The ancient stone gates slammed shut with a deafening thud, sealing the subterranean cavern in a heavy, suffocating shadow. The only illumination came from jagged veins of glowing red minerals embedded within the jagged basalt walls, casting a blood-like sheen over the hundreds of cultivators who had rushed inside.
This was the first layer of the Crimson-Cavern Secret Realm, the Subterranean Gravity Crags.
A dense, stale air reeked of ancient sulfur, damp stone, and forgotten blood. The cavern stretched out as far as the eye could see, a vast subterranean canyon filled with floating rock platforms, crumbling stone bridges, and deep abyssal chasms.
Before the eager crowd of disciples and rogue mercenaries could even take five steps forward, a low, ominous vibration echoed through the cavern floor. Deep beneath the bedrock, an ancient defense array left behind by the Blood-Flame Sovereign three hundred years ago snapped awake!
BOOM!
A wave of invisible, crushing force crashed down from the ceiling like a falling mountain. In the span of a single heartbeat, the ambient gravity inside the cavern spiked tenfold!
"Aaargh!"
"My back! My ribs!"
Desperate screams instantly shattered the quiet. Dozens of lower-stage rogue cultivators, those sitting at the 3rd to 6th Stages of Qi Refining, were smashed flat onto the cold, hard stone. Their knees buckled so violently that bone fragments shattered under the sudden pressure, spraying crimson blood across the dirt. Even the stronger 8th-Stage Qi Refining disciples groaned under the strain, their limbs trembling like leaves in a storm as they fought simply to stay upright.
"Damn it! Ten times gravity?!" an inner disciple from Heavenly Sword Peak grunted, his face turning beet-red as he pressed both hands against his knees to keep from collapsing. "How are we supposed to traverse this cavern under such pressure?!"
Near the front of the crowd, a loud, disdainful snort cut through the chaos.
Huo Tian erupted with a wave of scorching red flames. His Early Foundation Establishment Realm Qi surged outwards without restraint, forming a shimmering, fiery mantle over his skin. While the Qi Refining cultivators around him were bent double in agony, Huo Tian stood completely erect. Every heavy step he took left deep, cracked footprints in the solid basalt, but his raw realm foundation allowed him to force his way forward through sheer physical power.
"Hmph! A bunch of useless trash!" Huo Tian bellowed, his voice booming through the cavern.
He turned his head, his fiery eyes sweeping across the crowd until they locked directly onto Gu Chen, who was standing quietly behind Su Yan.
Seeing Gu Chen standing completely still without a single flicker of Qi around his body, Huo Tian mistook his quiet composure for total, paralyzed terror. The jealous rage that had been brewing inside Huo Tian’s chest since they landed at the ravine erupted into pure, arrogant malice.
"Hey! Low-born trash!" Huo Tian roared, pointing a finger thick with red flame directly at Gu Chen’s face. "What's the matter?! Is ten times gravity too much for a 9th-Stage Qi Refining beggar like you?! Look at you, frozen like a statue! If you can't even lift your legs, lie down on your belly and crawl like a dog back to the entrance!"
Huo Tian’s loud taunt immediately drew the attention of dozens of nearby Sun-Moon Sect disciples and surrounding clan cultivators.
"Who is that kid anyway?" a Sun-Moon Sect inner disciple whispered sneeringly, wiping sweat from his brow as he struggled against the gravity. "He's only at the 9th Stage of Qi Refining, yet he had the nerve to walk right beside Fairy Su Yan!"
"He must have used some slick, honeyed words to trick Senior Sister Su," another disciple scoffed, his eyes burning with intense jealousy. "Fairy Su is the proud lead disciple of Lotus-Phoenix Peak! She’s a peerless beauty who reaches for the heavens, while he’s nothing more than an orphan from the wild. Seeing them stand together makes my stomach turn!"
