Jade Bones and Brocade Skin

"Bang!" "Bang!" Clatter... Under attack, the cage pulled taut against the black chains, causing runes to flash incessantly. Perceiving danger, Jingyu hastily invoked the Thunder Rosary, conjuring a protective barrier. Crackle! Dozens of scarlet bolts of lightning shot forth, striking the barrier. The Thunder Rosary trembled slightly before quickly stabilizing, firmly barring the scarlet lightning outside. After this probe, a glint of joy flashed in Jingyu's eyes. However, she was not impatient for success. Instead, she continued attacking the seal while observing the white skeleton inside the cage with great care. The skeleton was humanoid, with facial features resembling those of the human race, but its frame was noticeably thicker and broader than that of an ordinary person. It was hard to tell whether it hailed from an ancient race akin to humans or had cultivated some special cultivation method. More than one being was sealed at the bottom of the blood pool; there were several similar cages. Among them, the cage at the center of the blood pool possessed the strongest sealing power. What Old Demon Ye and Qingjun sought was precisely the ancient cultivator imprisoned within that cage. That ancient cultivator had managed to survive until now. Being suppressed alongside him at the bottom of the blood pool, this skeleton had likely possessed a cultivation level not far inferior to his in life. This place was the core of the Blood Prison. With the Black Pagoda array outside and the blood pool cages inside, layered defenses had still seemed insufficient, for heavy shackles bound its body as well. Those blossoms of Corpse Flower Blood Amber were rooted in the crevices of the white skeleton, born from absorbing the ancient corpse's power. Extremely bewitching, they possessed a tragic, haunting beauty that made it impossible to look away. Now the ancient corpse had turned to white bone, and the corpse flowers had turned into blood amber. The seal was weakest at the damaged section of the cage. Jingyu successfully broke through the seal and slipped inside; the Corpse Flower Blood Amber was within easy reach. Looking at the lifeless white skeleton before her, Jingyu hesitated briefly before using the Thunder Rosary to project an illusion once more. The illusion darted above the skeleton, extending sharp claws to snatch a blossom of Corpse Flower Blood Amber from the skull. The instant the illusion touched the Corpse Flower Blood Amber, a sudden mutation occurred! Without the slightest warning, dense crimson welled up across the skeleton, followed by the emergence of countless blood-red threads. Swish! The illusion had no power to resist. Pierced and entangled by the crimson threads, it shattered on the spot. Immediately afterward, these crimson threads proved relentless. As though possessing eyes of their own, they traced the connection between the illusion and her true body, shooting straight toward Jingyu. The mutation of the white skeleton occurred at blinding speed. In a breath, the crimson threads rushed before Jingyu. Jingyu was thoroughly alarmed. She had probed carefully several times earlier without detecting the slightest anomaly. With no time to think, she urgently urged the Thunder Rosary while thunderous radiance blazed all over her body. Boom! The crimson threads were finally blocked by the Thunder Rosary and the thunderous radiance about Jingyu. Yet like maggots clinging to bone, they spread out, forming a blood cocoon that enveloped her within. Her body trembling slightly, Jingyu looked toward the source of the crimson threads. She noticed that the white skeleton had turned into a blood-red skeleton, but aside from releasing the threads, it made no other move. Seeing this, she was surprised. It did not feel like a corpse transformation. While fending off the onslaught of the crimson threads, she fixed her gaze on the blood skeleton. At last, she discovered faint runes surfacing within the bones—those runes were the true source of the crimson threads. 'Is this a curse left on its own remains out of bitter rancor before death, meant to kill anyone who touches the bones? Or is it a trap laid here by that ancient cultivator?' Jingyu pondered privately. Back then, she had been lured above the blood pool by the ancient cultivator, but she had fortunately seen through his plot and had never come into contact with the blood skeleton. 