Fu Chaosheng, being a great demon, had once said “Heaven’s Way is but a dead thing.” What she cultivated was the “Human Way,” because throughout a person’s life, they cannot escape viewing this world through their own being, so “Heaven’s Way” is merely what humans consider to be “Heaven’s Way.”

If Heaven’s Way is emotionless, there should be no good or evil.

If Heaven’s Way has no good or evil, the so-called “virtuous ones” should not become so-called “Dao Children,” unless…

Jian Chou’s gaze gradually deepened, and at this moment she only stared ahead, murmuring: “Unless Heaven’s Way also originates from the human heart, so it can be ‘deceived’…”

Fu Chaosheng felt somewhat bewildered listening to this.

He could only vaguely grasp the speculation revealed in Jian Chou’s fragmentary words, but could no longer use his own thoughts to guess where exactly her mind had wandered, involuntarily sensing that barrier that had existed from beginning to end.

The barrier between human and demon.

It was just that in the past, his relationship with Jian Chou had been merely distant, and there had never been such occasions requiring them to face each other day and night or even discuss these matters of heaven and earth, so even if there was a barrier, it hadn’t seemed problematic. Now, however, he felt this natural barrier blocked something, making him unable to go further despite sitting beside Jian Chou.

This feeling was somewhat strange again.

Jian Chou sat quietly by the banks of the Underworld River. What surfaced in her mind at this moment was only that statement from the Holy Son Ji Ye long ago: “There are no deities between heaven and earth.” She gradually thought of the All-Beings Decree, slowly sinking into her own contemplation, gazing at the pitch-black firmament.

Fu Chaosheng didn’t disturb her, only sat beside her in companionship.

Until suddenly a fast boat came floating down the river ahead, like a thick black phantom, riding the wind and stopping at the riverbank!

On the boat, a message-bearing ghost soldier looked panicked, almost tumbling off the boat, running straight past the two of them while shouting loudly as he ran: “Elders, elders, frontline battle report! Frontline battle report! Mao City, Mao City has fallen!!!”

“What?”

Several ghost clan elders outside the charity house immediately changed color, rising abruptly!

“Wasn’t it still being defended well just two days ago? How did it suddenly fall?!”

All the elite ghost cultivators inside the charity house who were refining soul puppets heard every word clearly, their movements all pausing as they looked at each other, their eyes tinged with wavering and horror.

Who didn’t know the comparison of strength between both sides?

The Extreme Domain’s defense lines had always been stronger the further back they went, while the Shijiu Zhou had only those nearly ten thousand cultivators with limited reinforcements. Even if Mao City was inadequate and the Shijiu Zhou cultivators were strong, they should still have been able to hold for several more days. How could it be broken so suddenly?

Such a great commotion naturally awakened Jian Chou.

She gathered her thoughts, slightly furrowing her brow, and also looked toward the charity house entrance.

The message-bearing ghost soldier’s cultivation wasn’t very low, but his expression showed the lingering fear of one who had survived disaster. Facing the stern questioning of several elders, he stammered in reply: “Re-reporting to the elders, the watchtower, it was the watchtower that went wrong. The Mao City watchtower somehow suddenly malfunctioned, unable to draw earth force and yin essence from underground to provide coverage. The Shijiu Zhou cultivators then took the opportunity to channel heaven and earth spiritual energy. The incident was sudden, our side was completely unprepared, and tens of thousands of ghost cultivators were slaughtered by half in an instant! Though several ghost generals fought desperately, they were jointly slain by several powerful cultivators from the Shijiu Zhou. Their formation now has one more formidable person than during the Ghost Gate Pass battle, called the ‘Sword Emperor,’ who split open Mao City’s gates with a single sword. We, we truly couldn’t stop them. Within two quarters of an hour after Mao City fell, the seven southwestern cities had all fallen under Shijiu Zhou control…”

“…”

By the end of the ghost soldier’s report, his voice had become hoarse with fear, as if recalling scenes from the battle, his eyes brimming with intense terror.

Thus, the area before the charity house fell into deathly silence.

Only the blood-red waters of the Underworld continued to flow murmuringly and heart-stoppingly.

The withered old man guarding the charity house showed no expression, but the ghost king clan elder Li Yan’s face had turned iron-blue, his chest heaving violently, his gaze flickering uncertainly—whether from fear or anger was unclear.

He coldly demanded: “What instructions are there from Bafang City?”

“This humble one has come precisely for this matter.” The message-bearing ghost soldier dared not delay, hastily replying: “The situation is urgent. The Yama Kings suspect that the sudden malfunction of Mao City’s watchtower was no coincidence, but the deliberate work of experts in array formations from the Shijiu Zhou. If this is true, the Extreme Domain is in danger. Therefore, His Highness Lord Qin Guang has issued a secret order, requesting all elders to supervise strictly and ensure the soul puppets are refined as quickly as possible and swiftly sent to Bafang City!”

