“Unheard of, unseen…”

Looking at Jian Chou who had walked near, Yichen spent quite a while finally managing to somewhat contain the shock in his heart, though his voice still carried undisguised amazement.

“Benefactor Jian Chou, your heart realm should have already reached great accomplishment.”

At this moment, Yichen had faintly realized that the female cultivator before him might have embarked on an unprecedented path, otherwise today’s events truly couldn’t be explained.

The dao tribulation didn’t bring punishment, and breaking through to Void Refining produced no phenomena either.

Perhaps this was the true “phenomenon”? Something previously unimaginable.

Yet Jian Chou remained calm.

Perhaps because she had clarified her dao, clarified the path she should walk, and knew she hadn’t stepped onto a smooth road at this moment, she felt neither wild joy nor would she stop here in satisfaction.

A path no one had walked before often meant being covered in thorns.

At this moment she had many thoughts about this heaven, about these people, but when about to speak, it became: “Master Yichen flatters me. I’ve merely gained slight enlightenment, not even worthy of being called minor accomplishment.”

“For the benefactor, this is indeed so; but for this heaven and earth, it approximately counts as opening heaven and splitting earth.” Yichen smiled. “We should congratulate the benefactor, and congratulate Yashan—in merely eighty-plus years, another great cultivator has been added.”

“How could it be merely eighty-plus years? In the Sumeru Mustard Seed, a snap of the fingers has already been four hundred years.” Even with all her abilities, Jian Chou couldn’t possibly reach Void Refining realm within normal hundred years. “To have today, I owe much to Junior Brother Liao Kong’s rescue that day.”

“Misfortune is where fortune depends, fortune is where misfortune hides. Benefactor Jian Chou has experienced life and death trials, naturally deserving such opportunity.”

Yichen wouldn’t actually take Jian Chou’s words seriously, speaking as airtightly as ever.

“Moreover, even achieving Void Refining in four hundred-plus years ranks first in the Nineteen Regions.”

“I hope in the future I can follow my true heart and advance without hesitation.”

This time, Jian Chou didn’t deny it, then glanced at Xie Buchen who had remained silent beside them.

Initially both had been trapped together in the Sumeru Mustard Seed. When cultivating on the steps, Xie Buchen had even spent a hundred more years than her.

But strangely, his realm was only Nascent Soul Peak.

How incredible was this for this genius who dominated Kunwu and was renowned throughout the Nineteen Regions?

Moreover, this situation made Jian Chou feel familiar.

Wasn’t this exactly like her initially?

No matter what, she had to firmly suppress her realm at Nascent Soul Peak to avoid encountering Heart-Questioning Dao Tribulation anytime after reaching Soul Separation…

Xie Buchen showed no reaction, standing before this Thousand Buddha Hall with only pine winds and water moon filling his being.

Jian Chou temporarily said nothing to him, only bowing to Monk Yichen: “Now that matters here are concluded, with the Nineteen Regions’ winds and clouds changing, Jian Chou left Yashan and has been gone twenty years. At this time I must bid farewell to Master Yichen and Abbot Wugou.”

“Indeed, it’s time to return.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Monk Yichen laughed, but seemed somewhat helpless.

“You should know, during these years you two disappeared, both Kunwu and Yashan were very anxious. This monk reckons that just during the brief time Benefactor Jian Chou underwent tribulation, Benefactor Fudao has already cursed this monk thousands of times in his heart.”

Master…

Cough.

Though unwilling to admit it, upon hearing Yichen’s words, Jian Chou knew that while this might be unreasonable for others, it was entirely possible for her own master.

Moreover, she felt in her heart: perhaps it had already happened.

Of course, such matters between elders weren’t suitable for a junior like her to comment on, so she only showed a slight smile, not daring to defend her master, coughed once, and casually let the matter pass.

Finally she asked Xie Buchen: “Fellow Daoist Xie, together?”

Having come together, they should “return together,” right?

Jian Chou’s expression looked particularly amiable, nothing like the mortal enemy relationship of fighting fiercely with Xie Buchen at the Snow Domain Sacred Hall.

As for Xie Buchen, he showed even fewer flaws.

He wasn’t even surprised by Jian Chou’s “suggestion,” as if she had spoken of something completely normal, nodding: “Very well.”

Abbot Wugou, standing slightly behind, frowned upon seeing this, seemingly wanting to say something. But unexpectedly, just as he was about to speak, Monk Yichen beside him directly placed a hand on his shoulder.

