Chapter 394 - 196: Manipulating Gravity, Overpowered from the Start
Chapter 394: Chapter 196: Manipulating Gravity, Overpowered from the Start
Only after walking out of the Spirit Core Hall did Lin Ye truly grasp the scale of the commotion he had caused.
The entire Qiming General Star Training Camp had genuinely become a city floating in the sky, high above the clouds.
A surreal sense of floating came from the ground beneath his feet.
The buildings that were originally built into the mountain, blending seamlessly with it, now had half their walls exposed to the open air.
Teetering precariously, they had become death traps in the truest sense of the word.
In the distance, mountain paths were fractured, revealing terrifying chasms, as if a god had cleaved them open with a giant axe.
Lin Ye even saw a few cadets with pale faces and trembling lips, clearly terrified by the sudden, world-altering phenomenon.
"Mr. Lin, you’re really famous now."
Dongfang Zhen glanced around, clicking his tongue in amazement. His face showed no signs of panic; instead, it was filled with excitement.
Lin Ye felt a little awkward.
He hadn’t expected this to happen either.
...
When the three of them arrived at the Martial Arts Hall, it was completely empty.
Clearly, no one was in the mood to train here.
The three sat down cross-legged.
Dongfang Zhen was the first to speak, his expression turning serious as he began to give Lin Ye a systematic explanation.
"Mr. Lin, the growth of a Martial Arts Spirituality follows a clear path."
"For elemental types like myself and Daoxuan, there are five levels starting from awakening: Initial Appearance, Resonance, Domain, Mimicry, and finally, Ultimate."
"As for your special ability, which doesn’t fall into the elemental category, it also has five corresponding levels, though the path is different."
"The first level, Initial Appearance, and the second level, Resonance, share the same names."
"But at the third level, it’s no longer called Domain. Instead, it’s called Law Formation."
"As the name implies, it’s about constructing your own rules and laws."
"The fourth level is called Truth."
"The fifth level is the same as ours—different paths leading to the same destination. It’s also called Ultimate."
"In the Initial Appearance stage, no spirituality’s ability is ever too strong. It’s more like an instinctive release. Mr. Lin, why don’t you start by telling us what you can do with your ability right now?"
Lin Ye nodded.
With a slight thought, his body once again broke free of its restraints, slowly levitating half a meter off the ground.
But that wasn’t all.
To Dongfang Zhen’s and Zhang Daoxuan’s utter astonishment, they both felt their bodies lighten before they, too, began to float uncontrollably, rising to the same level as Lin Ye.
"This..."
Dongfang Zhen’s eyes widened. He tried waving his arms and kicking his legs. He felt like he had entered outer space; his body was unbelievably light.
Lin Ye explained, "With a single thought, I can directly... hmm, how should I put it... temporarily erase your body weight. You can try moving around."
Hearing this, Dongfang Zhen and Zhang Daoxuan immediately dropped from mid-air back to the ground.
Dongfang Zhen couldn’t wait to start running and jumping around the Martial Arts Hall.
With just a light push off the ground, he shot forward more than ten meters like a cannonball, landing as silently as a feather.
He even tried performing a set of punches. With each swing, he felt no inertial drag whatsoever, his movements so fast they left a string of afterimages.
"This is incredible!"
Dongfang Zhen stopped, his face a mask of shock.
"This is different from a true zero-gravity environment."
"In zero-g, the entire area loses its gravity, and everyone would float."
"But your ability precisely strips us of our weight while everything else around us remains the same!"
Zhang Daoxuan walked over. He had been quietly observing, but now he hit the nail on the head.
"You probably didn’t delete our weight. You negated gravity’s effect on us."
Dongfang Zhen nodded. "Right. Daoxuan is always more perceptive. That must be it."
Then, his eyes lit up as he looked at Lin Ye.
"Mr. Lin, since you can take away gravity, you should be able to add it too, right? Give it a try!"
