The dust in the crater settled. The siege was in its final hour.
Inside the ring of rubble, Wei Wuxu sat with his eyes closed. In the darkness of his mind, a cold, blue text hovered. It was not a gift from the Heavens, but a manifestation of his own analytical will—the interface of the Void.
[SYSTEM STATUS: ONLINE]
Host: Wei Wuxu (Mortal Shell / Anchored)
Domain Radius: 3.1 Chi
Active Law: Standard Physics (1 ATM, 1 G)
Shift Cooldown: [00:00:10] ... [00:00:05]
He opened his eyes. He unclenched his bloody fist, revealing the Pendant of Clarity.
It was a cheap piece of jade. It had no Qi capacity. To a cultivator, it was trash. But to Wuxu, it was the only thing remaining of the mother who had died coughing blood so he could eat.
Elder Han, sitting outside the blue confinement barrier, noticed Wuxu moving.
"Finally awake?" Han sneered, his voice amplified by Qi. "If you crawl out now and kowtow, I will make your death quick. Keep resisting, and I will bury you in this pit."
Wuxu didn't look at him. He carefully placed the pendant around his neck, tucking it under his grey rags.
"I didn't come back for revenge, Han," Wuxu said, his voice flat. "I know I cannot kill the Patriarchs yet. I came back because you thieves took the only thing I own."
Han frowned. "You returned... for a piece of mortal jewelry? You risk death for sentiment?"
"You cultivate for immortality," Wuxu replied, standing up. "I cultivate for identity."
He checked the System one last time.
[Shift Ready.]
[Charges Available: 1]
Wuxu looked up at the blue barrier sealing the top of the crater. It was strong enough to stop a bombardment of fireballs. But it was designed to stop magic, not mass.
"I am leaving now," Wuxu announced.
"You have no wings," Han laughed, standing up. "And the walls are sealed. How will you leave?"
Wuxu bent his knees, crouching low in the center of the circle. He pulled up the System command prompt in his mind.
[Law Modification Request]
Variable: Gravity (Vertical Axis)
Setting: -50 Gs (Inverted)
Duration: 0.5 Seconds
"I don't need wings," Wuxu whispered. "I am a bullet."
[EXECUTE.]
BOOM.
Inside the 3-Chi sphere, the laws of physics inverted instantly. The gravity that held him down suddenly pulled him up with fifty times the force of the earth.
Wuxu launched.
It wasn't a jump. It was a violent ejection.
He shot upward like a mortar shell. The air inside the shed exploded outward from the displacement.
CRASH.
Wuxu's body slammed into the blue confinement barrier at Mach 1. Because he had no Qi, he passed right through the spiritual filter. The barrier shattered like glass struck by a hammer.
"What?!" Han stumbled back, shielding his eyes from the debris.
He looked up. A grey blur was tearing through the clouds, leaving a vapor trail.
"He... He flew?!" a disciple screamed. "Is he a Golden Core?!"
"No," Han whispered, watching the trajectory. "He was thrown."
The Sky: 15,000 Feet.
Wuxu exited the Domain.
The moment he crossed the 3-Chi threshold, the "Inverted Gravity" ceased. He was now just a fragile mortal body hurtling through the stratosphere.
The cold was absolute. The wind roared like a dragon, tearing at his skin. Blood streamed from his nose—the G-force of the launch had nearly liquefied his organs. If he hadn't reinforced his body with the Anchor technique, he would be dead.
He was traveling in a ballistic arc, aimed at the Blackwood Forest, over 100 kilometers away.
As he crested the apex of his flight, staring down at the tiny world below, a memory flashed through his mind.
[Flashback: 3 Days Ago]
How does a cripple enter a fortress?
He had stood at the base of the Sect's defensive wall. It was 50 meters high, smooth stone.
Wuxu had crouched.
[System: Gravity Inversion -20 Gs.]
He had launched himself up. He soared past the guards on the wall, a silent, grey ghost.
But what goes up must come down. He was falling toward the courtyard pavement. A fall that would shatter his legs.
Just before he hit the ground:
[System: Shift Domain.]
[Law: Inertia Cancellation.]
He had caught himself in his own bubble, turning a fatal fall into a gentle landing.
The same trick that got him in would now get him out.
The Descent: Terminal Velocity.
The ground was rushing up.
Wuxu was falling toward the jagged canopy of the Blackwood Forest. He was moving at terminal velocity. If he hit the trees, he would be shredded. If he hit the ground, he would be paste.
This was the gamble.
He had One Shift.
If he used it too early (in the air), he would summon the Domain, fall through the bottom of the 3-Chi bubble, exit back into normal reality, and keep falling to his death.
He had to summon the Domain the microsecond before impact. He had to catch himself.
[Altimeter (Visual Estimation): 500 Meters]
The trees looked like spears.
[300 Meters]
He could see the rocks.
[100 Meters]
His skin was burning from friction.
"SYSTEM!" Wuxu screamed internally. "PREPARE DEPLOYMENT!"
[Target Coordinates: Self-Centric]
[Law Preset: Absolute Stop (Kinetic Energy = 0)]
The ground was ten feet away. Five feet.
"NOW!"
[SHIFT ACTIVATED.]
Reality glitched.
The stationary Domain in the woodshed vanished.
The Domain reappeared around Wuxu, one inch above the ground.
He entered the sphere.
[Law Applied: Zero Inertia.]
It was instantaneous.
One millisecond, he was a meteor falling at 200 km/h.
The next millisecond, he was a statue.
He didn't slow down. He didn't decelerate. The System simply deleted the "Movement" value from his existence.
He hovered there, suspended an inch above a sharp granite rock. The wind stopped. The noise stopped.
[System Notification: Safe Landing.]
[Damage Report: Internal hemorrhaging detected. Anchor stability at 40%.]
Wuxu released the Law. Normal gravity returned.
Thump.
He dropped one inch and landed on his feet. Then, his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the moss, vomiting blood.
He lay there for a long time, listening to the birds chirp, unaware that a monster had just fallen from the sky.
He reached into his shirt and pulled out the pendant. It was intact.
"100 kilometers," Wuxu wheezed, wiping blood from his eyes. "And a week of waiting."
He looked at the dark forest around him.
[Shift Cooldown: 7 Days.]
He was trapped again. But this time, he wasn't in a cage. He was in a hunting ground.
"System," Wuxu whispered. "Scan for food."
[System: Bio-signature detected. 50 meters North. Shadow Leopard (Rank 1).]
Wuxu smiled, his teeth stained red.
"Dinner is served."