From the fake emperor to the concubine

……

No one in the Black Rock tribe slept soundly that night.

Although the wind had stopped, the sound of the bone spears used by the night patrol striking the stone wall continued all night long.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Each drop was heavier than the last, as if reminding someone outside the wall that something was listening.

Zheng Yi did not return to the guesthouse.

He sat on a watchtower inside the stone wall, his cloak loosely wrapped around him, a short knife across his lap, his divine sense spreading out inch by inch.

The snow-covered surface, the rocky hills, the animal bones buried under the snow, and the white breath exhaled by the night watchman in the distance all undulated slowly in his perception.

But that thing didn't come.

At least, they didn't get directly close.

Red Fang was originally sent back by Bone Woman, but he still secretly climbed back up in the middle of the night.

He was holding a leather blanket in his arms. He squatted down next to Zheng Yi and whispered, "Here you go."

Zheng Yi opened his eyes and glanced at him.

Aren't you going to sleep?

"I can't sleep." Chi Ya handed him the leather blanket. "Here, take it, don't freeze to death."

"I'm not that easy to freeze to death."

"Take it anyway."

Zheng Yi took it and draped it over his lap.

Chiya breathed a sigh of relief, then wrapped himself in another small blanket and curled up in a ball beside him.

After a while, he asked, "Are you really going to White Bone Lake?"

"Ah."

"Wu Chen will most likely go too."

"I know."

"The Bone Woman might not allow it."

"I know too."

Looking at the dark snowfield outside the stone wall, Chiya lowered his voice and said, "Actually, when I was a child, I heard a little about White Bone Lake."

Zheng Yi looked at him: "Didn't you say you'd never heard of it?"

"There were too many people just now." Red Fang scratched his ear. "With Bone Granny glaring at me, I didn't dare to say anything."

"Now tell me."

Chiya looked around to make sure no one was there before whispering, "It was my older sister who told me. She said that White Bone Lake wasn't called White Bone Lake before; it was called Snow Reflection Lake. Then, one year, the lakeside was covered with bones overnight, as white as stone, and that's when it was renamed."

"What bone?"

"They all say they're different. There are human ones, wolf ones, deer ones, and even some very big ones... like mountain bears."

Where did these bones come from?

“How would I know?” Chi Ya said. “My sister said it might be that the lake vomited it out itself.”

Zheng Yi's brow twitched slightly: "Spit it out?"

Chiya nodded: "The lake freezes over in winter, but some years it doesn't freeze properly. At night you can hear gurgling sounds under the ice, like something is turning over. The next morning, there's a ring of bones on the shore, as if they were pushed up by the waves."

Has anyone looked at the bottom of the lake?

"Who would dare?" Chi Ya whispered. "Even those who can swim wouldn't dare go. The water is colder than a knife; if someone goes in, their bones will freeze solid."

Zheng Yi was silent for a moment: "Do you have any way to make the lake recede?"

Chiya was taken aback: "You haven't even gone yet, and you're already thinking about draining the lake?"

"Let's ask first."

Chiya opened his mouth: "Then it must be a god."

Zheng Yi did not respond.

As the night deepened, a fire outside the stone wall suddenly burst into a burst of sparks.

Chiya trembled in fright.

Zheng Yi raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulder: "It's just that the wood is cracked."

“I know,” Red Fang retorted defiantly. “I’m not afraid.”

He shrank back and whispered, "If something really comes, who will you save first?"

Zheng Yi looked at him and said, "Save the one closest to me first."

Red Tooth's face fell: "Then I'll stand next to you the whole time."

Zheng Yi said, "Then don't go back tonight."

Red Fang immediately shook his head: "No, Bone Woman will kill me."

Zheng Yi smiled.

As dawn approached, Wuchen ascended the stone platform.

A thin layer of frost settled on his shoulders, indicating that he had already led his men on a patrol.

