Freed from the suffocating prison of the cocoon, Qi Yun felt a lightness spread through him as he found himself in a completely different realm.

Before him, clouds and mist swirled, the rich Spiritual Qi forming a vibrant haze. Several towering mountains, like sharp swords, pierced the sea of clouds, standing sentinel between Heaven and Earth.

To the side, a colossal staircase hundreds of feet wide, forged from some unknown material, stretched upward step by step. It shot straight into the heavens, vanishing into the depths of the vast sea of clouds, its end out of sight.

The staircase was ancient and desolate, suffused with a timeless aura.

But Qi Yun’s gaze was instantly drawn to a series of footprints on the stairs. They were shockingly clear, still wet with a dark red hue—blood.

The footprints were seared deep into the steps, each one seemingly imbued with immense pain and an unyielding will, winding their way up toward the sea of clouds.

Qi Yun’s brow twitched. Instead of looking grave, his face took on an exceedingly strange expression as he muttered to himself:

’Chang Qing... He’s actually still alive?

He really is a cockroach that refuses to die!’

He was all too familiar with the aura lingering in those bloody footprints.

It was the unique and violent Asura Evil Qi of Chang Qing.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Qi Yun’s form flickered. He once again used Gathering Form and Scattering Qi, transforming into an elusive wisp of Pure Qi. He sped up the sky-piercing staircase, following the trail of bloody footprints.

He was curious to see what sort of great Creation Chang Qing had stumbled upon to not only escape such a desperate plight but also find the strength to climb these stairs.

The staircase was long, seemingly endless.

The wisp of Pure Qi shot upward, as fast as lightning.

After what seemed like an eternity, the view before him suddenly opened up.

Qi Yun had reached the very top of the staircase, landing on a vast, boundless platform paved with White Jade.

At the far end of the platform, the clouds and mist were thick.

The ethereal illusion of a middle-aged Daoist floated silently in the air. He wore a simple Daoist Robe, his face blurred as if shrouded in a gentle glow. His aura was otherworldly, like that of an immortal, and a natural Dao Rhyme emanated from him.

Below the Daoist’s illusion sat Chang Qing, his body so mangled he was barely recognizable, yet he was in a cross-legged position.

His body was shattered, his aura infinitesimally weak.

He was in even worse shape than back in the Pill Sea, looking as if he might completely disintegrate at any moment.

Yet his eyes burned with an almost fanatical obsession and desire.

Just then, the sagely Daoist illusion slowly raised a finger and gently flicked it toward the spot between Chang Qing’s eyebrows.

A tiny yet dazzlingly brilliant golden speck of light, which seemed to contain endless vitality and the wonder of Creation, drifted softly into the space between Chang Qing’s eyebrows.

BZZZZ—!

In the next instant, a sudden transformation began!

Countless dense cracks, like those on sun-dried porcelain, suddenly appeared all over Chang Qing’s ruined body!

Then, his flesh and skin began to flake off and crumble away from his body, piece by piece, just like broken shards of porcelain!

But beneath the flaking pieces, there were no bones or organs.

Instead, there was only an endless, brilliant radiance, a vast light too dazzling to look at directly.

Chang Qing’s entire being seemed to transform into a form of pure light!

When the piercing radiance gradually faded,

a complete, unblemished, and heroic figure slowly solidified in his place.

It was Chang Qing!

Not only had all his injuries now been healed, but even the six Asura Arms that had been destroyed earlier had regrown.

The dark red Asura Evil Qi roiling around him was even more potent than it had been at his peak.

His aura was full and well-rounded, as if he had undergone a complete metamorphosis and rebirth!

"Hahaha!!!"

Feeling the power surging through his body, far greater than before, Chang Qing couldn’t help but throw his head back and let out a hearty, unrestrained laugh that shook the sea of clouds.

"The heavens have not forsaken me! The inheritance of the Divine Silkworm Sect is endlessly profound!

I am truly blessed by destiny!!"

But his laughter had barely begun when it stopped dead.

Chang Qing’s gaze was like lightning. He whipped his head around, his eyes locking precisely onto a slender figure that had appeared at some unknown point and was now strolling toward him.

"You..." The ecstasy on Chang Qing’s face instantly twisted into bone-deep resentment and icy killing intent.

"You just don’t give up, do you? Like a damn ghost that won’t go away!"

The Evil Qi around him blazed like a physical flame, and the Asura Eight Martial Arts manifested faintly behind him. He stood tall and proud, looking down on Qi Yun as he sneered,

"I can feel it. Your aura is diminished, and your True Essence is not what it was at your peak.

But I have now obtained the supreme inheritance of the Divine Silkworm Sect and mastered the Divine Silkworm Transformation, a Divine Technique. I’ve been completely reborn, stronger than ever before!

You still dare to chase me? Do you have a death wish?!"

Faced with the menacing Chang Qing,

Qi Yun neither took a defensive stance nor moved to attack. He simply used his deep, calm eyes to size up the renewed, imposing figure of Chang Qing.

Then, a corner of his mouth curled into an undisguised sneer, thick with sarcasm and disgust.