After hearing this, the elders’ expressions grew grave.

After hearing this, Jian Chou and Fu Chaosheng exchanged glances.

The soul puppet matter had already been urgently pressed, and now with strict orders urging even greater haste, it was obviously being pushed even more urgently. Moreover, at least in Lord Qin Guang’s plan, the power of this batch of soul puppets and the role they could play was absolutely not to be underestimated!

Since it was a strict order from Bafang City, the charity house side naturally dared not delay.

Regardless of what the ghost cultivators might think after hearing news of Mao City’s fall, they dared not show half of it at this time and place, only desperately accelerating the speed of refining soul puppets under the strict supervision of several elders.

Jian Chou naturally wasn’t idle either.

Her current “Lian Zhao” identity, which had some connection with “Li Han,” was undoubtedly excellent camouflage, perfectly suited for doing something at this critical moment.

But ultimately, she couldn’t succeed.

After news of Mao City’s fall arrived, the atmosphere in the charity house was obviously much more tense than before. Even the elders who had originally only watched from outside the charity house now constantly guarded inside, both supervising and urging. Even with Jian Chou’s extremely high cultivation, she dared not risk using any methods rashly at this moment.

She had also considered exploring the situation outside the house.

There were altogether only a hundred soul puppets inside the charity house, but according to what Fu Chaosheng knew and what the ghost king clan elders had revealed earlier, those inside were only a minority. Many more coffins were neatly arranged around the charity house’s perimeter and rear, tightly covered.

But whenever she tried to walk over casually to look two or three times, she would always discover that withered, skeletal elder lifting his wrinkled eyelids to watch her with those eyes that had no pupils, only whites.

—She couldn’t get even a step closer.

After encountering this old man twice in such attempts, Jian Chou feared arousing suspicion and made no more unusual moves, only discussing with Fu Chaosheng to wait until all soul puppets were refined before making plans.

This didn’t take long to wait.

Originally planned to be completed in six or seven days, but the severe news from Mao City obviously had everyone worried and anxious. Under forced concentration, speed naturally improved, taking only three days!

The last ray of dark purple light entered the soul puppet assembled from broken fragments, like a living shadow, deeply penetrating the puppet’s head.

With a “whoosh,” the soul puppet opened its eyes.

A pair of eyes that seemed alert but were actually numb!

The surrounding earth force and yin essence automatically condensed, forming robes identical to those worn by Shijiu Zhou cultivators. It rose stiffly from the coffin, floating into mid-air!

At this moment, all ghost cultivators in the charity house couldn’t help but shudder!

In the ancient and gloomy house, over a hundred blood-red Underworld coffins were all empty, and over a hundred fully refined soul puppets stood in mid-air like living people, filling everyone’s vision!

Each soul puppet’s facial expression was rigid and numb.

They were clearly only over a hundred puppets refined by their hands, yet the powerful aura emanating from them seemed far superior to them, the refiners!

The more numb their expressions, the more chilling they were!

Jian Chou stood watching from a corner of the house, dark cold light flickering in her eyes, but she said nothing, only shifting her gaze from these hundred soul puppets to look at Fu Chaosheng and several ghost clan elders ahead.

Li Yan inspected them once around, confirmed the refinement was complete with no errors, then breathed a sigh of relief and said to Fu Chaosheng: “Lord Li Han, the task entrusted by His Highness Lord Qin Guang is now complete—the soul puppets are refined. What instructions are there next?”

“Good.” Fu Chaosheng looked around once, nodding flawlessly, and said: “You need not concern yourselves with what follows. I will first take these hundred soul puppets to the Bafang Yama Palace to report to His Highness Lord Qin Guang. Since you have completed your mission, return immediately to Fengdu City. Since the Shijiu Zhou have already broken through the second line of defense, they will surely attack again soon after brief preparations—you should go serve there.”

“Yes.”

Mentioning the frontline battle, all the elders couldn’t help but twitch their eyelids, and the ghost cultivators’ eyes also flickered, obviously all with unsettled thoughts.

But none dared speak in opposition, all responding in unison.

Thus they split into two groups.

The elite ghost cultivators originally from Fengdu City, led by three ghost clan elders, returned to Fengdu; Fu Chaosheng swept his great sleeves, bringing the hundred-plus soul puppets according to plan to report to Bafang City.

Only Jian Chou was special.

She was also a ghost cultivator selected from Fengdu City, but everyone guessed she had something with “Li Han,” so she hadn’t participated in soul puppet refinement at the beginning and didn’t leave with the many ghost cultivators when departing, but directly followed “Li Han.”

Seeing this, the ghost cultivators couldn’t help but secretly criticize, thinking that Lian Zhao must have some seductive methods to bewitch Li Han into such a confused state.

But when leaving, none dared discuss it.

