Li Nanzhu’s fingers sank deep into the crevices of the bone pile, her fingertips meeting a bone-chilling cold.
Suisui suddenly trembled violently in her palm, its soul fire flickering as it pointed toward the center of the pile—where a dark red metal fragment lay quietly, its edges stained with dried blood.
Li Nanzhu knelt and picked up the fragment from the bones. It was only half the size of a palm, with fresh breaks at the edges that glinted with a cold, metallic luster under the dim light. She silently turned it over, unable to see anything special about it.
"It's Senior Brother Four's vambrace fragment," Feng Qingping said as she leaned in, her fingertip lightly touching a groove on the inner side of the piece. "Looking at this buckle design, it's the style he habitually uses."
Li Nanzhu watched in silence, but felt a slight sense of relief—at least it proved they were searching in the right direction.
Feng Weilan used the tip of his blade to push aside the surrounding bone fragments and found several similar pieces. "It's not a life-bound magic tool, just ordinary armor." He pieced the fragments together, revealing a broken flame emblem. "It was shattered by external force during a battle."
Li Nanzhu nodded and tucked the fragments into her sleeve.
"It seems Senior Brother Four did indeed come through here; at least we have a lead now." Feng Qingping's voice had regained its calm, but the hand gripping her array disk tightened visibly.
Li Nanzhu looked at the mountain of white bones surrounding them, her heart suddenly feeling heavy again—to shatter a Golden Core cultivator's armor to this extent, it must have been a fierce battle.
Seeing that her expression was poor, Feng Qingping comforted her, "Senior Brother Four is most skilled in fire-attribute arts. Even if he encountered danger, escaping shouldn't be difficult." As she spoke, she took out a communication jade slip, but the runes on it remained dim and lifeless. "The signal is still blocked."
Suisui suddenly jumped down from Li Nanzhu’s shoulder, its bone claws lightly brushing against a skull.
Li Nanzhu noticed that the reason those tentacles dared not approach was precisely because the faint residual spiritual energy in the white bones formed a natural barrier. A nearly invisible speck of spiritual light rested at the brow of every skeleton; millions of these specks interwove into a web that kept the toxic miasma out.
"They are remnant souls," Feng Qingping explained softly. "The lingering obsessions of cultivators who have passed." She suddenly knelt on one knee, condensing a drop of water-blue spiritual fluid on her fingertip and letting it fall onto the bone pile.
Wherever the fluid passed, the dim spiritual lights brightened for a brief moment, as if in response.
Li Nanzhu silently took three sticks of soul-soothing incense from her storage bag.
The tips of the incense ignited without fire, and the green smoke rose straight toward the gray sky. She placed the incense before the fragments of the Red Flame Copper Mirror and bowed solemnly alongside her senior brother and sister.
This was not only a memorial for the deceased but also an expression of gratitude for the protection that had saved their lives.
Li Nanzhu watched the incense burn, her heart heavy. Among so many skeletons, some had already weathered and turned yellow, while others still bore fragments of clothing that hadn't fully decayed.
She wanted to do something for them—at least give them a proper burial—but that was clearly impossible right now.
The only thing she could offer were these three sticks of clear incense.
Suisui, however, seemed unusually restless, its soul fire jumping between several relatively intact skeletons, showing particular interest in the skulls. Looking at its behavior, Li Nanzhu suddenly remembered that Suisui grew by devouring bone essence.
"No," Li Nanzhu gently held it back. "These are the remains of our predecessors. They must not be desecrated."
Suisui let out a dissatisfied clicking sound. When it finally leaped back onto her shoulder with visible reluctance, its bone claws intentionally snagged a thread on her collar. Its soul fire shrank to the size of a mung bean in a fit of pique. Li Nanzhu stroked its skull with her thumb and made a mental note: once they returned, she would definitely find many ownerless skeletons for it.
The three of them sat cross-legged in the center of the bone platform, each meditating to recover their spiritual energy.
Li Nanzhu closed her eyes and focused, feeling the spiritual energy within her body like a trickling stream refilling her meridians. Suisui lay quietly on her lap, and Li Nanzhu suddenly realized that the little creature was clumsily imitating her meditation—the rhythm of its soul fire's contraction and expansion was synchronized with her breathing.
This discovery made the corners of her lips curve slightly, though the feeling was quickly suppressed by a heavy weight: there wasn't even a single weed here that Suisui could use to recover its life force.
Feng Qingping's array disk hovered before her, the water-blue spiritual energy enveloping the three of them like a thin veil. Her brows were slightly furrowed, her fingertips occasionally tapping the array disk to adjust the strength of the protective barrier. Feng Weilan’s long blade lay across his knees, the golden light on the blade flickering in time with his breath.
After about an hour, Feng Weilan was the first to open his eyes, the golden light on his blade restored to its original brilliance.
He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the two still in meditation, and walked silently to the edge of the platform to stand guard. Half a quarter-hour later, Feng Qingping and Li Nanzhu also completed their recovery one after another.
"How much have you recovered?" Feng Weilan asked without turning his head.
"Seventy or eighty percent," Feng Qingping said, putting away her array disk. She condensed a drop of water-blue spiritual energy and drew an elegant arc in the air. "It's enough to handle any emergencies."
Li Nanzhu nodded lightly without saying much.
She put Suisui back on her shoulder and looked once more across the platform built of countless white bones. Those skeletons lay there silently, having weathered an unknown number of years.
She took out the last three sticks of soul-soothing incense, lighting them one by one in the crevices of the bones. The wisps of green smoke rose, appearing exceptionally clear amidst the miasma-filled air.
"Let's go," Feng Weilan said, stepping forward as his long blade cut a golden trail ahead of him.
The three of them stepped into the marsh once more, and this time, it was surprisingly peaceful.
The black tentacles seemed to have vanished, with only the increasingly thick toxic miasma reminding them of the approaching danger.
Li Nanzhu’s robes were soon soaked by the moisture, the fabric clinging to her skin and bringing bouts of chill. Suisui occasionally exhaled puffs of ice mist to disperse the toxic miasma trying to draw near, but it was clearly working much harder than before.
Feng Qingping walked in the middle, the array disk in her hand constantly adjusting their direction.
Her pace grew faster, and the trails her fingertips drew on the array disk became more hurried. Li Nanzhu noticed her lips were pressed into a thin line, her eyes flashing with anxiety.
"Senior Sister," Li Nanzhu called out softly, "no news is good news."
Feng Qingping’s steps faltered for a moment. She took a deep breath and forced a smile. "I know, it's just..." Her voice trailed off as her gaze swept over the thickening toxic miasma. "This place is too strange."
Hearing this, Feng Weilan suddenly spoke up, "I will protect you."
Feng Qingping didn't even look up at Feng Weilan’s words; she merely gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, as if it were a phrase the other had already repeated a thousand times.
Li Nanzhu watched the unspoken understanding between the two, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. Suisui rubbed its face against her cheek, its soul fire jumping a bit more cheerfully.
As the three went deeper, the scenery of the marsh became increasingly bizarre.
The black water surface was as calm as a mirror, reflecting the gray sky. Occasionally, bubbles rose from beneath the water, letting out hair-raising gurgles as they popped. Further away, several dead ancient trees were faintly visible.
When Feng Weilan suddenly came to a halt, the frequency of his long blade's vibration caused a cold sweat to break out on Li Nanzhu’s back—
"There's something there!"
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