Chapter 154: You Can't Kill Me—I Am the Disciple of the White Bone Gate

Chapter 154: You Can’t Kill Me—I Am the Disciple of the White Bone Gate

Xiao Chen followed the map’s directions and arrived on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

In the small village at the foot of the hill, families had already begun setting out clay pots in their courtyards, soaking yellow beans, fava beans, and unpolished rice in water. These ingredients, pre-soaked two days in advance, would soften quickly when boiled into congee, melting effortlessly on the tongue.

Xiao Chen wasn’t fond of overly soft textures, so he strode straight toward the village center. That’s when he spotted bones drying in the courtyard of a large compound.

The caretaker was an elderly man in coarse cloth robes, his beard streaked with white but his face glowing with ruddy health. Holding a bamboo basket, he was spreading more bones across the ground.

If not for the eerie white glow emanating from the bones, the scene would have seemed perfectly ordinary.

Xiao Chen frowned. Are these demonic cultivators of the White Bone Gate truly so brazen? He thought. Drying bones in broad daylight—do they think the disciples of the Spirit Origin Sect are all blind?

“Boy, if you’re hungry, I’ve got freshly boiled corn,” called a voice.

An elderly woman emerged from the courtyard, wearing a patched apron tied with a coarse rope. She held out a steaming ear of corn, chuckling. “The ones on the ground are too old now. They’ll wear your teeth down.”

Her words clicked in Xiao Chen’s mind. Ah, so I shouldn’t be able to see the bones at all.

His suspicions dissolved. False alarm.

Without hesitation, he activated his recently mastered Truth-Seeing Spirit Eye, its power far surpassing the Star-Gazing Aura-Reading Technique. The two elders before him were peak Foundation-Building cultivators. More importantly, behind them, the courtyard shimmered with white light—a towering bone banner, hidden midair, revealed itself as a concealed formation flag.

A formation? Xiao Chen smirked. No doubt about it now—this is a White Bone Gate outpost.

He glanced around. The entire village was a facade. Not a single villager existed—only demonic cultivators of varying realms masquerading as commoners.

Not bad, he admitted. They’ve played their roles well. Even the Spirit Origin Sect’s patrols must’ve missed this.

But today, their luck had run out. And their lives are my bounty.

Xiao Chen retrieved his magic artifacts from his storage bag and pointed at the bone banner. “Lihuo Demon Purge!”

From his Hidden Flame Gourd, a pre-prepared scarlet flame bomb rained down.

Boom!

In an instant, the entire village erupted in flames.

The indiscriminate assault would have scorched even Xiao Chen himself, but the shield’s blue aura repelled the inferno.

The demonic cultivators weren’t so lucky.

Xiao Chen’s ambush left them no time to react. The bone banner, still mid-air, shattered into two halves. Scarlet flame bombs were designed to shatter formations—perfectly suited for this task.

Only the two peak Foundation-Building cultivators managed to deploy defensive artifacts in time.

“Oh? One survived.”

Xiao Chen turned to the collapsed courtyard. A young man, barely in his teens, crouched beneath a white glow shaped like an inverted bowl—a top-grade bone shield.

Foundation-Building Sixth Layer, Xiao Chen noted. Not bad, surviving with a top-tier artifact.

“Boy, who sent you here?” the elderly man snarled, his frail facade gone as he brandished a bone spear.

Xiao Chen’s eyes flicked to the spear—also top-grade.

The other demonic cultivator had already summoned a golden hairpin, its glow unmistakably top-tier.

Well now, Xiao Chen mused. These aren’t ordinary foes.

In most cases, facing superior numbers and top-grade artifacts would spell disaster for an orthodox cultivator.

But Xiao Chen grinned. Top-grade offensive artifacts are far more valuable as spoils of war.

He drew his Wind-Thunder Pair Swords. “Let’s test my new sword technique today.”

Ignoring their demands, he launched the Seven Star Sword Technique—Yaoguang!

The final move of the Seven Stars, Yaoguang was dazzling and radiant.

Mana surged from his blades, stirring the surrounding heavenly qi into the pattern of the Big Dipper. Seven stars ignited, each unleashing a streak of light toward the young man in the rear courtyard.

Weak link first, Xiao Chen thought. Old habit.

“Daring to attack the young master? You seek death!”

“Fool! Protect the young master at once!”

The two cultivators—Lv Changfeng and Lv Huiqing, siblings and elite guards of the White Bone Gate—shouted in unison.

Lv Changfeng thrust his bone spear at Xiao Chen’s swords, intercepting the first two beams.

Lv Huiqing formed a hand seal, conjuring an earthen wall before the young man—their charge, Xiang Qirui.

Clang!

The bone spear deflected the first two beams but shattered under the third.

Boom!

The earthen wall held for two strikes before collapsing. The final two beams slammed into Xiang Qirui’s bone shield. Though unbroken, the impact drove him and his shield deep into the rubble.

