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

A tenth pattern appeared on the dark gold longsword—not from any of the nine bone fragments, but a completely new pattern that had never appeared before.

This pattern is the mark of a small piece of bone powder that the Lin family ancestor ground up.

That fragment didn't belong to any of the nine pieces of remains; it was the tenth—not a complete set, just a fragment, but its very existence signifies an astonishing fact.

The remains that Lu Moshen brought from Tianxuan to Tianwu back then were not just the ulna bone sealed in Suigu Ridge.

Other fragments are scattered throughout the Tianwu Continent.

The moment the tenth rune lit up on the sword, Dongfang Weiwo felt a power of law far exceeding the Yin-Yang Realm—a power that he should have mastered in his complete form as a god-demon skeleton, but it needed time to awaken.

The death laws of the Blood-Depleted Old Man were no longer an insurmountable barrier in the face of this power.

The dark gold longsword slashed out.

There was no sword energy, no light effects, and no earth-shattering roar.

Only a dark golden arc streaked across the night sky, simple, crisp, and carrying an unquestionable sense of rule.

The blood-red death light emanating from the old man's blood-drained spine and eyes was split in two the instant it touched the dark gold arc.

It's not about canceling out or scattering, but about being severed at the level of laws—the concept of "death" in the Death Ray is covered by some ancient law in the Dark Gold Arc.

Those are fragments of laws inherent in the skeletons of gods and demons.

The power of rules from the Tianxuan Continent, which has not yet been fully digested by the laws of the Tianwu Continent, and belongs to the "outside world".

The old man's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and for the first time, horror appeared on his face beneath his blood-red robe.

He pulled back his spine and retreated a hundred feet, but the dark golden arc followed him like a shadow and eventually landed on his left shoulder.

"laugh--"

The blood-stained robe ripped open, slicing through the flesh of the left shoulder to reveal the deep red bone beneath. A dark gold arc slashed across the bone, leaving a thin crack before vanishing.

The old man with blood loss looked down at the crack on his left shoulder bone and remained silent for three full breaths.

For three breaths, the town entrance of Qingzhu Town was completely silent; even the breathing of the Fire Crystal Scaled Beast stopped.

"The Yin-Yang Realm... has injured my bones."

His voice was no longer sharp and piercing, but rather a deep and terrifying calm.

"The extraterrestrial laws of the divine and demonic skeleton. It seems the intelligence was correct. The longer I keep you here, the more power you will awaken."

He raised his right hand, his five fingers making a grasping motion in the air. Suddenly, the ground at the entrance of Qingzhu Town exploded, and a giant hand formed from broken bones and blood mud emerged from the ground. Its five fingers were three zhang wide, and it reached down towards Dongfang Weiwo.

With this attack, the Blood-Dried Old Man no longer cared about being captured alive.

He wanted to crush the body, skeleton and all.

The dark gold longsword in Dongfang Weiwo's hand slashed out in a second arc, striking the palm of the giant bone mud hand and cutting a deep groove in it.

However, the giant hand was too large, and the range of the dark gold arc's law was limited; it could only sever the contact surface, not disintegrate the entire giant hand.

After a brief pause, the five fingers of the giant hand continued to close.

Just as the five fingers were about to clench, a snow-white sword light slashed horizontally from the side, severing the giant hand at the wrist.

The fracture surface was smooth as a mirror, and the blood color on the fracture surface quickly faded, turning into grayish-white powder that fell off in a flurry.

Bai Wuchen stood before the ruins of the severed hand, his white longsword pointing diagonally at the ground, its tip still dripping with blood. His smile was gone, replaced by a cold, resolute expression.

"The Valley of Life and Death doesn't take sides—that was before."

He thrust the scabbard into the ground, and the scabbard sank three feet into the earth. The flow of time within three feet of him began to distort.

"Blood Dry, if you directly attack Dongfang Weiwo, that's your Blood Bone Sect's private matter, and I won't interfere."

But to crush all the innocent people of Qingzhu Town under your bone palm—that crosses the line of the Valley of Life and Death.

