Evan Chu struggled to rise from the ground, glancing up to see that the Big Dipper's points overhead had stopped sending down stellar force—meaning the Starstones in the altar grooves were spent, and what followed was endless gravity.
"I can't die here. There's still so much I have to do!" Evan felt every muscle and bone in his body screaming, and even breathing became a struggle.
"What kind of gravity is this? It's insane!" Evan managed to choke out.
"Should be a hundred-fold gravity. Didn't expect it to show up here—nice, nice!" Luna, the Sword Spirit, laughed.
"Nice? I'm about to croak, and you can still laugh?" Evan was even more pissed off hearing Luna say that.
"Why so anxious? I said it's nice, so it's nice. Maybe this'll even push you to break through to the third layer of Starforge Body. Opportunities like this are rare—you should be grateful!" Luna kept her schadenfreude tone, unfazed by his anger.
Even talking was hard for Evan now. It felt like he was carrying ten thousand pounds on his back—his legs trembled, and he could barely stay upright.
Feeling gravity pressing down for the first time, Evan nearly lost it. The longer it went on, the heavier it seemed—at this point, he couldn't even lift his foot to take a step.
Sweat the size of beans poured down his face, soaking his clothes through. The only thing keeping him from collapsing was sheer, stubborn willpower.
Inside, his Earth Star Pellet spun wildly, flooding his body with stellar force and easing the weight just a little. But this burned through energy at a terrifying rate—he'd be spent in less than half an hour, and then the gravity would crush him into a pile of meat.
Suddenly, Evan realized where he was—this was Stellar Cultivation Chamber One, Dean Xavier's personal training ground. Dean Xavier was a Heaven Martial Realm powerhouse, so the gravity here had to be several times stronger than in the other chambers.
Even Heaven Martial Realm experts found this dangerous—what about someone as weak as him? Evan instantly felt like he'd been tricked.
He cursed inwardly: "Damn old man, how could you set me up like this? Even if you think highly of me, don't throw me into a chamber with gravity this insane!"
"Evan, that's not like you. Pour all your stellar force into resisting—maybe you'll actually pull it off!" Luna's voice was as carefree as ever, not the least bit worried.
"You... you try it... yourself!" Evan managed to squeeze out, as the gravity on him ramped up again. His legs wouldn't straighten, and he was about to collapse.
"I won't go down. This gravity is nothing!" Evan roared with everything he had, a terrifying aura bursting from his body.
Anyone seeing him now would think they'd seen a ghost—veins bulged on his face, his eyes blood-red like he had some kind of fever, hair wild, whole body twisted and savage like a demon crawling out of hell.
Bones and muscles crackled nonstop, while his Earth Star Pellet spun in his dantian like a top. The only things not moving were the Chaos Qi and the mysterious energy the Bloodshadow Berserker Lion had injected into him.
Every step felt like taking a punch straight to the body. Evan gritted his teeth and forced out three steps—his absolute limit. The stellar force burned faster than any martial skill, draining him in seconds.
With a loud "thud!" he finally collapsed, face-down on the ground—the most pathetic he'd ever looked. He couldn't move at all, and the gravity seemed even heavier here, making it hard to breathe.
"Goodbye, Roxanne. I won't be able to get you the Iceflame Crystal. Jenny, I can't take care of you anymore either. Lily, Xue, Gus, Dad, Luna Chu—we'll meet again in the next life!" Evan thought in despair.
"Pah! Pah! Pah! Evan, are you giving your last words? How could you leave me out? That's just not cool!" Luna's voice rang out.
Suddenly, Evan remembered something and brightened up, asking, "You've never worried about whether I'd live or die—not even now. Do you have a way to save me?"
"Obviously! I wanted to see if you could break through to the third layer of Starforge Body, but here you are playing dead to mess with me. You're hopeless. You probably won't make the breakthrough, but this gravity can still temper your body."
Burn through all the stellar force in your body and let Chaos Qi flood into your Earth Star Pellet. From now on, any stellar force you absorb will slowly convert into Chaos Qi. This is the best way to change your physique and boost your strength."
Evan had already given up hope, but Luna came through at the last second. Only she could think up a way to change his physique in a situation like this.
The stellar force in his Earth Star Pellet dwindled away, and when it was finally gone, Evan couldn't withstand the gravity anymore and passed out. He'd already lost too much blood from the beast egg, and now the added gravity was just too much—even for him.
As Evan fainted, the little sword mark between his brows flashed, and a hazy light wrapped around his whole body.
"Hope you manage to fuse Chaos Qi into your Earth Star Pellet this time. If you do, even at Earth Martial third layer you can fight like you're sixth layer. With your freakish martial skills, you could even go toe-to-toe with seventh layer and not lose."
Luna, restored to her true form, stood quietly by Evan's side, speaking softly. Looking at his unconscious face, she felt both worried and expectant.
"Time's almost up!" Luna's hazy figure waved her jade hand, and dozens of Starstones flew out from Evan's storage ring, neatly slotting themselves into the altar grooves under a beam of light.
After finishing, Luna turned back into a small sword and reappeared at Evan's brow. "If you hadn't passed out, you'd have seen me again—smart move on my part."
As the Big Dipper's points sent down stellar force, the gravity in the Stellar Cultivation Chamber faded away. Evan woke up and, after checking his surroundings, asked, "Luna, how did you do that?"
"Quit the chatter. Hurry up and absorb the stellar force—convert it slowly!"
Evan sat up, body aching all over, but he gritted his teeth and kept absorbing stellar force. He soon noticed that the stellar force entering his dantian and Earth Star Pellet was much slower than before.
"Don't freak out. Your Earth Star Pellet is now filled with Chaos Qi. From now on, all the stellar force you absorb will turn into Chaos Qi. It's slow, but extremely useful."
Just keep absorbing. Store the stellar force in your dantian—the Earth Star Pellet will slowly take it in. For now, your reserves are only about what a ninth-level Mystic Warrior would have, but that's still not bad."
Evan didn't say anything. He knew Luna would never hurt him. When he opened his eyes again, a tiny, puppy-sized creature appeared before him...