“The east slope is fine, and there’s nothing unusual about the north slope either,” he said. “But there’s a very strange trail in the snow on the west side.”

Zheng Yi stood up: "What marks?"

“It looks like something was dragged over,” Wu Chen said. “It’s not deep, and it doesn’t look like footprints made by a living thing. It looks more like… a pile of things pushing forward under the snow.”

Red Fang stood up straight immediately: "Where?"

“Three miles outside the west slope”.

Zheng Yi looked towards the horizon; the morning light was still gray, and the sun had not yet risen.

"Go and see."

Wu Chen said, "I'll lead the way."

Just as Chiya was about to follow, Gu Po's voice came from under the stone platform.

"Red Fang, if you dare take a single step, I'll break your legs."

Red Fang stood frozen in place.

The old woman, leaning on her cane, came up, her eyes dark and puffy, clearly having been awake. She glanced at Zheng Yi, then at Wu Chen.

"Go ahead, I won't stop you. But remember, come back before dawn."

Wu Chen said, "If we truly trace it back to the source—"

"Come back too." The Bone Woman stared at him. "Your father died in the north, do you want to drag yourself down with him?"

Wu Chen remained silent.

The old woman then turned to Zheng Yi: "You can go and see. Don't be a show-off."

Zheng Yi nodded: "I'll just observe, not delve into it."

The old woman sneered, "Your words are unsettling."

Chiya whispered from the side, "What about me?"

The old woman said, "Go and make the soup."

"I--"

"go."

Chi Ya grimaced, and could only watch helplessly as Wu Chen and Zheng Yi descended the stone platform.

……

The snowfield outside the western slope was not undulating, and when it was just before dawn, the surroundings were all gray-blue, as if the world had not yet woken up.

Wu Chen led Zheng Yi out of the tribe and westward along the hard snow trails often used by hunters.

The wind wasn't strong, but there was a thin layer of icy shavings on the snow, which made a slight scraping sound when you walked on it.

After walking more than three miles, Wu Chen suddenly raised his hand.

"arrive."

Zheng Yi looked down.

There were indeed tracks on the snow.

It wasn't footprints, nor was it a dragging animal tail; it was a shallow, intermittent ditch, no more than half a foot wide, crookedly turning north.

The snow crust along the ditch showed signs of cracking, as if something hard was pushing against the snow layer underneath and sliding past.

Zheng Yi squatted down and brushed away a bit of snow with his fingertips.

A few grayish-white grains were visible below.

Bone fragments.

He picked up a bit, brought it to his nose and smelled it. He didn't smell blood, only a cold, bitter, stale odor.

Wu Chen asked in a low voice, "Was it like last night?"

“It’s like that,” Zheng Yi stood up, “but fainter, like fallen dust.”

"Is it okay to pursue her?"

"can."

Zheng Yi extended his divine sense along the shallow ditch.

It is not always straight; sometimes it suddenly veers towards a crevice in the rock, and sometimes it circles around a snow-covered hill, as if trying to avoid something.

Wu Chen looked at the mark and frowned, saying, "It doesn't seem to have a brain."

"He might not be very bright," Zheng Yi said.

Wu Chen was taken aback, then actually laughed.

The two chased after each other northward along the shallow ditch.

As dawn broke, the snowfield turned from gray-blue to pale white, and the distant hills and low ice ridges gradually came into view.

After walking for half an hour, the shallow ditch disappeared into a rocky area.

The stones here are mostly dark, half-buried in the snow, with deep cracks between them. When the wind passes through these cracks, it makes a soft whistling sound.

Just as Zheng Yi was about to step forward, Wu Chen suddenly pulled him back. "Don't step on the left."

"how?"

Wu Chen raised his chin: "The bottom is empty."

Zheng Yi lowered his head and probed the snow with his divine sense. Sure enough, he discovered that beneath a thin layer of snow was a hollow ice shell. He didn't know how deep the shell was, but he could hear the very faint sound of water flowing beneath it.

