Emperor Cang of the Vast Sky

The vast aura of a Great Saint surrounding Ji Qingyi gradually subsided. She immediately rose to her feet and straightened her robes.

Facing Gu Changge’s retreating figure, she bowed deeply, her voice filled with unprecedented sincerity and respect.

“This junior, Ji Qingyi, thanks Senior for saving my life, enlightening me, and protecting my path! Your kindness is as profound as granting me a new life. Qingyi will never forget it!”

In response to her solemn thanks, Gu Changge merely gave a faint, noncommittal reply.

“Mm.”

His gaze then swept over the corpse of the Jiuyou Ao, which still radiated an ominous aura. He frowned slightly and casually flicked his sleeve.

There was no earth-shaking display of power. The enormous corpse of the peerless beast, as colossal as a mountain and seemingly indestructible, along with the dense, savage aura of death surrounding it, silently dissolved and vanished into nothingness.

Only pure spiritual energy and the Taiyin Dao resonance emanating from Ji Qingyi remained in the area.

Having finished this seemingly insignificant task, Gu Changge turned his gaze back to Ji Qingyi and looked at her calmly.

“Your aptitude is acceptable. Grow stronger quickly.”

Before Ji Qingyi could react, he had already turned around and walked deeper into the ruins, soon disappearing from sight.

“Senior…”

Ji Qingyi remained in her bowing posture, gazing in the direction Gu Changge had vanished. Only after a long while did she straighten herself.

Her cool and beautiful face was filled with complicated emotions: gratitude, shock, and an indescribable sense of mission.

She tightly gripped the Taiyin Origin Crystal in her hand, feeling the vast and gentle power of its origin. At the same time, she recalled the terrifying method by which Gu Changge had effortlessly annihilated the beast’s corpse.

“Grow stronger quickly…”

She softly repeated those words, and her gaze gradually became extraordinarily resolute.

After calming her mind, Ji Qingyi sat down cross-legged once more and began consolidating her cultivation after breaking through to the Great Saint Realm.

Gu Changge passed through the final stretch of roiling primordial chaos. The scene before him suddenly opened up.

This was no longer a shattered abyss, but a vast and tranquil space that had been cut away and isolated from the surrounding world.

Above, the sky was filled with an eternal dusk, radiating a desolate glow.

The earth beneath his feet was formed from soil mixed with dark, congealed imperial blood. The moment one stepped onto it, one could sense a tremendous will surging beneath the ground—a will that refused to yield and sought to hold up the heavens themselves.

Terrifying ravines crisscrossed the land like enormous scars. Some were abysses torn open by claws; others were chasms cleaved by blades.

Every mark retained a chilling and tragic Dao resonance, silently recounting the ultimate blood-soaked battle experienced by the owner of the coffin during his lifetime.

At the center of the space stood a single object.

A massive, crude, ancient stone coffin of dark yellow hue.

A dense, inescapable imperial majesty mingled with pure deathly aura poured from within the coffin, pressing down on the entire space until it became rigid and heavy.

This was not the stagnant silence of decay. It was the final afterglow of “existence” naturally radiated by a man who had once stood above heaven and earth after his strength had been exhausted and his body had died—his indestructible battle intent and his remnant corpse still lingering in the world.

Gu Changge’s gaze calmly settled on the stone coffin.

Deep within his eyes, a glimmer of light faintly appeared.

In an instant, the scene before him rippled like water. The life of the Great Emperor buried here unfolded before his eyes with a roar, like a river of time flowing backward.

He saw an era in primordial antiquity when countless races had risen together and humanity was weak.

A skinny, bloodstained boy crawled out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of bones, looking up at the enormous shadow that devoured his people.

For the first time, he clenched the crude stone spear in his hand. The flame burning in his eyes was no longer fear, but hatred and defiance intense enough to incinerate the Eight Desolations.

He saw the boy grow amid blood and fire, roaring and charging at the forefront of the battlefields where the myriad races fought.