They boarded the great ferry boat they had come on and returned to Fengdu.

Fu Chaosheng’s side also bid farewell to the strange old man guarding the charity house along with Jian Chou, boarding another completely different snow-white ferry.

The hundred-plus soul puppets also boarded the same vessel.

After floating aboard, each stood motionless like wooden posts.

Jian Chou stood beside Fu Chaosheng at the bow watching, and after leaving the charity house some distance, her expression finally slowly darkened: “There are over a thousand soul puppets, these hundred are only one-tenth. When we were in the charity house, the old man guarding it strictly forbade everyone from going outside the house, giving no one a chance to touch the coffins outside. Counting the numbers, there are nine coffins outside for every one inside. It seems the majority are in the blood coffins outside.”

“You want to go back and investigate?”

Fu Chaosheng easily perceived her thoughts.

Jian Chou didn’t beat around the bush. The blood line at her brow glowed, and fierce killing intent quietly emerged from the Heaven’s Line hidden in her ancestral orifice: “The soul puppets are a small matter, but I fear that once thrown into battle, they could disturb the Shijiu Zhou’s military morale and even more so disturb my Yashan’s heart. That old man guarding the charity house is a full great realm below my cultivation—killing him shouldn’t be difficult, then destroying the soul puppets afterward would accomplish everything in one stroke.”

Fu Chaosheng also understood her strength. As she said, killing that old man shouldn’t take much effort—it would be as easy as turning over her hand. Moreover, her strength hadn’t reached the level where she could quietly disguise herself and enter Bafang City undetected, so naturally she shouldn’t risk accompanying him to infiltrate Bafang City.

But…

He lightly furrowed his brow: “Then what should be done about these hundred soul puppets at present?”

“You must infiltrate Bafang City. If you don’t bring these hundred soul puppets to report, you’ll inevitably arouse suspicion.” Though Jian Chou wanted to blast all the soul puppets on the ship to pieces with one palm right now, reason told her that keeping them was necessary. “What Lord Qin Guang and the other Yama Kings are planning in Bafang City, as well as what Shao Ji intends, are more crucial matters. Please, friend Chaosheng, take these hundred soul puppets and risk this investigation. The rest can proceed naturally.”

This meant she was abandoning these hundred soul puppets.

With the big picture at stake, naturally one must sacrifice the light for the heavy.

After hearing this, Fu Chaosheng said nothing, steadily gazing at her seemingly extremely calm face. After a long silence, he said not a word of comfort, only nodding to her to put her at ease.

Jian Chou looked back no more, flying up from the bow of the ferry boat, crossing over the blood-red waters of the Underworld, landing back on the riverbank. She concealed her form and aura, heading toward the previous charity house.

The ghost cultivators had all withdrawn, making this place seem extremely cold and desolate.

The mud by the riverbank presented an eerie dark red as if soaked in fresh blood, making the charity house surrounded by blood coffins appear even more sinister and terrifying.

In just a moment, she saw the charity house again.

However, the situation was somewhat unexpected.

Her powerful and profound spiritual consciousness quietly spread out, enveloping the entire charity house, including the nine hundred-plus blood coffins around it that spiritual consciousness couldn’t penetrate, but she discovered not a trace of any ghost cultivator’s presence!

—The strange old man who had previously guarded the charity house was actually not there!

Jian Chou’s brow immediately furrowed deeply, feeling surprised.

That old man’s status among the ten great ghost clans and the Bafang Yama Palace was obviously unusual, possibly even higher than the “Li Han” that Fu Chaosheng was impersonating! One should know that Lord Qin Guang greatly valued this place and these soul puppets. After sending off “Li Han” and the ghost clan cultivators, not even two quarters of an hour had passed—how could he possibly just leave the charity house he was supposed to guard?

Something seemed wrong.

An ominous premonition quietly crept into her heart.

Jian Chou’s thoughts flashed, and her spiritual consciousness that had originally covered the entire charity house range suddenly expanded outward again, doubling its breadth!

But still nothing!

Her facial expression completely chilled, her heart gradually sinking. Staring at the miasma that shrouded the charity house and obscured vision, she stood in the void for a long time before finally descending.

Heaven’s Line was silently gripped in her palm.

Jian Chou stepped on the soft, sticky mud beneath her feet, slowly walking into the range covered by miasma, stopping before a tightly covered blood coffin on the right side of the perimeter. She raised her head and lifted her sword, inserting the red-stained sword tip into the gap between coffin lid and body with a flick!

With a “bang,” the blood-red coffin lid immediately slid to the ground, scattering into a spray of blood flowers, completely exposing the interior to view.

Inside the coffin was no corpse, no old man, not even a soul puppet!

Nothing at all…

Completely empty!

The wind suddenly turned shrill, the miasma churned like demons, and Jian Chou’s spine began to gradually grow cold…