"Senior Brother Huo is right! A Qi Refining insect shouldn't even be allowed inside a Core Formation secret realm! He’s just dragging Fairy Su down!"
The surrounding murmurs grew louder, filled with spite, condescension, and bitter envy. In their eyes, Gu Chen was a low-born Nobody trying to ride the coattails of their goddess.
Unbothered by the insults, Su Yan didn't even look at the crowd. Her ruby eyes were filled entirely with concern for Gu Chen. Knowing that her true Body Refining strength allowed her to resist the gravity easily, she stepped closer to him, her golden Sun-Phoenix fire flaring outward to create a warm, protective mantle.
Without a second thought, Su Yan reached up with her slender, fair hand, gently brushing a stray speck of dust off Gu Chen’s dark collar before adjusting his shoulder robes.
"Gu Chen, don't listen to them," Su Yan murmured softly, her eyes shining with gentle warmth as she looked into his violet pupils. "Step inside my barrier. My fire Qi can shield you from the array's weight completely."
The moment her hand touched Gu Chen’s shoulder, the surrounding Sun-Moon Sect disciples nearly lost their minds!
"W-What?!" an inner disciple shrieked, his eyes bulging out of his head. "Fairy Su... Fairy Su just adjusted his clothes?!"
"She touched him?! Fairy Su Yan—who has rejected every noble Young Master in the kingdom for two years—just brushed dust off a Qi Refining beggar's collar?!"
"A toad eating swan meat! This is an insult to our entire Sun-Moon Sect!"
Seeing the woman he had obsessively pursued for two years treat a nameless 9th-Stage Qi Refining youth with such intimate, tender devotion made Huo Tian’s blood boil to the boiling point. The veins on his neck bulged, his face turning a dark, terrifying shade of purple.
"You filthy beggar!" Huo Tian roared, slamming his heavy fire-sword into the stone ground, sending a shockwave of heat rippling across the floor. "Take your hands off her! Inside this realm, status means nothing! I’m going to break both your legs and throw you into the nearest chasm!"
Beside Huo Tian, Lin Feng stepped forward with a cold, mocking smirk. Metallic sword Qi hummed softly within his skin, his tempered bones ringing like struck steel as he stood effortlessly under the 10x gravity.
"Senior Brother Huo, why waste your breath on a corpse?" Lin Feng said, his tone dripping with supreme condescension as he adjusted his silver sword robes. "A 9th-Stage Qi Refining worm trying to brave a Core Formation Master's trial is pure foolishness. He doesn't even have the strength to walk five paces. Dragging Fairy Su down like this... he won't even survive to see the second layer."
"Indeed!" a Lin Clan guard added, laughing sneeringly. "Young Master Lin has already forged his bones into the Start of the Bone Refining Realm! A mere Qi Refining peasant isn't even fit to wash our Young Master's boots!"
The taunts echoed through the cavern, a chorus of arrogant geniuses looking down upon a man they believed to be helpless trash.
Gu Chen stood at his full height, his hands tucked casually inside his wide, dark sleeves. He looked at Huo Tian, Lin Feng, and the shouting inner disciples with hollow, deadpan violet eyes.
To an ancient Demonic Sovereign who had once slaughtered Immortal Kings and trod upon celestial star-realms, their loud barking was no different from a swarm of noisy mosquitoes buzzing in a swamp.
Su Yan looked at Gu Chen, offering her golden flame shield once more. "Gu Chen, come inside."
"No need," Gu Chen replied smoothly, his deep voice calm and undisturbed.
He reached out and gently tapped her wrist with a cool finger, brushing her protective gesture aside.
Gu Chen looked down at the glowing red array lines weaving beneath his boots. With his divine perception, he saw through the crude structure instantly. The ancient grandmaster who built this gravity array had left massive, glaring flaws in its spatial energy distribution. To resist it, brainless brutes like Huo Tian flared their raw Qi, wasting vast amounts of spiritual energy just to take heavy, agonizing steps.
