The Skeletons' Unending Question

The eternal questions—Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?—sounded bizarre coming from the mouths of three skeletons.

The Golden Lion King had forcibly opened the cycle of reincarnation, and the world of the dead emerged, shrouding the entire land. Darkness engulfed the Demon Plain, so thick that one could not see a hand before the face, while endless deathly energy surged wildly.

Hell had descended upon the world, a dark kingdom had fallen!

In that deathly darkness, three spheres of crystalline light blazed brilliantly, and three skeletons appeared abruptly above the hellscape.

Their white bones were as pure as jade, radiating a soft, holy glow, as if carved from the finest mutton-fat jade. They gave no impression of gloom or terror; instead, they exuded a gentle, sacred aura, as if they were not skeletons from hell but gods from the celestial realms.

"Who are you?" roared the Golden Lion King, deeply alarmed. The three skeletons seemed to have sealed heaven and earth, locking away the power of reincarnation—an unprecedented feat. Someone was actually using the power of reincarnation to counter his Reincarnation Eye!

Hearing this question from the golden youth, the first skeleton responded without hesitation, "Who am I?"

"I'm asking you!" the Lion King said coldly. "Do not play the fool before me."

"Who am I? I have been asking myself that, asking others, asking the vast seas, the boundless earth, the starry skies, asking every blade of grass and the entire world—who am I..." The first skeleton grew confused. Though it had no flesh, its 'expression' could still be sensed, perhaps through the emotional fluctuations that conveyed its state of mind.

"No matter who you are," the golden youth said, his voice utterly cold, "no matter where you came from, do not meddle in my affairs. Go back to where you came from, or I will not be polite!"

But as soon as he spoke, the three skeletons dove down together. The three white frames, shimmering with crystalline light, circled the Golden Lion King, raining down sacred radiance.

"Not meddle—who am I?" "No matter where we came from? Where did we come from?" "Go back where? Where is that?"

The three skeletons revolved around the golden youth like three streams of starlight, pressing him relentlessly for answers.

"Enough! You three ghostly things, get back to hell!" The Golden Lion King gave a sinister smile. His right eye represented destruction, and a bloody light flashed forth. His left eye represented reincarnation, sweeping out with a dark, netherworldly light. Both eyes opened wide—the Destruction Eye tried to shatter the spatial seal and crush the three skeletons, while the Reincarnation Eye sought to fling open the gates of hell.

But at that moment, the three skeletons seemed possessed by gods, truly radiating the aura of divinity. They darted backward like fleeting shadows, leaving behind only a ripple of golden light.

The sealed space was blasted open, and hell once again descended, dark deathly energy sweeping down in torrents.

Yet the three skeletons were unharmed. They shuttled freely between hell and the mortal world, as effortlessly as fish in water.

"Who am I, really?" "Where did I come from?" "Where am I finally going?"

The three skeletons persisted. They reappeared, wreathed in dreamlike crystalline light, and again addressed the Golden Lion King. Once more, they sealed space and locked the cycle of reincarnation.

"You three dead things deserve death! Do not think I don't know you are playing the fool!" The Golden Lion King's third vertical eye twitched with rage. With a cold laugh, he continued, "Three white bones! Push me too far, and I will charge into hell to annihilate you!"

The three skeletons remained utterly serious.

"Do not change the subject. This is a grave question." "Understand, or pretend not to understand—do not speak recklessly."

In the nearby void, Xiao Chen wore a faint smile. He had never expected to meet Qin Guangwang, Yanluowang, and Lunhuiwang—the three skeletons he had brought from Dragon Island. These crafty, cunning fellows had appeared for reasons unknown.

The Golden Lion King said nothing more. He struck directly, ripping open great spatial fissures. Golden cracks ten yards wide and hundreds of yards long tore through the void like enormous dragons, seeking to destroy the three undead. At the same time, he charged forward, his Destruction and Reincarnation Eyes blazing together, sweeping across the eight directions.

His combat power was matchless among those of his level, with few rivals. But the three skeletons were as slippery as eels, refusing to engage. With three whooshes, they darted back into the hellish underworld.

Advance when the enemy retreats; retreat when the enemy advances—the three skeletons had mastered this tactic. When they appeared for the thirteenth time and again asked, "Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?" the Golden Lion King was driven to the brink of madness. He wished he could grab those white frames, trample them a thousand times, and then grind them to dust.

"I will kill you all, every single one!" "Who am I?" "Where do I come from?" "Where am I going?" "'Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going'—go to hell!" The Golden Lion King was beside himself. Several times, he even charged into hell, but still could not catch them.

"Who am I?" "From where..." "'I, I, I'—'I' your mother's turtle head! Are you three***tired of repeating those three sentences over and over?" The furious Golden Lion King, unable to seize the skeletons, cursed without thinking. Suddenly he realized he was scolding himself—he had been driven completely mad.

"So you finally know who you are: a turtle head, which is a***." A skeleton spoke slowly.

The Golden Lion King nearly went insane. He finally understood that these three sly, slippery skeletons were truly despicable. He wanted nothing more than to curse their mothers. Were these dead things? How had they managed to drag him into such a mess?

What was utterly unbearable was the second white frame beside him, which nodded earnestly and said, "You are a***, but... who am I?"

The Golden Lion King's lungs were about to explode. His third vertical eye was extremely hard to open, but even the sliver of light leaking through a crack caused this space to instantly collapse and shrink into an eternal point.

