This mysterious woman stood alone in the moonlight for a long time, then turned back around and sat by the lakeside.

No, it could no longer be called a “lakeside.”

The entire lake from the sky had already been draped over her shoulders, leaving only a huge pit and vast ruins in the original place…

She sat there quietly, holding that bundle of blue jade sparrows. Her gaze swept over the ruins at the bottom of the lake and cast toward the boundless ice plains in the distance.

Jian Chou watched from the shadows for a long time.

She didn’t know if the other party had discovered her, but she thought the other party probably didn’t care about others, nor about being watched by others, though she also didn’t seem to want to be disturbed.

So she lowered her eyes and finally quietly departed.

The moon in the sky had moved several degrees.

The woman’s long hair scattered on the ground was as smooth as silk, showing traces of deep blue and faintly resembling the silk draped on her body, with rippling water patterns.

She didn’t look back for a long time, until the slanting moon cast her shadow behind her, then she sighed faintly.

Footsteps that weren’t concealed, or perhaps concealment would have been useless, sounded at this moment.

A tall, slender figure slowly emerged from the darkness on the other side of the Hall of Saints. Xie Buchen’s face, which seemed to carry the same coolness as the surrounding silver snow world, was also exposed under the moonlight.

He had obviously witnessed the moment when this woman had taken form earlier, and he didn’t speak at this moment either.

The woman only looked down at the blue jade sparrows between her fingers, roughly guessing what this male cultivator had come for, but she didn’t turn around. She only gently raised her hand, as if scooping up gentle waves, and placed that bundle of blue jade sparrows behind her ear.

Deep blue-purple, snow-white earlobes.

A natural beauty that was shocking to the heart, yet faintly revealed a kind of melancholy.

Even her voice had a softness and ethereal quality that could permeate one’s soul: “You are not a Tantric monk. You came for the Nine Doubts Tripod, didn’t you?”

Xie Buchen didn’t answer, nor did he need to answer.

He knew his own purpose, and this unfathomable female demon had already completely seen through his intentions.

The vast sea of clouds over the Snow Region was now being stirred by the night wind.

The crescent moon hanging in the sky was gradually swallowed by dark clouds. The entire peak of the Snow Region, from the Sacred Temple to the sacred lake, gradually became dark.

Half an hour later, Xie Buchen came out, and the clouds also dispersed.

On such a night, there were no longer any monks chanting sutras in the main Hall of Saints.

Only in the corridors on both sides leading to the sacred lake behind, those long rows of golden prayer wheels scattered silent cold light under the narrow moonlight filtering down from above.

Going east after coming out, one would reach the ordinary monks’ quarters.

Xie Buchen’s room, specially prepared for foreign disciples about to receive initiation ceremonies, was also in that direction, not even very far from the main hall.

But when he looked in that direction, a string of dark light seemed to flash in his eyes.

In the deep night, still silent and soundless, he actually didn’t return to his own room, but walked toward that row of more distant monk quarters!

Since they had already agreed to kill Master Hongren tomorrow night, investigate the situation and leave, then some actions no longer needed to be overly cautious.

Moreover, Jian Chou had already set the “precedent.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Xie Buchen’s lips.

As he walked, a row of monk quarters was already before his eyes.

This was where the ordinary disciples of the various Masters of the Sacred Temple lived. If he remembered correctly, Mojia and others lived here, and the room at the very end belonged to…

“Knock knock.”

In the silent deep night, he knocked on the door.

The person meditating inside obviously hadn’t expected a visitor in the middle of the night. A strand of spiritual consciousness probed out from within to scan, recognizing the visitor’s identity.

Then, rustling sounds, footsteps revealing some impatience.

Mojia opened the door to see Xie Buchen standing outside, feeling both puzzled and annoyed: “In the middle of the night, what does Junior Brother Huaijie want?”

Xie Buchen didn’t mind the other’s attitude, only smiling slightly: “There’s something I temporarily stored with Senior Brother some days ago. I want to retrieve it tonight.”

“Something?” Mojia was completely confused. “When did you ever leave anything with me?”

“I did.”

Gazing at the other with his consistently peaceful look, Xie Buchen’s expression showed not the slightest trace of cruelty or coldness. Even his voice and tone didn’t change at all.

“…Your life.”

“You!”

Those three words were spoken in such an ordinary tone that Mojia didn’t react immediately. But even if he had reacted, what could he have done?

Xie Buchen’s cultivation was already far above his, not to mention that today he carried “sharp weapons” and had come prepared!

Mojia couldn’t even make more sounds before Xie Buchen pointed a finger at his forehead!

Instantly, a stream of serpent-like black qi crawled up his arm and finger to the fingertip, penetrating Mojia’s ancestral orifice at the center of his forehead and directly destroying all his spirit and soul!