"groundwater?"

“Ice veins,” Wu Chen said. “Beneath this area are cracked frozen rivers. If you step on one, you’ll fall straight in.”

Zheng Yi nodded and walked around that spot.

The ditch didn't end completely here; instead, it became more chaotic, as if something being dragged had paused for a moment.

Several deeper puncture marks remain along the edge of the crack in the stone.

Like a bone tip piercing into the snow.

Wu Chen squatted down and looked around: "It stopped here before."

Zheng Yi followed the trail and looked ahead.

Further north from the rocky area lies a slightly lower snow valley. The mist in the valley is very thin, not the usual morning mist, but rather like cold air slowly creeping along the ground.

There's something there.

No sooner had Zheng Yi finished speaking than Wu Chen gripped the bone spear tightly.

Which way?

"Ahead, in the snow valley. There's not just one."

Wu Chen didn't ask how divine sense could distinguish things; he simply lowered his body and suppressed his breathing to a very low level.

The two walked one after the other, close to the rocks as they approached the valley entrance.

The further you go, the colder it gets.

The coldness didn't sting the face, but rather seeped into the bones.

Zheng Yi's divine sense swept across the valley and suddenly stopped.

He saw three grayish-white clumps lying on the ground.

Like a person.

It doesn't seem like a complete person.

After the two of them circled around to a high rock and saw the scene in the valley, Wu Chen's breath hitched.

Three things were lying in the snow valley.

A body, consisting only of the upper half and dragging a string of broken bones and ice shells below the waist, slowly crawled on the ground.

The body had extremely broad shoulders, as if it had been a large beast in life, with its sternum turned outwards and its ribs resembling outstretched claws.

There was another body that barely resembled a human, but its head was tilted to the back, and its neck was only connected to a few strands of frozen muscle. It was digging for something in the snow with its two hands.

Neither of them is fast.

But their movements had a sickeningly coordinated feel, like a thread tying three clumps of rotten bones together, dragging them in a certain direction to the north.

Wu Chen's eyes flashed with anger, and he was about to move when Zheng Yi stopped him.

"and many more."

"why?"

"They are not patrolling."

"What are they doing?"

Zheng Yi stared at the snow beneath the hands of the lifeless humanoid creature.

There lay a small, frozen animal, probably a snow fox that hadn't survived the cold night a few days ago. After digging the snow fox out, the creature didn't eat it. Instead, it used its severed fingers to pry open the snow fox's chest piece by piece, pulling out the tiny bones inside and piling them in front of it.

Wu Chen's brow furrowed as he looked at him.

"Is it... healing bones?"

Zheng Yi nodded: "Yes."

The half-dead creature slowly crawled over, moving the broken bones it was dragging behind it towards the pile of bones. The broad-shouldered carcass lay at the valley entrance, as if on guard.

Wu Chen lowered his voice: "Who are they collecting for?"

Zheng Yi did not answer.

Just then, from behind the thin mist at the end of the snow valley, came a very soft "click".

It felt like someone had stepped on a piece of bone.

The next instant, the three dead bodies simultaneously raised their heads.

Their movements were excessively synchronized.

They had no eyes, yet they all looked toward the high stone where Zheng Yi and Wu Chen were hiding.

The hairs on Wu Chen's back stood on end.

"We've been discovered."

Zheng Yi said, "Take half a step back."

"retreat?"

"Let them come over first."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the inanimate humanoid creature lunged forward.

It was moving so slowly it looked like it was about to fall apart, but the moment it pounced, it was incredibly fast. Its limbs almost skimmed the snow, its broken neck swaying wildly behind it, and a sharp sound like ice shards rubbing against each other came from its chest.

Wu Chen took a step forward, pressing down with his bone spear, aiming straight for the area below its collarbone.

puff!
The spearhead pierced the chest cavity of the dead creature, but no blood was drawn.

