Chapter Forty-One: Bones Scattered Everywhere

"Scabbard, come!" A distant, extremely faint voice echoed once more.

Though the voice was barely audible, Xiaoshan felt as if the sound pierced directly into his mind; in his ears, it rang with startling clarity.

A familiar sensation traveled from his sword scabbard to his left hand—the scabbard was trembling.

This time, Xiaoshan seemed to understand. Loosening his grip slightly, the scabbard shot from his hand with a sharp "whoosh," the sound of cutting through the air, and in an instant, it landed in Haopo's grasp.

From the moment he received the scabbard to the sword's return to its sheath, Haopo's swaying figure did not falter for even a heartbeat; his movements flowed like water, seamless and unbroken.

As Haopo sheathed his sword, he felt as if something intangible had vanished from around them.

Yes, his body felt much lighter—from the instant "his" sword was taken and until it returned to the scabbard, a crushing heaviness had weighed upon him.

That weight was impossible to describe.

"Up ahead is our destination! There's a cave! Whatever you do, don't stand and look at the ground!" Haopo, being half-supported by Haoyun, spoke in a weak voice. "You must not look!"

Once was warning; twice was a dire warning. The ground must not, under any circumstance, be gazed upon.

Haoyun took Haopo's words to heart.

But for some reason, Haotian, who was walking a bit farther behind, caught only the first half of the warning. Instinctively, he glanced down at the ground.

His eyes blinked curiously as he studied the earth. Faintly, he noticed something white on the surface. He blinked again, peering more closely.

This time, he saw clearly—they were bones, white and stark, appearing before his eyes.

"I stepped on a bone!" Haotian exclaimed in surprise.

He had just raised his head, preparing to lift his foot and step away from the bone, when he realized that what had been a single bone now formed into an entire human skeleton.

The part he had stepped on was the skull itself.

"Something's wrong!" Haopo's face changed abruptly, his grip on the sword tightening—a clear sign of imminent danger.

"Many have died here before!" Haoyun said, astonished, as more and more skeletons appeared all around them.

"This is a place of ill omen," Ruoxi murmured in a daze.

"Go! Keep moving forward, don't stop!" Haopo's gaze turned icy as he spoke.

Behind them—

Perhaps it was the sword, perhaps the journey had been too long, but the little girl's patience had worn thin.

No matter how Xiaoshan tried to urge Ruoxi to move, she remained unresponsive. Her face turned cold, her lips puffed in anger.

As the number of exposed skeletons increased, she could no longer contain herself—the sword at her waist was drawn in a flash.

The Soulshatter Sword—true to its name, as she unsheathed it, lightning crackled across its blade, sizzling and snapping in the air.

At that moment, faint human figures began to appear among the skeletons—souls of the dead, their forms wavering, as if on the verge of vanishing. Under closer scrutiny, their faces were deathly pale, twisted with bared teeth, as though they intended to devour the living.

A blue glow shimmered along the sword, resembling lightning, and with a slash, it sliced through the air toward the bones.

A wailing shriek rang out. One of the apparitions could not withstand the blow; his face contorted in agony, and he vanished in an instant, yet the skeleton on the ground remained unmoved.

Seeing the ghosts, Haotian and the others immediately raised their swords, spinning to guard against the encircling spirits.

"With so many of them, just how many people died here?" Haotian exclaimed as the number of phantoms grew.

"Look at their uniforms! This was an organized army!" Haoyun wasn't just staring at the bones but studying the details.

"An army?" Xiaoshan was stunned by the word, as if something new had awakened in his mind.

A massive force surged forward, soldiers charging in waves. Xiaoshan looked closer.

The surroundings matched their present location exactly, and those at the vanguard screamed in torment.

"I can't bear to see this! I don't want to!" Ruoxi shook her head desperately at the vision before her, sometimes squeezing her eyes shut in disgust.

Xiaoshan was still puzzled when he was jolted awake by Ruoxi's outcry.

"All of you, die!" Ruoxi shouted furiously. The Soulshatter Sword crackled with thunder as she slashed forward.

With each sweep of her blade, as if a reel of film were being unwound, the phantoms vanished one by one. She had struck five times before the last figure faded, leaving nothing but a field of bleached bones upon the barren earth.

"Was it all an illusion?" Haotian stared at the scene, bewildered.

"These are echoes of the past," Haopo whispered. "They have reappeared, but something prevented them from manifesting fully."

"What prevented them? Was it just Ruoxi swinging the Soulshatter Sword?" Haoyun asked, puzzled by Ruoxi's strange behavior.

"Ruoxi, what's wrong with you?" Xiaoshan asked anxiously, seeing her slashing frantically at empty air, as if possessed.

Ruoxi seemed not to hear. Her lips were still puffed, and she continued to brandish her sword.

"Ruoxi!" Xiaoshan called out, grabbing her arm to stop her from swinging further.