The laugh wasn’t loud, but it struck Chang Qing like a sharp, invisible slap to the face.

"You," Qi Yun said, pointing a finger at Chang Qing and enunciating each word, "are a true disgrace to our Holy Sect."

"You were set up, played like a puppet, and used as a test subject.

They skinned you alive, ripped out your core, and replaced it. And here you are, shamelessly crowing about it, thinking you’ve received some great Creation?"

Qi Yun’s cold, insightful words exploded in Chang Qing’s ears like a clap of thunder.

"You’re full of shit!"

Chang Qing’s expression changed in an instant, and he was about to retort instinctively.

As a prodigy of the Holy Sect and the successor to the Asura Dao,

how could he tolerate someone belittling the ’opportunity’ he had risked his life to obtain?

However, the inherent suspicion of a Holy Sect Cultivator, combined with the sharp intuition honed through countless life-and-death battles, made him pull back from the brink of fury.

Qi Yun’s words were like a poisoned barb, striking precisely at a sliver of unease buried in his subconscious—an unease he himself had never dared to examine.

He subconsciously began to rapidly replay the entire process of ’obtaining the inheritance’—

After being swallowed by the black flames in the Pill Sea, he had inexplicably entered a strange space and begun a series of ’trials’.

The trials grew progressively harder and were fraught with peril.

On the surface, they seemed reasonable.

And yet... everything went too smoothly!

Every time, just as his strength was depleted and he was on the verge of collapse, a ’perfectly’ timed opportunity would present itself.

Either the trial’s difficulty would inexplicably drop, or a wisp of pure Primordial Qi would appear out of thin air to replenish his energy, or an enemy would reveal a flaw it shouldn’t have had...

It always allowed him to just barely ’scrape by’.

It was the same with this seemingly endless, heaven-ascending staircase.

When he was utterly exhausted, his Divine Soul on the verge of scattering, he had collapsed, certain he would be trapped there forever.

But when he looked up again, he found that he had somehow already ’finished’ climbing the stairs and had arrived at the final platform!

Before, grievously injured and near death, his mind had been a fog. Supported only by a desperate will to live, he had believed it was his own unyielding determination and the blessing of destiny that saw him through.

But now, jolted awake by Qi Yun’s words, his body restored and his sharp intellect once again in command, he connected all the details...

’This wasn’t a trial at all, was it?

It was clearly a meticulously designed and precisely controlled setup!

And I... I was just a fish, lured in bit by bit with bait.’

At this thought, an icy chill washed over Chang Qing, soaking his back in a cold sweat.

He whipped his head around, no longer paying any mind to Qi Yun.

His crimson eyes, now burning with clarity and furious shock, locked onto the sagely, ethereal illusion of the middle-aged Daoist at the far end of the platform. He roared,

"You... what the hell are you?!

What did you do to me?!"

In the face of Chang Qing’s hateful, questioning roar, the Daoist illusion remained floating in the air.

Its face was blurry, its eyes vacant. It gave no response, as if it couldn’t see or hear him at all.

That utter disregard was more chilling than any direct attack.

Just then, Qi Yun’s calm voice sounded again. He folded his sleeves, his gaze also fixed on the Daoist illusion.

"Lying dormant, weaving a web, waiting for a fated one to fall into the snare.

Breaking from the cocoon to be reborn, stealing the body of another to continue your legacy..."

He paused, his tone carrying the knowing air of one who has perused ancient records, and continued slowly,

"No wonder... No wonder the Sect’s archives and the many surviving rare texts and anecdotes only vaguely state that the ’Divine Silkworm Sect was annihilated for certain reasons,’ or that it ’vanished overnight.’ They never explicitly state what power, or what methods, were used to utterly erase such a major Sect."

Qi Yun’s gaze sharpened, as if he could see the truth hidden beneath layers of dust.

"My guess is... your Divine Silkworm Sect committed a great taboo, one that offended the entire Northwest Cultivation Realm.

It is said that during the Ancient Era,

Refining Qi and Seeking Truth was but one of many Daos.

All manner of wondrous Techniques offered a chance to attain the Dao.

Among them was a path known as the [Creation Technique].

To manipulate Creation itself, to bring forth a new species.

Your Divine Silkworm Sect excelled at Techniques involving life force.

So you sought to create a new lifeform from nothing, hoping to gain immense merit from the Celestial Dao.

That forsaken land was your laboratory.

I have to admit, you were incredibly ambitious.

And you actually went and fucking did it.

But with something like this, success would have meant ascending to the heavens in a single step. The Divine Silkworm Sect would have become one of the most powerful forces in the world.

But failure... that’s a crime of deceiving the heavens.

The entire Northwest Cultivation Realm would have likely been dragged down with you.

So, to be safe, the Sects, Noble Families, and even the great Loose Cultivators of the Northwest Cultivation Realm... joined forces and utterly erased you from this world."

"What I’ve said... is correct, isn’t it?"

He directed these last two words straight at the Daoist illusion.

As soon as he spoke, Chang Qing’s face turned deathly pale, his entire body going cold.

Even the ethereal glow around the Daoist illusion, which had been completely unresponsive until now, seemed to imperceptibly... waver.