The wind howled through the mountains of the Southern Wilderness, echoing like the whispers of lost souls, intertwining with the sudden sound of a bell to play an ancient, incomprehensible ballad.
The embers of Gray Kiln Market were still warm, and the charred ruins cast grotesque, looming shadows under the moonlight.
Gu Xuan, clad in a black robe that merged seamlessly with the night, moved silently through the desolate ruins.
His steps were light, yet each one crushed the solidified blood scabs beneath his feet, producing a faint, crisp cracking sound.
In his hand, he tightly gripped the Bone Card he had seized from the master of Gray Kiln Market.
The Bone Card felt warm and smooth to the touch, as fine as high-grade jade, yet beneath that gentle surface, countless fine, hair-like blood threads slowly writhed, appearing almost alive, brimming with bizarre vitality.
Every midnight, this Bone Card would grow slightly warm. The temperature wasn't scorching, but rather like the faint heartbeat of some slumbering creature—thump, thump—striking against Gu Xuan’s palm, and against his heart.
He stopped, standing on a patch of Scorched Earth, and sank his divine sense into his Spirit Sea.
The magnificent and eerie Demon Suppression Hall floated quietly. Before the hall doors, he drew upon a wisp of Yin Energy, black as ink, cautiously guiding it toward the Bone Card in his palm.
The instant the Yin Energy touched the Bone Card, Gu Xuan’s Spirit Sea violently shook!
The ruins, the moonlight, and the Scorched Earth before him all faded away, replaced by a vast and desperate illusion.
Black clouds pressed down on the city, lightning flashed, and a torrential downpour furiously lashed a solitary mountain peak.
Atop the peak, an enormous stone stele had snapped in half; the upper section was nowhere to be seen, leaving only the weather-beaten base.
The remaining inscriptions flickered in the lightning flashes. Those ancient characters held a power that shook the Soul, and even incomplete, they made Gu Xuan’s spirit tremble violently.
“...The Life Contract returns to its place, the Gate to the Nine Hells opens.”
These mere eight words exploded in his Spirit Sea like thunder.
The illusion shattered, and Gu Xuan snapped back to reality, fine beads of cold sweat already forming on his brow.
He opened his palm; the Bone Card remained warm, as if everything that had just happened was merely his delusion.
His gaze turned cold, and a chilling curve touched the corner of his lips.
“Not guidance, but bait,” he murmured, his voice scattered by the night wind. “But she knew I would come.”
This Bone Card, and the illusion it displayed, was not a benevolent guide but a meticulously laid trap, one baited with the secret he most desired to know.
And the person who set this trap, that mysterious woman, had calculated that he could not refuse.
Three days later, at the Southern Wilderness Edge, the Dry River Crossing.
Though named a 'Crossing,' there was no water, no boat, and no bridge here.
A long-dry riverbed split open here into a massive chasm; the cracked river bottom plunged into an abyss, winding away toward an unknown land shrouded in thick fog.
On both banks of the riverbed, dense rows of stark white bones were driven into the ground, sharpened into stakes, upon which hung faded and tattered cloth banners.
When the wind blew, the banners flapped loudly, sounding like the wails of countless wronged spirits.
Legend held that this was an ancient site of Witch sacrifice, the boundary between mortals and the Southern Wilderness, and the final destination for the souls of the dead sent off by the living.
Relying on the token representing his identity from Gray Kiln Market, Gu Xuan managed to exchange it with a hollow-eyed old man at the Post Station for a yellowed "Crossing Permit."
He removed his black robe, changed into worn hemp clothes, smeared his face with ash, and deliberately weakened his aura, perfectly disguising himself as a medicine slave fleeing from the interior. He quietly merged with a merchant caravan preparing to venture deep into the Southern Wilderness to gather herbs.
At night, the caravan camped among a cluster of strange rocks near the riverbank.
The bonfire crackled, driving away the surrounding chill, but it could not dispel the faint scent of blood and decay hanging in the air.
Most people were chatting softly; only two individuals remained silent throughout, meticulously cleaning their weapons.
Both carried heavy, long, rectangular crates on their backs. The seals on the edges of these crates were fastened with rows of meticulously nailed, polished fingernails—a truly bizarre sight.
Gu Xuan’s gaze swept over them casually, but his vigilance was already raised.
In the latter half of the night, it was those two men’s turn to stand watch.
Gu Xuan pretended to need to relieve himself and quietly approached the spot where they had placed the crates.
He did not attack directly. Instead, he activated the Demon Suppression Hall, sending out a nearly imperceptible wisp of "Hidden Absorption" power, like an invisible tentacle, toward one of the crates.
