The rain had been falling since dawn.
Within the vast territory of Tianyuan, there were countless cities, sects, clans, and kingdoms. To ordinary mortals, traveling from one end of the land to another was an undertaking that could take months.
But there was one place that had become almost forgotten by the outside world.
The Gu Clan.
Once, its name had shaken Tianyuan.
Five thousand years ago, the Gu Clan had stood among the most terrifying powers in the land. Its ancestor had reached a realm that present-day cultivators could only describe with a single word—
Legendary.
But that glory had long since faded.
The enormous ancestral estate that once stretched across thousands of miles had been reduced to a fraction of its former territory.
Many of its spiritual mountains had become barren.
Ancient palaces had collapsed.
Even the great protective formations surrounding the clan had become incomplete.
Yet the Gu Clan still stood.
At the edge of the clan's territory was a mountain.
It wasn't particularly tall.
It wasn't covered in rare spiritual herbs.
And it didn't possess any obvious treasure.
At the foot of that mountain, a fifteen-year-old boy sat beneath a tree.
His name was Gu Chen.
He wore simple dark clothing, already soaked slightly from the rain.
His eyes were closed.
His breathing was slow and steady.
Around him, the rain continued to fall.
Drop.
Drop.
Drop.
Gu Chen remained motionless.
Inside his body, a faint strand of World Energy slowly entered his flesh.
The moment it touched his body, his muscles tightened.
Pain flashed across his face.
He gritted his teeth and continued.
The first step of cultivation was not glamorous.
Before a cultivator could absorb large amounts of World Energy, their body had to become strong enough to withstand it.
Otherwise, the energy would damage the body instead of nourishing it.
This was the foundation of everything that followed.
And Gu Chen had been stuck here for nearly three years.
His progress was painfully slow.
Another hour passed.
Finally, Gu Chen opened his eyes.
He exhaled.
A faint mist escaped his mouth.
"Still not enough."
He looked down at his hands.
His fists slowly tightened.
Fifteen years old.
Three years of cultivation.
And he was still struggling with the first stage.
Among the younger generation of the Gu Clan, this was considered mediocre at best.
Some had already surpassed him.
A few had even begun preparing for the next step of cultivation.
Gu Chen wasn't jealous of them.
But he couldn't help feeling frustrated.
Especially because of the expectations placed upon the descendants of the Gu Clan.
The Gu Clan had once produced beings capable of standing at the summit of Tianyuan.
Now, even becoming a respectable cultivator was difficult.
"Gu Chen!"
A voice suddenly came from behind.
Gu Chen turned.
A young man around seventeen years old stood several meters away, holding an umbrella.
His expression carried a hint of impatience.
"Grand Elder is calling for you."
Gu Chen stood.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
The young man looked him over.
"Just hurry."
Gu Chen nodded.
The two walked toward the clan.
As they passed through the outer grounds, Gu Chen noticed several young cultivators practicing nearby.
Some were sparring.
Others were sitting cross-legged beneath the spiritual trees.
The Gu Clan was not completely lifeless.
Despite its decline, it still possessed hundreds of cultivators.
But compared with the records of its past, this number was pitiful.
Gu Chen occasionally wondered what the clan had looked like five thousand years ago.
According to the elders, the Gu Clan had once possessed countless experts.
Its territory had stretched far beyond what remained today.
Its name alone had been enough to make ordinary factions tremble.
Then came the war.
The strongest beings of Tianyuan had participated.
Their ancestor had gone to war.
The clan's elders had followed.
And when the strongest beings disappeared, the survivors returned gravely wounded.
Some died.
Some entered seclusion.
Others left the clan searching for legendary spiritual plants capable of healing their injuries.
None of those who left ever returned.
Five thousand years later, the Gu Clan was still paying the price.
Gu Chen had heard the story many times.
But there was one thing he had never understood.
If the Gu Clan had once been so powerful...
Why had nobody been able to restore it?
He pushed the thought aside.
Soon, they arrived before the clan's main hall.
The young man stopped.
"You go in."
Gu Chen looked at the enormous wooden doors.
For some reason, a strange feeling suddenly appeared in his heart.
As though something inside the hall was waiting for him.
He pushed open the door.
Inside, several people were already waiting.
At the highest seat sat an imposing middle-aged man.
He was the current Clan Head of the Gu Clan.
Beside him stood an elderly man with white hair.
The Grand Elder.
Gu Chen immediately bowed.
"Clan Head. Grand Elder."
The Clan Head nodded.
"Gu Chen."
"Yes."
The Clan Head stared at him for several breaths.
Then he said something Gu Chen had never expected to hear.
"Your name has been chosen for the upcoming ancestral trial."
Gu Chen froze.
"The ancestral trial?"
The Grand Elder slowly raised his head.
"Yes."
His expression was unusually serious.
"Three days from now, you will enter the Ancient Flame Hall."
Gu Chen's heart began beating faster.
The Ancient Flame Hall.
One of the oldest surviving structures of the Gu Clan.
It had remained sealed for generations.
No ordinary disciple was permitted to enter.
Gu Chen swallowed.
"Why me?"
The Grand Elder didn't answer immediately.
Instead, his gaze moved toward the ancient painting hanging behind the Clan Head.
The painting depicted a man standing beneath an endless sea of flames.
Nobody knew exactly how old the painting was.
Nobody knew who had painted it.
But every Gu Clan member knew the person depicted within it.
Their first ancestor.
The founder of the ancient Gu Clan.
The Grand Elder finally spoke.
"Because the ancestral flame has reacted to you."
Silence filled the hall.
Gu Chen stared at him.
"Reacted... to me?"
The Grand Elder nodded.
"For five thousand years, it has remained silent."
His eyes became solemn.
"Until yesterday."
Outside, thunder suddenly shook the sky.
And deep beneath the Gu Clan's ancestral grounds—
something that had been silent for years...
slowly opened its eyes.