The Great Undying Sect.
Hundred Rains Continent.
Outer sect dorms.
Hao Shen sat alone in his dimly lit room, his face clouded with frustration and melancholy.
In front of him lay a letter, unfolded and smoothed out, its contents clearly read and reread countless times.
The inked characters seemed to weigh heavily on his chest, as though each word had been carved directly into his bones.
With a long sigh, he gently folded the letter back into its envelope, though he knew the action was meaningless.
The words would not change simply because he tried to hide them.
His lips parted, voice low and bitter.
"So… it seems my relationship with Liang Meixiu is over." Another sigh followed, heavier than the first, and he placed the letter aside.
Liang Meixiu was not just anyone.
She was his wife, a woman bound to him not only by vows but also by the will of their clans.
Hao Shen was the son of the Hao Clan patriarch, while Meixiu hailed from the prestigious Liang Clan.
Their marriage had been carefully arranged by both families, a union designed to strengthen political ties and ensure the prosperity of their bloodlines.
At the age of eighteen, they had even consummated the marriage, marking the beginning of what was supposed to be a lifelong partnership.
Yet fate, as always, had other plans.
Not long after their union, the Godbone Awakening Ceremony took place, a sacred event held across the entire Hundred Rains Continent, where young cultivators summoned bones from the remains of ancient gods.
These divine bones fused with their mortal skeletons, forever altering their destinies.
Those who succeeded became Bonebearers, individuals elevated far beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.
At high enough levels, Bonebearers could soar across the skies as though walking upon clouds, carve apart mountains with the flick of a finger, or drain entire rivers dry with nothing but a single blow of breath.
They were living legends in the making, men and women who carried fragments of gods within their very marrow.
In the Hao Clan, as with all great clans, undergoing the Awakening Ceremony was not a choice but a duty.
Once a child reached the age of eighteen, their entire future would hinge on which godbone they were able to summon.
A single bone could elevate a cultivator into prominence, or condemn them to mediocrity for life.
Among the hierarchy of bones, Spinal Bones reigned supreme.
They were the most desirable to awaken, for their powers were versatile and unmatched.
Just beneath them came the Skull Bones, followed by Ribs and the Sternum, then the Hip Bones, and lastly, the Peripheral Bones.
Even within the last category, there were layers, Big Bones such as the femur, tibia, and fibula were considered decent but unspectacular, while the Small Bones, like the metatarsals or phalanges, were widely regarded as the lowest possible result.
The Spinal Bones themselves were divided into three main types, each granting unique blessings.
Cervical Bones sharpened comprehension to terrifying degrees, allowing cultivators to grasp complex techniques with ease and perceive mysteries hidden to others.
Thoracic Bones blessed their bearers with unyielding vitality, a body that burned with vigor, and lifespans that stretched far beyond their peers.
Lumbar Bones, the most aggressive of the three, granted users unmatched condensing abilities, making them faster, sharper, and stealthier than anyone in the same realm.
Though Spinal Bones were the most coveted, they were not the rarest.
That honor belonged to the Skull Bones.
To awaken a Skull Bone was to gain overwhelming mental power, divine sight that pierced illusions, mastery over the minds of others, and the ability to craft hallucinations so real they could kill.
Yet their rarity was precisely why they were considered second best.
Even if one awakened such a bone, training it was said to be excruciatingly difficult, and most would never reach their full potential.
Following these were the Ribs and the Sternum.
The Sternum, a shield of divine essence, provided unparalleled defense, allowing the body to withstand blows that would pulverize stone.
The Ribs, on the other hand, accelerated cultivation speed dramatically, but at a terrible price, the user's foundation often grew unstable, leaving cracks that could shatter during higher breakthroughs.
Then came the Hip Bones, often mocked as slow but dependable.
Cultivators who awakened them advanced at a sluggish pace, yet they built unshakable foundations.
For such individuals, breaking through bottlenecks was easier than for anyone else, and once they reached higher realms, their stability made them nearly impossible to topple.
And finally, the Peripheral Bones.
The Big Bones, such as femur, tibia, and fibula, granted no particularly special ability but were still better than nothing.
They cultivated steadily, if unimpressively.
The Small Bones, however, such as metatarsals and phalanges, were regarded as the lowest of the low, laughed at and pitied in equal measure.
To awaken a small peripheral bone was to be marked with mediocrity forever.
Hao Shen's luck had not been entirely cruel. In truth, it was not bad at all.
