The Five-Colored Skeleton

On the deathly silent ancient battlefield, a five-colored skeleton advanced step by step. An eerie stillness fell over the land—all fire-seed creatures seemed to vanish, not a sound to be heard.

Xiao Chen was deeply shocked. A five-colored skeleton beyond precedent—how had it appeared in the outer regions of the Death Continent? It was always the strong who pushed deeper into the continent, yet today, a being of unfathomable power had emerged from within.

The five-colored skeleton was like a dream, as if woven from a captured rainbow. It shone brilliantly, sacred and dazzling. Its crystalline bone body radiated five-colored divine light, as perfect as the finest work of art.

"Submit or be destroyed!" Its spiritual pressure weighed down like a mountain. Though it stood as a mere skeleton, it seemed as if ten thousand giant cities had descended upon this ancient battlefield.

In an instant, the five-colored skeleton drew close to Xiao Chen, five-colored light blazing from its eye sockets as it stared down the Yellow Diamond skeleton.

"Why?" Xiao Chen demanded.

"My lord, Yi Tianzhong, has been drilling his troops and preparing for war for years. Before he launches his campaign against the other sovereigns, he must clear all instability behind his lines. You have two choices: submit or be destroyed."

The war deep within the Death Continent had spread to the outer regions—a sign of how vast this conflict truly was.

Xiao Chen had no desire for destruction, but facing this overbearing, contemptuous five-colored skeleton made his heart churn with bitter discomfort.

When under the eaves, must one bow one's head?

This five-colored skeleton could not be opposed by force. Its oppressive might rivaled the Yaksha King's—it was far beyond what Xiao Chen could currently contend with.

"Submit, or die!" The five-colored skeleton raised a single bone palm, five-colored divine light blooming as it prepared to cleave down.

"Are there no other options?"

"To survive, there is only one choice: join my lord Yi Tianzhong's army. Only through conquest can there be hope of life."

"Submit my head!" Xiao Chen roared, transforming into a golden rainbow. Gripping the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, he swept it forward.

Seven-colored radiance clashed with the five-colored divine light, shaking the ancient battlefield. Fissures miles long split the earth, and countless terrifying beams of destruction shot into the sky. In that instant, Xiao Chen transformed into a sky-piercing rainbow and fled into the distance.

He had seen clearly: submission meant enslavement. To be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder was unacceptable—better utter destruction than to live without freedom.

"In the name of my lord Yi Tianzhong, I grant you death." The five-colored skeleton turned into a streak of five-colored light, crossing the sky in an instant and pursuing with breathtaking speed.

Its mastery of the fire seed had reached the pinnacle. The five-colored seed had become like blood, like meridians, like flesh, like spiritual energy—erupting as five-colored divine light that formed a colossal sword beam aimed straight at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen was horrified. This five-colored skeleton was unfathomable, beyond any hope of matching with mere power. But escape was no longer possible; he had no choice but to fight back. He swept the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree behind him while vibrating the Origin Heavenly Sound with all his might.

"Boom!"

The heavenly sound barely diminished the five-colored divine light. The five terrible beams struck the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree solidly, shaking Xiao Chen's Yellow Diamond skeleton until his joints creaked and groaned, nearly falling apart.

Xiao Chen dared not stop. A direct fight would only lead to his fall; he refused to court destruction. He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, a golden rainbow fleeing toward the distant sky.

He thought of seeking help from the Divine Village, but then recalled Elder Li Mu's kind face and little Tianya's innocent smile. He held back. The five-colored skeleton was merely a servant of a sovereign lord. If he used the Divine Village to kill it, he would likely bring catastrophic disaster upon those people.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Chen fled toward Giant City. When the golden divine rainbow descended again, the Giant King was furious—why did this bastard keep targeting him?

He shot into the sky, but when he saw the five-colored skeleton pursuing Xiao Chen, his spirit immediately wilted. He retreated back into Giant City at once.

"Brother Giant King, come quickly and join me to kill this five-colored skeleton! The fire seed will all be yours!"

Hearing Xiao Chen's roar, the Giant King wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Giant King, you have two choices: submit, or be destroyed." The five-colored skeleton's vast mental waves shook heaven and earth.

"I submit." The Giant King did not hesitate for an instant.

"Since you have chosen submission, you must fight for my lord Yi Tianzhong. First, join me in destroying this Yellow Diamond skeleton."

Xiao Chen cursed the Giant King's utter lack of backbone and had no choice but to flee faster.

"Rumble!"

Thunderous sounds rolled from behind. The five-colored skeleton struck with dazzling, multicolored rays. It forcibly imprisoned the fire-seed creatures of Giant City in the sky, shroud them in five-colored divine light, then exploded them into murderous auras. In an instant, it refined them into puppet weapons that shot through the air like meteors, detonating all around Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen was nearly caught several times. He fled across the entire eastern region, but the Hundred Battle King and the Beast King also submitted to the five-colored skeleton without a word of resistance.

Tens of thousands of skeletal armies surrounded him on all sides. The situation was dire. Finally, gritting his teeth, Xiao Chen fled toward the depths of the Death Continent.

Just as he charged inward, a ethereal young girl's song drifted from the continent's depths.

"Dust returns to dust, earth to earth; the Three-Life Stone is shattered, the past unbearable to recall... Nature shifts, life is but a dream; past events scatter like smoke..."

