Chapter 305

Chapter 304

As they encountered more and more skeletons, the four of them became more cautious and did not rush directly to Prison Sky City.

They first found a hidden spot in a bone mountain by the roadside and observed the passing skeletons from there.

After observing for most of the day, they gained some insights.

"It seems that Prison Sky City is ahead, and the strength of the skeletons here is clearly greater than those in Dugu Mansion," Pei Qiyu summarized, noting that the blood-red light in the eye sockets of the passing skeletons was particularly bright, indicating their formidable power.

Comparing what they had seen along the way, they realized that Corpse Lake seemed to be a boundary, separating Longya Mansion, Dugu Mansion, and the Ten Thousand Bone Inflammation Land from Prison Sky City.

This was the information they had gathered so far, and they owed much of it to Baili Chi.

Thinking of Baili Chi, even Su Molan couldn't help but sigh, "If Master Baili were here! With him handling the skeletons, we wouldn't be in the dark."

Everyone had to admit this.

Baili Chi's ability to communicate with skeletons was incredibly useful. With him around, what information could they not gather? It would save them from being in the dark, and despite having various skills, the language barrier alone added many complications.

Just like now, they couldn't find anyone to gather information about Prison Sky City in advance.

Lack of information meant they knew nothing about Prison Sky City and might make mistakes due to ignorance, causing unnecessary trouble.

In the current situation, there was no other way but for them to enter Prison Sky City themselves to gather information.

After discussing, they decided that Pei Qiyu and Wen Qiao would go to Prison Sky City to investigate, while Ning Yuzhou and Su Molan would wait outside as backup.

This arrangement was well thought out.

Pei Qiyu excelled in illusions and was quick to react; if danger arose, he could use his illusions to escape quickly. Wen Qiao was skilled in combat and had numerous survival techniques; even if they encountered skeletons stronger than them, he could run away if he couldn't win.

"Wen Guangun will accompany you," Ning Yuzhou said, "Wen Qiuqiu can stay behind."

The two beast demons were instantly assigned their roles. Despite Wen Qiuqiu's reluctance, when Brother Ning spoke, he had no choice but to comply.

Unconsciously, the few demon beasts following Wen Qiao had come to regard Brother Ning as their provider—Wen Qiuqiu wanted a valley of Immortal Spirit, which still depended on Brother Ning, so he didn't dare offend him. As long as Brother Ning gave an order, they had to obey.

After making the arrangements, Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu set off for Prison Sky City.

They followed the direction the skeletons were heading, crossing several bone mountains, and finally saw the towering city walls ahead.

The city walls were still made of bones, and above them were four blood-red characters that immediately conveyed their meaning: Prison Sky City.

From the outside, Prison Sky City looked no different from Dugu Mansion; skeleton soldiers guarded the city gates, and every skeleton entering the city had to pay bones as an entry fee.

The skeletons obediently queued up to enter the city.

Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu followed the skeletons in line without drawing attention.

The speed of entry was not slow, and soon it was their turn. Without waiting for the skeleton soldiers to prompt them, the two handed over the prepared bones.

After checking, the skeleton soldier waved them in.

Once inside Prison Sky City, they found it different from what they had imagined.

They had expected Prison Sky City to be similar to Dugu Mansion, with endless bone mountains inside the main gate, where the skeletons lived in caves within the bone mountains.

But it was not so.

Upon entering the city, they first encountered a wide and open street.

The street was paved with bones, the pale white color looking particularly eerie under the moonlight of the seemingly eternal full moon.

Besides the main street, there were several side streets, which branched into alleys...

Seeing the bone houses lining the streets, they felt a sense of déjà vu, as if they had returned to Bone Town. However, the layout and scale of these bone houses were more like those of a city, much larger than Bone Town.

On both sides of the street were tall bone houses, and from their size and setup, it was clear they were shops, selling a variety of items, including not only bones and bone artifacts but also spiritual pills needed by cultivators.

A large "Pill" character painted in blood-red stood out prominently on one of the shops, as if afraid that cultivators wouldn't see it.

The two observed quietly, and when they passed the spiritual pill shop, they took a closer look inside and found that the seller was actually a skeleton, which made them laugh and cry at the same time.

It was quite amusing to have a skeleton selling spiritual pills.

Then came the question: Where did the skeleton get the spiritual pills from? Who were they selling them to? Skeletons shouldn't need spiritual pills, right?

As they pondered this, they noticed a skeleton entering the spiritual pill shop, buying a bottle of spiritual pills, and paying with spirit stones.

Pei Qiyu and Wen Qiao exchanged glances and followed the skeleton who bought the spiritual pills.

The skeleton left the shop and walked along the street in the opposite direction of the city gate, moving very fast. The two had to use special steps, shrinking the distance to keep up with it.

It went deeper and deeper, and when Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu were stopped, they realized the skeleton had passed through a tall bone gate and disappeared behind it.

