Night fell, and the moon rose over this silent realm of the dead. Its light was a sickly white, like the glow of death itself.
At the same time, Xiao Chen sensed a trace of danger. Without a moment's hesitation, he dashed out of the swamp.
Barely perceptible, faint black vapors began to rise from the mud and puddles, coiling through the marsh woodland. Xiao Chen's heart tensed—he recognized this as miasma, and likely the most lethal kind: corpse miasma, spoken of only in legends.
Standing at the edge of this dead zone, watching the ribbon-like mist drift within, Xiao Chen began to scheme. Could he use this place? Lure Zhao Lin'er and that brown-haired man here...
*Crack.*
He heard the sound of bones moving again!
*Crack... Crack...*
A white shape stirred in the dim marsh woods. A human skeleton rose to its feet!
Xiao Chen was stunned. He concealed himself at the edge, watching the mobile skeleton intently.
At first, its movements were mechanical and stiff. But after a series of sharp pops from its joints, its hunched body straightened, and its motions grew much more agile. It paced back and forth through the swamp, as if searching for something.
Xiao Chen held his breath and continued to watch in silence.
The snow-white skeleton, under the pallid moonlight, was eerie and terrifying. The fact that it moved freely made it all the more horrifying. When it turned to face Xiao Chen's direction, he saw a faint glimmer inside its skull, shining through the hollow eye sockets—uncanny and dreadful.
*Crack! Crack!*
Bone-joint sounds came from two other directions. Two more skeletons rose from the woods. They crossed the muddy, waterlogged ground and joined the first skeleton.
Their skulls also held faint, flickering light. They seemed able to communicate; whenever they looked at each other, the dim light in their eye sockets pulsed.
Xiao Chen could not comprehend this. Were they ghosts? He didn't think so.
In the hour that followed, no more such skeletons appeared.
Throughout that time, Xiao Chen remained hidden, watching. He saw the three skeletons rummaging through the bones in the swamp, as if looking for something. They easily overturned the massive carcasses of savage beasts weighing hundreds of jin. Their strength was immense.
Only when one skeleton pulled a gleaming crystal from a pile of bones did Xiao Chen understand what they were doing.
The skeleton clutched the crystal, seeming greatly excited. Its jaw clacked up and down, producing a sound that was both eerie and faintly comical. The other two skeletons rushed over.
The three skeletons stood together in the ghastly moonlight, a scene of pure dread.
*Crack.*
The light blue crystal was snapped apart by the skeleton, split into three roughly equal pieces. Each skeleton took one piece and inserted it into its own eye socket, deep into the cranial cavity.
Bright light shone from their eye sockets. Pale blue radiance flowed from their heads downward through their bodies like water.
The blue light bathed their white frames in an ethereal hue. The soft glow enveloped each skeleton for a long time before gradually fading. Their bones seemed more translucent than before.
Xiao Chen was astonished. The skeletons could absorb the energy of crystals—was this some alien form of evolution? But how had they first come into being?
Under the ghastly moon, corpse miasma drifted through the swamp. Three skeletons moved freely—everything was so uncanny.
Suddenly, one skeleton that had reached the swamp's edge seemed to notice something. It turned its gaze toward the great tree where Xiao Chen was hiding, looking perplexed.
Xiao Chen's heart stirred. He did not retreat. Instead, he stepped out from behind the tree and faced the skeleton.
The skeleton appeared deeply confused. It glanced back at its two companions, then at Xiao Chen. The faint light in its eye sockets flickered uncertainly, as if it were thinking.
The other two skeletons also approached. They too looked at Xiao Chen with confusion, as though they found this creature full of vitality very "odd."
Xiao Chen wanted to observe them up close, to see what made them so peculiar. But aside from sensing a mysterious force in their skulls that powered their movements, he found nothing else unusual.
Then an idea struck him. He took out a brown crystal he had recovered from a beast carcass and held it in his palm.
The light in the three skeletons' eye sockets flickered. All at once, they reached out their bony claws toward the crystal.
Xiao Chen stepped back. The three skeletons followed, stepping out of the swamp.
Sensing no murderous intent from them, Xiao Chen handed over the crystal.
The skeletons easily snapped the brown crystal into three pieces and inserted them into their eye sockets.
Brown light pulsed. The radiance spread from their heads down through their bodies.
A series of sharp pops sounded from their joints.
Watching from close range, Xiao Chen saw light flow over their frames. The skeletons became as luminous as jade. Once the crystal's energy was fully absorbed, the strange phenomenon faded, but their bones now seemed more lustrous than before.
One skeleton extended its bony claw and struck the great tree beside it. With a soft thud, the white claw sank deep into the trunk, half its arm-bone buried within.
A casual strike of such power—Xiao Chen was deeply shocked. The skeletons were far stronger than he had imagined.
The three skeletons stood before Xiao Chen, light flickering in their eye sockets, watching him silently.
After a long while, their jaws clacked open and shut several times, producing a clicking sound, as if they were trying to say something. Then they turned and walked deeper into the swamp, slowly disappearing into the dense, ominous woods.
Skeletons with both great strength and intelligence!
Xiao Chen found it almost unbelievable. He circled the death swamp, walking for the better part of an hour. He estimated it covered about a dozen square kilometers, filled with dense corpse miasma and heavy yin energy—mysterious and terrifying.
At midnight, the corpse miasma in the swamp was thickest. Heavy black fog obscured even the pallid moonlight.
Not until the small hours did the miasma gradually recede, growing thinner and thinner.
Then, in the deepest part of the night, Xiao Chen heard violent crashing sounds from the outer edge of the death swamp. Someone... was fighting inside the marsh! He ran around the swamp, racing toward the source of the noise. Moments later, he saw a sight that left him utterly stunned.
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