Exactly ten minutes after Gu Fan left another pile of corpses, the sound of soft, incredibly light and precise footsteps echoed in the silent hollow.

A young man stepped out from the behind the trees dressed in his signature immaculate, flowing white robes that seemed entirely untouched by the dirt and grime of the forest.

It was Gu Chen, The Golden Boy of the Gu Clan. And the protagonist who should have claimed it all.

Gu Chen stepped into the centre of the rocky hollow, and His gaze instantly locked onto the carnage scattered across the ground.

In front of him there were two piles of ashes that had almost blown away with the wind.

Then there was a brain-splattered corpse near the boulder, and a naked, dead body lying near the bushes.

Gu Chen frowned, and his hand reached out for the hilt of his sword. He walked over to the faceless corpse and inspected the dark green robes.

"Bai Clan disciples?!" Gu Chen muttered to himself, his voice dripping with righteous disgust, "This is the second time."

"Greedy fools. Did they all turn on each other? Did they also know about the legacy of the Sovereign?"

Gu Chen quickly looked at the fingers of the two dead Bai Clan disciples for their Spatial rings, but there was nothing.

"Or is it the same person from before?"

Gu Chen stood up, as his eyes locked onto a massive boulder in the centre of the hollow.

"I need to be quick," Gu Chen muttered to himself as his heart began to pound heavily against his ribs, "Before someone else finds this place."

His handsome face flushed with intense, uncontrollable excitement, as he reached into his pristine white robes and pulled out a ragged, incredibly old piece of parchment.

It was a map.

A wide, arrogant smile spread across Gu Chen’s face as he looked at the map, and then at the hidden entrance.

"The heavens truly favour the righteous," Gu Chen whispered, his chest puffing out with overwhelming pride.

He remembered exactly how he had found this map just two days before the Joint Hunting Competition began.

He had been walking through the slums of Poison Valley Town, performing his usual routine of handing out small copper coins to the beggars to maintain his flawless, compassionate reputation among the commoners.

He had randomly stepped into a dusty, run-down antique shop to escape the midday heat. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The shopkeeper was a blind old man selling absolute junk. Broken clay pots, rusted swords, and fake jade pendants.

But Gu Chen had his ’Heavenly Eyes’.

He had casually swept his gaze over the shelves, and his eyes immediately picked up a faint, almost invisible golden aura radiating from a completely useless, cracked clay vase sitting in the corner.

Gu Chen did not want to alert anyone. He bought a few more antiques from the shop along with the vase, pretending he was just being generous with the old man.

The blind shopkeeper had laughed at him, thinking he had scammed a rich young master for good.

But the moment Gu Chen returned to his private quarters, he did not waste a breath and smashed the vase, he found this ancient map hidden perfectly within the thick clay base.

The map was not very explicit about the details of a highly guarded location of a supreme legacy hidden within the Ten Thousand Poison Forest. A legacy that belonged to an ancient Sovereign.

It had very vague details as to where the location was, but other than that, it was very precise with the information about how he can enter the dungeon and what he should expect there.

"The Blue Ghost Fire. It is my destiny," Gu Chen stated confidently, gripping the map tightly in his fist.

"The Bai Clan scum died fighting out here because they didn’t have the key. They didn’t have the destiny to enter."

He proudly straightened his white robes. He quickly followed the instructions on the map and in no time, the massive boulder split open again, and the stairs appeared in front of him.

Gu Fan quickly walked directly toward the stone stairs.

As he descended into the dark, damp corridor, he kept his senses sharp, fully expecting a barrage of lethal traps. The map warned him of poison darts and a massive acid pit.

But as he walked down the corridor, he saw that the traps were already sprung. The darts were embedded uselessly in the walls.

Gu Chen paused when he reached the end of the corridor.

He stared at the massive, heavy solid iron gate. Or rather, what was left of it. A huge, perfectly circular hole had been violently melted straight through the centre of the thick metal, the edges still slightly warm to the touch.

"Someone was here," Gu Chen muttered, his brow furrowing in slight concern.

But then, his arrogant smile returned.

"No matter," Gu Chen scoffed confidently, stepping right through the melted hole, "Whoever managed to brute-force their way through this gate must be heavily injured and exhausted."

"They are probably lying dead inside the Audience Hall, killed by the final guardians. The supreme treasure will still be waiting for me."

Gu Chen stepped into the cavernous Audience Hall.

The blue fire torches on the walls flickered, illuminating the massive room.

Gu Chen stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw dropped.

He was entirely prepared to face heavily injured rivals or ancient stone guardians. He was prepared to trigger his Heavenly Eyes and claim the supreme legacy the map promised him.

But as he stared across the room, his arrogant smile completely vanished.

There were no enemies. There were no guardians.

The entire Audience Hall was filled with craters and dust everywhere.

And at the very far end of the room, the heavy, ornate stone doors leading to the inner sanctum were already wide open.

"No..." Gu Chen whispered, a cold spike of pure dread piercing his heart, "No, this is not possible."

"It was supposed to me mine."

"The Blue Ghost Fire was supposed to be my destiny!"

"It must belong to me!"

"NO ONE CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!"

"NOT EVEN THE HEAVENS!"

Gu Chen screamed in rage, and his thunderous voice echoed through the dungeon. But unlucky for him, the Golden boy of the Gu Clan was a step slower.

The Blue Ghost Fire was gone, and he cold have never guessed who took it away.

*****