137 Blue Flames and Old Bones

I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was darkness. There was neither light nor warmth. Just that silent and oppressive stillness that makes you feel like you’ve been buried alive.

I stayed there for a moment, breathing steadily, until I sent out my Divine Sense in every direction.

Rocks. Dirt. Some kind of mineral veins, dull and dry. The air was still and stale. I was underground, definitely a cave. The aura was calm but laced with that faint, almost metallic buzz you get from long-sealed space.

Then, ahead of me, I saw it.

A dim blue glow. Faint, like a dying lantern’s wick, flickering through the cave’s shadows. I started walking. No flashy teleportation, no spells… just my footsteps echoing in the silence. Whatever this place was, subtlety felt safer than showmanship.

Didn’t take long before I reached the source.

A skeleton, wreathed in lazy tongues of blue fire, was calmly hacking away at the cave wall with a rusted pickaxe. The sound was steady—tap, chip, tap—almost rhythmic.

I blinked.

“You,” I said, taking a slow step forward. “You’re that perverted Skull back in the Black Forest, aren’t you?”

The skeleton didn’t turn right away. He set the pickaxe down gently against the wall, stretched his bony arms with a slow creak, then finally looked at me. His sockets flared a little brighter, and that damned familiar voice came out. It was dry and a bit too amused, with just enough smugness to make my hand twitch.

“Ah,” he said, “finally. Took you long enough. Your disciple’s body’s about to get stolen by a devil knight, and you decide to appear only now? Back in my days, Masters had more standards they held themselves to…”

I folded my arms. “Start talking. What do you mean Lu Gao’s body is being taken over? I need to hear your side of the story before I decide whether to destroy you or not.”

He floated back a little, bones rattling lazily, and gestured to the wall he’d been digging. “I am using my own soul power to fight off the darn devil… and guess what it did? It trapped me in this enclosed space. I am not really a fan of caves, you know?”

“And the pickaxe?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s what little power I could conjure in this world,” he said, his flaming sockets narrowing in irritation. “And as you can see, I am struggling. Not exactly the glorious undead life I imagined for myself, to be honest.”

I extended my Divine Sense, letting it wash over the pickaxe, the skeleton, the residual traces of soul-forging magic hanging in the air like old incense smoke.

“It all checks out, right?” he said smugly. "I am not lying or anything."

Yep. The perverted skull wasn’t lying.

“Doesn’t mean I like you,” I muttered.

He laughed, bones shaking like wind chimes. “Wouldn’t be any fun if you did.”

The skeleton sighed dramatically and dispelled his pickaxe into wisps of pale-blue fire. He stretched his arms like someone waking from a nap, bones creaking as though savoring the motion.

“I’ve been stuck in here for too long,” he said, rolling his flaming eyes. “Could’ve been enjoying myself, you know. Maybe spend a few decades with my dear Mistresses of Pain…”

I narrowed my eyes. “The who now?”

“Oh, you know,” he replied with an exaggerated shrug, “two charming sisters. One a bloody demon and the other a virtuous lady. Both cultivators of the same origins as yours? One specialized in pain, the other in more pain. Real artists, those two. They really has potential, you know?”

The Skull was definitely referring to Alice and Joan.

But... They weren’t even blood-related.

I felt my expression tighten. “Are they… still around?”

“I’d like to believe so,” he said wistfully. “If fate is kind, perhaps they’re running a brothel somewhere. You know…” His sockets brightened with that familiar, lecherous glow. “You could do me a solid, bring me by a house of ill repute or two? The Promised Dunes were always rather famous for their women, if memory serves…”

I stared at him, deadpan.

“You do know I could destroy you with a flick of my finger, right?” I said calmly. “Reduce you to bone dust and scatter what’s left into the void. I suggest you stop with your fantasies.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, though the amused tilt in his skull remained. “Oh, I don’t doubt it, young master. I’ve seen what you could do with your disciple’s body in all sorts of fun ways. Those motions. Devastating. Rather admirable finger control, actually.”

I sighed, more annoyed at myself than him. Because the truth was… I had intended to destroy him.

