The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

The figures that had been hiding on the street corner all retreated back into the house, the door was blocked from the inside, and the street instantly became empty.

The child's expression changed.

He gripped the short wooden stick and moved closer to the coffin.

"Teacher, they're here."

Chen Guan looked towards the end of the street.

A bell could be heard ringing from there.

The sound was hollow and thin, with an unsettling rhythm, like joints colliding with each other.

Guan Jinyue's sword slipped half an inch from his sleeve, making it look like a scene from a horror movie.

A group of people came from the street corner, with a tall, thin man at the front.

He wore a gray leather robe, with a string of yellowed dominoes hanging from his waist; with each step he took, the dominoes clinked against each other.

Six people followed behind him, some carrying iron hooks, others pushing a wooden cart.

The wooden cart was covered with a tattered cloth, and underneath the cloth were long, thin supports that swayed gently as the wheels rolled over the dirt road.

The child pressed the half-eaten biscuit in his arms even tighter, and his shoulders hunched over.

The tall, thin man stopped a dozen steps away.

He first looked at the coffin, and when his gaze fell on the old robe, the forced smile on his face faded a little.

"Are you also at the city gate today, sir?"

Chen Guan remained silent, indicating that his earlier guess was correct; his current identity was indeed extraordinary.

The tall, thin man looked at Guan Jinyue again, his gaze lingering on her sword for a moment before quickly looking away.

He looked at the child last.

"Hey kid, what are you hiding for?"

The child remained silent.

The tall, thin man raised his hand, causing the dominoes at his waist to rattle loudly.

"According to the new city regulations, your grain debt will be recalculated if you are an orphan."

Chen Guan's hand, which was hanging in his sleeve, twitched.

The child whispered, "I don't owe any food."

The tall, thin man grinned, his laughter chilling: "You live in a city house, drink well water, and have walls that shield you from sandstorms—and you don't have to pay any of that back?"

The child looked up and said, "The house was collapsed, and the well water was given to me by the teacher."

The smile on the thin man's face vanished completely.

The child nervously took half a step back behind the coffin, and Guan Jinyue's sword tip was completely drawn from its sheath.

The tall, thin man looked at her, his words laced with threat: "Outsider, you'd better not break the city rules, or your life as a wanderer will be over."

Guan Jinyue looked up: "What city regulations?"

The tall, thin man pointed to the dry, weathered carvings on the city wall and decided to explain the city's rules to the outsider.

After all, she's a swordswoman, and her strength must be extraordinary. It's best to avoid conflict if possible.

"In our city, you can enter but you can't leave. If people inside want to get out, they have to pave the way with bones."

He then pointed to the child.

"A little brat that no one raises is a waste of bones. Selling it to the gatekeeper will clear a road for the whole city."

The child's face turned pale. Chen Guan looked down at the child and found that the child was not crying. This was probably not the first time this had happened.

Chen Guan looked at the thin man. Although he didn't understand what it meant to use bones to pave the way, he knew that he couldn't let these people take the child away.

He stepped forward and stood in front of the child, saying, "He has someone to take care of him."

The thin man forced a smile onto his face.

"Sir, you jest. You're just a passerby, a word reader who'll leave whenever the door opens. How can you expect someone to support you forever?"

Chen Guan could feel that every time he prepared to use his own martial power, the patterns on the city wall would become slightly warm.

It seems that in this illusion, he cannot directly and violently overturn the table unless he possesses strength that transcends the illusion, thus allowing him to act without restraint.

Guan Jinyue also noticed this, and she stopped raising her sword hand, instead protecting the child to her side.

Seeing Chen Guan remain silent, the thin man grew bolder.

"Sir, the city lord respects your ability to recognize ancient characters, which is why you have been able to live here peacefully until today. But this boy was born with seven 'knocks' (a pun on 'knock' in Chinese), a weak fate, and unusual bone structure. The sect likes this kind of thing the most."

He took a step forward: "If you hadn't stopped him, he would have gotten on the bus long ago."

The child looked up at the coffin, and in that instant, the fear on his face could no longer be suppressed.

"Teacher, can my bones really open doors?"

Chen Guan did not answer the question; instead, he reached out and pushed the child behind him.

"There are plenty of things that can open doors, why make things difficult for a child?"

The tall, thin man frowned: "What do you mean, sir?"

Chen Guan raised his eyes: "A door that insists on eating children's bones is not a good path to take once it's opened."

Behind the cracks in the doors on both sides of the street, some people held their breath.

The thin man's face darkened.

"Sir, we respect you for teaching us, but if you break the city rules, don't blame us for inviting the city lord."

Chen Guan said, "Please."

The tall, thin man hadn't expected his answer, and the threat on his face froze halfway through.

The man carrying the iron hook behind him took a step forward.

"Why waste words with him? This outsider who teaches calligraphy really thinks he's the city lord?"

The iron hook dragged across the ground, leaving a long trail.

The child's hand holding the stick trembled slightly.

Guan Jinyue's silver spatial cracks emerged from her cuffs, circled around her fingertips, and then, in the next moment, the gate patterns on the city wall suddenly lit up with a dark red light.

The spatial rift was instantly pressed back into the sleeve.

Guan Jinyue frowned. This place suppresses external forces, which is really troublesome.

Upon seeing this, the man carrying the iron hook burst into laughter.

"I thought he was some tough guy, but he's just a nobody."

The iron hook rose up and reached directly towards the child's shoulder.

Guan Jinyue turned to the side and intercepted the iron hook with his sword, the sound of metal clashing echoing through the doorway.

Without using any spatial abilities, she had already sliced ​​off a section of the iron hook with her swordsmanship alone.

The broken hook fell to the ground and rolled to the feet of the thin man.

The skinny man's face twitched. What the hell? What a sharp sword!

Guan Jinyue shielded the child behind her.

"Is this what you call 'having a basic understanding'?"

The child's eyes widened in disbelief that these people, whom he considered invincible, couldn't even last a single round against this older sister.

The tall, thin man took half a step back, his face grim.

"Kill this outsider."

He raised his hand, and all the dominoes at his waist flipped over, revealing the red symbols engraved on their backs.

The ground on both sides of the street began to heat up.

Beneath the soil layer, dark red lines emerge, connecting to the gate patterns on the city wall.

The shadow beneath Chen Guan's feet was elongated, as if he were nailed to the spot.

Guan Jinyue also felt the sword sink slightly.

But the child remained unchanged.

The red lines first circled around him, then turned around as if they had smelled blood, and crawled along the ground toward his ankles.

Chen Guan reached out and grabbed the child by the back of his collar, pulling him up behind him.

The red line missed its mark, emitting a faint hiss.

The tall, thin man stared at the scene, his breathing becoming heavier.

"He really is a survivor."

"Sir, you've raised him for so long, you should know he's no ordinary person, right?"

The child's face was blank.

"teacher……"

He couldn't understand what these people were saying. He had known since childhood that he was of lowly birth and should have died long ago.

On the day he donated his bones, he was stopped at the city gate by his teacher, who reached out his hand to him.

He survived.