Lin Ye replied, "I’ve tried it on myself before, but my control wasn’t as clear as it is now. I don’t know what my limit is. Mr. Dongfang, how about I try it on you this time?"
"Bring it on!"
Without hesitation, Dongfang Zhen took a stance, settling into a horse stance.
"It’s best to increase it little by little, the finer the increments the better. This will also help you improve your control over your spirituality!"
"Okay."
Lin Ye’s thoughts moved once more.
Dongfang Zhen felt his body sink abruptly, as if the weight of a full-grown adult had suddenly been placed on his back.
"Hmph! I’m starting to feel it!"
He grinned, easily bearing the pressure.
Lin Ye didn’t speak, simply increasing the output slowly.
Two times...
Five times...
Eight times!
The smile on Dongfang Zhen’s face gradually froze, and a solemn look appeared in his eyes.
His legs bent slightly, and the muscles all over his body tensed. Veins popped out under his skin like little snakes.
Ten times!
When the added gravity reached this level, beads of sweat had already formed on Dongfang Zhen’s forehead, and his breathing became heavy.
He felt like he was carrying a truck, every bone in his body enduring immense pressure.
The strangest part was that this terrifying gravitational force was acting solely on him!
Zhang Daoxuan, standing right next to him, didn’t feel anything unusual.
And the wooden floor beneath his feet showed no signs of denting from the immense gravity he was enduring.
"HUFF... HUFF..."
Dongfang Zhen suddenly laughed, a heroic spirit surging in his chest.
’It’s only ten times gravity.’
He usually trained at home with fifteen times gravity.
"Mr. Lin, it seems like... you’re still holding back?"
"Don’t hold back. It’s just an Initial Appearance stage ability. Keep going! I can handle it even at your max!"
’I have to help Lin Ye find the upper limit of this ability,’ he thought. ’It’s crucial for his future battles.’
However, he had no idea that with those words, he had just willingly placed his head under a guillotine.
Hearing this, Lin Ye gave him a slightly surprised look.
"Well then... apologies in advance, Mr. Dongfang."
The moment he finished speaking.
BOOM!!!
A terrifying pressure beyond description, like the sky itself collapsing, suddenly descended upon Dongfang Zhen!
Twenty times!
Thirty times!
Forty times!
The smile on Dongfang Zhen’s face didn’t vanish, but it slowly began to freeze.
His mind went BUZZ and then completely blank.
At this moment, aside from shock, Dongfang Zhen felt another emotion.
Regret!
A part of him wanted to call it quits.
But the boast he just made... he had to see it through now, no matter what.
Unfortunately, the gravity multiplier was still climbing!
’No way!’
’Is this the kind of power a goddamn Initial Appearance stage Martial Arts Spirituality should have?!’
’You call this Initial Appearance?!’
When the pressure climbed to a certain critical point, Dongfang Zhen could no longer hold on.
With a THUD, he was slammed flat on the ground, his body spread-eagled and pinned so tightly he couldn’t even move a finger.
He felt his consciousness begin to blur, the world spinning before his eyes.
The next moment, the crushing pressure, like the weight of a mountain, finally stopped increasing.
Dongfang Zhen used his last ounce of strength to painstakingly force himself back up from the floor.
But anyone could see that just getting up had taken everything he had.
"Mr. Lin... that’s astounding. For just the Initial Appearance stage, your spirituality’s... maximum gravity multiplier is this terrifying!"
Lin Ye shook his head, a hint of innocence on his face.
"I haven’t reached my limit, though..."
Hearing this answer, Dongfang Zhen almost choked.
Finally, Dongfang Zhen gritted his teeth.
His voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
"Well... I reached mine."
"Pfft."
Zhang Daoxuan, who had been observing quietly from the side, could no longer hold it in and suddenly burst out laughing.
Lin Ye also removed all the added gravity and started laughing along.
Dongfang Zhen felt his entire body relax. He collapsed onto the floor like a fish out of water, gasping for air, completely soaked in sweat.
Zhang Daoxuan made a rare joke.
"Mr. Dongfang, didn’t you say to bring it on?"
