The Era of Kings

Beneath the pale moonlight outside the Dead City, Keke sat alone, a picture of sorrow and desolation. Her frail body trembled as she sobbed, carefully lighting candles and laying out the foods Xiao Chen had loved. Her large eyes were filled with confusion.

"Ya-ya... ya-ya..." The snow-white beast wept piteously, tears brimming in her eyes. With every blink of her long lashes, crystal droplets rolled down her cheeks.

She had not changed at all from the past—still no more than a foot long, as though she would never grow. Her entire body was white as jade, gleaming with a crystalline luster, the epitome of heavenly grace and spiritual wisdom.

But at this moment, the little creature was utterly pitiable. Tears fell in pairs from her black-gem eyes as she sobbed mournfully, like an orphan who had lost all kin.

"Ya-ya..." Keke wept as she called softly toward the Dead City. "Xiao Chen... soul... return to me..."

The snow-white beast was a heart-wrenching sight, like an abandoned child sitting quietly on the ground, shedding tears. Her body was so small, the bamboo basket beside her far larger than herself. She seemed utterly helpless and alone.

It was as if she were reminiscing, staring at the Dead City as tears slid silently down. Occasionally, she murmured softly: "Xiao Chen... soul... return to me..."

Her tender, blood-soaked voice lingered softly outside the Dead City, exceptionally sorrowful under the night moon. In the distance, osmanthus trees swayed gently, petals falling like a rain of tears.

Xiao Chen, though now a Yellow-Diamond skeleton without flesh and blood, felt a surge of tears at the sight of the little beast. A bitter ache rose in his heart for the pitiful creature.

But he did not show himself immediately, for he sensed more than a dozen cultivators approaching in a crescent formation, seemingly intending to harm Keke. That was absolutely unforgivable!

The little beast was in a daze, vulnerable to a sneak attack. Xiao Chen moved like a ghost behind the dozen cultivators, preparing to strike with lightning force.

"Ya-ya... I have no parents, no family... and you have left me too... all these years... I have missed you so..." The snow-white beast seemed unable to restrain herself, bursting into loud sobs, tears blurring her vision. Sitting before the candles that were as tall as her small body, she murmured softly: "Xiao Chen... soul... return to me... I want to see you..."

She wailed loudly, finally lying down on the ground, curling up her tiny body, weak and pitiful, tears soaking a large patch of earth.

"Ya-ya... wuwu..."

The dozen men advanced in a slow arc, ready to seize the moment to attack the little beast. And at that moment, Xiao Chen made his move.

To see them try to harm Keke like this was unbearable for Xiao Chen. He transformed into a flash of golden light, charging into the midst of the assassins, intending to shake the Origin Heavenly Sound and annihilate them all.

But something moved faster than him. A cascade of seven-colored light poured down like the Milky Way descending from the Ninth Heaven—a thousand beams, ten thousand auspicious rays overwhelming the sky, shrouding the entire region, as if connecting heaven and earth.

It was the snow-white beast who had unleashed it. Though she lay curled up and weeping, she had not lost her vigilance; everything around her seemed within her control. Without even turning her head, she struck out once. Seven-colored radiance surged through heaven and earth, enveloping every inch of space, instantly freezing everyone in place. Such divine power was many times greater than in years past.

In that brief moment, the snow-white beast had briefly turned golden, as if carved from pure gold, then shifted to an emerald green like malachite—merely a flash—before returning to snow-white.

Everyone, including Xiao Chen, was instantly immobilized, unable to move a hair. Then a tremendous force hurled them away.

A dozen spatial tunnels appeared silently. All were thrown in, including Xiao Chen. He felt the world spin, then tumbled out of the tunnel into the ancient giant city, filled with boundless deathly aura and an oppressive sense of dread.

Everyone had been thrown into the Dead City by Keke—no one was spared, not even Xiao Chen.

At the same time, a dazzling white beam pierced the tranquil night sky, flying into the distance like a rainbow. The faint sound of sobbing gradually faded.

The snow-white beast, after throwing them into the Dead City, herself departed.

The dozen cultivators trapped in the Dead City were both furious and terrified, all doing their utmost to escape this deadly forbidden land. Xiao Chen, however, was at a loss between laughter and tears. He had finally found Keke, only to be mistaken for an attacker and thrown into the Dead City along with the others.

