The moment Gu Qing returned to Jade Haven City, she immediately felt her nerves begin to settle.
The journey through the forest had been exhausting.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Ever since overhearing the conversation between the Qian Patriarch and Qian Feng, her mind had been occupied by countless possibilities.
A cross-continental teleportation formation.
An unknown continent.
Resources capable of elevating a fisherman into a Purple Palace cultivator.
Any one of those discoveries could shake an entire province.
Combined together, they were enough to overturn destinies.
Fortunately, she had prepared long ago.
The residence she currently occupied was purchased under a false identity years earlier.
Only she knew about it.
Even the Zheng Family Patriarch was unaware.
This was one of her many precautions.
Within the cultivation world, caution often meant survival.
The moment she entered the courtyard, she carefully activated several concealment formations.
Only after confirming everything remained normal did she finally relax.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
Success.
For the first time in many years, she truly felt that an opportunity capable of changing her future had appeared.
She had no intention of sharing it.
Not with her master.
Not with the sect.
Not with anyone.
The secret belonged to her.
Yet before she could sit down—
A voice suddenly echoed from behind her.
"You're quite fast.""Almost couldn't catch you."
Gu Qing's pupils contracted.
Her entire body reacted instinctively.
No hesitation.
No warning.
A jade talisman appeared instantly within her hand.
Spiritual energy surged into it.
The next moment—
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted throughout the residence.
Flames shot toward the sky.
Walls collapsed.
Windows shattered.
The entire courtyard disappeared beneath a sea of fire.
Only after several breaths did the explosion gradually subside.
Smoke drifted through the ruins.
Gu Qing stood at the center.
Breathing heavily.
Her weapon remained firmly clenched.
Several moments passed.
Then she finally saw a corpse lying within the debris.
Burned.
Mutilated.
Unrecognizable.
The face had completely disappeared.
The body had become little more than charred flesh.
Yet one thing remained certain.
The person was dead.
A trace of confusion flashed through her eyes.
The voice had sounded vaguely familiar.
Almost.
As though she had heard it somewhere before.
Unfortunately, she couldn't remember where.
Eventually she shook her head.
It didn't matter.
The dead couldn't threaten her.
Whatever secret the person carried had vanished alongside them.
The opportunity remained hers.
And that was all that mattered.
...
Time passed.
One year.
Three years.
Five years.
The secret remained hidden within Gu Qing's heart.
Throughout those years, she continued advancing within the Seven Star Palace.
Mission after mission.
Danger after danger.
She accepted nearly every assignment available.
Many disciples viewed her as obsessed.
Others called her ambitious.
Neither opinion bothered her.
Because only she understood the reason.
The Seven Star Palace library.
The vast archives possessed by one of the three supreme powers of the Eastern Region.
Only by increasing her status could she gain access.
Only by gaining access could she continue investigating the mysterious island.
Thus she worked relentlessly.
Her cultivation advanced rapidly.
Her reputation grew.
Her contributions increased.
Even her master became increasingly satisfied.
Meanwhile, she secretly gathered information regarding the Southern Archipelagos.
Ancient maps.
Navigation records.
Island distributions.
Ancient ruins.
Formation remnants.
Every clue mattered.
Every fragment of information increased her chances.
Years continued passing.
During that time, great changes occurred throughout Dragon Yuan Province.
The Lin Family gradually weakened.
External pressures increased.
Conflicts erupted.
Alliances shifted.
Opportunities emerged.
Through careful maneuvering, Gu Qing even assisted her master in several operations targeting Lin Family interests.
Many of those operations proved successful.
The once-unshakable giant gradually began showing cracks.
Of course, such matters barely occupied her attention.
Her eyes remained fixed upon a single goal.
The island.
The formation.
The inheritance.
...
Ten years later.
Southern Archipelagos.
A small island sat quietly amidst countless others.
Nothing about it appeared remarkable.
No spiritual vein.
No resources.
No powerful beasts.
No cultivation forces.
It was precisely the sort of place everyone would ignore.
Which was why Gu Qing smiled the moment she saw it.
After ten years.
Countless investigations.
Countless dead ends.
She had finally found it.
The island described by the Qian Ancestor.
The hidden island.
The forgotten island.
Her breathing became slightly uneven.
Even after all these years, excitement still surged through her chest.
The ruined formation remained partially intact.
Time had damaged many sections.
Several formation nodes had collapsed.
Yet enough remained.
More importantly—
She had spent years studying formations.
Repairing it was difficult.
Not impossible.
Several months later, the final formation node activated.
Light erupted across the island.
Ancient runes illuminated the ground.
Space itself distorted.
Gu Qing laughed.
For the first time in many years, she laughed without restraint.
Success.
True success.
The formation activated.
The ancient teleportation array had survived.
Without hesitation, she stepped forward.
The world twisted.
Space shattered.
And then—
Everything changed.
...
The other continent surpassed her imagination.
Different sects.
Different powers.
Different resources.
Different opportunities.
The moment she arrived, she understood the true value of the inheritance.
From that day onward, her rise became unstoppable.
Using resources from one continent to profit on another.
Trading rare materials.
Exchanging cultivation methods.
Building connections.
Accumulating wealth.
The advantages continued multiplying.
Decades passed.
Then centuries.
Her cultivation rose steadily.
Foundation Establishment.
Purple Palace.
Peak Purple Palace.
