Chapter 16: The Expedition to the Wound
The week following the duel was a study in controlled revelation. Ayush's body, subtly forged by the clash of Dou Qi and Spirit Power, healed at a rate that made the academy's healing-type teachers murmur in professional amazement. Bruises that should have lingered for days faded in hours. The slight hairline fracture in his forearm, carefully not fully avoided during the fight, knitted cleanly in two nights.
Teacher Zhou Yi summoned him to her office three days after the duel.
The room was austere, smelling of old paper and ink. Zhou Yi didn't sit. She stood by the window, her back to him, as he entered. "Huo Yuhao," she said, her voice neutral. "Your victory was... unexpected. Your 'breakthrough,' even more so."
Ayush stood at respectful attention, his Spirit Eyes passive, his spiritual sea a placid lake with turbulent depths carefully walled away. "I was pushed to my limit, Teacher. Brother Tianmeng... he reacted to the danger."
Zhou Yi turned, her sharp eyes like scalpels. "The Heavenly Dream Iceworm. A million-year spiritual beast of unknown origin. Its fusion with you is a historical anomaly. What does it want?"
The question was dangerously perceptive. Ayush let a flicker of the confusion he didn't have to show cross his face. "I don't know if it wants anything, Teacher. It's... scared. Lonely. It shares fragments. Memories of the ancient world, of... wounds."
"Wounds." Zhou Yi latched onto the word. "You mentioned this in the archives. The 'Vault of Shattered Earth.'"
Ayush nodded, weaving truth and fiction. "In the duel, when I was at the edge... I didn't just see Brother Tianmeng's power. I saw through him. A memory of a place where the sky fell. Where the earth's bones are broken. He's drawn to it. Repelled by it. He doesn't understand it, and it... frightens him." He paused, injecting his voice with hesitant conviction. "I think understanding that place might help me understand our fusion. Stabilize it."
Zhou Yi studied him for a long, silent minute. Ayush could feel a gentle, expert probe of spiritual sense brush against his defenses—not hostile, but deeply inquisitive. He let her sense the "chaotic surge" of the recent breakthrough, the "strange, ancient cold" of the Iceworm's signature, and beneath it, the perfectly constructed facade of a diligent, confused student.
"The Vault of Shattered Earth is a Class-5 Forbidden Zone," she stated finally. "Not because of powerful spirit beasts, but because of environmental lethality. Unstable gravity fields. Spirit energy that corrodes rather than nourishes. Spatial fractures that can sever a limb. The academy has records of three expeditions in the past century. Total casualties: seventy percent. Survivors reported... physical metamorphosis. Some beneficial, most crippling."
She walked to her desk and tapped a file. "But your unique situation, this symbiosis with a being that remembers the cataclysm... it presents a unique research opportunity. The academy is always seeking new cultivation resources, new understandings of our world." A calculated gleam entered her eyes. "A small, elite team. Supervised from a safe perimeter. A reconnaissance in force. Your 'guidance' from your spirit could prove invaluable."
It was more than he'd hoped for. A legitimate, academy-sanctioned mission to the Book's feeding ground. "I would be honored to contribute, Teacher," Ayush said, bowing.
"The team will be you, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao," Zhou Yi decided. "Your coordination is proven. I will lead the supervision team with Teacher Fan Yu. We leave in four days. Prepare yourselves. This will not be a spirit beast hunt. This is an exploration into the corpse of a world-event."
As Ayush left, the Black Book hummed.
EXPEDITION PARAMETERS ACCEPTED.
PROBABILITY OF LOCATING 'STELLAR RESIDUE / GRAVITY NEXUS': 92%.
WARNING: LOCAL HAZARDS MATCH 'LOW-GRADE BODY TEMPERING TRIBULATION' PARAMETERS FROM [MARTIAL UNIVERSE] ARCHIVES.
ASSIMILATION PREPARATION: INITIATING.
UNLOCKING PREVIEW: MARTIAL UNIVERSE CONCEPT — 'BODY LIKE TREASURE, REFINED THROUGH TRIAL.'
A flood of esoteric knowledge, not techniques, but principles, filled a corner of his mind. The Martial Universe's path: the body as a universe to be opened, tempered not with gentle energy, but with crushing pressure, with elemental fury, with the weight of stars. It was a brutal, magnificent philosophy of turning the self into a weapon through sheer, endured suffering.
Four days later, the expedition assembled at Shrek's gates. The supervision team consisted of Zhou Yi, Fan Yu, and two sturdy Soul King-level guards from the Enforcement Division. The core team was Ayush, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao. Wang Dong was practically vibrating with protective fervor, his gaze constantly checking on Ayush. Xiao Xiao looked determined but nervous, her Twin Cauldrons already shimmering faintly at her sides.
They traveled for two days by specialized spirit tool carriages, then on foot into a range of jagged, desolate mountains known as the Scarred Spine. The air grew thin. Spirit energy didn't just diminish; it felt angry, laced with a metallic, ozone tang. Colors leached from the world, leaving behind grays, dark browns, and occasional unsettling streaks of crystalline black.
"There," Zhou Yi said, pointing to a vast, unnatural-looking gorge ahead. It wasn't a crack caused by water or tectonics. It looked like a giant had taken a bite out of the continent. The edges were glassy and smooth, fused by impossible heat. "The entrance to the Vault. From here, the environment is the enemy. Stick to the planned path. Do not touch the black crystals. Do not step on areas that shimmer like oil on water. Huo Yuhao, your 'guidance.'"
