Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

"He was handed over to the person who had saved his life back then."

Bai Wuchen's gaze passed over Dongfang Weiwo's shoulder and landed on the Lin family's main house, where the light was still on deep within Qingzhu Town.

"The Lin family's ancestor was the first guardian of the Broken Bone Ridge. After recovering from his injuries for more than forty days, Demon God Lü entrusted half of the map to the Lin family before he left, as a secret to be guarded by the guardians for generations."

"The other half was acquired yesterday by the Black Scale Merchant Guild from a dying rogue cultivator; its origin is unknown. However, they had it examined by the best appraiser in Iron Feather City, who confirmed it to be genuine."

Dongfang Weiwo gripped the bamboo staff tightly.

The bone fragment left behind by the Demon God Lu guided him to find the seventh bone pillar under the Bridge of Oblivion in the Hall of Immortality, but the sensation on the bone fragment was extremely weak, the distance was too far, and the location was unclear.

If there were a map—even just half a map—the situation would be completely different.

"At the Blackscale Merchant Guild's auction, half a map is one of the highlight items."

Bai Wuchen handed the jade slip forward. "This is the admission token for the auction. I've come to you to express a stance on behalf of the Valley of Life and Death—we will not compete with you for the skeleton."

Instead, we're willing to provide spirit stones to help you acquire that half of the map. There's only one condition.

"After we get the map, let us follow you to find the treasure of the Demon God Lü. We don't want the treasure itself, we just want a few medicinal herbs that grow alongside it at the location of the treasure."

"The Valley of Life and Death is a sect specializing in alchemy. It's said that the place where the Demon God Lü hid his treasures contains a thousand-year-old Resurrection Grass and a Life and Death Flower—essential alchemy ingredients we've been searching for for a long time."

Suddenly, Ya Jiu spoke, his voice as thin as a withered leaf drifting from beneath his hood:

"The conditions for the Hall of Reincarnation are the same. You take the map, and we'll provide the funding. Once we find the location, the hall only needs one thing—a Reincarnation Seal that the Demon God Lü brought from Tianxuan to Tianwu."

That was the treasure of the Samsara Palace, lost in the outer realms, which was obtained by the Demon God Lü by chance. The Palace Master searched for it for three hundred years.

Dongfang Weiwo remained silent for a moment.

"What if they don't agree?"

Bai Wuchen's smile remained unchanged, but the gentleness in his eyes faded slightly.

"Then we can only wait."

He put away the jade slip, stood with his hands behind his back, and said, "When those who want the skeleton come to us—they won't be as easy to talk to as we are."

As far as I know, at least three groups—Yin Sha Sect, Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, and Blood Bone Sect—are already on their way.

Their cultivation techniques are all related to bone refinement, and the skeletons of gods and demons are treasures that are extremely rare, appearing only once in ten thousand years.

"Especially the Blood Bone Cult."

Ya Jiu added coldly, "Their leader has been stuck at the peak of the Life and Death Realm for three thousand years without breaking through. It's said that he's just missing a sufficiently powerful skeleton to serve as a furnace. He will definitely come."

Before the words were finished, a burst of blood-red flames suddenly exploded in the night sky in the direction of the Ember Sea, as if someone had splashed a ball of blood onto the heavens. The flames bloomed in the darkness, condensing into a huge blood-red bone imprint, visible for miles around.

Bai Wuchen's expression changed drastically:

"The Blood Bone Cult's Blood Bone Soul-Chasing Seal! They've locked onto your location—that's impossible unless someone nearby provided them with the coordinates of blood energy..."

His words came to an abrupt end.

Everyone's gaze turned to the southeast—the direction of Shattered Bone Ridge.

In the night sky, more than three hundred fiery red lights were rapidly approaching, and the hoofbeats of the fire crystal scaled beasts shook the ground.

The three hundred armored cavalrymen of Eagle Fortress returned, but the leader was no longer the Grand Commander of Eagle Fortress, but a figure who had never appeared before.