With a flick of his wrist, Wu Chen unleashed a powerful force that penetrated to the bone, causing the upper body of the inanimate object to crack open with a "crack," sending several ribs flying.

The splitting body didn't stop immediately; instead, it wrapped upwards along the spear shaft.

The severed fingers gripped the spear shaft, their bones gleaming with a grayish-white frost, and quickly crawled onto Wu Chen's hand.

"let go!"

Before Zheng Yi's shout had even finished, the short sword was already drawn.

The blade flashed diagonally, slicing away the frost on the hand and spear together.

Wu Chen abruptly withdrew his spear and retreated.

Almost simultaneously, the broad-shouldered skeleton of a beast pounced.

It didn't pounce or bite like ordinary beasts; instead, it charged sideways with its entire body, the exposed bony plates on its chest resembling a cracked shield.

Instead of retreating, Zheng Yi advanced, his feet sinking, and he used the bone strength he had just learned to withstand the blow.

boom!
The snow beneath his feet trembled, and snow piled up on the rocks fell in a flurry. He felt a sudden tightness in his ribs, as if he had been swept away by an entire rock pillar.

But even the large beast skeleton was tilted to one side by his head.

Wu Chen seized the moment, and the bone spear pierced into the bone crevice under its armpit from the side, thrusting with tremendous force.

With a crack, half of the beast's ribs exploded.

However, what exploded was not ordinary bone fragments, but clumps of bone dust shrouded in ash.

As soon as the gray mist left the body, it scattered and darted around like thin snakes.

Wu Chen reacted extremely quickly, immediately rolling up the thick skin covering his body to envelop most of the gray energy, and then pressing his hand into the snow.

A flash of fire appeared in Zheng Yi's palm, burning away the remaining few wisps.

The valley entrance was filled with a strange smell, a mixture of burnt odor and cold, fishy smell.

"Don't get involved!" Zheng Yi said.

"Know!"

The third half-dead body, dragging its skeletal remains, had already crawled closer.

Its most bizarre feature is that it doesn't crawl using its arms, but rather by bouncing forward with a string of broken bones at its back, like a living spine.

It didn't pounce on Wu Chen, nor on Zheng Yi, but instead pounced straight on the shadows beneath their feet.

Zheng Yi's gaze sharpened, and he stepped on it.

With this kick, the force of bone strength and downward pressure was used, directly pinning the half-dead object into the snow.

The half-dead creature suddenly opened its mouth.

It has no tongue in its mouth, only a thin, long piece of gray bone that shoots out like an arrow!
Zheng Yi turned his head to dodge, and the gray bone flew out past his ear and embedded itself in the black stone behind him, with half of it disappearing into it.

Wu Chen's eyelids twitched: "This thing can spit out bones?"

"I know quite a lot."

As Zheng Yi spoke, the knife fell, cleaving open the mouth and chest of the half-dead creature.

But the moment the blade slashed in, his heart sank.

wrong.

It's too light.

The next instant, the thin mist at the end of the snow valley suddenly dissipated.

There were no more dead objects inside, but there stood something even taller.

It resembled a human, nearly ten feet tall, and was covered in tattered leather armor that had turned grayish-white from freezing. Its right hand was an excessively long bone blade, and several outward-facing ribs, like ice spikes, grew diagonally from its left shoulder.

The most terrifying thing is its head.

There was no flesh on its head, only half of its face bone frozen solid, while the other half was covered with a thin layer of ice, beneath which a faint blue light could be seen.

Like an eye.

Zheng Yi finally understood why Wu Chen said the snow lamp looked like an eye.

That's not a metaphor at all.

It really looks like an eye, sealed in ice, coldly gazing out through half a bony face.

Wu Chen's voice dropped an octave: "This didn't just die."

"of course not."

The tall, lifeless creature didn't pounce immediately; it merely tilted its head slightly and looked at Zheng Yi for a while.

Zheng Yi heard that thin, bubbly voice again. (End of Chapter)