma kings, and even that one whose name he’d only heard but never had the fortune to meet—Holy Son Jiye…

Master Hongren was just the most ordinary among the seventy-two masters.

Mojia was his third heart-transmission disciple, generally called “heart-son” in the snow region, which sounded nice but was really just an ordinary disciple.

Though he’d been cultivating for a hundred years now, he’d never received any guidance or important appointments. As for that “great bliss” that only masters and dharma kings could enjoy, he had no qualification to even approach it.

So this current matter was his opportunity.

His departure from the Holy Temple was for two purposes.

First, to come to Zhaohua Temple to receive Master Huaijie, who was to inherit Master Diyi’s robes and bowl, and escort him to the Holy Temple for baptism and initiation; second, to search along the way and select suitable consorts to bring back to the Holy Temple for Dharma King Baojing’s cultivation use.

The former needn’t be mentioned—it was a common occurrence at the Holy Temple.

But the latter was a great opportunity that others couldn’t even beg for.

Dharma King Baojing was one of the three great dharma kings of the New Esoteric sect. In the recent struggles between the new and old factions, he had faced off against Old Esoteric Dharma King Liyan. The two dharma kings were similar in strength, fighting to a standstill.

Ultimately, Dharma King Baojing was slightly superior, severely injuring Dharma King Liyan.

But he himself was also severely wounded, his cultivation seriously damaged, to the point where external demons arose and disturbed his mind. He urgently needed to find suitable consorts to assist in healing and cultivation.

In the snow region, or rather in the New Esoteric sect, consorts and Buddha mothers were extremely important existences.

Masters would often use special means to select young women between twelve and twenty as consorts for daily dual cultivation. Consorts who had received secret initiation and regularly accompanied masters became true “Buddha mothers.”

Essentially, “consort” and “Buddha mother” were different terms for the same type of person.

For a new disciple to truly enter the path of cultivation, they must receive the “four initiations”—namely vase initiation, secret initiation, wisdom initiation, and supreme meaning initiation.

Among these, vase initiation focused on visualization, but the following three all required Buddha mother consorts to participate.

Simply put, the foundation of esoteric cultivation methods lay in the “bliss-emptiness dual operation” of dual cultivation with consorts. The more one could maintain “great emptiness” thoughts while in bliss with consorts, the more one’s cultivation could advance.

Generally speaking, the more wisdom roots a consort had, the greater her assistance to cultivation.

Sometimes one consort could even help multiple masters cultivate, enabling them to “achieve Buddhahood in this life.”

If a consort could maintain clarity during cultivation and comprehend Buddhist principles, she could also cultivate like a master, achieving her own accomplishments and becoming a “dakini.”

Hundreds of years ago, the New Esoteric sect had produced a dakini who was formerly a Buddha mother beside Dharma King Baojing. But in the recent struggles between new and old factions, she resolutely turned to the Old Esoteric sect.

Even now, Dharma King Baojing’s injuries partially bore her “contribution.”

Having suffered losses because of this dakini, Dharma King Baojing didn’t trust the Buddha mothers around him very much.

So a few days ago, he had specifically instructed Mojia, bestowing the conch shell and directing him to use it for selection while receiving Master Huaijie from Zhaohua Temple.

Dharma King Baojing had promised him that if this matter were handled well, he would personally preside over Mojia’s second initiation.

Ordinary disciples’ four initiation ceremonies were typically presided over by masters. To have a dharma king perform one’s initiation—what an honor and fortune that would be!

So Mojia had been especially diligent on this journey.

But he never expected that today, when he’d finally found a woman with exceptional wisdom roots who might even become a “dakini,” her attitude would be so cold!

You must know that throughout the snow region, almost all women considered it an honor to become consorts and Buddha mothers beside masters!

Yet this woman standing upstairs actually carried a somewhat dismissive contempt!

Mojia waited quite a while without seeing Jian Chou move a step. Finally, the false compassion and kindness he’d shown Sangyang earlier were replaced by anger and coercion.

He looked coldly at Jian Chou and demanded: “The conch shell has chosen you as a consort. What are you standing there for?”

The look in Sangyang’s eyes as she watched Jian Chou grew increasingly puzzled.

Though she didn’t know Jian Chou, she couldn’t understand her reaction. She blinked and asked somewhat worriedly: “Sister, what’s wrong with you? We can become consorts! Aren’t you happy?”

“…”

Happy?

Did this girl who looked only thirteen or fourteen really know what she would face after becoming a consort?

At this moment, Jian Chou felt only infinite irony.

Echoing in her ears was actually that inexplicable laugh from Xie Buchen in the corridor earlier. In truth, she was very clear that regarding this matter, Xie Buchen wasn’t wrong either.

Her slender distant-mountain eyebrows raised slightly. Jian Chou still didn’t move a step, only looking at Mojia with a half-smile, appearing unmoved: “The conch shell chooses me, so everyone must obey? What if I’m unwilling?”

Unwilling?

The moment these two words emerged, the monks standing in the hall were all dumbfounded. Even Sangyang widened her eyes, and before Mojia could even speak, she cried out: “Heavens, you…”

There were actually people unwilling about such a thing!

