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

This action indicates that he is waiting for Wan Renyue's next attack.

At the same time, Yin Jiuyou made his move.

His target was not Chuan Ying, but Dongfang Weiwo—in his eyes, although the swordsman was strong, the divine and demonic skeleton was the core objective of this trip.

Once they capture Dongfang Weiwo, the fragments and skeleton will be in the Yinsha Sect's grasp.

Yin Jiuyou's cocoon of baleful energy exploded instantly, unleashing his terrifying cultivation at the peak of the Life and Death Realm without reservation.

The malevolent mist condensed in the air into a huge gray bone claw, each of its five fingers composed of pure malevolent energy crystals, the tips of which gleamed with a cold light capable of corroding the soul.

This claw was a whole level stronger than the evil needles Yin Wuji had used in the Yin Bone Tomb—Yin Wuji was at the mid-stage of the Life and Death Realm, and his evil energy was transformed into needles; Yin Jiuyou was at the peak of the Life and Death Realm, and his evil energy was condensed into crystals.

The difference between the two is like that between an iron sword and a heavy sword made of black iron; they are not even in the same league.

Dongfang Weiwo has been waiting for this moment.

Chuan Ying's sword domain held back Wan Renyue and the Bone-Eating Beast, allowing Yin Jiuyou to make his own move—this was his only chance to escape unscathed from the peak of the Life and Death Realm.

He pulled Lin Xiaoman up and slammed his bamboo staff into the ground, creating three dark golden spots. The three spots connected in a straight line in the air, and dark golden light burst forth from them, forming a semi-transparent dark golden shield in front of the two of them.

The shield wasn't used to block Yin Jiuyou's bone claws—a shield at the mid-stage of the Yin-Yang Realm couldn't possibly withstand a full-force attack from a peak-stage Life and Death Realm expert—but rather to borrow their strength.

The bone claws slammed into the shield, shattering it instantly. However, the direction in which the fragments scattered was precisely calculated—all spraying towards the Bone Wasteland.

Using the impact of the bone claws, Dongfang Weiwo pulled Lin Xiaoman back rapidly, their bodies tracing an arc in the air before landing precisely at a safe spot outside the withered willow forest that he had already confirmed with his bone domain perception.

This is using leverage to escape, rather than a direct confrontation.

Yin Jiuyou snorted coldly and swung his bone claws out again.

But this time, a sword intent burst forth from the ground without warning, pinning his right foot to the spot.

It wasn't Yan Fei himself who made the move—Yan Fei's weakened state lasted for three more days—but rather, before leaving Iron Feather City, Yan Fei used his last breath of sword energy to secretly plant a sword intent mark in the Tracking Fiend Seal left by Yin Wuji.

This sword intent has no lethality, but it can unexpectedly hinder Yin Jiuyou's life at a crucial moment.

One breath was enough. In the blink of an eye, Chuan Ying's second blade had already pierced through the air from afar, severing the bone claw's second strike in mid-air.

Taking advantage of this brief moment of respite, Dongfang Weiwo led Lin Xiaoman out of the withered willow forest and sped towards the White Bone Wasteland.

Yin Jiuyou looked down at his right foot, which had been pierced by the sword intent, and true anger finally surfaced in his pupilless, misty eyes.

He shattered the sword intent imprint, turned around to give chase, and bumped head-on into Dongfang Weiwo, who had freed himself from the aftershocks of Chuan Ying's sword aura. Dongfang Weiwo did not run away, but instead escorted Lin Xiaoman to a safe distance before returning with his bamboo cane.

Chuan Ying held off Wan Renyue and the Bone-Eating Beast, while Yan Fei's sword intent delayed Yin Jiuyou for a moment, enough for him and Chuan Ying to switch sides. Chuan Ying continued to suppress Wan Renyue, while Dongfang Weiwo faced Yin Jiuyou head-on.

Of course he couldn't beat Yin Jiuyou—the gap between a mid-stage Yin-Yang Realm cultivator and a peak-stage Life and Death Realm cultivator was too great.

But he doesn't need to win; he just needs to stall. Stall until Chuan Ying completely defeats Wan Renyue, or until Yin Jiuyou reveals a weakness.

