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

The powdered remains of gods and demons in the Lin family's Bone-Guarding Incense, the ulna sealed by the Demon God Lü in Shattered Bone Ridge, and the other eight remains in his body—there is a resonant mechanism among them that he has not yet fully understood.

That speck of powder was not a fragment of any of the nine bone remains, but a separate piece—so small that it could only be called a "fragment" rather than a "bone," but the imprint of laws it contained was of the same origin and nature as the complete bone remains.

This means that the fragments of divine and demonic remains that Lu Moshen brought from Tianxuan to Tianwu back then were not limited to the ulna bone from Broken Bone Ridge.

His left arm, shattered by the Lord of the Undying Palace, was broken into more than two pieces. The ulna was the most crucial piece, which was personally removed and sealed away by the Demon God Lü.

But the other fragments at the fracture site—bone chips, bone fragments, bone scraps—were scattered along the way during that chase thirty years ago.

Some were thrown into the Blackwater Swamp by the aftershocks of the battle, some were embedded in the rock walls of some nameless desolate mountain, and some were picked up by passing rogue cultivators and resold in the market as rare refining materials.

Some may still be buried in some unknown corner, quietly sleeping for thirty years under the cover of soil and decaying leaves.

To others, these fragments are just trash.

The dark gold substance in the remains of gods and demons is extremely exclusive; apart from the holder of the complete divine and demonic skeleton who has gathered all eight bones and put them back in their proper place, no one can refine the fragments of laws within it.

Forcibly refining it would only result in a backlash from the laws of the outer realm, leading to shattered bones and death. But for him, each fragment was a piece of the puzzle.

Just as he was about to withdraw his consciousness from his dantian, the system panel suddenly lit up deep within his dantian.

[Host Status Update]

[Completion of the Divine Demon Skeleton: Basic Nine Bones in Place (100%) + Two Additional Fragments (Ulna Bone - Core Segment of Lu Moshen's Left Arm; Guardian Bone Fragment - Minor Fragment)]

[Current skeleton completion assessment: Basic complete, additional fragment collection progress 2/9.]

[A resonance of laws has been detected between the additional fragments. The intensity of the resonance increases exponentially with the number of fragments. After collecting three or more additional fragments, the skeleton will activate the "Fragment Resonance" passive ability—allowing it to sense the location of other divine and demonic relic fragments within a thousand-foot radius.]

[Requirements for breaking through to the Life and Death Realm: Additional fragments of the Divine Demon Skeleton collected ≥ 5/9, Heavenly Martial Qi fusion rate ≥ 50%. Current fusion rate: 30%.]

Nine additional fragments. After Lu Moshen's left arm was shattered, at least nine fragments bearing the marks of laws were scattered around, in addition to the core ulna bone.

Two of the pieces have already been returned to their original positions—the ulna has fused in the stone chamber of Broken Bone Ridge, and the trace fragments in the Guardian Bone Fragrance were passively absorbed when the Lin family's Bone Protection Ointment ran out.

The remaining seven fragments are scattered throughout the Tianwu Continent. If they can all be found in the shortest possible time, the completion of the God and Demon skeleton will reach a whole new level—not just "complete," but exceeding the upper limit of Lu Moshen's peak state.

Because even Lu Moshen himself didn't have the chance to collect all these fragments.

After his left arm was shattered, he fled back to Tianxuan, and the fragments were scattered across the Tianwu Continent, where no one has been able to collect them for thirty years.

"Seven dollars," he said softly, opening his eyes.

Lin Xiaoman looked up in front of the bronze furnace, her face smeared with charcoal ash:

"What, seven pieces?"

"Fragments. Seven fragments of Lu Moshen's left arm that were scattered outside after it was shattered have not yet been found."

He briefly recounted the information on the system panel, then stood up and walked to the stone table, unfolding the half of the map that had been retrieved at the auction and merging it with the upper half.

The complete route emerged on the parchment—from Shattered Bone Ridge to Iron Feather City, then to Blackwater Swamp, White Bone Wasteland, and finally to the Bridge of Oblivion.

His fingers moved slowly along the route, his eyes carefully searching the markings on each section of the journey.

