Chapter 508: Nightmare

"This one is for attack, this one is for defense..."

"None. Not a single one has a hidden attribute."

Out of twenty Star Moon Level Bones, Lu Chao couldn't find a single one with a hidden attribute, and his heart sank.

'Looks like I really can't participate in the Green Bone Palace's entrance test.'

Lu Chao muttered to himself, 'The Qianjian Sect is facing a major crisis. Even if I wanted to call in a favor and have them deal with the Cyan Sword Great Empire, they are willing but powerless. It seems I'll have to rely on myself to handle the Azure Flame Domain.'

After a brief pause, a cold glint flashed in Lu Chao's eyes...

'No, I'm the Miracle of the Nether Spring now. When people from the Green Bone Palace arrive, they'll definitely run all sorts of tests on me.'

'I won't be able to avoid it unless I head straight back to the Azure Flame Domain right now.'

As he kept thinking, Lu Chao's gaze grew resolute. 'Before the Green Bone Palace tests me, I must get my Violent Bone back.'

Lu Chao thought of the dream again, of his brother giving him three Heavenly Destiny Bones to hide and suppress his Life-taking Devouring Bone...

Suddenly... BANG!

It felt as if something in his mind had shattered just a little bit more.

A voice seemed to echo inside his head...

"Chao, with your brother's three Heavenly Destiny Bones, your Life-taking Bone is suppressed. No ordinary person will be able to detect it."

"You have to listen to your mother. I... your father... I might not be coming back."

"They can't find the one with the Life-taking Bone, so now they're taking your brother to fill the quota. I'm going to save him."

And with that, the voice ended...

In a fragment of his memory, a tall figure strode away, seemingly marching to his death. Then, another jolt of excruciating pain shot through Lu Chao's head.

The pain caused Lu Chao to faint once again.

Just before he passed out, Lu Chao's voice trembled. "What does that mean, taking my brother to fill the quota? What happened back then?"

And so, Lu Chao fell unconscious.

「In his dream...」

He was lying in a warm embrace, looking up once more at a face filled with both exhaustion and tenderness.

Lu Chao couldn't help but ask, "Mother, did you come for me?"

The words had barely left his lips... BUZZ!

His mother shoved him away, her gentle face suddenly twisting into a vicious snarl. "Lu Chao, why did I give birth to a cursed thing like you? Why do you have a Life-taking Bone? Why did you have to bring ruin to my husband and my eldest son?"

Lu Chao froze, staring at the ferocious woman before him. His entire body trembled violently as he stammered, "Mother... Mother..."

"Don't call me your mother! You're a Demon reincarnate! A walking disaster!"

"Because of you, my precious eldest son was taken away! He gave all three of his Heavenly Destiny Bones to you! Those people said my boy is a cripple now, perfect to take and fill their quota."

"They're passing him off as the cursed one with the Life-taking Bone and taking him to be killed."

"My husband went to save him! Your father went to save him, but he isn't coming back! He's definitely never coming back!"

"Why did you have to destroy my family? WHY?!"

The terrifying, crazed screams exploded in his mind, making his heart ache as if pierced by a thousand needles.

Suddenly, the scene shifted...

"Chao... I, your brother, am dead. You're the one who killed me."

"The Sect elders, who once treated me like their own son, all turned into horrifying Demons. They said I was a cripple, that without my Heavenly Destiny Bones, I was worthless."

"Because of you, I'm no longer heaven's chosen."

"You made me lose everything. You got me killed. And you got Father killed, too."

Lu Chao's body trembled even more violently...

The scene shifted again. A tall man appeared, and the Lu Chao in the dream couldn't help but cry out, "Father!"

The man turned around...

A face bleeding from all seven orifices appeared before Lu Chao, causing him to drop to his knees with a THUD.

"Lu Chao, my little son."

"If you have a shred of conscience left, then just go and die."

"Stop hurting others. I'm begging you, please, just die. That way, your mother can at least live. Why did our Lu Family have to produce a cursed star like you? What sins did our family commit to deserve this?"

As he finished speaking, his brother and mother reappeared. Together with his father, they surrounded Lu Chao...

"Cursed star! Walking disaster! Go die! Just go and die..."

Their voices echoed in his ears as they pointed at him. Blood gushed from their bodies, and they slowly dissolved into a gory mess, but their curses never stopped...

Until... "AHHH!"

Lu Chao screamed and shot upright. He looked around, teeth chattering uncontrollably, and realized he was in his courtyard at the Qianjian Sect. It had been a nightmare. A terrifying nightmare.

CLACK CLACK CLACK...

His teeth chattered nonstop. Lu Chao was drenched in sweat, as if he'd just been pulled from the water.

The feeling was just like when his soul had been trapped inside the Life-taking Devouring Bone.

Lu Chao recalled everything from the nightmare, comparing it to the short fragments of memory he possessed. He spoke in a hoarse voice...

"My brother... he was originally heaven's chosen, but he gave up his three Heavenly Destiny Bones for my sake."

"Without his Heavenly Destiny Bones, he was scorned by the elders of his Sect."

"Some terrifying power discovered that someone in the Lu Family possessed a Life-taking Bone. They demanded that my brother's Sect and the Lu Family hand over this person. So my brother, already a cripple, was taken to die in place of the one with the Life-taking Bone."

Lu Chao's voice grew increasingly hoarse...

"No... the one who was supposed to be taken away and killed... that should have been me."

"But my brother gave me his three Heavenly Destiny Bones, which concealed my Life-taking Star-devouring Bone. Because of that, the terrifying power couldn't find me, so they took my brother instead. And my father... he went to his death trying to save him."

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down Lu Chao's face.

He was slowly piecing things together. His brother went to die in his stead, his father went to rescue him, and his mother fled with him to the Azure Flame Domain, sealing his memories to prevent him from being tricked and exposed as a child.

Clutching his chest tightly, Lu Chao felt his heart ache with an unbearable pain...

"Why didn't you let me be the one to die? Why did you protect me? I'm the one who should be dead!" Lu Chao said, a crazed edge to his voice. As he spoke, a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly... BANG!

Another memory fragment surfaced. Lu Chao saw himself as a small child, once again lying in his mother's arms.

He was riding a Flying Bird Demon Beast with his mother, and he had asked the very same question.

His mother gently stroked young Lu Chao's head and replied, "Because you are our beloved little Chao."

"Chao, you must remember this."

"Always trust your father and me. Always trust your brother. We have never, ever blamed you. If one day you have a dream where we resent you and hate you, you must know that it's all fake."

PWAH—

As this memory surfaced, Lu Chao couldn't stop himself from spitting out another mouthful of blood.

Suddenly... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Someone was knocking on his door.