'There are no signs of manual manipulation. If this was a trap laid by that ancient cultivator, then his condition must be dire—weakened to the extreme and having lost the ability to control the crimson threads. Otherwise, I would be in grave trouble. With so many people breaking in this time, he hasn't made a single move, which speaks volumes,' Jingyu thought to herself. Now that she knew it was not a corpse transformation, her mind was set at ease. Though the crimson threads were bizarre, they were ownerless after all. With some effort, she should be able to find a way to break them; it would merely take some time. With this thought, Jingyu attacked with all her might to counter the crimson threads. *** On the other side. Pursuing Old Demon Ye, Qingjun had also arrived at the bottom of the blood pool. The sight before her was similar to what Jingyu had witnessed. Dense black chains extended from all directions, converging upon a colossal cage. However, every single bar of this cage remained completely intact. Inside the cage sat a figure cross-legged. Upon getting a clear look at this person's appearance, Qingjun froze. He sat cross-legged in the lotus posture inside the cage, facing directly toward Qingjun. This person looked like a skeleton, his flesh and blood entirely hollowed out, leaving behind only bone and skin. Only a thin, nearly transparent layer of skin clung to the skeleton, tightly stretched like a sheet of brocade, fine and smooth. The meridians, five viscera, flesh, blood, and everything else in between had all vanished. His shriveled body was virtually indistinguishable from a skeleton. The skull was the same: deep, sunken eye sockets where faint, ghostly light seemed to hover, yet his teeth were intact, clearly visible through that single layer of skin, wearing a half-smile that was not quite a smile. Strangely, his bones were scarlet as blood rather than the usual ghastly white, and they emanated a jade-like luster—they were jade bones! He did not look like a person, but rather like a statue carved of jade and brocade! Seeing such a bizarre sight, a chill rose involuntarily in Qingjun's heart, filling her with deep wariness toward the jade bones. Jingyu had spoken with absolute certainty that this person was alive before, constantly stirring up trouble here. Yet at this moment, the jade bones remained motionless, without the slightest sense of vitality. This person had turned himself into something non-human—could this be how he had survived until now? At this moment, she noticed Old Demon Ye, who had arrived a step ahead of her, standing before the cage and studying the jade bones. The pupils and whites of Old Demon Ye's eyes had both vanished; his pitch-black eyeballs stared fixedly at the jade bones. Perceiving Qingjun's arrival, Old Demon Ye turned around. The blackness in his eyes faded, returning to normal, and he said indifferently, "You intend to stop me?" With a beckon of her jade hand, the Five Directions Pagoda whirled gracefully and floated down into her palm. "You and I are enemies, not friends; why ask such an obvious question? Unless you swear an oath to withdraw your troops, quell the hostilities, and hand over the jade bones along with everything you know, placing them under the joint control of the Three Domains!" Old Demon Ye sneered without a word. Suddenly waving his broad sleeve, he sent a streak of light flying out from within. Inside the light was a translucent, crystal-clear command arrow, appearing as though it were refined from profound ice. As soon as the command arrow appeared, it emanated a terrifying chill. Even the surrounding blood water was frozen, and a layer of frost coated the black chains, spreading rapidly toward the cage. Snap! The command arrow shattered on cue, and several white phantoms drifted out. Like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey, they vied to throw themselves at the cage, spewing massive gusts of frigid air over it. The ice on the cage grew thicker and thicker, emitting cracking sounds. The seal seemed to have met its natural bane; even the runes were frozen by the cold ice, unable to counterattack, their light growing dimmer and dimmer. Old Demon Ye had clearly planned this for a long time, having prepared a treasure specifically to counter the seal well in advance. Seeing this, Qingjun's delicate brows furrowed slightly. The cage was a seamless whole with its seal fully intact, making it difficult to discern for the moment whether the jade bones were feigning death or had truly burned out like a lamp without oil, trapped to death by the seal. Did Old Demon Ye not fear that once the seal opened, the jade bones would seize the opportunity of their conflict to escape?