He raised his left hand, and a snow-white rune lit up his palm. The rune was shaped like a lotus bud about to bloom, with tiny life marks engraved on its petals.

"Bai Wuchen, the outer valley steward of the Valley of Life and Death, is hereby ordered to carry out the Valley of Life Order—not a single mortal under the Bone Palm shall die."

Ya Jiu's black robe suddenly unfurled in the night wind, and the frost domain around him expanded abruptly, enveloping the entire entrance to Qingzhu Town.

He raised his head, his eerie green eyes beneath the hood staring directly at the blood-scarred old man, his voice dry yet resolute:

"The Samsara Seal of the Samsara Palace hasn't been found yet. If you touch it, you're touching the Samsara Palace's target. The Samsara Palace doesn't reason with people."

An ice wall rose up outside the town entrance, twice as thick as before.

The old man withered blood hung in mid-air, looking at the three people who had suddenly joined forces on the ground. His blood-red robe billowed in the night wind.

His left shoulder bone was still throbbing with pain. The scar left by the dark gold arc was not an ordinary injury, but a kind of continuous erosion—fragments of the laws of the divine and demonic skeleton were slowly and stubbornly seeping into his bones, as if reminding him that this Yin-Yang Realm cultivator contained a power that even the Life and Death Realm could not underestimate.

His gaze swept from Bai Wuchen to Ya Jiu, then from Ya Jiu to Dongfang Weiwo. In the end, he made the decision to stop.

It wasn't that he was afraid. Rather, he was facing the Valley of Life and Death, the Palace of Reincarnation, and a skeletal being who had awakened the laws of the outer realms. With his mid-stage Life and Death Realm cultivation, he didn't have an absolute chance of winning.

Moreover, the Blood Bone Soul-Chasing Seal has already sent a signal, and others within the sect are on their way. It's not too late to make a move once the reinforcements arrive.

"Three days."

The old man withered blood retracted his spine, and the bone horse changed direction in the air.

"At the Iron Feather City auction, I am determined to obtain that half of the map. Dongfang Weiwo, if you dare to set foot in Iron Feather City, that will be your burial ground."

There was no guardian protecting it, nor the shelter of the Valley of Life and Death or the Temple of Reincarnation.

He paused, a cruel smile curving his lips beneath his blood-stained robe.

"Iron Feather City's rules state that private duels are prohibited within the city for three days before the auction. However, after the auction ends—life-or-death battles are no longer allowed within the city. Think carefully about whether you want to spend these three days running far away."

The bone horse let out a piercing neigh, turned around and galloped wildly through the void, with three hundred Eagle Fortress ironclad cavalry following closely behind like a tide.

The Blood Bone Soul-Chasing Seal in the night sky slowly dissipated, leaving only a faint red afterimage on the dark blue background in the direction of the Ember Sea, which lingered for a long time.

The old man with blood deficiency has retreated, but the threat has not disappeared; it has only been postponed for three days.

After the battle at the town's entrance ended, Bai Wuchen pulled his sword from its sheath, which was buried three feet deep in the ground, and put away his longsword. A gentle smile returned to his face. However, this smile was now more sincere and less formal than when they first met.

"Young Master Dongfang, that dark golden arc just now—if I'm not mistaken, the fragments of laws it contained did not belong to the Tianwu Continent, nor entirely to the Tianxuan Continent. They were laws from beyond the boundary."

He sheathed his sword, his tone carrying a hint of genuine admiration, "To be able to sever the bone domain of a Life and Death Realm cultivator while being at the Yin-Yang Realm, you are the first in the entire Tianwu Continent in nearly a thousand years."

Ya Jiu put away the ice wall and wrapped his black robe tighter around himself, as if trying to hide himself back into the darkness.

But his gaze, hidden beneath his hood, paused for a moment as it swept over the dark gold longsword in Dongfang Weiwo's hand, which was gradually dissipating.

"The tenth line."

His voice was very soft, so soft that only Dongfang Weineng could hear it, "The skeleton of the gods and demons is not just nine pieces of remains. The fragments that Demon God Lü brought to Tianwu back then contain more information than he left behind. That half of the map of Iron Feather City might tell you where those fragments are located."