Then, the clang of swords shook heaven and earth. Brilliant sword light, like pillars propping up the sky, pierced through the heavens and the earth. Sword energy filled the wilds, the beams almost completely blocking the path ahead. The fire-seed creatures of the outer regions trembled in fear, unable to approach even a step.

"My lord Yi Tianzhong has begun his great battle with that enchantress..." The five-colored skeleton was clearly startled.

At that moment, a white-bone skeleton charged out from the depths of the continent. Its energy fluctuations were no weaker than the five-colored skeleton's.

"How goes the battle?"

"Some ancient fossils have awakened. The situation seems... unfavorable. And there are strange movements from deeper within the continent."

The two powerful skeletons exchanged words, and Xiao Chen was greatly astonished.

"No matter. First, sweep the outer regions." With that, the five-colored skeleton and the white-bone skeleton both began to converge on Xiao Chen.

Now he could not possibly flee into the continent's depths—before even getting close, he could sense the destructive aura. He could only turn back, beginning a ten-thousand-mile desperate flight.

Both skeleton heavenly kings possessed strength on par with the Yaksha King. Joining forces to hunt him, Xiao Chen had no hope of resisting. The outer regions were sealed off as the two skeleton kings led tens of thousands of fire-seed creatures to surround him. Even his Yellow Diamond bone body had begun to show cracks.

In the end, he still did not seek help from the Divine Village. Instead, he fled to the city where the bone well connecting to the Nine Provinces was located. He circled and dodged in this area until the last moment, when he entered the city and leapt into the bone well.

The five-colored skeleton and the white-bone skeleton followed right behind, leaping in after him, sworn to destroy him.

When they emerged almost simultaneously before the Dead City, the five-colored skeleton and the white-bone skeleton were stunned. Then they burst into wild laughter.

"Could it be... we have escaped the Death World, just like the legendary ancestors? Ha ha..."

"This great city... Heavens!" As they took in the Dead City, both skeleton heavenly kings trembled in shock.

"My lord Yi Tianzhong once risked his life to venture into the deepest part of the Death Continent. He saw some vague, ancient dead cities there and barely escaped with his life. Later, he carved some of those ethereal cities from memory. This city before us—it so strongly resembles those primordial ruins!"

The two skeleton heavenly kings were so shaken that even Xiao Chen was stunned. The information they revealed was truly hair-raising.

But this was no time to gawk. Xiao Chen vanished in an instant, fleeing far into the distance. The two skeleton kings resumed their pursuit, unwilling to let him go.

"Heh heh... Excellent. You've brought us to such a marvelous world. I'll give you a quick death."

"If you're willing to be our slave, I'll consider leaving you half of your fire seed."

"Go to hell! It's not certain who will kill whom!" Xiao Chen deliberately provoked them, ensuring they stayed hot on his trail.

These two skeleton heavenly kings had to die. Otherwise, when their time ran out and they returned to the Death World, the Bone Well would no longer be a secret.

Xiao Chen wanted to lure them overseas and let the hundred clans' elite kill them, but he thought better of it. Instead, he flew toward the Eastern Sea, deciding to use the stone statue.

"Yellow Diamond whelp! You can fly to the heavens or burrow into the earth—today I will grind your bones to dust and slowly devour your fire seed!"

"Boom!"

Another heavy blow landed. Xiao Chen's bone body cracked further; it could shatter at any moment. This was the most perilous crisis he had faced since becoming a fire-seed being—the shadow of annihilation seemed to hang over him.

After a long flight, the Eastern Sea appeared in sight. When he saw the towering stone statue standing in the nearshore waters, Xiao Chen became utterly calm.

Flash—a beam of light vanished, and he disappeared into the statue.

The two skeleton heavenly kings stared at each other in astonishment. They began circling the colossal statue, searching for him. But then, a soul-shaking dread warned them of approaching destruction.

The five-colored skeleton and the white-bone skeleton reacted with lightning speed, but they were still too late. The huge stone statue had revived! The stone sword in its right hand descended like a mountain range.

"Bam!"

The lower half of the white-bone skeleton's body was crushed as if by a million demon peaks. It turned to ash, bone powder scattering in the wind. With only his upper torso remaining, he shrieked and shot into the sky.

The five-colored skeleton fared slightly better—only one leg bone was grazed, shattering into powder.

Both skeleton heavenly kings fled in terror, dodging for their lives.

But the enormous stone statue had already locked onto them. Within its attack range, it swung the indestructible stone sword to its utmost limit.

"Woo... woo..."

Though the stone sword emitted no radiance, it gave off an eerie sound, like the wailing of spirits, chilling to the bone.

"Bam!"

The white-bone skeleton was struck squarely. Its bone body shattered on the spot, and even the soul fire seed in its skull fragmented, scattering into the sea.

Xiao Chen, within the statue, felt a pang of regret. This was a golden opportunity for his advancement; he would have to expend great effort gathering those fragments from the seabed. Next, he controlled his strength precisely, swinging the war sword at the five-colored skeleton.

The five-colored skeleton was remarkably agile. In the narrowest gap, it dodged sideways and fled into the distance without looking back. But it still could not escape the stone sword's reach—a mountain range seemed to fall from the sky.

"Crack!"

The five-colored skeleton heard the clear sound of its own bones breaking, but its body did not shatter. Breathless with relief, it raced toward the horizon.

But that sword strike had only been a feint. In that moment, an enormous petrified claw descended, blotting out the sky, and caught it in its grip.

"Bang!"