Yun Ming awoke as a gray skeleton in the Bone Sea of the Undead, surrounded by gray-white mist and countless bones. He felt severe pain and moved slowly, watching other skeletons disintegrate as they walked. He discovered that when two skeletons collided, a tiny light particle flew from the dying skeleton into his body, making him stronger. He began actively hunting vulnerable skeletons, waiting for them to weaken and then finishing them off, absorbing over a hundred light particles called living souls. His body became more solid, the pain disappeared, and his walking speed increased. The surrounding mist thinned, and a voice urged him forward. He finally reached a mist wall and stepped through, leaving the bone sea.Outside, a white bone skeleton gathered gray bones to join an army led by a war bone named Keluntes. They were ordered to attack a human army camp. Yun Ming learned the skeleton hierarchy: gray bone, white bone, jade bone, war bone, and strong bone. The army charged, and a volley of arrows fell. Yun Ming survived by hiding under a shield. During the melee, a young human recruit attacked him. Yun Ming wrestled him down and stabbed an arrow into the recruit’s neck, killing him. A thumb-sized living soul entered Yun Ming’s body, making him noticeably stronger. He realized that killing humans also granted power. Fearing tougher opponents, he slipped to the edge of the battlefield and fled into a nearby forest.In the forest, he hunted animals—rabbits, frogs, snakes—and confirmed that they too produced living souls. He grew stronger. He accidentally provoked a wild boar and lured it into crashing into a rock, then killed it. The boar’s large living soul caused his gray bone body to rapidly transform into white bone. His bones thickened, his body became more flexible, and he gained the ability to speak. He decided to return to the battlefield area, where the battle had ended. The human commander had been killed by a leopard-shaped skeleton using a poison trick, and the human soldiers had fled in defeat. The skeleton army was now regrouping.In the camp, jade bones were recruiting white bones as subordinates. A jade bone named Tang Ming, a humanoid skeleton, chose Yun Ming and formed a soul link with him. Tang Ming explained skeleton rules and society: there is no emotion between skeletons, only strength and usefulness. Another jade bone had fought over a tiger-shaped white bone, which now belonged to a wolf-shaped jade bone. The tiger-shaped white bone came to provoke Yun Ming, biting at his neck. Yun Ming sidestepped, leaped onto the tiger’s back, and twisted off its skull, killing it. He absorbed the tiger’s living soul. Tang Ming summoned him and asked about his bone technique, which every white bone awakens. Yun Ming focused and extended six sharp bone blades from his fingers—a bone claw technique suited for close combat. Tang Ming warned that the dead white bone’s upper jade bone would seek revenge, but he also acknowledged Yun Ming’s cleverness and strength. Yun Ming vowed to be useful and strong to survive, and the soul link between them grew tighter. He understood that in the skeleton world, strength commands respect, and he resolved to continue growing to protect himself from the looming threat.
