“Fell into a trap?” Fu Chaosheng was somewhat confused. He had only mentioned what Xie Buchen had said to him. “What trap?”

Jian Chou said: “A psychological warfare trap, a divide-and-conquer strategy.”

Fu Chaosheng had no interest in their human military tactics and strategies, so he still didn’t quite understand, frowning: “This person wants to drive a wedge between you and me?”

“If he only wanted to divide you and me, that wouldn’t be much.” Jian Chou resumed walking forward, looking at the empty but still familiar streets of the City of Wrongful Death, and slowly said: “What he wants to divide is both you and me, and me and the Nineteen Continents.”

“Knowing you’re considered ‘not of my race,’ yet deliberately saying those words to you—his heart is impure. This Xie Buchen is very scheming. In his words and actions, there are never idle strokes, especially such seemingly casual or even hypocritical words—he must have ulterior motives.”

“Now let’s see how Fellow Daoist Chaosheng responds.”

“If you had heard his words but didn’t repeat them to me, that would prove that Fellow Daoist Chaosheng could completely understand his meaning and had concerns about racial differences, knowing the stakes involved, and weren’t ignorant of human relationships. Thus, he could drive a wedge between us.”

“If you heard his words and repeated them to me…”

“That proves you still couldn’t understand the deeper meaning of his words and were completely oblivious to his so-called ‘racial differences.’ I invited Fellow Daoist Chaosheng to join the Nineteen Continents cultivators partly to observe his actions. Xie Buchen is no mediocre person—how could he not notice? In this situation, combined with feeling displeased, you would certainly relay his words to me.”

Speaking to this point, Jian Chou couldn’t help but raise her hand to press her brow, her voice heavy like a gloomy rainy day: “The deeper meaning you couldn’t understand, I can comprehend; the suspicion you couldn’t generate, I will develop. And once suspicion arises, it’s like the most stubborn vine seeds—even if you’re aware of its existence and know the other party wants you to have this suspicion, you can never completely uproot it from your heart. Because it truly exists.”

What Xie Buchen was doing was no different from what she was doing.

The suspicion had already existed.

They were merely watering each other’s tiny seeds of suspicion, pouring oil on them, making them grow more vigorously and burn more fiercely.

She was instigating Xie Buchen to suspect his master Hengxu Zhenren, widening the subtle rift between master and disciple; Xie Buchen was also instigating her to be wary of other cultivators from the Nineteen Continents, preventing her from wholeheartedly trusting companions who should stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

“People are just like this…”

Jian Chou lowered her hand, walking forward while sighing to Fu Chaosheng.

“I too am merely a mortal, unable to avoid worldly customs.”

Fu Chaosheng listened with partial understanding, only saying: “So that Xie Buchen deliberately wanted me to relay these words to you, to make you wary of other cultivators from the Nineteen Continents because of my existence? Then by this calculation, at least in your heart, my existence is no less important than the other cultivators from the Nineteen Continents.”

This was the simplest calculation.

However, upon hearing this, Jian Chou’s steps paused slightly, and she looked up at him.

Fu Chaosheng asked: “Did I calculate wrong?”

Jian Chou suddenly laughed, but there was more contemplation in her eyes, though it was unclear whether she was thinking about him or herself. She said lightly: “No, you calculated correctly.”

At this moment, that strange feeling rose in Fu Chaosheng again.

He felt his ears seemed a bit warm, so he reached up to touch them.

Seeing this, Jian Chou asked: “What’s wrong?”

Fu Chaosheng shook his head: “After eating half of that Wu Guan Wang’s heart last time, things seem a bit strange, but there’s nothing really wrong. By the way, you mentioned earlier that you plan to continue disguising yourself as Lian Zhao to investigate the Extreme Domain situation?”

“Yes.”

Fu Chaosheng was a supreme evil demon whose cultivation was at least no lower than hers. Since he said there was nothing wrong, Jian Chou naturally didn’t inquire further—after all, inquiring wouldn’t yield any results. Hearing him ask about what came next, she followed his lead in changing the topic.

“It just so happens that Fellow Daoist Chaosheng can help.”

He could help?

This statement immediately stunned Fu Chaosheng.

But at this time, the two had already reached Yashan’s garrison in the City of Wrongful Death—a tall building with connected courtyards behind it. Many people were moving about inside and outside. Seeing Jian Chou and Fu Chaosheng, they all stopped to bow. Jian Chou didn’t immediately answer Fu Chaosheng’s question but walked into the building, heading directly toward Shen Jiu and others standing in the hall.

“Eldest Senior Sister.”

“Eldest Senior Sister.”

They were all disciples under Fudao Shanren who hadn’t gone to the Immortal Wuzhong’s place earlier but had stayed here to handle affairs. Seeing Jian Chou arrive, they all gathered around.

After exchanging pleasantries with them, Jian Chou didn’t waste words and said directly: “There’s an urgent matter, and I need a junior disciple with high cultivation to help me handle it.”

Shen Jiu, Chen Weishan, and others all exchanged glances.

Since Jian Chou had specified “high cultivation,” although Shen Jiu very much wanted to volunteer, he ultimately couldn’t thicken his skin enough.

Kou Qianzhi, disheveled and always holding his sword in his arms, completely ignoring Shen Jiu’s angry glare, stepped forward and asked curiously: “What does Senior Sister want to handle?”

Jian Chou glanced at the Wendao Sword he was holding and said: “I want to ask junior disciple to save someone.”

That night.

The Reception Office of the City of Wrongful Death.

Ghost cultivators who hadn’t managed to leave the City of Wrongful Death for various reasons, or who had originally been detained here, were scattered in various cells.

Chen Tingyan was very angry.

Because even after being locked up, he still couldn’t speak a single word. Even with a heart full of anger, he could only express it by banging on the cell door.

