— A Few Days Later —

— Vermilion Bird Province —

In the forest, a young man in his early twenties was running frantically through the dense trees. Leaves and small branches cut his face and arms, but he didn't stop, sprinting along the animal trail as if his life depended on it.

Three men dressed in black were chasing him. They were clearly cultivators, each one three whole realms higher than the young man they pursued. The three were closing in quickly, the gap shrinking with every second.

The young man's name was Yun Feng. He was an ordinary mortal who had been bullied and had his childhood sweetheart taken away by Ximen Hao 5 years ago.

After that incident, he dedicated himself to cultivation, pushing himself relentlessly for five years. Yet… despite his tireless efforts, his progress stopped at the early stage of the Qi Refinement Realm.

No matter what he tried, he could not advance any further. In the end, he was expelled from the small sect he had joined because of his failure to progress.

This experience left him increasingly bitter and pessimistic, his view of the world growing darker with time. The only thing keeping him from falling into complete despair was the faint hope of one day winning back his childhood sweetheart.

After being kicked out of the sect, Yun Feng stumbled upon a mysterious treasure, a pearl that could make him invisible and erase his presence from all spiritual senses.

With this artifact in hand, he decided to secretly visit his former lover, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He got what he wanted, but not what he hoped for.

He saw his childhood sweetheart living happily under the protection of the Ximen Clan. To his surprise, Ximen Hao had not mistreated her after taking her in. She was living far better than she ever had with him, and even her father now wore a content smile.

This sight plunged Yun Feng's heart into darkness. His emotions surged uncontrollably, destabilizing his spirit and breaking his invisibility.

Unfortunately, that was also the moment when Ximen Hao sent three experts to hunt him down. Forced to flee, Yun Feng used the pearl again to hide.

But as someone only at the early stage of the Qi Refinement Realm, his spiritual energy was limited. Before he could escape the experts' search range, his spiritual power ran out, allowing them to locate him once more.

During the chase, he burned all the spiritual energy he had regained by consuming low-grade spirit rejuvenation pills, channeling it into his legs to power his movement technique in a desperate attempt to escape.

It was useless. The three experts were closing in on him fast, and he knew he had no chance of getting away.

His eyes filled with despair as he cursed his fate, and even blamed the girl he once loved.

"If it weren't for that whore, I wouldn't be like this!" he spat under his breath, hatred twisting his expression. He hate Ximen Hao with every fiber of his being.

The chase was nearing its end. The three cultivators were only five meters away from Yun Feng!

In front of him loomed a steep cliff, so high that only a sea of clouds could be seen below.

A dead end!

Yun Feng stopped and turned to face the three experts. They slowed their pace, chuckling as they walked toward him with mocking smiles.

Was his life going to end here?

At that moment, Yun Feng gritted his teeth. Even if he were to die, he would not give those three bastards the satisfaction of killing him. He turned back and glared at the three experts.

"Ximen Hao! Even if I become a ghost, I will never let you off!" he shouted with ruthless determination in his eyes, then threw himself off the cliff.

The three experts were caught off guard and quickly rushed to the edge, only to see Yun Feng's figure vanish into the sea of clouds below.

"He'd rather commit suicide than let us kill him? What a ruthless person," one of the experts muttered.

"We need to go down and check below the cliff," the leader of the group said calmly.

"I don't think we need to, Number One. This cliff is over 500 zhang high! There's no way a mere Qi Refining Realm ant like him could survive. Besides, below the clouds is the Fierce Beast Forest. The weakest beast there is at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it wouldn't even leave a corpse!" another expert added.

(Author's Note: 500 zhang is about 1,600 meters or 5,250 feet.)

"We're going down to confirm his death. End of discussion," the leader, called Number One, ordered firmly.

The two experts could only nod and follow their leader downward on their flying swords.

However, before they could do so, Number One stopped them. He nodded toward the cloud level below, signaling for the two to follow his gaze.

