Outside the Heavenly Nether Ancient Realm, deep within a village, stood a rather inconspicuous dilapidated hut.
"Boss, this is it."
Zhou Wen led Ye Ling to the front of this dilapidated hut, then asked Ye Ling, "Speaking of which, I still don't know your name, boss."
"If we're doing such big business, and I don't even know your name now, doesn't that seem a bit off?"
"My name is Wang Li Ren."
"Boss Wang, my name is..."
"You're Zhou Wen, right?"
Zhou Wen looked at Ye Ling with surprise, "How did you know?"
Ye Ling smiled, "Everyone has their own methods. It's like how I can see that you're currently just a Nascent Soul."
"It seems I underestimated Brother Wang," Zhou Wen smiled at Ye Ling and pushed open the dilapidated wooden door, "Let's go in."
Ye Ling smiled faintly and no longer paid attention to Zhou Wen, who was standing at the door, and walked into the dilapidated hut.
The moment he stepped inside, a formation lit up beneath Ye Ling's feet.
"This is... a teleportation formation that seals spiritual power?"
Seeing the formation beneath him light up, Ye Ling's eyes changed slightly. He immediately turned to look at Zhou Wen outside the door, only to see Zhou Wen smiling and waving at him.
"Brother Zhou, what do you mean by this?"
"Brother Wang, rest assured, it's just a small protective measure. After all, this is our first meeting, and I can't exactly lay my heart bare to you."
"By sealing your spiritual power, I can feel more at ease."
As Zhou Wen finished speaking, the teleportation formation flashed, and Ye Ling was teleported away.
Zhou Wen closed the door with a smile, then jogged towards another cultivator who had just arrived in the village, calling out, "Boss, would you like to buy a map of the Heavenly Nether Ancient Realm? It only costs one Chaos Seed!"
At the same time, on the other side, Ye Ling was teleported into a sea of lava.
Beneath him was an endless expanse of scorching lava, constantly emitting heat and spewing flames.
Above the sea of lava, there were numerous iron chains, each over a meter thick, densely suspended in mid-air.
"Where is this place?"
Ye Ling emerged from the teleportation formation, stepped onto a chain, and looked down at the churning lava, muttering to himself.
The place was incredibly hot. Even though Ye Ling had protected his body with runes beforehand, he could still feel the heat, and even the runes showed signs of melting.
"The runes are melting... it's similar to when Ji Ning froze my runes last time. Could it be that this damned place also hides an ultimate expert?"
Ye Ling muttered, attempting to break through the spiritual power blockade imposed by the formation, only to find that it would require a tremendous price to break the seal.
"Forget it. I'm here to discuss cooperation. If I were to raze this place, the cooperation wouldn't continue."
Ye Ling gave up on the idea of breaking the spiritual power seal and shouted into the vast sea of lava, "Brother Zhou, I've already come this far. It's not right to treat a guest like this!"
"Kid, I'm not mobile. Follow the chains and find your way here."
At this moment, Zhou Wen's voice came from afar.
Ye Ling immediately followed the chains and soon saw a bronze coffin bound by chains and suspended in mid-air.
On the bronze coffin, there was also a sword-shaped seal, but the seal already had some cracks.
"Brother Zhou, don't tell me your true form is inside that coffin?" Ye Ling said after examining the bronze coffin.
"Kid, you guessed right," Zhou Wen's voice came from within the bronze coffin. "I am indeed lying inside this bronze coffin."
Ye Ling smiled, "Then do you need me to help you break the seal? I see the seal on the bronze coffin already has cracks, so breaking it shouldn't be difficult."
Zhou Wen said, "No need... this seal was placed by myself. If it's possible, please help me repair that seal."
"Interesting... this is the first time I've encountered someone sealing themselves in a coffin." Ye Ling chuckled, suddenly curious about Zhou Wen's background.
"Kid, let's not talk about my affairs. Let's discuss the business you mentioned," Zhou Wen changed the subject and said to Ye Ling.
Ye Ling did not dwell on this topic and instead asked, "Do you know who that boss was just now who wanted to find the Myriad Nether Grass?"
Zhou Wen: "Who?"
Ye Ling: "His name is Jian San Liu, the Sect Master of the Dao Sect."
"He's Jian Shi San's disciple?" Zhou Wen exclaimed, "He's gotten so big!"
Ye Ling: "It sounds like you're quite familiar with Jian Shi San?"
Zhou Wen: "I was very familiar with Jian Shi San's grand-master, but that was a long time ago. Now I'm just a half-dead person."
Hearing Zhou Wen's words, Ye Ling's heart stirred slightly.
Jian Shi San was an ultimate expert, so his grand-master was very likely an ultimate expert as well. And someone who knew Jian Shi San's grand-master was certainly not weak.
Thinking of this, Ye Ling said to Zhou Wen, "Could it be that you built this Heavenly Nether Ancient Realm?"
"It seems you are indeed clever, kid. That's right... I built the Heavenly Nether Ancient Realm, and this is the ninth level of the Heavenly Nether Ancient Realm," Zhou Wen did not hide anything and said frankly.
Ye Ling asked with a smile, "You were a perfectly fine ultimate expert, not dead, so why did you create a tomb for yourself? And you're even selling maps to your tomb outside."
"Chaos Seeds, Chaos Hearts, and the like... they aren't of much use to you, are they?"
"I need others to believe I am dead, and doing business is just a form of amusement for me," Zhou Wen said with a smile.
"But speaking of which, kid, you're the first person in the ten thousand years since the secret realm opened to guess that I'm an ultimate expert. Based on this alone, I'm very curious about you."
"Tell me, what kind of cooperation do you want to have with me?"
Ye Ling asked, "Before that, I'd like to ask about your relationship with Jian Shi San and Ji Ning?"
Zhou Wen: "Not very good. We even have grudges. Why are you asking this?"
"That's good then," Ye Ling chuckled, "I killed Jian Shi San."
"You killed Jian Shi San?" Zhou Wen seemed to have heard something incredibly unbelievable, his voice even changed, "Are you joking?"
He knew that Jian Shi San had become an ultimate expert ten thousand years ago. Ye Ling, no matter how you looked at him, hadn't stepped into the ultimate realm, so how could he kill Jian Shi San?
Ye Ling smiled, "I naturally have my own ways. Anyway, your split soul is out there, you can just inquire a little, can't you?"
"The Dao Sect sealed the entire Dao Province to capture me."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Zhou Wen fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter, "Hahaha! Interesting kid! I'm liking you more and more!"
"Kid, I owe you a great favor!"
"Huh?" Ye Ling looked surprised, "What do you mean?"
Zhou Wen laughed, "Kid, you probably don't know, right? Jian Shi San, that little scoundrel, ten thousand years ago, he schemed and colluded with Ji Ning to kill my maid, and seize my maid's origin inheritance."
"Seized your maid's origin inheritance?"
Hearing Zhou Wen's words, Ye Ling's mouth twitched, "May I ask, who is your maid?"
Zhou Wen: "Qing Zhu."