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

It was already dark when he emerged from the Yin Gu Tomb.

Lin Xiaoman stood outside the bone stake array, leading the Windhorse. A thick layer of bone-protecting ointment was applied to her ankles, and three black leeches, driven away by the smell of the ointment, lay at her feet.

Seeing him emerge alive, she loosened her grip on the short dagger hidden in her sleeve, handed him the reins, then took out a new jar of bone-protecting ointment from her medicine pouch, opened the lid, smelled it, and frowned.

"Something's not right with this can. The iron burl tree I picked near the ferry crossing has dark red spots on the back of its leaves, unlike the common iron burl tree."

The resulting herbal ointment is too dark in color; does that mean its efficacy is compromised?

She brought the ointment closer to the luminous stone for a closer look, and faintly visible, extremely fine silver lines were moving within the dark green ointment—a phenomenon she had never seen before.

"The medicine is effective, three times stronger than before. Just now in the tomb, Yin Wuji's evil needles were dissolved by the medicine film, without even touching the bones."

I showed Dongfang Wei the remnants of the medicinal film on my left shinbone. The dark green medicinal film had condensed into an extremely thin protective layer on the surface of the dark gold skeleton, forming a kind of complementary texture with the dark gold patterns of the skeleton itself.

Lin Xiaoman stared at the patterns for a long time, then suddenly pulled out a yellowed animal hide notebook from her medicine pouch.

Turning to the middle page, there is a plant illustration that is completely different from the ordinary ironwood tree—the back of the leaves has dark red spots, the rootstock is dark gold, and the name is "Guardian Vine".

Next to it is the annotation of the fourth generation of the Lin family who guards the sign: "A mutated variety of iron burl tree, a once-in-a-century occurrence."

Using this as a guide, the bone-protecting ointment can resist evil spirits, and the bone-protecting fragrance is ten times more effective.

When harvesting, the blood of the person guarding the token must be dripped into the root; otherwise, the medicinal properties will run rampant and backfire on the alchemist.

"Guardian Vine. It's not a mutated Iron Burl Tree, but a reversion to the ancestral form of the Iron Burl Tree."

Lin Xiaoman compared the diagrams in the notebook with the dregs of medicine in her hand several times, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

The Lin family, for three generations, had been searching for this medicinal ingredient, but to no avail. I ended up casually picking it, mistaking it for an ordinary ironwood tree.

She closed the note, looked up at the blood-red tracking mark above Dongfang Weiwo's left shoulder blade, and her excitement was quickly replaced by deeper worry.

"Yin Wuji left a mark on you."

"Tracking the evil seal. The Yin Sha Sect can locate my position at any time."

He'll definitely call for reinforcements after he escapes back; the next group won't just be limited to those at the mid-stage of the Life and Death Realm.

Dongfang Weiwo mounted his horse and placed his bamboo staff across the saddle.

The fragmented resonance sensing network in the sea of ​​consciousness clearly marked the next target—the direction of the Bone Transformation Manor, that slowly moving point of light.

The fourth fragment is moving, indicating that it is on someone, and that person is on their way.

"The fragments wait for no one. We'll deal with the Yin Sha Sect pursuers later; for now, let's get the fourth fragment before they do. Head to Huan Gu Manor."

The Windhorse carried the two through the muddy area at the edge of the Blackwater Swamp in the night.

The branches of the black willow intertwined overhead to form an impenetrable archway, and the horses' hooves made a dull sound as they trod through the mud.

Occasionally, a few burrowing birds perched under the willow roots would be startled and fly into the depths of the night, cawing loudly.

As Dongfang Weiwo rode his horse, he projected the fragments of resonance network in his sea of ​​consciousness onto the paper map.

A location was marked at the border between the Blackwater Swamp and the Bone Wasteland, with four characters next to it: "Bone Changing Village, Underground Marketplace".

The fourth piece is right there.

Lin Xiaoman sat on the horse, one arm around his waist, the other holding a glowing stone to illuminate the map.

She stared at the label for a long time, then spoke softly, her tone completely different from when she usually discussed medicinal herbs—carrying a heavy weight that had been buried for a long time.

The founder of Huan Gu Zhuang in the East was surnamed Lin.

Lin Duangu, the third-generation guardian of the Lin family's signboard, has a twin brother named Lin Huangu.

The two brothers have completely different understandings of the mission of the guardians of Broken Bone Ridge—the elder brother believes that the guardians should protect Broken Bone Ridge for generations and uphold the entrustment of the Demon God Lü.

The younger brother thought that the guardians had been guarding the place for hundreds of years and had gained nothing, so they might as well take out the resources of Broken Bone Ridge and make a living from it.

The two had a huge argument in the family ancestral hall, and the younger brother angrily left, taking with him half of the Lin family's bone-setting medicine formula and the remaining formula for the Bone-Preserving Incense, and founded the Bone-Changing Manor on the edge of the Blackwater Swamp.

She pulled out an old copper coin from the bottom of the medicine pouch. The coin was so worn that the patterns were almost invisible. On the front of the coin was the iron badge of the Lin family's guardian, and on the back was a name engraved with three knife marks—Lin Huan Gu.

"Grandmother said that when my younger brother passed away, my older brother gave him this copper coin and said, 'Even if you change your bones, you can't change your blood. Wherever you go, you will always be a member of the Lin family.'"

The founder of Huan Gu Zhuang never returned to the Lin family, but his descendants continued to run the bone trading business in Huan Gu Zhuang, and for three hundred years they had no contact with the main Lin family.

My grandmother only mentioned it once when I was little, saying that the Lin family of Huan Gu Zhuang lived by the Blackwater Swamp, and their rules were different from the Lin family's—they recognized bones, not people; money made you a guest.

