A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bone...

The light from the fire starter flickered softly inside the stone chamber, illuminating the blue-violet leaves of the Blue Silver Emperor. The golden lines between its veins swayed with the airflow, resembling crushed starlight.

Jiang Zhen's grip on the flowerpot was steady, though a bit of soil clung to his fingertips.

After gently setting the flowerpot aside, he straightened and swept his gaze across the surrounding stone walls.

Based on his memory of the plot, since Tang Hao had hidden the Blue Silver Emperor Main Body here, the Lead Box containing the Spirit Bone should be here as well.

I'll look around first.

Jiang Zhen set down the fire starter. A strand of pale-blue Soul Power condensed at his fingertips and lightly pressed against the stone wall.

His Soul Power spread like ripples on water, slowly traveling along the patterns in the stone wall. He was testing whether there were signs of hollow spaces or mechanisms hidden within it.

When his Soul Power swept across the left side of the wall, he suddenly sensed a faint obstruction. It was not the hardness of the stone itself, but a sluggish feeling caused by something being "sealed off by human hands."

Jiang Zhen's heart stirred. He bent down and leaned closer to the wall, then lightly knocked on it with his palm.

"Thump, thump."

The sound was duller than elsewhere. It was clearly hollow.

He did not rush to use brute force. Instead, he felt his way along the cracks in the stone wall.

Soon, his fingertips touched an inconspicuous protrusion. It was hidden inside a crack in the stone and shaped like an ordinary fragment of rock. It would have been impossible to notice without careful probing.

Jiang Zhen held his breath, wrapped the protrusion in Soul Power, and gently turned it to the right.

With a soft click, faint yet exceptionally clear in the silent stone chamber, the mechanism moved.

A section of the left stone wall slowly sank inward, revealing a hole half a chi wide. The inside was pitch-black, and a heavy aura faintly seeped from it.

Jiang Zhen picked up the fire starter again and brought it close to the opening. In the firelight, a long black box lay quietly on the stone platform inside. The box was roughly one and a half meters long and a third of a meter wide. A thin layer of dust covered its surface, but it was still clear that it was made of an unusual material—not ordinary wood or stone.

He reached out and lifted the box. The instant it entered his hands, his arm suddenly sank. The box was absurdly heavy, weighing more than a hundred kilograms by his estimate.

He lightly flicked the box with his fingertip. It gave off a dull knocking sound without the crisp echo of ordinary wood or stone.

Jiang Zhen's eyes narrowed. Lead! Only lead had that kind of density and sound. In the original story, the box Tang Hao used to contain the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone was made of lead!

His heart gave a slight leap, but he quickly suppressed his emotions.

This was no time to get excited. Tang Hao could return from Nuoding Academy at any moment, so he had to finish and leave as quickly as possible.

The Lead Box had no lock. Jiang Zhen placed it on a flat section of stone, braced the lid with both hands, and slowly pulled it apart.

There was no rust where the lid met the box. As he pulled it open, it made only the faintest rustling sound.

The moment a narrow crack appeared, a warm yet immense aura of Soul Power surged out. It was not aggressive. Instead, it carried an intense sense of life, like a grassland after spring rain, instantly enveloping the entire stone chamber.

Jiang Zhen's Soul Power trembled involuntarily. Even the Profound Water Clear Mind Art inside his body began circulating slightly faster, as though responding to the aura.

He stopped hesitating and abruptly pulled the lid all the way open.

The instant the firelight illuminated the inside of the box, Jiang Zhen's breathing paused for half a beat.

Lying flat inside the Lead Box was a complete Spirit Bone.

It was entirely a crystalline blue-gold, as if it had been forged from melted sapphires mixed with gold dust. Fine, dense patterns covered the bones, and starlight seemed to flow slowly through them.

Most astonishingly, the Spirit Bone was glowing faintly. It was not reflecting the fire starter's light; it was emitting a warm, lustrous sheen of its own. Even the surrounding air seemed to come alive.

Even from half a chi away, Jiang Zhen could clearly sense that familiar yet powerful aura. It belonged to the Blue Silver Emperor, and it was richer and purer than the aura of the Blue Silver Emperor Main Body on the stone platform.

He was certain. This was the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone left behind by Ah Yin.

"It really was here." Jiang Zhen muttered under his breath as his fingertips slowly approached the Spirit Bone.

The instant he touched its surface, a warm current surged into his body through his fingertip and rapidly traveled along his Meridians. Wherever it passed, his Soul Power became more active.

But he quickly withdrew his hand instead of attempting to absorb it immediately.

He knew very well that absorbing a Spirit Bone took time. In particular, a Spirit Bone of the Hundred-Thousand-Year level would release powerful fluctuations of Soul Power during absorption. If Tang Hao detected them, Jiang Zhen would have no chance to resist given Tang Hao's strength.

Besides, his Soul Power had only just reached Level 20, and he had yet to absorb his second Spirit Ring.

There were no real restrictions on absorbing a Spirit Bone. As long as you could withstand it, even a Level One Spirit Soldier could absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bone!

He planned to absorb this Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone after reaching Vast Sea City. By then, his physical constitution would improve considerably as well.

Jiang Zhen took a deep breath and turned his attention back to the Lead Box.

He stored the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone inside his Storage Ring.

After dealing with the Soul Bone, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he began cleaning up the traces inside the stone chamber.

He placed the empty Lead Box back on the stone platform inside the opening, turned the protrusion again to restore the wall to its original state, and filled in even the places where he had dug up soil with broken stones and fresh dirt, doing his best to return everything to how it had been.

Finally, he picked up the flowerpot containing the Blue Silver Emperor and used Soul Power to clean the dirt clinging to its outside, ensuring that no clues would be left behind.

Jiang Zhen gave the stone chamber one last look. There were no traces left behind. The Blue Silver Emperor Main Body had been taken away, and the Soul Bone was in his possession. All that remained was an apparently intact, empty stone chamber.

He turned around, bent down, and crawled back into the entrance of the Stone Cave hidden behind the waterfall's flow.

The sunlight outside was brighter than before. The waterfall continued to roar, and cool water vapor struck his face.

Jiang Zhen held the flowerpot in his arms, wrapped it in cloth, then condensed a thicker curtain of water in front of himself. He quickly passed through the falling water and returned to the edge of the pool.

He did not take the route he had used before. Instead, he descended the Back Mountain from the other side. That area was covered by dense woods, and almost no one passed through it.

He continued moving at an extremely fast pace along the way.

After an unknown amount of time, he spotted a sign pointing toward another city. Only then did Jiang Zhen let out a sigh of relief and quicken his steps toward Vast Sea City.

"Vast Sea City..." Jiang Zhen raised his head and looked into the distance, a hint of resolve flashing in his eyes.

That place had not only Water Attribute Soul Beasts, but also the safe environment he needed.

The wind along the road gradually grew stronger, lifting the hem of his clothes. The Water Pattern on his cuffs flashed beneath the sunlight. It remained understated, yet carried a sharpness that could no longer be completely concealed.

In front of a blacksmith's shop, two petite figures sat side by side. They wore identical clothes and simply sat there in silence.

"Xiao Wu, are you willing to be my younger sister? I really hope to have some Relatives!"

Looking at the glimmer in Tang San's eyes, Xiao Wu slowly said,

"What if one day, there are many people who want to kill me, and those people are all stronger than you? What would you do?"