“I’m… not dead?”

As soon as he woke up, Su Li instinctively looked around.

Everything in sight was foreign. Barren. Not a blade of grass, just an endless wasteland. Rocks, dust, and gray sand were all that remained. Even the sky overhead hung dull and colorless, the whole world swallowed in bleak silence and death.

“Where the hell is this?”

He frowned, confusion tightening in his chest.

He was Su Li—once hailed as the Heaven-Destroying Martial Emperor. Born with unmatched talent, he had stunned the world at a young age. No one could rival him. He was one step away from soaring into the divine realm.

But just as he was about to ascend, the skies had gone mad. Fierce winds roared, thunder split the heavens, and thick black clouds surged from all corners, drowning the land below in shadow.

Then, a deafening boom tore through the sky. The clouds were ripped open. A massive figure, tall as a mountain, dropped from the sky.

When it hit the ground, the earth cracked, peaks collapsed. The force shook the heavens.

“A mere insect dares call himself Heaven-Destroying? What a joke.”

The voice rumbled like a storm trapped in a canyon.

In the next instant, the towering figure struck with a palm.

Boom!A thunderous blast tore the sky apart—mountains split, the sun and moon lost their light.

Su Li, the famed Heaven-Destroying Martial Emperor on the verge of ascending to the Divine Realm, was smashed into dust by a single strike. His soul and body were obliterated, and everything faded to black.

When he came to, everything had changed. He found himself in a lifeless land, all grey and still. A place without warmth or sound.

"That strike… I couldn’t move at all. Who the hell could be that powerful? Was it a god?"

Thinking back to that world-shaking moment, Su Li still felt a chill. One blow shattered the world—this wasn’t strength any mortal could reach. It had to be divine.

"But… why me? Just because I call myself the Heaven-Destroying Martial Emperor?"

He couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he shoved the questions aside.

Right now, he had bigger worries—his family.

When he rose to fame as Heaven-Destroying Martial Emperor, everyone close to him rode the wave. The Su Clan, once obscure, had become a powerhouse in the Tenglong Empire overnight.

If word got out that he’d vanished or died… would the royal family come down on them like a hammer? Would they crush Su Clan to the ground?

The chill in his bones had nothing to do with his skeletal form.To win over a powerhouse like him, the royal family of the Tenglong Empire had gone all out—half the Su clan was given positions in court, even handing his father the post of Right Prime Minister. On top of that, the emperor himself had promised Princess Dongfang Feixue to him. If not for the divine strike that shattered him to dust, his wedding day would’ve already come.

“Wonder how things are back home now?”

His ambush during ascension wasn’t exactly a secret. Now, with no word from him, even if the gods spared the Su clan, losing a weapon like him meant the court would surely strip his family of power. Maybe even wipe them out altogether.

“No good. I’ve got to get back, fast.”

The more he thought about it, the more restless he grew. He sprang to his feet without thinking.

The moment he moved, a sharp series of clacks echoed from within him—bones grinding against bone.

“…What?”

He frowned and glanced down, not expecting much. But that one look nearly scared the soul out of him.

His once proud body—tall, striking, full of vigor—was gone. All that was left was a skeleton. Pure white bones from head to toe, not a shred of flesh. His chest was hollow, no heart, no vessels, nothing. He could even feel a breeze passing through the gaps in his ribs.

“What the hell is this…”

For a moment, Su Li just stood there, stunned and lost, not knowing what to do.No matter how panicked he got, no matter how wildly he waved his arms and legs, all he saw were stark white bone claws—no flesh, no blood, nothing human left.

"What the hell is this? How did I become a skeleton? What went wrong?"

Staring blankly at the strange shell he now called a body, Su Li felt like he’d slipped into a nightmare—none of it felt real.

Just moments ago, when his memories came rushing back, he’d been secretly relieved. He thought fate had spared him, that the once-mighty Heaven-Destroying Martial Emperor would rise again, sweeping back in glory. He didn’t expect this—nothing glorious about turning into some walking heap of bones.

He’d seen strange things in his life. But this? This was next-level weird.

Even with his experience, he’d never imagined something this bizarre.

Creak… creak… creak…

While he stood there, dumbfounded, a set of distant footsteps echoed through the bleak world.

"Someone's here?"

Su Li snapped out of it, stopped checking over his skeleton frame, and turned toward the sound.

And then he almost toppled over.

Two skeletons, no different from himself, were hopping toward him from the distance—about two li out.

Because they had no muscles, no proper joints, their movement was stiff and jerky, bouncing and flailing like some grotesque dance.

"This has to be a dream. It’s gotta be!"Even now, Su Li still couldn't believe it was real.

To test if this was a dream, he knocked his hand against a nearby rock. The loud, metallic clang was sharp and clear, and the jolt of pain that shot through his bony hand made it all too real.

"It hurts... it's real."

Despair hit him hard.

He had no idea what kind of expression was on his face—if a skull could even show one. The world around him was spinning, unfamiliar and twisted. He wished he could just black out, and when he came to, everything would be back to normal—flesh, blood, and a beating heart.

But no matter how hard he tried, consciousness clung to him like a curse.

The two skeletons heading his way were now less than a hundred meters out.

"Haha! Looks like we've hit the jackpot!"

"Yeah, a fresh one. Seems like we’re in for a good haul today."

The two skeletons, close now, started talking excitedly as if they'd stumbled upon treasure.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Su Li asked, completely lost.

They didn’t answer. Instead, one chuckled, “Hehehe, definitely a rookie. Doesn’t even know what’s coming. No need to worry about a counterattack."“Then what are you waiting for? Drain his soulfire and move on to the next one.”

“Soulfire? What the hell is that?” Su Li frowned, even more confused.

The two skeletons didn’t bother replying. One flanked left, the other right, closing in fast.

Only then did Su Li catch a subtle flicker in their empty sockets—two faint white flames, steady but dim, burning without end.

That had to be it. The so-called soulfire.

And if they meant to take his, it had to mean stealing it gave them power.

No more wasting time.

Su Li’s eyes turned cold. Muscles tensed, he lunged first—straight at one of the skeletons.