Beneath the thick layer of clouds, a massive fierce beast at the Nascent Soul level was flying, its sharp eyes scanning the area in search of prey.

"We can't fly down. There's a flying fierce beast hunting at the cloud level. We'll have to climb down on foot," Number One said, prompting the other two to sigh wearily before following him down the cliff.

After a few hours, the three arrived at the ground below the cliff. The land was barren and lifeless, the cracked earth stretching endlessly like a graveyard of time. Scattered across the ground were countless skeletons of various beasts, and among them were a few human remains.

This place was truly a land of death.

The three began searching for Yun Feng's corpse, but all they found was his bloodied right arm. The flesh had been gnawed off in several places, and there were deep bite marks on the bones. Beast footprints surrounded the area, showing that the creature that had feasted here possessed a powerful jaw.

"He must have fallen and died here. Then, his corpse was eaten by wild beasts," one of the experts said.

Number One, who was calm and observant, scanned the area carefully before speaking.

"There's no trace of an impact. If someone weighing around 124 jin fell from this height, there should be a small crater. He didn't fall here. Search the surroundings and see if you can find one," Number One ordered.

The two experts quickly split up and searched the area. After an hour of looking around, they found no crater or any sign of a fall.

"Number One, maybe he was eaten by that flying fierce beast we saw earlier? If that's the case, he's definitely dead," one of the experts suggested.

Number One looked up at the cloudy sky above. Something felt off, his instincts told him something wasn't right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe… he was just being paranoid.

"We'll report to the young master that Yun Feng was eaten by a Nascent Soul–level sky fierce beast," Number One concluded, and the other two nodded in agreement.

But at that moment, the three sensed an approaching presence, one that felt familiar.

Another man dressed in black rushed toward them. When he finally reached the group, he stopped, panting heavily.

"Young… young master said… to cancel the hunt. You three don't need to chase that man, Yun Feng, anymore," the newcomer said between breaths.

The three looked at each other in confusion before Number One responded.

"It's too late. Yun Feng has already been eaten by a Nascent Soul–level sky beast."

"What did you say? Am I too late?" the newcomer exclaimed, then slumped to the ground, sitting down while gasping for air.

"We can only report the truth to the young master. Number Four, you are not at fault," Number One said calmly to the newcomer.

…..

Meanwhile, within complete darkness, Yun Feng woke up in a damp, slimy space with wet walls and ground. The area was small, surrounded by pitch-black darkness.

The only light guiding him came from a faint blue glow not far away.

Yun Feng felt a sharp pain in his right arm. When he touched it, he realized it was gone…. his right arm had been severed. Gritting his teeth to endure the pain, he took comfort in the fact that although he had lost his arm, he was still alive.

He began to recall his memories. He remembered jumping off the cliff, hoping to end everything quickly and painlessly.

But fate had other plans. A Nascent Soul–level flying beast had been soaring beneath the cliff and swallowed him whole. His right arm was bitten off by its sharp fangs, but somehow, he had survived being eaten.

The creature was enormous, and Yun Feng guessed that he was now trapped inside its stomach. He could only hope the stomach acid wouldn't come too soon, he still wanted to live, and being dissolved alive would be a horrible way to die.

Looking around, Yun Feng noticed the dim blue light again. Gritting his teeth, he began crawling toward it, using his left hand to pull himself forward. The sticky fluids and patches of stomach acid burned his skin, causing him to wince in pain with every movement.

Finally, he reached the source of the glow, a ring….. It was a blue ring, faintly glowing; it seems to be made of an unknown material.

Yun Feng slipped the ring onto his finger, and his expression changed instantly. A vast amount of knowledge poured into his mind, flooding it with new information.

"This… this… I… I can survive! I might actually survive this! HAHAHAHAHA!"

As if all the despair and exhaustion had been washed away, Yun Feng burst into laughter, a wild… almost hysterical laugh, not of madness, but of a man who had finally found a lifeline.

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