Dongfang Weiwo turned to look at him, but Ya Jiu had already lowered his head again, his whole being returning to a silent black shadow.

Bai Wuchen did not notice this scene.

He took the jade slip out of his sleeve again and solemnly handed it to Dongfang Weiwo:

"Please accept this token of entry to the auction. It will be held in Ironfeather City in three days at the Blackscale Merchant Guild's underground auction."

The Valley of Life and Death promised to deliver 10,000 mid-grade spirit stones to your seat before the auction begins.

Don't refuse—this isn't charity, it's a transaction. You take the map, we take the accompanying herbs, each gets what we need.

He mounted his horse, his white robe gleaming faintly in the night.

"Finally, here's a piece of advice. Ironfeather City is a free city, not belonging to any faction, but precisely because of this, it's a melting pot of all sorts of people."

During the auction, almost all the major powers in the southeastern region of Tianwu Continent will send representatives.

The Blood Bone Cult is just one of them, and not the strongest.

It is said that the young master of the Yin Sha Sect is already on his way, and the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain will also send people.

Not to mention the rogue cultivators who were interested in this half of the map—the location on the map might be related to where the Demon God Lu hid his treasures, which, according to legend, could even tempt a Supreme Realm expert.

He urged the Windhorse forward, and before leaving, he glanced back at Dongfang Weiwo.

"Ironfell City three days from now will be a storm. What you hold in your hand is not an admission ticket, but the eye of the storm."

The Windhorse let out a long neigh, its four hooves off the ground, and carried Bai Wuchen into the night.

Ya Jiu did not ride a horse. His black robe billowed slightly in place, and his entire body transformed into a cloud of black mist, silently merging into the darkness.

The town entrance of Qingzhu Town has returned to silence.

The ground was littered with traces of battle—melted flagstones, deep furrows, shattered fragments of bone spears, and ice shards that had cracked and then melted.

The iron plaque on the Lin family's gate was still faintly glowing, but the plaque was already half as thin as before, and most of the runes on it were broken.

Grandma Lin slumped on the threshold of the courtyard, her white hair disheveled, and the blood at the corner of her mouth had dried.

Her hands were still trembling, but not from fear, but from exhaustion after all her strength had been drained.

Lin Tieshan knelt beside her, his broad shoulders trembling silently.

Lin Xiaoman stood at the entrance of the main house, still clutching the stone pestle for pounding medicine in her hand. Her knuckles were white, and her eyes were red, but she did not cry.

Dongfang Weiwo walked back to the entrance of the Lin family courtyard with his bamboo cane and stopped in front of Grandmother Lin.

The old man raised his head, his cloudy eyes looking at him for a long time.

Then she reached out and took the iron plaque off the lintel, turning it over to reveal the back.

The back of the iron plaque is covered with densely packed names—the names of the Lin family's guardians for generations, counting from top to bottom, a total of seventeen generations.

The empty space at the bottom is reserved for Lin Xiaoman's father.

"The power you just used."

Grandma Lin's voice was hoarse and weary. "There is the blood seal of the Demon God Lü inside. Thirty years ago, he was recuperating at the Lin family home. Before he left, he used a drop of blood to strengthen my grandmother's bloodline contract. That blood seal slept in the contract for thirty years, and tonight you have awakened it."

She paused for a moment, her withered fingers gently stroking the name at the top of the back of the metal plaque.

"The first guardian of the signboard, Lin Pogu, was my great-great-grandfather. Back then, he found a dying man who fell from the sky at the entrance of Broken Bone Ridge, and carried him home to care for him for more than forty days. That man was Lu Moshen."

Before leaving, Lu Moshen left three things for the Lin family—the formula for the Bone-Protecting Ointment, the medicinal ingredient for the Bone-Guarding Incense, and half a diagram. "I haven't mentioned the diagram to anyone, not even Xiaoman."

Dongfang Weiwo's gaze sharpened slightly.

"Is the other half of the map, the one given to the Lin family ancestor, still with the Lin family?"