His companions withered like autumn leaves. Behind him, the banners of humanity fell apart again and again, only to be raised once more.

He went from wielding a stone spear to commanding a Dao weapon. His figure grew ever more imposing, yet his spine remained like Mount Buzhou. In one desperate situation after another, he held up a sky beneath which the frail members of his race could catch their breath.

He saw the boy finally ascend to the pinnacle, his imperial might sweeping across the world. He was honored as Emperor Qingcang—a name signifying the one who held up the heavens of humanity.

In that era, the Dao resonances of this world were rich enough to support multiple Great Emperors at the same time.

It was one of the darkest yet most glorious periods in human history. Within the Profound Yellow Great World, where countless races stood in opposition, he fought his way through a bloody path for humanity and seized a place where his people could survive.

He saw the merciless passage of time. Emperor Qingcang reached the twilight of his life.

His Imperial Star had already dimmed, and his lifespan was nearing its end.

Then, at that very moment, a Jiuyou Ao of overwhelming ferocity crossed domains and descended, intent on devouring humanity as food!

That battle shattered the stars and caused the Great Dao to wail.

The Qingcang Battle Spear, which had accompanied him throughout his life and once felled countless powerful foes, let out a mournful cry under the strain of its final collision with the vicious beast before breaking apart with a thunderous crash.

Imperial blood spilled across the heavens. He burned the last of his imperial origin, using his own body as a prison and the remnants of his Great Dao as chains, delivering a final strike that pierced through the ages.

He nailed the peerless beast to the abyss. At the same time, his own strength was completely exhausted. His imperial body shattered, and his Dao flame was on the verge of going out.

He saw the dying Emperor Qingcang use the last of his soul power to forge this imperial tomb. He carved his lifelong cultivation onto the stone walls and condensed his most fundamental inheritance into a scripture.

He turned back to gaze upon the territory of humanity, which he had sworn to protect with his life and which now showed the first signs of prosperity. Fatigue filled his eyes, along with one final flash of comfort and endless concern.

Then he returned to eternal stillness and slowly entered the stone coffin he had prepared for himself, falling into eternal slumber within.

The vision ended there.

“Emperor Qingcang…”

Gu Changge softly uttered the title. A barely perceptible ripple passed through his calm eyes.

That era was far too ancient.

It had existed long before humanity came to rule the Profound Yellow Great World. It was an epic age in which the path to survival had been paved with blood and bones.

“He opened the way with bloodshed and held up the heavens with his spine, winning a piece of territory for humanity’s descendants. He met his end in a truly heroic manner.”

Gu Changge was no longer merely watching a fragment of history. He now understood the full weight and loneliness borne by that pioneer.

Gu Changge stepped forward.

The terrifying imperial might and deathly battle intent lingering throughout the space—power capable of shattering the soul of a Saint Lord—parted docilely when they came within three feet of his body.

The final will of Emperor Qingcang remaining in this place was permitting this unfathomable existence to approach.

He arrived beside the stone coffin.

Before it stood a stone platform. Resting quietly upon it was a heavy scripture formed from dark golden Dao patterns of imperial blood.

Four ancient characters were outlined across its cover by traces of the Dao:

The Qingcang Emperor Scripture.

Gu Changge lowered his gaze slightly and swept his divine sense across it.

In an instant, he understood everything contained within the scripture: its supreme battle intent, its unyielding Dao resonance, and its fundamental cultivation principles of opening a path for one’s people through battle, nurturing battle through battle, and seeking rebirth from the brink of death.

“Use battle to nourish battle, temper the Dao with blood, and let the will reach the heavens… This scripture is truly a method for a blood-forged Battle Emperor. Decisive in slaughter, advancing without hesitation, leaving no retreat. No wonder it could hold up the heavens and suppress the world.”

He nodded slightly, his tone carrying a rare and purely genuine approval.

This scripture might lack somewhat in the Dao of longevity and creation.

Yet the pure will to fight for the sake of protection and carve a path forward for his people, along with the battle wisdom he possessed, was extraordinary even in his eyes.