Chapter 70: Ashes of Ambition
Dawn painted the Western Region in shades of orange and violet.
Han Feng stood on the edge of a barren mountain ridge, looking down at the ruins hidden between the cliffs of the Yinlian Mountains.
From above, there was almost nothing to see.
Only broken rocks.
Dead trees.
And a thin layer of gray ash drifting through the air.
Han Feng narrowed his eyes.
The place looked abandoned.
That was precisely what worried him.
He touched the wound beneath his robe.
The pain was faint now, but it hadn't disappeared.
The battle in the Dark Abyss had drained him more than he wanted to admit. The subsequent pursuit by the Celestial Corpse Sect had given him almost no time to recover.
His body was tired.
His spiritual sense was strained.
And his Qi had yet to fully stabilize after reaching Rank 4.
Yet he had still come here.
Because according to the fragment of an ancient map he had obtained months ago, this region once belonged to a faction known as the Cult of the Nine Flames.
The sect had disappeared centuries ago.
Its name was rarely mentioned in modern records.
But old cultivators still whispered about it.
The Nine Flames Cult had once specialized in flame refinement, spiritual furnaces, and ancient formation techniques.
Before its destruction, its members had supposedly hidden several important resources throughout the Western Region.
Han Feng didn't come here because he believed those rumors.
He came because the map had shown something else.
A symbol.
A circle surrounded by six smaller marks.
And beneath them...
A faint seventh point.
The same pattern that had appeared repeatedly since he entered the Western Region.
Han Feng's expression became serious.
"So you're connected too."
The wind carried another wave of ash across the mountain.
Han Feng descended.
The entrance to the ancient sanctuary was hidden beneath a collapsed stone platform.
Most of the original structure had been buried by the passing of time.
Only a fragment of a black stone pillar remained above ground.
Han Feng brushed the dust away.
Ancient characters appeared beneath his fingers.
NINE FLAMES GUARD THE ASHES.
He frowned.
"Guard the ashes?"
That was strange.
A sect that specialized in flames should have left behind fire, not ashes.
Unless the ashes were what remained after something had burned.
Han Feng carefully examined the pillar.
There were nine circular depressions carved into its surface.
Eight were completely dark.
The ninth contained a faint red mark.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
He released a thread of Qi.
The mark immediately responded.
A faint warmth spread through the stone.
Then—
Click.
A section of the ground shifted.
Han Feng immediately stepped backward.
The stone platform sank several inches.
A narrow passage opened beneath it.
Cold air rose from the darkness.
Han Feng didn't move.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
He released a thread of spiritual perception into the passage.
No obvious lifeforms.
No immediate formation fluctuation.
But something else was present.
A faint resonance.
It was almost impossible to detect.
Almost.
Han Feng's expression changed.
He knew that feeling.
The Celestial Diagram inside his consciousness had begun to pulse.
Once.
Twice.
Then it became still.
Han Feng stared into the passage.
"So the map wasn't pointing toward a treasure."
He slowly descended.
"It was pointing toward another node."
The underground passage was much older than the ruins above.
The walls were covered with dark red lines that resembled veins.
Occasionally, one of them would glow faintly before fading again.
Han Feng moved carefully.
He didn't rush.
Several ancient traps had already failed due to age, but some remained active.
The first released a wave of heat.
The second caused the stone floor to collapse.
The third contained something much more troublesome.
A group of flame insects emerged from a crack in the wall.
They weren't powerful.
But there were hundreds of them.
Han Feng didn't fight.
He activated the Art of the Celestial Veil and slowed his breathing.
The insects passed around him.
He remained motionless until the swarm disappeared.
Only then did he continue.
After nearly an hour, the passage widened.
Han Feng entered a massive underground chamber.
His footsteps stopped.
The chamber was enormous.
Nine stone pillars surrounded a circular platform.
Most had collapsed.
The remaining pillars were covered in blackened marks.
In the center stood an ancient stone furnace.
But there was no fire inside it.
Only ashes.
Thousands upon thousands of years of ashes.
Han Feng approached.
His spiritual sense spread through the chamber.
Nothing.
No treasure.
No living Gu.
No obvious inheritance.
Yet the Celestial Diagram had never stopped reacting.
Its six symbols rotated slowly.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
He looked at the floor.
There.
Beneath the layers of dust, a familiar pattern had been carved into the stone.
