Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

"But I want you to do one thing first."

Lu Moshen said, turning his head back to his original sitting posture, as if even this turn had exhausted a great deal of his strength.

"What is it?" Dongfang Weiwo asked.

"Bring in that person in the dark green clothes," said Lu Moshen. "The thing he carries is the key to unlocking the seal on the ninth fragment."

Dongfang Wei shivered. Lin Xiaoman suddenly looked up.

"Wan Wujiu?" Dongfang Weiwo asked.

"He is no longer Wan Wujiu."

Lu Moshen said, "Thirty years ago, I broke his leg, and the real person died. What survived was a piece of the ankle bone of an ancient god and demon, which was attached to his body."

He paused, his voice almost inaudible: "That ankle bone belongs to the demon god's left leg, and it's not one of the three separate bones. If he comes in with you, the demon god's skeleton will be complete. So, he doesn't want the bone key. He's here to deliver the last piece of his left leg bone."

Everyone was shocked when these words were spoken.

Suddenly, applause rang out from the gray and white background behind them.

One, two, extremely slowly.

Wan Wujiu's voice came from afar, carrying both laughter and chill: "Demon God Lü, you really are here. After waiting for thirty years, I've finally waited for you to say this yourself."

Footsteps sounded from the fog, approaching from afar.

"However, you've miscalculated one thing." The voice suddenly turned cold. "I'm not here to deliver bones. The ankle bones of the ancient gods and demons are here to reclaim your skeleton."

A gust of dark green wind blew away the grayish-white mist, revealing Wan Wujiu's figure in the distance. He was no longer the same as before; his dark green robes were mostly torn apart, revealing skin covered with dark golden bone patterns that stretched from his neck down his entire left arm. With each step he took, a deep bone imprint was left under his left foot. The snow-white beast on his shoulder was gone, replaced by five snow-white bone spurs slowly emerging from the five fingers of his left hand.

Wu Wudi held his broken sword horizontally in front of him, grinning as he said, "I told you long ago, this old snake is full of evil energy."

Dongfang Weiwo glanced at Wu Wudi, then looked at Wan Wujiu. His heart, however, remained perfectly calm. Lu Moshen's words were like a needle, piercing a hole in the mystery of the past thirty years, and the light shining through that hole was gradually illuminating the path ahead.

"You were able to get in. Those three paths and the white mist didn't stop you," Dongfang Weiwo said.

"I followed the scent of the Demon God Lü," Wan Wujiu said, his steps unwavering. "That white mist eats living things. With my divine and demonic bones, I'm no longer considered a living thing. But your friends will soon be slowly dissolved by this Void." He smiled, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "This is no place for humans. Apart from you and your little guardian, no one else will last a single incense stick's time."

Wu Wudi snorted, "Who are you trying to scare?"

"He's right." Lu Moshen's hoarse voice suddenly rang out again, "This Ruins of Return only allows bones, blood, and souls. You are a living person, without the bloodline of the Guardian, and without the bones of gods and demons, so you really can't stay for long. I have tried my best to isolate the annihilation intent around you, but what seeps in will still slowly wear down your meridians. Therefore, we must finish this quickly."

Dongfang Weiwo nodded and said to Lin Xiaoman, "Retreat to Lu Moshen's side and don't get close to Wan Wujiu."

Lin Xiaoman hesitated for a moment, then retreated to the side of the bone bed. Lu Moshen did not look at her, but merely twitched his left fingertip, and a drop of grayish-white light fell on her shoulder, enveloping her in a thin layer of light.

Wu Wudi, Chuan Ying, and Yan Fei stepped forward simultaneously, standing shoulder to shoulder with Dongfang Weiwo.

Wan Wujiu stood three zhang away, his smile unchanged. His dark green robes were tattered and worn, but the dark gold bone patterns on them grew ever brighter. He slowly raised his left hand, five snow-white bone spikes pointing directly at the crowd.

"Dongfang Weiwo, I've said it before, I'm not here to kill you." His voice was gentle. "I'm here to tell you that everything you inherited from the Demon God Lü was never yours. It belonged to the gods and demons. Now, the gods and demons are taking it back."

As soon as he finished speaking, he stomped his left foot on the ground, his entire left leg transforming into a dark golden afterimage. His body was already in front of Wu Wudi.

Five bone spurs pierced straight into Wu Wudi's throat.

Wu Wudi reacted with lightning speed, slashing upwards with his broken blade. The blade collided with the bone spike, sparks flying everywhere. He was thrown back several feet, his hand split open, blood splattering everywhere.

Chuan Ying slashed in from the side, his palms unleashing blades of energy that slashed diagonally at Wan Wujiu's left ribs. Wan Wujiu neither dodged nor evaded; a flash of light appeared in his left leg, and he actually managed to block the attack. The energy blades shattered, and Chuan Ying groaned, staggering back three steps.

"Too weak." Wan Wujiu laughed, but his gaze remained fixed on Dongfang Weiwo. "Your henchmen should have died in the corridor long ago. You brought them in, and you're the one who ruined them."

Yan Fei remained silent, his sword flashing like a rainbow. Grayish-white powder surged from the crack between his brows, his sword domain spreading like a tide, engulfing Wan Wujiu. Wan Wujiu's movements faltered, as if trapped in quagmire. Chuan Ying seized the opportunity, a blade of energy piercing Wan Wujiu's right shoulder. The blade entered his body, but no blood flowed; only fine grayish-white dust drifted out.

"Tsk." Wan Wujiu slapped his left palm, shattering Yan Fei's sword domain. A dark golden bone fragment had appeared in his palm at some point. With a flicker of the bone fragment, Yan Fei was struck as if by a heavy blow, spitting out blood and staggering backward.

