The guardian's twin blades screeched against the stone floor as it recovered from Tian Jue's counter, its hollow eyes burning with golden fire. Each step it took sent a pulse of pressure through the clearing, forcing weaker cultivators to their knees—but Tian Jue's refined bones and tendons drank it in, turning each tremor into momentum.
Huan Tao darted past him, palm glowing with a domineering golden-red light. "Move!" she barked, slamming his strike into the guardian's midsection. The impact rang like a war drum, staggering the statue back several steps.
Before Tian Jue could capitalize, the sound of hurried boots echoed from behind. Two figures emerged from the mist—outer sect disciples from their own sect, eyes wide at the sight of the guardian. Right on their heels came the crimson-robed trio from the branching tunnel.
The air shifted instantly.
Six sets of eyes met in a charged silence. Everyone knew what was at stake.
The taller crimson-robed cultivator smirked. "Looks like fate brought us all together… Shall we see who fate favors?"
Tian Jue's mind worked quickly. Fighting the guardian and both groups would be suicide. But letting either party slip past them toward the inheritance core was worse.
The guardian moved first. With surprising speed, it swept its twin blades in a wide arc—forcing everyone to scatter or be cleaved in two.
"That's not just a guardian," Tian Jue muttered, landing in a crouch. "It's a lure."
As if to prove his point, golden inscriptions lit up on the ground. From the surrounding mist, smaller constructs—each with crude weapons—began to emerge in a slow, encircling formation. The clearing was sealing them in.
Huan Tao's dominating presence flared higher, his qi like a flame fighting to consume everything in reach. "Then we break through," she growled, his earlier childish demeanor nowhere to be seen.
Tian Jue popped a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve, holding it just long enough for Huan Tao to notice. "Second tier transformation pills," he whispered. "If they don't know who we are, they can't hold this against us later."
Without hesitation, they both swallowed the pills. Heat spread through Tian Jue's body as his features shifted, bones subtly adjusting, skin tone darkening. Even his qi signature blurred, twisting into something unrecognizable.
The sect disciples behind them didn't notice the change, too focused on the guardian's relentless advance.
"Time to test your new physique," Huan Tao said with a quick grin, before hurling himself at the nearest construct.
Tian Jue followed, his movements unnervingly precise—every tendon, every bone working in perfect harmony. Where before he would've sidestepped a blow, now he caught the enemy's strike head-on, absorbing the force through his frame and countering with explosive power. His elbow shattered a construct's helm, his kick sent another tumbling into the cliff wall.
The other factions froze for a moment, their earlier underestimation dissolving. Whoever these two were now, they were far from ordinary outer disciples.
"Keep pressing forward!" Tian Jue called, already carving a path toward the narrow passage that led deeper.
Huan Tao's aura flared again, forcing the others to keep their distance. For a brief, fierce moment, it felt like they owned the battlefield.
The narrow passage opened into a cavern vast enough to swallow a city block. Pale light spilled from veins of spirit jade in the walls, casting ghostly reflections over a lake so still it looked like glass.
At the center of the lake stood a stone platform shaped like a lotus in bloom. Ancient runes crawled across its petals, shifting slowly as if alive. The air was thick—so saturated with spiritual energy that every breath felt like swallowing liquid qi.
Huan Tao whistled under his breath. "If this isn't an inheritance core, I'll shave my head and call myself monk."
Tian Jue didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the faint shimmer above the lotus platform—an intangible barrier, rippling like heat over sand. He stepped closer, and the moment his foot touched the lake's edge, an unseen force pushed against his body.
Pressure.
Not the crushing weight of qi suppression, but something stranger—like invisible hands prying at his bones, testing their strength, trying to split them apart.
Huan Tao grunted behind him. "This place… it's not just about getting in. It's checking our bodies."
Tian Jue felt the corners of his lips curl faintly. So that's it. His newly refined bones and tendons drank in the pressure like a forge swallowing heat, each pulse strengthening the dense lattice within him. What should have been bone-breaking strain only fed his stability.
He glanced back at Huan Tao. "Keep your breathing steady. This pressure is meant to break anyone who's not a body cultivator."
From the tunnel behind, the sounds of pursuit grew louder—shouts, the clash of metal on construct stone. The other two factions had realized the guardian couldn't be slain quickly and decided to gamble on the core instead.
Huan Tao's expression hardened, his earlier teasing gone. "We don't have long."
They stepped onto the lake. The surface rippled but didn't give way, solid beneath their feet—yet every step multiplied the pressure. For most cultivators, this was where bones would splinter, tendons tear.
Tian Jue moved like a predator through deep water—measured, unstoppable. His muscles worked in perfect sequence, absorbing the force, redirecting it. He could almost feel the lake's test recognizing his strength.
By the time they reached the lotus platform, sweat slicked their backs, but neither had faltered. The barrier shimmered before them, faintly humming.
Behind, the first of their pursuers stumbled onto the lake—and instantly collapsed to one knee, coughing blood. The rest slowed, their faces pale.
Huan Tao chuckled darkly. "Looks like this test isn't for everyone."