A Sovereign did not waste energy on crude arrays. One simply walked upon the ley-lines.
Gu Chen took a single step forward.
He didn't flare his Qi. He didn't bend his knees. He didn't even break a sweat.
His dark boot landed with absolute, millimetric precision on an invisible spatial null-point—a tiny gap in the array where the opposing gravitational vectors completely canceled each other out.
Step. Step. Step.
While surrounding cultivators groaned, gasped, and bled under the 10x weight, Gu Chen strolled forward as if taking a peaceful morning walk through a quiet garden. He moved with effortless, floating grace, his hands resting casually inside his sleeves. Every footstep landed squarely on the array's blind spots, rendering the crushing gravitational force entirely nonexistent beneath his soles.
Within three short breaths, he casually glided right past the shouting Sun-Moon Sect disciples, stepping past the stunned Lin Clan guards, and strolled right past Huo Tian and Lin Feng.
The entire cavern fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
Huo Tian’s arrogant roar froze instantly in his throat. His jaw dropped so low it nearly hit his chest, his fiery eyes bulging as he stared at Gu Chen’s relaxed, receding back. "W-What?! How are you moving like that without using a single drop of Qi?!"
Lin Feng’s confident, condescending smirk completely shattered. His hands trembled behind his back as he watched the "Qi Refining worm" walk faster, smoother, and more gracefully than any Foundation or Bone Refining master present, utterly ignoring the pressure that was forcing them to burn through their spiritual reserves.
"Im... Impossible!" a nearby clan elder gasped, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "He isn't using any defensive martial technique! Is his physical frame made of celestial steel?!"
The Sun-Moon Sect disciples who had just been mocking Gu Chen stood paralyzed, their faces burning with an intense, agonizing humiliation. The man they had just called a "helpless beggar" was strolling through ten times gravity as if it were a mild breeze!
Su Yan stared at Gu Chen’s calm, dark figure, her ruby eyes sparkling with immense pride and affection. A soft, breathless laugh escaped her lips as she easily kept pace beside him inside her flame shield. Every time these arrogant young masters tried to put him down, Gu Chen crushed their pride without even raising his voice.
High above the cavern floor, standing atop a jutting basalt pillar, Ye Hanling looked down at the scene.
Her long, silver-white hair fluttered in the cavern draft, her icy sapphire eyes narrowing into sharp, penetrating needles. While the brainless crowd thought Gu Chen was relying on raw physical strength, Ye Hanling’s sharp Late Foundation perception caught the subtle, terrifying truth.
He isn't fighting the array... Ye Hanling thought, her long eyelashes trembling in profound shock. He is walking directly on the array's hidden spatial seams! How can a 9th-Stage Qi Refining youth possess such ancient, legendary array comprehension?!
As if sensing her gaze, Gu Chen paused slightly, glancing up toward the floating pillar. His dark violet eyes met her clear sapphire gaze, a cold, knowing smirk touching his lips before he turned back toward the path ahead.
Ye Hanling’s breath hitched. Deep inside her chest, her Nine-Cold meridians twitched violently once more, sending a strange, electric heat pulsing through her icy blood.
Suddenly, a bright translucent blue notification box flashed cleanly across Gu Chen’s vision.
[DING!]
[System Notice: Host set a splendid example of non-violent elegance and modesty! Truly a role model for the younger generation!]
[System Warning: Please maintain this peaceful, cooperative spirit and refrain from holding grudges against Senior Brother Huo and Young Master Lin!]
Gu Chen closed his eyes, a dark, silent sneer curling inside his mind.
Refrain from holding grudges?
Keep barking, insects. The moment we reach an isolated tunnel away from public eyes, I will strip your spatial rings clean and feed your broken bones to the subterranean beasts.
Without slowing his pace for a single second, Gu Chen led Su Yan deeper into the subterranean abyss toward the overgrown Botanical Ruins of Level 1.