Ming Li, hovering in the sky on star lines, looked around. She saw the Calligraphy Saint and Fang Hui below, as well as Sui Qiusan standing on the mountain path opposite the Calligraphy Saint.

Yet she couldn’t find the two people she most wanted to see.

Ming Li asked Song Tianjiu: “Where are they?”

Song Tianjiu scratched his head, sensing the location of the Marrow Awakening while answering: “They’re nearby. We need to search more, but they’re not far.”

Ming Li remained silent, looking ahead at the red-eyed serpents covering the entire mountain wall, raising an eyebrow slightly.

These weren’t incorporeal beings.

The serpents hissed, making warning sounds toward her, extending their bodies forward in attempts to attack.

“Find a safe place to stay.” Ming Li flung Song Tianjiu behind her with star lines, while her divine weapon, White Bone Bloom, transformed into a jade flute.

The melody from Ming Li’s fingertips struck the mountain wall. The red-eyed serpents flying out from their caves were killed by several of Ming Li’s Thunderous Roar Meridian spirit techniques. Blood splattered on the mountain wall, provoking the other serpents to launch a group attack.

Countless serpents continuously flew out from their caves, seemingly endless.

Song Tianjiu landed and looked up at Ming Li still in the air. He rubbed his nose, praying in his heart that they could quickly resolve these troubles.

The Calligraphy Saint and Sui Qiusan were also watching Ming Li in the distance. Thinking she was tied up with the red-eyed serpents, they temporarily ignored her presence.

What mattered was the person before them.

The Calligraphy Saint looked back at Sui Qiusan.

“Your appearance here is somewhat unexpected. Are you so unafraid of death?”

“Indeed, I’m not afraid.” Sui Qiusan stopped his advance with composure, his gaze passing over the Calligraphy Saint to fall on Fang Hui behind him. “This child is quite special.”

The Calligraphy Saint said softly: “With your abilities, you can perceive his specialness?”

Sui Qiusan shook his head, his eyes showing a smile: “Perhaps I couldn’t see it before, but now it’s too obvious.”

Fang Hui sensed some danger from these words. Though the man opposite was just an ordinary person without cultivation rank and whose aura was gentle as a spring breeze, his words made Fang Hui shudder.

The Calligraphy Saint had never taken Sui Qiusan seriously before, but now he sensed something subtly wrong. He slowly stepped forward to stand in front of Fang Hui, blocking their line of sight.

The branches and leaves of nearby flower trees moved without the wind. In the instant Sui Qiusan’s clothes and hair were lifted, enormous black shadows slowly rose from the reflections of everything on the ground.

They were taller than mountains, humanoid with tattered clothes, standing between heaven and earth like poles supporting the sky and ground. Moonlight from above fell on Sui Qiusan through the giant black skeletons.

Song Tianjiu, who had been concentrating, opened his eyes at the sound and looked toward the mountain path in shock, somewhat bemused. What is this now?

Fang Hui was also wondering what these things were.

Under the moonlight, the shapes of the tattered-clothed black shadows became clearer. Beneath the fluttering clothes were only black skeletons. The eye sockets of the skulls were hollow, yet they slowly turned, as if searching for something.

A hurricane uprooted the flower trees from the ground. Countless stellar forces were generating throughout heaven and earth, all converging toward Sui Qiusan. More and more giant black skeletons rose from the ground, shadows.

The Calligraphy Saint raised his hand, resisting the stellar forces converging toward Sui Qiusan. These stellar forces seemed to belong to no one in heaven and earth, yet he couldn’t absorb or transform them.

Sui Qiusan’s clothes and hair fluttered wildly in the wind. He raised his head, smiling as he looked at the black skeletons, opening his hands to them. “Finally, this day has come. Look at how angry these people are, killed by the Divine Oracle over millions of years.”

The black skeletons were turning their heads, searching. One near Ming Li tilted its head to look at her as she was examining them. When a red-eyed serpent flew over with fangs bared, the black skeleton raised its bony hand to grab it and crushed it.

Following this black skeleton’s action, the other black skeletons all turned their heads.

The red-eyed serpents didn’t stop attacking. This relentless assault seemed to anger the black skeletons. The distant black skeletons all looked toward the mountain wall, emitting sharp screams at the red-eyed serpents.

This cry was neither human nor beast, extremely piercing, as if it contained all the Thunderous Roar Meridian spirit techniques in the world, completely tearing apart the continuously emerging red-eyed serpents.

For a moment, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.

Even the people at Three Crow River heard the black skeletons’ roars.

