The Crimson of the Blood Spring was left behind. Gu Xuan’s figure shot forward like an inky streak of light, following the faint, almost invisible crimson thread on the Hundred Taboos Diagram towards the southeast.
In less than half an hour, a boundless white forest stretched out before him.
The Thousand Bone Forest.
This forest contained no real trees; the so-called "trees" were entirely constructed from towering piles of white bones.
Strangely, these bones were not scattered randomly but arranged in an extremely orderly circular formation, one ring nested within another, resembling some ancient ritual forgotten by time, exuding a chilling sense of order.
The moment he stepped into the forest, a wave of chilling air washed over him, but more terrifying was the whisper that suddenly echoed in his Spirit Sea.
"...He forgot the name... so we died too..."
This sound bypassed his ears, seeming to seep directly from the depths of his soul, carrying endless confusion and resentment.
Gu Xuan’s mind sharpened, and he immediately activated the Demon Suppression Hall. The phantom image of the ancient, heavy hall materialized in his Spirit Sea, isolating the bizarre whisper outside.
He walked inward step by step. With every footfall, the bones beneath him emitted a faint "click" sound and vibrated in response.
This vibration was not chaotic; its frequency astonishingly synchronized with his heartbeat and his steps, as if the entire Thousand Bone Forest were a living entity responding to his arrival.
Gu Xuan stopped, took out the mysterious Bone Card he acquired at the Gray Kiln Market, and tapped it lightly with his finger.
"Dong—"
A muffled sound emanated from the Bone Card, and in the next moment, the entire Thousand Bone Forest resonated in response!
Countless bones trembled simultaneously, the resulting sound converging into a torrent, resembling the massive bell struck in an ancient temple, its profound and desolate chime rolling outward.
Under this bell toll, the whispers in the Spirit Sea were instantly washed clean.
Gu Xuan’s gaze narrowed slightly, gripping the Bone Card, and he proceeded deeper.
After walking about ten miles, the scene before him suddenly opened up.
At the very center of the Bone Forest was an open area spanning a hundred zhang, and standing quietly in the middle was a three-foot-tall bronze statue of a young boy.
The boy’s eyes were tightly shut, his expression serene, his hands jointly holding a heavy stone book.
Just as Gu Xuan approached within three zhang of the statue, an Aberration suddenly occurred!
The bronze boy’s tightly closed eyes snapped open!
They were eyes without pupils, hollow and deep, seemingly capable of devouring all light.
An obscure, ancient syllable was spat from its mouth, yet it entered Gu Xuan’s mind clearly.
“Contract holder, state your true name.”
Gu Xuan’s heart stirred; this was an inquiry about his identity.
He remained silent for a moment before replying in a deep voice, “Gu Xuan.”
The bronze boy slowly shook its head, and its mechanical, cold voice sounded again: “Not that name.”
Not that name?
Gu Xuan frowned deeply. Did it refer to some codename or his name from a past life?
He tentatively asked back, “May I ask what name?”
The boy shook its head again: “Not that question.”
Not that name, and not that question.
Gu Xuan instantly understood.
This was not an examination, but a ritual!
What the other party wanted was not an answer, but a "Yao Jian" that fit the ritual.
His gaze fell upon the stone book, and his mind cleared.
He stopped speaking, slowly moved forward, extended his right hand, the aura of a Life Contract Soul Fragment he had just Refined lingering around his fingertip, and gently pressed it onto the cold stone book.
Instantly, light flowed across the surface of the stone book, and a line of distorted, ancient text slowly emerged.
“Those who wish to hear the true name must first offer one memory.”
Offer one memory.
Countless images flashed through Gu Xuan’s mind, finally settling on that crimson twilight of his childhood.
Without the slightest hesitation, he brought his fingers together like a blade, lightly slicing his other index finger, and a drop of scarlet blood rolled down, landing precisely on the page of the stone book.
What he chose to offer was the memory he had buried deepest in his heart—the most painful and profound one.
The scene replayed in his Spirit Sea: the broken entrance of the Underground Cellar, his mother using all her strength to push his small body inside before heavily slamming the wooden door shut.
Outside the door were the unrestrained laughter of the enemy army and the clash of metal weapons.
Through the crack in the door, he watched with his own eyes as several long spears mercilessly pierced his mother’s thin chest.
Warm blood dripped through the crack, drop by drop, splashing onto his cold face.
The moment the memory was stripped away, a heart-wrenching agony surged through him, as if a corner of his soul had been violently torn off.
Gu Xuan grunted, his face instantly turning pale.
And the stone book, after absorbing his blood and memory, emitted a low roar and slowly turned its first page.
On that page was only a line of even more distorted and ancient Fu Wen.
The bronze boy’s hollow gaze fixed on that line of Fu Wen, and it recited the words one by one in a tone devoid of any emotion.
“Beyond the Nine Hells of old, there existed the ‘Cultivation Court,’ which raised the beings of myriad realms like livestock, calling it the ‘Pastures.’ Those who claimed divinity were, in truth, butchers.”
This short sentence struck Gu Xuan’s mind like a thunderbolt from the heavens!
The Cultivation Court? The Pastures?
All beings of the myriad realms are livestock? And the so-called gods are actually butchers?