The person was not riding a Fire Crystal Scaled Beast, but a bone horse with a completely blood-red body.

The skeletal horse has no flesh and blood, only a complete horse-shaped skeleton. The surface of the skeleton is covered with a viscous, blood-red liquid, and every step it takes leaves a blood-red hoofprint in the air.

The person on horseback was completely wrapped in a blood-red robe, with only one hand exposed—the skin of that hand was translucent, and the metacarpal bone beneath the skin could be clearly seen.

The color of the metacarpal bones is not white, but deep red, as if they have been soaked in blood for thousands of years.

The Eagle Fortress Grand Commander, Ce Shou, followed behind the man, his posture so respectful it was almost humble.

What he held in his hand was no longer the broken iron spear, but a blood-red banner embroidered with a broken white bone.

"The Left Protector of the Blood Bone Sect, the Old Man of Blood Depletion."

For the first time, Bai Wuchen's voice lost its gentleness and became sharp and deep.

"Mid-stage Life and Death Realm. He wasn't on his way; he arrived a long time ago. Eagle Fortress is essentially an outer force of the Blood Bone Cult. The Bone Ridge Bone Sacrifice Ceremony was a scheme orchestrated by the Blood Bone Cult from beginning to end—they used Eagle Fortress to hunt down people from the lower realms, their aim being to lure out a Heavenly Profound cultivator who had fused with the remains."

He suddenly turned to Dongfang Weiwo.

"You have no choice but to agree now. The Blood-Dried Elder is at the Life and Death Realm, a whole major realm higher than you."

In the Tianwu Continent, the Yin-Yang Realm is merely below average; the Life and Death Realm is the true mark of entering the realm of the strong. Even if your skeletal structure is intact, you have no chance of winning against someone in the Life and Death Realm from the Yin-Yang Realm.

Ya Jiu's black robe billowed slightly, and two eerie green lights shone from under his hood—the first time his eyes had been revealed.

He stared at the figure on the blood-red bone horse, his tone unusually grave:

"The Samsara Palace can help you fend him off once. But in exchange, you must sign a Samsara Contract—after finding the treasure hidden by Demon God Lü, the Samsara Seal will belong to us."

Dongfang Weiwo gripped the bamboo staff tightly.

In the night sky, the light of the Blood Bone Soul-Chasing Seal illuminated half of his face.

The fractures in his left rib and right arm had been completely healed in the Shattered Bone Ridge. The complete divine and demonic skeleton emitted a low hum within his body, as if responding to the same source of energy emanating from the broken white bones on the blood-red banner—both were powers of bone, but one refined ten thousand bones for its own use, while the other fused with the remains to become itself.

Two completely opposite bone paths collided head-on at the entrance of Qingzhu Town that night.

The old man withered blood reined in the bone horse three hundred feet away in the night sky.

The blood-red robe fluttered in the wind, and the translucent hand slowly rose, pointing towards the entrance of Qingzhu Town.

He spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it felt like someone was shattering a bone near everyone's ear—sharp, piercing, and carrying a deep-seated discomfort.

"Hand over the skeleton of the god or demon. I can spare half the living people in the town."

In Qingzhu Town, Grandmother Lin walked out of the main house with her cane and stood in the courtyard, looking up at the blood-red light in the night sky.

There was no fear on her old face, only a deep, resolute determination that had been tempered by the years.

She glanced back at Lin Xiaoman, who was busy in front of the bone-protecting ointment jar in the main room, then took out the iron plaque of the guardian, which was engraved with runes, from her bosom and pressed it hard on the lintel of the Lin family's courtyard gate.

An iron plaque was embedded in the wooden door, and a gray-white light shone from the lintel, spreading along the courtyard wall and enveloping the entire Lin family compound.

The light was very faint, almost invisible, but when the light of the Blood Bone Soul-Chasing Seal shone on the courtyard wall, it was actually deflected.

"The bloodline contract of the card holder still exists."

