CHAPTER 132 — The Weight of a Higher Realm
The next morning dawned beneath three suns, each casting a slightly different hue across the Astral Forge Sect. Lin awoke slowly, blinking against the prismatic gold light that filtered through the window of his temporary courtyard house. Even breathing felt different—the air here wasn't merely air. Every inhale drew threads of astral qi into his lungs, tingling and dissolving into his meridians without conscious effort.
He sat cross-legged, eyes closed, stabilizing his foundation.
The moment he began cycling qi, the world answered.
A subtle pressure pushed down on him—gravity increasing by degrees, adjusting with the rising suns. It wasn't malicious; it was simply the nature of this realm, the weight of a place built on laws far older and deeper than anything the lower world possessed.
He rose to his feet.
His steps were heavy, yet steady.
His bones ached, yet strengthened.
His meridians thrummed, yet widened.
"Just walking is cultivation here…" Lin murmured.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
This realm will temper me in every breath.
---
The Training Grounds of the Gravity Peak
By the time Lin arrived at Elder Rowan's training courtyard, dozens of disciples were already there—most sweating, shaking, or flat-out collapsed. The courtyard itself was a marvel: a circular platform of engraved astral steel that pulsed faintly with gravitational runes.
"STAND!" Elder Rowan barked.
Half the disciples tried and failed.
A quarter managed to rise halfway.
Only a handful truly stood.
Lin stepped onto the platform.
Immediately the weight doubled—then doubled again.
His knees bent under the pressure. His bones creaked. His vision trembled. But he steadied himself, grounding his stance.
Around him, disciples stole glances.
"Who's the newcomer?"
"He's not even a Titan-blooded, yet—he's standing?"
"Impossible…"
Rowan noticed, of course. The elder's expression remained stone, but his eyes sharpened.
Without warning, Rowan flicked his fingers.
"Gravity Level: Second Seal."
The pressure slammed down like a falling mountain.
Disciples screamed as they were crushed flat; even the stronger ones dropped to their knees.
But Lin—
Lin stayed standing. His muscles shook violently, but his balance held.
---
The Resonance Begins
Inside him, his inner solar system stirred.
His twin suns brightened.
The orbiting planets shivered.
Space itself rippled as if excited.
Then—
Resonance.
Gravity laws from the realm brushed against his internal world… and his world reached back. The sensation was surreal, like two tuning forks vibrating in harmony.
Lin exhaled, and a shockwave of force rippled outward.
The disciples gasped.
Rowan's eyes widened a fraction.
This was not normal.
This was not possible.
Gravity here was meant to suppress, not empower.
---
Rowan Tests Him
The elder stepped forward, his boot cracking the reinforced ground.
"You…"
His brow lowered.
"…let's test how far you can go."
He pressed his palm down.
"Third Seal."
A crushing tidal wave of gravity slammed into Lin. He staggered, shoulders dropping—but did not fall.
Rowan's jaw tightened.
"Fourth."
Lin braced himself.
The pressure struck like a black hole's grip. His vision darkened. His feet sank into the ground. His heartbeat felt like it was being squeezed apart.
But again—he did not fall.
Inside him, the solar system whirled, stabilizing him, absorbing the law-pressure like fuel.
Rowan stared at him.
Disbelief.
Intrigue.
A hint of excitement.
"…Monstrous."
---
Lin Completes the First Gravity Tempering Stage
In an attempt to survive the Fifth Seal—which Rowan had not even announced—Lin instinctively cycled the triple-helix qi method he learned yesterday.
Astral qi surged.
Gravity laws folded around him.
His world drank them in greedily.
A ring of shimmering gravitational force exploded around his body.
BOOM.
The courtyard shook.
Every disciple dropped flat.
Runes lit up to prevent structural collapse.
Lin blinked in confusion.
Rowan stared, slack-jawed.
"You… you just finished the First Tempering Stage."
Lin frowned. "That was the first stage?"
Rowan rubbed his face like a man questioning his life choices.
"That took me four months."
---
The Sect Takes Notice
Whispers spread instantly.
"That newcomer… he withstood the Fifth Seal?!"
"No—Rowan said he completed a whole stage in one morning!"
"Is he a monster or a genius?"
"Should we recruit him? Warn the peak master?"
Not far away, hidden beneath the shade of a colonnade, an inner disciple with a golden mantle watched Lin intently, eyes glowing with runic interpretation.
---
A Warning from Rowan
Rowan dismissed the others but motioned for Lin to follow him.
They stopped beneath a giant astral tree. Rowan's voice was low.
"Boy. Listen well."
Lin straightened.
"In this realm, overwhelming talent is not a blessing—it is provocation."
Lin nodded silently.
Rowan continued:
"You must hide some of your brilliance. A world like ours… rewards strength but punishes arrogance. Show too much, too quickly, and someone will test you to death."
Lin absorbed the words carefully.
He had grown used to dominating the lower realm.
This place was different.
Here, arrogance could be suicide.
---
"Your Presence Bends the Gravity of This Realm."
Rowan hesitated before speaking again.
"When you resonated just now… I felt something unheard of."
Lin raised a brow. "What?"
Rowan's gaze sharpened.
"Your mere presence bends the gravity of this realm."
Lin froze.
His inner world pulsed again, as if acknowledging Rowan's words.
---
The Sky Trembles
Before Lin could respond, a shadow passed overhead.
Rowan looked up sharply.
Lin followed his gaze—
And saw it.
High above the sect, far beyond where mortal sight should reach, a massive golden eye opened within the sky itself, lidless and ancient.
Gravity shuddered.
Wind reversed direction.
The entire peak trembled.
Then, as quickly as it appeared—
It vanished.
Rowan's voice was barely a whisper.
"…The world-spirit is watching you."
Lin exhaled slowly.
So even this higher realm… had taken notice.
And that was never a good sign.
---