Something's not right. Wu Tie rubbed his eyes.
Through the hazy mist, his vision wasn't very clear.
Two black skeletons, not standing outside the bone gate, but with most of their skeletons embedded in the gate, only exposing a small portion of their front skeletal structure. They were integrated with this black bone gate, as one entity.
The black bone gate was about six meters wide and ten meters high. The frame of the gate melded with the cave walls.
The cave walls surrounding the frame were also pitch black. At a glance, they didn't seem to be made of gold, iron, stone, or jade. Wu Tie couldn't determine the material of the cave walls, like that of the bone gate.
However, near the door frame and the vein of the ore, Wu Tie had a feeling that this rare and rich mine gradually originated from the bone gate and the adjacent cave walls.
Wu Tie even had a bold speculation.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this bone gate that, under the influence of some mysterious power, this prosperous mine came to be.
Wu Tie took a step forward, only about fifty meters away from the bone gate.
On the cave walls surrounding the door frame, patches of extremely gorgeous black cloud patterns began to ripple. Countless cloud patterns undulated like waves, and large black streams of light continuously surged out.
Ancient characters, the size of a thumb, antique and heavy, carrying a sense of indescribable celestial majesty and an unfathomable cosmic mystery, emerged from the cloud patterns.
These ancient characters continuously spewed out like fireworks. They fluttered around the bone gate like fireflies, and within a few breaths, they composed a script composed of over three thousand characters, silently suspended in front of the bone gate.
As Wu Tie glanced at the suspended scripture, his mind trembled.
His entire soul seemed to be sucked into this black scripture, his body trembling as if he couldn't help but sit cross-legged and seriously ponder over this scripture.
Even the Yuan Gang within his body violently trembled, and a few strands of uncontrolled Yuan Gang surged out from his lower abdomen, running along the unobstructed meridians in his body, following a peculiar trajectory.
Wu Tie's foundation, built in the Qi Building Stage, was perfect. The most delicate meridians within his body were unobstructed and robust enough to accommodate the violent circulation of the Yuan Gang. So in just a breath, these few uncontrolled strands of Yuan Gang completed a full revolution.
The trajectory of the revolution formed an intricate rune within Wu Tie's body. A chilly wind blew through the surrounding air, and strange elemental energy, emitting a chilling cold, gushed out like tiny snakes toward Wu Tie.
Wu Tie was shocked.
This scripture was peculiar.
With just a glance, he was involuntarily cultivating.
He didn't understand what the scripture was describing, but his Yuan Gang became agitated, cultivating along an unknown trajectory.
"You... forcing someone into p**stitution..." Trembling violently, Wu Tie murmured, subconsciously using a term he had learned from Lao Tie. Regardless of whether it was appropriate in this context, Wu Tie trembled and subconsciously wanted to retreat.
On the cave walls outside the bone gate, the cloud patterns calmly rolled, and the black streams of light spread out in all directions.
The scripture suspended in the air emitted an invisible gravitational force that firmly clung to Wu Tie. He forcefully tried to retreat, but no matter how hard he tried, his body remained motionless.
He was like being trapped in the most terrifying nightmare.
The Yuan Gang within his body revolved rapidly, and the trajectory of its circulation became clearer and clearer. Wu Tie felt his body temperature slowly dropping, and the few strands of Yuan Gang underwent peculiar changes.
The concealed and profound information continuously bombarded Wu Tie's mind, attempting to directly imprint itself in the depths of his soul.
This was a method similar to how Old Tie transmitted information. They both wanted to directly imprint certain legacies into Wu Tie's mind through secret techniques.
Golden light burst from the center of Wu Tie's brow, his heart violently convulsed, and he felt a great danger approaching step by step.
The inheritance within this black scripture was not a good path.
Wu Tie screamed hoarsely, mobilizing his essence and blood with all his strength. The uncontrollable Yuan Gang erupted from his lower abdomen, like a scorching volcano. He drove his gang-qi, fiercely colliding with the unruly Yuan Gang.
The unruly strands of Yuan Gang were instantly shattered, and the peculiar rune trajectory that had just formed within Wu Tie's body was shattered to pieces.
"The world possesses righteousness, while sprouts the stream of beings, below for rivers and mountains, above for sun and stars..."
