The Bone Sea and the Ancient Stele

Xiao Chen's victory over the Revenge Alliance in single combat had made him the most talked-about figure on the island. And now, word spread that he and Yan Qingcheng's Undying Alliance were about to play a game of "life-and-death interaction," drawing the attention of many alliances. Practitioners across the island awaited the coming "death hunt" with anticipation.

Many alliances had begun to push inland. Now that they were trapped on Dragon Island, the crowd's mood had gradually settled. They began to plan for the future, seeking suitable places to cultivate on the island.

But Xiao Chen knew nothing of this. He had already entered the central region of Dragon Island, effectively standing up Yan Qingcheng and leaving her to perform her solo act.

The vast, white Bone Sea stretched before him, stunning him into stillness. Humanoid skeletons, the bones of giant birds, the remains of ferocious beasts, the relics of divine dragons… they lay like pristine snow, stretching as far as the eye could see. The skeletons ranged from one or two meters to fifty or sixty meters, some even reaching a hundred meters. An endless expanse of white bones carpeted the earth.

A grim, murderous aura permeated the Bone Sea, evoking a soul-deep shudder. The sight was so inconceivable, so terrifying, that it instilled a profound fear.

Even at high noon, the Bone Sea was icy cold. The sunlight that fell upon it was a sickly white, offering no warmth. Not a single sound broke the silence of the bone field—a deathly stillness reigned. This was a true sea of death.

The towering primeval trees behind it, though lush and dense, were equally silent. Not a breath of wind stirred, lending the scene an eerie, uncanny quality. Paired with the misty, distant snow-capped mountains, this region was unspeakably dreadful.

"Crack, crack, crack…"

Qin Guang Wang, Yan Luo Wang, and Lun Hui Wang seemed deeply unsettled. They constantly shifted their joints, the soul-fires in their skulls flickering. The lotus imprints on their forehead bones blazed with brilliant divine light, dancing like living flames.

Keke curled into a ball of snow-white fluff atop Lun Hui Wang's head. She blinked her large, bright eyes, curiously surveying this world of bone. Finally, she stretched out a tiny paw, pointing at the colossal stone stele that loomed in the depths of the Bone Sea, and let out a series of "Ya-ya" sounds.

Xiao Chen had, of course, already noticed the eerie, towering stele. It sent a shudder through his very soul, as if some sinister power within the stone was affecting his mind.

"Let's go. We'll take a look." Xiao Chen made the decision. Since he had already entered the Bone Sea, there was nothing to fear. He had to find out what lay within.

Endless bones carpeted the ground. Each step produced a grinding "crunch" that was enough to make one's hair stand on end. No one knew how many ages had passed; many of the bones had weathered and crumbled, leaving a thick layer of white bone dust on the ground, making the scattered remains seem even more horrifying.

Every inch of earth was white. There was not a trace of vegetation. Waves of murderous energy drifted through the bone field. The deeper one went, the heavier the aura became. Finally, wisps of black mist appeared among the white bones, making this deathly sea of bone incredibly sinister and terrifying.

After advancing several li, they finally neared the enormous stele. Xiao Chen stopped in his tracks—not out of fear, but because here, the black mist had coalesced into tangible form, forming energy vortexes among the bones. He hurled a length of bone ahead, and it was torn to shreds in an instant.

A full li remained between them and the ancient stele. Sinister energy currents barred their advance. The black mist roiled like phantoms ahead, occasionally emitting shrill, mournful wails like the howling of ghosts.

The soul-fires of Qin Guang Wang, Yan Luo Wang, and Lun Hui Wang flickered unsteadily, showing their profound unease.

"Roar!" A hair-raising shriek rang out. A five-meter-tall, ferocious skeleton thrashed within the black mist, then collapsed into fragments in an instant.

"Aooo…" A disheveled woman appeared, her upper body seven or eight meters tall and covered in green scales, writhing and screaming. Her lower body was a massive serpentine tail over ten meters long. Her face, though beautiful, was twisted in a grimace. As she screamed, the green scales on her body spread open, oozing crimson blood, and then her entire form exploded, leaving a cloud of blood mist in the air.

Next, a fifty-meter-long purple tyrant dragon let out a heaven-shaking roar, churning through the surging black mist. It breathed out a terrifying radiance that nearly tore the void, awe-inspiring and wild enough to swallow the sun and devour the moon. But in the end, with a thunderous boom, it collapsed, dissolving into an endless rain of blood.

"It's all an illusion!" Xiao Chen closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the horrifying visions had vanished. The rolling black mist undoubtedly held some sinister power.

"Perhaps it's a replay of history," Xiao Chen murmured. He dared not advance recklessly. The black vortexes were real—they could shatter bones, and his body likely could not withstand them.

"This island is called Dragon Island. In the primordial age, a divine stele fell from the heavens and sealed it forever. All dragon races that could contend with the gods lost their divine powers and were imprisoned on this barren island."

Yizhen's words echoed in Xiao Chen's mind. He knew that the hundred-meter-tall ancient stele before him should be the very stele that had sealed Dragon Island.

A li away, he could not make out the true visage of the ancient stele. Ribbons of demonic clouds coiled around it, revealing only the towering silhouette of a monument.

Xiao Chen felt a deep regret. Ever since learning that Dragon Island had been sealed by a divine stele, he had harbored a bold speculation: "A divine stele falls, eternally settling the Yellow River… And here, a divine stele falls, eternally sealing Dragon Island!" Could there be a connection between them? Were the two ancient steles of the same origin?

He burned with a desperate desire to see the stele's true appearance, to see if its reverse side also bore an ancient Qi-Refining Diagram. But the black mist severed everything; he could not pass through.

In this region of churning black mist, the three skeletons seemed profoundly affected. They stood motionless, while Keke appeared very interested. She climbed atop a ten-meter-tall giant skeleton and gazed at the ancient stele ahead.

Xiao Chen stood in place for a long time, then moved, circling the area to observe. He discovered that within a radius of one li around the stele lay a life-forbidden zone, impossible to penetrate. A bone several meters long, thrown ten meters in, would melt away like snowflakes in the sun.

The destructive power forced him to halt, able only to gaze from afar.

When Xiao Chen rounded to the west side of the colossal stele, the hairs on his body suddenly stood on end. He sensed danger. In an instant, he discovered a petrified figure standing within the black mist of the forbidden zone, alarmingly close to him. This was no illusion.