Undead were a problem. Unstable, unpredictable, and often malicious. And worse, this one was a known degenerate. Lu Gao had mentioned it, and from the way the skeleton talked, he wasn’t denying anything.

But then again…

Hei Mao had been an unknown too. A misfit, a mistake of fate that clung to life through hate and instinct. And yet, I’d helped him. Gave him a shot. Because sometimes it’s not about what someone was, but what they could become.

So I folded my arms and looked at the flickering flames in his sockets.

“Tell me,” I said slowly, “why shouldn’t I exorcise you right now?”

He tilted his head. “Because if you do, the devil knight takes possession of your disciple’s body with little to no resistance,” he said flatly. “Right now, I’m the lock on the door. Remove me, and you’ll come back to find a massacre.”

…Okay. Fair point.

“Cunning little bastard,” I muttered. “You’ve been alive a long time, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I’ve been dead a long time,” he corrected. “But yes, I’ve lived quite a bit. Too much, perhaps. Seen empires rise and fall, lovers cheat and swear eternal loyalty in the same breath, saints become tyrants, and tyrants become jokes. It’s all very poetic.”

“How old are you?” I asked.

He made a thoughtful noise. “Hmm. You ever seen the Sapphire Moon crack open and rain down lightning roses for three nights?”

“No.”

“Ah. Then probably before your time.” He chuckled. “Let’s just say… I remember when dragons still used to apply for territory rights, and mortals could actually refuse them.”

I wasn’t even from around here…

I didn’t reply right away. I just stared at him, watching the way his flames flickered, watching the signs of decay beneath the showmanship. This skeleton, this perverted skull, might’ve been more than he appeared.

Not trustworthy. Not safe. But useful.

“Alright then,” I said at last. “You get to live.”

He let out a dramatic gasp. “You honor me, my lord.”

“Shut up,” I replied, walking toward the cracked wall, the Skull making little progress. “Next perverted comment and I’m sending you to a temple full of bald monks for spiritual cleansing.”

“…You drive a hard bargain,” he muttered, floating behind me. “But I’m game.”

“Do you know any dreamwalking techniques?” I asked, stepping closer, arms behind my back.

The skull tilted ever so slightly, his jaw clacking once in curiosity. “Dreamwalking, eh? Now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a few dozen decades. Why? Hoping to visit a lover’s dreamscape and whisper sweet nothings?”

I didn’t humor him. “No. I need to reach the darn parasite in Lu Gao’s soul without damaging his body. This devil… seems averse to a direct confrontation. If he’s smart, he’s hiding behind mental barriers or soul traps. Same way the Heavenly Demon did when I fought his fragment in Gu Jie.”

At that time, the Heavenly Demon had no choice but to confront me, because if I succeeded in bearing Gu Jie's misfortune, the Heavenly Demon would be left with nothing to ressurect itself.

“Ah, the Heavenly Demon,” the skull murmured. “Now there’s a spicy name. You crossed fists with her?”

Her? Hmmm… he must’ve been referring to a Heavenly Demon of a different generation… Just how old was this skull?

“Sort of,” I replied. “He was possessing Gu Jie. I used a principle from a Buddhist technique I read in the Cloud Mist Sect’s scrolls… absorbed her misfortune and redirected it through my own existence. That allowed me to manifest inside her and punch him in the face.”

“...You’re insane,” he said admiringly.

“Thank you.”

He hovered closer, firelight dancing across the walls. “So what’s in it for me?”

I raised an eyebrow. “How about I make your exorcism painless?”

“No deal.” He didn’t even blink, though of course, he couldn’t.

“What do you want then?”

“Alright,” he said with a sigh, “I sense that Lu Gao’s cultivation method is… rather unique and touches a different facet of the Great Path. I want to learn it.”

“No deal,” I shot back.

“Killjoy.”

I rubbed my chin and looked at the dim wall behind him, starting to glow faintly with soul suppression glyphs I recognized from the few times I skimmed books from the Grand Ascension Library. I needed to get in without damaging anything. Which meant I needed this degenerate undead on my side. Even if I didn’t like it.

“How about this?” I offered. “You get inside me.”

