Wei Tianchen looked up toward the sky, and Zhao Xing followed his gaze.
In the next instant, a voice echoed from the ground, less than ten thousand li from where they stood.
"Your medical techniques are quite interesting. Did you refine this thing? What's it called?"
Both Wei Tianchen and Zhao Xing were startled by the voice.
A figure had appeared on the island—he wore a dark green robe and emitted no aura at all. Not even a trace of bone power, yet his body was fully made of flesh and blood.
His reddish-brown hair burned like flame and was bound with a jade hairpin. His facial features were sharp and flawless, his skin glowed like jade, and his eyes shone bright and clear.
On the interface, there were only two lines of information for this man named Dan Ye: one was his name, the other his profession.
[Name: Dan Ye]
[Profession: Divine Physician]
Because of the huge difference in levels, Zhao Xing couldn't tell whether this person was a Free God or a Tribulationless True God.
"I'm Dan Ye. I proved the Dao myself," the green-robed figure said with a faint smile.
Zhao Xing immediately cupped his hands respectfully. "Greetings, Senior."
Wei Tianchen, however, didn't bow or say a word. He stood silent, deep in thought.
"Relax. I mean no harm. I just happened to be passing by," Dan Ye said, stretching out his hand. "I saw something that piqued my interest."
Swish—
A box appeared out of nowhere in his hand. It was the same one Wei Tianchen had just shown off to Zhao Xing—it held the Dao Heart Bewilderment Elixir!
Old Wei was really unreliable. With all those divine items on him, he hadn't even noticed someone sneaking up. And now, one of his treasures had been taken!
"What's this elixir called?"
Wei Tianchen replied, "It's the Dao Heart Bewilderment Elixir."
Dan Ye crushed the box, inhaled the powder in one breath, and nodded repeatedly with a look of pleasure. "Not bad, not bad. Quite wonderful."
"What's your name?"
"Wei Tianchen."
"Do you have other fine elixirs?"
"I've concocted a few random ones. They're all here."
"I'll take you as my disciple and teach you alchemy. Will you come with me?"
Because of their previous scheme against Fu Mengzhen, Zhao Xing and Wei Tianchen had established a shared mental space. Zhao Xing could clearly feel Wei Tianchen trembling inside it.
Trembling in the mental space meant his emotions were surging.
Zhao Xing didn't get why he was shaking.
Dan Ye didn't seem hostile. He'd completely ignored all the divine artifacts. Wasn't that a good sign?
Still, Wei Tianchen quickly composed himself, bent at the waist, and said, "I'm willing to follow you."
Seeing him agree, Dan Ye looked pleased. His eyes finally paused on Zhao Xing for a moment, but quickly moved away.
Wei Tianchen noticed and pointed at Zhao Xing. "He's my subordinate. I want to give him some orders, to manage my domain."
"That's fine."
Then, Wei Tianchen handed the red jade ring on his finger to Zhao Xing.
He spoke calmly. "I'm going to meet the Revered God. My path to the Dao is opening. You return on your own, and cultivate well."
"Yes." Zhao Xing took the red jade ring.
The next second, Wei Tianchen flew to Dan Ye's side, never looking back.
Whoosh—
Dan Ye didn't look at Zhao Xing again either. With a wave, he vanished from Wuyun Island along with Wei Tianchen.
Zhao Xing quietly put away the imprisoned Fu Mengzhen, then took off flying toward Fu Bone Territory.
Boom—
Shortly after he left, Wuyun Island, stripped of its divine resonance, self-destructed. The wild burst of destruction erased every trace of the island,
Its rubble scattered across the vast waters of the Nine Yin River.
On the way back to Fu Bone Territory, Zhao Xing felt a bit lost.
That was because Wei Tianchen had handed over his most important storage ring.
Zhao Xing had seen it himself—Wei Tianchen had stored the five divine artifacts used to subdue Fu Mengzhen in that red jade ring. That included the Eight Directions Divine Mirror, the Bishui Gold Spirit Gourd, the Yuan Wheel, and so on!
It very likely also contained something Wei Tianchen greatly valued—Fan Qianrou's "Seven-Star Cabinet."
"This Dan Ye Free God… something's seriously off!"
Wei Tianchen being accepted as Dan Ye's disciple should've been a good thing.
But his behavior looked more like he was never coming back. There was even a hint of entrusting his legacy to Zhao Xing—asking him to return with all his precious possessions.
Zhao Xing carefully recalled the conversation between Dan Ye and Wei Tianchen.
Nothing had seemed off.
Dan Ye hadn't taken any treasures from Wuyun Island. He wasn't Fu Mengzhen's reinforcements either. He hadn't even glanced at the divine artifacts Wei Tianchen had left outside, like the Eight Directions Divine Mirror.
"So what actually happened?"
"Is this perhaps some fated opportunity from my skyrocketing fortune?"
"I may not be able to open the red jade ring right now, but I'm no longer under anyone's control. If I run off with it… I'll be rich!"
The thought flashed through his mind, but Zhao Xing immediately calmed down.
"No… blessings and disasters go hand in hand. Before I figure out what's going on, I'd better return to Fu Bone City first."