But seeing that she was still safe and sound, he felt completely relieved. After all these years, the little creature must have been very cautious. Now that he had returned to the Nine Provinces, there would be plenty of time to find her.

Leaving the Dead City was difficult. A strange power sealed the place, trapping everyone within, making it even hard to take to the air.

This great forbidden land had buried many Half-Ancestors, a place that cultivators from all realms spoke of with dread.

Years ago, accompanied by an ancient ballad, Xiao Chen had sent nearly all the Half-Ancestors to the Yellow Springs. And legend had it that countless strongmen from ancient times to the present had been imprisoned in the Dead City, sealed here forever.

The cultivators thrown inside were terrified. All of them tried to soar into the sky, but were pressed down by a powerful force, unable to escape.

"Are we going to die here?" Some faces turned pale as they recalled the legends, trembling.

"Damn it! Those alien kings are complete bastards. The reward they gave us was meager, and we never thought tracking the snow-white beast would be this dangerous..."

Listening to their complaints, Xiao Chen gradually understood the situation. Keke had apparently defeated two alien kings, making those tribes wary. They had offered hefty rewards to send experts to track the little beast's movements, intending to deal with her.

But the snow-white beast was very low-key. Over the years, she had appeared only a few times, each time a fleeting glimpse before vanishing instantly. The two tribes seemed to have figured out Keke's pattern—that she always appeared in places connected to Xiao Chen—and thus had deployed people to watch her.

The group cursed the two alien kings, calling them weak greedy bastards among the hundred races, paying meager rewards while getting them trapped in deadly ground.

As they cursed, they were also watching Xiao Chen. Someone muttered, "Could he be that one from the Skeleton Island deep in the sea? I've never heard of the skeleton race having a grudge against that little beast. But this golden skeleton does look impressive—probably not a simple character among the skeletons..."

Xiao Chen was secretly surprised. There was actually a skeleton race. It seemed the hundred races had already entered the Nine Provinces in force, becoming common knowledge. This gave him a ready-made identity.

"Damn it... it was this skeleton suddenly charging into our midst that alarmed that little beast, getting us trapped in this deadly place..."

The dozen cultivators ground their teeth, glaring at the Yellow-Diamond skeleton. They gradually surrounded him, ready to kill him.

But at that moment, from an ancient house near the city gate came a dull roar, followed by bursts of fierce, malevolent aura.

Bang!

The tightly shut gate of the ancient house was blown open by a gust of eerie wind. Thick black fog billowed out like the Nine Nether Abyss itself, shrouding the area in an instant.

Pitch black—you couldn't see your hand in front of your face! The dozen cultivators cried out in terror.

In the eerie wind, the black fog was so dense it could not be dispersed, impenetrable even to clairvoyant sight.

"Ah..."

A blood-curdling scream rang out, then abruptly stopped. It happened close to Xiao Chen. He clearly sensed a person beside him fall, his heart ripped out by some evil entity.

As the eerie wind blew, the black fog rolled. Relying on his spiritual perception and mind's eye, Xiao Chen saw a shadow—long hair hanging to its ankles, arms like an ape's reaching to its knees, with cyan nails sharp as knives, half a foot long, impaling a still-beating heart.

Its face was completely hidden by the hair.

Swish! A gust of foul wind rushed toward Xiao Chen. The evil entity shot toward him like a black light, its sharp cyan nails slashing at his chest.

Xiao Chen extended his Yellow-Diamond bone palms, meeting the attack. The collision rang out with metallic clangs, sparks flying.

"Wuwu..." The eerie wind grew stronger. The gates of several nearby ancient houses banged open as well. Tall, sinister figures charged out with surging black mist, rushing toward the panicked crowd.

"Ah..."

Screams of agony rang out one after another. In a brief moment, all the cultivators except Xiao Chen fell in pools of blood.

Eerie wind howled, black mist churned. Those tall, terrifying sinister shadows were unspeakably strange. Occasionally, a sickly green light flickered in the darkness—seemingly the eyes of malicious ghosts.

The corpse-like entities charged at Xiao Chen several times, but he blocked them each time. After a long standoff, they finally withdrew.