The evil and sinister aura quickly devoured Mojia’s entire being.

In just the blink of an eye, this monk who had just opened the door for Xie Buchen lost all vitality. Layers of black qi adhered to his surface skin, his face still frozen in an expression of incredible terror.

From speaking that answer to striking to kill, the time was so short it happened in a flash.

Seeing this person fall to the ground with a “thud,” Xie Buchen’s calm expression didn’t change at all. He only lightly waved his hand, as if brushing away some dust, sweeping this corpse into the room.

He turned around, and the door that had just been opened quietly closed, as if no one had ever come.

This row of monk quarters was very long, like this night with the bright moon hanging high—so long it seemed endless.

Xie Buchen’s figure disappeared from in front of Mojia’s room, and the next instant he appeared, he was already inside another monk’s quarters.

Each strike was swift and precise, each movement flowed like water. Whether his eyes or expression, all revealed a kind of cruel beauty that was almost pleasing to the eye.

Some people were sleeping, some were cultivating, some he recognized, some he didn’t…

But none of this had anything to do with Xie Buchen.

He only approached like a ghost in this dark night, then slaughtered. From beginning to end, there was no sound, neither alerting anyone nor startling any of the rare insects and birds in the Snow Region.

The bright moon’s light was already growing thin, meaning this night would end before much longer.

Xie Buchen entered from the east end of this row of monk quarters and exited from the west end. When he saw the silver frost-like moonlight on the ground again, he looked up.

That light reflecting in his eyes was completely leisurely and elegant.

“I only wish, when singing and drinking wine, moonlight would always shine in the golden cup…”

Walking with hands behind his back, Xie Buchen’s steps even carried an indescribable lightness, as if he hadn’t just killed many people, but was a noble young master returning slightly intoxicated after drinking wine and appreciating flowers under the moon.

The bright moon remained unchanged, his heart unchanged.

The next day, Jian Chou was awakened by the noisy sounds outside.

It was hard to imagine that in such a dangerous environment, on a night when she shouldn’t have felt sleepy at all, she had actually fallen asleep. In her dream appeared the woman she had seen last night, and also a very young little girl.

She loved the Snow Region, loved the Sacred Temple, and loved the sacred lake.

Like countless other little girls in the Snow Region, she yearned for everything closest to the firmament and longed to receive enlightenment from the true Buddha.

She would run up the mountain from time to time, placing the blue jade sparrows she had picked before the Buddha.

Until one day, she was driven out by the monks.

The little girl was extremely sad, crying as she ran away from the Sacred Temple and came to the lakeside. Her teardrops fell pitter-patter into the lake, creating ripples.

Then the sacred lake spoke, asking her why she was crying.

The little girl was startled and didn’t know who was speaking. She hurriedly stood up and looked around, fearfully asking who it was.

The sacred lake said, I am before you.

At that moment, the little girl opened her eyes wide in surprise, but without any fear or fright, only wonder and curiosity, stammering to ask the sacred lake, “Are you speaking?”

The sacred lake answered her, “Yes.”

The little girl was overjoyed as if she had encountered a miracle, hurriedly asking this and that.

Perhaps the sacred lake had never spoken with people before, or perhaps it was particularly kind and tolerant toward this little girl. Even though her questions were many and sometimes repetitive, it still good-naturedly answered them all.

When leaving, she happily and sincerely placed the blue jade sparrows that had been thrown away by the monks before the sacred lake, saying in that voice full of childlike innocence—

“This flower is called blue jade sparrow. It grows at the foot of the sacred mountain. You’ve always been at the mountaintop, so you probably haven’t seen it, right?”

“I’m giving it to you.”

…

As the years passed, the original little girl began to grow up, developing a gradually maturing figure and beautiful, charming features.

She still had the habit of coming up the mountain, and each time she would bring a bundle of blue jade sparrows for the sacred lake.

They maintained their mutual communication, talking about interesting things from down the mountain, as well as her wishes and plans.

Until suddenly one day, the now-grown little girl told the sacred lake very excitedly: “In ten more days, I can become a Noble Consort! Then I’ll be able to see you every day, talk to you, and pick blue jade sparrows for you…”

On this day, the entire sacred lake had only the sound of water waves.

It never spoke again.

Blue jade sparrows were still brought from time to time, but they would never mysteriously disappear again.

Each time the little girl came, she would only see the blue jade sparrows from her last visit withering by the lakeside.

She didn’t understand why the sacred lake suddenly stopped talking to her, nor did she know what kind of change had occurred in this sacred lake. She just kept bringing them.

No matter how much suffering she experienced, no matter how her state of mind changed later. Day after day, year after year…

Jian Chou couldn’t see the ending of the story in her dream. But she thought she had seen the ending of this story. Just last night, just in the Extreme Region sixty years ago, just in that old woman’s life.

