Meeting Gift, Supreme Bone

The man, clad in long black robes, had a tall and straight figure, yet he leaned against the broad back of the chair in a somewhat casual posture.

His right elbow rested on the armrest, and his long, slender fingers propped up his temple. His eyes were tightly closed, as if he were merely taking a short nap.

Below the main seat were five descending tiers of jade steps.

The first tier of the jade steps was completely empty.

On the right side of the second tier stood the third disciple, Bai Ling'er, in quiet stillness; on the right side of the third tier stood the fifth disciple, Xiao Yi, with a straight and proud posture.

On the left side of the fourth tier stood the eighth disciple, Yun Tianhe, his tall figure upright and elegant; on the left side of the fifth tier stood the tenth disciple, Han Feng, in silent attendance.

Four ancestors, whose status within the Holy Land was incomparably exalted, stood in two rows at the bottom of the steps, their expressions respectful and solemn.

A silent shock spread through the heart of every elder present.

Anyone capable of ascending to the position of an elder was naturally a person of keen perception and vast experience.

The patriarch's throne had remained empty for a thousand years. Now that someone had taken the seat, coupled with the incredibly respectful attitudes of the four ancestors, the answer was already screaming to be spoken.

This person was, in all likelihood, the founding ancestor of the Holy Land, a legendary figure whose name the vast majority of them had only ever seen in the sect's ancient records.

Despite the stormy waves surging in their hearts, no one dared to show the slightest breach of etiquette.

All the elders quickly gathered their wits. According to their respective ranks, they silently walked to their designated positions, lowered their heads, and stood still.

In less than five minutes, over five hundred elders had fully assembled. They lined both sides of the great hall, completely silent and in perfect order.

Gu Changyuan slowly opened his eyes.

He did not deliberately release his aura, but a vast, abyssal, and invisible coercion naturally swept across the entire audience along with his gaze, shrouding the entire assembly hall.

The air itself seemed to stagnate a little, and the elders with slightly weaker cultivation bases even felt their breathing momentarily catch.

We pay our respects to the Holy Ancestor!

Without the need for any command, all the elders in the hall bowed in unison and dropped to one knee. Their loud, resonant, and synchronized voices echoed throughout the spacious hall.

Gu Changyuan sat up straight, his calm gaze sweeping over the dense crowd below.

With a slight stir of his divine sense, it was as if invisible ripples spread outward with him at the center, instantly enveloping the entire broad and solemn assembly hall.

Under the perception of this mysterious power, the various auras exuded by the hundreds of figures in the hall had nowhere to hide.

The general cultivation realm, aura strength, and even the subtle emotional fluctuations of every single person were clearly presented in Gu Changyuan's mind.

After a rapid scan, Gu Changyuan discovered that there were exactly fifty-six Taiyin Elders among them. Without exception, these individuals were all mighty figures at the mid-stage of the Tribulation Transcendence realm or higher.

Following closely were as many as one hundred and eighty Supreme Elders. Half of them had already successfully broken through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm. As for the remaining half, although they had not yet truly crossed that threshold, their strength was absolutely not to be underestimated, as they had all reached at least the mid-to-late stages of the Mahayana realm.

As for the ordinary elders, who made up the largest number, they were even more numerous, totaling well over three hundred. Furthermore, even the one with the weakest cultivation among them had still reached the great perfection of the Body Integration realm.

Without a doubt, this group of powerful and highly experienced individuals before him was the well-deserved core backbone of the Heavenly Human Holy Land in the current era. The profound foundation they had accumulated over thousands of years of time was absolutely not something that ordinary factions could ever hope to compare with.

Furthermore, relying on the detailed intelligence provided by the system and his own special ability to see through the truth and pierce through illusions and disguises, Gu Changyuan knew very well that among the people present at this moment, there were no spies planted by external hostile forces or long-hidden parasites trying to erode the foundation of the Holy Land.

He gave a slight nod. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears:

"Mhm, rise."