The red jade ring still carried Wei Tianchen's seal. As long as he was alive, Zhao Xing couldn't open it.
If it couldn't be opened, it was as good as nothing. Carrying so many divine items around blindly might not be a blessing, but a disaster.
"Back to base!"
Suppressing his greed, Zhao Xing forced himself to stay calm. Two months later, he returned to Fu Bone City.
Whoosh—
As soon as Zhao Xing returned to the firepit within Fu Bone City, he saw one of Wei Tianchen's avatars waiting for him at the edge.
Originally, Wei Tianchen had many incarnation bodies. But after entering the White Bone Divine Domain, all those incarnations had dissolved.
That was because those incarnations were just "living dead"—beings who had already reached the end of their lifespan. Their bodies were empty shells, refined by Wei Tianchen into undead puppets and then controlled with his soul.
The current avatar was a temporary one, cultivated over the past thirty-three years using the fireseed soul-splitting method.
"Old Grand Physician, I brought your stuff back," Zhao Xing said as he removed the red jade ring and tossed it over to Wei Tianchen's avatar.
"You came back. That's good," Wei Tianchen said. "If you had run off, that red jade ring wouldn't have been a blessing for you, but a curse."
With that, he tossed the ring back to Zhao Xing.
"What are you—" Zhao Xing froze.
"If I die, that thing becomes yours," Wei Tianchen's avatar said. "At that moment, the artifact spirit within the red jade ring will automatically unlock the seal for you."
"If that day ever comes, Zhao Xing, you may as well pursue the path of a physician. You already have the foundation of Fan Qianrou's Heart Sealing Method, and I've left behind my inheritance. Following this path to become a god might not be a bad thing."
Zhao Xing felt conflicted. He hadn't expected that Wei Tianchen really intended to entrust this to him.
"For now, contact Bamboo Sword. Tell him to come back. Then have that kid Bai Lanjun use his formation to get you out of here."
"That guy has issues?" Zhao Xing asked, not mentioning Dan Ye's divine title. At the same time, he started reaching out to Bamboo Sword Venerable—both through communication and by notifying his avatar stationed in Anshan Territory to return immediately.
"Yeah." Wei Tianchen sighed.
"I said before: to become a Free God is to attain the Dao through one's true self. But even then, one still must face divine tribulations."
"Only by proving the Dao through Heaven and Earth and becoming a Tribulationless True God can one attain true freedom."
"He set his eyes on me. Either he plans to seize my Dao, or he wants to use me as a tool."
"A disciple? Ha—he didn't even care about divine artifacts. Why take a disciple for no reason?"
Zhao Xing understood now. Wei Tianchen didn't want his method of proving the Dao through Heaven and Earth to fall into Dan Ye's hands. The Seven-Star Cabinet was his most critical Dao-proving item.
If Wei Tianchen died, it would mean his suspicions were correct.
And if he had guessed wrong, and Dan Ye truly just wanted to take a disciple, then Wei Tianchen could simply come back and retrieve the red jade ring.
But in Wei Tianchen's judgment, the former was more likely.
The old physician viewed the divine realm as parasitic—just as Bowe described divinity as cold, selfish, and indifferent.
Given the choice, he'd rather entrust the Seven-Star Cabinet to Zhao Xing than to the godlike Dan Ye.
"Old Grand Physician, didn't you say you weren't afraid of normal divine realm cultivators?" Zhao Xing asked. "You've got all those divine items—can't you at least fight him?"
"Even if I win, I still can't kill him. If I lose, I lose everything," Wei Tianchen shook his head. He couldn't afford to take that risk.
If he lost, he'd never fulfill his lifelong wish.
"Then where should I go?" Zhao Xing asked.
"From Fu Mengzhen's testimony, I've just reached where I need to be. I can't say anymore—" Wei Tianchen's avatar's inner fireseed dimmed rapidly.
Thud—
The bone body collapsed heavily to the ground.
"Old Grand Physician?!" Zhao Xing rushed over to check, only to find the fireseed was now barely a flicker—like a firefly. It hadn't gone out completely, but it was no longer capable of communication.
Whoosh—
A few days later, a figure appeared in the firepit—Bamboo Sword Venerable had returned from Anshan City.
"What happened? Where's Wei Tianchen?"
"We ran into a Free God," Zhao Xing said, pointing at the bone body of Wei Tianchen's avatar. He gave a brief explanation. "That's how it went down."
Bamboo Sword Venerable fell silent.
In the Xuanling Star Domain, he had only ever seen a divine realm cultivator twice in his entire life. He'd only had a real interaction once.
He never imagined the Xuanhuang Realm would be this dangerous. After only a little more than thirty years, they'd already encountered a divine realm expert.
He had known it was bound to happen eventually—and that any contact with a divine realm figure was dangerous—but he hadn't thought it would come this quickly.
After a brief moment of shock, Bamboo Sword Venerable asked the same question Zhao Xing had raised earlier.
"If a divine realm cultivator wants to hunt us down, where can we go that's actually safe?"
Zhao Xing pulled out the three pieces of beast hide containing Fu Mengzhen's confession. "According to her statement, we have three options."
