The White Bone Underground Palace.
The vast palace complex was now truly desolate.
Even the descended deity had been defeated, and the entire Bone Path had been completely eradicated in both name and reality.
Only this magnificent underground palace could still prove that it once existed.
The connection with the Netherworld had long been severed, and the White Bone Underground Palace no longer had any link with that entity in the Netherworld.
Now, Zhang Yuan, who had taken possession of the White Bone Sacred Body, was the master of this place.
Completely refining the Sacred Body was a long process, for this was a divine body prepared by a Netherworld deity for its descent into the world.
But Zhang Yuan was full of confidence.
With just an imperfect body, he had already schemed against a deity. He had never doubted his own path of pursuing power.
With only power in his eyes, he was cold to the bone. Back in Maple City, neither Zhu Weiwo nor Wei Feng had ever truly been in his eyes. Even though Zhu Weiwo later fought the Heart-Devouring Demon, awakened a divine skill on the spot, and achieved the Divine Skill Inner Palace realm, he had already been left far behind by the current Zhang Yuan.
Only... that Wang Yuan, who had taken over his original body, despite only possessing the Inner Palace realm cultivation of that original body, caused him to feel a hidden dread.
After all, strictly speaking, Wang Yuan was the one who had openly defeated the Netherworld deity.
In the empty great hall, the sound of footsteps was exceptionally heavy. It was even somewhat alarming.
Like the Rabbit-Mask, he was very unaccustomed to this sound, tiptoeing every time.
Zhang Yuan stopped his meditation and saw Lu Yan walking from the depths of the long corridor.
This Second Elder, who had once been wholeheartedly devoted to the Bone Path, had completely lost trust in the White Bone Sovereign due to the matter of the Dao Child. Thus, he had been persuaded to join the rebellion against the White Bone Sovereign.
Undoubtedly, this was a very risky action, but the rewards were also considerable.
He bore the greatest danger, and the White Bone Sacred Body he obtained goes without saying. One of the benefits Lu Yan gained was the complete Bone Path Canon, which he shared with him.
It unified all twelve Bone Divine Phase secret arts, including the secret arts practiced by the three elders, the Messenger, and the Holy Maiden.
Of course, this complete canon was shared by him, Lu Yan, and Miao Qing. And completely severing ties with the Bone Path was another condition of Miao Qing.
As for Lu Yan, what he longed for was still the soul of his deceased wife, drifting who knows where.
But apart from knowing that she had not yet reincarnated and had not yet dissipated, he knew nothing else. No wonder that after the White Bone Sovereign's credibility collapsed, he had directly chosen to rebel. It was truly because there had been no real progress for so many years, and everything that had been dangled before him was just a bubble.
"Did you use your ability to peer into the Netherworld again?" Zhang Yuan asked.
He no longer needed to pretend to be respectful in front of him.
Although the White Bone Sacred Body had not yet been completely refined, the combat power he could display was already above Lu Yan's.
Lu Yan kept his eyes closed, his voice as unpleasant as ever: "Searching for a needle in a haystack."
"What are you worried about?" Zhang Yuan said lightly. "The blood oath was set by you yourself. Besides you, no one else knows the object of the blood contract. And I have fulfilled the oath. Once I have promised you something, there will be no more fluctuations."
"Heh heh heh." Lu Yan laughed strangely. "Your strength and talent, I know well. How much longer can the blood oath bind you? And once the blood oath's constraint is gone, can a promise have any binding force on you?"
"You can repair the blood oath from time to time, and I will definitely cooperate." Zhang Yuan frowned and said. "Or I can take the risk now to open the Netherworld Passage for you, allowing you to enter the Netherworld personally to find the person you are looking for. But are you sure you can escape the White Bone Sovereign's gaze? The Netherworld is His home ground."
They were merely a combination of interests, with no trust to speak of. Zhang Yuan had to explain the pros and cons clearly, leaving the other party to choose for himself.
As Zhang Yuan said, the most difficult part of Lu Yan's betrayal was that his ultimate destination was still in the Netherworld, which was the White Bone Sovereign's home ground.
If it weren't for the White Bone Sovereign, as a deity, repeatedly breaking faith and deceiving the followers, Lu Yan would never have been able to make up his mind.
Now, although he had come to this step and defeated the White Bone Sovereign's descended divine sense, for him, the truly difficult times were still ahead.
"How much more time do you need for the art of concealing your presence in the Netherworld?" Lu Yan asked.
At that time, Zhang Yuan had agreed to the blood oath to gain support, and one of the conditions was to create an art to conceal one's presence in the Netherworld, helping Lu Yan avoid the White Bone Sovereign's gaze and creating the conditions for him to personally enter the Netherworld to search.
Zhang Yuan replied: "I will start working on it once I completely refine the White Bone Sacred Body. Believe me, that won't be difficult."
He had already proven his ability to break the White Bone Sovereign's contamination power, and was qualified to say such things.
Lu Yan said nothing more, still kept his eyes closed, and began to walk back.
Actually, he had not placed all his hopes on Zhang Yuan. He was also studying the Bone Path Canon himself, but he really lacked confidence in whether he could avoid the White Bone Sovereign's gaze in the Netherworld.
After Lu Yan left for a while, Zhang Yuan then took out a bone mirror and wiped his hand across its surface.
The image in the mirror rippled like water waves, and Miao Qing's extremely enchanting face appeared within.
"It seems you have stabilized the body," Miao Qing spoke first.
"This is not worth your surprise," Zhang Yuan retorted in a flat voice. "What is your name now?"
Miao Qing seemed not to understand the deep meaning, and only said: "White Lotus or Miao Qing, depending on what you want to call me."
Zhang Yuan leaned closer to the bone mirror and looked at her: "I want to rebuild the Bone Path. Why don't you come back and help me? I promise you the true status of a Holy Maiden."
Miao Qing laughed, her smile enchanting: "I have no interest in evil cults now. Especially an evil cult that no longer even has a deity."
Zhang Yuan lowered his eyelids: "It seems you already have a foothold."
Miao Qing made no comment: "Looking at this Dao Child's face, I feel very awkward. What do you think, Messenger?"
The White Bone Sacred Body that Zhang Yuan had taken over was not perfect, and as the White Bone Holy Maiden, Miao Qing was viewed by the White Bone Sovereign as the "Dao Fruit."
They were both very clear about this.
As the weaker party, Miao Qing was particularly cautious. Even the sharing of the Bone Path Canon was done remotely.
At this time, Zhang Yuan, with a hint of coercion, hinted that he would go find her, and Miao Qing countered with Wang Yuan's existence.
If she gave the Bone Path Canon to Wang Yuan, it was hard to say that the man could not penetrate his current weaknesses.
This undoubtedly hit his soft spot.
But Zhang Yuan appeared very calm: "Do you think he can pose a threat to me?"
"I only know now that debts must be repaid," Miao Qing suddenly sighed, but the sorrow in her eyes made it impossible to tell if it was real or fake. "Perhaps only when you have to pay your debt will you understand this."
Zhang Yuan's expression did not change: "Oh?"
"Hee hee." Miao Qing laughed again. "Do not try to chase me. That is a dangerous thing."
The mirror surface trembled, and Miao Qing's face disappeared.
Without needing to sense it again, Zhang Yuan knew that the connection of this bone mirror must have been completely severed. That was to say, he would never be able to contact Miao Qing through this means again.
And he could not get more details to lock down her location.
"A clever woman."
Zhang Yuan's gaze was dangerous, but he smiled.