The two looked up at the bone gate, where three blood-red characters read: Prison Sky City.

Both were stunned. Was this a city within a city?

Those who stopped them were not skeleton soldiers but a special force emanating from the bone gate, subtly repelling them. They could feel that if they forced their way through, this force would retaliate, not only injuring them but also drawing the attention of powerful beings within Prison Sky City.

"Master Pei, is it an array?" Wen Qiao asked humbly.

Pei Qiyu shook his head, "It doesn't seem like it. I think it's more like... some kind of magical treasure."

This "Prison Sky City" seemed to correspond to the Yutian Bone Clan. According to Baili Chi, the ruler of Prison Sky City was the Yutian Bone Clan, and this area should be where the Yutian Bone Clan resided.

Since they couldn't enter, the two had no choice but to turn back.

They wandered around for half a day, finally gaining a general understanding of the situation in the Burning Prison Tianfu.

The Burning Prison Tianfu is divided into two areas: the outer city and the inner city. The outer city is where they had been moving about since entering; there were no restrictions here. The inner city, however, was the "Prison Sky City." At the gate of Prison Sky City, there was some kind of magical artifact restriction that prevented them from easily entering, so they knew nothing about the situation inside the Burning Prison Tianfu.

Their purpose for coming in was to first find the traces of human cultivators and then seek out a human cultivator to learn more about the situation in the Burning Prison Tianfu.

However, after thoroughly exploring the entire outer city, not only did they not see a single human cultivator, but the skeletons that might have been related to human cultivators had entered the Burning Prison Tianfu, which they could not follow.

After gaining a fairly good understanding of the situation and realizing that staying here would be of little significance, the two were about to leave when a group of skeleton warriors suddenly appeared on the street.

The skeleton warriors held sharp bone spears, with bright blood light glowing in their eye sockets, exuding a formidable aura.

Despite being mere bone structures, they gave off an intimidating presence of strict discipline and strength.

Pei Qiyu's expression turned serious as he said to Wen Qiao, "Let's go quickly!"

Although Wen Qiao's reaction wasn't as quick as his, she had a wild animal's instinct, allowing her to instinctively sense danger and make judgments instantly. She realized they might have been exposed.

The two immediately rushed toward the city gate of the Burning Prison Tianfu.

The group of skeleton soldiers let out a series of sharp clacking sounds and pursued them in unison, throwing their bone spears at them from behind.

The bone spears were blocked by a wall of earth that appeared out of nowhere, and the charging skeleton soldiers were tripped by sudden earthen spikes, most of them falling to the ground. Only a few were unaffected and continued to chase after Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu.

At this moment, many more skeleton soldiers rushed out from other streets.

In what seemed like an instant, the entire space was occupied by skeletons. On the streets, rooftops, alleys... everywhere one looked, there were densely packed skeleton soldiers, their numbers so vast that it made one's scalp tingle.

Wen Qiao lashed out with her whip, sending the blocking skeletons flying. When the skeletons hit the ground, several bones broke.

This scene was rather comical, as the skeletons with broken bones picked up their fractured parts and charged forward again. Wen Qiao didn't hesitate to punch their skulls.

With a crack, the hard skull split open, and the blood-red light in the skeleton's eye sockets flickered and went out.

Pei Qiyu was startled, his scalp tingling. How powerful must this woman's fists be to break through even the bones of a skeleton?

Wen Qiao demonstrated just how powerful her fists could be, knocking out the skulls of the skeletons one by one, effectively killing them again.

Seeing her prowess, Pei Qiyu naturally couldn't just stand by. He quietly set up an illusionary array, trapping the pursuing skeletons in a hallucination, making them fight each other and slowing down many of them.

The two moved closer to the city gate, fighting their way through.

Just as the city gate came into sight, the skeleton soldiers guarding it shut the gate.

The creaking sound of the heavy bone door closing blocked their path, clearly intending to trap them like fish in a barrel.

The skeleton soldiers pursuing them from behind had caught up, trapping the two in front of the closed city gate.

"Fall back!" Wen Qiao suddenly shouted.

Without a word, Pei Qiyu retreated, moving to a safe spot. Then, she took out an explosive bead and threw it at the city gate.

A loud boom echoed, shaking the ground.

After the explosion, a large hole was blasted in the tightly closed city gate, bones flying everywhere, and the skeleton guards were reduced to piles of bone dust.

Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu took the opportunity to rush out.

The two finally escaped the Burning Prison Tianfu, followed by a tide of skeleton soldiers, the clacking sounds never ceasing as they pursued relentlessly.

Pei Qiyu and Wen Qiao glanced back, seeing countless skeleton soldiers pouring out of the blasted gate, brandishing their bone weapons. They hadn't encountered so many skeletons since crossing the Small Nether River during their time in the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones.

