The Upper Void was truly too vast.

Though Jian Chou had no fear of this unfamiliar environment, having just arrived and encountered so many events, met so many people, and faced some seemingly thorny matters, she thought it over and didn’t act rashly.

After leaving Xuanji Star, the surrounding stars all seemed rather dim.

Several stars were covered entirely with chaotic rocks. Even before approaching, one could feel the extreme cold. When divine sense swept over them, no trace of human presence could be felt.

She casually chose one to settle on.

The ground was covered with dust and ash, with traces of lava having flowed across the rocks, though now not a trace of warmth could be felt.

This was a star nearing death.

Qu Zhengfeng had once said that nothing in the world was eternal and unchanging. If one insisted something was, it would perhaps be death itself.

Back then, when they debated dao at the Mingri Xinghai tower, though she could understand these words and felt some resonance, her feelings were far from as intense as today.

After all, at that time she only knew of things within the well, and hadn’t truly seen clearly the expanse of sky above her head.

But after spending four hundred years seeing clearly, she found that seeing clearly was rather meaningless.

The more one saw, the more one grieved.

Standing in this cold, desolate wasteland, Jian Chou blinked and inexplicably laughed, then took out many things from her sleeve.

She arranged them one by one on the ground.

First were the pile of iron slips left by Sun Cheng, the first Earth Immortal to die at her hands in the Upper Void immortal realm. Then came the many classics and old objects left by the second batch of people who died at Jiangnan shore. Finally, there was an old box and two pearls formed from demonic blood.

The box contained a locked innocent heart, while the pearls were formed from the demonic blood that had flowed when Fu Chaosheng carved out half his heart years ago.

Just these two drops of blood surged with powerful demonic power.

Jian Chou’s gaze rested on them for a while, but quickly withdrew, only gathering all her emotions and seriously considering the current situation.

First, the objective.

The place she wanted to go was the Desolate Domain. She wasn’t interested in other matters of the Upper Void immortal realm, nor did she want to intervene in their conflicts and struggles. But if what Daoist Diandao said was true – that ordinary people needed Long Ye Scrolls and Pangu’s tokens to enter the Desolate Domain – then this was troublesome.

Because in coming to the Upper Void this time, she hadn’t brought the Ghost Axe, only left it in the Polar Domain with Zhang Tang to watch over.

She hadn’t brought the Book of Life and Death either.

As for that scroll of the Nine Curves River Chart, she had genuinely left it to Xie Buchen. Though she believed the few sections she had erased wouldn’t affect Xie Buchen’s comprehension of the River Chart – he should be able to ascend to the Upper Void soon – she couldn’t tell him the chart’s true origins, nor could she publicly use it as basis to enter the Desolate Domain.

So from this perspective, she truly had to find a way to obtain two Long Ye Scrolls to enter legitimately without arousing anyone’s suspicion.

Second, the crisis.

When in the Primordial Realm, she had never heard much about the Upper Void. That cultivators needed to ascend to reach the Upper Void proved there were barriers between the two realms – at least information flow wouldn’t be too easy. But this didn’t rule out the possibility of great cultivators from the upper realm spying on the lower realm.

How long had she been in the Upper Void?

Different people had already killed three waves.

However, based on the limited information she could currently grasp, learning the identity of the person hiding behind the Ten Death Decree who wanted her life seemed completely impossible.

The Non-Evil Heaven existed in the Upper Void like Mingri Xinghai or the Southeastern Wilderness in the Nineteen Continents – a place where dragons and fish mixed, containing all kinds of people.

Such forces protecting employers’ identities was practically iron law.

First, she was still at the edge of the Upper Void immortal realm. According to that unlucky Sun Cheng, cultivators of ordinary ability would need thirty to fifty years to travel from the star domain’s edge to the Three Heavens at the Upper Void’s center without using teleportation arrays. In her current situation, using teleportation arrays would carry great risk of discovery.

Second, even if she broke into the Non-Evil Heaven, facing one of the Upper Void’s Three Heavens, obtaining the identity of this person behind the scenes would probably be impossible.

Third, though she possessed the Eye of Time and could investigate past and present, without the Eye of Space, her investigation range was limited. Moreover, searching aimlessly would be like finding a needle in a vast ocean – too time-consuming.

So to learn who this person behind the scenes was, and to do so simply and quickly…

It seemed there was truly only one method left.

Jian Chou picked out many Ten Death Decrees from the old belongings of Sun Cheng and that group of wronged ghosts from Jiangnan shore.

The black parchment had obviously been refined through special techniques. Others might not see the depth of it, but she could see arrays capable of transmitting messages on them.

Most cultivators who could ascend had comprehended the laws of space.

The transmission of divine sense messages between them could thus cross certain spaces at extremely fast speeds, completely surpassing light.

