Chapter 705 - 355: White Bones in the Cave

Chapter 705: Chapter 355: White Bones in the Cave

Right in the center of the cave.

A white skeleton sat upright on a rush cushion, its hands tightly gripping a Jade Scroll as it faced the cave entrance.

"If this were in a tourist spot, any normal person would piss their pants seeing this," Cheng Zongyang muttered. Still, he cautiously approached.

The skeleton was incredibly white, with a special, tallow-jade-like quality. Looking at these jade-like bones, a single term surfaced in his mind: ’Jade Bone!’

’In the True Martial Refining God Skill, there’s a Body Refining Realm called Jade Bone. That’s a Body Forging Realm with Power comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm,’ Cheng Zongyang realized in astonishment.

But on second thought, something felt wrong.

’A Physical Body Realm of this level should be incorruptible. How could this skeleton not only be missing all its flesh but also be so clean?’

As he kept looking, Cheng Zongyang suddenly noticed a crucial detail—the skeleton had no clothes, no hair, and no fingernails.

This was completely inconsistent with the remains of someone who had passed away peacefully in meditation.

Even if the fingernails, hair, and clothes had deteriorated and decomposed, shouldn’t there be at least some residue on the ground?

In an instant, Cheng Zongyang shot up, about to retreat violently to create some distance!

But the moment he stood, the skeleton moved.

As Cheng Zongyang fell back, the skeleton exploded upward, disassembling mid-air into individual bones, while the Jade Scroll it had been holding dropped to the ground.

But this didn’t capture Cheng Zongyang’s attention at all. His eyes were now wide as an ox’s, fixed on the dismembered skeleton as it flew toward him at a terrifying speed. The scene was reminiscent of Iron Man’s armor breaking apart and then coming back together.

All the bones of the skeleton rapidly stuck to his body, piecing themselves together like a deeply unsettling exoskeleton being fitted onto him!

Cheng Zongyang was horrified, but he quickly forced himself to calm down and didn’t resist.

’As long as this skeleton doesn’t try to kill me immediately, I might as well see what the hell this thing is!’

From the moment the skeleton shot up to when Cheng Zongyang was almost completely covered by its bony parts, the entire process took less than three seconds.

The speed was simply unimaginable.

With his limbs encased by the skeleton, Cheng Zongyang was now like a marionette, unable to move an inch.

At that moment, the only part of the skeleton that hadn’t disassembled—the skull—was slowly flying toward him.

"Five hundred years!"

Suddenly, the skull spoke.

An ancient voice, filled with deep emotion, echoed through the cave. The skull slowly came to a halt in front of Cheng Zongyang.

Cheng Zongyang didn’t respond. If he had wanted to, he’d had more than enough time to enter the Realm of Ten Thousand Races the moment the bones attached to him.

But since the other party hadn’t tried to kill him, he wanted to understand what was going on here.

"No." Suddenly, the skull spoke again, its tone laced with shock and suspicion. "Qi Cultivation Great Perfection. With your Qi Cultivation, how did you open the Mountain Protection Array of my Cyan Profound Sect?"

"Are you the last member of the Cyan Profound Sect? Or an ancestor?" Cheng Zongyang countered with a question of his own.

"Kid, it seems you have quite a few secrets. To think you could open it and get in. You must have an Array-Breaking Treasure in your possession." The skull flew a circle around Cheng Zongyang.

Cheng Zongyang said, "Were you trapped here until you died?"

"No, no, the Spiritual Qi in the outside world has withered, and the Cultivation Immortality Realm has long since migrated... Which Sect Disciple are you?"

Cheng Zongyang: "..."

’So are we just going to talk past each other, each sticking to our own script?’

Cheng Zongyang was growing impatient. ’I should just take this thing to the Realm of Ten Thousand Races and deal with it there.’

Just as he was about to enter, he heard the skull exclaim in surprise, "Could it be that the Realm Master has returned, and the Spiritual Qi has been restored?"

"Realm Master?" Cheng Zongyang paused. "Who?"

"You’ve never even heard of the Realm Master?" The skull suddenly glared at Cheng Zongyang, its empty eye sockets feeling as if a pair of sharp eyes were staring out from them.

Cheng Zongyang immediately felt an inexplicable aura emanate from the bones on his body and begin to bore into him. It seemed to be a punishment for his question.

As he felt the wisp of ’qi’ enter his body, an idea struck Cheng Zongyang. He slowly activated his Cultivation Technique and began to actively absorb it.

As a result, the ’qi’ that entered his body seemed to be drawn toward his Dantian.

Soon, as the first wisp of ’qi’ was converted into a surge of vast Spiritual Power, Cheng Zongyang’s eyes widened.

"It... it actually..."

Cheng Zongyang mumbled, finding it hard to believe.

