I know a little about the Japanese language.

Xu Mu looked in the direction Dai Xingluo pointed and spotted a small stone house on a hillside about two hundred meters away.

In front of the house stood a crooked tree, from which a person was hanging by an iron chain.

To be precise, it was a skeleton.

The clothes and flesh had almost completely weathered away, leaving only the bones visible.

“That’s a skeleton. Looks like we need to be extra careful around here,” Xu Mu said calmly, staring into the distance.

“Ah! Brother, I’m so scared!” Dai Xingluo quickly hid in Xu Mu’s arms upon hearing this.

Meng Wanyue almost cursed out loud. What a joke! Pretending to be scared of a corpse? At least try to make it believable.

Xu Mu was a bit speechless too. Here was a notorious villainous supporting character, yet afraid of a skeleton—if you’re going to fake it, at least do it well.

“Alright, either way, we have to stay cautious,” Xu Mu said, scanning the surroundings. This place was much like the mountains and forests outside.

The mountains still surrounded them on all sides, and the trees here were even more wild and untamed.

The only difference was that this place was inhabited.

Looking around, there were quite a few stone buildings scattered across the mountain.

Xu Mu led the others toward the nearest building—the one under the tree where the skeleton was hanging.

Once there, Xu Mu stepped inside the stone structure.

Chen Xuan followed behind, carrying a woven bag on his back.

They found that it was just a simple one-room house.

Inside was only a wooden bed with a red quilt on top.

There was also a wooden chair and table, but nothing else.

Chen Xuan approached the bed and reached out to grab the quilt. It felt as brittle as a thin cracker. With a light touch, it crumbled into powder.

“Sure enough, this is an old place. No telling how many years it’s been here,” Xu Mu said, looking around.

Chen Xuan nodded silently. “There’s probably nothing valuable here. Let’s check somewhere else.”

“Alright,” Xu Mu agreed.

They returned outside and saw Dai Xingluo and the others staring at the skeleton hanging from the tree.

“Did you find anything?” Xu Mu asked, walking over.

“No, but I feel like this young lady might have noticed something,” Dai Xingluo said, one hand resting on the sword hilt, eyes fixed on Miao He.

Xu Mu approached and saw that Miao He was staring intently at the hanging skeleton.

“What’s wrong? Did you find something?” Xu Mu asked.

“No, nothing’s wrong. I just feel sorry for him. I wonder how many years he’s been hanging here,” Miao He replied, turning to Xu Mu. “How about we bury him?”

“Good idea,” Xu Mu nodded and stepped forward to unlock the iron chain.

As soon as he touched the tattered clothes, they disintegrated into fragments, fully exposing the skeleton inside.

Xu Mu’s expression gradually grew serious after seeing the skeleton.

“Mu Ge, something’s not right,” Chen Xuan said, stepping closer and staring at the skeleton.

“Definitely not right,” Xu Mu agreed.

“Xu, what’s wrong?” Meng Wanyue asked curiously from the side. Looking at the skeleton, she saw nothing unusual.

The bones were intact and appeared complete.

“Look at his ribs. Humans have twelve pairs—that’s twenty-four ribs. Look at his,” Xu Mu said.

Xu Mu pointed at the ribcage of the skeleton.

Meng Wanyue and Dai Xingluo were both carefully counting, their faces full of astonishment.

“Thirteen pairs? This person has twenty-six ribs.”

Dai Xingluo furrowed his brow.

“What’s going on? Could it be that this guy isn’t human?”

Meng Wanyue spoke in a low voice, “But judging by the shape, it definitely has a human outline.”

“Maybe it’s due to abnormal development. Often there’s a genetic tendency—like some people who have six fingers on each hand,” Chen Xuan came over and explained.

Miao He didn’t join the conversation. Butterflies fluttered out from her body, all flying toward the ground.

Swish, swish, swish!

In the blink of an eye, a huge hole was torn open right before them.

Dai Xingluo and Meng Wanyue quickly shifted their attention from the skeleton to Miao He, surprised to see such a mysterious Gu master.

Xu Mu had already removed the skeleton and placed it inside the hole.

Miao He buried it, then gave a slight bow. “Let’s go.”

“You’re quite something,” Xu Mu said with a deep glance at her before continuing further inside.

“Mu-ge, which way should we go?” Chen Xuan asked, carrying a woven bag on his shoulder as he approached Xu Mu.

“First, head to that high ground over there and get a look at the surroundings,” Xu Mu pointed toward a distant hillside.

Chen Xuan nodded.

All of them were ancient martial artists, their mobility far beyond ordinary people.

Without stopping and moving at a steady pace, they soon reached the summit.

From here, they all immediately noticed a massive palace on another mountaintop deep ahead.

The palace walls were coated in black. From afar, the blackness looked like a bottomless pit.

“No need to think about it now,” Xu Mu said, staring into the distance. “Let’s go. We’ve got a destination.”

The group descended the mountain and headed toward the palace.

Finally, they arrived at the black palace.

From a distance, it didn’t look too grand, but as they drew closer, they realized the black walls stretched like city fortifications for over a thousand meters.

The gates were also black, each door towering five to six meters high.

At this moment, the gate was only open a crack—about half a meter wide—just enough for a single person to slip through.

“There’s definitely treasure inside,” Miao He said excitedly, ready to enter through the gate.

But Xu Mu grabbed her backpack from behind, stopping her.

“What’s wrong?” Miao He looked back at Xu Mu.

Having been saved by him earlier, she trusted Xu Mu completely now.

“Someone’s coming,” Xu Mu said, eyes fixed on the palace gate.

Everyone around backed off, staring intently at the narrow opening.

Sure enough, before long, two people came running out through the gap.

Judging by their expressions, they were clearly frightened.

They didn’t speak when they saw Xu Mu and the others but kept running outward.

Dai Xingluo smiled and stepped in front of the group. “Friends, may I ask what’s inside?”

The leader, a short-haired middle-aged man, stopped and tried to calm himself.

“I… don’t understand your language,” he said.

Dai Xingluo drew his long sword and pointed it coldly at them. “Xiao baga?”

The middle-aged man saw Dai Xingluo draw his sword and quickly pulled out his own katana from the guitar case on his back.

In an instant, Dai Xingluo charged forward, swinging his long sword horizontally.

Crack!

The katanas in the two men’s hands shattered completely.

Dai Xingluo pressed the tip of his sword against the middle-aged man’s neck.

“Don’t kill him.”

At that moment, Xu Mu stepped forward. “I know a bit of Island Language. Let me talk to them.”

“Brother Mu, you even learned this?” Chen Xuan exclaimed excitedly from the side.

“I only know a little, not an expert. I picked it up from movies,” Xu Mu explained with a smile. Then, switching to Island Language, he looked at the middle-aged man and said, “Who are you? What are you doing here? If you’re lying to me, I’ll slice you into pieces with three strokes.”