I Was Forced to Marry a “Trash” Cultivator, But She Turned Out to Be a Reborn Empress!

Hiss—

The moment the blood python’s venomous fangs pierced Shen Xian’s flesh, the spiritual energy in his right arm stagnated.

This blood-colored jade slip was an ancient relic. Nurtured over a millennium, it had birthed a vicious spirit. Sensing a threat to its existence, it triggered a primal, desperate counterattack.

But in that split second of danger, a ripple of ancient Dao rhythm surged from the depths of Shen Xian’s sea of consciousness.

The incomplete scroll of the Eight Trigrams Primordial Dao Scripture, which he had obtained from the ancestral lands, unfurled on its own. Four archaic trigrams rotated slowly within his dantian, emitting a vast, golden radiance.

“Is the Dao scripture… protecting its master?”

Before Shen Xian could process the thought, the “Qian” trigram blazed with blinding light.

A stream of pure, golden Dao rhythm surged from his mind, coursing through his meridians to collide violently with the blood python.

Sizzle—

The python let out a shrill scream.

The golden light was the natural nemesis of all evil. Wherever it touched, the bizarre blood patterns on the python’s body dissolved like snow beneath a scorching sun.

Sensing mortal danger, the python twisted violently, trying to detach and flee. But the golden light clung to it like maggots on rotten bone, enveloping it instantly.

Pop!

With a dull thud, the blood python disintegrated, reverting into the jade slip. The sinister blood patterns were gone, replaced by faint, dignified golden Dao markings.

Shen Xian reached out to inspect it.

Hum!

The jade slip trembled. The golden markings flared, and the object broke free from his palm, transforming into a streak of blood-gold light that shot straight between his eyebrows!

Shen Xian didn’t even have time to blink.

Boom!

Countless crimson runes exploded in his mind, flooding his dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. The chaotic energy decomposed and reformed, weaving with his spiritual energy to create a blood-colored talisman above his Qi Sea.

It resembled a dripping blood lotus, rotating slowly.

Shen Xian’s brow furrowed. He could clearly feel a soul connection to the lotus. It felt as natural as moving his own arm.

This evil technique… had forcibly recognized him as its master?

He instinctively understood its purpose: Devour souls, seize spirits, refine essence and blood. The Blood God Scripture.

Before he could analyze further—

Rumble!

The high platform beneath him shook violently. The ground cracked open, and a pitch-black spatial rift tore through the air.

“A spatial rift?!”

Shen Xian’s pupils constricted. He tried to retreat, but the rift expanded faster than thought. A terrifying suction enveloped the entire hall.

Crash—

The ceiling collapsed. Debris vanished into the void. A spatial fragment grazed the corner of Shen Xian’s robe, hitting with the force of a lightning strike. He lost control of his body.

“Damn it!”

He tried to channel spiritual energy to stabilize himself, but the abyss below was irresistible.

Boom!

Darkness swallowed him whole.

Moments later, Shen Xian crashed heavily onto a desolate, gray-white earth.

Bone dust billowed up like smoke.

The violet-gold lightning patterns on his Profound Heaven Golden Silk Armor flared to life, forming a barrier that repelled the choking dust.

Shen Xian flipped to his feet instantly. The lightning on his armor cast a faint halo, illuminating the chilling scene before him.

Under a sky shrouded in eternal gray mist, mountains of white bones stretched to the horizon. There were colossal skeletons of unknown beasts that spanned miles, and countless humanoid remains paving the earth.

In the hollow eye sockets of the skulls, ghostly azure will-o’-the-wisps danced silently.

“The Nether Bone Sea…”

Shen Xian recognized the location immediately. He had memorized the ruin’s geography before entering.

He could feel the sticky, corrosive death energy gnawing at his protective light. Sizzle, sizzle. The gray mist was eating away his spiritual energy. He tried to circulate his Golden Core, but the ambient spiritual energy here was terrifyingly thin.

Recovery would be slow. Consumption was fast.

Caw—

A mournful, ear-piercing cry tore through the silence.

Shen Xian looked up.

Countless Nether Ghost Crows took to the air, forming a black cloud that blotted out the gray sky. These birds were skeletal, their bones bleached white, with blue ghost fires burning in their sockets. The sound of their wings was the grinding of dry bone on bone.

They specialized in devouring living souls.

Tens of thousands of ghost fires locked onto him simultaneously.

Mystic Essence True Congealing Art!

Shen Xian’s hands flashed through a series of seals. Cyan light erupted from his brow.

The spiritual energy in his body transformed from ethereal gas to heavy, liquid power. It flowed through his veins like mercury, roaring with the sound of crashing waves.

This was the ultimate defense of the ancient Mystic Essence Sect: Spiritual energy as heavy as mercury, solid as a fortress.

Mystic Essence Heart Shield.

A barrier expanded around him, its surface rippling with scale-like patterns of cyan gold.

The flock of crows dived, crashing into the shield like rain.

Clang—!

The sound of metal on metal rang out. The crows were repelled, their ghost fires flickering from the impact. The mercury-like energy dispersed the force perfectly, not allowing a single shockwave to reach Shen Xian inside.

But the crows were relentless, a black torrent trying to drown him. Shen Xian felt a stinging pain in his mind—these things were gnawing at his divine sense attached to the shield.

“Annoying.”

Zheng—

The Traceless Sword left its sheath.

A frost-white sword energy swept out like a crescent moon, freezing the air.

The crows within a hundred feet froze, then shattered into powder. But as the dust settled, the fragments twitched in the gray mist and reassembled. In the blink of an eye, the flock was whole again.

“Undying?” Shen Xian’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. Let’s see you come back from this.”

He changed his sword stance.

Flecks of golden light—imbued with the anti-evil properties of the Dao Scripture—erupted from his blade.

Slash.

This time, when the sword energy swept through, the ghost fires in the crows’ eyes were extinguished instantly. The shattered bones turned to ash and dissolved into the wind. No regeneration.

Shen Xian fought as he moved, carving a path deeper into the Bone Sea.

The golden light of his armor was dimming, but his eyes burned with interest. High risk meant high reward.

The mist grew thicker. Visibility dropped to less than ten feet.

Crunch. Crunch.

Every step crushed ancient bones. Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way.

Thud!

Shen Xian landed at the bottom of a massive bone pit.

As the dust settled, a damaged, pitch-black stone stele revealed itself. It was covered in cracks but exuded an ancient, palpitating pressure.

Shen Xian approached cautiously. The archaic text was barely legible:

[Three hundred years after the Heaven’s Fall War, the Nether Ghost King perished here. His bones turned to sea, his spirit remains unextinguished…]

The inscription ended there.

Shen Xian’s eyes lit up.

The Nether Ghost King.

According to ancient records, the “True Spirit” of a Ghost King was a core material for refining Earth-grade puppets. It could allow a puppet to “possess” intelligence and evolve.

As he calculated the potential profit, the piles of bones around him suddenly began to move.

They rose and shifted, forming a winding path that pointed directly toward the deepest part of the Bone Sea. It was an invitation.

“Interesting.”

Shen Xian wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. He raised the Traceless Sword, pointing it down the path.

The remaining crows circled high above, shrieking, but dared not cross the boundary of the stele.

This confirmed his suspicion. Something far more terrifying than the crows lay ahead.

And likely… a fortune worth the risk.