Six points.
Connected by thin lines.
And at the center—
Nothing.
No seventh point.
Han Feng crouched.
He carefully brushed away the dust.
The six-point pattern was incomplete.
One of the lines had been deliberately severed.
Han Feng stared at it.
"Someone broke the connection."
A thought immediately followed.
Not destroyed.
Severed.
There was a difference.
Destroying a formation meant eliminating it.
Severing one connection meant preventing something from reaching the rest.
Han Feng's eyes became colder.
"Someone wanted this place isolated."
He reached toward the formation.
Then stopped.
A warning instinct rose inside him.
He slowly withdrew his hand.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu stirred within his spiritual sea.
Han Feng frowned.
"You don't want me to touch it?"
The Gu remained silent.
But the reaction was enough.
Han Feng changed his approach.
Instead of touching the formation directly, he released a tiny thread of Qi.
The moment it entered the formation—
BOOM.
The entire chamber trembled.
Han Feng's expression changed.
The nine pillars suddenly lit up.
Not with flames.
With shadows.
One.
Two.
Three.
Six.
The lines connected.
Then a seventh point appeared.
Not in the center.
Far beneath it.
As if something was located below the formation.
Han Feng's heart tightened.
The seventh point pulsed once.
The entire chamber became silent.
Then a voice came from somewhere deep underground.
Not loud.
Not clear.
Almost like an echo traveling through stone.
"...another..."
Han Feng froze.
He immediately withdrew his Qi.
The formation dimmed.
The voice disappeared.
Han Feng stood completely still.
His breathing became slower.
"Another what?"
There was no answer.
But the Celestial Diagram had already given him one.
Its six symbols were rotating faster than before.
Han Feng stared at the formation.
The ancient network wasn't simply a collection of ruins.
It was responding to something.
And every time he activated one of its components...
Something beneath the world seemed to notice.
Han Feng spent the next several hours investigating the chamber.
He found no cultivation manual.
No powerful Gu.
No treasure capable of instantly increasing his strength.
Instead, he discovered something far more valuable.
Information.
Each of the nine pillars contained fragments of ancient inscriptions.
Most were damaged.
But several words remained readable.
Flame.
Ash.
Balance.
Seal.
And finally—
Resonance.
Han Feng's expression darkened.
The Cult of the Nine Flames had not merely been a sect that cultivated flame techniques.
At some point in its history, they had become involved with the same ancient system he had been following.
Perhaps they had discovered one of the points.
Perhaps they had tried to control it.
Or perhaps...
They had tried to destroy it.
Han Feng looked at the ashes inside the furnace.
"Nine Flames."
He slowly extended his hand.
A small amount of warmth remained beneath the ashes.
Not enough to burn.
Not enough to cultivate.
But enough to preserve something.
Han Feng's spiritual sense entered the furnace.
For an instant, an image appeared.
Nine figures.
Standing around the same six-point formation.
Their robes were burning.
The mountain beneath them was collapsing.
One of them screamed:
"Cut the western connection!"
Another shouted:
"If we sever it, the resonance will spread elsewhere!"
A third voice answered:
"Better elsewhere than here!"
The vision vanished.
Han Feng opened his eyes.
His expression was grim.
"So they didn't seal the system."
He looked at the furnace.
"They moved the danger."
A faint sound came from the ashes.
Crack.
Something small rolled out.
Han Feng immediately became alert.
It was a fragment of blackened stone.
No larger than his fingernail.
He picked it up carefully.
The moment it touched his palm—
The Celestial Diagram reacted.
Six points appeared in his consciousness.
Then a seventh.
But this time, something else appeared beneath them.
A faint line.
A road.
Descending.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
"The road beneath the world..."
The inscription from the Black Lotus ruin immediately came to mind.
WHEN THE SEVEN POINTS AWAKEN, THE ROAD BENEATH THE WORLD SHALL OPEN.
He closed his hand around the fragment.
"So the inscription wasn't referring to a metaphor."
At least...
Not entirely.
A sudden fluctuation interrupted his thoughts.
Han Feng's head snapped toward the entrance.
Someone was approaching.
More than one person.
He immediately extinguished his aura.
The Art of the Celestial Veil spread across his body.
He moved into the shadows behind one of the broken pillars.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Three people entered the chamber.
All wore dark gray robes.