Wu Tie's blood roiled, underwent changes, and gradually became more refined and condensed despite the gradual reduction in its volume.
Countless voices echoed in his mind, simultaneously reciting an exquisite and extraordinary five-word sentence. Wu Tie followed suit and recited it loudly.
Majestic righteousness surged within his body, mixed with a vast amount of essence and blood infused into the golden light mass.
Wu Tie's soul suddenly became blazing like the sun, and the golden light mass expanded a hundredfold. It released an immeasurable pure golden light, illuminating his mind, completely shattering the evil force pouring in from the outside world.
Wu Tie hugged his head and screamed in pain.
Although the evil force had been shattered, those pieces of information were still stubbornly imprinted in his mind.
"The Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness."
A sinister secret scripture imprinted itself in Wu Tie's mind. He instantaneously absorbed all the cultivation secrets of the Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness, including some extraordinary techniques contained within it.
This Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness was extremely profound and mysterious. However, compared to the knowledge Old Tie had imparted to Wu Tie, it differed in volumes unknown, considering Wu Tie's current soul strength. He easily inherited the entire content of this Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness.
A sinister and extraordinary information, like a pitch-black and chilly creek, slowly flowed through Wu Tie's mind.
Wu Tie helplessly discovered that he had completely absorbed this scripture.
Fortunately, he had the protection of righteous qi and had activated his bloodline divine ability. Fortunately, he had already stimulated his soul power in advance...
Fortunately, he had obtained some incredible power from his bloodline.
This incredibly sinister scripture had granted him its heritage but hadn't taken control over him.
Subconsciously, he turned his head and glanced at the stone elders of the Shi and Lu families lying on the ground, shaking his head pityingly.
These unfortunate fellows, unlike the weak mutant warriors outside the cave, completely succumbed to the aura of evil bones emitted by the Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness, becoming walking corpses like Bone Devils.
Just like Wu Tie, these elders, upon reaching this place, passively accepted the inheritance of the Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness.
However, they couldn't resist the evil force directly rushing into their minds during the inheritance process. Their wisdom was obliterated, and they became puppets controlled by this black bone gate.
They lay lifelessly on the ground, undergoing the first transformation of the Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness—"Phantom Bone Transmutation."
The term "phantom bone" referred to the black skeletons.
Once they reached the perfected state under the "Phantom Bone Transmutation," they would become skeletal structures embedded in the black bone gate, with their bodies three meters high.
If Wu Tie were affected, he would lie on the ground like those elders, absorbing the cold elemental energy in the air, gradually fusing his flesh and blood essence into his skeletal structure until he became a pitch-black skeleton.
"It's truly sinister." Wu Tie cursed.
He looked at the suspended Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness in front of him and raised the White Tiger's Gash with a sudden movement. He infused all his Yuan Gang and righteous qi into it. Accompanied by a tearing sound, a white glow measuring over three feet long shot out from the tip of the White Tiger's Gash.
Powerful, magnificent, filled with an unparalleled awe-inspiring force against evil.
Wu Tie roared and charged forward, his spear thrusting directly into the suspended scripture in the air.
With a loud bang, the white glow shattered, and majestic righteous qi bombarded the scripture. Violent tremors surged through the scripture, with waves of evil force surging out and clashing with the righteous qi layer by layer, annihilating each other.
Amidst the thunderous explosion, a large wave of chilling air spread out in all directions. The scripture shattered and exploded into countless white flames floating in the air, burning fiercely.
On the black bone gate, the eye sockets of the two three-meter-tall black skeletons lit up with green fire. Fist-sized flames burned in their eye sockets, and the bone gate emitted a creaking sound. The two black skeletons slowly pulled their bodies out of the bone gate.
After a dozen breaths, the two skeletons broke free from the bone gate's shackles and charged towards Wu Tie.
With their movements, they brought forth numerous black afterimages. Wu Tie was surrounded by the shaking black skeletons, and sword lights, which were only as wide as a finger but nearly two meters long, stabbed towards him with piercing screeches, leaving white trails in the air, continuously attacking him.
Wu Tie had no time to spare and, with a flick of his hand, the White Tiger's Gash, which had turned into a bracer, flew up. Accompanied by a deep tiger roar, the White Tiger's Gash unfolded, tightly gripped in his hand. The long spear swung in beautiful arcs to counter the onslaught of sword lights in the sky.
