Inside the Small World of Ancient Trials.
This was an independent dimension, a massive continent floating in a void, filled with purple jungles, ancient ruins, and beast kings.
At the designated "Safe Zone Landing Plaza," the atmosphere was tense.
The elites of the Four Sect Alliance had gathered.
The Heavenly Sword Sect (led by their First Disciple, a arrogant sword user).
The Vajra Temple (led by Monk Kuhai, a muscle-bound giant with golden skin).
The Violet Mist Pavilion (led by a veiled woman with poisonous snakes).
The Beast Mountain (led by a man riding a Saber-Toothed Tiger).
They surrounded the Teleportation Platform.
They weren't here to welcome the Mystic Cloud Sect. They were here to crush them.
"Are the preparations complete?" Monk Kuhai asked, his voice booming like a bronze bell.
"Yes," the Violet Mist leader hissed. "We have deployed the [Ten-Direction Gravity Suppression Array]. The moment they teleport in, the gravity in the circle will increase by 20 times. They will be flattened into the dirt instantly. They will kneel before us the moment they arrive."
"Hahaha!" The Beast Mountain leader laughed. "A fitting welcome for the trash sect. I want to see Jiang Chen's face when he is forced to eat dirt."
"They are late," the Sword Disciple frowned. "The portal is fluctuating. They are coming!"
"Activate the Array!" Monk Kuhai roared. "Show no mercy!"
HUMMM.
The rune circle on the ground lit up with a blinding yellow light. The pressure inside the circle skyrocketed. The air became heavy as lead. 20x Gravity. Enough to crush a Foundation Establishment cultivator's bones and force a Golden Core cultivator to their knees.
The portal swirled.
Space twisted.
Three figures (and one handsome master) materialized inside the trap.
Jiang Chen, Ye Kai, Su Ling, and Wei Wu appeared in the center of the glowing yellow circle.
BOOM.
The gravity slammed down on them.
The ground beneath their feet cracked instantly, spiderwebbing out for fifty meters. Dust billowed up.
The disciples of the Four Sects cheered.
"It worked!"
"Look at the dust! They must be flattened!"
"Hahaha! The Mystic Cloud Sect is kneeling!"
Monk Kuhai grinned, crossing his massive arms. "Amitabha. It seems our guests were too weak to stand. How disappointing."
But then... the dust settled.
"Master," a deep, confused voice echoed from inside the circle. "Why is the air so... light?"
The cheering stopped.
In the center of the crater, Ye Kai stood upright.
He wasn't kneeling. He wasn't struggling.
He was stretching his neck. Crack.
"Light?" Su Ling tapped her glasses, checking her drone readings. "Ye Kai, the gravity here is 20x normal standard. It is a trap."
"Only 20x?" Ye Kai looked disappointed. "I just spent ten months in 50x gravity. This feels like... a vacation."
Ye Kai took a step.
THUD.
He didn't mean to stomp. But because his body had adapted to 50x gravity, his muscles were tuned for extreme resistance. In 20x gravity, he felt weightless.
He accidentally exerted too much force.
The stone paver under his foot didn't just crack—it exploded into powder.
"What..." Monk Kuhai's smile vanished. "He... he is ignoring the Suppression Array?"
Jiang Chen stood in the center, fanning himself. The 20x gravity didn't even wrinkle his Void-Silk Robe (which had its own anti-gravity enchantment).
"A Gravity Trap?" Jiang Chen looked at the stunned crowd surrounding them. "How nostalgic. Ye Kai, they are trying to help you train."
"They are too weak to help me train," Ye Kai grunted.
He looked at the glowing yellow pillars sustaining the array.
"This light is annoying."
Ye Kai didn't use a technique. He simply walked to the edge of the barrier.
He reached out with his Titan Gauntlets and grabbed the energy barrier.
Usually, you can't grab energy.
But Ye Kai's grip strength was so high it compressed the air particles into a solid.
RIIIIIP.
With a sound like tearing canvas, Ye Kai tore the array open with his bare hands.
The yellow light shattered. The pressure vanished.
"Impossible!" The Violet Mist leader shrieked. "He tore a Spirit Array with physical strength?! That's a brute force of at least 100,000 pounds!"
The Alliance disciples took a step back in fear.
Monk Kuhai grit his teeth. "Don't panic! He is just a meat shield! The others are weak!"
Kuhai stepped forward, slamming his bone staff into the ground.
"I am Monk Kuhai of the Vajra Temple! Since the array failed, I challenge you directly! Which one of you dares to face my Golden Bell Body?"
Kuhai's skin turned pure gold. He struck a pose, looking like an invincible statue.
"My defense is impenetrable! I will stand here. If you can move me one inch, I will—"
Whoosh.
A figure blurred past him.
It was Su Ling.
She wasn't attacking him. She was walking past him to scan a purple flower near the edge of the plaza.
"Grade 4 Spirit Orchid," Su Ling muttered, typing on a holographic rune pad. "Good for alchemy."
"IGNORE ME?!" Kuhai roared. His face flushed red. "Die!"
He raised his staff to smash Su Ling's head from behind.
"Calculated," Su Ling said without turning around.
Click.
One of the metal spheres floating around her head suddenly shot out a beam of blue light.
It wasn't a laser. It was a Talisman Projection.
A glowing blue talisman appeared instantly in front of Kuhai's face.
[Talisman: Kinetic Reversal.]
Kuhai's staff hit the talisman.
The force of his swing—enough to smash a boulder—was absorbed, multiplied by two, and fired back.
BOOM.
Kuhai punched himself in the face with the force of his own staff.
"URGH!"
The golden monk flew backward, spinning like a top. He crashed into a stone pillar, sliding down slowly, his nose broken.
Su Ling picked the flower. She adjusted her glasses.
"Physics," she stated simply. "It always wins."
The Standoff
Silence descended on the plaza again.
In less than a minute:
The Trap Array was ripped apart like paper.
The Tank (Ye Kai) complained the gravity was too light.
The Monk Leader was one-shot by a floating ball while the girl picked flowers.
Jiang Chen finally stepped out of the broken circle.
He looked at the hundreds of hostile disciples.
"We are here for the Summit," Jiang Chen smiled, his teeth white and predatory. "But if you want to continue this 'Welcome Ceremony,' I don't mind."
He pointed to Wei Wu, who was standing silently with his hand on his sword hilt.
"My third disciple hasn't had a turn yet. And he is very... irritable."
The Alliance leaders looked at Wei Wu.
The blind boy stood there. He looked frail.
But the Sword Cultivators from the Heavenly Sword Sect felt a chill on their necks. Their own swords were rattling in their sheaths, terrified of the Intent radiating from the blind boy.
"Retreat!" The Heavenly Sword Disciple shouted, sweat pouring down his face. "The Summit hasn't officially started! We... we will settle this in the Trials!"
"Let's go!" The Beast Mountain leader pulled his tiger back.
The Alliance scattered. They ran like rats, abandoning the plaza.
They realized one terrifying fact:
The intelligence report was wrong.
These weren't trash.
These were monsters.
Jiang Chen watched them run.
"Smart kids," he nodded.
He turned to his disciples.
"Set up camp here. We need to wait for the portal to close."
"Master," Ye Kai asked. "Why didn't we just beat them all up?"
"Because," Jiang Chen pulled out a pot, a stove, and bags of Spirit Meat from his ring. "The main event is survival. If we eliminate them too early, who will find the treasure for us to steal?"
"Now," Jiang Chen lit the stove. "Who wants Hotpot?"