With that dark heart of Qu the Second Fool, would he lend you the “Nine Curves River Map”?

Who are you?

If anyone who obtained this item was willing to lend it out, would cultivators throughout the world still need to fight and compete for this River Map over hundreds and thousands of years? Wouldn’t they just pass it around for everyone to read?

Fudao Shanren looked at Fu Chaosheng with bewilderment: “Daring to borrow the River Map—is it so easy to borrow? Who gave you the audacity to speak up and the delusion that you could succeed?”

“…”

Vaguely, Fu Chaosheng felt he had said something wrong again.

Hearing Fudao Shanren’s words, he subconsciously looked toward Jian Chou.

Although his usual habit was to take things for himself, last time when he borrowed the Universal Eye—such a world-class rare treasure—Jian Chou had easily given it to him, seemingly not caring much about it.

So, was saying “borrow” also wrong?

If not for considering that this Sword Emperor had quite some connection with Yashan, and his relationship with Jian Chou didn’t seem particularly bad, he would have taken it from the other party himself.

His gaze concealed a hint of barely visible confusion as Fu Chaosheng rarely contemplated how to speak at this moment.

But actually, he didn’t need to speak at all.

The moment his gaze turned toward Jian Chou, Fudao Shanren and the other Yashan cultivators present had already understood clearly.

So this audacity came from Jian Chou!

Fudao Shanren directly asked: “What did you lend him?”

Jian Chou suddenly felt very tired.

Sitting at home minding her own business, yet blame fell from the sky.

She honestly answered: “Replying to Master, I only temporarily lent Fellow Daoist Fu the Universal Eye.”

“The Univer… Universal Eye…”

What a big heart.

This heart was truly enormous!

Not to mention Fudao Shanren—this time even people like Shen Jiu looked at her with increasingly indescribable expressions, their gazes seeming to say: So it was all because of you, Senior Sister—no wonder this Fellow Daoist Fu would think everything in the world was so easy to borrow…

Fu Chaosheng still hadn’t detected anything too abnormal: “Indeed, my old friend lent me the Universal Eye and helped tremendously. Now I also want to borrow the ‘Nine Curves River Map’ to read—perhaps it could help even more.”

“Interesting, interesting!”

Fudao Shanren felt he had never seen someone with such high cultivation but such poor brains. After getting angry, he actually became amused.

“Hey, so what will you do if he refuses to lend it to you?”

“The matter is of great importance—I must obtain it.” Fu Chaosheng’s tone was flat. “If he won’t lend it, I’ll take it myself.”

Won’t lend, so you’d “take” it yourself?

Are you sure this is taking?

This is outright “robbing”!

His expression looked utterly normal to the extreme, showing no sign he was saying such shocking words, and without the slightest arrogance or pride—just stating his intentions!

As if he were saying something ordinary like “walking is too slow, so I’ll use sword flight”…

Jian Chou suddenly had an impulse to turn and leave.

The expressions of the others also became somewhat subtle, especially Fudao Shanren’s.

Actually, from the beginning, his feeling toward this “uninvited guest” hadn’t been very good. It was just that he had helped collect the remains of Yashan disciples, so the man had done Yashan a favor, which is why he had kept any opinions to himself.

But at this moment…

He stared at Fu Chaosheng, then thought about all the details from these past days, finally seeing where that uncomfortable feeling came from.

Cultivators of Shijiu Zhou who could reach Void Refining had all definitely experienced countless trials and tribulations.

Not to mention, each had passed through the trial of “entering the world,” so there were none who weren’t well-versed in worldly affairs.

Every powerful cultivator, even if not a master manipulator, must be thoroughly perceptive in their hearts.

But this Fu Chaosheng, though his cultivation was unfathomably deep, really didn’t seem very versed in worldly affairs.

That feeling was like someone who had been in closed-door cultivation for years, ignoring worldly matters.

Or perhaps, like spirits and demons born from heaven and earth, with evil nature not yet shed, still naive about the human world.

Can’t borrow it so you’ll rob it?

In the depths of Fudao Shanren’s eyes, contemplative light flickered slightly, momentarily giving off a sharp feeling. But after glancing at Jian Chou, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he stroked his chin and chuckled.

“Well said, then you go ahead and ‘take’ it when the time comes.”

His words actually carried a bit of schadenfreude, looking forward to the show.

But Fu Chaosheng didn’t detect anything unusual at all.

He had never felt there was anything wrong with “taking” other people’s things, so hearing Fudao Shanren say this, he felt it was quite normal and even nodded along.

Jian Chou was already feeling somewhat desperate in her heart. Looking at the sun already hanging high in the sky, she could only sigh and simply decided not to care anymore, just reminding: “Sect Leader, Master, fellow elders and junior brothers, shouldn’t we be leaving?”

Reminded by her, Zheng Yao quickly snapped back to attention and suddenly felt that this originally dark, heavy, and oppressive journey to Star Sea had filled him with anticipation.

He had a feeling there would be a good show to watch.

So suppressing his secret excitement, he smiled: “Ah, right, we should go!”

The group finally stopped wasting words. With Zheng Yao and Fudao Shanren leading, they left Yashan together and soon arrived at the teleportation array set up downstream of the Nine-Head River tributary.

This teleportation array originally led to Western Sea Plaza.

But after Hengxu Master, representing the Central Domain and even the other righteous sects of Shijiu Zhou, reached an agreement with Mingri Xinghai, the sects added another teleportation array among their external ones that could reach Star Sea directly.

Everyone knew what kind of place Mingri Xinghai was.

Loose immortals who failed their tribulations, traitors who committed various crimes and were pursued by righteous sects or hunted by their own sects, desperate criminals who killed and robbed without restraint—all sorts of people mixed together like fish and dragons.