With a physical strength of a hundred thousand jin, Wu Tie infused his Yuan Gang into the White Tiger's Gash, adjusting its weight to around ten thousand jin.
Swinging both arms, Wu Tie easily tore through the air with the mighty White Tiger's Gash. A large amount of air entered the white tiger's head, and a low tiger roar could be faintly heard.
Hearing this tiger roar, Wu Tie's blood churned, and he produced an infinite courage to fight. His movements suddenly became a bit faster, and his strength increased a bit.
If Wu Tie's opponents were living beings, upon hearing this tiger roar, their minds would be deterred, their strength inexplicably weakened by two or three tenths, and their speed would also slow down. They would become confused, exposing all sorts of vulnerabilities involuntarily.
The White Tiger's Gash was truly a divine weapon for head-on combat.
The two black skeletons were unaffected by this tiger roar. They were puppets controlled by dark arts, without any consciousness of their own. They moved like the wind, rapidly revolving around Wu Tie. Countless sword lights came at him like streaks of electricity, densely entangling his body.
Compared to these two black skeletons, Wu Tie was inferior in terms of strength, speed, and reaction speed.
The White Tiger's Gash couldn't make a direct impact on the two bone swords. The sword, which emitted a sad whistle, pierced through the defense of the White Tiger's Gash like phantoms, falling on Wu Tie's body time and time again.
The sound of "shh, shh" echoed non-stop. In just a breath's time, Wu Tie's body had over a hundred wounds deep enough to reach his bones.
Fortunately, these bone swords had an unusual technique and employed fast piercing attacks instead of slashing attacks.
The bone swords easily penetrated Wu Tie's flesh, but whenever they encountered his bones, they emitted a sharp clash. Wu Tie was shaken and unsteady, while the bone swords bounced back due to his bones' resistance.
Each sword left a trace on Wu Tie's bones, but they couldn't cause any major damage.
Moreover, these bone swords were only as wide as a finger, and their tips were as thin as cicada wings. Each time they pierced through Wu Tie's flesh, they only left a thin blood trail, and the bleeding wasn't significant.
In just a breath's time, Wu Tie had been hit by over a hundred swords, and the pain made tears well up in his eyes.
If he swung the White Tiger's Gash with all his strength, he could split mountains and sever rivers. But now, in front of these two black skeletons that moved like the wind, the White Tiger's Gash couldn't hit them head-on.
Truly as the Bone Devil Scripture of Emptiness described, these two skeletons were truly intangible and unreal, swift to the point that they made Wu Tie despair.
Suddenly, both skeletons stabbed simultaneously, their bone swords piercing Wu Tie's shoulder blades' gaps. With excessive force, the thin bone swords deeply plunged into the bone gaps.
Wu Tie winced in pain as his right arm swiftly rose to lock the bone gaps between his shoulder blades.
His body was suspended on the two bone swords, thrown into disarray by the two skeletons.
Wu Tie's tears flowed freely. Subconsciously, his left hand's fingers trembled intensely, and he swiftly raised his left hand. He fiercely slapped the two bone swords.
The black bone swords shattered with a bang, and large streams of light turned into a surging torrent, swallowed by Wu Tie's left hand.
The two skeletons abruptly came to a stop, dumbly raising their right hands, and looked at the two sword hilts left by the shattered bone swords.
Silently, Wu Tie pounced forward, and his left hand struck out like lightning, powerfully striking the lumbar vertebrae of the two skeletons.
Boom, boom! Two loud sounds reverberated as their lumbar vertebrae snapped, causing their upper and lower bodies to separate. They simultaneously collapsed onto the ground.
Then, the two skeletons inexplicably began to disintegrate entirely. Their entire skeletal structures vibrated and crumbled at high speed, exploding into countless fragments, which turned into strands of flowing light that Wu Tie's left hand continuously devoured.
A dim and gloomy light spread throughout Wu Tie's entire body. Simultaneously, his entire skeletal structure emitted a dim and gloomy radiance.
"It's over... I'm going to die!" Wu Tie was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body. His eyes widened, and he quickly sat cross-legged on the ground.
(End of the chapter)