The symbol of the Celestial Corpse Sect was embroidered near their shoulders.
Han Feng's eyes became cold.
"Of course."
One of them was an older man with a scar across his jaw.
He looked around the chamber.
"The map said the sanctuary was here."
Another cultivator shook his head.
"The resonance disappeared."
"Could someone have arrived before us?"
"Impossible."
The older man crouched beside the central formation.
He touched the stone.
His expression changed.
"The node reacted recently."
Han Feng remained motionless.
The third cultivator asked:
"Could it be him?"
The older man didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
"Perhaps."
"Should we report it?"
"Immediately."
Han Feng's fingers tightened.
They were not talking about some random cultivator.
They were talking about him.
The man removed a small bone tablet from his robe.
A faint corpse-colored light emerged from it.
Han Feng recognized the principle.
A communication Gu.
The man began transmitting.
"The western resonance point has reacted again."
A pause.
His expression changed slightly.
"The traces are fresh."
Another pause.
Then—
"Yes."
"Understood."
The light disappeared.
The man stood.
"We leave."
The other two looked confused.
"We just arrived."
"We're not here to investigate."
The older man looked toward the darkness.
"We're here to confirm."
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
Confirm what?
The three cultivators turned toward the exit.
But before leaving, the older man stopped.
He looked directly toward Han Feng's hiding place.
For a moment, neither moved.
Han Feng's heartbeat slowed.
The man's eyes remained fixed on the shadows.
Then he turned away.
"Nothing."
They left.
Their footsteps gradually disappeared.
Han Feng remained hidden.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
Only then did he move.
He exhaled slowly.
"They weren't searching for a treasure."
His gaze fell to the blackened fragment in his palm.
"They were confirming that the node had awakened."
That changed everything.
The Celestial Corpse Sect wasn't simply following him.
They were mapping the ancient network.
And if they were doing that...
Other factions were probably doing the same.
Han Feng returned to the central formation.
He looked at the blackened fragment.
He could take it.
He could refine it.
Perhaps it contained some kind of ancient flame power.
But something about it felt wrong.
The Celestial Diagram wasn't urging him to absorb it.
It was warning him.
The fragment wasn't a treasure.
It was a key.
And Han Feng had no idea what door it opened.
He placed it into a sealed container instead.
"I don't need another unknown power inside my body."
He stood.
His cultivation was still Rank 4.
His Gu Master cultivation was still Rank 2.
He had not broken through.
He had not gained some miraculous inheritance.
Yet Han Feng felt that he had gained something far more important.
A direction.
The ancient network was beginning to reveal itself.
Six points.
A seventh point.
And something beneath them.
The road beneath the world.
Han Feng looked toward the passage.
"Then I'll follow the road."
But not yet.
He had learned enough to know that moving blindly was suicide.
First, he needed information.
Second, he needed resources.
And third...
He needed to understand why so many factions were suddenly interested in the same ancient system.
Han Feng turned toward the exit.
As he walked away, the ashes inside the ancient furnace shifted.
A faint red glow appeared beneath them.
For a brief moment, nine flames rose from the dead ashes.
Then they vanished.
Far beneath the sanctuary, something opened its eyes.
Not fully.
Just enough to notice the disturbance.
A low vibration traveled through the underground stone.
And somewhere in the Western Region, an ancient formation responded.
Several hours later, Han Feng emerged from the Yinlian Mountains.
The sun was already setting.
He stopped on a distant ridge and looked back.
The ancient sanctuary was hidden beneath the mountains once again.
No flames.
No light.
No sign that anything had happened.
But Han Feng knew better.
His hand touched the sealed container inside his robe.
The blackened fragment was still there.
He looked toward the distant horizon.
The Celestial Corpse Sect had confirmed the node.
The Black Lotus Sect had discovered another piece of the network.
The ancient map was revealing new layers.
And the seventh point was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Han Feng's expression became calm.
He wasn't going to rush toward the Central Region.
Not yet.
The Central Region could wait.
Before going there, he needed to understand the road beneath the world.
Because if the ancient inscription was correct...
The Central Region might not be the destination.
It might only be another gate.
Han Feng turned away from the mountains.
The wind carried a faint scent of ash behind him.
He kept walking.
Behind him, the sanctuary remained silent.
But beneath the earth, something had begun to wake.
And this time...
Han Feng wasn't the only one who had noticed.