Abbot Wugou immediately froze, somewhat unexpected.

But Monk Yichen acted as if he had done nothing, smiling with hands pressed together as he proclaimed a Buddha’s name: “Amitabha, this poor monk will see off the two benefactors.”

Saying this, he walked out.

The Thousand Buddha Hall was behind Chanzong; to exit the mountain gate required some distance. Jian Chou and Xie Buchen said nothing, following along. During this short exit journey, they heard Monk Yichen introduce Chanzong.

The group walked all the way to the mountain gate before Jian Chou and Xie Buchen truly bid farewell and departed.

Following the mountain path they had taken coming, the two descended the mountain, walked forward for a while more, and when completely out of sight, transformed into two faint beams of light, heading toward the direction of Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand.

Only after both had completely disappeared did Abbot Wugou turn to look at Yichen.

“Why did you stop me earlier?”

“Amitabha, if I hadn’t stopped you, who knows what you would have said.”

Yichen clapped his hands as if to brush away all dust, his clean, slightly plump face showing what seemed like a purely innocent smile, looking very benevolent.

But what kind of person was Abbot Wugou?

He had long experienced Yichen’s character. At this moment, not only did his brow not relax, it furrowed even tighter.

Though somewhat rigid, as one of the three masters, he had read many books and heard the saying about “the emperor not being anxious while the eunuch is.”

What did “why should a monk worry” mean?

Abbot Wugou’s expression had become extremely serious: “That Benefactor Jian Chou aside, but that Benefactor Xie from Kunwu has far too much karma entangled on him. Ordinary people have at most several or dozens of threads, but he has hundreds or thousands. Among these…”

Generally only cultivators of the Karma Dao could see karma on people. But Buddhism had always emphasized karma, so monks with “wisdom eyes” who cultivated certain methods could see karma entangled on people.

Abbot Wugou didn’t cultivate the Karma Dao, but possessed wisdom eyes.

From the first glance at Xie Buchen, he had already seen the karma on him. He had thought Yichen would say something, but unexpectedly he hadn’t.

You should know, he wasn’t the only one with wisdom eyes.

Abbot Wugou was puzzled, his gaze at Yichen carrying some suspicion: “Didn’t you see it?”

“I saw it, but what does it have to do with you and me?”

Yichen’s tone was extremely relaxed, completely dismissing Wugou’s words.

Wugou choked: “But…”

He still wanted to argue something, but Yichen was already smiling at him with a laughing Maitreya feeling, only saying: “Senior Brother, do you want to interfere?”

“This… I was thinking of giving some guidance. After all, the cleverer someone is, the easier they fall into mental obstacles. Such genius, I fear he might take the wrong path. If we could guide him to enlightenment…”

Wugou said coldly with a stern expression, speaking methodically.

Yichen nodded, continuing to smile: “Senior Brother’s heart is naturally good, truly possessing our Buddha’s compassionate heart. But has Senior Brother considered that in the mysterious beyond, Heaven has its own arrangements, Heaven has Heaven’s will. If you and I interfere, wouldn’t that violate Heaven’s will?”

“This…”

Upon hearing this, Wugou immediately fell into contemplation, pondering deeply for quite a while without speaking.

Before the mountain gate, Yichen stood beside him, smiling enough to make flowers grow on nearby stones.

Passing young novices who saw this instinctively felt a chill, turning their steps to quietly walk aside, afraid of being noticed by him.

Only Abbot Wugou remained completely unaware, still standing there.

After quite a while, he finally said: “What Junior Brother says also seems very reasonable.”

“That’s right, no need to interfere with Heaven’s will, let’s just watch each person’s own path.”

Yichen didn’t wait for him to finish his remaining words, hurriedly setting a conclusion, then patted his shoulder in a very approachable manner.

“Let’s hurry back to the temple to check on Liao Kong.”

“But…”

Wugou vaguely felt something was wrong and wanted to say more, but after that shoulder pat, he actually forgot, thought for a while without remembering, and simply let it go.

Yichen entered the mountain gate with him, heading toward the back.

His face still showed little secrets, revealing nothing, but his heart was amused—

What was Heaven’s will?

He saw those karma threads on Xie Buchen ten times those of ordinary people—that was Heaven’s will; he saw them but didn’t give guidance—that was also Heaven’s will.

But if he saw them and gave guidance, wouldn’t that also be Heaven’s will?

Talking about “Heaven’s will” was all just “human will.”

