Gu Fan walked up the steep, dark stone staircase of the tomb.

With every heavy step he took on the cold brick, the damp moisture on the ground instantly hissed and evaporated into steam.

His skin was radiating an intense, terrifying heat.

[System Notification: The World Will’s local suppression has stabilised.]

[50x Reward Multiplier has expired yesterday]

[System has reverted to the base 10x Parasitic Plunder Multiplier.]

Gu Fan completely ignored the blue text hovering in his vision. He had already milked the 50x boost for all it was worth, clearing out enough beast cores and loot to win the entire competition ten times over.

Right now, he was entirely focused on the Purple Nether-Ghost Fire.

It had perfectly merged with his Ancient Venom Physique, yet it was churning inside him like a dormant volcano, and he had also broken through to the 7th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm. But he had a hunch, he could easily rip a Spirit Realm cultivator in half with his bare hands.

Soon he reached the top of the stairs and the massive boulder split open on its own.

And as soon as he stepped back in the forest, the afternoon sun shone directly down onto his completely naked, heavily muscled body.

Gu Fan didn’t bother covering his cock. He just stood there, rolling his broad shoulders and stretching his neck until it popped loudly.

Rustle!

But just then the sound of leaves crunching echoed loudly from the tree line directly ahead of him.

Gu Fan stopped stretching. He lowered his arms and looked forward.

Four figures dropped down from the thick branches of a dying fern tree, landing heavily in the rocky hollow. They wore dark green robes embroidered with silver linings. They gripped cold steel weapons.

It was a squad of Bai Clan disciples.

Gu Fan’s eyes swept over them instantly. What is this luck that he is yet to come across a Gu Clan disciple. At every turn there is a Bai Clan disciple waiting for him.

[System Scan Complete: Cultivation levels assessed in a fraction of a second.]

[Targets: 5th, 7th, and 8th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.]

[Leader Target: 1st Stage of the Spirit Realm.]

It was a highly elite hunting squad.

Meanwhile, the four Bai Clan disciples stared at Gu Fan for a second and then, they looked past him at the massive, mechanically split boulder that clearly led down into a hidden subterranean tomb.

Their eyes widened.

"Well, well, well," the Spirit Realm leader sneered, resting his heavy sabre on his shoulder. He looked Gu Fan up and down, a cruel, mocking smirk forming on his lips. "Look what we have here. The little bastard of the Gu Clan has found a hidden legacy."

The 8th Stage Body Tempering disciple laughed loudly, pointing his sword directly at Gu Fan’s bare chest.

"And it looks like the tomb’s traps burnt his clothes right off! Look at him! He’s butt naked!"

"What a pathetic piece of trash," the 7th Stage Body Tempering disciple spat, stepping forward to flank Gu Fan, "Hey, bastard! Hand over your Spatial Ring and whatever treasure you found down there."

"Do it right now, and we might be merciful enough to not that little brother of yours."

Gu Fan just stood there, as he looked at the four highly arrogant, incredibly stupid men blocking his path.

Then, Gu Fan threw his head back and laughed.

"Hahahaha!"

It wasn’t a laugh out of nervousness. It was a booming, utterly manic laugh that echoed loudly through the forest.

"What the fuck is so funny?!" the Spirit Realm leader barked, his face flushing with sudden anger. He turned towards the others and ordered, "Cut his fucking dick off! Make him bleed until he hands over the loot!"

"With pleasure!" the 8th Stage disciple yelled.

He lunged forward with terrifying speed., as he gripped his steel sword with both hands, channelling all of his Body Tempering Qi into the blade. He swung it in a brutal, horizontal arc, aiming straight for Gu Fan’s bare waist, intending to chop off his little brother.

"I have fought enough for today," Gu Fan moved and raised his bare left hand and caught the swinging steel blade directly by the sharp edge, "I like what you are wearing. Do you mind?"

CLANG!

The 8th Stage Body Tempering disciple’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. The heavy sword stopped dead in its tracks. It didn’t cut Gu Fan’s palm. It didn’t even break through his skin.

"You don’t have to strip," Gu Fan smiled, "I will do all the work."

And without giving the Bai Clan disciple the chance, he pulled his right fist back and punched straight forward, aiming directly for the centre of the disciple’s chest.

At the exact moment his knuckles made contact with the green robes, Gu Fan triggered the Purple Nether-Ghost Fire.

A violent burst of dark purple flame erupted from his fist.

The punch drove straight through the disciple’s ribcage as if his bones were made of wet paper. The purple fire instantly melted the flesh, bone, and organs in a massive, gaping hole right through the man’s torso.

But the Purple Ghost Fire didn’t just burn his flesh. It burned the soul.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

The 8th Stage Body tempering disciple screamed in pain and dropped his sword. He fell to his knees, throwing his head back and unleashing a scream of absolute, ungodly agony. It was a horrifying sound, the sound of a human soul being literally incinerated from the inside out.

Within two seconds, the screaming stopped. The man’s entire body turned into a pile of fine white ash, collapsing onto the dirt.

And the forest fell dead silent.

The remaining three Bai Clan disciples froze in absolute terror. Their confident, arrogant sneers melted off their faces. They stared at the pile of ash, completely unable to process what had just happened.