The aura penetrated the iron casing, and the scene inside the crate instantly flooded his mind.
Inside were not herbs or cargo, but three pale-skinned infant corpses lying side-by-side!
No, those were not corpses!
Their chests still rose and fell with extremely faint movements, and countless tiny Black Shadows seemed to writhe beneath their skin.
Yin-Tai Gu!
Gu Xuan’s heart tightened.
This was an extremely vicious evil art from the Southern Wilderness, refined using the flesh and resentment of women nine months pregnant, supplemented by secret methods for forty-nine days.
This substance was an excellent material for refining high-level Gu poisons and puppets, utterly malevolent.
He retreated without showing any reaction, as if he had noticed nothing.
As he passed the two men, his fingers moved slightly. A drop of residual liquid refined from the Black Water Pool within the Demon Suppression Hall, smaller than a speck of dust, silently flicked into one man's water skin.
At dawn the next day, just before the sky brightened, two piercing, inhuman screams suddenly erupted in the camp!
Everyone was instantly awakened. The two silent puppet carriers were now rolling on the ground, as countless hair-thin black insect shadows poured out of their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
As soon as these insect shadows left their hosts, they immediately pounced on the living people nearby, biting frantically.
One caravan guard failed to dodge in time; in mere moments, he was gnawed down to a skeleton!
Chaos and panic spread like a Plague. The entire caravan instantly dissolved, and people fled in all directions, screaming.
Gu Xuan seized the moment of chaos, moving like lightning. He snatched the iron crate that had not yet been affected by the backlash, and with a few swift movements, vanished into the depths of the strange rock forest shrouded in thick fog.
Confirming no one was pursuing him, he pried open the crate.
Inside, there was no Yin-Tai Gu, only a yellowed Sheep Skin scroll tightly wrapped in oilcloth.
Unfurling the scroll, an ancient and savage aura rushed out.
It was a damaged Southern Wilderness Hundred Taboos Map!
The map used ancient pictographs to mark the mountains and rivers of the Southern Wilderness, along with over ten forbidden locations marked in blood red.
Three of these locations were circled with heavy cinnabar, accompanied by annotations written in tiny script.
“Blood Spring: Can cleanse a cultivator’s foundation, allowing for complete rebirth.”
“Bone Forest: The depths conceal the words of the Old Gods; hearing them can lead to enlightenment or the collapse of the Soul.”
“Witch Temple: Understands past and future; one can inquire about one’s destiny.”
These annotations were filled with fatal temptation, but Gu Xuan’s gaze was fixed firmly on the center of the map, a place named "Silent Moon Valley."
Next to this place name, written in a distinctly different ink, was a line of very small characters.
“Only the Contract Holder may enter.”
Gu Xuan’s pupils contracted sharply.
He stared at those words for a long time before slowly tucking the scroll into his sleeve.
“She wanted me to find this thing... But who is the true ‘Contract Holder’?”
This question lodged itself in his heart like a sharp thorn.
On the fifth day of continuing deeper into the Southern Wilderness, the surrounding scenery grew increasingly bizarre.
The miasma was thick as ink, and the trees in the forest all adopted a twisted, bowing posture, as if paying homage to some unknown entity.
The air was filled with a sickly sweet, decaying odor that made one nauseous.
Gu Xuan stopped before an area overgrown with vines.
These vines were unlike ordinary plants; their thick stems bore pale, human-face-like flower buds.
Erosian Vine!
This plant was notorious in the Southern Wilderness; it did not consume flesh and blood, but specialized in consuming the Soul of cultivators.
It would mimic the voice most deeply ingrained in the intruder’s memory or strongest Resolve to confuse the mind. Once pierced by its tendrils, the Soul would be rapidly drained, becoming its Nutrient.
Gu Xuan had intended to go around, but just as he prepared to leave, one of the human-faced buds opened slightly, and a faint, desperate cry for help reached his ears.
“Xuan’er... save me...”
That voice was exactly the same as his mother’s final call before she died!
A momentary lapse, a flicker of instability in his mind—for a fierce creature of this caliber, that was a fatal opening!
A vine lashed out like lightning from the side, instantly piercing Gu Xuan’s left arm!
An intensely cold power surged through the vine into his body, heading straight for his Spirit Sea!
Intense pain and icy coldness erupted simultaneously, nearly tearing Gu Xuan’s consciousness apart from the sudden impact.
However, at this critical juncture, he violently activated the Crisis Warning divine ability he had recently refined!
Buzz—!
Deep within his Spirit Sea, an alarm blared!
A sense of extreme danger allowed him to perceive a fatal sneak attack from behind half a breath earlier!
Gu Xuan didn't even have time to think; his body reacted purely on instinct.