Sui Qiusan looked at the motionless Calligraphy Saint opposite him. Though separated by a mask, he knew that the face beneath had lost its composure.

*

The flames in the Three Crow River were still burning, almost spreading throughout the entire waterway. After Fu Yuan shattered the Seven Star Command, the Nan Que principals on the opposite shore darkened their expressions and immediately took action.

Each person attacked with full force, all using killing moves.

Thunderous Roar Meridian: Wind Plum.

Yang Meridian: Fire Radiance.

Body Technique Meridian: Cloud Illusory Step.

The three Nan Que masters—Ghost Mansion and others—had clear targets: kill Bei Dou’s people first. Fu Yuan and Black Fox Mask didn’t take this lightly, each engaging in battle.

Qian Li expressionlessly watched Qiu Hong on the opposite shore. Blood droplets congealed in the air the riverbank, forming a shape that devoured flames, making the scene brighter. Meanwhile, the two white-robed Earth Ghosts beside him moved to attack the opposite shore.

“I didn’t tell you to go!” Qian Li commanded in a low voice.

But Qiu Lang said, “I did.”

Qian Li turned to look, frowning at Qiu Lang, who had suddenly appeared. He was different from those masked Earth Ghosts who only knew how to follow orders and kill.

Cheng Jingbai kicked away a flying white-robed Earth Ghost, leaving Zhou Xiang to handle the fight, and looked toward the opposite shore to ask: “Qiu Lang! Where is Zixi?”

Qiu Lang laughed coldly, glancing at Black Fox Mask, who had drawn his sword to fight Ghost Mansion and the others: “Why don’t you ask me where Wu Liangli is first?”

Zhou Xiang, who was protecting Lin Xiao and Li Bushuo as they retreated, looked at Qiu Lang in surprise. Cheng Jingbai was also startled. They knew Qiu Lang had captured Zhou Zixi, but didn’t know Wu Liangli was also in the Wandering Ghost Region.

Cheng Jingbai’s expression darkened: “You captured Wu Liangli too?”

Qiu Lang raised an eyebrow: “She helped me capture Zixi.”

Cheng Jingbai responded quickly: “If that’s true, why did she run?”

“Because she’s afraid of certain people discovering she’s an Earth Ghost.” As Qiu Lang glanced at Black Fox Mask, the sword-wielding man deflected the approaching Zhan Mansion with a backhand strike. His sword tip cut across the water surface, raising a huge wave that engulfed Zhan Mansion before slashing horizontally again.

Countless sword energies shattered the water droplets. Black Fox Mask didn’t look at the severely injured Zhan Mansion, who had fallen to the ground. Drenched in water, he gripped his sword and shadow-shifted to slash at Qiu Lang. Their weapons collided with a crisp sound.

The collision of their weapons caused the Three Crow River’s surface to fluctuate, creating a ground depression centered around the two men.

No one dared to rashly intervene between these two.

Black Fox Mask lowered his brows, slightly lifting his eyelids as his gaze passed over the blade’s reflection from the blade-staff to land on Qiu Lang’s face: “Say it again. Who are you looking for?”

Qiu Lang snickered, provocatively: “I’m looking for an Earth Ghost named Wu Liangli. What does that have to do with you?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the space above everyone was torn apart. Star lines entwined in a formation materialized, and figures walked out from the formation one by one. The stellar power pressure of Pilgrims descended, causing the reeds to bend and break.

Xiang An’ge raised an eyebrow as he looked down, and at the moment of successful teleportation, countless Wandering Ghost Clan warriors and white-robed masked Earth Ghosts arrived on the opposite shore.

Before the people on the riverbank could react, Qing Ying and Chen Zhou each shadow-shifted to Fu Yuan’s side, repelling Ghost Mansion and Star Mansion, who had been entangling him.

Qing Ying frowned as she looked at the retreating Ghost Mansion and Star Mansion. Her hatred for Nan Que instantly erupted, and she raised her hand in a sweeping motion.

Thunderous Roar Meridian: Earth God Sound Kill.

The sound waves swept horizontally, the sound of listening to heartbeats pursuing the retreating people relentlessly.

The sound waves tore through Ghost Mansion’s clothes. When flower petals and falling leaves appeared in his vision, he had already entered Chen Zhou’s spiritual illusion realm. Ghost Mansion was horrified, looking at Chen Zhou on the opposite shore in disbelief. Was he at the Life and Death Boundary?

The speed of Earth God Sound Kill caught up with Ghost Mansion. Flying leaves shattered his stellar power protection, and a burst of blood exploded from his chest cavity. His pupils contracted, only managing to see a figure shadow-shifting in front of him.

