The turbid current of the River of Rebirth carried Su Li and crashed into the reefs. The crisp sound of the cracking crystal blocks on his right arm was mixed with the sound of the waves. When his fingertips touched the bronze mask of the corpse at the bottom of the river, he saw a phantom of the battlefield three hundred years ago:

On the smoke - filled plain, a general in black armor with the same appearance as himself raised his sword towards the sky. From the crack in the sky, a burning bronze coffin fell. When the coffin pierced through the enemy formation, all the soldiers suddenly turned their blades and stabbed themselves in the chest. The splattered flesh and blood formed the patterns of an ancient mirror on the surface of the coffin...

"Splash!"

Su Li was washed onto the shallows. The golden blood he vomited stained the river sand. In the moonlight, on the rock wall ahead, a plaque outlined by phosphorescent fire emerged - The Rebirth Inn. A dilapidated building - like ship was half - embedded in the mountain. The human - skin lantern hanging from the bow was oozing blood.

The moment he pushed open the cabin door, a rotten smell hit his face. Su Li's demonic pupils automatically activated, and he saw that what hung between the beams were not spider - webs, but densely packed soul - leading threads. Each thread was tied to a piece of human bone, and on the bone pieces were engraved the birth dates of the Su clan members.

"Pawning or redeeming?" A sound like the clashing of metal and stone came from behind the counter. Su Li looked up and saw a crystal skull. There was a bronze lens embedded in its left eye socket - exactly the characteristic of the master of the Ghost Market!

The mandible of the skull opened and closed, and its finger bones tapped on the blood - jade abacus on the counter. "You have the stench of the Lake of Rebirth on you. It can be exchanged for three soul - leading threads."

Su Li tore off the blood - stained cloth around his neck. When the cloth fell on the abacus, the skull suddenly lunged forward, and its finger bones stabbed at the demonic pupil on his right arm. "And this!"

The crystallized right arm blocked the attack, and the demonic pupil shot out black light. The breastbone of the skull shattered, revealing the beating bronze heart inside. When Su Li touched the heart, the Rebirth Inn suddenly tilted, and all the beams turned into white - bone arms reaching out.

"I pawn seven days of my lifespan!" Su Li roared and threw out the bronze coin left by the man in the gray robe.

The white - bone arms suddenly stopped. The skull re - assembled its body and pressed the coin into the crack in its chest. "Deal."

Three soul - leading threads hung down from the ceiling, with different objects tied to their ends: half a bronze mirror, a rusty bell, and his mother's jade hairpin. Just as Su Li was about to touch the hairpin, the skull suddenly grabbed his wrist. "Choose wrong once, and ten years of your lifespan will be deducted."

The demonic pupil suddenly burned with pain. Su Li saw that the hairpin was entwined with the aura of the man in the gray robe, and the cries of a baby were sealed in the bell. And that half - piece of the bronze mirror... What was reflected in the mirror was actually a group of crystal coffins at the bottom of the Lake of Rebirth!

"I want this." Su Li grabbed the fragment of the bronze mirror. The skull let out an ear - piercing laugh, and the soul - leading threads suddenly tightened, and the lens was directly branded into his palm.

In the intense pain, the Rebirth Inn began to collapse. When Su Li was thrown out of the cabin door, he heard the skull's last warning: "Leave the Dragon - Burial Ravine before midnight. Your shadow is..."

The remaining words were torn apart by the river wind. Su Li fell into the bushes and found that the lens in his palm was oozing blood. When the blood droplets fell, the ground suddenly bulged into a grave - mound, and a skull exactly the same as the master of the Ghost Market crawled out.

"Follow me." Phosphorescent fire from the Lake of Rebirth danced in the eye - sockets of the skull.

As they passed through the mass grave, Su Li found that every tombstone was engraved with "Su Jiuyuan". The inscription on the oldest one made his hair stand on end:

"Su Jiuyuan died on the seventh day of the seventh month in the third year of Tianqi

Su Jiuyuan died on the seventh day of the seventh month in the ninth year of Yongtai

Su Jiuyuan died on the seventh day of the seventh month in the first year of Chongguang

...

Su Jiuyuan died today"

The skull stopped in front of a dry well. The well wall was covered with scratch marks, and from the deepest part came the sound of chains being dragged. When Su Li leaned over to look down, nine pairs of golden pupils suddenly lit up at the bottom of the well - they were nine "Su Li"s whose collarbones were pierced by chains!

"This is the price." The finger bones of the skull slid across the back of Su Li's neck. "The final destination of every coffin - keeper of each generation."

The blood - mirror in his palm suddenly became hot. In the mirror, Su Li saw a terrifying scene: his spine was crystallizing, and each vertebra grew bronze barbs. When he tried to circulate his true energy, the demonic pupil on his right arm suddenly went out of control, and the black light shattered the stones on the edge of the well.

Taking the opportunity, the skull pushed him into the dry well. During the fall, Su Li grabbed the hilt of a bronze sword in the rock crevice. The inscription on the sword body made his whole body go cold - "To my son Li, on his seventh birthday", this was exactly the sword of his father who disappeared on the bloody night!

The sound of chains breaking came from the bottom of the well. The nine imprisoned "Su Li"s all looked up at the same time, their necks twisting at strange angles. The one in the lead suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of bronze fangs. "Finally, a replacement has arrived..."

Su Li swung his sword and cut the nearest chain. The black light from the demonic pupil swept across the well wall, and the rocks engraved with runes fell off in a rustle, revealing piles of bones of the Su clan members behind. Each bone had remnants of golden patterns on its right arm, and the youngest was no more than a baby.

"Use the soul - leading threads!" The voice of the mirror - demon came from the blood - mirror. Su Li threw out the three threads and wrapped them around the protrusions on the well wall, using the force to swing towards the exit. The nine prisoners roared and jumped up. The moment they bit at his ankles, the blood - mirror in his palm suddenly reflected the scene of the Lake of Rebirth.

The well water boiled without warning. The prisoners melted in screams, and the black blood flowed back into Su Li's right arm along the sword. The tattoo of the demonic pupil expanded, and at the same time as three new vertical pupils appeared, he heard the sigh of the bones of the Nine Abysses:

"Why struggle..."

When he climbed out of the dry well, the Dragon - Burial Ravine was already shrouded in blood mist. Su Li's right arm was completely crystallized, and demonic pupils could be seen moving under his skin. When he tried to seal it with the soul - leading threads, the familiar sound of the bell came from the mist.

The man in the gray robe walked through the mist, carrying a human - skin lantern in his hand. When the light illuminated Su Li's face, the lantern suddenly burst into flames, and the ashes condensed into a prophecy in the air:

"On the seventh day of the seventh month, the Rebirth Calamity begins"