This had always been the freest and most sinful place in Shijiu Zhou, maintaining relative isolation.

For thousands of years, there were countless teleportation arrays between the various cities of Star Sea for internal travel, but only one teleportation array leading to the outside world—through Western Sea.

Whether fleeing for life or pursuing to kill, to use teleportation arrays to enter or exit Star Sea, one could only go through Western Sea first. And with only one available teleportation array, after reaching Mingri Xinghai, one would definitely arrive at the plaza of Broken Immortal City.

But who would want to use it?

Those fleeing didn’t dare use it, fearing ambush outside the teleportation array; those pursuing also didn’t dare use it—being seen the moment they emerged from the teleportation array, making it known to everyone, how could they achieve their goals?

So although the teleportation array existed, for thousands of years hardly anyone used it, making it basically a decoration.

Any cultivators entering or exiting Star Sea had their own purposes and would mostly avoid the teleportation array, using magical artifacts to fly or instant teleportation, generally not wanting their trip to Star Sea known to all cultivators under heaven.

But this time was different.

Concerning the overall situation of Shijiu Zhou, all major sects were acting openly and honorably, having already negotiated with the three great powers of Mingri Xinghai and received permission. Naturally, it was more convenient for each to establish teleportation arrays leading directly to Star Sea.

Capable sects built their own.

Slightly weaker sects without cultivators proficient in array formations were coordinated by Kunwu Yashan and asked cultivators from the Yin-Yang Sects to help.

In less than half a month, almost all sects with any reputation could conveniently travel to and from Star Sea. From the perspective of transportation, Mingri Xinghai at this moment could be said to have become the center of all Shijiu Zhou!

Even the renowned Kunwu could hardly compare.

After reaching the teleportation array, everyone walked in, and Zheng Yao controlled and activated the formation.

In an instant, clear light shimmered.

After the light flashed, the group of nearly twenty people disappeared within the array.

Long before Yashan departed, many sects had already left, not to mention they had been delayed for some time because of Fu Chaosheng. So when they arrived at Star Sea, it was already crowded with people.

The spatial fluctuations disappeared.

Jian Chou only felt a flash before her eyes and hadn’t had time to see clearly what the situation was when the tide-like cacophony of voices around her surged into her ears.

“Sigh, I wonder if we can accomplish everything in one stroke this time.”

“I heard Hengxu Master didn’t come?”

“Yeah, seems like he has some matter, but he’ll only be two days late…”

“Someone said those bald donkeys from Chanzong are coming too?”

“I heard that too…”

…

Various voices from different directions gathered above the teleportation plaza of Star Sea’s Broken Immortal City in an instant, overlapping and covering each other.

Standing behind Fudao Shanren, Jian Chou took a moment to steady herself before focusing her attention to look around.

The layout of this plaza was somewhat similar to Western Sea.

Three sides of the perimeter had teleportation arrays connecting to various sects, with the largest main teleportation array in the center. But there was no moist sea breeze like in Western Sea, nor the Nine Heavens Tablet that constantly attracted the attention of all cultivators in Shijiu Zhou.

What was here was only a massive statue.

As Jian Chou looked toward this statue, Fudao Shanren’s gaze also fell upon it, and for a moment he seemed somewhat lost in thought.

It was a statue of a female cultivator.

Entirely snow-white, carved from a single massive stone, standing steadily at the very center of the entire plaza with a rather majestic and commanding presence.

Flowing lines outlined her ethereal robes.

Wide sleeves billowed in the wind, adding natural grandeur, while her delicate features held a hint of playful smile as if toying with the mortal world. One hand hung low while the other held an ancient, simple scroll.

Her head slightly raised, eyes lifted.

As if looking down on defeated opponents, yet also gazing up at the boundless firmament, her strength carrying a hint of pride that scorned the world.

It seemed nothing in this world could linger in her eyes for even a moment.

These eyes were carved with truly divine skill.

They would make people involuntarily follow her gaze toward the firmament, as if at that end, there really was an endless vast star sea.

But when Jian Chou raised her head, she only saw the perpetually undispersed clouds and mist in this huge basin.

Bleak, gloomy, oppressive.

“Really shameless enough…”

Directly snatching the “Nine Curves River Map” from the hands of Kunwu’s Eight Extremes Daozun who was about to ascend, shocking the entire Shijiu Zhou cultivation world. And she showed no restraint whatsoever, even erecting this statue of herself.

Fudao Shanren still remembered that scene.

Attacking Kunwu, mercilessly defeating Eight Extremes Daozun, seizing the River Map in hand, not even glancing at all the Kunwu disciples below whose faces were dark as water, laughing loudly before departing with grand flourish!

All sects of Shijiu Zhou were left for her to knead and mold at will, with no one able to oppose her.

From then on, the four words “Old Ancestor Luye” became an undisputed legend.

No one knew how high her cultivation had truly reached.

Everyone only knew that of the three great powers from the transition between ancient and modern times, one was her defeated subordinate, one received opportunities from her, and both were far inferior to her.

She was the “reigning” overlord with the shortest tenure in Mingri Xinghai’s history.

But at the same time, she was also the most powerful ruler in Mingri Xinghai’s history. The current “freedom” and “evil” of Mingri Xinghai were all founded by her.

Looking at it for a long time, myriad feelings inevitably arose in his heart.

Fudao Shanren really couldn’t help muttering in a low voice: “This old demoness…”

Clearly not kind words, but when Jian Chou heard them, she felt these words carried an unprecedented complexity, and even…

Nostalgia.

Nostalgia for a certain old acquaintance, nostalgia for a certain past, or perhaps, nostalgia for a certain era that had passed but had once been gloriously magnificent.