Dongfang Zhen caught his breath and performed a kip-up, flipping to his feet. He pointed at Zhang Daoxuan and said irritably,
"Hey, I wasn’t this freakishly strong at the Initial Appearance level!"
"Dammit, you try it if you’re so tough!"
Zhang Daoxuan took a step back with an expression that said, "thanks, but no thanks."
"I’m not a masochist."
After some banter, the atmosphere in the Martial Arts Hall lightened up considerably.
Dongfang Zhen stretched a bit, but his expression became unprecedentedly serious as he started to give Lin Ye feedback.
"Mr. Lin, when I hit my limit just now, I estimate you had applied about fifty-something times gravity on me."
"Was the drain on your Spiritual Power significant?"
Hearing this, Lin Ye thought for a moment before finally nodding.
Based on his current Spiritual Power, the process of gradually increasing the gravity multiplier on Dongfang Zhen had also been a process of gradually increasing his Spiritual Power consumption.
At the end, with over fifty times gravity, his Spiritual Power consumption was close to one percent per second.
Considering his own terrifying stats, that level of consumption was definitely horrifying.
Hearing this, Dongfang Zhen nodded. "Powerful spiritualities are all like this. It’s normal. So, in future battles, you’ll need to judge for yourself when and to what extent you should use it."
"But regardless, your ability is a huge trump card in a fight!"
"Just think about it, any Martial Artist fighting you would suddenly have dozens of times gravity applied to them. They’d probably have trouble even moving!"
Dongfang Zhen grew more and more excited as he spoke.
"And, you can do the opposite and negate gravity’s effect on yourself, multiplying your already ridiculous speed!"
Zhang Daoxuan added from the side, "And this is only the Initial Appearance stage. Mr. Lin hasn’t even reached his own limit yet."
"I can’t imagine how terrifying this ability will become when it reaches the Resonance or even the Law Formation stage."
As he said this, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and his gaze toward Lin Ye instantly became incredibly intense.
"Mr. Lin, I have an idea."
Zhang Daoxuan’s voice carried a trace of irrepressible excitement.
"Like just now, when you completely negate gravity’s effect on an object, can you then apply a force to it in a specific direction?"
Lin Ye was stunned.
Zhang Daoxuan’s speech quickened.
"If you can, you could totally use this ability on your Sword Control... er, crystal control!"
Hearing this, it was like a lightbulb went on in Lin Ye’s mind.
He nodded.
"I think I can."
With his Martial Arts Spirituality fully awakened, he had passed the initial hazy and confusing period with his ability.
For many things, even without trying them firsthand, he now had a general idea of what was possible.
With another thought, the sensation of weight vanished from his body, and he once again levitated into the air.
This time, he was going to try true flight.
Lin Ye focused his thoughts on himself and then applied an upward force, aiming for the Martial Arts Hall’s ceiling.
The next moment, however, his expression changed drastically.
The smooth ascent he expected didn’t happen. Instead, an utterly irresistible and terrifying acceleration instantly took hold of his entire body!
He turned into a cannonball shot from its barrel!
BANG!!!
With a tremendous noise, the Martial Arts Hall’s sturdy alloy ceiling was smashed through as if it were made of paper, leaving a huge, human-shaped hole!
Rubble and metal fragments rained down with a CLATTER.
Lin Ye fell back down through the hole, covered in dust and looking rather disheveled.
"AHAHAHA!"
Dongfang Zhen was stunned for a moment, then burst into unabashed laughter.
"Mr. Lin, couldn’t control your strength?"
Lin Ye steadied himself, dusted himself off, and nodded awkwardly.
Dongfang Zhen stopped laughing. He smacked his lips, a look of deep envy suddenly appearing on his face.
"Mr. Lin, you... can fly now."
"Honestly, I’m a little envious. I want to fly, too."
"I can only barely manage to stay airborne when I activate my Thunder Monarch Dharma Aspect, and the cost is enormous. It’s nothing like how effortless it is for you."