This was even more beyond Mojia’s expectations than Jian Chou’s previous reaction.

Not only showing resistance, but also so clearly expressing “unwillingness”!

This…

This couldn’t be explained simply as “commendable courage” because it defied common sense.

Ordinary women were almost never unwilling.

Because in this snow region, no one could refuse the temptation from the Holy Temple, and no one could resist the Holy Temple’s authority.

Logically speaking, the selection of consorts did indeed depend on whether the chosen person was willing.

Because the scriptures stated that if the heart was insincere and unwilling to dedicate, even if chosen as a consort, it would mostly be detrimental to cultivation and might even cause both parties, especially the master, to go astray…

But the moment the conch shell lit up, Mojia knew—

If Dharma King Baojing learned that he had encountered such an excellent consort candidate but failed to bring her back, how would he be treated?

So whether this woman was willing or not was completely unimportant!

Mojia’s eyes gradually grew cold.

The other six monks behind him also vaguely sensed something, their bodies tensing, but their gazes at Jian Chou all carried several degrees of contempt.

Obviously, to them, a woman fortunate enough to be chosen as a consort yet still wanting to refuse was simply ungrateful.

The atmosphere in the entire small inn immediately became frozen.

Mojia looked up at Jian Chou, his voice terrifyingly cold: “I’ll ask you one final time—willing or unwilling?”

If before it had been high-handed commanding, now it had become completely undisguised threat.

But how could Jian Chou be one to be threatened?

She didn’t even regard these barely Golden Core stage cultivators seriously, only responding with a cold laugh: “You’ve probably found the wrong person.”

“Refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

Mojia’s patience finally reached its limit.

The moment he heard Jian Chou’s answer, the conch shell in his left hand immediately let out a sharp whistle, directly transforming into a net of snow-white light like heaven’s snare and earth’s web, covering Jian Chou from above!

The inn was just so small, so the distance between Mojia and Jian Chou was naturally terrifyingly close.

Moreover, this was a Golden Core late-stage cultivator wielding a decent magical implement—this slight distance was almost negligible!

Before Mojia’s voice had even finished, the heaven and earth net had already reached Jian Chou’s face!

In the flash of lightning and flint, her arm hanging at her side moved, and the beginning gesture of a sword technique was already formed between her fingers, ready to summon the Burning Lamp Sword from her storage bag with just a touch.

But unexpectedly, just as she was about to strike, a clear, cold, brief voice suddenly rang out from beside her.

“—Wait!”

At the same time, a slender, powerful palm suddenly pressed on her arm.

Very restrained, yet very forceful.

Jian Chou’s sword technique, which had almost been about to trigger, was immediately interrupted and suppressed by this press.

“Clang!”

In the void three feet before her, a crisp sound exploded!

It was actually a black and white object that flew out from beside Jian Chou, carrying extremely fierce momentum, striking the conch shell covering Jian Chou at the critical moment!

“Buzz buzz…”

Instantly, snow-light swayed and the conch shell trembled wildly.

Mojia felt a tremendous force from mid-air, fierce and terrifying, making even him with his Golden Core late-stage cultivation unable to remain steady under this assault.

His chest felt stuffy, and his vision actually darkened.

The snow-white light like heaven’s snare and earth’s web only persisted for a moment under that strike before being shattered; the entire conch shell also flew back beyond his control, smashing into the ground!

“Bang!”

A terrifying loud sound, and the ground immediately showed a deep crater.

All the monks felt their scalps explode, completely unable to react.

From Mojia’s disagreement and attack to control that woman, to the conch shell being struck back, the entire process took only an instant! And this result was vastly different from what they had initially expected…

How could they react to such a thing?

Mojia himself was greatly shaken. After pressing his chest to forcibly suppress the surging blood qi, he quickly looked up toward the second floor—

The woman from before still appeared to be standing unmoved.

But beside her, at some unknown time, stood a handsome man, one hand tightly gripping the female cultivator’s wrist hanging at her side, the other hand catching the object that had just repelled the conch shell.

This time, Mojia saw clearly.

Black meteoric iron as the base, white jade as the core—it was a lotus plaque representing identity, with the two characters “Diyi” carved on it. But Master Diyi had already passed away, so this lotus plaque should have been passed to the inheritor of his robes and bowl…

“You’re Huaijie?!”

Undoubtedly, the person who appeared beside Jian Chou at the critical moment was Xie Buchen.

He could completely sense what kind of dangerous and terrifying power was hidden in the hand technique Jian Chou was forming, but he still held it down firmly, yet his face showed not a trace of it.

Facing Mojia’s question, he didn’t answer first, but slowly turned to look at Jian Chou.

At this moment, Jian Chou was also turning to look at him.

On her exquisite face, she still carried that previous half-smiling expression, but the eyes watching him were already an icy wasteland, even carrying a trace of hidden…

Killing intent.

This killing intent had originally been directed at Mojia and the others, but the moment Xie Buchen stopped her from acting, it naturally fell upon him.

She believed Xie Buchen saw clearly.

But he wasn’t affected at all. Instead, he smiled, and despite the killing intent, he replied to Mojia: “Fellow brothers, please don’t laugh. I am indeed Huaijie.”