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

Grandma Lin did not answer directly. She gently scratched the top of the name on the back of the iron plaque with her fingernail, and a crack appeared on the surface of the plaque.

Beneath that sheet of iron was an extremely thin interlayer, inside which was a neatly folded piece of parchment.

The moment the parchment was taken out, dark gold patterns, identical to those on the jade slip, lit up on it.

The first half of the map left by Lu Moshen.

Grandma Lin unfolded the parchment, and what was drawn on it was not a landscape, but a bridge—a bone bridge spanning a dark abyss.

At the end of the bridge was a palace suspended upside down above the abyss, with seven huge bone pillars standing below it, each engraved with a different dark gold pattern.

Below the seventh bone pillar, a location is marked in very small print.

"The Bridge of Oblivion, the seventh bone pillar."

Dongfang Weiwo took out the bone fragment from his pocket, and the sensory mark on the bone fragment perfectly matched the position of the seventh bone pillar on the parchment.

However, the sensation on the bone fragment only pointed to a vague location, while the parchment drew the complete route from Shattered Bone Ridge to the Bridge of Oblivion—passing through Iron Feather City, Blackwater Swamp, and White Bone Wasteland, finally arriving at the Bridge of Oblivion outside the Temple of Immortality.

"The other half of the picture."

Grandma Lin pointed to a blank area on the map between the Bridge of Oblivion and the seventh bone pillar. "That half is not in the Lin family. Back then, Demon God Lü tore the map in half. He gave the Lin family the top half, which showed the route from Shattered Bone Ridge to the Bridge of Oblivion."

He kept the second half himself; it depicted the exact path from the River of Oblivion to the seventh bone pillar—the precise location where the item was hidden.

She refolded the half of the picture, stuffed it into the compartment of the iron plate, and then handed the whole iron plate to Dongfang Weiwo.

"Take it. You won't find the complete route at the auction if you only have the bottom half of the map. Only when both halves are put together is it a complete guide."

Dongfang Wei did not answer.

"This is something the Lin family has protected for generations."

"The Lin family has protected it for generations because of a sentence that Demon God Lü said before he left."

Grandma Lin forcefully placed the iron plaque into his hand, a complex light flashing in her old eyes. "He said, 'If one day, someone who fell from the heavens like me comes to the Lin family, give him the map. He will complete what I haven't finished.'"

"Thirty years have passed, and that person has arrived."

She released her grip, and the iron plate fell into Dongfang Weiwo's palm, still warm from her body heat.

"I only ask one thing of you—when you go to Iron Feather City, take Xiaoman with you."

This child is stubborn; even if you don't take her, she'll go by herself. A place like Iron Feather City isn't a place a little girl can navigate alone.

Dongfang Weiwo gripped the iron plaque. The runes on its surface, mostly broken, still glowed faintly. Above the names of the seventeen generations of Lin family guardians, next to the name of the first guardian, Lin Pogu, were four small characters, the handwriting hasty yet powerful—

"Lu·Pogu·Zeng".

The name "Po Gu" is not Lin Po Gu's real name, but rather a nickname given to him by the Demon God Lü.

A man who collects bones at the entrance to Broken Bone Ridge, named himself "Broken Bone," and made Broken Bone Ridge his home, guarding that land of ten thousand bones for generations.

Dongfang Weiwo gripped the iron plaque tightly.

I promise you.

Inside the main room, Lin Xiaoman came out carrying a medicine bag that was larger than the last one.

She changed into a neat short outfit, with the cuffs and trouser legs tied tightly with hemp rope. The silver bell on her blue hairband was wrapped in several layers of cloth so that it no longer made a sound.

The straightforward smile that usually graced her face was gone, replaced by a deep-seated stubbornness.

"Let's go."

She said, "Ironfeather City is 460 miles from here, and it takes two hours to ride a horned horse. You have three days, but you need to settle down before the auction begins."

"The Black Scale Merchant Guild has a branch in the city. Didn't that man in black robes say he'd invite you for tea last time? I've inquired; his name is Third Master Mo, the third-in-command of the Black Scale Merchant Guild in the southeast region. He's a man of his word."

She had clearly done her homework, figuring out the route, the timing, and the people involved.

Dongfang Weiwo glanced at her.

"Aren't you afraid?"

"I'm scared." Lin Xiaoman's answer was as blunt as a bamboo pole jabbing at me. "I'm scared to death. I've never seen a monster like the Blood-Dried Old Man in my entire life."

But—" She looked up, the old scar on her nose slightly reddening.

"I'm more afraid that you'll die in Iron Feather City and no one will treat you. Your skeleton is complete, but the fusion of the Divine Demon Skeleton with the Heavenly Martial Yuan Qi is only just beginning. Every time you use your full strength, tiny cracks will be left on your bones."

You won't feel it yourself because your skeleton repairs itself, but even the fastest repair has gaps. The more intense the battle, the larger these gaps become. If you don't believe me, extend your left hand.

Dongfang Weiwo extended his left hand.

Lin Xiaoman opened his palm and pointed to a very thin and faint golden line at the base of his palm—that was a new crack left from tonight's battle, which had just begun to heal itself and the dark gold substance had not yet had time to fully fill it.

"Look. This is the price."

She put down his hand, took out a jar of freshly brewed bone-strengthening ointment from her medicine pouch, and handed it to him. "Use it sparingly. I only brewed one jar this time—I've run out of ironwood powder, so I have to go to Iron Feather City to buy more. Luckily, Iron Feather City has the largest medicine market in the southeast region; they have all kinds of materials."

