Gu Chen stood before the fourth pillar.
Behind him, three enormous pillars burned brightly, their flames illuminating the otherwise endless darkness of the Ancient Flame Hall.
He did not immediately move.
The words of the mysterious old man still echoed in his mind.
"Fire is not merely destruction."
"It can also be the beginning of something new."
Gu Chen looked toward the place where the old man had disappeared.
There was nothing there.
Only darkness and flames.
Who was that person?
Why did he know his name?
And why had he said that Gu Chen's bloodline was surprisingly thin?
Gu Chen lowered his head and looked at his hands.
"My bloodline..."
The Gu Clan had always been known for its affinity with fire.
Every member of the clan knew that.
Their cultivation techniques were primarily related to flames, and the clan's ancestors had passed down numerous fire-based inheritances.
But Gu Chen had never heard anyone speak of a special bloodline.
Before he could think further, the fourth pillar trembled.
Boom!
A wave of flames surged toward him.
Gu Chen's expression tightened.
But this time, he did not retreat.
He stood firmly in place.
The flames swallowed him.
The Ancient Flame Hall disappeared.
Gu Chen found himself standing within an endless sea of fire.
There was no ground beneath his feet.
No sky above him.
Only countless flames stretching endlessly into the distance.
Then a voice echoed through the fire.
"What do you seek?"
Gu Chen frowned.
"What?"
The voice repeated.
"What do you seek?"
Gu Chen fell silent.
What did he seek?
Strength?
That was the obvious answer.
But why did he want strength?
The flames surrounding him began to move.
Images gradually appeared within them.
He saw himself sitting alone beneath the rain, cultivating day after day.
Again.
And again.
Then the scene changed.
He saw members of the younger generation training.
Some had already surpassed him.
Whispers echoed around him.
"His talent isn't good enough."
"Why did the ancestral flame react to him?"
"Perhaps it was simply a coincidence."
Gu Chen silently watched.
The flames changed again.
This time, he saw the Gu Clan.
Ancient halls.
Broken structures.
Damaged formations.
He remembered the stories he had heard since childhood.
Five thousand years ago, the Gu Clan had once stood at the pinnacle of Tianyuan.
It had been a Super Great Power.
A force that possessed powerhouses far beyond the understanding of the current generation.
But that glory was gone.
The images slowly disappeared.
The voice returned.
"What do you seek?"
Gu Chen closed his eyes.
At first, a single answer appeared in his mind.
Power.
But after a moment, he shook his head.
Power was only the means.
Not the answer.
Gu Chen opened his eyes.
"I seek freedom."
The endless flames suddenly became still.
Gu Chen continued.
"I don't want my future to be decided by whether others think I'm talented or not."
"I don't want to spend my entire life inside one place simply because I'm too weak to leave."
He looked into the endless sea of fire.
"Tianyuan is enormous."
"There are countless places I haven't seen."
"Countless people I haven't met."
"And countless things I don't understand."
His eyes gradually became firm.
"I want to see them."
"I want the strength to walk my own path."
The flames slowly moved.
The voice asked one final question.
"And if the path you choose leads to destruction?"
Gu Chen was silent.
After a long moment, he answered.
"Then I'll face it myself."
BOOM!
The endless sea of flames exploded.
Gu Chen suddenly opened his eyes.
He was back inside the Ancient Flame Hall.
The fourth pillar was burning.
A faint warmth flowed through his body.
He stood silently for a moment.
Then he looked toward the fifth pillar.
It remained dark.
Gu Chen took a step forward.
Nothing happened.
Another step.
The fifth pillar suddenly trembled.
Boom!
Flames erupted.
Gu Chen immediately prepared himself.
But unlike the previous trials, the flames did not attack him.
They slowly circled around his body.
Gu Chen frowned.
Then—
the flames entered him.
"Ah!"
A terrifying heat spread through his muscles.
Gu Chen immediately fell to one knee.
His cultivation technique began circulating instinctively.
World Energy followed the flames into his body.
More and more energy entered.
His muscles tightened.
His bones trembled.
Gu Chen gritted his teeth.
He endured.
Time slowly passed.
The pain continued.
But beneath it, he could feel something changing.
The flames were tempering his body.
Not violently.
Not by force.
They were refining the foundation he had built through years of cultivation.
Gu Chen's breathing gradually stabilized.
He concentrated on the World Energy flowing through him.
The bottleneck that had stopped him for months began loosening.
His eyes suddenly opened.
He could feel it.
The barrier was weakening.
Gu Chen immediately focused all his attention.
World Energy surged.
Boom!
A faint wave spread from his body.
Gu Chen remained motionless.
Several moments later, he slowly opened his eyes.
His cultivation had advanced.
He clenched his fist.
His physical strength had noticeably increased.
But instead of excitement, Gu Chen became calm.
He knew this wasn't a gift.
The Ancient Flame Hall had merely helped him refine what he already possessed.
His years of cultivation had not been wasted.
The fifth pillar burned quietly.
Gu Chen stood and looked toward the sixth.
Before he could move—
BOOM!
The entire Ancient Flame Hall suddenly shook.
Gu Chen staggered.
His eyes widened.
The sixth pillar was glowing.
Then, a faint golden-red light appeared from the seventh pillar.
Gu Chen froze.
"What is happening?"
The sixth pillar illuminated completely.
But the seventh remained different.
A thin crack appeared across its ancient surface.
Crack.
The sound echoed through the hall.
Gu Chen instinctively placed a hand against his chest.
A strange warmth appeared deep within his body.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The faint golden-red light within the seventh pillar flickered.
Then a voice echoed through the Ancient Flame Hall.
It was not the mysterious old man.
Nor was it the voice that had questioned him.
This voice was ancient.
Cold.
And distant.
"The blood has returned."
Gu Chen froze.
"What blood?"
There was no answer.
The seventh pillar gradually dimmed.
But the crack remained.
The sixth pillar continued burning.
The hall slowly returned to silence.
Gu Chen stood alone.
His mind was filled with questions.
His bloodline.
The mysterious old man.
The strange flames.
And now—
"The blood has returned."
He looked toward the remaining pillars.
The sixth was burning brightly.
The seventh was cracked.
The eighth and ninth remained hidden in darkness.
Gu Chen took a deep breath.
Whatever waited for him ahead, he knew one thing.
There was no turning back.
He stepped toward the sixth pillar.
The moment he crossed the invisible boundary—
all the flames disappeared.
Darkness descended.
Then a faint whisper entered his consciousness.
"Do not let the fire die."
Gu Chen's eyes widened.
Before he could respond—
the darkness swallowed everything.