"Who’s next?" Gu Fan sneered, his right hand still dripping with a faint, flickering purple flame.

"Monster!" the 7th Stage disciple screamed, completely losing his mind. He turned around and tried to run back into the forest.

Gu Fan didn’t let him. He can’t have witnesses that might spread his wonders in the Poison Valley Town. Well, not yet.

He activated the Sovereign Strike of Infinite Freedom, and his naked body blurred from where he was standing and he teleported directly behind the fleeing 7th Stage Body tempering disciple.

Gu Fan reached out, grabbing a massive fistful of the man’s hair.

"Where do you think you are going, buddy?" Gu Fan whispered coldly into his ear, "we haven’t even exchanged names yet."

He pulled the hair backward with brutal force, jerking the disciple’s head down while simultaneously driving his heavy knee straight upward.

CRUNCH!

The incredibly dense knee completely shattered the disciple’s face. The skull of the disciple caved in violently, and the brain matter and blood exploded outward, splashing on the nearby rocks.

"Agh! So weak," Gu Fan casually tossed the twitching, faceless corpse onto the dirt.

"Fifty percent job done," Gu Fan counted, turning his gaze toward the remaining two men.

The 5th Stage disciple literally dropped his weapon and pissed his pants, his knees knocking together in sheer terror.

The Spirit Realm leader, however, let out a furious roar. He was terrified, but his pride as a Spirit Realm cultivator wouldn’t let him run from a naked man.

"I will kill you, you demonic bastard!" the leader screamed.

He gripped his heavy sabre with both hands, channelling his Spirit Qi until the steel vibrated with lethal killing intent.

He didn’t waste time with flashy jumps, as he lunged forward, closing the distance in a single, explosive step, and he thrust the serrated blade straight forward, attempting to stab Gu Fan directly through the heart.

"Going straight for the heart?!" Gu Fan casually sidestepped, letting the glowing blade sail past his ribs, "You hurt me, brother."

But his comments only enraged, the leader further and he violently twisted his wrists, bringing the heavy sabre crashing down in a brutal vertical cleave aimed right to split Gu Fan in two.

Gu Fan, on the other hand, simply raised his bare left forearm, slapping the flat side of the heavy steel blade and knocking it off course.

"Just die you bastard!" The leader of the group yelled, as he used the momentum of the deflection, to spin on his heel and drove the serrated edge in a vicious, two-handed horizontal slash aimed straight to decapitate the naked Gu Fan.

"The same move again and again," Gu Fan raised his right hand, and caught the speeding steel blade directly in his palm.

Ssssssss!

The Spirit-tier sabre sizzled loudly between his palms and in the blink of an eye, the legendary heat of the Purple Nether-Ghost Fire completely melted the high-grade metal. The sabre liquefied into glowing slag, dripping harmlessly onto the ground around Gu Fan’s feet.

"What?!" the leader gasped, hanging in the air, holding nothing but a melted hilt.

"My turn," Gu Fan smirked.

He reached up and grabbed the leader by the throat with his bare hand.

The purple fire instantly transferred from Gu Fan’s palm onto the leader’s neck. The terrifying flames violently spread outward, instantly engulfing the leader’s entire body.

"AHHHHHH! HELP! IT BURNS! IT BURNS MY SOUL!" the Spirit Realm cultivator shrieked, thrashing wildly in Gu Fan’s iron grip.

But Gu Fan did not let the grip loosen as he watched with a sadistic smile as the purple fire did its work. .

Finally Gu Fan let go of the man. The burning man hit the ground, thrashing for three more seconds before disintegrating entirely into a second pile of white ash.

Gu Fan turned his attention to the very last man. The 5th Stage disciple who had pissed himself.

The young man was on his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Please... please don’t kill me..." he begged, pressing his forehead against the dirt. "Take everything... just let me go..."

"Shut up," Gu Fan said flatly.

He walked over and kicked the boy squarely in the temple. The sheer physical force snapped the disciple’s neck instantly, killing him without burning him to a crisp.

[System Notification: Killed 4 Bai Clan Disciples.]

[10x Plunder Multiplier Applied.]

Before the system could process the loot, Gu Fan dismissed the prompt. He was sure there was nothing remarkable wit these guys.

So he didn’t care about the minor loot right now. He had a much more pressing issue.

He was still completely naked.

He walked over to the fresh corpse of the 5th Stage disciple he had just kicked to death. Because he hadn’t used the purple fire, the boy’s clothes were entirely intact.

Gu Fan crouched down and roughly stripped the dark green Bai Clan robes and the thick linen trousers off the dead body.

He pulled the trousers on. They were tight, stretching uncomfortably against his thighs, but they fit well enough to cover his crotch. He threw the green outer robe over his broad shoulders, leaving the front completely open to expose his chest.

"I need to get new clothes soon," Gu Fan grumbled, adjusting the tight waistband, "I can’t be seen wearing these clothes."

Gu Fan didn’t bother burying the bodies or hiding the piles of ash. He didn’t care who found them.

He adjusted his clothes and walked casually into the dense, toxic foliage of the Venom Forest, completely disappearing into the shadows.

It was time to get out of this forest.