He held the bamboo staff horizontally in front of him, and the dark gold longsword in his right hand re-condensed, with four dark gold patterns lighting up on the sword at the same time.

Lin Xiaoman had applied a thick layer of the newly brewed Bone-Protecting Vine Ointment to her left shinbone, and the dark green medicinal film showed no sign of yielding under the dual erosion of death energy and malevolent energy.

Although Yin Jiuyou's malevolent energy was a whole minor realm stronger than Yin Wuji's, the protective effect of the Bone-Guarding Vine was enough to reduce the malevolent energy's erosion of his shinbone to a controllable level. His shinbone was no longer a weak point.

This battle was different from the breakout battle outside the south gate of Iron Feather City—back then, he was fighting against the Life and Death Realm with the Yin-Yang Realm and only managed to escape after ten breaths thanks to Yan Fei's sword domain.

Now, he doesn't need to get away. He just needs to stand here, side by side with a swordsman at the peak of the Reincarnation Realm, dragging a peak Life and Death Realm cultivator and an early Reincarnation Realm cultivator to the edge of the Bone Wasteland.

The entrance to the ancient battlefield of the Bone Wasteland was less than fifty miles behind him, and the light from the fifth fragment grew brighter and brighter in his mind.

Further away, the sixth fragment is moving, approaching the ancient battlefield.

The gazes of the Supreme Realm experts had already swept over from the distant horizon—the instant Chuan Ying unleashed that slash, at least five Supreme Realm experts from the Tianwu Continent simultaneously sensed that sword dao law that did not belong to this world.

Their divine senses traversed thousands of miles, reaching the inconspicuous withered willow forest at the border of the Blackwater Swamp and the Bone Wasteland.

Dongfang Weiwo gripped his bamboo staff tightly, his dark gold longsword pointing straight at Yin Jiuyou in the gray morning light.

Chuan Ying moved the thick-backed sword from his right shoulder to his left shoulder, while Wan Renyue's arms were still trembling.

Lin Xiaoman clutched the wooden carving of the Guardian Vine on a distant barren hill. The silver bell on her hair ribbon, wrapped in a strip of cloth, rang out muffledly.

The malevolent mist of Yin Jiuyou surged like a living thing in the gray-white morning light.

On the scorched earth of the withered willow forest, the standoff between Chuan Ying and Wan Renyue continued. The broken teeth of the fully-formed Bone-Eating Beast were scattered all over the ground, and the corrosive liquid burned the ground into a dense array of charred pits.

Dongfang Weiwo stood twenty feet away from Yin Jiuyou, leaning on a bamboo cane. The medicinal membrane of the Bone-Guarding Vine on his left shinbone gleamed with a dark green light under the erosion of the evil energy.

The tip of the dark gold longsword pointed diagonally at the ground, and the four patterns on the blade moved slowly in the morning light.

Yin Jiuyou didn't waste any words.

At the edge of the withered willow forest, his peak cultivation at the Life and Death Realm erupted, and the bone claws formed from the baleful mist swung out again, this time not just one.

Instead, there were three—three enormous demonic crystal bone claws simultaneously grabbed at Dongfang Weiwo from three directions, sealing off all possible escape routes for him.

Before the bone claws even arrived, the malevolent energy had already corroded all the withered willows within a hundred feet radius into black fragments, and the pebbles on the ground melted into puddles of bubbling gray liquid under the erosion of the malevolent energy.

Dongfang Weiwei has not retreated.

He slammed his bamboo staff into the ground, and dark golden light poured from the staff into the ground, erecting a dark golden barrier three zhang high in front of him.

Three Fiend Crystal Bone Claws slammed into the barrier, causing it to tremble violently and develop numerous cracks on its surface, but it did not shatter.

The protective membrane of the Bone-Guarding Vine not only protected his shinbone, but its medicinal power also seeped into the barrier along with the dark gold energy, filling the gaps in the dark gold patterns with a layer of dark green buffer, weakening the corrosive effect of the evil energy by at least 30%.

But Yin Jiuyou's attack didn't stop there. While his three bone claws drew the fire, his main body transformed into a wisp of malevolent mist and silently circled behind Dongfang Weiwo.