He spun around violently and flung three Mayfly Remnant Cores backward with his hand!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three muffled explosions sounded, and a dense black mist instantly enveloped an area spanning ten feet around him, obscuring all sight and perception.
The moment the black mist spread, a fierce glint flashed in Gu Xuan’s eyes, and he roared, “Demon Suppression Hall, absorb!”
An immense, unparalleled suction erupted from within him. The five main vines of the Erosian Vine cluster, hidden underground and preparing to strike, along with the tendril piercing his arm, were forcibly ripped from the earth by this power and dragged into his Spirit Sea space!
Blood-colored Fu Wen flashed wildly before the Demon Suppression Hall: “Item ready for Refinement detected: Erosian Vine cluster, initiate Refinement?”
“Yes!” Gu Xuan confirmed without hesitation.
Indescribable agony instantly shot through every one of his nerves, as if his entire Soul had been thrown into a refining furnace.
But he gritted his teeth, enduring the inhuman torment.
It was during this Refinement process that he managed to glimpse a fleeting image, using the residual memory of the vines.
It was a vast, boundless Blood Lake, its water viscous as paste, constantly churning with massive bubbles.
And in the very center of the lake stood a colossal stone pillar reaching up to the heavens. The markings on that pillar were of the same origin as the Bone Card in his hand!
After an unknown amount of time, the Refinement was finally complete.
The Erosian Vine transformed into the purest Soul Power, repairing his damaged Spirit Sea and granting him finer control over his Soul.
Gu Xuan sat cross-legged, slowly regulating his breath.
Just then, he noticed a slight disturbance in the distorted tree shadows in the distance.
A woman veiled in black gauze, holding a bronze Green Lantern, walked slowly out of the miasma.
Her steps were light, making no sound upon landing. The flame in the ancient Green Lantern she held remained perfectly still amidst the pervasive fog, emitting a faint green glow.
It was Ye Xi.
She stopped ten feet away, not approaching, and her cool voice pierced the miasma, reaching Gu Xuan clearly: “You are moving too fast. In your current state, you are not qualified to enter Silent Moon Valley.”
Before her words faded, she flicked her fingertip, and a faint, ethereal light shot across the night sky like a meteor, precisely targeting the Bone Card in Gu Xuan’s embrace.
Gu Xuan instinctively took out the Bone Card.
The moment the ethereal light touched the Bone Card, the two emitted a strong resonance, vibrating with a hum.
On the surface of the Bone Card, the other half of the incomplete text, different from the previous illusion, emerged.
“...Defy fate and alter the track; only fire remains unextinguished.”
The two fragments of text shone in response to each other, then flashed once and vanished completely; the Bone Card returned to its original state.
Ye Xi gave him a deep look, then turned to leave, leaving behind only a faint remark.
“Come find me when you can ignite it with your own power.”
Ye Xi’s figure quickly disappeared into the thick fog, as if she had never been there.
Gu Xuan stood frozen, repeatedly rubbing the Bone Card in his hand.
Every word of those two fragmented sentences was like a branding iron, deeply seared into his mind.
He meticulously examined every inch of the Bone Card, finally managing to pick out a thread of gold finer than a hair from an almost imperceptible seam on the back.
This was actually an ancient Soul Thread forcibly Sealed within the Bone Card!
The Soul Thread still retained an extremely intense fluctuation of Resolve.
Without hesitation, he cast this Soul Thread into the Ten Thousand Laws Pool within the Demon Suppression Hall for testing.
The pool water instantly boiled and churned. Above the water surface, light and shadow interwove, projecting a blurry image.
In the scene, upon a magnificent Altar, an elderly man wearing a five-colored feather crown and an aged face knelt on the ground. He held a jade tablet high with both hands—the shape of that tablet was exactly the same as his own face!
He roared toward the sky, his voice filled with unwillingness and madness:
“I do not accept my fate!”
The scene abruptly ended there.
Gu Xuan slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, only cold realization remained in his gaze.
“So... there is more than one Life Contract. And what she gave me belongs to someone else.”
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the dense miasma toward the deepest part of the Southern Wilderness—the direction marked as Silent Moon Valley on the map, and the location of the Blood Lake from the Erosian Vine’s memory.
As if responding to his gaze, deep within the impossibly distant mountains, the countless chains beneath the surface of that unknown Blood Lake suddenly tightened, emitting a grating sound of metal friction. It seemed something imprisoned for eons was slowly opening its eyes in the dark depths of the lake.
That Blood Lake was the only beacon.
Gu Xuan stood up, brushed the dust from his clothes, and his eyes were firm, devoid of any further confusion.