Time: Three Days Before the Tournament
?The basement of Villa #1 was a reinforced bunker designed for Core Disciples to test destructive techniques. Currently, it was testing the limits of physics.
?Aris sat cross-legged in the center of the room. He wasn't touching the floor. He was hovering exactly two inches above the stone, reading a scroll.
?Fifty feet away, Mo was trying to walk toward him.
?It was not going well.
?Mo’s heavy boots scraped against the stone. Veins bulged on his neck. His Shadow-Knight armor creaked under invisible stress. Every step took him ten seconds to complete.
?"Master," Mo gritted out, his voice strained. "The pressure... is immense."
?"That is fifty times standard gravity, Mo," Aris said, turning a page of the scroll without looking up. "I have localized the field to a ten-foot radius around you. If I applied this to a mortal, they would be a puddle. You are handling it well for a Level 70."
?Aris snapped his fingers.
?[Law Manipulation: Gravimetric Field (Deactivated).]
?Mo collapsed to one knee, gasping for air as his body suddenly weighed normal again.
?"The Sovereign's Weight is functional," Aris noted, floating down to the floor. "The Void Key Fragment integrated perfectly. I can increase gravity to crush, or decrease it to fly. But it has a fatal flaw."
?"A flaw?" Mo stood up, rolling his shoulders.
?"It’s too smooth," Aris sighed. "Cultivation techniques have 'flavor'. Fire Qi burns. Earth Qi rumbles. My gravity just... exists. If I use it in the arena, Sect Leader Qin Tian will instantly recognize it as Old Era tech or Law Manipulation. He is Level 99. He’s seen the Ark. I can't fool him with 'luck' anymore."
?Mo frowned beneath his mask. "Then how do you fight in the tournament? If you win by tripping, he will dissect you. If you lose, you lose Rank 1 and the Villa."
?"I have to win," Aris said, tossing the scroll onto a table. "But I have to win in a way that is profoundly, embarrassingly legitimate."
?Aris walked over to the table, which was covered in rejected martial arts manuals he had stolen from the library.
?"I cannot use speed. Speed is suspicious. I cannot use raw power. Power is measurable." Aris tapped a dusty, yellowed manual. "So, I will use this."
?Mo leaned over to read the title.
?The Iron-Tortoise Sutra.
?"The Tortoise?" Mo asked, skeptical. "That is a trash-tier defensive manual for outer disciples. It requires the user to channel all their Qi into their feet, making them incredibly heavy and completely immobile. It has zero offensive capabilities."
?"Exactly," Aris grinned. "Cultivators hate it because it looks pathetic. You just stand there and take a beating until the enemy gets tired. But if I use my gravity manipulation to simulate the Iron-Tortoise..."
?Aris closed his eyes.
?[System Cheat: Aesthetic Overlay.]
[Skill: The Sovereign's Weight -> Reskinned as 'Iron-Tortoise Sutra'.]
[Visual Effect: Yellow Earth Qi (Fake).]
?Aris planted his feet. A faint, muddy yellow glow surrounded his boots.
?"Try to move me," Aris commanded.
?Mo stepped forward. He placed both hands on Aris’s shoulders and pushed.
?Aris didn't budge. He had anchored his mass to the planet’s gravitational core. To move Aris, Mo would have to move the entire Myriad Beasts Mountain.
?Mo pushed harder, his shadow-Qi flaring. The stone floor beneath Aris’s feet cracked. Aris didn't move a millimeter.
?"It feels like pushing a mountain," Mo admitted, stepping back. "But Master... even if they can't move you, they can still hit you. You will be a punching bag."
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?"Mo," Aris smiled, his violet eyes gleaming. "Do you know what happens to a sword when you swing it at a mountain with all your strength?"
?Mo looked at the cracked stone. "The sword breaks."
?"Precisely. I am not going to attack anyone in this tournament. I am simply going to stand there. They will defeat themselves."
?Location: The Grand Arena – Peak of the Mountain
Time: The Day of the Tournament
?The Grand Arena was a coliseum carved from the crater of a dormant volcano. Ten thousand disciples packed the stands. The atmosphere was electric.
?This was the Monthly Core Ranking Tournament. Blood would be spilled. Ranks would shift. Fortunes would be made.
?High above the arena floor, sitting on a throne of floating swords, was Sect Leader Qin Tian.
?His silver eyes swept over the competitors lining up in the pit. When his gaze landed on Aris (Han Xiao), the temperature in the arena seemed to drop a fraction of a degree.
?[System Warning: Hostile Scan Detected.]
[Source: Level 99 Entity.]
[Counter-measure: Broadcasting Level 45 Qi Signature (Stable).]
?Aris shivered, pulling his purple robes tighter around himself, playing the nervous wreck perfectly.
?"Welcome, Core Disciples!" Elder Razor-Wind announced from the center ring, his voice amplified across the volcano. "Today, we test the edge of your blades! The bracket has been drawn by the Sect Leader himself!"
?The massive holographic screen above the arena flashed to life.
?The crowd erupted in gasps.