Monk Yichen was one of Chanzong’s three masters, the “Heart Master,” seeing most clearly, so let others settle their own karma.

As for our Buddha’s compassion, universally saving all beings?

That was naturally Buddha’s business—let Buddha himself handle it.

One look showed that was a troublesome character who definitely hid thorny secrets. Why should they add another karma thread and invite trouble?

What should come would naturally come.

To prevent Wugou from remembering this matter, Yichen changed the topic: “Speaking of today’s sights, they truly opened our eyes—even ‘instant enlightenment to Buddhahood’ appeared…”

This was fine not to mention, but once said, Wugou’s brow furrowed again: “That female demon, though her fate was thus, this Benefactor Jian Chou was perhaps too ruthless.”

Yichen immediately felt helpless.

He naturally knew Wugou referred to Jian Chou giving the female demon three choices.

Actually as observers, they could all see that though the female demon ultimately chose to let go of the past, it was Jian Chou who provided this choice. Moreover, among these three choices, there was no option for the female demon to maintain nine parts past, one part demon form.

In a sense, “instant enlightenment to Buddhahood” was the ending Jian Chou set for the female demon.

After all, she couldn’t possibly fail to predict the female demon’s choice.

But how to view this matter was very much a matter of perspective.

One could certainly say Jian Chou was heartless, even calculating with meticulous planning, unlike ordinary people; but from another angle, how was this not affectionate?

If she were truly heartless, being her past, how could the female demon have made such a choice?

“Since ancient times, being too affectionate leads to heartlessness; being extremely heartless is actually deep affection. She is probably between affection and heartlessness, between worldly and transcendent.”

Yichen thought for a moment, finally answering thus.

Wugou never quite understood his somewhat convoluted zen riddles, only tightening his brow.

In the distance, gentle flute music drifted over, distant and peaceful, yet the melody faintly contained a loneliness of having no kindred spirit to appreciate it…

Both heard it.

Wugou frowned and raised his head. Yichen also looked up, but without needing to see, he already knew where this flute music came from.

High in the mountains, on that cliff face where the Burning Pool was located, a white-robed monk leaned against a dry, craggy rock, casually sitting with bent legs. The somewhat sharp mountain wind occasionally stirred his monk robes.

His slender, jade-like fingers held that jade flute, like the most beautiful green bamboo in the mountains.

With downcast eyes and brows, there was a distant, lonely stillness.

“Sigh…”

Yichen ultimately said nothing, only rarely restraining the smile from his face and releasing a long sigh.

Chanzong bordered the Western Sea to the west and connected to Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand to the south, very close to Yashan and not very far from Kunwu.

Jian Chou was already a Void Refining cultivator and could use displacement techniques, returning to Yashan in two or three breaths, but she deliberately didn’t.

After leaving Chanzong with Xie Buchen, they flew southeast on swords.

But probably because her cultivation was higher, Xie Buchen surprisingly didn’t use sword flight, only flying through the air.

Jian Chou initially didn’t think much of it, but after traveling for about a quarter hour, she felt strange: “Fellow Daoist Xie is the heir who can save Kunwu from great tribulation. Missing for twenty years, aren’t you anxious to return?”

“Twenty years have already passed—what do two or three hours matter?”

He showed no trace of expected anxiety, as if completely unconcerned about traveling with Jian Chou and being plotted against by her, simply answering briefly.

Jian Chou’s delicate brows immediately furrowed slightly.

She always felt…

Something wasn’t quite right.

Raising her gaze, she reexamined Xie Buchen.

Still the same scholarly, elegant blue robe with bookish air, hair bound with a jade hairpin with several strands falling to his shoulders; one hand in front, one behind his back, carrying his usual graceful bearing…

But indeed, something was wrong.

“Fellow Daoist Jian Chou—”

Probably sensing her gaze, Xie Buchen’s eyes flashed slightly as he turned to seemingly speak to her.

But what came at him was a sudden sword light!

Jian Chou’s brow tightly locked, in mid-air she struck out with her sword!

Surprisingly, Xie Buchen didn’t react in time!

Standing in mid-air, he only managed to look up at Jian Chou once before being solidly struck by this sword light!

Jian Chou immediately knew she had guessed correctly.

What kind of person was Xie Buchen?

Traveling with her without any defenses? Never mind her current attack speed—even if it were three times faster, he would definitely be able to react.