"Crack, crack..."

The sound of bones being gnawed was spine-chilling in the darkness. The evil beings each grabbed a dead cultivator and gnawed on them. Xiao Chen vaguely saw a cultivator's internal organs devoured, even his skull bitten open and swallowed.

This was a hair-raising scene. The Dead City was even more dangerous and terrifying than before.

When the black fog dispersed, all the ancient houses had their doors tightly shut, leaving only the bone-chilling sound of chewing.

The streets of the Dead City were stained with a dozen trails of blood, each ending before a different ancient house. Shredded organs and broken bones littered the road—a gruesome sight.

Xiao Chen stared for a long time, then turned and walked toward the city wall. He began to climb. Though the powerful sealing force weighed down on him like a mountain, he eventually, with great effort, crawled out of the Dead City in the dead of night.

This was a monstrous ancient city, a city of death! Ordinary people who entered could never leave.

Brilliant moonlight fell outside the Dead City—everything was peaceful and harmonious. But within, separated by a single wall, it was so eerie, sinister, and terrifying.

Keke had long since left. The candles she had lit were about to burn out. Xiao Chen walked over, looked at the food carefully laid out on the ground, and thought of the little beast using a soul-summoning song to call him in her childish voice.

His heart was deeply moved; he wanted to cry. The little creature had looked far too pitiful.

Xiao Chen shook his head firmly. He was back now—no need for sadness. He imagined that when he appeared with a pile of heavenly spiritual essences, the little thing would be absolutely stunned.

Following the road that led out, Xiao Chen strode away. The bright moon hung high in the sky, the earth was fragrant with osmanthus. Passing through towns, he left his homeland behind.

Two days later, Xiao Chen entered a small town in the western region. He was greatly surprised—ordinary people did not show excessive astonishment at the sight of him.

Xiao Chen stopped a young man and transmitted his voice: "You're not afraid of me?"

"What's there to be afraid of? I've seen Sacred Dragons hundreds of meters long, ugly Antmen, ferocious Corpse tribes. I've also seen a skeleton a few times. But none of them look as good as you..."

"Good-looking..." Xiao Chen was stunned.

"Yeah, though you can't compare to the seductive Fallen Angels or the peerlessly beautiful Liren clan, you're all golden and shiny, which feels really friendly to me." The boy's eyes lit up. "Hey, Mr. Skeleton, how about a deal? Give me a piece of your gold bone, okay?"

With the hundred races emerging into the world, the common people of the Nine Provinces seemed to have grown used to such sights. Xiao Chen was speechless. He was being treated as moving "gold." From the fiery looks of those around him, he could tell just how "friendly" they found him.

Seeing a few unruly youths approaching, Xiao Chen was quite exasperated and quickly strode away.

Though he had left the Dead City far behind, he had not left Yong Province. He headed toward Chang'an City.

Chang'an was a renowned imperial capital of the Nine Provinces, an ancient capital of over a dozen dynasties, the center of the western region. In this age of turbulent events, it was bound to be a unique "battlefield."

As soon as he entered this millennia-old capital, Xiao Chen spotted a few of his kind. Three white-bone skeletons swaggered into the city, making no attempt to hide their identity.

They were clearly surprised to see him. They quickly ran over, adopting very respectful postures, and transmitted: "Greetings, Lord..."

Xiao Chen thought for a moment, then said, "At ease."

The three skeletons were delighted and stood respectfully at his side.

"Any recent news?" Xiao Chen asked casually as he walked into the city.

"The peerlessly beautiful Beauty King and the enchanting Fallen Angel King have appeared in Chang'an at the same time, for unknown reasons."

"The Golden Lion King and the War Clan king Mabao fought their third battle, ending in another draw. But it's said the fourth decisive battle will begin soon, right here outside Chang'an, a duel to the death."

"The Yaksha King wiped out nineteen human experts in a single night, stirring up endless bloodshed."

"And a major event: a War King from one of the four royal bloodlines of the War Clan slaughtered the Giant King. But it's said that on the same day, the Giant Island deep in the sea blazed with light, and someone from the Giant clan's first royal bloodline—the Golden Bloodline—has awakened."

"Mankind has truly declined. Lately, many human experts have been defecting to the kings of various races..."