There was a pause. Then he floated back half a meter. “Sorry, kid. I’m flattered, really, but I’m not into... guys.”

I stared at him. “I didn’t mean it literally, you ancient pervert.”

“Just clarifying.”

“I’m talking about spiritual inheritance,” I said, holding back the urge to rub my temples. “I inherit Lu Gao’s contract with you. That way, you’re not stuck in this cave, in Lu Gao’s soul, and you get a fair shot at possessing my body.”

He blinked. Or rather, the flames in his eye sockets pulsed. “Contract? What contract?”

I narrowed my gaze. “Don’t play dumb. Lu Gao told me everything. Even your nature as an Outsider, so it feels genuinely weird to me how in the world you are acting so much like a native.”

The skull went still for a moment. Then a faint rattle passed through his bones, like wind through dried reeds. “Huh. He remembered that old thing. Thought he’d forgotten it. Or maybe just misunderstood.”

“So it does exist?”

“Well… in a manner of speaking.” He scratched the top of his skull with one bony finger. “I gave him a fragment of my spiritual brand to stabilize his cultivation, which is now very much under attack by the devil. Technically, that counts as a contract, but I didn’t exactly write it up on silk with golden ink.”

“Good enough for me,” I said. “So. Do we have a deal?”

He looked at me for a long moment. The flames in his eyes narrowed and flickered.

“You’re not like most cultivators I’ve met,” he said quietly. “Not like most Outsiders too…”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You shouldn’t,” he muttered. “But fine. I’ll guide you. Just don’t blame me if the devil inside decides to chew on your spine.”

“Don’t worry,” I said with a faint grin. “If I die, I’m haunting you first.”

He chuckled. “Deal.”

Jokes aside, there was something I wasn’t going to let slide. Not anymore.

“Once this is done, we’re definitely going to talk about your nature as an Outsider,” I said, folding my arms and fixing him with a look. “You can play the fool all you want, but we’re gonna have that talk, whether you want to or not.”

The skull gave me a dramatic shrug, bones rattling like an old maraca. “It’s nothing special,” he replied. Then made a fart noise with his mouthless jaw… don’t ask me how. “Pbbbt.”

I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose.

This was going to be painful for my mental health.

Allowing the soul of an ancient flaming skull to live in my head definitely seemed reckless. And, to be honest, it probably was. But let’s do the math: for this guy to take control of my body, he’d have to beat not just me, but the eldritch thing-y that had taken residence in my core that caused my transmigration… and also David_69.

Yes. That David_69, my Holy Spirit.

Even I didn’t mess with that guy unless I had to.

I feared the current David_69 had evolved to the point even Shenyuan would find trouble picking a fight with him.

Of course, I wasn’t going to tell the skull any of that.

I tilted my head, arms still crossed. “Alright, before we make things official, let’s start with proper introductions.”

“Formality? With undead?” the skull scoffed. "I am superbly flattered!"

“It’s called manners. You don’t just hop into someone’s soul without shaking hands first.”

The flames in his sockets flickered with what I assumed was amusement. “Fine, fine. Be boring about it.”

I straightened up a bit. “Da Wei,” I said simply. “Former elementary school teacher. Current headache collector.”

He floated in a slow circle, as if sizing me up one last time. Then bowed slightly, skull tilting forward, chinless grin still wide.

“Jue Bu,” he said. “Once called the Flame of Ten Thousand Tombs. Now mostly known as ‘Hey, you horny skull!’ Or ‘Stop, you pervert!’ But Jue Bu’s the name. Just a quick ask, what's an elementary school teacher?”

“Charming,” I said dryly. “And a pleasure, I guess. And no, I feel too lazy to explain what an elementary school teacher is.”

“Boring... But hey, give it time. You’ll fall for me.”

“Doubtful.”

I extended a hand, not physically, but with a thread of Divine Sense, letting it pulse with just enough spiritual signature to signal agreement. A handshake of sorts. The skull didn’t hesitate. One flicker of soul fire reached back, brushing against my energy with the faint sting of age and madness, like incense smoke curling around bone.

In that moment, a deal was made.

I’d probably regret it later.

But for now?

Let’s go save a disciple.