Chapter 418: The Skeleton’s Compromise

Ye Feng looked at Xiao Lan, who stood in his way, with a strange expression as he slowly wrapped leaves around the giant skeleton.
The skeleton, which could easily crush him with a single slap, began to struggle in pain. Several times, it tried to lift its hand to strike Xiao Lan, but an invisible force forced it back.
Ye Feng was puzzled, as he knew clearly that Xiao Lan’s strength wasn’t much greater than his own. Even if he attacked with all his might, the skeleton wouldn’t suffer any damage. Still, he stepped back discreetly to avoid being hit by the skeleton’s massive hand and watched from a distance.
“Stop it, you despicable wretch!” the skeleton roared angrily. “You dared to attack me from behind!”
“Shouting at me won’t help. I have no idea what’s going on,” Ye Feng said confidently, spreading his arms wide.
“Stop it now!” the skeleton shouted.
“Why should I help you? I remember you were chasing me just now,” Ye Feng replied, clearly unwilling to assist. He then silently communicated with Xiao Lan using his mental power. “Xiao Lan, are you sure you can take down this guy?”
“My soul’s strength is only slightly greater than his. Although I possess many memories related to soul attacks, it will be difficult to kill him,” Xiao Lan’s voice echoed in Ye Feng’s mind. “But I’m sure I can drive his soul out of this body—it just will take some time.”
“Hmm, I get it!” Ye Feng nodded.
“As long as you make it stop, I’ll tell you where the treasure is,” the skeleton said, realizing the power of Xiao Lan’s soul attacks. It knew its own skills in that area were inferior to hers.
“Why should I trust you?” Though tempted, Ye Feng didn’t think the skeleton would compromise so easily.
“If you refuse to trust me, there’s nothing I can do. Your plant-based soul attacks may be stronger than mine, but your strength is about the same—you can’t really do anything to me,” the skeleton snapped.
“I know that. I can’t kill you, but I can drive your soul out of this body,” Ye Feng sneered. “With so many powerful beings wandering around here, without a body to protect it, your soul will likely be devoured by them in an instant, right?”

The skeleton stared fiercely at Ye Feng with its empty eye sockets for a long time. Seeing that Ye Feng had no intention of compromising, it reluctantly told the truth, “Alright, I’ll tell you the truth. There’s no treasure at all in this damned place. Most of the treasures were lost in the spatial turbulence. As for the few that survived it, they’ve basically been collected by the three Dark Monarchs. I guess each of them has only a few pieces left.”
“As long as you stop competing with me for this body, I’ll tell you everything I know and let you go,” the giant skeleton said reluctantly, revealing the truth.
“Before I figure out what’s going on here, you must show us around this space,” Ye Feng said in an unyielding tone. “Don’t try any tricks, or you’ll end up as a wandering spirit!”
Seeing that Ye Feng wasn’t joking and had no intention of releasing the plant, the skeleton nodded in resignation. “Alright…”
“Also, if anything happens to me, you won’t be able to escape either! So while showing us the way, you’ll have to deal with any dangers. If you can’t handle them, just avoid those dangerous guys,” Ye Feng said, leaving no room for negotiation.
“I’m supposed to be your lackey? Are you dreaming?” the skeleton couldn’t take it anymore.
“If you refuse, just give up this body!” Ye Feng hit the skeleton’s weak point again. “My intention isn’t to make you my lackey, but to avoid trouble. If you don’t step in when I’m in trouble and it results in my death, I’m sorry to inform you that I have ways to make you accompany me in death. Otherwise, you can give it a try.”
“Alright, I agree,” the skeleton said. If it had a face, its expression would have been quite interesting at that moment, but the situation was too dire—refusing to compromise would only speed up its own destruction.
“Let him go!” Only then did Ye Feng tell Xiao Lan to release the skeleton.
But beforehand, he had already had Xiao Lan do something to the skeleton’s body.
The skeleton also sensed that Xiao Lan had left something inside the body when she stepped back from the struggle. Not daring to act rashly, it immediately led Ye Feng in a certain direction.
“What’s your strength level here?” Ye Feng broke the silence.
“I’ve said it before—I’m just a lowly soldier. Almost everyone here is stronger than me. The only difference is that I have a complete soul, while they don’t. That’s why I’m still alive. Otherwise, I’d have already become food for them,” the skeleton frankly admitted its inferior strength.