She whispered, as if speaking to herself, and also to the ancestors buried beneath the courtyard, "You can protect them for a time, but not forever. This girl..."

She didn't finish speaking.

At the town's entrance, Dongfang Weiwo took a step forward. He leaned on his bamboo cane, and a spiderweb-like pattern appeared on the bluestone slab.

He looked up at the figure shrouded in blood in the night sky and suddenly said something that stunned Bai Wuchen and Ya Jiu.

"Mid-stage Life and Death Realm, right?"

A dark golden light emanated from beneath the skin of his palm, and a three-inch short sword materialized between his five fingers, with nine hundred and ninety-nine ancient array patterns simultaneously lighting up on the sword.

It was three times more solid than when it was at the exit of Shattered Bone Ridge, and it lasted for an extra breath—it dissipated after four breaths.

Four breaths are enough.

"When I first came to Tianwu, the people here told me that the Yin-Yang Realm was only slightly below average."

He held his bamboo staff horizontally in front of him, his tone as calm as if stating a fact, "But I have come all the way from the lower realm to here, crossed nine layers of heaven, locked the gates of the outer realm, and fused with eight pieces of remains. In every battle, my opponent was stronger than me."

The bamboo cane was raised and pointed towards the night sky.

"You'll only know after you've tried it."

Bai Wuchen looked at the dark gold short sword that had vanished from his hand, a complex expression flashing in his eyes.

He paused for a moment, then slowly drew the snow-white longsword from his waist.

"The Valley of Life and Death will not help either side."

He said, "But if the Blood-Dried Old Man attacks someone unrelated to him, the Valley of Life and Death will not stand idly by."

Ya Jiu didn't speak, but simply took a step forward.

The chill beneath the black robe suddenly intensified, and the white frost that had condensed on the bluestone slab spread outwards from him, forming an ice circle three feet in diameter at his feet.

The old man withered blood in the night sky looked down at the three people on the ground, a cruel smile curving his lips beneath his blood-red robe.

He raised his right hand, his five fingers clenching in the air. The air within a hundred feet of the entrance to Qingzhu Town suddenly tightened, and an invisible force pressed in from all directions. It wasn't vital energy, but rather—bone pressure.

A domain ability unique to those at the Life and Death Realm.

After refining one's own bones to the extreme, one releases the "Bone Domain" using bones as a medium and blood as a catalyst.

Within the Bone Domain's coverage area, the bones of all living beings will be suppressed. Those with low cultivation levels will die instantly from shattered bones, while those with high cultivation levels will experience slowed movement and excruciating joint pain.

Dongfang Weiwo felt it.

The pressure surged from all directions, as if countless invisible hands were gripping every bone in his body, pulling him forcefully in different directions.

Under this pressure, the complete divine and demonic skeleton erupted with a dazzling dark golden light, and the flowing patterns on the surface of the skeleton suddenly accelerated, pushing back the pressure of the bone domain inch by inch.

However, he was only at the mid-stage of the Yin-Yang Realm. Although his skeleton was complete, his fusion rate of Yuan Qi was only 15%.

The dark golden light and the crimson bone pressure clashed fiercely in the air. After only three breaths of stalemate, the bluestone slab beneath Dongfang Weiwo's feet shattered into powder, and his feet sank three inches into the ground.

This is the realm of life and death.

The gap between them is vast and cannot be bridged by mere bravado.

The bone structure of the old man, whose blood was depleted, was still tightening.

His goal was clear—to use his Bone Domain to crack Dongfang Weiwo's entire skeleton, then seize the opportunity to peel away the divine and demonic skeleton using the Blood Bone Secret Technique. To skin him alive.

Dongfang Weiwo gripped the bamboo staff tightly, and a dark golden light spread across the staff, giving the ordinary iron bamboo staff a metallic luster.

He took a deep breath, and the Heavenly Martial Qi within his body circulated wildly at an unprecedented speed. The key seal in his Qi Sea suddenly accelerated its rotation, completing a full cycle for the first time since waking up.