Qian Li raised his hand, creating a celestial wall defense.

The bells on Qing Ying’s wrist made a crisp sound. She and Qian Li locked gazes across the Three Crow River.

Qian Li recognized her. She wasn’t from the Jiang family, though she had a similar face, but without that teardrop mole. The person standing on the opposite shore looked exactly like the Bei Dou disciple who had blocked the Jiang family’s siege in front of him before.

Qing Ying also recognized the young man on the opposite shore. She slightly raised an eyebrow: “Zhao Qianli, are you still a disciple of Nan Que?”

The Earth God Sound Kill had already created cracks in Qian Li’s celestial wall defense.

Several grotesque blood lines floated around Qian Li as he said with apparent resignation: “I’m sorry.”

Fu Yuan said, “He’s the current sect leader of Nan Que.”

Chen Zhou was somewhat surprised. He had heard about this young man from Dong Yeshou. Though he was Cui Yaocen’s disciple, Chen Zhou had thought that due to his friendship with Ming Li, he wouldn’t go so far as to stand against Bei Dou.

But Qing Ying laughed, walking forward with no humor in her eyes.

She said, “Since you’ve made your choice, then I’ll seek guidance from the Nan Que sect leader.”

As Qing Ying withdrew her hand, her fingertips slid across a star line. Blood drops transformed and dissipated, instantly becoming several grotesque blood lines filling the surroundings, completely shattering the celestial wall defense on the opposite side.

Qian Li looked in disbelief at the blood lines that brushed past his cheek, leaving a bloody scratch and pain.

Divine Miraculous Ability: Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms.

How could she use this?!

Fu Yuan was also surprised, quietly asking Chen Zhou: “She can use this?”

“She used to refuse to practice the Zhao family’s divine miraculous ability,” Chen Zhou answered softly. “She only picked it up recently. In terms of proficiency, she probably can’t match that kid, but it’s enough to intimidate.”

Qing Ying’s attack speed was very fast, aiming to catch Qian Li off guard while he was intimidated. At the same time, she hadn’t withdrawn the Earth God Sound Kill, so she needed to be extremely focused, consuming a large amount of stellar power.

While Qian Li was still in shock, he was struck by the Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms from the opposite side. In the blink of an eye, Qing Ying had arrived in front of him. His body instinctively reacted by retreating, but Qing Ying’s attacks were fierce and dense, forcing him to continuously respond without time to think.

But in every engagement, he could sense that Qing Ying’s Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms was different from those who had stolen the technique from Sui Qiusan.

The power from bloodline inheritance, the concrete manifestation of control over “blood,” was completely different.

In other words, she was a clan member with the Zhao bloodline.

“Wait…” Qian Li tried to say something, but Qing Ying had no intention of talking with him. Bloodlines entangled Qian Li’s blood scythe, cracking and destroying it.

Qian Li dodged a punch from Qing Ying, but the wind from her fist brushed his cheek, stinging painfully. Hearing the sound of her blood scythe being crushed, she exclaimed: “Hmm! More fragile than I thought. Relying on just this level of Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms, can you hold your position as Nan Que’s sect leader?”

“Why do you…” Before Qian Li could finish, Earth God Sound Kill had caught up to him, directly threatening the heart deep in his chest. Forced to hold his breath, he tried to distance himself, only to see Qing Ying raise her hand and point: “Sound Bind.”

At the forefront, Xiang An’ge was using stellar power pressure to block a large number of Wandering Ghost Clan warriors and white-robed Earth Ghosts. He glanced at the battle behind with the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow slightly when he saw Qing Ying dominating the fight.

Qian Li’s mind was confused by Qing Ying’s use of the Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms, leading to misjudgments in battle. He was blasted and injured by the Word Incantation Sound Bind, rolling on the ground. His blood scythes were entangled and bound by Qing Ying’s blood lines, unable to help.

Qing Ying showed no mercy. She knew her proficiency with Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms was inferior to Qian Li’s, so she used it only for defense, not offense, relying on her most powerful Thunderous Roar Meridian spirit techniques for attacks.

This made it difficult for Qian Li, who primarily used the Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms for offense.

As Qian Li, fallen to the ground, was about to push himself up with his palm, Earth God Sound Kill had already reached his eyes. He felt a pain in his chest, and just as his heart was about to be completely crushed, Qing Ying withdrew her hand, watching Qian Li cough blood uncontrollably, his fighting capacity greatly reduced.