This was the first time he had ever encountered an energy that, after being absorbed and converted, wasn’t diminished but was actually amplified.

It was like a single drop of hundred-year-old Wine Paste dissolving in water and turning the entire volume into wine.

In essence, through his absorption and conversion, one wisp of ’qi’ had transformed into a hundred wisps of Spiritual Power!

The density of the Power contained within that wisp of ’qi’ was astounding!

Since Cheng Zongyang hadn’t absorbed much, the skull didn’t sense anything amiss. It simply looked at him and said sharply, "Speak! Which of those five useless Sects are you from?"

Cheng Zongyang remained silent, slowly absorbing the aura boring into his body, before replying, "I’m from the Infinite Daoist Sect."

The moment he said this, Cheng Zongyang was sent flying, smashing into the stone wall of the cave. At the same time, he heard the skull roar angrily, "You’re a Cultivator of Immortality! The Infinite Daoist Sect are Cultivators of the Dao! Do you take me for a—"

However, in the next instant, before it could finish its furious sentence, it discovered that Cheng Zongyang had vanished.

And along with him, its body!!

"Damn it! This kid is more than he seems! Was that Shrinking Inches? Or Qiankun Shift?"

The skull calmed down and immediately tried to sense the location of its body.

But when it sensed its body’s location, its jaw slowly dropped open. It gradually turned its head to look at the stone wall behind it.

In the next second, a purple haze poured out of the skull, bathing the entire cave in a radiant glow.

Following that, an ethereal Soul Body appeared, with the skull serving as its head. The two overlapped, revealing the form of an immortal-like and venerable old man.

Finally, the glow condensed into a halo of divine purple light behind the skull.

He slowly walked to the wall and pressed his ethereal hand against the stone. The next moment, runes materialized on the wall’s surface as the glow faded into it. Then the stone wall seemed to squirm, parting as if it were alive to reveal a path. At the end, a vast and sprawling Array was exposed.

"How is this possible! Why is my body in there? Sect Leader, the Sect Leader followed the Realm—the Realm Master has truly returned?"

The skull-headed old man’s heart churned with a mixture of excitement, horror, and confusion as he slowly floated inside.

Because of his Cultivation Technique, he could sense his body no matter how far away it was. Even across worlds, he could faintly perceive its general direction.

But just now, he had faintly sensed that his body was right inside the stone wall.

And the place this Array led to... that was the real reason for his shock, horror, and excitement!

But hundreds of years ago, the Sect Leader had received the Realm Master’s order to seal this Grand Array with the Realm Master’s Treasure to prevent any mishaps. It had since lost its power source; the remnant Power of the Realm Master had been depleted, so it could no longer be activated.

The Cyan Profound Sect were the Array Guardians, the ones who protected the passage for the Realm Master.

They were to wait for the Realm Master’s future return, so he could activate this Grand Array at any time.

But just now...

The skull-headed old man gradually calmed his mind, returned outside, and began to wait.

He didn’t know if that person would return, but after what had just happened, all he could do was wait.

What he didn’t know, however, was that after entering the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, a very excited Cheng Zongyang had begun to recklessly absorb the Power contained within the skeleton!

"Where did you just go? Where did this skeleton come from?" The Ring Spirit’s voice suddenly rang out.

Cheng Zongyang paused, though he didn’t stop absorbing. Confused, he asked, "Didn’t you see what just happened outside?"

"No. For the past two-odd hours, I couldn’t sense anything from the outside world."

Cheng Zongyang was suddenly alarmed.

He had spent those two-odd hours exploring the Cyan Profound Sect. ’The Ring Spirit was actually cut off from the outside world?’

Cheng Zongyang immediately recounted what had just happened.

After hearing the story, the Ring Spirit fell silent for a long while before offering its speculation:

"My true self is currently within the Realm of Ten Thousand Races. The only way I could be Shielded without affecting your ability to enter and exit is if it was a measure put in place by this world’s previous master. You use my Ability, but I am inside the Realm of Ten Thousand Races. Therefore, you are unaffected, while I was Shielded. Looking at it this way, the previous master of the Realm of Ten Thousand Races likely set up this measure to prevent something!"

Cheng Zongyang’s eyes widened. "You mean, the Cyan Profound Sect is connected to the previous master of the Realm of Ten Thousand Races?"

"It’s highly likely," the Ring Spirit replied.

Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but look down at the bones in his hand. He thought back and recalled a name.

"The owner of these bones just mentioned a name. Realm Master! Ring Spirit, do you think that could be the previous master?" Cheng Zongyang’s expression turned grave.

The Realm of Ten Thousand Races was his and the Ring Spirit’s foundation. If the previous master could return and reclaim the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, how would he and the Ring Spirit possibly deal with that?