I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Muddy squatted on a clearing three miles behind the front lines, holding a taro in his hand. The taro's skin was black and hard, like stone. He tried to pinch it with his fingernail, but couldn't. He placed the taro on the ground, dug a hole with a hoe, a foot deep and half a foot wide, put the taro in, covered it with soil, and poured a ladle of water on it. The water was drawn from the swamp, muddy and murky. The taro sprouted from the soil, green with black hues, growing very quickly, visibly shooting upwards. Half an hour later, the sprout had grown into a plant half a person's height, with dark green leaves with fine serrated edges, and roots extending from the soil, crawling across the ground like snakes, intertwining and weaving a net.

Little Taro squatted nearby, holding a taro in his arms. "Master, will this stop them?" Mud Egg stood up and patted the mud off his knees. "We'll stop them even if we can't." He pointed to the roots weaving a net in the distance. "Look, the roots are absorbing the mist. When the mist touches the roots, it shrinks back, like it's been burned."

Li Qing walked over, leaning on her cane, and stepped on the roots. The roots were tough and wouldn't break. She squatted down and touched them; they were cool to the touch and covered with fine hairs. "Muddy, what you've planted isn't taro, it's a wall."

At night, the bone-chirping legion launched its first probing attack. The skeletal soldiers emerged from the mist, their bodies devoid of flesh, only bones, grayish-white in color, some parts blackened. Their gait was strange, like puppets on strings, each step landing simultaneously, causing the ground to tremble. The roots of the Dark Taro sensed the vibrations, springing up from the ground and lashing at the bones like whips. The roots coiled around the skeletal soldiers' legs, tightening their grip, the sound of bones shattering crisply, like snapping dry branches. The front rank of skeletal soldiers fell, the rear rank trampled upon, and the roots continued to entangle them.

Bone Ring stood at a distance, holding a bone staff made from a human thigh bone, with a black heart embedded at its tip. He watched the roots crush his soldier, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Interesting."

Qin Yuan stood in the center of the Dark Taro Formation. His right arm was wrapped in bandages, from shoulder to fingers, like a white stick. His left hand held a hammer, the head newly forged by the blacksmith and unsharpened. Lin Qing'er stood beside him, her waist wrapped in bandages, her face stained with blood—not hers. She gazed at the distant mist, the silhouettes of skeletal soldiers growing ever denser within it.

"After this battle, we'll go home and plant taro," Qin Yuan said. Lin Qing'er didn't speak, but simply squeezed his hand. Her hand was cold.

Bone Cry raised his bone staff, and the black heart at the top of the staff beat once. On the ground, countless white bones emerged from the soil, some intact, some incomplete, some with only one hand, some with only half a head. They surged towards the Dark Taro Formation from all directions, like a tide.

Mud Egg ordered the launch of the trebuchets. The catapult operators pulled the ropes, sending the trebuchets flying, crashing into the swarm of bones, exploding, and scattering fragments everywhere. The bones were shattered, but the fragments wriggled on the ground, piecing themselves back together. Mud Egg cursed, "These damn things can come back to life?"

Gu Ming drew a line on the ground with his bone staff, and white bones rose from the earth, forming a bone wall two zhang high and ten zhang wide before him, dividing the allied forces in two. Li Qing directed the miners to smash the bone wall with pickaxes. The pickaxes struck, the bones shattered, but new bones grew from within the wall, filling the gaps. The wall grew, grew, and grew.

Qin Yuan charged towards Gu Ming. He held a hammer in his left hand, his right arm hanging at his side. He ran with a wobbly gait, but he was incredibly fast. Gu Ming raised his bone staff to block, the hammer striking the staff and sparks flying. Qin Yuan was forced back three steps, while Gu Ming took one step back.

"Where's your right hand?" Bone Ming asked with a smile.

Qin Yuan remained silent. He struck three times with his left hand, forcing Gu Ming to retreat three steps. Gu Ming's face was pale and bloodless, his lips were black, and his smile revealed yellow teeth. Xuan Guang attacked from the side, piercing Gu Ming's ribs with his sword. The blade went through the gap in the ribs, sinking half a foot in. Gu Ming glanced down, then punched Xuan Guang's shoulder armor, shattering it. Xuan Guang's left arm drooped, and he continued to stab with his right hand.

Observing from behind, Lin Qing'er noticed that each time Gu Ming was injured, the black heart in his chest would beat faster. The more severe the injury, the faster the heartbeat. She shouted to Qin Yuan, "His heart! His heart is the core!"

Bone Cry heard this and turned to look at Lin Qing'er. He raised his bone staff, and bone spikes shot up from the ground beneath Lin Qing'er's feet. Qin Yuan rushed over, grabbed Lin Qing'er, and rolled to the side. The bone spikes grazed Qin Yuan's right arm, tearing through the bandages, revealing black patterns that gleamed darkly in the moonlight.

The bone-chilling sound summoned countless bone spikes to erupt from the ground, piercing many allied soldiers. A miner, his chest pierced by a bone spike, was pinned to the ground, his hand still outstretched, trying to reach for a steamed bun that had fallen nearby. Mud Egg ran over and stuffed the bun into his hand. The miner smiled, then closed his eyes.

Qin Yuan placed Lin Qing'er in a safe spot and tore off the bandage on his right arm. Black lines had spread to his collarbone, only two fingers' width from his heart, like a black snake crawling towards his chest. Lin Qing'er grabbed his hand. "What are you going to do?"

"Use this hand to deliver the final punch," Qin Yuan said.

"After this punch, you might be gone." Lin Qing'er's eyes reddened, but she didn't cry.

Qin Yuan looked into her eyes. "We'll fight anyway." He stood up, turned, and charged towards Gu Ming.

Bone Cry raised his bone staff, the black heart at its tip pounding violently. The bone wall collapsed, shattering bones flying towards Qin Yuan like countless throwing knives. Qin Yuan didn't dodge; the shattered bones sliced ​​through his face, neck, and chest, blood gushing from the wounds. He slammed his right fist into Bone Cry. The bandages on his right fist snapped in mid-air, the black patterns bursting forth with a dark light, like a black sun.

Qin Yuan's right fist shattered the bone staff and smashed into Bone Chirping's chest. The sound of ribs cracking was crisp, like snapping dry branches. Qin Yuan's right fist gripped Bone Chirping's black heart. The heart was cold and hard, like a block of ice. Qin Yuan squeezed hard. The heart shattered. Fragments leaked from between Qin Yuan's fingers, turning into black powder that scattered on the ground.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed as his body began to disintegrate from his chest. Ribs fell one by one, spine vertebrae snapped one by one, and his head rolled off his neck, landing on the ground with his mouth still opening and closing. Finally, his body turned into a pile of white bone fragments, scattered all over the ground.

Qin Yuan knelt on one knee, his right arm hanging down. The black lines instantly spread to his neck, climbed up his chin, and reached his right cheek. His right eye turned pure black, with no white showing. He spat out a mouthful of black blood, which splattered on the ground with a hissing sound.

Lin Qing'er rushed over to help him, but he pushed her away. "I'm fine." He stood up; his right arm, from shoulder to fingers, was completely black, like a charred charcoal. He looked at the distant mist. "Six more."