She clutched the coin tightly in her palm. "I don't know if this coin is still useful now."

But at least, the people of the Bone-Changing Manor should know who I am when they see it.

The entrance to Huan Gu Zhuang is hidden in a dead black willow forest.

The bark of the willow trees had all fallen off, and the exposed wood gleamed with a bone-like, pale white luster in the dim blue light.

The trunks of each withered willow tree were hollowed out and fitted with bone lanterns of varying sizes. Inside the lanterns burned eerie green flames fueled by bone oil, illuminating the entire withered forest as if it were the entrance to the underworld.

Huan Gu Zhuang is an underground market town. Above ground, only these bone lanterns serve as markers. The real market town is located beneath the withered forest—an underground town converted from abandoned mine tunnels and natural caves.

As Dongfang Weiwo led his horse into the withered willow forest, at least a dozen gazes were cast upon him from the shadows of the bone lanterns.

The rules of Huan Gu Zhuang are different from those of Tie Yu Cheng—Tie Yu Cheng has suppression and prohibition measures, an enforcement team, and an ironclad rule prohibiting private fights.

There is no such rule in Huan Gu Zhuang. There is only one rule here: buying and selling are free, but if you leave the market area more than ten steps away, you are responsible for your own life and death.

He stood at the entrance of the market, beneath a huge bone lantern, his left hand resting on the scabbard of the Samsara Sword, suppressing his aura to the lowest level, his right hand leaning on a bamboo staff, his consciousness sinking into the fragment resonance network.

The light from the fourth fragment was thirty feet below him, and it had already stopped.

It was held in the hands of a person with considerable cultivation in the core trading hall of Huan Gu Zhuang.

The streets of the market are built with the ribs of giant beasts as beams and the road is made of bone fragments mixed with mud. The storefronts on both sides are all made of old stone slabs dug out from abandoned ancient tombs, and each stone slab is engraved with funerary runes from different eras.

Bone tool shops, bone medicine shops, bone armor shops, bone replacement stalls, skeletal identification centers, and broken bone recycling stations—the entire underground market is like a miniature kingdom made of bones, with every corner related to skeletons.

The people on the street were a diverse bunch: lone travelers shrouded in black robes, disciples of sects dressed in fine clothes, mercenaries carrying the leg bones of giant beasts, and followers of the Blood Bone Cult wearing crimson cloaks.

Dongfang Wei saw at least three Blood Bone Cult members talking quietly with the shop owner in front of a bone medicine shop. One of them was holding a small bone box with the Blood Bone Cult emblem engraved on the lid.

He followed the sensory light points in his mind through two narrow alleys and arrived at the entrance of the largest trading hall in the city center.

The hall is a circular space created by expanding a natural cave, with hundreds of eerie green phosphorescent flints embedded in the dome, making the entire hall appear as if it were immersed in green liquid.

The central trading platform is a single gray-white boulder transported from Broken Bone Ridge, with naturally formed bone-like textures still preserved on its surface.

Dozens of people were gathered around the trading table, where a small auction was taking place.

The auctioneer was a tall, thin man dressed in a black robe adorned with bone fragments. His voice was high-pitched and sharp, like the friction of bone fragments. He was displaying a bone box that was half-covered by a black cloth.

"Next item, a bone fragment of unknown origin."

The seller found it three days ago on the north bank of the Blackwater Swamp. The material is unknown, but it is extremely hard, impervious to swords and blades, and cannot be melted by strange fire.

The appraiser could not determine the age, but conservatively estimated it to be over three thousand years old.

The starting price is two thousand spirit stones, and each bid must be at least two hundred.

He opened the bone box, inside which lay an irregular bone fragment slightly smaller than the palm of his hand. The surface of the bone fragment shimmered with a very faint dark gold luster, but it was almost invisible to the naked eye under the dim green light of the trading hall.

Most buyers only see a dull, ordinary piece of old bone. But Dongfang Wei saw the fourth fragment.

The fragment resonance emitted a strong sensory signal the moment the bone fragment appeared, more than twice as strong as the signal from the finger bone fragment in the Yin Bone Tomb.

The bidding has begun. The price slowly climbs: 2,200, 2,400, 2,800, but there aren't many participants; they're mostly individual cultivators hoping to find a bargain.

The real big buyers haven't made a move yet.

Dongfang Wei did not rush to bid. He scanned everyone in the hall—rogue cultivators, disciples of small sects, and a few Blood Bone Cult members who seemed to be strolling around but stood ramrod straight.

A one-armed giant leaning against a stone pillar, drinking with his back to the trading table; an old man in gray squatting in a corner, carving wood with a bone knife.

His gaze lingered on the old man in gray for a moment.

The old man's wooden carving was only the size of his palm. It was neither animal bone nor a human figure, but a strangely shaped bone—a bone he was extremely familiar with.

The ulna of a god or demon's remains. The ulna from the left arm of the Demon God Lü. The gray-robed old man carved the likeness of that ulna from the stone chamber of Shattered Bone Ridge.

He didn't recognize the old man, but when his divine sense swept over him, the residual aura of the Bone-Guarding Incense within his body resonated subtly with the bloodline of the Lin family's guardian.

Lin Xiaoman also saw the wooden carving. Her face turned pale instantly, and her fingers, gripping the old copper coin, tightened until her knuckles turned white.

That person carved the ulna of the demon god Lü.

He knew the shape of the ulna; he had either seen the ulna itself or the diagrams left by the Demon God Lü. The Lin family of Changing Bone Village—he was a descendant of the Lin family of Changing Bone Village.

She took a deep breath, pressed the old copper coin into her palm, and walked towards the old man in gray.