“Master!”

Lv Huiqing abandoned Xiao Chen, dashing to pull Xiang Qirui from the debris.

Lv Changfeng reclaimed his bone spear. “Chuan Yun Po Feng!”

The spear split into two blinding white streaks, aiming for Xiao Chen’s eyes.

Simultaneously, he flicked a talisman. “Xuan Ming Bone Spikes!”

Mana erupted beneath Xiao Chen, unleashing eighteen three-inch-thick bone spikes, their tips gleaming with deadly frost.

Clang!

The Murky Water Round Shield blocked the spears—but they transformed into serpents, clamping onto the shield.

Xiao Chen leapt skyward, evading the spikes.

“Huiqing!” Lv Changfeng barked.

Lv Huiqing nodded, yanking her waist rope—a mundane object that erupted in radiant light, revealing itself as the Fuxian Rope.

She hurled it, shouting, “Seize him!”

The rope slithered like an eel, wrapping Xiao Chen’s legs and arms.

At first glance, it seemed loose—but as the ends met at his waist, glowing runes emerged, attempting to seal his mana.

Impressive, Xiao Chen admitted. Not like those weaklings before.

“Lv uncle, kill him now!” Xiang Qirui ordered. “This place is compromised. Get me out first.”

Lv Changfeng hesitated, then nodded.

But as he drew his flying sword, his eyes widened—Xiao Chen had untied the Fuxian Rope.

The runes flared furiously, yet Xiao Chen removed the rope as casually as adjusting his own artifact.

Lv Huiqing froze. The Fuxian Rope seals cultivators completely! How is this possible?

“Kill him! Now!” Xiang Qirui screamed.

Too late.

Xiao Chen swept his sleeve, scattering twenty-seven crimson Yan Xia—flame petals—into the air.

With a downward press: “Fall!”

The petals descended like dandelions, their fire raising the temperature across a hundred zhang.

“Danger!” Lv Changfeng’s face paled. “Defend!”

He activated his Jade Pendant, conjuring a golden barrier, and deployed two defensive talismans into spirit shields.

Lv Huiqing raised another earthen wall and unfurled her Plum Blossom Handkerchief overhead.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions, though smaller than the scarlet flame bombs, packed far greater force.

At the heart of the raging flames, a violet fire tornado spiraled upward.

Xiao Chen watched the scene unfold and nodded in satisfaction.

Since refining the Fentian Malevolent Qi and obtaining the Yang Fire Seal, this was his first time using a fire-attribute technique against enemies.

True to expectations, the Fentian Malevolent Qi hadn’t disappointed him—the Vermilion Flame Aurora’s power had at least tripled.

While tripling might seem modest, under the Featherweight Class’s secondary amplification, it became a staggering thirtyfold increase.

In a one-on-one duel, this strike alone would decide victory.

But now, Xiao Chen faced three demonic cultivators, each wielding top-grade defensive magic artifacts.

He never intended for this single move to shatter all their protective artifacts at once.

Instead, while the three clustered together to resist, he seized the chance to withdraw an ice sword from his storage bag and secretly deploy the Lesser Trinity Sword Array.

After that, the battle’s outcome became inevitable.

Under the sword array’s suppression, the Lü siblings had no counterplay.

They could only watch helplessly as Xiao Chen continuously switched sword techniques, treating them like practice dummies.

Though shielded by the Lü siblings, Xiang Qirui sensed the dire situation.

While using a bone shield to absorb pressure, he threatened, “You can’t kill me! I’m the Saint Son of the White Bone Gate!”

“I warn you, no matter who you are or your background, if you harm me today, my sect leader will never let you live!”

Revealing his identity, Xiang Qirui tried to intimidate Xiao Chen into retreating with the White Bone Gate’s name.

The White Bone Gate’s Saint Son?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen immediately understood.

Earlier, he’d wondered why the Lü siblings, already peak Foundation-Building cultivators, would care so much about Xiang Qirui, a mere Foundation-Building Sixth Layer cultivator—even showing him respect.

Now it made sense.

Wait—suddenly, a thought struck Xiao Chen.

Could the map he’d seized earlier be part of the Divine Flame Cult’s scheme to use him as a pawn?

Otherwise, why mark a skull symbol on it?

Considering those three weak Foundation-Building cultivators, it was clearly a message to the Spirit Origin Sect.

But Xiao Chen didn’t care about Xiang Qirui’s White Bone Gate status or his threats.

The reason was simple—during a chat with Chang Shunping, he’d learned the White Bone Gate lacked Golden Core Zhenren, making them an easy target.

He not only feared no retaliation from the White Bone Gate but actually hoped they’d send more people faster.

He wished for the White Bone Gate to mobilize entirely, coming to Qingyang to avenge Xiang Qirui.

It would save him the trouble of hunting them down later.