He pointed his right index finger at the back of his head—the finger was not filled with malevolent energy, but rather with a malevolent spirit from the Reincarnation Realm that had been sealed for countless years.

Chuan Ying once said that Yin Jiuyou's body contained a reincarnation-realm evil soul passed down from the successive sect leaders of the Yin Sha Sect.

Once he is unsealed, his combat power will break through to the Reincarnation Realm in a short period of time.

Now he's unsealed. The power of that finger strike wasn't at the peak of the Life and Death Realm, but at the Reincarnation Realm—the moment the Fiend Soul awoke from its seal, the entire sky above the withered willow forest was stained gray-black with fiendish energy, and the air was filled with a chilling cold that made one's bones ache.

Dongfang Weiwo's Bone Domain Perception issued the highest level alarm the instant before the Fiend Soul made its move. All skeletal beings within a ten-mile radius trembled violently under the Fiend Soul's aura, and even the countless bones of the ancient battlefield in the distant White Bone Wasteland rustled.

He swung the dark gold longsword backhand, colliding head-on with Yin Jiuyou's Soul-Slaying Finger.

Dark golden light and malevolent energy exploded in mid-air, creating a destructive shockwave that sent the scorched earth in the center of the withered willow forest flying three feet.

Dongfang Weiwo's tiger's mouth was instantly shattered, and the dark gold longsword shattered inch by inch from the tip. He was blasted back fifty feet by the aftershock, and only managed to stabilize himself by carving a deep trench in the ground with his bamboo staff.

His right arm skeleton was trembling violently, and dark gold matter surged wildly, repairing the bone gaps invaded by the evil energy—the Bone-Guarding Vine medicinal membrane blocked 70% of the evil energy for him.

However, the remaining 30% still penetrated into the surface of the skeleton.

Even a divine and demonic skeleton with a fusion rate of 45% could barely withstand an attack at the level of the Reincarnation Realm.

Just as Yin Jiuyou was about to strike with his second finger, a jet-black blade of light slashed horizontally from the side, severing the second strike of the Soul-Slaying Finger in mid-air.

During the brief moment when Chuan Ying was suppressing Wan Renyue, he unleashed his third strike. The moment the blade's light collided with the evil spirit, Chuan Ying's brow furrowed slightly.

His blade can cut through any obstacle, including realm suppression—but the evil spirit within Yin Jiuyou's body is not a living person, but a collection of vengeful spirits that the successive sect leaders of the Yin Sha Sect have fed with evil energy for thousands of years.

It has no fixed form; after being severed by the blade's edge, it reforms in mid-air, only slightly dimmer.

"Walk."

Chuan Ying's voice was low and short, "His evil spirit has been completely unsealed, and the total amount of evil energy at the Reincarnation Realm level is twice as much as I estimated."

I can kill it in ten cuts, but ten cuts take time.

"With you here, I can't act freely." Dongfang Weiwo used the cover of Chuan Ying's sword light to slip away from the edge of the withered willow forest.

Without turning back, he tapped the ground with his bamboo cane, and his figure transformed into a streak of dark golden light, rushing towards the barren hill where Lin Xiaoman was.

Behind him, Chuan Ying unleashed his fourth slash, the blade domain cleaving the evil spirit in two along the straight line. The evil energy roared and churned within the blade's intent, unable to heal for a moment.

Lin Xiaoman squatted on the barren hill, clutching the wooden carving of the Bone-Protecting Vine in her hand, her knuckles white. She saw the bone gaps in Dongfang Weiwo's right arm still emanating a malevolent aura, and without saying a word, she opened the last jar of Bone-Protecting Vine Ointment and applied the entire jar of ointment to his right arm.

The dark green medicinal power seeped into the bone crevices, forcing out the remaining malevolent energy little by little, which condensed into a layer of gray frost on the skin's surface before shattering and falling off.

"Yin Jiuyou can't catch up for now, but spies from Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain have surrounded us from the north. The entrance to the ancient battlefield of the White Bone Wasteland is just ahead, thirty miles away."

Her voice trembled, but her hands moved with perfect precision.