"Lu Chao, kneel!"
"I am old. From this day forward, you are the Grand Marshal of the Army of the Great Wu Empire."
The renowned old marshal of the Great Wu Empire, Lu Dingtian, placed the Marshal's Tiger Talisman into the hands of his adopted son, Lu Chao.
A perfect picture of fatherly love and filial piety.
Aaaah...
Suddenly, an earth-shattering scream tore through the sky.
The five fingers Lu Dingtian had been resting on Lu Chao's head now dug deep into his skull.
Lu Chao was stunned, confused, and filled with disbelief.
"Audacious Lu Chao! For patricide and seizing the talisman, your crime is intolerable to heaven and earth, a sin beyond forgiveness."
"Flay Lu Chao, pull his tendons, grind his bones to dust, and scatter his ashes!"
Lu Chao died. A crimson Blood Stele was erected beside his corpse, engraved with the sins of his life.
Criminal General of Great Wu, Lu Chao!
After the great victory in the war of the Hundred Countries, he committed patricide to seize the talisman. He then forged the marshal's orders to massacre tens of millions of prisoners from the Hundred Countries, along with countless innocent civilians. His crimes are so great that ten thousand deaths could not atone for them. This stele is erected in the center of the Hundred Countries Battlefield, for all people to despise.
Erected by Lu Dingtian, Grand Marshal of the Army of the Great Wu Empire!
BOOM...
A clap of thunder sounded as a torrential downpour began, washing over the blood-soaked sands of the Hundred Countries Battlefield.
Beneath the Blood Stele, Lu Chao's corpse had been reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.
He had been flayed and had his tendons pulled by Lu Dingtian, his bones shattered without a single one left intact. But amidst the thunder, a faint glow suddenly emanated from the pulpy mess of his corpse.
It was a tiny toe bone. The bone, not yet ground to dust, let out a sorrowful cry...
"Lu Dingtian, I saw you as my true father! Why would you do this to me?"
His soul had no place to rest, the injustice could not be extinguished, and his heart roared with fury.
"All of these sins were committed by you, Lu Dingtian, and your own two children! Yet you make me bear the blame?"
"You adopted me only to nurture bones."
"To nurture the three Heavenly Destiny Saint Bones within my body. Now that the Saint Bones have matured, you and your children have torn them away. It turns out that in your eyes, I, Lu Chao, am worse than a pig or a dog—just a tool for growing bones."
"Ha, hahaha..."
In the pouring rain, the roars of his soul echoed like the wails of ghosts.
"Lu Chao!"
Suddenly, a sharp, grief-stricken female voice erupted before the Blood Stele, dissolving into choked sobs.
From within the toe bone, Lu Chao's spirit wondered in astonishment, 'Who? Who would still be willing to weep for a so-called criminal of Great Wu like me?'
Before the Blood Stele stood an unfamiliar, fiery-red silhouette. Her cries grew more and more heart-wrenching.
But Lu Chao didn't recognize her.
Suddenly, the crying woman in red pulled a fiery-red bracelet from her wrist. Her face, streaked with rain and tears, held the resolve of one facing death. She looked at the bracelet and pleaded, "Fire Phoenix Divine Emperor, this humble girl has a request."
With a resounding buzz, the fiery-red bracelet erupted in a ball of light, from which a vast and indifferent female voice emerged. "What is it? Speak."
The woman in red dropped to her knees with a THUD, bowing toward the ball of light.
"Fire Phoenix Divine Emperor, you once said that I, a possessor of the Heavenly Fire Sparrow Bone and a successor of your bloodline, could have one wish granted."
"My wish is to resurrect the man beneath this stele."
Upon hearing this, the ball of light fell silent.
After three breaths, the vast female voice spoke again. "Rebirth from fire requires a great price. You must sacrifice your Heavenly Fire Sparrow Bone and endure the torment of the life-flame. Are you certain?"
"I am certain!" the woman in red replied without hesitation.
