The Bone Stealer - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I am the daughter of the Dragon Lord, yet I was born crippled.

No matter how lofty my status was within the clan, without a dragon bone, my natural talent was only on par with that of an ordinary cultivator.

When I was little, my mother often held me and cried, always saying she was sorry. But it wasn’t her fault.

If anyone was to blame, it was my bad fate. I couldn’t blame anyone else.

As I gradually grew up, I remained unable to cultivate at all. I couldn’t even withstand the storms at sea.

In the end, she could only send me to the territory of the cultivators. After finding me a master to entrust me to, she steeled her heart and returned to the Dragon Domain.

The dragon race has no weaklings. As the young lord, if I had no strength, then either I would be torn apart in the struggle for power, or else… live the life of an ordinary person in the cultivation world.

I knew she was doing it for my own good.

Hundreds of years passed in the blink of an eye. I gradually reached the Nascent Soul stage, but among my dragon clan… even ordinary members are already at the Nascent Soul stage from the moment they are born.

I had only just barely caught up to the hatchling dragons of my clan.

Seeing my melancholy, He Zhizhou moved closer and shielded me from the wind. His lowered face was devastatingly handsome, and his deep eyes looked at me with tenderness. “Ah Ying, are you tired of staying in the sect? Shall we go out for a walk?”

He Zhizhou was already at the Deity Transformation stage. He bore an Immortal Bone, a Child of Destiny whose cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. He was Kunlun’s famously aloof and untouchable beauty.

I had watched him rise all the way from Qi Refining to Deity Transformation, leaving me far behind.

And yet… he treated me wonderfully. Whatever I wanted, he would always brave any danger to bring it to me.

I knew how he felt.

But aside from this pretty shell, what about me was worth his devotion? He ought to find a dao companion of extraordinary talent, so that Heaven’s favor toward him would not be wasted.

That favor… really does make one love it and envy it all at once.

Slowly, I leaned into his arms and stroked down his spine, inch by inch.

His whole body trembled. He pulled me tightly against him and kept calling my name.

His scorching breath brushed my ear. He grew more and more eager, lowering his head as though searching for something.

Until his gaze met mine.

Under the clarity in my eyes, he turned his head away and took two ragged breaths, forcing everything back down.

“Ah Ying, Ah Ying… when will you finally understand?”

Without a dragon bone, I could not awaken my inheritance either. I was much duller than the others of my clan. In this lifetime, I was afraid I would never understand.

He Zhizhou still took me out to lift my spirits. Deserts, mountains, polar regions, grasslands-he took me to each of them in turn, yet I remained listless.

“Senior Brother… I want to go home.”

The slightest furrow of my brow was enough for him to agree to anything. “Don’t worry, Ah Ying. I can withstand the storms of the Dragon Domain. I’ll take you there.”

But that would… hurt a lot.

I reached up to touch his cheek. His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times as he slowly leaned closer, then restrained himself and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Ah Ying…”

After flying for several days, we finally neared the Dragon Domain. Dark clouds blotting out the sky were laced with lightning, and waterspouts stretching beyond sight roamed in every direction without pattern.

He picked me up and plunged straight into the sea storm.

Blades of wind came sweeping toward us. His barrier held fairly steady at first, but the road was long. Layer by layer, the barrier was shaved away until hot blood began to spray.

“Ah Ying, don’t look.” One hand covered my eyes, and all I could hear was the shriek of the wind.

His clothes were gradually soaked through with blood, yet he protected me with meticulous care, leaving no chance for me to be hurt.

Curled up in his arms, I carefully sensed his increasingly weakening breath.

“It’s alright, don’t be afraid…” His voice had become much slower, and the last word was drowned out by the sound of him swallowing blood.

At last, I was certain.

He loved me.

The Dragon Pearl at my neck grew hot. I reached up and removed it, and in an instant, brilliant light burst forth.

The dark clouds scattered. The storm turned into a gentle caress. Sunlight grew warm.

Blood stained the fine white sands of the Dragon Domain. Senior Brother had been knocked unconscious by the Dragon Pearl and lay there quietly, his long lashes lowered and the color drained from his thin lips.

