"You… you're in the Bone Cracking Realm?!" the remaining masked man shouted, his eyes wide with disbelief.
His voice trembled as he stumbled backward, boots scraping against the dusty ground. "How? You were supposed to be at Bone Awakening!"
His shock was written across every trembling motion of his body.
The alley suddenly felt narrow, its shadows pressing in on him, the smell of blood thick in the air.
Xue Wen's gaze darkened.
His eyes gleamed like cold steel under sunlight, and a faint murderous aura seeped from his body, sharp enough to make the masked man flinch. "Where do you think you're running?" Xue Wen said softly, but the softness carried the weight of death.
Before the man could even turn fully to escape, Xue Wen's body blurred.
The ground cracked beneath his foot as he vanished from his spot and appeared right behind the man like a ghost emerging from the dark.
His fist, covered in faint marrow essence, shot forward.
Crack!
"Splaaash..."
Blood spurted in a thick crimson mist.
The man's head exploded like a crushed melon, fragments scattering across the walls.
For a brief moment, the entire alley went silent, only the faint dripping of blood echoed in the suffocating quiet.
The second attacker's body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, twitching once before going still forever.
Ding Mei froze in place, her breath caught in her throat.
Her hands trembled as her eyes widened in horror.
She had never seen such a brutal scene in her life, not even in her worst nightmares.
Her legs felt weak, but instinctively she stepped closer, her heart pounding.
She reached out and held Xue Wen's blood-smeared hand.
Her voice was trembling. "Dear…" she whispered softly, almost afraid of her own tone.
Xue Wen looked at her, at her pale face, the trembling in her lips, and his heart clenched painfully.
He had never wanted her to witness something like this. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, guilt flickering in his eyes.
Ding Mei turned silent for a long while.
She took a deep breath, her body calming gradually.
Then she nodded, her expression hardening slightly as she forced herself to look at the two corpses. "Dear," she murmured, her voice steady but low, "you hide the bodies. I'll go get some Bone Corroding Powder."
Xue Wen's brows rose sharply, caught off guard by her words. "What?" He looked at her, completely flabbergasted.
The gentle, caring woman he knew, the one who blushed when he smiled, was now calmly suggesting how to dispose of corpses.
"Dear, quickly," Ding Mei urged, her tone anxious as she glanced toward the street. "Someone might see us."
Her words snapped him back to reality.
The shock faded, replaced by the urgent awareness of the danger.
If anyone saw them, things could spiral out of control.
"Okay," he said at last, his tone firm.
Seeing him agree, Ding Mei nodded and quickly turned, running toward the market end of the alley, her robe fluttering behind her.
She took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around her face.
Xue Wen stood still, watching her fading figure.
His lips moved faintly. "She…" he whispered to himself, lost for words.
He could never have imagined his sweet wife reacting so decisively.
Perhaps this world, and the things he had already seen, were changing them both faster than he realized.
After a few seconds of silence, he sighed deeply and turned his gaze toward the two lifeless bodies. "I have to hide these first."
He scanned the alley and spotted a narrow corner covered by stacked crates and broken clay jars.
Walking over, he grabbed the corpses one by one, dragging them with practiced ease.
The weight of their lifeless bodies didn't bother him, not after what he had endured.
When he tossed the second body into the corner, something faintly glimmered near his feet.
His eyes narrowed, catching the soft blue glow reflecting off the ground.
He bent down and picked it up, a small bone fragment, smooth and glowing faintly like polished jade.
It was blue in color, shaped like a spinal segment, and carried a faint hum of energy.
"This must be the awakened bone from the second one," he muttered, examining it closely. "When I blasted his head apart, this must've been knocked loose."
But the moment he picked up the glowing bone, something strange happened.
A cold sensation spread through his jaw, sharp and unnatural.
His mouth opened against his will, and a terrifying suction force erupted from deep within his throat.
"Agh—!" Xue Wen gasped, eyes widening as the glowing bone shot straight into his mouth and vanished down his throat.
"Damn it—!" He coughed violently, clutching his chest.
He tried to force it out, but the bone was already dissolving inside him.
He could feel it melting into pure energy, flooding his stomach, his veins, his bones.
His marrow essence churned wildly, his body burning with power. Then, crack!
He felt it. A tiny fissure forming across all four of his canines.
"This…" he breathed, stunned. He knew exactly what it was, the first crack of the Bone Cracking Realm.
The Bone Cracking Realm was divided into seven stages, each marked by a distinct fracture forming across the awakened bone.
To most one star Bonebearers, forming the first crack took years of meditation, battle, and marrow absorption.
Yet here he was… achieving it within a single day.
It was absurd. Terrifyingly absurd.
He looked down at the other corpse, thoughts spinning rapidly.
He didn't want to become a cannibal.
The very idea disgusted him. But that power, that surge he just felt, was unlike anything he had experienced.
If he wanted to protect himself… if he wanted to protect Ding Mei… then perhaps he couldn't afford to be too soft.
His jaw clenched. "That suction force… I wonder if I can trigger it on my own," he muttered.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the feeling in his canines, on that same unnatural pull that had devoured the bone.
He visualized it, imagined the previous moment, and suddenly, it responded.
A dark suction formed in his mouth again, invisible yet powerful.
He directed it toward the second corpse.
The body twitched, then began to tremble violently.
A glowing tooth detached from its skull, shaking free from its socket, and in the next instant, it flew into Xue Wen's mouth.
He clenched his fists as he felt the tooth dissolve, its essence fusing into him.
A few minutes later, a second crack echoed inside his bones.
His marrow essence surged higher, stronger, fiercer.
"This… this is too fast," he murmured, horrified and amazed at once. His heart turned cold.
'I can't go around killing people to grow stronger,' he thought, staring at the corpses. 'But… if I ever get the chance to absorb an awakened bone… I won't hesitate.'
He took a deep breath and straightened his back.
Power hummed beneath his skin, but so did guilt. Still, survival demanded ruthlessness.
"I need to get stronger," he said quietly, determination flickering in his eyes. "That's all that matters right now."
After a moment, his expression hardened. "And I must never use this ability in front of others," he whispered. "Not even in front of Ding Mei."