No matter how the three below threatened or cursed,

Xiao Chen remained unmoved, activating the Lesser Trinity Sword Array to slaughter them all.

Then he collected their three storage bags.

“Not bad—not bad. This is actually a golden bamboo hairpin. This design should sell well.”

Picking up the golden hairpin dropped by Lü Huiqing, he turned to the now-reverted snake-bone spear.

Since he’d deliberately avoided damaging them, both top-grade magic artifacts remained intact.

The bone spear could restrain enemy artifacts, so he kept it.

As for the golden bamboo hairpin, a purely offensive artifact, he’d sell it for spirit stones.

After all, Xiao Chen already had too many top-grade magic artifacts—more than he had mana to power.

Better to convert surplus artifacts into spirit stones or exchange them for cultivation resources.

After sweeping the village to confirm no survivors or missed Spirit Herbs,

he erased the sword array’s traces and returned to Qingyang Spirit Mine.

The short trip took only three hours.

The miners never noticed his absence.

Then he struck the spirit mine’s warning bell, pretending demonic cultivators had invaded.

He rushed out to “fight thin air,” using Scarlet Flame Bombs to blast a forest.

He followed up with the Xuan Fire Raven’s Luotian Divine Flame to forge a fierce battle scene.

Returning, he announced that demonic cultivators had tried to invade but were repelled.

He repeated the charade to perfect the facade.

Back in his courtyard, he began inspecting the three storage bags.

This time, he cracked their sealing formations faster than before—saving another quarter-hour.

“Wow! So many spirit stones!”

His spiritual sense scanned the haul: a total of twenty-seven thousand spirit stones.

Alone, the Saint Son’s storage bag held twenty-one thousand.

Additionally, he found seven brand-new superior-grade magic artifacts, all high-quality.

Selling them would fetch about twenty thousand spirit stones.

“What a Saint Son—more like a Wealth-Bringing Child.”

“I wonder how many Saint Sons the White Bone Gate has. Meeting a few more would be great.”

After recounting the spirit stones, he examined the other loot.

First, a complete Earth-Tier legacy and six Earth-Tier techniques.

These were White Bone Gate secret manuals—Foundation-Building cultivators couldn’t access them normally, requiring merit-based rewards.

Even the Black Market might struggle to find buyers, but a sale would yield significant spirit stones.

Next, eight vials of Guyuan Dan and two of Yiqi Dan.

Both were second-tier universal cultivation pills.

The former stabilized one’s realm after breakthroughs, the latter accelerated mana circulation, doubling cultivation speed for any spirit root.

A single vial sold for over two hundred spirit stones—luxuries for poorer Foundation-Building cultivators.

Then, a pound and six taels of Purple Gold Spirit Sand, similar to Blazing Light Spirit Sand but for metal-attribute spells.

“Oh? Now this is useful.”

Xiao Chen placed it in a new storage box. “Perfect for cultivating Zongdi Jinguang.”

Escape techniques were never too fast.

At Minor Mastery, hex-enhanced speed sufficed, but advancing Zongdi Jinguang to Grand Mastery with this sand would greatly boost his survival and pursuit abilities.

Next was the Yellow Spring Nine Secrets: Binding Immortal Manual, a method for controlling the Immortal Binding Rope.

“Hmm? Yellow Spring?”

Xiao Chen frowned. The name “Yellow Spring” suggested a technique from the Yellow Spring Path.

Flipping through, he found a unique heart sutra required to use the rope—without it, the artifact was just a sturdy rope.

Luckily, the manual had low requirements and didn’t demand Vital Blood like other demonic techniques.

The last item was a storage box containing an ornate compass.

Its front bore a yin-yang fish design, black and white entwined, almost writhing when viewed closely.

The back engraved a cryptic inscription:

Sun and moon shine together; day and night rotate.

Water and fire intertwine; spring and autumn sequence.

Life and death cling; withering and flourishing follow.

Yin and Yang cycle; Dao’s law endures.

Reading it, Xiao Chen scratched his head. “What does this mean?”

“A secret formula?”

He recited the inscription, but the compass lay inert.

Injecting mana also failed to trigger anything—it wasn’t a magic artifact.

“Strange.”

Given its placement in the Saint Son’s storage bag, it was clearly no ordinary compass.

Yet it wasn’t a legacy or artifact.

After hours of study, he gave up.

The cultivation world teemed with mysteries. Solitary cultivators like him, lacking mentors, often encountered the unknown.

No matter—soon, White Bone Gate cultivators would come seeking revenge.

Capturing a few would reveal answers.

With the Immortal Binding Rope in hand, taking prisoners would be easy.

“White Bone Gate, don’t disappoint me.”

With that, Xiao Chen resumed practicing the Yellow Spring Nine Secrets: Binding Immortal Manual.

A day passed swiftly.

The Spirit Origin Sect’s inspection envoy arrived at Qingyang Spirit Mine.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end