The little skeleton of the Bone Race guided Shiyan deep into the interior of Skeleton Island. Crossing the cavernous maw of an entrance, Shiyan was immediately plunged into darkness, unable to discern anything.

The Bone Dragon unfurled its skeletal wings and navigated a dim, narrow passage. After a while, sparks of phosphorescent white light began to emerge.

Like specks of foxfire upon bone.

Shiyan’s spirit settled, his gaze fixed intently as he gathered the essence of the profound way into his eyes. Gradually, the oppressive gloom around him began to clarify.

He was surrounded by rock walls, ash-grey and resembling decaying osseous matter upon closer inspection. Etched into these walls were numerous mysterious diagrams—celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and stars, as well as mountains and rivers, rendered so vividly they seemed alive.

After a considerable time, the Bone Dragon suddenly halted. The hitherto dark tunnel brightened abruptly.

"Ka Soo!"

Both Bone Dragons stopped simultaneously, drawing up before a colossal stone chamber. This was the heart of Skeleton Island. The chamber was immense, connected to the island's various sectors by forty-nine stone tunnels, which gaped like enormous ravines. These passages were choked with countless piles of ash-white skeletons.

These remains emitted no trace of energy. Shiyan released his divine sense to investigate; the skeletons had all turned to dust.

Inside the chamber, channels resembling water troughs formed an intricate and obscure grand pattern. At the center of this pattern lay two stone coffins, their material unknown. They were open, revealing a massive bone pool in the middle, within which some sort of ** substance had long since dried up, leaving the bottom barren.

The little skeleton of the Bone Race stood beside the two stone coffins, its eyes, refined by starlight, filled with profound sorrow.

The atmosphere of the entire chamber was colored by his emotion, suffused with an aura of tragic yearning. Its skull bobbed as its gaze drifted between the two coffins.

Shiyan walked forward silently, drawing near for a closer look. He saw that within each stone coffin lay a male and a female member of the Bone Race.

These two were clearly the child’s parents. They lay still, devoid of any life essence, their bones a greyish-brown hue, looking like ossified remains corroded over many years, fragile enough to crumble at a touch.

Staring intently at the two coffins and the bone pool for a while, Shiyan’s eyes brightened slightly.

Long bones extended from the bodies of the coffins, reaching into the bone pool, seemingly channeling something into it…

Shiyan grew more curious. He surveyed the surroundings carefully and discovered that the stone tunnels and water troughs within the chamber all converged toward the two coffins. From there, the coffins appeared to funnel a mysterious, purified energy into the bone pool, which seemed to be nurturing something.

He looked at the little skeleton and quickly understood.

He had gathered some knowledge about the Bone Race’s practice of "refining" children from the accounts of Yifulin and others. It seemed that the child’s parents had used a secret art of the Bone Race, condensing the power from countless bones both inside and outside Skeleton Island. Through their own refinement and crystallization, they had infused that power into the bone pool.

Naturally, this was intended to forge a skeletal body for the little skeleton. After the child’s frame was formed, for reasons Shiyan couldn't ascertain, the parents seemed to have exhausted their life force, sacrificing themselves to ensure their child’s completion.

Some unknown catastrophe must have occurred in the process; otherwise, the couple would not have made such a sacrifice.

As he pondered, the little skeleton suddenly turned to him, pointing at its parents in the coffins, making pleading clicking sounds and gesturing to convey something to Shiyan.

Shiyan could not understand the child’s language but grasped the meaning. He shook his head and sighed softly, “Your parents show no fluctuation. They are… likely deceased. I fear I am powerless here.”

The little skeleton shook its head repeatedly, its eyes separately emitting a crimson and an icy white glow. The light fell upon the greyish-brown remains of the male Bone Race member.

Surprisingly, an extremely faint ripple of soul fluctuation flashed momentarily.

The little skeleton’s eyes shone brightly, and it repeatedly pointed at its father’s remains, chattering excitedly at Shiyan.

Shiyan was startled, cautiously sensing the area. He confirmed that a very weak soul fluctuation did indeed linger near the skull of the Bone Race male. However, the man’s life force was entirely depleted; this faint spark was insufficient to sustain an awakening unless his skeletal form could be imbued with vitality.

The little skeleton pointed at Shiyan, making repetitive gestures, then lay down in the bone pool itself, radiating vigorous life energy. This vitality flowed through the white bones connecting the pool to the coffins but failed to permeate the stone receptacles or enter the bodies of his parents.

Shiyan watched intently, and suddenly, understanding dawned, stirring a strange emotion within him.

This stone chamber within Skeleton Island was a peculiar ancient formation of the Bone Race. A couple had poured their heart and soul into condensing this array to ensure their child’s powerful birth. The formation channeled life energy through the stone coffins into the bone pool; the coffins and the pool were merely components of the larger structure.

Some accident must have occurred during the process, perhaps concerning the child. To ensure the child’s survival and birth, the couple spared no effort in exhausting their own life force, leaving themselves with only a tenuous soul fluctuation, utterly drained of all vital energy within their bones.

The little skeleton perceived that Shiyan cultivated the power of life and hoped he could alter the formation, causing the power flowing from the pool to reverse and infuse the two stone coffins, thereby using the little skeleton's own life force to awaken its parents.

