In the end, it was still difficult to let go, impossible to forget.

Those seventeen people who appeared behind Ghost Gate Pass, not far from the Shijiu Zhou crowd, stood suspended in air, holding sharp swords, gazing ahead, their faces full of pride!

How many people glimpsed something indescribably familiar from their expressions at this moment?

In Shijiu Zhou, there were only two sects famous for swords!

One was Kunwu, the other was Yashan!

Observing these seventeen people’s temperament and dress, they bore no resemblance to Kunwu whatsoever…

The Kunwu cultivators were already looking at each other in bewilderment. On the Yashan side, there was instant commotion as they whispered to each other, all seeming to discuss what exactly the origins of these seventeen suddenly appearing cultivators might be.

Only those cultivators who knew the inside story fell into silence at this moment.

That oppressive, deathly silence!

When Jian Chou had escaped from the Extreme Domain’s Heaven-Creation Formation and returned to Yashan via Mingri Xinghai, she had informed the sect elders of every detail of what she had encountered in the Extreme Domain tripod competition. Later, during the Mingri Xinghai council meeting, this crucial information naturally couldn’t be hidden from the other powerful cultivators of Shijiu Zhou.

Otherwise, if they encountered it without any means of response, disaster would be near.

It could be said that when these powerful cultivators of Shijiu Zhou learned of the Extreme Domain’s Zhong Lanling affair from Jian Chou, they were already secretly worried about how they would face such a situation if they truly encountered it.

They were already powerful cultivators who had cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years!

Yet even though they had imagined the scene they now faced hundreds or thousands of times in their minds, when these puppets that seemed no different from living people actually appeared before them, they couldn’t control their grief and rage!

This was tantamount to making them kill their former companions with their own hands!

Jian Chou stood on that wasteland, gazing from afar at those seventeen figures floating gracefully in the heights. In her ears echoed only the confused words, spoken one by one, of Zhong Lanling holding his qin in that hellish tripod competition of old…

And the terrifying scene she had witnessed on his body back then.

At this moment, she dared not open her mind’s eye to look at those seventeen people!

However, now that she was a powerful cultivator, why would she need to open her mind’s eye?

Wherever her gaze fell, everything was transparent!

In others’ eyes, those seventeen people appeared distinguished and each possessed their own charm. But in the eyes of the powerful cultivators, they were all monsters pieced together from fragments!

The eyes were one appearance, the nose another; the neck was one appearance, the shoulders yet another; the palms were one appearance, the legs another…

Some parts came from young people, some from elders;

Some parts came from men, some from women!

But faintly, there seemed to be a strange force, like clay, binding these fragments together, making “them” look like living, normal people, even their facial expressions so vivid!

Compared to Zhong Lanling from years past, “they” were more perfected.

Even across such a vast distance, Jian Chou could clearly sense the powerful beating in their chests…

They had hearts!

They had their own consciousness and awareness!

She seemed able to hear the lament from every part of “their” bodies, seemed able to hear those most desperate roars echoing through the years…

Yet all of this!

All of it was hidden beneath these seemingly perfect shells and calm faces!

Hatred, disgust, anger, sorrow…

All sorts of emotions suddenly surged up, intertwining together, making her feel her stomach convulsing in waves.

She couldn’t take a step forward; even the sword in her palm seemed about to slip from her grasp.

Under Shijiu Zhou’s fierce offensive, the Extreme Domain ghost cultivators, having lost their Yama King commanders and the advantage of their formation, were almost completely routed.

With even the Yama Kings fled, how could they hold the line?

Before long, those who scattered in flight had retreated behind Ghost Gate Pass, while those who dared to fight had all been annihilated!

On this wasteland before Ghost Gate Pass, countless scars remained, leaving only those seventeen “cultivators” facing off against nearly ten thousand cultivators from Shijiu Zhou!

“What a sin…”

The three Chan masters from the Buddhist sect at the rear, seeing this situation, all recalled the grievous wrong committed by Buddhism in the past. For a moment, they bowed their heads and closed their eyes, unable to bear watching further.

But most cultivators still didn’t understand what exactly had happened.

They only keenly sensed something amiss from the indiscernible expressions and inexplicable silence of their sect elders, gradually quieting down.

Among the Yashan cultivator ranks, there was also a sudden silence.

Others might not know, but how could the several disciples under Fudao Shanren not know?

Kou Qianzhi, Shen Jiu, Bai Yin, Chen Weishan—all gripped their swords tightly in this instant, yet looking around, where were the enemies they needed to kill?

Those seventeen people in the heights were clearly all old friends!

Even if they didn’t have old friends’ faces, they were full of the aura of former companions!

They had drawn their swords against the world’s injustices, wrongs, and falsehoods countless times, but at this moment, with long swords in hand, they couldn’t draw even an inch outward!

The youngest eighth junior brother, Jiang He, with his slightly plump face, also showed a kind of almost dreamy bewilderment.

His gaze slowly moved, finally settling on the figure ahead.

Fudao Shanren.

That usually unkempt figure who never took anything seriously seemed unchanged, but never before had anything made him tremble.

Because he was Yashan’s Fudao!