Sounds of the end of the world—Buddhist chants, divine hymns, ancient sacrificial songs—rang out like an eternal symphony across the high heavens.

Heaven and earth seemed to shrink countless times in an instant!

The fearsome third vertical eye had only revealed a fraction of its power, yet was already so terrifying. It was hard to imagine what would happen when fully opened.

The most terrible thing in the world was the unknown. To this day, no one knew the true capabilities of the Golden Lion King's third eye—not even the ancient greats. Every cultivator who had seen the third eye of this race fully opened had died; none had survived. It was always a complete kill, without exception.

The three skeletons fled back into hell in disgrace, having only narrowly avoided utter annihilation.

As they shuttled back and forth between hell and the World of Immortality, the Golden Lion King felt like he was striking a mountain of ten thousand tons into a pile of cotton—unable to exert any real force. The three skeletons avoided battle completely, leaving him helpless.

"I will kill Xiao Chen, then come to hell to kill you!" the golden youth raged.

His race believed in the supremacy of power, always standing at the world's peak with an invincible posture, eternally proud. To be toyed with by three skeletons weaker than himself was a humiliation.

"Ah..."

In utter fury, the Golden Lion King raised his head and roared to the sky. His golden hair flew wildly. From his body burst forth a thousand enormous golden chains, each as thick as a vat, hundreds of yards long. They submerged him, sweeping across the entire sky.

The thousand golden chains, each hundreds of yards long, lashed madly. Space collapsed and reformed around them, unable to bear such heaven-bending power.

Within the sealed space, Xiao Chen used the Eight-Aspect Worlds to shift instantly from one realm to another, like a dreamlike flower in a mirror, unreal and elusive. He dodged among the shattered spatial gaps, evading the sweeping strikes of the thousand golden divine chains.

He walked on the edge of reincarnation, hiding within the great spatial fissures.

The Golden Lion King's killing intent pierced the clouds. His momentum peaked. Rage had ignited his essence; he was now unstoppable.

"Convergence of Heaven and Earth!" Xiao Chen shouted, trapped and desperate. He manifested the Eight-Aspect Worlds—the Heaven Aspect descended, the Earth Aspect rose, and the two slowly collided and merged.

A devastating aura exploded forth, smashing the wildly lashing golden chains around him, finally opening a space of safety.

As Heaven and Earth merged, a half-black, half-white Taiji diagram materialized, turning slowly but inexorably. Hazy mist spread out, and wherever it passed, the golden chains snapped.

The broken chains revealed their true form: they were dazzling, unbearable-to-look-at golden lion bristles. Transforming mane hairs into thousand-yard chains was a divine feat.

Dozens of golden chains were severed. The Golden Lion King roared in fury. The thousand chains around him lashed and snapped wildly, leaving golden cracks across the entire sky. He sought to trap Xiao Chen in a corner and annihilate him.

At that moment, the three skeletons reappeared. But this time, they had shed their confusion. Their eye sockets flickered with soul-flames, each like a cunning old demon. Three snow-white palms rose and then fell, summoning an army of countless white bones.

A terrible, bloody aura soared to the heavens. The boundless sea of white bones made one dizzy just to look at.

"Kill that***turkey head!"

The three skeletons gave that order of death. Countless white skeletons flew up like locusts, swarming toward the Golden Lion King with claws bared.

Xiao Chen was shocked. Such an army of flying skeletons—what a force of powerful warriors!

"Hmph, a mere ruler's domain trick—animating the dead temporarily. Do you really think that can kill me?" The Golden Lion King's words dispelled Xiao Chen's conjecture.

Qin Guangwang, Yanluowang, and Lunhuiwang stood in the dark sky, each holding a massive reaper's scythe, its light flashing and killing intent soaring into the clouds.

The bone army instantly flooded the sky. A terrifying white tide surged toward the golden divine light.

"Boom!"

Heaven and earth split apart. Countless vengeful spirits and lingering souls burst forth from the bones, all biting and tearing at the Golden Lion King. The sky erupted in chaos.

The Destruction Eye and the Reincarnation Eye swept across all directions. White powder drifted through the sky—the dust of thousands of shattered skeletons.

The Golden Lion King fought with bloodshot eyes, slaughtering the hellish fiends he had awakened.

Atop a bone banner, Qin Guangwang beckoned to the Golden Lion King. With his great scythe, he tore space, summoning thousands of skeletal lions, their soul-roars shaking the heavens.

"You seek death!"

The golden youth, burning with hatred, shot forward like a beam of golden light. The Destruction Eye opened, and Qin Guangwang on the banner disintegrated. The Golden Lion King charged to seize the divine light of the soul floating from the shattered bones.

But in that instant, he realized he had been tricked. It was a trap—a soul trap.

Created from nothing, guided by a soul, the trap was forged from pure spiritual power.

When he entered the soul trap, the Golden Lion King found himself in hell. The three skeletons had opened a path of reincarnation, connecting to a magnificent palace deep in the underworld. He smashed through one hall after another before finally stopping.

"***! Tired of living? Breaking into Patriarch Tongtian's little hut in the underworld?" a gruff voice shouted.

Hell had long been occupied by great demon lords. Here, there was no order, only the strong ruling. Every cave dwelling and palace housed a supreme demon.

At the same time, a tender, childlike voice sounded in surprise: "Yellow fluff... have you come to seize the Paradise Lost world for me?"