CHAPTER 134 — The First Flames of the Higher Realm
The Astral Forge Sect awakened before the triple suns fully crested the horizon.
Even in the faint dawn-light, the massive peaks radiated an oppressive heat—not from temperature alone, but from the sheer density of laws embedded within the land. Every stone, every breath, every drifting ember carried weight beyond physics.
Lin stood at the edge of the Outer Forge Yard, feeling that pressure coil around his bones and organs like invisible chains.
Aurora floated beside him, arms folded, eyes sharp.
"This realm smells like star-metal and arrogance," she muttered. "I approve of the materials. I despise the attitude."
Lin exhaled slowly. "Then I'll fit right in."
Elder Rowan approached from the forge terraces above, hands clasped behind his back.
"This is as far as Outer disciples are allowed," he said. "You don't touch astral-grade materials yet. If your body collapses, that's your fault. If you damage sect property, that's my problem."
Lin bowed. "Understood."
Rowan's eyes swept over him briefly, then moved on without a second glance.
"Begin with lift discipline."
---
The Weight of Star-Iron
Before Lin sat dozens of forging stands, each holding a dull-gray billet of star-iron—metal refined under celestial pressure until even its atoms carried gravitational compression.
He stepped forward and wrapped his fingers around the nearest billet.
It didn't budge.
He tightened his grip and pulled.
Pain shot through his arms as though he'd attempted to uproot a mountain with bare hands. The billet slammed back down with a low thunderous clang.
Jiya, working nearby, winced. "That thing weighs more than an island in your old realm."
Kade grunted beside her as he struggled with his own billet. "Took me three weeks before I stopped breaking bones."
Lin flexed his fingers. The bones inside rang as if struck by bells.
Saint Shengyuan's calm voice echoed softly within him.
> "This is not merely weight. This metal is bound to gravity laws directly. Every atom resists displacement."
Aurora snorted.
> "Translation: it hates being moved by weaklings."
Lin inhaled slowly and activated the triple-helix gravity circulation method Rowan had taught him.
He pulled again.
This time, the billet rose—slowly, violently shaking in his grasp.
His arms trembled violently as sweat burst from every pore. His vision darkened from strain.
Then he set it back down.
Jiya and Kade stared.
"You lifted it," Jiya whispered.
Kade stared at his own unmoved billet, face dark. "Three weeks… he did it in two tries?"
Rowan watched from the edge of the yard without comment, his expression unreadable.
---
The Silent Threat of the Titans
Deeper within the forge complex, Lin noticed towering figures moving through the upper yards.
True Titan-blooded disciples.
Twice his height, bodies inscribed with natural law-runes, lifting billets that would crush mountains in the lower realm.
One of them turned his head.
His eyes met Lin's.
For a brief instant, the space between them compressed, as if gravity itself acknowledged the confrontation.
Then the Titan looked away.
Aurora's voice tightened.
> "You caught its interest."
Lin frowned. "That's not reassuring."
> "It wasn't meant to be."
---
Saint Shengyuan's Strain
Within Lin's inner earth, Shengyuan sat cross-legged beneath the twin suns of his newly reconstructed solar system. His aura fluctuated subtly.
"This realm rejects instability," Shengyuan said quietly. "Its gravity does not merely compress the body—it scours the soul's structure. My reconstructed Saint foundation must stabilize again under higher laws."
Aurora reclined casually against a floating continent fragment.
"So the mighty Saint must retemper himself like a rookie?"
Shengyuan chuckled faintly. "It seems even Saints must be humble when entering higher heavens."
Nearby, Dragon Bai stirred within his massive stone nest.
> "Heavy… hot… but strong…"
The gravity-rich environment was accelerating his growth at an alarming rate.
---
First Contact with Astral Flame
As the day progressed, Rowan escorted Lin deeper into the forge yard.
"You will not forge today," Rowan said flatly. "You will only face flame."
They stopped before a massive furnace fused directly into the mountain itself. Within burned Astral Flame—blue-white fire so dense that it bent light and space around it.
Rowan snapped his fingers.
A thin thread of flame escaped the furnace.
The instant it brushed Lin's exposed forearm—
Every meridian in his body locked.
His blood roared. His bones vibrated violently. His dantian convulsed under the pressure of godfire.
Aurora screamed inside his soul.
> "That is NOT forging fire—that is reality-branding flame!"
Lin forced himself to endure three heartbeats.
Then Rowan extinguished the flame.
Lin dropped to one knee, chest heaving violently as smoke curled from his sleeve.
"You didn't faint," Rowan said flatly.
Lin rasped, "Was that… the introduction?"
Rowan nodded.
"Most void survivors die at the introduction."
---
The True Role of the Astral Forge Sect
That evening, Rowan finally spoke what Lin had sensed since arriving.
"You think this is a blacksmith sect."
Lin listened.
"It is not." Rowan's gaze hardened. "We do not forge weapons for cultivators. We forge weapons for realms."
Lin's breathing slowed.
Rowan continued:
"We mend fractured worlds. Seal cosmic void scars. Break abyssal gods. And rewrite broken laws with star-metal and flame."
Aurora fell silent.
Rowan studied Lin.
"You were summoned not because you are strong now… but because what you may become terrifies even this realm."
Lin closed his hand slowly into a fist.
---
The Message That Was Not the World-Spirit
That night, within Lin's quarters, the sky rippled once more.
Only for him.
A shadow passed across his soul, not physical light—but cosmic recognition.
A whisper brushed the edge of his consciousness:
> "The thief of worlds walks beneath Titan stars."
Lin froze.
Aurora's voice was sharp.
"That was NOT the World-Spirit."
Saint Shengyuan's tone turned grave.
"That presence predates this realm's recorded creation."
Lin stared into the heavens long after the ripple faded.
So even among higher worlds…
Something ancient had already found his trail.
---
Iron Before the Hammer
Lin sat cross-legged beneath crushing gravity, palms steady before him.
He had lived as a tyrant in one realm.
A sovereign in another.
A world-shaper in secret.
Here?
He was raw iron.
And the hammer had only just been lifted.
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