“Bang bang bang…”

What the hell was going on!

Why wasn’t anyone coming to let him out?

What was Jian Chou thinking? Although he vaguely felt she was doing this for his own good, why had she just thrown him here and ignored him?

Chen Tingyan’s heart was roaring.

After banging on the cell door for a long time, his hands were sore, and still no one came to pay attention to him. He finally sighed and gave up, sitting dejectedly in the cell, looking at the bare, gloomy four walls.

Suddenly, a water-like shadow appeared outside the cell door.

Chen Tingyan didn’t notice it at all.

The shadow seemed like a gathering of flowing water, yet it was completely silent and extremely eerie. It easily passed through the cell door that had natural restrictions set by the Reception Office, and was about to pounce on Chen Tingyan.

At this moment, Chen Tingyan’s back suddenly felt cold!

But before he could even turn around to respond, a sword light suddenly rose from the side, striking sharply toward that water-like shadow!

“Splash!”

The water flow suddenly scattered!

Caught off guard, a human figure emerged from the dispersing water flow!

Only then did Chen Tingyan fully realize he had encountered danger. His eyes immediately widened as he tried to see clearly what was happening and who these people were.

But the next moment, he couldn’t see anything.

Endless earthly yin essence surged up from deep underground without warning, filling the entire cell, using this power that was completely different from the heaven and earth spiritual energy of the Nineteen Continents to obstruct others’ originally keen spiritual consciousness, and in this instant, swept Chen Tingyan away!

Undoubtedly, that sword light had been unleashed by Kou Qianzhi, and almost the instant he detected that water-like shadow, he had recognized his opponent as Yue He, the second true disciple under Hengxu Zhenren of Kunwu.

This River Flow sword intent was all too familiar!

However, this sudden earthly yin essence made him lose his bearings, restricted his perception, and an ominous premonition immediately struck his heart.

But by this time, it was too late to sense Chen Tingyan’s whereabouts!

When the earthly yin essence dispersed, where was there even half a human figure in the cell?

Chen Tingyan had disappeared!

“Bang!”

A bout of dizziness that made one want to vomit!

The moment after being pulled away from the cell by a powerful force, Chen Tingyan was heavily thrown to the ground, grimacing in pain.

The ground was moist soil, with stems and roots of weeds mixed in the turned earth, making it clear at a glance that this was definitely not within the City of Wrongful Death.

Looking up, Chen Tingyan found this was actually a wasteland.

Very far from both the City of Wrongful Death and Ghost Gate Pass, he could only see the outline of the City of Wrongful Death in the distance.

Standing before him was a man wearing a dark black robe, quite tall and imposing. The golden patterns coiled on his collar had a strange flowing quality, appearing somewhat dazzling against this gloomy, overcast wasteland.

His features were also very handsome, but carried a trace of coldness.

He casually pointed with his hand, and a faint blue light entered Chen Tingyan’s throat. With his hands behind his back, he asked: “You know Jian Chou and Xie Buchen?”

“I know…”

He could speak again.

Chen Tingyan looked at this person’s face and almost immediately recognized him—he had seen him during the day when he encountered Jian Chou’s group, standing in a more distant position! However, he didn’t know who he was.

Hearing the question, he instinctively wanted to answer.

But at the moment when the words “I know them” were about to come out, he suddenly remembered the dangerous scene from daytime and quickly shook his head.

“No, no, no, I don’t know them…”

“Don’t know them?”

The man in dark black laughed once, looking down at him with eyes that revealed deep scrutiny and mockery.

“I’m not some patient good person.”

“What… what do you mean?”

Chen Tingyan felt that the series of events from day to night were all too bizarre, and his mind couldn’t keep up at all.

The man didn’t answer, only repeated his question: “I’ll ask again—do you know them or not?”

Chen Tingyan finally belatedly sensed the terrifying oppressive force emanating from the person before him and said the truth tremblingly: “I… I know them.”

The man continued: “What’s their relationship?”

Chen Tingyan answered: “They went through hardships together. I heard they got married and should be considered… husband and wife?”

The man laughed and continued asking: “What were the words you didn’t finish at the alley entrance during the day?”

Chen Tingyan’s heart was trembling.

He finally vaguely realized where the crux of the problem lay.

At this moment, he had come to hate his big mouth, but facing this person’s seemingly light yet actually terrifying inquiry, he dared not refuse to answer!

He stammered: “The Extreme Domain… those bastards in the Extreme Domain spread word that Third Young Master Xie killed… killed his wife to pursue the Dao, stabbed Jian Chou with one sword, and left the human island. They… they also said that in the village where they hid under false names during their refuge, you could see Miss Jian Chou’s… tombstone…”

“…”

Silence, sudden and complete.

Chen Tingyan didn’t dare look at the expression of the person before him while speaking, afraid he’d be beaten to death as soon as he finished, so he spoke very slowly.

But after finishing, there was no movement for a long time.

His heart was suspended with anxiety. Gathering his courage to look up, he saw this man in dark robes with slightly narrowed eyes, his expression extremely obscure—as if he wanted to laugh, yet also seemed mocking, with a rare wildness and ferocity, plus a feeling that Chen Tingyan really couldn’t express in words…

“Interesting. I’ll spare your life.”

The large palms bore rough calluses left by years of sword practice.

There was actually a hint of laughter in the dark-robed man’s voice. His gaze moved from his own palm to land calmly on Chen Tingyan, and he raised his hand with a wave!

“Whoosh!”

The wide sleeves billowed in the wind, instantly transforming Chen Tingyan into his ghost form, shrinking him into a wisp of thin black smoke and drawing him into his sleeve!

In the blink of an eye, the wasteland was empty without a trace of anyone.