Tian Jue placed his palm on the barrier. The runes shifted, swirling like a tide drawn to his touch. For a heartbeat, nothing happened—then the surface parted like water, revealing a staircase descending into golden light.
The golden light below the staircase was warm yet heavy, like the air before a storm. Every step down resonated through Tian Jue's bones, each vibration subtly in tune with the rhythm of his newly refined body. It felt as though the very structure of the chamber was listening to him.
Huan Tao followed, his usual dominant confidence strangely muted. His eyes darted along the walls—carved with reliefs of towering figures wielding halberds and fists instead of swords, their bodies radiant with a fierce, physical power.
At the base of the stairs, the chamber spread out into a vast circle. Floating in the center was an enormous crystal, inside which a faint silhouette curled like a sleeping beast. Surrounding it were eight pillars of black stone, each etched with glowing chains of light.
"This… isn't just an inheritance," Huan Tao muttered. "It's a prison."
Tian Jue's gaze lingered on the crystal. The vitality radiating from it was almost intoxicating—pure, refined essence that could temper flesh and bone far beyond mortal limits. But it was also dangerous, like standing too close to a lightning storm.
Before they could move closer, the sound of footsteps echoed from above—their pursuers had reached the staircase. The oppressive pressure of the lake must have slowed them, but not stopped them entirely.
Huan Tao clenched his jaw. "They'll be here any second."
Tian Jue remained calm, scanning the eight pillars. Each one bore a different runic pattern—some ancient script he didn't fully recognize, but the arrangement felt deliberate, almost like the gears of a lock.
The system's faint chime rang in his mind.
[Body Refinement Compatibility Detected]
[Trial: Break the Seal without Damaging the Crystal]
A slow smile tugged at his lips. "Huan Tao, keep your eyes on the stairs. I'll deal with the seal."
He moved to the nearest pillar and struck it—not with brute force, but a sharp, vibrating pulse generated from deep within his bones. The runes flickered, part of the glowing chain unraveling. His new physique allowed him to channel force in precise, bone-deep waves—something impossible before his refinement.
Above, the sound of voices grew clearer. The rival sect from the nearby province was arguing with the other group—likely deciding whether to cooperate or fight here and now.
"Better hurry," Huan Tao said, planting himself at the staircase entrance like an immovable wall. His eyes gleamed, that domineering forest-hardened aura radiating again.
One by one, Tian Jue struck the pillars in exact sequences, his movements fluid yet unrelenting. The final chain broke just as a sharp voice rang from the staircase:
"Stop! That crystal belongs to us—"
The last pillar's runes died. A deep, resonant sound rolled through the chamber, and the crystal's light flared. The silhouette within stirred, a pair of ancient, bestial eyes snapping open.
The crystal pulsed once, then fractured—not shattering, but unfolding like the petals of a giant glass flower.
A figure stepped out, towering and broad-shouldered, his entire body carved with golden runes that seemed alive. His hair flowed like molten metal, and his eyes glowed with a primal radiance. Every step made the air ripple, pressing down on the chamber like a mountain.
"Who disturbs the prison of the Bone Emperor?" His voice was calm, yet each syllable seemed to resonate inside their bones.
The rival sect members froze mid-step on the staircase. Even Huan Tao's shoulders tensed, though he kept his guard up.
The figure's gaze swept over them all, lingering on Tian Jue for just a moment longer.
"You… have refined your blood, marrow, and bone. Yet you are incomplete. If you wish to claim my legacy, prove yourself."
A deep hum filled the chamber, and the floor beneath them warped, rising into eight jagged platforms suspended over a swirling abyss of golden light. The platforms shifted constantly, twisting and turning, making footing treacherous.
"Three trials," the Bone Emperor said, raising one hand. "Endure them, and you may take what is mine. Fail, and your body will become nourishment for my seal."
The first trial began instantly—a pressure wave slammed down on them, not on their qi or spirit, but on their very bones.
Tian Jue's knees buckled slightly, but his newly refined physique roared in defiance. He could feel his skeletal structure vibrating, each bone ringing like tempered steel. The pain was sharp, but he steadied himself, channeling the same bone-deep pulse he used to break the seal earlier, reinforcing himself from within.
Huan Tao gritted his teeth and roared, burning a sliver of his blood essence. His aura flared violently, his dominating forest-born presence flooding back.
Meanwhile, the rival sect members fared far worse—two collapsed instantly, coughing blood as their legs twisted at unnatural angles.
The Bone Emperor's lips curled faintly. "Good. You understand the foundation of power."
A second wave of pressure gathered. This time, it came not as force but as speed—the platforms shifted faster, requiring balance and explosive movement.
Tian Jue felt his tendons stretch and contract, his muscles snapping like coiled springs. His bones absorbed the impact with a strange resilience, letting him leap between moving platforms without hesitation.
"Your foundation… is young," the Bone Emperor remarked, "yet your bones sing like an ancient warrior's. This will be interesting."
Above them, the tension between the three groups was breaking—at any second, someone would be foolish enough to attack during the trial.