The vast voice asked again, "You will go from a heaven-blessed prodigy to a cripple. Are you certain?"
"I am certain!" The woman in red's gaze was resolute.
The light fell silent once more, seemingly reluctant to grant her wish. It emphasized, "The person you wish to resurrect possesses a Life-taking Bone. Even if he is brought back to life, he is destined to face endless calamities. Are you certain?"
"I am certain!" the woman in red stated, her voice unwavering.
Sigh...
A sigh echoed across the Hundred Countries Battlefield, and a merciless flame enveloped the woman in red.
The woman's entire body began to burn. Her clothes were incinerated, and layers upon layers of burns appeared on her skin.
She knelt on the ground, gritting her teeth through the agony, strong enough not to make a single sound.
From within the toe bone, Lu Chao's spirit roared, 'Don't, miss! I don't even know you! Why are you saving me? Why are you willing to suffer such pain for my sake? Stop! Stop it!'
But no one could hear the cries of his soul.
Time seemed to freeze amidst Lu Chao's silent roar. A Blood Talisman appeared on the back of the woman in red, glowing within the searing flames.
Slowly, a bone shaped like a small sparrow was carved out.
The bone gradually separated from the woman's body and merged into the ball of fire before her.
The flame suddenly... BANG!
It split off a jet of crimson fire that landed on Lu Chao's nearly unrecognizable corpse.
From within the flames, the vast female voice asked, "This Divine Emperor has read the words on the Blood Stele. This man is an unpardonably evil villain. Why save him?"
The woman in red struggled to lift her head. Her face was covered in burns, yet she smiled. "Because I don't believe it. Lu Chao was definitely framed by villains. How could the boy who once gave me all of his life-saving steamed bun be an evil person?"
BOOM...
Her words struck Lu Chao's spirit in the toe bone like a clap of thunder. Then, he plunged into endless darkness.
His wronged soul and the toe bone returned to his body, burning in the crimson flame.
「Several sunrises and sunsets later...」
The mangled flesh before the Blood Stele was gone. In a cave, Lu Chao's voice suddenly rang out, "Xiao Su'er."
Lu Chao shot up with a start in the pitch-black cave...
He crawled forward with great effort, his voice trembling as he asked, "Xiao Su'er? Xiao Su'er, are you still here?"
Lu Chao was still weak from just waking, but he struggled his way out of the cave.
At the mouth of the cave, he saw the crimson stele in the distance, but the figure of the woman in red was long gone.
By now, Lu Chao knew who the woman was. They were not strangers after all.
Her name was Xiao Su'er. She was a girl Lu Chao had met when he was a young beggar wandering the streets. Back then, she had been lost and had starved for three whole days and nights, just as Lu Chao himself had.
Later, Lu Chao found a steamed bun but gave it all to her to eat, saving her life.
The two of them depended on each other for another ten days and nights, until Xiao Su'er's family finally found and took her away. Her real name was Cheng Yunsu.
During those ten days together, Lu Chao had liked to call her Xiao Su'er.
Now Xiao Su'er was gone. She had resurrected Lu Chao, dragged him into this small cave, and left without a single word.
She had left only a bag of steamed buns in the cave.
Lu Chao crawled back into the cave, utterly dejected. He picked up a hardened steamed bun and took a fierce bite.
"Xiao Su'er, I will find you, even if I have to search to the ends of the earth."
After swallowing a bun, Lu Chao looked down at his restored body, his heart surging with boundless hatred. "Lu Dingtian, I have returned. I will make you and your two children suffer the same pain... No, I'll make you pay for Xiao Su'er's pain as well."
As he said this, Lu Chao clutched his chest...
"The Life-taking Bone."
"Lu Dingtian, you and your children stole my three Heavenly Destiny Saint Bones, but you never knew that this last one, the Life-taking Bone, is my true treasure."
BOOM...
The bone in his chest erupted with a dark light. The next moment, Lu Chao's consciousness arrived in the small world within the Life-taking Bone.