The top still bore a fierce “KILL” character, the drawn female cultivator’s appearance was identical to her own, and the killing reward below remained unchanged.

But the parchment now had something new at some point.

It was actually her divine sense imprint!

“Such formidable methods…”

The Ten Death Decree was issued by the Non-Evil Heaven, so this parchment should also be the Non-Evil Heaven’s handiwork.

Initially, this decree only had her appearance, proving that whether it was the Non-Evil Heaven or the person behind who wanted to kill her, neither had personally encountered her – they only knew her general description from elsewhere. After she arrived in the Upper Void and was discovered by Sun Cheng, her divine sense imprint was leaked and transmitted by Sun Cheng in light signal form throughout the entire Haotian Star Domain.

And now, the Ten Death Decree had this additional imprint.

This undoubtedly helped others hunt her more accurately.

Mortals identified others using their eyes, observing differences in appearance, but cultivators used divine sense to perceive differences between divine senses.

Even if Jian Chou possessed heaven-defying abilities, her divine sense couldn’t be changed.

She held these several pages of parchment, staring at the newly appeared imprint for a long time, then staring at the killing reward line for a long time.

A Sacred Immortal’s promise!

This so-called “Sacred Immortal” should refer to the person behind who wanted her life.

Jian Chou thought for a long time, finally slowly putting down those pages of Ten Death Decrees, then silently dug a pit on this desolate ground – six feet long, two feet wide, three feet deep.

The excavated soil was piled beside it.

She stood beside the pit holding her sword, head bowed and eyes lowered, but her pupils seemed to have the flow of time’s torrent passing through them, overflowing with dark, obscure light. It was as if standing here for just a moment, she had already experienced the vicissitudes of ten thousand lifetimes.

Footsteps actually sounded from the void across from her.

The swirling airflow in the void brought up a breeze, stirring Jian Chou’s hanging robes.

She didn’t look up.

But the voice that sounded across from her was the most familiar one to her, though she had never heard it from another person’s mouth.

Because it was her own voice.

“You’ve ultimately chosen the most difficult path – why is this necessary?”

The newcomer sighed thus.

Those clear, water-like eyes fell on Jian Chou, then on this dug pit, yet what arose was infinite loneliness and pity.

“Set up a monument.”

Jian Chou’s lowered lashes trembled, and even her sword-holding hand shook slightly. She felt she shouldn’t look up, yet how could she not look?

In the instant of looking up, Yi Xian Tian thrust forward.

“Swish!”

Cold, sharp sword qi burst from the red mark at the sword tip, piercing into the body of the female cultivator across from her!

The spiritual platform was instantly destroyed!

Under the ravaging of Yi Xian Tian’s most murderous sword qi, the consciousness hidden at the ancestral aperture between the brows was also reduced to nothing in that instant, dispersing into the surroundings.

Jian Chou withdrew her sword, bringing out a string of warm blood droplets.

“Thud.”

The female cultivator fell into the pit bottom, wearing a moon-white long robe. Her peaceful, cold face seemed to hold some melancholy, yet one couldn’t tell if it was complete tranquility or slight fear. The clear light in her eyes gradually faded from her pupils as her eyes closed.

No one could know what feelings death brought her.

“Drip, drip…”

Fresh blood slid down the sword tip. Yi Xian Tian actually rang with trembling sounds, as if sensing something and emanating a heavy sadness.

Jian Chou felt she could barely hold onto it anymore.

She closed her eyes, trying to make herself numb. After a long time, she forcibly suppressed those surging, sea-like intense emotions.

For her, such cruelty was only the beginning.

“Hiss!”

In all that stillness, the nearest of those Ten Death Decrees was struck by the dispersing divine sense of that female cultivator. The divine sense imprint on it lit up, then suddenly burst into flames.

Purple-black flames, dark and sinister.

A mysterious aura immediately dispersed.

The space communication array hidden on the Ten Death Decree immediately activated, folding a certain message into the void and flying toward the star depths, the center of the Upper Void!

Jian Chou knew this was the imprint on the Ten Death Decree sensing the dissipation of divine sense identical to this imprint, transmitting this message back to the Non-Evil Heaven.

Sure enough, after a while, a ethereal voice came from within the flames.

It was a male cultivator, sounding somewhat casual.

“Jian Chou of the Primordial Realm has been killed. Immortal hunter, you have obtained the ‘Sacred Immortal’s promise.’ Now state what you want, and our Non-Evil Heaven will convey your wish as intermediary.”

Jian Chou looked at this ball of flame. Those dark, sinister flames seemed to burn in her pupils, adding a sinister quality to her voice as she actually smiled and said, “I have no other wishes. Only some unresolved confusion on the cultivation path. I presume to personally seek guidance from the Sacred Immortal for enlightenment!”