The sound of a dragon's roar echoed in Evan Chu's heart, startling him—could this be the awakening of his bloodline? He was both nervous and expectant.
A streak of red light flashed across his body but quickly vanished without a trace. Evan Chu felt as if something was pushing out from his skin—or maybe something was growing there.
At that moment, the gravity in the chamber seemed to lighten considerably. Evan Chu knew this phenomenon must be connected to the dragon's roar echoing inside him.
Suddenly, he saw something bizarre—fish-scale-like red scales appeared on the back of his hand, faintly glowing in the dim light.
In that instant, Evan Chu felt a surge of powerful energy erupt inside him, racing through his meridians and making them crackle like exploding firecrackers.
Seeing the scales on his hand and the strange changes within, Evan Chu was seized by a sense of foreboding—could he be on the verge of breaking through to the Fourth Layer of Starforge Body right here in the chamber?
If that really happened, he might be in serious danger. Was this the 'unexpected harvest' Luna, the Sword Spirit, had warned about?
If this was the kind of harvest she meant, it was way too much—far beyond what he could handle, and completely the wrong place and time for it.
"Luna, am I really about to break through to the Fourth Layer of Starforge Body?" Evan Chu blurted out, though his feet never stopped moving forward.
"You're not at the breakthrough threshold yet. What you're experiencing is the effect of your bloodline power—these phenomena will fade soon. For now, keep moving forward as much as you can."
"Let the gravity do its work and temper that bloodline power you just woke up. Otherwise, your meridians might snap. Try circulating that strand through your body—who knows, you might get a surprise out of it!" Luna chimed in, voice crisp and urgent.
Evan Chu felt a wave of relief. As long as he didn’t break through Starforge Body’s Fourth Layer here, he’d be fine. Once he slowly absorbed that rush of energy, all these weird symptoms would fade away.
As he walked, Evan carefully guided that power toward his dantian. His steps were slow, but his body—hardened by Starforge—let him breeze past the others by several meters.
The cultivator nearby could only stare, dumbstruck, as Evan closed in on the ninety-meter mark. For him, this was already the limit—he was totally spent.
He’d gotten this far thanks to a body-refining Earth-tier martial art and his own Heaven Martial Second Layer strength. But now, someone even crazier had shown up—he could hardly wrap his head around it.
Evan poured all his focus into circulating his inner energy. The agony from the gravity seemed to fade. By the time the time limit hit, he’d reached the ninety-meter mark—without even realizing it.
Suddenly, the crushing gravity vanished. Most of that power had already settled into Evan’s dantian; only a little was left in his meridians.
But even that last bit felt like it was about to rip his meridians apart. The pain was so sharp, Evan couldn’t help but cry out.
"Evan, time to bail! If you stick around, the next batch comes in and you’ll get slammed by this gravity all over again. Trust me, that’s not a risk you want to take!" Luna barked.
Evan got the message and started limping back, stepping over bodies scattered down the corridor. For him, those ninety meters felt like nine hundred. All the survivors had already cleared out—he was the last man standing.
Little by little, the pain in his meridians faded. In the dim light, Evan saw the scales on his arms melt away, so he bolted out of the chamber.
Gavin Wei was outside, pacing anxiously. He’d waited ages for Evan to show, but still no sign. A cold dread gnawed at his gut—maybe something terrible had happened.
Tears welled up in Gavin’s tiger eyes. "Brother Long, weren’t you the one always telling me not to charge in headfirst? So why’d you go and do it yourself! We haven’t been friends long, but you treat me like a real brother. You can’t just leave me hanging!"
Gavin stood at the chamber door, muttering to himself, grief written all over his face.
"Quit bawling, I’m not dead yet! What, you hoping I’d croak in there?" Evan’s voice rang out, rough and teasing.
Gavin’s eyes went wide. He looked up to see Evan strolling out, grinning. Gavin couldn’t hold back—he lunged for a bear hug, shouting, "You’re alive! You really made it!"
"Cut it out! I’m not into that kind of thing," Evan protested, wriggling free.
Gavin let go, face still pale. "Brother Long, why’d you come out so late? You nearly scared me to death! How far did you go?"
"You’ll see soon enough. Let’s get moving!" Evan replied, flashing a mysterious smile.
After a few dozen steps, someone called out, "Kid, you’ve got guts—making it that far! Respect! Hope you crush it in the next round too!"
Evan glanced over—it was the same contestant from before. He hadn’t expected to get recognized so fast. "Just lucky, I guess. If I pass the next round, I’ll be happy enough," he said, keeping it humble.
Just then, General Roland Lowell’s voice boomed overhead: "First place in Group Seven reached ninety meters! Any group wanting first has to beat ninety! Big rewards on the line!"
The crowd was floored. Everyone knew that past forty meters, every step added a hundred jin of pressure.
And after eighty meters, every step stacked on at least three to five hundred jin more. Ninety meters—over ten thousand jin! That was insane.
"Brother Long, was that you?" Gavin asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
He was so loud, half the candidates turned to stare. Whispers and rumors started flying—could it be true?
Evan rolled his eyes. "Me? No way. I was stuck at sixty meters, barely able to move. Don’t go spreading rumors—I don’t want people laughing at me."
His words rippled through the crowd. With his age and chill demeanor, nobody bought it.
"Brother Long! Gavin! You guys made it out! That’s awesome!" Woody Luo’s voice piped up.
Evan and Gavin turned. Woody was all smiles as she strolled over. "So, how far’d you go?" she asked.
"Fifty meters," Gavin muttered, a little embarrassed.
"Sixty meters. Not bad, right? What about you?" Evan grinned, betting Woody had gone farther.
"Didn’t get that far. The gravity was nuts—I stopped at seventy-five meters. But you guys did great! Surprised?" Woody said, flashing a cheeky smile.
"Seventy-five meters? You?" Gavin’s jaw dropped—he felt like his whole worldview just got flipped upside down.