"Old Liu, where the hell have you been?" Ye Xiu deliberately raised his voice, hoping to get his attention, but there was no response from the other side. Instead, Ye Xiu noticed the bone jar by his feet beginning to rattle with a kaka sound.

That black bone jar was the very one Old Liu had been meticulously examining just moments ago, but this rattling was distinctly coming from inside the jar, almost as if skeletal structures were shifting within. How could the bones of the dead possibly move?

Ye Xiu crept forward, squatting down, and placed his hand on the top of the jar. At that moment, a faint tremor traveled from the jar's apex into the palm of his hand. He watched as the crimson serpent markings etched on the jar's exterior began to tremble as well.

"Boom!" Suddenly, Ye Xiu lost control of the Violet Flame in his hand. In an instant, it engulfed his right palm, unleashing an ineffable surge of immense kinetic force that slammed down onto the entire black jar. In that fleeting moment, Ye Xiu was deeply shrouded in a thick, dense black mist.

"Damn it, why did the Violet Flame erupt on its own?" Ye Xiu dispersed the fog before his eyes while keeping a wary eye on his right hand. The Violet Flame caused him no harm, but it was a pity about the exquisite bone jar, which was likely reduced to shards by now. Perhaps the bones inside had been spectacularly obliterated too.

"Clang!" A sharp, crisp sound reached Ye Xiu's ears. As the mist gradually dissipated, Ye Xiu confirmed the sound originated from right beside his feet—which was precisely where the black bone jar had been moments ago. Ye Xiu peered down intently, only to be stunned: the bone jar stood perfectly still, unmoved despite the close-range bombardment from the Violet Flame. The only difference was that the lid on top had opened at some unknown point; perhaps that clang was the sound of the lid being lifted.

"Hoo..." Ye Xiu gasped for breath, staring suspiciously at the black opening. Curiosity compelled his body to move toward it, yet for some reason, the closer he got to the aperture, the greater his fear became. That icy chill made even the Death God, accustomed to facing death daily, hesitate slightly.

"Hah..." At that moment, a vicious yawn echoed out from the black opening, a sound slow and deliberate, like that of a hungry, trapped beast. Ye Xiu strained his stiff neck to move directly over the opening. Suddenly, a deep crimson arm shot out from the narrow mouth of the jar, gripping his neck tightly.

The situation was dire; the strength of that arm was immense. Although Ye Xiu attempted to use both hands to restrain it, the arm simply yanked, dragging his entire body down until he was forced onto his knees before the jar. Damn it, is it trying to make Death apologize to its damned jar?

Ye Xiu exerted all his strength to stand again, but the entity's power was too great; his two hands couldn't pry away its single arm. As time slipped by, he realized the arm was only trying to hold him in place, not increasing the crushing pressure on his throat. But then, Ye Xiu suddenly felt a rush of air emerge from the black opening again. Ascending with the airflow was a small blade, sharp as a scalpel.

"Thin-Edge Blade!" Ye Xiu had a sharp memory of Old Liu's Thin-Edge Blade. But why, at such a critical juncture, was something identical to Old Liu's blade emerging from a bone jar? How was this possible? Could the owner of this bone jar also be a master from the Ancient Mysteries Path?

Ye Xiu was now utterly cornered. The two hands seemed fused to the bone jar, flailing wildly outward. Tilting his head, he could clearly make out the appearance of those arms. Unlike human limbs, these arms showed only bone connecting the muscle, completely devoid of skin—meaning their flesh and blood were entirely exposed to the air.

"Agh..." Seeing the edge of the Thin-Edge Blade nearing his eyeball, Ye Xiu let out a furious roar, concentrating the full power of the Violet Flame into both his palms. With another explosive sound, the powerful recoil of the Violet Flame hurled him backward. Smoke billowed, but he could clearly hear the creature screeching in pain from Ye Xiu's assault.

Ye Xiu scrambled on the ground, coughing violently several times. His neck had been severely strained by this physical force. If he hadn't managed to escape just then, he truly didn't know if that Thin-Edge Blade would have taken his life. "Damn Old Liu, he definitely dragged me to the tomb grounds of their Ancient Mysteries Path."

"Woooo!" Amidst the whistling smoke, the creature’s pained wails began to mix with the wind sounds. The smoke gradually vanished, but a distorted black shadow stood before Ye Xiu.

"It's not dead yet!" Ye Xiu felt a surge of disappointment in the Violet Flame he wielded. The Death God’s signature move couldn't even take down this monster. He stared intently at the blood-and-flesh-exposed entity before him. Its bone jar was shattered by Ye Xiu, but its true form was revealed. The creature's silhouette was indistinguishable from a normal person, save for the lack of skin.

Wait a moment! Ye Xiu’s eyes widened. The monster in front of him was indeed holding a Thin-Edge Blade. The length and thickness of the blade were identical to Old Liu’s. A sound of flowing flesh began to emanate from the shadow. Ye Xiu watched, horrified, as patches of human skin seemed to flow from the back of the creature's hand toward its chest, then spread down to its legs, and finally, even its face was covered by yellowish skin.

"Old Liu!" Ye Xiu cried out while retreating. The sight before him was intolerable. He never expected Old Liu, who had vanished somewhere earlier, to reappear before him completely unharmed, his clothes looking as if they were brand new.

"Kill..." Before Ye Xiu could process it, Old Liu lunged forward, covering the distance between them in a single stride. He raised his hand, and the Thin-Edge Blade swept across Ye Xiu's chest like a gentle breeze. Although it didn't manage to wound the Death God as Old Liu claimed his blade could, Ye Xiu definitely felt the sharp, heavy pain of the blow.

Ye Xiu painfully shook his head. In his peripheral vision, he saw Old Liu passing through his body from the left. The man's expression was blank, his tongue lolling far past his lower lip—a sight no different from a hanged ghost.

This wasn't Old Liu; it couldn't be. Old Liu’s shoes and clothes shouldn't be this clean. Ye Xiu forced himself to think calmly about the details. He didn't move, and he dared not move. That entity's speed was too fast, even slightly faster than Old Liu’s rate when cutting down Fierce Birds. How could this be? Old Liu had touched that bone jar earlier. Could everything about him have been replicated by the bones within it?