“The depths of parental love…” Shiyan shook his head, lamenting, “This formation is designed only to channel life energy inward; it cannot divert the energy from your pool back into the stone coffins. Your parents likely foresaw you attempting this; they left no recourse for you to reverse it, probably not wanting you to sacrifice yourself to resurrect them.”

The little skeleton’s sorrow deepened. Its mouth opened wide, and it pointed frantically at Shiyan, appearing somewhat anxious.

Shiyan offered a wry smile. “Indeed, I cultivate the profound way of life, but my current attainment is insufficient to forcibly alter this ancient array. However, I can attempt to use the profound way of life to see if the energy I possess can offer any assistance to your parents.”

The little skeleton nodded repeatedly, its eyes shining, bowing and gesturing to him in a manner that was comically earnest.

“I can only try; don’t hold out too much hope,” Shiyan said, stepping forward to touch the life core of the male Bone Race member.

The life core served as the source of power sustenance for members of the Bone Race, akin to a martial artist's divine power tree. This man’s core was rhomboid, appearing carved from unadorned jade or stone.

The core felt icy cold to the touch, devoid of any energy fluctuation—like a stagnant pool.

Shiyan proceeded cautiously, gently activating the profound way of life. A drop of blood condensed at his fingertip, brimming with vitality, as if possessing the miraculous ability to bring a withered tree back to bloom.

“Hiss!”

The blood drop fell onto the core, which instantly absorbed it like a sponge. The core flickered momentarily, and a faint heartbeat echoed. Immediately, the stone coffin began to glow with a pale white light. Strands of milky-white radiance streamed directly from the bones affixed to the coffin down into the bone pool. The desiccated bottom of the pool magically gained a few specks of viscous ** substance.

“Kaba kaba!”

The little skeleton suddenly shrieked an inarticulate cry, writhing and shouting by the bottom of the bone pool, appearing maddened by grief.

Shiyan froze as well.

He hadn't expected that before their deaths, the Bone Race couple’s sole concern was ensuring their child’s survival. All the life energy channeled into their bodies still followed its original path, flowing through their divine forms, through the stone coffins, and through the bones attached to them, continuously feeding the bone pool.

Everything they had done was for the little skeleton within that pool; they had not considered their own continued existence at all.

Shiyan, having lost his parents early in another world, inherited wealth but never truly felt that bone-deep familial love. Since embarking on his journey, few events had truly moved him, yet today, the desperate sacrifice of the two skeletons protecting their child deeply touched him.

“Any energy injected will just flow back to the pool; they did everything they could to ensure you lived!” Shiyan took a deep breath. “This won’t work. Try moving their skeletal forms out of the stone coffins, and then I will attempt again. What do you think?”

The little skeleton curled up in a corner of the bone pool, seeming to weep silently, looking helpless and despairing. Upon hearing Shiyan’s suggestion, it finally rallied, nodding. It leaped out of the bone pool, preparing to move its father’s remains.

Just as it was about to act, Skeleton Island shuddered violently. A powerful energy fluctuation resonated from the direction above Shiyan’s head.

The little skeleton’s eyes flared with extreme anger and agitation. After a moment of hesitation, it decided to go out and see what was happening. Yet, unwilling to leave Shiyan alone, it commanded a Bone Dragon to carry Shiyan.

Shiyan was equally stunned, thinking that Meiji of the Shadow Race was truly formidable to have broken free of her restraints so quickly.

On the surface of Skeleton Island’s skullcap.

A spire of chilling ice was entangled by streams of flowing light. A crimson flame released astonishing heat, slowly melting the ice peak.

Within the ice crystals, Meiji’s figure was graceful, but her enchanting face was pale, and terror flickered in her eyes as she looked far above.

Through the white mist overhead, two figures slowly descended—two elders, gaunt and withered, emanating a thick aura of deathly qi.

They wore strange green robes, and a mysterious black hole pattern was visible over their hearts. Both were tall and thin as bamboo poles, their eyes a ghastly green. Their skin was also a jade green, and their arms were unusually long, dangling nearly to their calves. Their hands bore only three green fingers, sharp as blades or swords.

Their pair of eerie green eyes fixed upon Meiji like a serpent spotting prey.

Meiji’s expression changed drastically. A single glance was enough for her to recognize their identities, and a chill pierced her heart.

“Boom, boom!”

After they landed, Skeleton Island shook violently—a tremor felt simultaneously by the little skeleton and Shiyan inside the chamber, not caused by Meiji.

“A member of the Shadow Race!” one of the elders snarled chillingly, pacing towards Meiji, muttering, “Still trapped by that brat. Truly… a disgrace…”

“I am Meiji of the Shadow Race. Greetings to you two friends from the Devouring Race. May I ask your purpose on this island? If you are also here to deal with the Bone Race tribesmen, perhaps we could discuss an alliance,” Meiji laughed sweetly from within the ice spire, gazing invitingly at the two Devouring Race members and extending an olive branch.

Unfortunately, far from considering an alliance, the two suddenly struck out viciously.

The approaching elder opened his mouth and spat out a serpent condensed from death energy. It burrowed toward the base of Meiji’s ice spire, biting the ice until it shattered into powder, intending to chew Meiji to death from below.

ps: Well, just one chapter today. If it’s not the end of the world tomorrow, I will make up for it.