Each realm seemed easier than the last.
Countless geniuses fell behind.
Countless experts became stepping stones.
Her influence expanded continuously.
By the time two hundred years had passed, her name already shook entire regions.
People called her the Star Goddess.
A legendary cultivator.
A ruler.
An existence standing above countless others.
Three hundred years.
Four hundred years.
Five hundred years.
Eventually—
Golden Core.
The realm that had once seemed impossible.
The realm that had stopped the Qian Ancestor.
The realm countless cultivators died pursuing.
She succeeded.
The moment she formed her Golden Core, the heavens themselves seemed to acknowledge her existence.
Thunder roared.
Clouds gathered.
Yet she emerged victorious.
From then onward, her status became supreme.
Entire sects bowed before her.
Powerful cultivators sought her favor.
Countless geniuses willingly served beneath her command.
Everything she had ever desired slowly became reality.
And still—
One question remained.
A question that never disappeared.
Not after one century.
Not after five centuries.
Not even now.
Who had died that night?
The question seemed insignificant.
Yet it persisted.
The corpse.
The familiar voice.
The person she had killed before beginning her rise.
For some reason, the answer always remained beyond reach.
She had searched.
Investigated.
Questioned.
Nothing.
The mystery endured.
...
Present day.
A magnificent palace floated amidst the clouds.
Golden light illuminated the heavens.
Below countless cultivators waited respectfully.
Above them sat Gu Qing.
The Star Goddess.
A Golden Core legend standing at the peak of the world.
Yet even now, that question lingered.
Who had died?
The moment the thought surfaced—
The world suddenly trembled.
A crack appeared.
Tiny at first.
Then larger.
The palace shattered.
The sky fractured.
The clouds collapsed.
The countless cultivators below disappeared.
Everything began falling apart.
Gu Qing immediately stood.
"What?"
Another crack appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
The entire world collapsed like broken glass.
Her expression finally changed.
"No!"
The illusion shattered.
The palace vanished.
The sky vanished.
The centuries vanished.
Everything disappeared.
...
Gu Qing abruptly opened her eyes.
Cold sweat covered her body.
The luxurious palace was gone.
The floating mountains were gone.
The Golden Core cultivation was gone.
Reality returned.
She found herself kneeling upon the floor.
Bound.
Powerless.
And standing before her—
Lin Sheng.
His eyes radiated an indescribable pressure.
Like stars.
Like endless space.
Like something capable of observing every secret hidden within her mind.
Realization immediately struck her.
Illusion.
Everything had been an illusion.
Hundreds of years.
All fake.
Every success.
Every breakthrough.
Every victory.
Nothing had existed.
Rage exploded within her heart.
"You!"
Spiritual energy erupted violently.
Her weapon appeared instantly.
She charged forward without hesitation.
If she could kill him—
If she could destroy him—
Then perhaps—
"Sleep."
A single word.
Nothing more.
Yet the moment it entered her ears, her consciousness instantly collapsed.
Her body fell.
The weapon slipped from her grasp.
Silence returned.
...
Lin Sheng watched her unconscious form calmly.
Years of experimentation had finally produced results.
Immortal cultivators protected their spiritual seas fiercely.
Their souls remained vigilant even while sleeping.
Directly searching memories often resulted in failure.
Or resistance.
Or destruction.
Yet every defense possessed weaknesses.
Desire.
Ambition.
Obsession.
The stronger the desire, the easier it became to construct a perfect illusion.
And once a person obtained everything they truly wanted—
Their vigilance naturally weakened.
Of course, the process wasn't perfect.
Without challenges.
Without adversity.
The soul occasionally became unstable.
Some cultivators awakened prematurely.
Others wandered endlessly within the illusion.
Thus balance remained important.
Fortunately—
Gu Qing's desires proved remarkably straightforward.
Power.
Freedom.
Control.
Opportunity.
Everything unfolded exactly as he expected. The moment her defenses weakened, the rest became simple.
Lin Sheng crouched beside her.
The Chip continued processing information.
Countless fragments of memory flowed through its calculations.
The results exceeded expectations.
Far exceeded them.
His gaze gradually deepened.
While studying within the Qian Family library, the mark he had secretly left on Gu Qing a while earlier had suddenly reacted.
For a brief moment, it appeared.
Then vanished.
Curiosity led him to investigate.
That investigation led him toward the forest.
Then toward Lin Shou's battle.
Then toward Gu Qing.
And finally—
Toward an opportunity even greater than he imagined.
A cross-continental teleportation formation.
An unknown continent.
The hidden inheritance of the Qian Ancestor.
Lin Sheng's fingers lightly tapped against the floor.
The previous generations of Qian Patriarchs had failed.
Understandably so.
They lacked sufficient information.
They lacked precise calculations.
Most importantly—
They lacked the Chip.
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
The island remained hidden.
But hidden didn't mean impossible to find.
Not if enough clues existed.
The Qian Ancestor's records.
Navigation routes.
Historical changes within the Southern Archipelagos.
Ancient sea currents.
Island distributions.
Formation knowledge.
Each clue individually seemed insignificant.
Together—
They formed a pattern.
And patterns were exactly what the Chip excelled at analyzing.
Perhaps the Qian Patriarchs couldn't find the island.
Perhaps generations had disappeared searching.
But Lin Sheng wasn't searching blindly.
He intended to calculate.
And calculations rarely cared about luck.