?[Match 1: Han Xiao (Rank 1) vs. Jian Wang (Rank 2)]
?"They're doing it in the first round?!" a disciple screamed from the stands. "The new Rank 1 against the Sword Maniac!"
?"The Sect Leader wants to weed out the fake!" another laughed. "Han Xiao is dead! Jian Wang hasn't sheathed his sword in three years!"
?Down in the pit, Aris looked at the screen.
?Subtle, Qin Tian, Aris thought dryly. Throw me to the wolves immediately to see if I bleed.
?Across the pit, Jian Wang stepped forward.
?He was entirely wrapped in bandages, looking like a mummy. Only his eyes were visible, burning with a psychotic, bloodshot intensity. He held a thin, serrated blade that dripped with killing intent.
?[Scan: Jian Wang (The Sword Maniac)]
[Level: 55 (Core Formation - Peak).]
[Specialty: Hyper-Aggression. Armor Penetration.]
?"Han Xiao," Jian Wang hissed, his voice sounding like two knives scraping together. "I watched you in the Tower. You walked through the walls. You tricked the beasts. You are a fraud. Today, I will cut your luck into a thousand pieces."
?"P-please, Senior Brother!" Aris stammered, backing away until his back hit the arena wall. "I'm just an Alchemist! I don't even like fighting!"
?"Enter the ring!" Elder Razor-Wind commanded.
?Aris stumbled into the center of the massive stone ring. Jian Wang blurred forward, moving so fast he left afterimages.
?Up in the pavilion, Sect Leader Qin Tian leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. His silver eyes narrowed. Show me what you are, anomaly.
?"Begin!" the Elder shouted.
?Jian Wang didn't waste a breath. He vanished.
?SHING.
?He reappeared directly behind Aris, his serrated sword slashing toward Aris’s neck. It was a flawless execution of the Phantom-Step Strike.
?"I forfeit!" Aris shrieked, throwing his hands over his head and dropping into a squat.
?As he squatted, he triggered the [Sovereign's Weight], masking it with the muddy yellow Qi of the Iron-Tortoise Sutra.
?[Gravity Anchor: Engaged.]
[Local Mass Increased: 50,000 lbs.]
?Jian Wang’s sword hit Aris’s neck.
?To Jian Wang, it felt like swinging a stick at a titanium vault door.
?CLANG.
?The sound echoed like a bell across the volcano.
?Jian Wang’s serrated sword—a High-Grade Spirit Weapon—shattered into a dozen pieces. The kinetic recoil traveled back down the hilt, into his hands, and up his arms.
?CRACK.
?Both of Jian Wang’s wrists snapped backward.
?"ARGH!" Jian Wang screamed, dropping the broken hilt and falling back, clutching his mangled arms.
?The arena fell dead silent.
?Aris remained in his cowering squat, hands over his head, shivering.
?"Please don't hurt me!" Aris wailed, eyes squeezed shut.
?The crowd stared. Elder Razor-Wind stared.
?Up in the pavilion, Sect Leader Qin Tian’s eyes widened slightly.
?"What... what just happened?" a disciple whispered in the stands. "Did Jian Wang miss?"
?"He didn't miss," an Elder in the VIP box muttered, leaning forward. "He hit him dead on. Look at the boy's Qi... that muddy yellow aura. It's the..."
?"The Iron-Tortoise Sutra?!" another Elder gasped. "Impossible! That trash technique cannot defend against a High-Grade Sword!"
?"It can," Elder Iron-Fist growled, recognizing the brutal physics of the exchange. "If the user channels all their cultivation into pure mass. The boy didn't defend. He just made his neck as heavy as a mountain. Jian Wang broke his own arms on the recoil."
?In the ring, Aris slowly opened one eye.
?He looked at the broken sword. He looked at Jian Wang, who was writhing on the floor in agony.
?"Oh dear," Aris stood up, dusting off his robes, looking incredibly apologetic. "Senior Brother, are you okay? I told you I didn't want to fight. Your sword must have been rusty."
?Jian Wang glared at him through tear-filled eyes. "Monster... you are a turtle monster..."
?Elder Razor-Wind cleared his throat, clearly bewildered.
?"Match... Match goes to Han Xiao! By... self-inflicted disarmament!"
?The crowd erupted. Not with cheers, but with absolute outrage.
?"A turtle!"
"He just sat there!"
"Coward!"
?Aris bowed awkwardly to the booing crowd, scurrying out of the ring.
?As he left, he glanced up at the Sect Leader's pavilion.
?Qin Tian was looking down at him. The Sect Leader was no longer frowning. He looked... amused. He tapped a finger against his throne.
?A turtle, Qin Tian thought. A flawless, indestructible turtle. Very well, Han Xiao. Let us see how much weight your shell can hold.
Wiki Update - The Iron-Tortoise Sutra:
- ?Original Form: A flawed, useless technique that makes the user heavy but drains Qi instantly.
- ?Aris's Version: Uses the Gravity Well to manipulate mass without spending Qi, making him literally immovable and immune to kinetic damage. To the Sect, it looks like he has achieved the legendary "Grandmaster" proficiency in a garbage-tier martial art.
Abyssal Nexus!
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