But now…

When the sword light fell, what sounded in her ears wasn’t the sound of flesh and blood shattering, but something quite dull, like chopping hard wood.

In that instant, the “Xie Buchen” before her directly disappeared!

With a light “thud,” a palm-sized piece of wood fell from mid-air under Jian Chou’s sword, crashing among the mountain stones below.

“…”

Even though Jian Chou had some premonition earlier, seeing this scene now, she couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help laughing and sighing.

“Truly worthy of Xie Buchen!”

Gently raising her hand toward the air, that fallen wood block automatically flew into her hand. Looking closely, it was actually a small, crude wooden puppet with only a head and limbs!

When turned over, there was a golden talisman drawn on the back.

Probably because it had endured her earlier strike, this talisman had dimmed by more than half.

“Truly careful sailing for ten thousand years, completely airtight…”

After looking at this wooden puppet for a while, Jian Chou suddenly had an indescribable feeling. Recalling the scenes at Chanzong, she couldn’t figure out when Xie Buchen had used this “substitution technique.”

“When previously impersonating Huai Jie in the Snow Domain while still having a分身 go kill people, was that also this technique?”

On the return journey, she actually hadn’t planned to attack Xie Buchen.

After all, they were about to reach Central Domain’s territory, and with Kunwu’s hundred-year great tribulation period approaching, she knew Hengxu must be constantly watching this area. She couldn’t possibly have the chance to act in front of Hengxu.

But Xie Buchen was even more careful than she had thought.

“Nascent Soul Peak—what secrets are you hiding?”

Jian Chou played with this puppet twice, staring at its simple outline, only murmuring thus, her heart filled with endless thoughts, naturally recalling that mysterious phrase “kill Xie Buchen, sever seven parts of the soul.”

But to this day she still didn’t know what this “seven parts of the soul” sword actually was.

Thinking of this naturally led to thoughts of the Extreme Domain.

Though only a few words, she had already learned from Monk Yichen about the situation between the Nineteen Regions and the Extreme Domain over these twenty years—turbulent undercurrents, waiting only for a spark to ignite both sides.

Whatever about Xie Buchen—let it all be set aside for now. Returning to Yashan was the priority.

Once Jian Chou decided, she naturally wasted no more time.

She had originally wanted to throw away Xie Buchen’s wooden puppet, but with a thought and raised brow, she put it in her Qiankun bag instead, then focused her mind.

A Void Refining cultivator’s spiritual consciousness was nearly ten times stronger than Nascent Soul!

In just one breath, her vast spiritual consciousness had already sensed Yashan’s location. Like the previous Nascent Soul teleportation, she merged her mental essence with spatial fluctuations.

The next moment, her entire person disappeared from this wilderness.

When she reappeared and opened her eyes, what she saw was Yashan’s majestic outline already carved into her heart and soul.

Pressing the Yashan token gently outside the mountain protection array, she smoothly entered from mid-air, passing over the thirty-zhang-high Sword-Drawing Platform and gracefully landing on Lingzhao Peak.

Guihe Well remained the same.

In this mid-spring season, only Da Bai’e swam in the water, while Xiao Diao, who hadn’t gone to the Snow Domain with her, lazily sprawled beside the well sunbathing.

This scene was intimate enough, but really…

It had no dignity of being the Central Domain’s backbone!

Jian Chou’s eyelids twitched, not seeing Little Bone Jade either. Just as she was about to walk over and grab Xiao Diao to ask what was going on, unexpectedly, after taking just one step, her peripheral vision caught two figures flying down from the high Huanqiao Peak.

One wore tattered clothes, flying down while gnawing on a chicken leg in his hand.

Anyone could guess with their toes!

This must be her perpetually unreliable master, Fudao Shanren.

The other…

The mugwort-colored robe bore old patterns like moss grown on rocks for years, yet worn on him it carried a contradictory feeling of ancient and fresh intertwined.

His face held its usual pallor, but his hair was bound with an ash-colored fish-shaped hairpin.

His demonic aura was completely concealed, paired with those clear pupils, he looked completely like an enlightened master!

Upon seeing this, both of Jian Chou’s eyelids jumped, nearly making even the hair on her back stand up. Even with her current Void Refining spiritual consciousness and heart realm, she couldn’t recover from the shock of this scene!

Her master, Yashan’s Law Enforcement Elder Fudao Shanren, and…

And the supremely evil great demon Fu Chaosheng?!

Flying down together from Huanqiao Peak, looking completely familiar with each other…

What… what was going on?