"Back then, Lu Moshen was chased by the Lord of the Undying Palace for three days and three nights. The route of the chase highly overlaps with the route on this map—which means that he was not running around aimlessly, but was consciously retreating towards Shattered Bone Ridge."

After his left arm was shattered, fragments were scattered along the retreat route.

If it was destroyed during the retreat, then the most likely location for the fragments to scatter would be between the Blackwater Swamp and the Bone Wasteland.

He circled three locations on the parchment map.

The first location is an abandoned ancient tomb on the southern edge of the Blackwater Marsh.

The map marks it as "Yin Gu Fen" (Yin Gu Tomb), with only two words in the description: Forbidden Area.

The fragment of the bone tablet that the Yin Sha Sect acquired at the auction is said to be related to this ancient tomb.

The second location is an unnamed ancient battlefield site in the Bone Wasteland.

The map did not have any names marked, but it did show a broken flag with its pole leaning against the skull of an animal.

This mark was drawn by Lu Moshen himself, and a line of small characters was written next to it:

"There are many bones here, and the broken pieces are hard to distinguish. If you want to find fragments, use the dark gold patterns to sense them."

The third location is a stronghold of independent cultivators at the border of the Bone Wasteland and the Blackwater Swamp, marked on the map as "Bone Changing Village"—an underground market specializing in the buying and selling of bones.

Lu Moshen drew a small skull next to this location and crossed it out.

It means there is danger, but there may be debris falling here.

Three locations, three fragments, all concentrated along the line from Blackwater Swamp to White Bone Wasteland.

If these three fragments can be found, along with the two that have already been returned to their original positions, the additional fragment collection progress will be five fragments—just enough to activate the passive sensing ability and simultaneously meet the first condition required to break through the Life and Death Realm.

As for the second condition required for the breakthrough—the fusion rate of Tianwu Yuanqi reaching 50%—he already has a clear plan.

Each time a fragment is fused, the skeleton's completion level increases by one level, and the fusion rate of Heavenly Martial Qi will naturally increase by a certain percentage.

Ulnar fusion increased the fusion rate from just over 10% to 30%; although the trace fragments of the bone-protecting incense were very small, they also increased the fusion rate from 30% to 35%.

Based on this rate, after fusing three complete additional fragments, the fusion rate should be able to steadily exceed 45%.

The remaining half-batch can be forcibly pushed up in actual combat by pushing the limits during battle and refining it with the help of bone-protecting ointment.

Three days. These three days following the Iron Feather City auction will be a crucial window that determines whether he can break through to the Life and Death Realm before the Supreme Realm's attention truly focuses on him.

Lin Xiaoman took the three newly brewed jars of bone-protecting ointment down from the copper stove; the dark green ointment was steaming slightly in the jars.

She used a bamboo stick to pick up a little ointment and brought it close to the luminous stone to examine it closely—the ointment was finer than before, and a faint dark gold pattern could be seen in the dark green color.

During the brewing process, she dripped in a drop of residual corrosive liquid taken from the wound on Dongfang Weiwo's left shoulder. Using poison to fight poison, the medicinal effect was actually enhanced.

"This batch of bone-protecting ointment will last for three days. After three days, if there is no new ironwood powder, we will have to use ordinary drynaria rhizome instead, and the efficacy will be halved."

She divided the three jars of ointment into three different jars, putting two into Dongfang Weiwo's luggage and keeping one in her own medicine bag.

"Before going to the Blackwater Swamp, cleanse the death energy from your body. If the death energy on your shinbone isn't removed, you'll encounter an opponent like the Blood-Dried Old Man who specializes in death energy; he'll detonate the death energy directly, shattering your shinbone from the inside out."

I've seen similar examples in my grandmother's notes—the fourth-generation guardian of the Lin family was killed by the Blood Bone Cult using this same tactic.

She spoke in a flat tone, as if reciting a prescription, but the knuckles of her fingers holding the medicine pot betrayed her.

Dongfang Weiwo placed his bamboo staff across his knees, closed his eyes, and focused his energy. Dark golden light surged from deep within his skeleton, gathering at the shinbone of his left leg, where it began a new tug-of-war with the death energy seeping into the bone pores.

The death aura was forced out bit by bit, and the dark red filaments escaping from the bone holes twisted in the air for a moment before being shattered by his dark gold short sword in his palm.

