Memories from Zhang Qiming's past life surged in his mind. This painting was one he had created at the age of six. To make it more beautiful, he gathered various wildflowers from the area around the Zhang family estate, using their juices to paint this family portrait.

His memory of his parents' faces was already blurry. He only remembered that when he showed them the painting, they were delighted and made him his favorite sugar cakes. Young Zhang Qiming ate happily. But not long after, his parents received orders from the acting family head and never returned. From that point on, Zhang Qiming never tasted such sweet cakes again.

“Dad, Mom?” Zhang Qiming wiped away a tear. Even though these memories didn’t belong to him, he could empathize with them. Zhang Qiming from the parallel world was also raised by his grandmother and grew up without parents.

“Could this skeleton be my parent in this world?” Zhang Qiming examined the details of the skeleton carefully, but it didn’t seem to be the case. The skeleton had male bones, yet he recalled how his father had once injured his hand while catching him during a fall on the mountainside. This skeleton didn’t have that injury.

“It’s likely that my parents sensed danger and gave the painting to a teammate. When things got dangerous, that teammate sealed the entrance to the tomb passage.”

With this thought, Zhang Qiming bolted down the tomb passage in a frenzy. When he entered the inner chamber, he was stunned to see dozens of corpses of Zhang family members.

He searched each body but still didn’t find one with a hand injury.

“Could my parents still be alive?” The thought struck him suddenly. He, too, had once been an orphan, longing for family, and now, with this faint possibility, he couldn’t calm his heart.

Fortunately, Zhang Qiming had experienced madness before, so his will was strong, and he wouldn’t easily lose himself. Shaking his head, he tried to discard the unpleasant memories. But the painful memories of being bullied for having no parents as a child weren’t so easy to cast aside.

Sitting cross-legged, he closed his eyes and regulated his breathing to calm his inner turmoil.

Taking a deep breath, he regained his composure. “I almost lost myself to the memories of my previous self without realizing it.”

Looking around at the corpses, Zhang Qiming understood what had once happened here. The Zhang family rebellion caused by a traitor had occurred here. Some traitors wanted to seize the Heavenly Staff held by the former clan leader, Zhang Ruitong, to use its power to break the curse that had plagued the Zhang family for generations.

In the room, there were also many cages hanging from the ceiling, each containing several dried corpses. The wrists of these corpses bore slit marks, as if they had been bled to death. Below the cages was a small pond, around five square meters, against the wall.

The pond contained nearly invisible venomous insects. The bodies in the cages were Zhang family members, hung there to facilitate bloodletting to repel insects. The water in the pond had remained still for countless years, dust collecting on the surface, giving it a murky, yellowish-brown appearance.

“These insects in the water are venomous, but with my Qilin bloodline, I’m immune to all poisons, so I’m not afraid of their venom.” Confidently, Zhang Qiming bit his fingertip and dropped a single drop of blood into the pond.

With his keen eyesight, he noticed the thread-like insects in the water. When the insects approached his blood, they immediately turned into black droplets, destroyed by Zhang Qiming’s blood.

Seeing this, Zhang Qiming nodded and jumped into the pond without hesitation.

Below the pond lay a waterway stretching several dozen meters. For an ordinary person, it might be possible to hold their breath long enough to pass through, but with the murky water and venomous insects, it was nearly impossible.

However, the Zhang family had been trained in swimming since childhood, and Zhang Qiming’s Qilin bloodline made him immune to the poisonous insects, which even avoided him as if afraid of being melted by his blood.

In an instant, Zhang Qiming traversed the waterway.

Emerging from the pond, he shook off the mud and water and strode forward. Beyond the waterway was a small chamber containing various explosives and supplies.

Here, Zhang Qiming could smell a faint poison emanating from the walls, so he quickly put on the mask he had prepared. By now, his ally should have just heard the explosion and was heading to get help from Ma Pingchuan.

In this space, Zhang Qiming was alone.

As he moved forward, he heard a series of pained moans. In a pile of collapsed rubble, Zhang Haixing’s leg was trapped under a stone slab from the wall. Her veins bulged, turning an eerie gray-black, showing signs of poisoning.

Hearing footsteps, she assumed it was Zhang Haike returning. Weakly, she murmured, “Brother, is that you? Please... help me…”

As the footsteps drew nearer, she saw not Zhang Haike, but a lively Zhang Qiming!

Despairingly, she closed her eyes. “Why is it you… I told you to guard the entrance! It’s dangerous here, go!”

Zhang Qiming smirked. Out of the group, he only found Zhang Haixing tolerable since she had shared her rations with him. The others were either foolish or arrogant.

Seeing the signs of poisoning on Zhang Haixing, he commented, “You all just love to play with fire, don’t you?”

“Oh, look, your veins are even moving!”

Zhang Haixing glared at him. If she had the strength, she would have punched him. “You see what happens when you don’t listen? Now look at you.”

“How do you know?” Zhang Haixing asked, puzzled.

Zhang Qiming stood with his hands on his hips. “What don’t I know?”

“Find Xiao Gui! His blood can save us…” Zhang Haixing whispered weakly, almost fainting.

No longer teasing her, Zhang Qiming extended his finger and bit it. “Aren’t you curious how I got through the pond?”

His words startled Zhang Haixing. “Right… you’re also from the main family. If you weren’t so weak, I would have remembered.”

Zhang Qiming scoffed. “This girl has no filter,” he thought.

He held out his finger and wickedly said, “Here, take it!”

Zhang Haixing’s pale face flushed red. She knew Zhang Qiming was punishing her, but she had no other option. For survival, she opened her mouth.

“You!”

When she tried to speak, Zhang Qiming barked, “If you want to live, don’t talk, just suck it hard!”

Unable to argue, Zhang Haixing channeled her frustration by biting his finger, nearly making Zhang Qiming jump in pain.

“Hmph!”

Tasting the blood, Zhang Haixing immediately felt her strength returning, but suddenly she groaned in pain.