These few words revealed the essence of this world with a clarity and nakedness he had never experienced before!
This was more shocking and horrifying to him than any cultivation manual or secret technique.
He suppressed the turbulent waves in his heart, wanting to ask more, but the bronze boy seemed to have exhausted all its energy and mechanically stated, “One memory for one sentence. The transaction is complete.”
As soon as the words fell, its open eyes slowly closed, and the entire statue returned to a deathly stillness. No matter how Gu Xuan probed, there was no further reaction.
How could Gu Xuan be satisfied!
This stone book must surely contain more earth-shattering secrets.
A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. The phantom image of the Demon Suppression Hall in his Spirit Sea suddenly expanded, and a vast Devouring Power reached out across the void toward the stone book, attempting to forcibly seize it!
However, the moment the Demon Suppression Hall’s power touched the stone book, a terrifying backlash erupted!
“Crack—crack—”
The entire Thousand Bone Forest shook violently. The neatly arranged bones on the ground seemed to be manipulated by an invisible giant hand, frantically merging and reforming!
In the blink of an eye, ten-zhang-tall Skeleton Giants rose from the ground one after another. Eerie blue Soul Fire ignited in their hollow eye sockets, and they all locked onto Gu Xuan, the intruder, roaring as they charged to kill!
Gu Xuan’s expression changed as he fought and retreated.
The strength of these Skeleton Giants was astonishing, and they feared no death.
But he soon discovered a crucial issue—the movements of all the Skeleton Giants, whether punching, charging, or blocking, were perfectly uniform, as if controlled by a single will!
Find the will, and the situation can be broken!
He immediately activated the Crisis Warning. The trajectory of the Skeleton Giants’ next attacks appeared in his mind in advance, and his movements were ghost-like as he weaved between the giant fists.
Simultaneously, he fiercely hurled an Yin Gui sealed with a Mayfly Remnant Core.
“Explode!”
The Yin Gui detonated within the formation of Skeleton Giants, and the chaotic energy storm temporarily hindered their movements.
Taking this opportunity, Gu Xuan flicked his finger, sending a strand of Ultimate Yin Qi refined from the Black Water Pool like a serpent into the ground, tracing the connection points of the skeletons to reverse-track the source of the controlling force.
His divine sense sank rapidly along the Yin Qi, and soon, he “saw”!
Deep beneath the Thousand Bone Forest, a massive spinal column spanning the entire forest area was buried!
And embedded at the very top of the bone column was a Heart Model, the size of a human head, carved from an unknown crystal. The heart was beating rhythmically with a "thump-thump," and each beat radiated immense mental power, controlling everything on the surface.
That’s it!
A sharp light shot from Gu Xuan’s eyes. He unhesitatingly directed all the power of the Demon Suppression Hall underground, locking firmly onto that core.
“Devour!”
Crimson Fu Wen flashed wildly on the phantom image of the Demon Suppression Hall, and a line of cold prompts appeared: “Can Refine: Pseudo-God Heart imitation. Start?”
“Yes!”
The moment Refinement began, an information torrent far vaster than when his memory was stripped away violently rushed into his Spirit Sea, mixed with countless fragmented images and unwilling roars!
It turned out that the Thousand Bone Forest had once been a gathering place for a faction of ancient rebels.
They discovered the truth of the “Cultivation Court,” attempting to record this reality and pass it down to later generations, but they were brutally suppressed and silenced.
All the bones scattered here were the remains of these pioneers.
The so-called “Old Gods” were not specific deities, but the first beings who awakened from the “Pastures” and attempted to resist!
And that so-called “True Name” was the starting point of the resistance, the first syllable to break the shackles of servitude!
At the end of the information torrent, a faint yet incredibly familiar female voice sounded in the deepest part of his Spirit Sea—it was Ye Xi’s voice.
“When you hear the name, you are no longer a slave.”
After an unknown amount of time, the Refinement finally concluded.
Gu Xuan sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly opened his eyes. A trickle of blood slid down from his temple.
He raised his head, gazing up at the firmament composed of withered bones, his lips moved, and in a dry, ancient tone, he softly recited the string of Fu Wen that had just been Sealed onto his soul.
“Khar-Zun-Thul.”
In that instant, heaven and earth fell silent.
The wind stopped, the vibration of the bones ceased, and even the flow of air seemed to be completely frozen at that moment.
Simultaneously, at the other end of the distant horizon, in the direction of Silent Moon Valley, the bronze bell hanging atop the ancient Witch Temple, which had stood for countless millennia, rang without any warning, swinging by itself.
“Dang—”
One chime, two chimes, three chimes...
Clear and distant bell sounds echoed one after another, piercing the clouds.
And deep within the ruins of the Gray Kiln Market, the old counterman who had always been hunched over polishing bone tools suddenly raised his head, his cloudy eyes bursting with unprecedented brilliance.
The bone knife in his hand hummed, as if resonating with the distant bell chimes.
He looked up at the sky and muttered to himself, “The ninth chime... it is about to begin.”
With the lingering echoes of the nine bronze bells from the direction of Silent Moon Valley yet to fade, Gu Xuan stood in the center of the utterly silent Bone Forest, the ashes of the Pseudo-God Heart beneath his feet, his gaze already fixed on the unknown horizon stirred by the bells.