The deathly aura has been completely dispelled.

Outside the mine, the night began to fade. The first rays of the nine suns rose from the direction of the scorching sea, pierced through the thin mist in the mountain valley, and seeped in through the cracks at the mine entrance, casting a narrow shadow on the stone wall.

An uninvited guest slowly materialized in the light and shadow.

As always, Ya Jiu's appearance was eerie—he didn't walk in from the entrance, but rather slid out from a cloud of black mist that seemed to have formed out of thin air in a corner of the mine.

He was draped in a black robe, his hood pulled low, and his fingers were clasped in front of him. His movements and posture were exactly the same as at the Iron Feather City auction.

The only difference was that there was a long, narrow package wrapped tightly in black cloth at his feet.

"You really didn't use the Reincarnation Talisman."

His first words were neither a greeting nor intelligence, but a statement tinged with subtle emotional fluctuations, his voice, as thin as a withered leaf, echoing between the stone walls of the mine.

"Grandma Blood Infant's Bone Demon was cut in two, the Bone-Eating Beast of Wanqi Peak lost its horn, and more than sixty rogue cultivators were trapped in place by a sword domain and dared not move."

All of this is still not enough for you to crush a life-saving talisman.

He lifted his deep green eyes from under his hood. "Why?"

Dongfang Weiwo stood up, holding his bamboo staff beside him.

"The escape talisman can only be used once. You use it to teleport a hundred miles away, and then what?"

Blood Infant Granny was in the late stage of the Life and Death Realm, and a distance of a hundred miles was only a short distance for her.

The teleportation is over, but the pursuers are still there, and Yan Fei is still kneeling on one knee at the city gate. "I'll survive alone, and he'll cover the rear—that's not my rule."

Ya Jiu remained silent for a long time, then picked up the black package at his feet and placed it on the stone table, untying the black cloth.

Inside the package was a sword sheath—not a new sheath, but an old one that had just been taken from an ancient sword. The sheath was made of some unknown dark metal and its surface was covered with ancient runes that were exactly the same as those in the Reincarnation Palace.

These runes flowed on their own under the glow of the luminous stone, emitting a faint green light that intertwined with the dark background of the scabbard to create a strange luster.

"One of the three treasures of the Samsara Palace, the Samsara Sword Sheath."

Ya Jiu's voice was a bit drier than usual, and he clearly carried a hint of solemnity when he said the name. "The Samsara Seal of the Samsara Palace was obtained by Lu Moshen by chance back then, and this sword sheath was also taken away with him."

For three hundred years, the Reincarnation Palace has been searching for these two items. The whereabouts of the Reincarnation Seal are still unknown, but the sword sheath—which had been lying in the Yin Bone Tomb in the Blackwater Swamp for three hundred years—was located by the fragment of a bone tablet that the Yin Sha Sect auctioned off the day before yesterday.

The Yin Sha Sect is organizing a team to retrieve it. The leader is Yin Wuji, a mid-stage Life and Death Realm cultivator and the young master of the Yin Sha Sect. He is ruthless and skilled at using his demonic energy to corrode his opponents' bones. Your Divine Demon Skeleton won't have an advantage in terms of attributes against him.

He pushed the scabbard towards Dongfang Weiwo.

The Lord of the Samsara Palace said, "You can use the scabbard first, but the Samsara Seal is ours."

The scabbard itself is also a rare treasure; when placed on your dark gold short sword, it can conceal the aura of the laws of the outer realm.

Your biggest problem right now isn't that your cultivation level is too low, but that the aura of your divine and demonic skeleton is too unique. Even experts above the Life and Death Realm can sense it from a thousand feet away.

Sheathing your short sword will at least prevent those below the Supreme Realm from finding your location.

Dongfang Wei picked up the sword sheath, which was icy cold to the touch. The ancient runes on the sheath flowed slightly faster as his fingertips touched it.

He conjured a dark gold short sword, its three-inch blade fitting perfectly into the scabbard.

The eerie green runes on the scabbard and the dark gold light of the short sword collided inside the scabbard.

Then a delicate balance was quickly achieved—the two completely different laws no longer clashed under the neutralization of the scabbard.

Instead, it formed a hazy camouflage, completely concealing the aura of the short sword.