His body was covered in narrow, elongated cuts, with even a few across his face.

“How pitiful…”

I fed him a pill and used spiritual power to activate its effects. Gradually, the wound began to close.

He still hadn’t woken up, so I rested his head on my lap and slowly adjusted him into a more comfortable position.

I slipped a hand into his hair and carefully shook out the sand bit by bit. His long, silky hair felt wonderful, so… I kept stroking it again and again.

If he could marry into my family, then with this Immortal Bone of his, I might truly have a chance.

After all, he was the Child of Destiny. Whether in talent or fortune, he was the kind of person who could only make others sigh in helpless admiration.

Such a sharp blade, one I could wield…

I wanted to go back to living in the Dragon Domain, and I wanted Mother to stop worrying. As for the rebels, force could crush them all.

When that time came, no one would be able to call me useless. No one would be able to seize the chance to shake Mother’s throne.

So then… so then… you have to love me a little more, He Zhizhou.

It wasn’t long before Mother sensed a disturbance in the Dragon Pearl and hurried over.

We hadn’t seen each other in many years. I buried myself in her arms and held on to her for a long, long time.

Just like when I was little, she gently patted my back and softly coaxed me for a while before looking toward the still-unconscious He Zhizhou.

“So this is the Child of Destiny from the rumors? The one with the Immortal Bone?”

“Yes.”

I was still hesitating, unsure how to explain my relationship with him.

“Ah Ying, heaven has handed you the perfect chance.” She cupped my face, smiling so hard she looked on the verge of tears.

“You’re saved…”

What?

Before I could even ask, I blacked out in her arms.

The next time I woke, it was to the sound of thunder. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a secret chamber, the stench of blood so thick it made me want to vomit.

And why was the place along my spine hurting so badly? It burned, scalding hot, as though an endless stream of power was pouring through it.

I forced myself upright, and all I saw was blood-red everywhere.

He Zhizhou lay sprawled over a stone bed, utterly motionless. A huge gash had been opened along his back, and Mother was holding a length of spine, fitting it into place piece by piece.

That was… my spine.

Then inside my body now was… his Immortal Bone?

“Mother?”

She turned to look at me. Blood had splashed across her face, and her golden eyes had narrowed into vertical slits. “Don’t be afraid, Yingying. Besides the Immortal Bone, he also has a Pure Yang Body. He won’t die from this.”

My hands trembled without stopping. Only then did I understand what she had done.

A bone exchange. She had replaced my bones.

Not even mentioning what would happen once Kunlun flew into a rage… Senior Brother would probably hate me to the core.

“Mother… he’s already deeply in love with me. Once he marries into my family, I’ll secure my place as Dragon Lord, so why…”

She finished setting the bones and began stitching together the split flesh. “Foolish daughter, you can’t hold on to him. What will you do if he strips away your power and leaves you a figurehead?

“What will you do if, one day, he falls for someone else?

“You cannot stake your entire future on another person. You need confidence of your own.”

She formed a seal and cast a spell. The bones connected one by one, and after she fed him medicine, even his threadlike breathing gradually steadied.

Her bloodstained hand stroked my face. “Good girl, Yingying. It’s Mother’s fault for giving birth to you so frail. Once you’ve changed to an Immortal Bone, you’ll be able to cultivate properly. You’ll never lose to others again.”

My whole body shook, but I couldn’t say a word. But… carrying karma like this, how far could I possibly go?

“Yingying, don’t be afraid. I’ll bear the karma for you. I’m the one who committed this evil. It has nothing to do with you.”

I grabbed her hand as tears poured down my face. “Mother…”

I didn’t know what method Mother used, but she concealed his presence in the Dragon Domain.

Kunlun sensed that our Soul Lamps had weakened for a while, then brightened again, and only sent an inquiry through a token.

I said we’d encountered enemies in a secret realm and had been badly injured, but that we were safe now. Just like all the many times before, they did not press further.

And He Zhizhou remained trapped in the forbidden ground, with no one aware of it. By the time Kunlun realized something was wrong, it would probably be decades later.

A heaven-favored prodigy was ruined overnight, and my conscience could not rest easy.

But things had already come to this. There was no other choice now.