She spoke as if it were a routine shopping trip.

But Dongfang Weiwo noticed that her right hand was always pressed on the hilt of the medicine-cutting dagger at her waist, her knuckles taut and white.

He didn't say anything more, put the iron plate into his pocket, leaned on his bamboo cane, and turned to walk towards the town entrance.

Behind them, the light from the main house of the Lin family flickered in the night.

Lin Tieshan stood at the courtyard gate, hesitant to speak. His grandmother patted his arm and whispered something that only reached his ears:

"Don't stop her. That girl's life has been tied to this man ever since she brewed her first jar of bone-protecting ointment."

The guardian isn't guarding bones, but a trust. Thirty years ago, the Demon God Lu entrusted the Lin family with his legacy; thirty years later, it's the Lin family's turn to entrust it to someone else.

Four hundred and sixty li east of Qingzhu Town lies Tieyu City.

The only free city in the southeastern region of Tianwu Continent that does not belong to any faction, and also the largest hub of the southeastern trade route.

The city is named "Iron Feather" after a saying by the first city lord: "Iron bones form the city, wings form the business."

This means that Ironfeather City does not participate in any power struggles and only acts as a trade transit point.

This neutral stance made it the most prosperous city in the southeast region, but also the most dangerous.

Here, you can buy anything as long as you can afford spirit stones—including human lives.

Dongfang Weiwo rode the Windhorse left behind by Bai Wuchen, with Lin Xiaoman sitting behind him, her arms wrapped around his waist, and a medicine pouch lying across the back of the saddle.

The journey of 460 li could be covered in less than an hour by the Windhorse at full speed, but Dongfang Wei did not travel in time—he needed to conserve his strength to prepare for the battles that could break out at any time in the next three days.

It was already past midnight when we arrived in Ironfeather City.

The eerie blue light from the direction of the sea cast faint shadows on the city wall. Every ten steps, a luminous stone the size of a human head was embedded in the wall, illuminating the city gate as bright as day.

The city wall is twenty zhang high and is made entirely of black iron rock. After being polished by wind and sand countless times, the surface of the wall is as smooth as a mirror. It is densely engraved with restrictive runes—not defensive runes, but suppressive runes.

All cultivators entering Iron Feather City have their cultivation level suppressed by one major realm. This is the rule of Iron Feather City, and it is also the source of its confidence in maintaining neutrality among various forces.

A long queue formed at the city gate. The people in the queue were a diverse group—there were rogue cultivators dressed in animal skins, richly dressed sect disciples, mercenaries carrying giant axes, and mysterious figures whose entire bodies were covered by cloaks.

Before entering the city, everyone must press their palm on the stone tablet at the city gate. The stone tablet will detect the cultivation level and automatically apply a suppression restriction.

Dongfang Weiwo was at the end of the line.

The mercenary carrying a giant axe in front of him turned around, glanced at him, his gaze lingering on the bamboo staff in his hand for a moment, and then he sneered:

"So young and using crutches? A broken leg and you're trying to get yourself killed in Iron Feather City?"

Dongfang Wei remained silent. Lin Xiaoman, however, peeked out from behind him, glared at the mercenary, and said:

"His leg isn't broken. This bamboo cane could break your broken axe in two, believe it or not?"

The mercenary was taken aback by her imposing manner, snorted, and turned away.

When it was Dongfang Weiwo's turn, he placed his palm on the stone tablet.

The stone tablet lit up with a gray light, which then went out.

The suppression restriction was completed—his cultivation level was suppressed from the mid-stage of the Yin-Yang Realm to the early stage of the Yin-Yang Realm.

This was the first time he had felt the suppressive power of Iron Feather City. It was as if an invisible hand was pressing on his dantian, slowing down the flow of Tianwu Yuanqi by a third.

He stepped through the city gate.

The interior of Iron Feather City was more prosperous than he had imagined.

The main street is ten zhang wide, lined with shops on both sides, with all sorts of strange and wonderful names written on the signs—bone tool shop, elixir shop, rune shop, exotic beast shop, and even a bizarre shop with a sign that reads "Memory Trading".

The streets were even more crowded than outside the city, shoulder to shoulder, with shouts of vendors in various languages, bargaining, and the clanging of weapons all mixed together, making one's eardrums throb.

In the crowd, he saw at least three groups of sect disciples dressed in identical attire—one group with black cloud patterns embroidered on their cuffs, those were from the Yin Sha Sect; another group had fist-sized beasts perched on their shoulders…

Those were people from Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain; and there was another group wearing blood-red cloaks, who, needless to say, were people from the Blood Bone Cult.

The three groups maintained a wary distance from each other, but when they saw Dongfang Weiwo enter the city, their eyes all turned to him.

The news has spread.

The news that the holder of the God-Demon Skeleton had entered Iron Feather City had already been placed on the desks of at least a dozen faction leaders the moment he stepped through the city gates.

Lin Xiaoman peeked out from behind him, looked around, and then pointed to a three-story black building at the end of the main street:

"There—the Iron Feather City branch of the Black Scale Merchant Guild. Third Master Mo said he'd like to invite you for tea; you can go there now and get a free meal."

She patted the medicine pouch.

"While you're at it, check their medicine storehouse to see if they have any iron burl powder."

I need to make a few more jars of bone-strengthening ointment; you'll need it for the next three days.

Leaning on his bamboo cane, Dongfang Weiwo walked toward the black pavilion under the gaze of countless eyes, some curious, some greedy, and some wary.

The three-day storm in Ironfeather City begins at this moment.