All eyes turned to him. Ayush closed his eyes, reaching not for the Iceworm, but for the Black Book. He let its hunger, its resonance with the strange energies ahead, guide his perception. He pointed to a narrow, less-glassy path along the gorge wall. "There. It feels... less hostile. But the pressure is building."
They descended. The moment they crossed the gorge's rim, the world changed.
Gravity fluctuated. One step would feel normal, the next would crush them into the ground, and the third would make them feel perilously light. Xiao Xiao stumbled, and Wang Dong caught her, his wings flaring instinctively to stabilize himself.
"Gravity field instability confirmed," Fan Yu said grimly, recording data on a spirit tool. "Anchor yourselves with spirit power."
But Ayush found something else. As a wave of heavy gravity washed over him, the Dou Qi in his dantian reacted. It didn't resist; it vibrated, trying to resonate with the crushing force. The Black Book's new principles whispered: 'Do not oppose. Accept. Let it compress. Let it temper.'
He didn't lighten his step with spirit power. He allowed the extra weight to settle onto his bones, his muscles. It was agonizing, but as the wave passed, he felt a minute, exhilarating density remain in his tissues.
Wang Dong noticed his lack of a visible struggle. "Yuhao? Are you okay? Use your spirit power!"
"I... Brother Tianmeng is suggesting I try to adapt to it," Ayush gasped, which was technically true—the Black Book was, in a way, a brother in arms. "It might help us understand the environment."
Zhou Yi's eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "Proceed with extreme caution. Record all physiological reactions."
They pressed deeper. Strange growths of jagged black crystal thrust from the ground, humming with a sound that hurt the teeth. Patches of ground shimmered with distorted space—"spatial fractures," Fan Yu called them. One of the Enforcement Soul Kings demonstrated by tossing a rock into a shimmer; it silently sheared into two perfectly sliced halves.
The Black Book was a constant, eager presence.
GRAVITATIONAL VARIANCE DATA RECORDED. COMPATIBILITY: HIGH.
SPATIAL FRACTURE ENERGY ANALYZED. CONTAINS TRACES OF 'VOID-TEMPERING' CONCEPT.
DETECTING 'STELLAR RESIDUE' SIGNATURE. BEARING: 300 METERS AHEAD, DOWNWARD.
They reached the heart of the Vault: a vast, sunken amphitheater of fused stone. In its center lay the reason for it all—a crater within the crater. And at its bottom, not a meteorite, but a pool. A pool of what looked like liquid mercury, but it flowed upward in places, defying gravity, and its surface shone with the faint, cold light of dead stars.
"The Fallen Star's Tears," Zhou Yi breathed, awe overriding her caution. "Theoretical. A condensate of exotic matter and celestial spiritual poison. Extremely heavy, radiates spatial distortion."
The Black Book's interface flashed with urgent, golden script.
PRIMARY TARGET ACQUIRED: 'STELLAR RESIDUE – GRAVITY WELL CONDENSATE.'
ASSIMILATION REQUIRES PHYSICAL CONTACT.
WARNING: CONTACT WILL TRIGGER 'TRIAL BY HEAVENLY WEIGHT' – LOW-GRADE VERSION. SURVIVAL REQUIRES APPLICATION OF [MARTIAL UNIVERSE] BODY TEMPERING PRINCIPLES.
PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS WITH CURRENT BODY: 58%. RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE ACTION BEFORE SUPERVISION TEAM FORBIDS IT.
This was the moment. The excuse presented itself. Ayush clutched his head, groaning. "The memory... it's overwhelming. Brother Tianmeng... he's pulling me toward it. He says... he needs to touch it. To remember."
"No!" Wang Dong and Zhou Yi shouted simultaneously.
But Ayush was already moving, not with speed, but with a trance-like certainty, descending the crater's slope toward the impossible pool.
"Stop him!" Zhou Yi ordered the guards.
But the closer Ayush got to the pool, the more the gravity warped. Space itself bent. The guards, massive Soul Kings, found themselves moving as if through solid rock, their powerful spirits straining against the reality-distorting field.
Wang Dong, with a cry of pure terror, pushed forward, his Light of the Butterfly wings tearing at the heavy air. "Yuhao! Come back!"
Ayush reached the rim of the pool. The light from the liquid metal illuminated his face, making him look spectral. He turned, meeting Wang Dong's desperate eyes from across the crushing distance.
"I have to," he said, his voice carrying strangely in the distorted space. "To understand. To be stronger. To protect what matters."
It was the most honest thing he'd said to Wang Dong since they'd met.
Then, he let himself fall forward into the pool of Fallen Star's Tears.
The world exploded into weight and fire and cold. It wasn't liquid; it was density. It was the concept of gravity given form, pouring into his pores, crushing him, filling him, rewriting him. The Black Book in his spiritual sea roared open, not to protect him, but to channel. It funneled the devastating, tempering energy according to the Martial Universe principles.
BODY LIKE TREASURE. His bones groaned, compacting, impurities screaming out as fine, black dust from his skin.
REFINED THROUGH TRIAL.His meridians shattered and rebuilt, wider, tougher, capable of channeling not just spirit power, but force itself.
HEAVENLY WEIGHT BEARS DOWN, THE UNIVERSE FORGES THE VESSEL.
He didn't scream. He couldn't. He endured. He was the ore in the crucible, the steel under the hammer. The Black Book was the smith, and the hunger of a dead star was the forge.
Outside, Wang Dong watched in horror as his friend vanished into the silver pool, which then began to churn and glow. Zhou Yi and Fan Yu could only stare, instruments overloading, unable to intervene.
The assimilation had begun. Ayush was no longer just walking the path of two worlds.
He was letting them collide within him, to see what kind of creature would emerge from the wreckage.