Wu Wudi lunged again, his broken blade slicing down just short of Wan Wujiu's scalp. This was a desperate strike, the blade emitting a piercing hum. Wan Wujiu dodged, the blade grazing his ear, slicing off half of it. Wan Wujiu's eyes turned cold, and his right fist slammed into Wu Wudi's chest. Wu Wudi groaned as he flew backward, crashing into the gray-white mist wall before bouncing heavily to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Within three moves, all three were injured.

Dongfang Weiwo stood before the skeleton of Lu Moshen, sword in hand, motionless. He had seen it. Wan Wujiu's strength lay entirely in his left foot and those five bone spurs. That was the power of the left ankle bone of the ancient god-demon. This single bone, not among the three separate bones, had propelled someone with the combat power of an immortal realm to a level approaching the supreme level.

He slowly stretched out a hand and pressed it lightly against Wu Wudi on the ground.

Wu Wudi felt a warm, burning fire rise from the ground, enveloping his chest and temporarily sealing off the annihilating intent surging into the Void. He struggled to sit up, spitting out a mouthful of black blood: "I can still fight."

"No rush," Dongfang Weiwo said.

He looked at Wan Wujiu, his voice calm: "Since you've come for the Divine Demon Ankle Bone, let's settle some accounts first. You've been chasing us all this way. Now it's my turn to ask you a question."

"Go ahead and ask."

"Is the remnant consciousness of ancient gods and demons also within you?"

Wan Wujiu's smile froze for a moment. Then, he burst into laughter: "Remnant consciousness? If it were me, do you think you'd still be standing here?"

Dongfang Weiwo nodded: "That remnant consciousness is gone. The sound I heard when I merged the eight fragments has never been heard since I entered the Ruins of Return. Because this is 'No Way Out of the Ruins of Return,' the burial place of gods and demons. When the remnant consciousness arrives here, it too must return to silence."

Lin Xiaoman suddenly stood up and looked at Wan Wujiu: "You led us here so that the remnants of the gods and demons could awaken again in the Ruins of Return. Isn't that right? That's why there's another version of the 'Burial Pact'."

Wan Wujiu did not deny it. He twirled the bone spur on his left hand, as if he were spinning five white jade needles: "You think that reaching the Ruins of Return is the end. You're wrong. The Ruins of Return is a door, and behind the door lies the true burial ground. I came here to open that door for the gods and demons."

He lifted his foot and took a step closer to Lu Moshen.

Dongfang Weiwo brandished his sword, and dark golden flames rose up like a wall.

Wan Wujiu stopped, a cruel smile playing on his lips: "You think you can stop me?"

"How will you know if you don't try?" Dongfang Weiwo said, placing his left palm on the sword. Suddenly, the divine and demonic skeleton on his back emitted a violent light, all nine bones vibrated, and the eight fragments of his left arm hummed simultaneously. Eight fragments of extraterrestrial laws emerged from the bones like swimming dragons, coiling around the sword.

In the gray and white Ruins of Guixu, his sword resembled a dark golden sun.

Wan Wujiu's expression changed slightly. Just as he was about to raise his palm, he suddenly dodged to the side. Wu Wudi appeared behind him like a ghost, his broken blade already close to the back of his neck. Almost simultaneously, Chuan Ying's double palm blade energy attacked from the front, blocking all his escape routes. Yan Fei fell from mid-air, his sword transforming into a hundred swords, the sword energy pouring down like a torrential rain.

The four surrounded them.

Wan Wujiu roared, stomped his left leg on the ground, and a dark golden halo exploded from his center. The three were blasted away, but his own knees trembled slightly.

At that very moment, Dongfang Weiwo drew his sword.

The sword light pierced through the gap in the dark gold halo, aiming for Wan Wujiu's left chest. The marrow fire attached to the sword and the fragments of the outer laws erupted simultaneously, enveloping half of Wan Wujiu's body.

Wan Wujiu raised his hand and used five bone spikes to block the attack. The swords clashed, as if thunder had struck from the heavens. A loud boom resounded in the Ruins of Return, and a ten-zhang-wide crater was blasted out of the gray-white mist. Inside the crater, stardust from the Myriad Star Domain and soil from the Heavenly Martial Realm flickered, illuminating the faces of the two men as if they were made of gold paper.

Then, the dark golden sun-like light poured down on Wan Wujiu.

"No—!" Wan Wujiu roared, spiderweb-like cracks bursting from his entire left leg, and dark gold bone patterns exploded like living snakes. He flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing through the gray-white mist and falling into the depths of the void.

But Dongfang Weiwo's expression suddenly changed.

He looked down at the sword in his hand. The tip of the sword was half an inch into the ground, and the dark golden flames on the blade had been completely extinguished.

He won the sword strike. But he clearly felt that half a fragment of bone from Wan Wujiu's left leg bone had pierced his left abdomen at the last moment. The bone seemed to have a life of its own, drilling into the divine and demonic skeleton along the blood vessels.

He looked down, and his robe was torn open on his left side, revealing a dark golden light shining through the wound.

Lin Xiaoman called out to him in surprise, but her voice seemed to come from a very far place.

Dongfang Weiwo swayed and knelt on one knee.

"Don't come any closer," he hissed, raising his hand to stop the bone fragments that were drilling inward.

Lu Moshen's hoarse voice slowly rang out: "This fragment of bone is a piece of the ankle bone from the left leg of the God and Demon. It recognized your skeleton. If it couldn't be suppressed, it would merge with you. If it could be suppressed, then an extra piece of bone would appear in your left leg."

He paused: "But whether you can suppress it or not, you're one step closer to a complete divine and demonic skeleton."

Within the gray-white mist, Wan Wujiu's aura reappeared, extremely weak, yet it did not dissipate.

He is not dead yet.