During the Awakening Ceremony, he had summoned the Sternum, one of the rarest and most treasured bones for defense.
With its protection, cultivators became walking fortresses, bodies that could withstand sword strikes, shattering qi, and even devastating blows from spirit beasts that would reduce others to paste.
In terms of survivability, it was unrivaled.
But fate had smiled even brighter upon his wife.
Liang Meixiu, once merely the daughter of the Liang Clan, had awakened a Lumbar Bone, one of the great Spinal Bones and a treasure said to appear once in a thousand years.
The moment her godbone flared with light, rumors spread like wildfire, drawing the gaze of every sect and clan on the Hundred Rains Continent.
Her talent could not be ignored.
The Blood Assassins Sect, the foremost sect on the continent and the dream of every cultivator, descended upon the ceremony grounds to claim her.
It was their iron law: only those who awakened Spinal, Skull, or Rib Bones could even qualify for recruitment.
Sternum, despite being superior to the Ribs in terms of raw strength, was not valued by them.
To the Blood Assassins Sect, offense and cultivation speed outweighed defense.
Thus, the doors of the greatest sect closed firmly in Hao Shen's face, while opening wide for Liang Meixiu.
She was taken swiftly into their ranks, hailed as a prodigy destined to rewrite history.
Hao Shen, meanwhile, received the second-best outcome, direct admission into the Great Undying Sect, the second strongest sect in the Hundred Rains Continent.
It was still an honor; most aspirants would have bled for such an opportunity.
As a Sternum-bearer, Hao Shen was admitted without test or trial, walking into the sect as an outer disciple.
At first, he held hope.
He believed that marriage vows and two years of shared life would bind them together even across the gulf of distance and power.
For two months, they exchanged letters, each one filled with warmth, longing, and reassurances of faith.
But the letter he now held in trembling fingers had shattered that fragile dream.
Liang Meixiu's neat handwriting delivered the cruel truth.
A senior from the Blood Assassins Sect had captured her heart.
She had already burned their marriage contract and now requested, politely, coldly, formally, that Hao Shen do the same.
For a long moment, Hao Shen sat in silence.
Then, with a deep breath, he reached into his spatial ring and withdrew a scroll.
His hand did not tremble as he whispered, "Goodbye, then."
He placed the scroll inside a metal container, ignited it with a spark of qi, and watched as the parchment curled, blackened, and finally disintegrated into ash.
His chest tightened, but he had prepared himself for this moment ever since the day they parted ways.
His mother had warned him in soft but firm words, 'A woman's heart may change with fortune, Shen'er. Do not cling too tightly.'
At the time, he had refused to believe that Meixiu would betray him.
Yet his mother had insisted on preparing the ritual container for this very day.
As the ashes scattered in the air, Hao Shen chuckled bitterly.
"Mother knows best."
He stood, brushing away the soot, and walked toward the Bone Room, the chamber assigned to every outer disciple of the Great Undying Sect.
The chamber was quiet, lined with carved stone and glowing with faint inscriptions that drew marrow essence from the surrounding heavens and earth.
He lowered himself onto a soft mat and sank into meditation.
Closing his eyes, he gazed inward.
There it was, his Sternum, glowing with a brilliant blue radiance, drinking marrow essence from the air like a divine heart.
His breath deepened, chest swelling as the energy coursed through him.
A small smile tugged at his lips.
For all his sorrow, he was not talentless.
He still had his path, his future, his cultivation.
But then his gaze fell upon the rest of his skeleton.
Ordinary cultivators possessed mortal bones that remained stark white even after awakening.
But his… his were different.
Every bone in his body, from his fingers to his skull, shimmered with a deep, unnatural black, dark and glossy, as though carved from charcoal.
The contrast against his blue Sternum was jarring, eerie, and utterly unique.
"This…" he whispered, a chill running down his spine. "Could this be the fabled Devil Bone? Or perhaps… a Devil Skeleton?"
He had discovered this anomaly during the Awakening Ceremony, but he had told no one.
Such a thing had never been recorded in the histories of the Hundred Rains Continent.
Sternum-bearer, yes. Black bones? Never.
If word spread, he might be hailed as a monster… or worse, hunted as an omen.
So he smiled quietly to himself in the solitude of the Bone Room, secrets heavy in his marrow, and whispered:
"Then I will walk this path alone."
And the black bones of his skeleton pulsed faintly in answer, as though something ancient stirred within.