Three days passed quickly.
At dawn on the third day, Gu Chen stood outside the Ancient Flame Hall.
The enormous bronze doors towered above him.
They were covered in ancient patterns.
Most of the patterns had become blurred with the passage of time, but the image of a burning sun at the center remained clear.
Several clan elders stood nearby.
None of them spoke.
Even the Clan Head had personally come.
Gu Chen looked around.
More than a hundred members of the younger generation had gathered outside the hall.
Some had come simply to watch.
Others were curious.
After all, the Ancient Flame Hall had been sealed for thousands of years.
A young man whispered to his companion.
"Do you really think Gu Chen can awaken the ancestral flame?"
"I doubt it."
"He's only at the fifth level of Body Tempering."
"Exactly."
Another young cultivator shook his head.
"If the ancestral flame really cared about him, his cultivation wouldn't be so poor."
The voices weren't loud.
But Gu Chen heard them.
He didn't react.
He had become accustomed to such comments over the years.
His attention remained on the Ancient Flame Hall.
The Grand Elder stepped forward.
"Gu Chen."
Gu Chen immediately bowed.
"Grand Elder."
"Once you enter, you must remember one thing."
The Grand Elder's expression was solemn.
"Do not attempt to force an inheritance."
Gu Chen nodded.
"If you encounter something you cannot withstand, retreat immediately."
"Yes."
The Grand Elder looked at him for another moment.
Then he stepped aside.
The Clan Head walked toward the bronze doors.
He raised his hand.
A powerful stream of World Energy surged outward.
The ancient formation surrounding the hall slowly awakened.
Hum!
The ground trembled.
One ancient symbol after another illuminated.
The enormous bronze doors began to open.
Rumble!
A wave of heat suddenly rushed out.
The younger cultivators immediately retreated.
Gu Chen's clothes fluttered violently.
He narrowed his eyes.
The heat wasn't ordinary.
Even from several meters away, he could feel it penetrating his skin.
"This..."
Gu Chen's expression became serious.
The Clan Head looked at him.
"Go."
Gu Chen took a deep breath.
Then he stepped through the doors.
The moment he entered, the world changed.
The voices outside disappeared.
The rain.
The wind.
Everything vanished.
Gu Chen found himself standing in a vast hall.
There were no walls.
At least, none that he could see.
Above him was an endless red sky.
Beneath his feet stretched a black stone plain.
Far in the distance stood nine enormous pillars.
Each pillar was covered in ancient flames.
Gu Chen stared at them.
"Ninth Pillars..."
He had seen drawings of them in the clan's ancient records.
According to the records, the nine pillars represented the nine fundamental transformations of the Gu Clan's ancient Fire inheritance.
But nobody had activated them for thousands of years.
Gu Chen slowly approached.
The first pillar suddenly trembled.
Boom!
A wave of flames erupted.
Gu Chen raised his arms instinctively.
The flames struck his body.
Pain immediately spread through him.
"Ah!"
He staggered backward.
His skin became red.
But the flames did not disappear.
Instead, they continued burning around his body.
Gu Chen clenched his teeth.
So this was the first test.
The Ancient Flame Hall wasn't simply testing his talent.
It was testing whether his body could withstand the ancestral flame.
He sat down.
Instead of resisting the flames, he began circulating his cultivation technique.
World Energy entered his body.
The flames followed.
They slowly entered his muscles.
Pain surged through every part of him.
Gu Chen almost lost consciousness.
But he endured.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Ten breaths.
The flames became increasingly intense.
Outside the hall, the Clan Head suddenly frowned.
The ancestral flame on the first pillar had become brighter.
The Grand Elder's expression changed.
"How long has he been inside?"
"Half an hour."
The Grand Elder looked at the sealed doors.
"Half an hour..."
His voice became quieter.
"That's already longer than anyone has lasted in the first trial for the past thousand years."
The Clan Head remained silent.
Then the entire Ancient Flame Hall trembled.
The second pillar lit up.
Everyone outside froze.
The Grand Elder's eyes widened.
"Impossible."
Inside the hall.
Gu Chen opened his eyes.
The flames around him had disappeared.
He slowly stood.
His body was exhausted.
But something had changed.
The World Energy inside his body felt slightly purer.
His muscles were stronger.
His breathing was steadier.
Gu Chen looked toward the second pillar.
It was burning.
Then the third pillar.
Boom!
It ignited.
Gu Chen stared.
He had only passed the first trial.
Yet three pillars had already awakened.
He didn't understand why.
But before he could think further—
a voice suddenly echoed through the empty hall.
"Descendant."
Gu Chen froze.
He slowly turned around.
There was nobody behind him.
The voice came again.
"After five thousand years..."
Gu Chen's heart began pounding.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
Then a faint figure appeared in the flames.
An old man.
His appearance was blurry, as though he were merely an imprint left behind by time.
Gu Chen stared at him.
For some reason, the moment he saw the old man's face, an inexplicable feeling emerged from deep within his blood.
The old man looked at him.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
"Your bloodline is surprisingly thin."
Gu Chen frowned.
"My bloodline?"
The old man didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the nine pillars.
"Five thousand years..."
His expression became complicated.
"The clan has fallen this far."
Gu Chen's heart tightened.
"Who are you?"
The old man's figure flickered.
"I am someone who should have disappeared long ago."
The flames around him suddenly surged.
Gu Chen felt an immense pressure descend upon him.
His knees almost buckled.
But he remained standing.
The old man's expression changed slightly.
"Interesting."
The pressure increased.
Gu Chen's body trembled.
He gritted his teeth.
He didn't know why this strange figure was testing him.
He only knew that he couldn't kneel.
Not here.
Not before someone he didn't even know.
The old man stared at him for several breaths.
Then the pressure disappeared.
Gu Chen collapsed onto one knee, breathing heavily.
The old man nodded.
"At least you possess some backbone."
Gu Chen raised his head.
"What happened to the Gu Clan?"
The old man's eyes became distant.
"The clan?"
He looked toward the endless flames.
"That is a story you are not yet strong enough to hear."
Gu Chen clenched his fist.
"Then when will I be strong enough?"
The old man smiled.
"When you can stand beneath the heavens without needing anyone to protect you."
The figure slowly faded.
Before disappearing completely, he left behind one final sentence.
"Remember this, Gu Chen."
"Fire is not merely destruction."
"It can also be the beginning of something new."
The figure vanished.
The Ancient Flame Hall became silent once more.
Gu Chen remained kneeling on the ground.
He stared at the place where the old man had disappeared.
His mind was filled with questions.
Who was that person?
Why did he know his name?
Why had he mentioned the Gu Clan's decline?
And most importantly—
why did the ancestral flame react to him?
Gu Chen slowly stood.
He looked toward the remaining pillars.
Six of them were still dark.
The trial wasn't over.
He took a deep breath.
Then walked forward.
Behind him, deep within the Ancient Flame Hall, the tiny flame that had remained dormant for five thousand years quietly flickered.
And far beneath the ancestral grounds, the Old Ancestor opened his eyes again.
This time, his expression was no longer calm.
"That voice..."
He stared toward the Ancient Flame Hall.
"Could it be..."
For the first time in five thousand years—
the Old Ancestor felt that something he had thought impossible might actually happen.