"Thank you, Holy Ancestor!"

The crowd responded in unison as they stood up one after another, still standing with their heads bowed in reverence.

Only then did Gu Changyuan speak again, his words once more falling clearly into everyone's ears:

"I presume many of the elders here have never seen me before. My name is Gu Changyuan, and just as you thought, I am the founding patriarch of this Celestial Holy Land.

Over the past millennium, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to return and could not do much for the Holy Land.

Now that I have returned, I will not impose any inexplicable new rules. The previous regulations of the Holy Land shall remain as they are.

Since all of you have attained the position of elder, you must have made great contributions to the Holy Land and guarded it diligently for many years.

Now that I am back, it is only natural to offer some meeting gifts as a token of my appreciation."

As his voice faded, he casually raised his right hand and gave a gentle wave toward the empty space below.

In an instant, anywhere from one to three peculiar bones appeared out of thin air in front of the more than five hundred elders.

Three bones hovered in front of the Lunar Elders.

Two bones hovered in front of the Supreme Elders.

One bone hovered in front of the ordinary elders.

These bones varied in shape and appearance. Some were as lustrously white as jade, faintly revealing mysterious patterns; some were as pitch-black as ink, exuding a piercingly cold aura; others were as crimson as fire, as if containing molten lava within...

But without exception, they all emanated majestic and incomparably pure spiritual energy fluctuations.

Supreme Bones!

The Supreme Bone was a rare treasure nurtured by heaven and earth, which living beings had a chance of possessing from birth. It contained pure origin power and could greatly accelerate a cultivator's cultivation speed.

It was an existence as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns in the entire cultivation world. Even the lowest grade of Supreme Bone was enough to drive countless Tribulation Transcendence realm cultivators mad with desire to fight over it.

Furthermore, Supreme Bones were divided into different body parts, each with distinct effects:

Leg bones could strengthen the meridians and power of the legs, allowing the cultivator to have faster movement techniques and a more stable foundation.

Arm bones could enhance the explosive power of the arms and control over spiritual energy, making them especially suitable for sword cultivators, saber cultivators, and others who relied on limb strength.

Chest bones could comprehensively elevate a cultivator's overall physical strength, spiritual energy capacity, and recovery speed, making them the rarest category among all Supreme Bones.

For an ordinary cultivator to obtain even a small piece was already considered a heaven-defying fortune.

Yet at this moment, hundreds of Supreme Bones had appeared simultaneously in this grand council hall!

Intertwining lights and swirling spiritual energy illuminated the entire hall in a brilliant display of radiant colors.

The gathered aura of origin power caused many elders to breathe heavily, their hearts pounding wildly to the point of almost losing their Dao hearts.

The Supreme Bones gifted to them were precisely matched according to each elder's area of expertise and physical shortcomings.

Even Bai Ling'er, Xiao Yi, Yun Tianhe, and Han Feng, who were standing on the steps, could not help but twitch the corners of their mouths a few times upon seeing this shocking scene of a falling rain of bones. Their eyes were filled with astonishment and disbelief.

Weren't Supreme Bones incredibly hard to come by?

Didn't one have to fight to the death just to obtain a single piece?

How could their master just scatter hundreds of them as casually as handing out cheap cabbages?!

Naturally, they had no idea that Gu Changyuan had spent a millennium fighting for his life in the Ruins of Disorder, a realm of chaotic slaughter where he had slain countless formidable foes and alien races.

Among those he killed, many possessed extraordinary bones, which he methodically extracted and collected one by one.

Inside his spatial storage, all kinds of Supreme Bones were piled up like mountains. The few he had revealed were but a drop in the ocean.

He had everything: the remains of humans, monsters, demons, and even rare chaotic entities.

More importantly, after extracting each Supreme Bone, he would temper, purify, and reconstruct it using a secret chaotic art.

Thus, the ones he handed out were essentially newly forged, flawless Supreme Bones—not only absolutely pure, but also completely devoid of any side effects.