The two weren't frightened, throwing explosive beads backward as they fled, causing bones to fly everywhere.

With the explosive beads holding them back, they circled around several times and finally managed to shake off the pursuing skeleton soldiers. Confirming that no skeletons were following them, they went to find Ning Yuzhou and Su Molan.

They had been gone for a long time, and Ning Yuzhou and Su Molan were somewhat worried. Seeing the two return safely, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Molan hurried over, anxiously asking, "How did it go? Nothing happened, right?"

Pei Qiyu said gloomily, "Our movements were exposed! We might have been exposed as soon as we entered, and those skeletons chased us for quite a distance..."

Being pursued by a group of skeletons was not a pleasant experience.

The two recounted their encounter in the Burning Prison Tianfu to Ning Yuzhou and Su Molan.

Su Molan looked shocked, "Do you know how you were exposed?"

Wen Qiao and Pei Qiyu shook their heads. If they knew, they wouldn't have been chased in circles by the skeletons.

Fortunately, although there were many skeletons, none of them were strong enough to reach the Emperor Yuan Realm. The skeletons with golden-red blood light in their eye sockets could be held off with illusions if they didn't engage in direct combat.

After sorting things out, Ning Yuzhou said, "I think it must be the gate of Prison Sky City. Based on your description, there is indeed a magical artifact there that can distinguish between cultivators, and it is set up so that skeletons can pass without hindrance, while human cultivators are stopped."

Although they were guided by the Small Nether River and recognized by the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones, preventing the skeletons from treating them as outsiders,

they were still flesh-and-blood beings, different from skeletons. Perhaps there were powerful skeleton cultivators in the Burning Prison Tianfu who could discern the identity of human cultivators and ordered the capture of those who entered the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones.

The Bone Clan ruling the Burning Prison Tianfu was known for its extreme actions and hostility towards human cultivators.

From this, it can be inferred that the leader of the Bone Clan must understand the difference between skeletons and human cultivators. The city gate of the Burning Prison Tianfu might be a test.

As soon as any cultivator tries to approach, their identity is detected.

Since the two not only blew up the city gate of the Burning Prison Tianfu but also killed many of the skeleton soldiers chasing them, the Bone Clan of Prison Sky City would surely be very angry upon receiving the news, making it unwise to return.

"Forget it, let's go find the Immortal Bones first," Ning Yuzhou said, not placing all their hopes on the Burning Prison Tianfu.

The Burning Prison Tianfu was just one part of their plan. Even if this route doesn't work, they can take other paths. If necessary, they can retrace their steps and eventually leave the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones.

The other three had no objections.

However, they did not rush to leave and stayed there for a few more days before departing.

When they finally set off, they did not encounter the skeleton soldiers again. The few skeletons they met on the road, who hurried past, exuded a tense atmosphere. It was clear that this was due to Wen Qiao and his companions blowing up the gate of the Tianfu City of the Burning Hell.

The four chose a direction at random and started walking.

After a while, they came across a towering bone mountain.

"What a tall mountain!" Su Molan exclaimed, wondering how many bones it must have taken to build such a high mountain.

At this moment, Wen Qiuqiu chirped.

Hearing this, Wen Qiao asked excitedly, "Really? There are immortal bones in this mountain? Could it be that this mountain is made of the bones of immortals?"

Su Molan and Pei Qiyu also looked at Wen Qiuqiu with surprise, and under her guidance, their gazes toward the bone mountain changed.

Wen Qiuqiu: "Chirp!"

Upon hearing the big ball's addition, Wen Qiao let out a disappointed "Oh."

What were they thinking? If there were so many immortal bones, the skeletons would have long claimed them; they wouldn't be left here for others to find easily.

"Wen Qiuqiu says there are immortal bones in this mountain, but there are many bones, and we'll have to search for them ourselves."

Seeing the towering bone mountain, Su Molan and Pei Qiyu felt a bit dizzy, wondering how long it would take to find anything.

Although the bone mountain was towering, they still had to search for the immortal bones.

Just as the four were about to enter the bone mountain, a piercing scream echoed from the top of the mountain, rolling down: "Aaaaaah—"

The four followed the sound with their eyes, and when they saw what was happening, they felt like their eyes might go blind.

Since entering the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones, they knew that the skeletons here did not wear clothes.

One could say that, apart from their skeletal frames, they had very little else in terms of adornment. Perhaps in the skeletons' view, without the constraints of flesh and blood, everyone was just a skeleton, and concepts like shame were unnecessary. Wearing clothes would only hinder their movements.

So, to these outsiders, the skeletons appeared to be a nudist community.

They certainly couldn't choose to strip naked just because the skeletons were, right?

That would be too much of a test of human modesty and morality.

However, now, a cultivator, as naked as the skeletons, was sprinting down the bone mountain, his pale body almost blinding the four.