"First, go to her lair. It's part of a Free God's domain, right in the core region of the Bone Yin Realm. There's a Moon God Grotto-Heaven there. It's open to the public, and Fu Mengzhen has been making offerings to that place to receive the Moon God's protection.
Right now, we're in control of Fu Mengzhen, so we could temporarily hide out in her lair."
"Second, do the opposite. Stay far away from the Southern Continent's center. Hide out on the outer edges where there are fewer bone creatures."
"Third, also head to the core region—but not toward Fu Mengzhen's lair. Instead, seek refuge with another Free God named Yu Mo. That area is also publicly known."
Bamboo Sword Venerable considered it carefully. "Fu Mengzhen's lair doesn't sound like a good place. Who knows if she'll recover? I don't know healing arts."
"Plus, the one paying tribute was Fu Mengzhen—not us."
"Hiding on the outer edge may not be safe either. Let's go to Yu Mo's grotto."
Zhao Xing actually felt the second option had its merits.
If Wei Tianchen really was dead, and he had inherited all those divine artifacts, along with thirty-tier luck, hiding on the edge wouldn't be a bad idea.
Also, he still wanted to figure out what treasure he had summoned. Doing that under the nose of a divine realm expert might not be wise.
But Bamboo Sword's point was valid too.
Hiding on the fringe wasn't necessarily safer—and what, just hide forever?
"Then let's go to Yu Mo's Grotto-Heaven."
In the end, Zhao Xing and Bamboo Sword Venerable reached an agreement.
He had Bai Lanjun, Hu Qing, and Yan Jun follow the route map obtained from Fu Mengzhen to secretly set up firepits along the way.
Zhao Xing and Bamboo Sword Venerable, meanwhile, continued living normally in the Fu Bone Territory.
About seven years later, the firepit network was completed.
At this point, Wei Tianchen's avatar was still in a half-dead state.
Seven and a half years in, Bamboo Sword Venerable challenged a thirteenth-tier Bone King to a duel.
The two of them fought a sky-shaking battle in Fu Bone City. Wildfire raged, and eventually, the entire city was destroyed by the clash of these two mighty figures.
Both were declared "mutually perished."
In the Bone Yin Realm, in Yu Mo Prefecture, the sky was eternally gray. A mist seemed to hang over the entire land, making visibility extremely low—it was hard to even tell day from night.
Whoosh—
On the edge of Yu Mo Prefecture, a small bonfire barely ten meters wide and half a person tall suddenly lit up the fog.
Right after, five figures stepped out from it.
Pfft—
Seeing Zhao Xing and Bamboo Sword emerge safely, along with her senior brother and sister, Bai Lanjun immediately followed the original plan and snuffed out the firepit, destroying it completely.
"My lord, everything's ready," Bai Lanjun reported. "From here, if we head east, we'll reach Yu Mo's territory in about half a year."
"For extra safety, my brother, sister, and I also laid a firepit route to Moon God Prefecture, and we've already destroyed them one by one."
"Good work, Xiao Bai." Zhao Xing nodded. The firepit formation technique from the Divine Fire Sect was top-tier. According to Xiao Bai, even divine realm cultivators had a hard time tracking it.
Still, just to be safe, Zhao Xing had them set up a decoy route to buy extra time if anything went wrong.
"Fu Mengzhen, you take the lead," Zhao Xing ordered, looking at the surrounding fog and having her guide them through the final stretch.
Map fog was a defining feature of the Bone Yin Realm, just like the underworld regions back in the Xuanhuang Realm. You needed specific routes to know where to go.
According to Fu Mengzhen, some divine realm territories were publicly known, while others were hidden.
In the three hundred-plus years since the Bone Yin Realm had formed, only two public divine domains were known to her.
"Yes." Fu Mengzhen still looked dazed. The Dao-heart confusion drug Wei Tianchen gave her hadn't worn off, even now.
On her status panel, her cultivation, luck, and techniques were all marked as abnormal.
At this point, Zhao Xing had also equipped Shenrui's divine luck bone. Over the next few months, they passed safely through the fog.
One day, they emerged from the final stretch of mist—and the world suddenly turned bright and clear.
Beneath their feet, the barren wasteland was replaced by lush green grass.
[You have arrived in Yu Mo Prefecture. Coordinates: Southeast Bone Yin Realm — Tian Shu 42, Di Zang 5, Yu Shen 52.]
[Yu Shen "Mo Yuan" preached the Dao in the Xuanhuang Realm and created Yu Mo Grotto-Heaven. It has been fifty-two years since he seized the Heavenly Mandate.]
"Huh?" Zhao Xing looked at the coordinate message and raised an eyebrow. Why had that message popped up again?
"Looks like this Yu Shen Mo Yuan is quite the character. If the new Xuanhuang Realm is like a game version, then Mo Yuan must be a key figure in this update. Still, I doubt he's in the same tier as Yuan." Zhao Xing thought.
At that moment, his left hand's bone suddenly started heating up.
The red jade ring he wore began to vibrate slightly.
Ripples—
Like a stone dropping into calm water.
Zhao Xing shuddered.
The red jade ring—was unsealed!