“A soldier? What level of cultivation is that?” Ye Feng pressed further.
“I’m only at the Saint level. Most of the soldiers in this war are at the Saint level,” the skeleton explained. “Those at the Saint Spirit level are captains, and above that are commanders, who are all powerful beings at the Saint Sect level. Above commanders are generals, all of whom are powerful beings at the Saint King level. Above generals are great generals, who are super powerful beings at the Saint Emperor level. Each great general has three generals under him. Then there’s the great Saint Venerable, who is our supreme commander…”
“Could those three Dark Kings all be Saint Venerable-level beings?” Ye Feng couldn’t help asking. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt it was strange, because in a battle between two sides, it was impossible for there to be three commanders.
“Of course not. This space is just a part of our battlefield from back then. Those three Dark Kings here are all great generals at the Saint Emperor level.” The skeleton wasn’t bothered by these questions; it seemed he enjoyed the sense of achievement that came from Ye Feng asking him them.
“Why did you start a war back then? It seems many powerful beings perished in this war.” Ye Feng was very curious about the cause of the war.
“It’s said that the son of a Saint Venerable from the Saint Realm took a liking to the daughter of a powerful being at the Saint Venerable level from our Ancient Divine Realm and demanded her hand, only to be rejected. Our Ancient Divine Realm was actually slightly weaker than the Saint Realm, so usually we would yield. But this time both sides became enraged, and somehow that led to a war.” As just a soldier, the skeleton didn’t know much about the ins and outs, and what he said sounded more like gossip.
“So who won the war between your two sides in the end?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that before we perished, a huge palm descended from the sky and slammed down on the battlefield. Then the entire battlefield shattered into several pieces and scattered everywhere.” The skeleton said, looking up at the sky as if recalling the scene. “It was truly a spectacular sight. It was only then that I realized how insignificant Saint Venerables are in the face of some truly powerful beings.”
“A huge palm…” Ye Feng frowned slightly. As a powerful being at the True God level, his strength comparable to that of the Supreme God, he still couldn’t create such a massive impact in the heavenly realm—shattering a continent with a single palm strike. It was easy to imagine that the being who struck on the battlefield, even if it was from a realm above the Saint Realm, must have been absolutely terrifying in that realm as well.

“If that guy has the ability to split your battlefield into pieces, then there must be quite a few people injured or killed by that slap, right?” Ye Feng pressed further.
“No, that slap didn’t hurt anyone. It landed right above my head, and I wasn’t hurt at all,” the skeleton replied with a hint of pleasure. “It seems that strongman’s slap was aimed at the battlefield, not at people.”
Ye Feng didn’t ask any more questions and instead changed the topic. “Since you’ve retained your complete soul, you must remember everything that’s happened here, right?”
“I know pretty much everything. Aside from feeding on incomplete souls to strengthen myself, I’m idle the rest of the time.”
“Many outsiders have come here, right? Have any managed to leave?” This was what Ye Feng cared most about at the moment.
“Hmm, since this space emerged from the spatial chaos, many groups of people with strength similar to yours, as well as those weaker than you, have come here,” the skeleton nodded, but then gave an answer that Ye Feng found hard to believe. “But none of them left alive. Their flesh and souls were all devoured.”
“Is there no exit?” Ye Feng frowned.
“As far as I know, there isn’t. Besides, if there were, many people here would have fled to your realm. With our strength, we could cause quite a stir in that realm before you arrived. If that hasn’t happened, then no one has escaped.” These words chilled Ye Feng’s heart.
“However, it’s possible there is an exit, but no one has found it. Or maybe someone knows where it is but hasn’t gone there or told others about it,” the skeleton offered his guess. “If there really is an exit, only those three Dark Monarchs know its location. But if you go after them on your own, you’re just asking to be devoured.”
“I know,” Ye Feng nodded. Although he couldn’t fully trust the skeleton’s words, it was true as he said—finding an exit quickly meant asking those three Dark Monarchs. But if he went after them now, he’d likely be devoured by them.
“Do you only can operate in the darkness?” Ye Feng pondered for a moment before asking another question.

“No, the reason we start our activities after dark is that the body’s repair speed increases at night, minimizing the damage caused by using it. During the day, sunlight itself can harm our bodies, so we mostly rest then. It’s not that we can’t move during the day.” Although the skeleton didn’t quite understand why Ye Feng asked this, it still answered truthfully.
“In other words, those three Lords of Darkness could easily kill me even during the day…” Ye Feng’s frown deepened. “It seems there’s no way to get what I want from them—neither the treasures nor the items used to record information can be stolen…”