He was the cultivator of highest seniority remaining in Yashan, the person of highest status in Yashan, the Enforcement Elder of Shijiu Zhou’s Central Domain!

But today, at this time, that withered figure was clearly trembling!

Gripping the Nine-Section Bamboo tightly, the tendons and bones on the back of his hand were clearly visible!

Veins throbbed at his temples, as if something in his chest had suddenly exploded, threatening to drag his entire being into some unknown and turbulent undercurrent…

When he first heard Jian Chou mention this matter, he should have known this scene would come.

But why…

Those emotions that had passed eleven jiazi cycles ago still rekindled like dead ashes, making one uncontrollably fall into unclear hatred and unwise fury?

Fudao Shanren struggled to control his currently uncontrollable emotions.

Master Hengxu had already heard that sigh of “what a sin” from behind, his face also showing momentary emotion. However, he was Kunwu’s head seat, the leader of the righteous path!

Even if all under heaven fell into chaos, he should not be chaotic!

His eyes closed slightly, and all unstable emotions in their depths were forcibly concealed and suppressed.

He knew well that this battle had already been won. What remained was merely sweeping away this insignificant “tail”!

When he opened his eyes again, his face was full of cold severity!

Master Hengxu calmly and firmly ordered: “Zhao Zhuo, Yue He, Wu Duan! Go, quickly exterminate these seventeen demonic monsters!”

Zhuo Ran Sword Zhao Zhuo, Jiang Liu Sword Yue He, White Bone Dragon Sword Wu Duan!

None of the three had expected Master Hengxu to give such an order. All three knew the inside story and were momentarily stunned before understanding Master Hengxu’s intention.

These monsters could no longer be considered Yashan cultivators!

Now that the Yashan cultivators, especially Fudao Shanren, suddenly saw the aura of old friends appear, they might develop merciful hearts and might not be willing to act. In that case, it would be better for Kunwu to play the villain and kill these seventeen “people,” completely ending this battle!

But no one expected that just as the three were about to charge forward, a furious roar exploded directly across this scarred wasteland!

Nearly ten thousand cultivators from Shijiu Zhou heard it crystal clear!

It was Fudao Shanren’s voice!

“All of you get lost!!!”

“Fudao!”

Master Hengxu hadn’t expected Fudao Shanren to speak out to stop them. Unable to suppress himself for a moment, he also became truly angry, shouting at him:

“The greater good comes first—don’t act on impulse!”

“You get lost too!”

What responded to Master Hengxu was an even louder but more hoarse explosive shout. When Fudao Shanren turned his eyes, his eye sockets were already red!

His withered body trembled uncontrollably, his chest heaving unceasingly.

With these words, almost every character was spoken with blood and tears!

“The old souls of my Yashan shall be killed by Yashan people!”

In this instant, tears rolled down from Jian Chou’s eyes.

First Line of Sky trembled and wailed in her hand!

She could only use all her strength to grasp it, and also grip tightly the surge of killing intent that suddenly swelled in her chest with nowhere to vent!

What could be done?

What could be done?!

Even if you knew that those vivid figures were mostly pieced together from the souls of former Yashan disciples, those people from the past truly no longer existed…

They were nothing more than ugly phantoms.

You should use that coldest, hardest heart, raise the sharpest precious sword in your hand, and cut down all enemies blocking your path, letting “them” be reduced to ashes and smoke, letting the path to heaven spread beneath your feet!

But whose heart was cast from iron and stone?

It beat hotly in the chest, spreading that sorrowful emotion along with blood throughout the body, to every corner of the soul, tearing open the deepest old scar in one’s heart, making everything cruelly bloody!

In the military formation, when all Yashan disciples raised their swords, Jian Chou felt that overwhelming irony and grief had already submerged her entirely, making her suffocate!

Ten thousand sword lights fell instantly!

At this moment, Jian Chou didn’t follow forward.

She slowly took a step back…

She didn’t watch how those sword lights fell, didn’t watch how those seventeen “people” who held swords like puppets but didn’t move even once were submerged and destroyed by that endlessly familiar sword light, and didn’t look again at what expressions her Yashan fellow disciples wore…

As if in a dream.

Jian Chou turned around, her footsteps unsteady.

Sword in hand, the crowd surging like a tide!

Face after face, familiar or strange, passed before her eyes and beside her, but she seemed unable to hear any sound, only walking toward the other end of this wasteland made blindingly white by sword light, in the brilliant radiance of ten thousand sword lights exploding behind her…

Against the tide of people.

On this day, the nineteenth day since the Yin-Yang Realm war restarted, nearly ten thousand cultivators from Shijiu Zhou set aside their prejudices and finally worked together to capture Ghost Gate Pass, the gateway to the Extreme Domain’s seventy-two cities, achieving the crucial first victory.

Countless cultivators, brilliant as stars!

Many people’s ingenious plans and wisdom left rich and colorful marks in Shijiu Zhou’s history. Names like Jian Chou, Qu Zhengfeng, and Xie Buchen would be passed down for ages.

It seemed like an unquestionable great victory.

But at this moment, Jian Chou was only contemplating one question in her confused heart: What is losing, and what…

Is winning?

Had they truly achieved a great victory?