CHAPTER 172 — The Weight of What One Leaves Behind
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1. The Trial Changes Its Nature
The Grand Trial Platform did not fade gently this time.
It collapsed inward.
Lin felt gravity invert, space twist, and then—
They stood inside a fractured city.
Buildings rose at impossible angles, their stone bodies half-swallowed by abyssal corrosion. Streets spiraled downward into darkness. The air smelled of ash, iron, and something faintly familiar.
Lin's chest tightened.
This wasn't random.
The Sect Master's voice echoed calmly through the false sky.
> "The first phase tested what you would carry.
The second phase will test what you are willing to leave behind."
The city stirred.
Illusions moved within it—not wraiths, not beasts—
People.
Disciples.
Civilians.
Some injured. Some screaming. Some trapped beneath fallen stone.
Yueyin's breath hitched.
"…This looks like—"
"A lower realm city," Tian finished quietly.
Lin didn't speak.
He already understood.
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2. Lin's Temptation
A path unfolded before Lin alone.
At its end floated a glowing nexus—a Law Concentration Core.
Aurora's voice whispered instantly.
"That core could advance your gravity law by years… perhaps decades."
Lin felt it too.
The pull was intoxicating.
Every instinct screamed: Take it.
But then—
A cry echoed from the street below.
A young disciple lay pinned beneath a collapsed structure, his meridians cracking under abyssal pressure.
Lin clenched his fists.
If he diverted his gravity control to save the disciple—
The core would destabilize and vanish.
He knew that with absolute certainty.
The Sect Master's voice returned.
> "Choose."
Lin closed his eyes.
He remembered Earth again.
How easy it had been to calculate forces.
How impossible it had been to stop disasters.
Power means nothing if it only serves me.
He released his hold on the core.
Gravity surged outward—not upward.
Stone lifted.
Pressure reversed.
The collapsed structure peeled away like it weighed nothing.
The disciple gasped, coughing violently but alive.
The Law Core shattered into light.
Aurora was silent.
Then she spoke softly.
"You chose limitation."
Lin exhaled.
"I chose responsibility."
The city trembled.
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3. Tian's Trial of Restraint
Tian's battlefield manifested differently.
He stood in a wide plaza ringed by abyssal creatures—but they did not attack.
Instead, a single figure stepped forward.
Another thunder cultivator.
Same build.
Same aura.
Same level.
The copy raised its fist.
Lightning crackled.
Rowan's voice echoed faintly in Tian's memory:
> "Thunder doesn't prove itself by destruction alone."
The copy attacked.
Tian dodged.
Once.
Twice.
He could end this instantly.
But every time he prepared to strike—
The illusion reacted faster.
The fight dragged on.
Tian's frustration mounted.
"Fight me!" he roared.
The copy smiled.
"You already are."
Tian froze.
Then he understood.
This wasn't about winning.
It was about control.
He slowed his breathing.
Let the lightning settle.
Then—
He stepped past the attack instead of countering it.
The copy faltered.
Lightning dissipated.
The illusion dissolved.
Tian stood alone, chest heaving.
"…Damn it," he muttered. "That was annoying."
But deep down—
He knew he'd grown.
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4. Yueyin Faces the Whisper
Yueyin's city was quieter.
Too quiet.
She walked alone through ash-covered streets.
No screams.
No enemies.
Just silence.
Then—
A familiar voice whispered behind her.
"You could save them."
She turned.
The shadow stood there—not monstrous, not terrifying—
Almost gentle.
"All of them. If you obey."
Yueyin's hands shook.
"I don't want power," she whispered. "I want peace."
The shadow tilted its head.
"Then give us the one who can build worlds."
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
"No."
The word was weak—but real.
The shadow stepped closer.
"You owe us."
Yueyin screamed.
Phoenix fire exploded outward—not violently, but purely.
The shadow recoiled, hissing as the flames burned something deeper than form.
Yueyin fell to her knees, sobbing.
"I owe you nothing," she whispered.
The city faded.
Xuanran's voice echoed faintly.
> "Good. You have taken your first step toward freedom."
The Sect Master watched from afar.
And frowned.
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5. The Abyss Notices Resistance
Deep beyond the trial domain, the Abyssal Ancestor felt something new.
Resistance.
Not defiance.
Not rebellion.
But rejection.
The whisper meant for Yueyin had been pushed back.
The Ancestor's form stirred.
"She is slipping," it growled.
A deeper voice answered from the void.
"Then tighten the leash."
The Ancestor bowed.
"Yes… Sovereign."
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6. The Trial Ends, the Path Narrows
The city dissolved.
The disciples reappeared on the Grand Trial Platform.
Many collapsed.
Some cried.
Some stared blankly into the sky.
Lin stood quietly, exhaustion heavy in his bones.
Yueyin trembled nearby, face pale but eyes clearer than before.
Tian stretched, lightning flickering lazily around him.
The Sect Master addressed them all.
> "This trial was not meant to break you.
It was meant to show you the cost of advancement."
His gaze lingered on Lin.
"You have chosen a harder road."
Lin bowed.
"I won't turn back."
Xuanyang nodded slowly.
"Good. Because the road ahead only grows crueler."
Far beyond the Titan Realm—
The Abyss shifted its gaze.
And began planning accordingly.
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