Qian Li raised his head to look at Qing Ying: “You are… Zhao family…”

“I never considered myself a member of the Zhao clan,” Qing Ying said.

When the Zhao family was at its peak, they were the state kings of Zhu Que State in the south, with power even greater than the Jiang family. Such a massive and powerful family, with a bloodline-inherited divine miraculous ability, would never easily abandon any offspring.

Yet Qing Ying was precisely the child abandoned by the Zhao family.

Even if there had been some accident or misunderstanding, the Zhao family would have searched for this lost child. But they hadn’t.

Although her master and senior sisters had all guided Qing Ying to think positively, when she saw Qian Li years ago, she understood that the Zhao family had abandoned her first.

Qing Ying often marveled at how fortunate she was to have been picked up by her master and brought to Bei Dou. Since the Zhao family didn’t want her, she didn’t want the Zhao family’s divine miraculous ability.

Although she later practiced the Celestial Net of Ten Thousand Forms to become stronger, by then, she was no longer the girl who felt inferior about her origins.

“I am not from the Zhao family, and I won’t have any reservations toward you because of the Zhao family, nor should you have any toward me,” Qing Ying lowered her gaze to look at Qian Li. “Setting those aside, our relationship is very simple: I’m going to rescue the Earth Ghost junior brother imprisoned in the Wandering Ghost Region. You’re blocking me, so you’re an opponent I need to eliminate.”

Qian Li said with frustration: “He’s an Earth Ghost!”

Qing Ying frowned: “He is my master’s disciple, a Bei Dou disciple we must protect.”

“He’s not like your father. He hasn’t done evil, but has been persecuted by the world, experienced much suffering, yet chose to reconcile with this world and even saved many people. You are one of them.”

“Do you think I wanted to be saved by an Earth Ghost?!” Qian Li’s eyes were bloodshot, still coughing up blood, and unwilling to accept, especially with Qing Ying’s identity as a Zhao family member saying these things to him, making him feel extremely angry and aggrieved.

Qing Ying stared at him for a while, then sighed and lightly kicked him: “Why are you throwing a tantrum at me like a child?”

Qian Li still wanted to struggle, when suddenly a tremendous sound echoed through heaven and earth. Within this sound were countless spirit techniques, causing immeasurable stellar power vibrations. Even at such a distance, Cheng Jingbai and others could barely withstand these stellar power fluctuations, raising their hands to cover their ears.

Everyone at Three Crow River simultaneously looked toward Resentment Tower Mountain.

*

The black skeletons roared at the mountain wall. Some red-eyed serpents flying out from the caves were blasted and shattered as soon as they left the cave mouths, yet they seemed endless.

Song Tianjiu, at the center of the storm, mobilized all his stellar power to form protection, especially his Thunderous Roar Meridian, operating at its limit just to resist the howls of these black skeletons.

At the same time, he sensed the power of the Marrow Awakening. Struggling to raise his head to look at Ming Li in the sky, he shouted with all his might: “Inside the mountain!”

“The mountain!”

“This mountain!”

Song Tianjiu’s voice reached Ming Li’s ears. She withdrew her gaze from the black skeletons and slowly looked at the great mountain ahead.

The Calligraphy Saint, bringing Fang Hui with him, shadow-shifted toward Ming Li, intending to block her actions. However, as they approached, they were pushed back by a black skeleton near Ming Li, who extended its hand with fingers spread.

In the eye of the storm, only Sui Qiusan and Ming Li were unaffected by the spirit techniques released through the black skeletons’ howls.

Ming Li’s White Bone Bloom transformed into a long sword. She fully activated her eight meridians’ power, with broken mirror fragments floating and slowly rotating beside her.

Tonight’s moonlight was magnificent. The sky, originally pitch black, now had stars lighting up one by one. The brilliant Milky Way quietly appeared, its luminescence flickering on Ming Li. The low, ancient voice from this continent beneath her feet responded to her request.

The earth trembled.

Ming Li swung her sword. The sword light was brilliant and dazzling, disappearing in an instant. But the great mountain before her was cut in half at the waist. Countless red-eyed serpents and the mountain body itself were completely shattered into tiny flying stones, utterly dispersed by the spirit techniques released from the black skeletons’ howls.

A place of eternal darkness received the cold moonlight for the first time.

The black mist surrounding the sacrificial altar flowed and surged. The earth’s trembling caused bones from the corpse pile to clatter downward. The chains jingled, and the bound person slightly tilted his head, as if sensing something, slowly raising his head toward the familiar power.

His world was still dark.

But finally, his body would no longer be penetrated by light and shadow.