“What’s happening?”

“Something big happened, go look quickly!”

“How frightening…”

…

Outside the door, the discussion voices, though lowered but still audible, drew Jian Chou’s thoughts back from contemplating this dream. Her brow furrowed slightly.

She remembered what she had done when investigating the Hall of Masters last night.

Had Master Hongren’s death been discovered?

Showing no abnormality on her face, Jian Chou got up and opened the door, seeing that many people had come out into the corridor. Sangyang stood nearby with a frightened face, listening to what they were saying.

Hearing the door open, several people turned to look at her.

Sangyang quickly came to her side upon seeing her: “Sister Qiaguo, you’re finally out. We were really frightened to death. Have you heard? Something happened at the Sacred Temple.”

“Something happened?”

Jian Chou looked surprised, as if she didn’t quite understand Sangyang’s words.

Perhaps because this incident was significant, everyone forgot their previous estrangement with Jian Chou. They seemed to feel she looked the most composed among them all, giving them a strange sense of security. They all gathered around, speaking in a jumble of voices.

“So many people died!”

“One Master and many Dharma Teachers. They’re investigating over at the east hall monk quarters now. It’s so scary!”

“…”

One Master and many Dharma Teachers?

Jian Chou was stunned upon hearing this, finding the situation completely unexpected. The former was probably last night’s unlucky Master Hongren, which she had done herself and knew clearly. But the latter—where did that come from?

Her brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as she felt something strange.

Generally speaking, when something happened, the Sacred Temple wouldn’t make a big fuss because it could easily disturb people’s hearts. But now not only had it spread like this, even these girls who hadn’t officially become Noble Consorts knew about it, and it was causing panic…

There was no other explanation. The only possibility was—

This matter was too big to suppress!

Her heart suddenly jumped. Jian Chou looked at everyone, said nothing, and walked straight out.

The place they lived was on the west side of the Sacred Temple. To get to the east side required walking a long distance. But unexpectedly, after coming out, she saw that on the plaza covered with thin ice in front of the main hall, many Sacred Temple disciples were heading east, obviously wanting to see what was happening.

Everyone’s face carried some unease and panic.

Jian Chou moved without showing her feelings, following the direction of the crowd. She soon saw the scene of the incident.

A row of east-west monk quarters, about dozens of monk cells, all with their doors opened by people.

Three New Tantric monks with stern faces stood under the central corridor, their deep red robes exuding a gloomy oppression, the prayer beads hanging around their necks motionless.

Everyone’s expression had a terrifying quality, their gazes unanimously falling on the open space in front of the monk quarters.

This was originally a place where monks would walk when entering and leaving the monk quarters.

At this moment, however, forty corpses of monks who had lost their warmth were neatly arranged!

All wearing red robes, some neat, some wrinkled, each with slight differences; but what was the same was the aura of death, the slightly blackened faces!

Jian Chou’s eyelids jumped violently with one glance!

Having seen the corpses of disciples from Yashan and Kunwu sects on the riverbank, and having personally orchestrated Master Hongren’s death last night, how could she not see the cause of death of these people?!

All due to that strange black aura!

However, the black qi that took Master Hongren’s life was released by her, but what about those before her eyes?

Even knowing that none of the New Tantric monks remaining in the Sacred Temple were probably good people, seeing more than forty lifeless corpses arranged neatly before her eyes in such a concrete way…

Jian Chou’s heart couldn’t help but be shaken.

Among them was Mojia, there were also those monks she had seen along the way, and even more monks she didn’t recognize at all.

In one night, forty lives.

What kind of brilliant yet cold-hearted method was this?

At that moment, Jian Chou actually thought it might be Shaoji.

But just the next moment, the words Fu Chaosheng had said before going to the Extreme Region echoed in her ears—at that time and place, Shaoji was not in the Snow Region!

The killer was not this fierce ancient deity.

As her eyes flickered slightly, what she recalled was only the subtle, thoughtful expression Xie Buchen had shown last night after she killed Master Hongren, when he praised her scheme…

After a long while, she raised her head.

Her gaze passed over countless faces hiding terror and fell, by such coincidence and precision, on a calm figure in the crowded mass.

Xie Buchen stood at the edge of the crowd, also looking toward the center like the others.

Forty corpses spread out on the flat ground, each face showing the same expression as when they lost their lives last night. Falling into his eyes, it was a kind of unchanging tedium.

He had an air of calm detachment, without even a ripple in his eyes.

But at this moment, as if sensing something, his gaze lightly turned and met Jian Chou’s eyes that had fallen on him.

Silence, wordless.

In those dark eyes, there was no trace at all.