Chapter 166: Terrifying Gravity Technique

Invisible gravity heavily pressed Wang Ping down on the platform, leaving him unable to move at all.

Is this the power of the First Realm of Dao Arts, Great Completion?

Wang Ping struggled to think under this gravity; his thoughts became sluggish under the pressure.

This and that yellow-clad cultivator's power are not on the same level.

After over a hundred years of cultivation, he practiced only one technique, bringing it to a level comparable to the First Realm of Dao Arts, Initiate Dao Great Completion; this technique had already become a Dao Art for the middle-aged cultivator.

Indeed, this is no longer cultivation but creation of a Dao! This cultivator created his own unique Dao Art during Foundation Establishment; only what one creates oneself best suits oneself, so this gravity technique is thus terrifying.

What's even more terrifying is the will within it, pure to the extreme and eternal; that is why it suppresses Wang Ping, making even his thoughts sluggish.

Wang Ping felt this was the ultimate of the First Realm of Dao Arts, Initiate Dao Realm; with such a Dao Art in hand, one could achieve 'one method breaks ten thousand methods'—all forces could be utterly suppressed. Even if that yellow-clad cultivator cultivated the Abyss Swallowing technique to the Initiate Dao Realm's completion and unleashed a thirty-li black ocean, this terrifying gravity would still calm it, leaving not a ripple.

He might not even get a chance to act.

"I rarely kill; in this stage, if any cultivator can stand up, I count them as the winner. But over endless ages, there have been 300,000 battles, only three have stood up, yet I never lost! If you truly cannot stand, just surrender."

The middle-aged cultivator's voice reached Wang Ping's ears; his head, pressed against the ground, suddenly let out a laugh: "In this lifetime, to witness such pure and supreme power—I, Wang Ping, am blessed across three lives!"

A faint smile appeared on the middle-aged cultivator's face as he gently said: "I look forward to fellow Daoist standing up! As long as you do not surrender, this battle will not cease."

"Good!" Wang Ping replied.

At the highest point of this battle space, the Light-Shadow Old Man whom Wang Ping had seen outside the plaza was now silently gazing at Wang Ping lying on the ground, his eyes filled with helplessness, speaking toward the empty space ahead:

"Didn't you go a bit too far bringing this kid before that aberrant one?"

"This battle wasn't arranged by me; rather, the battle space's rules, dormant for endless ages, have reactivated, spontaneously selecting this battle space!"

A somewhat helpless voice echoed in this small region of the high sky.

The Light-Shadow Old Man, face full of surprise, asked: "Battle space rules? It has revived—could it be…"

Having said that, his gaze suddenly shot down to Wang Ping lying on the ground; after a full ten breaths, he withdrew his gaze.

That voice spoke: "No need to look; if this kid truly obtained the Undying Leaf, you still couldn't see through him. Yet this kid is indeed strange—though the Land of Rebirth has not yet opened, he has entered this place. What a pity! What a pity! All those inheritances on the mountains outside, he cannot obtain any of them!"

"What pity? If one accumulates ten victories without dying, they can receive part of the Undying Tree Elder's inheritance—it's not weaker than those outside! Moreover, I see this kid's wood-system cultivation method should be the Qingdi's Qingdi Changsheng Gong, and it's the original version—strange, this technique has been erased; where did he learn it?" The Light-Shadow Old Man's tone was heavy with curiosity.

"What a strange kid. But first, let's see if he can get through this aberrant stage!" That voice spoke again.

The Light-Shadow Old Man nodded and vanished into the air.

Down below, Wang Ping still didn't know that in the Land of Inheritance, the reason none of the hundred-odd peaks chose him was simply that the inheritance time had not yet arrived; at this moment he was strenuously opposing the dual pressure of body and mind.

In the blink of an eye, a day had passed; Wang Ping realized that so-called resistance to gravity was actually a contest of Dao intent, a clash of wills.

Since there was no mortal danger, he directly began to contemplate the runes within the fire and wood spiritual roots.

Studying runes is like learning characters: not only must one be able to write them, but also understand their meaning and know which other runes they can combine with, just like words.

When you have mastered enough and fully comprehended the runes, a sufficient number will form patterns like the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pattern—this is a sentence.

Then many patterns coalesce into a design, just as many short sentences form a short essay.

These designs are the most basic spells!

To form a spell of tremendous power, one must know more runes and use more runes to create more complex designs, just as knowing more characters enables one to write longer articles.

If one's understanding of runes is sufficiently profound, one may achieve the Great Dao's simplicity—just a few runes can unleash tremendous power, like those supreme sayings; the one who speaks such words already has a deep grasp of life, able to utter the great truth in a few brief words.

These are what Wang Ping gradually grasped through continual rune contemplation; he felt that to comprehend Dao intent he must at least fully study fifty runes, but his divine sense will likely only allow him to endure the pressure of a hundred runes.

This is still the result of his will producing a Will Star and his essence-spirit ascending; otherwise he might only be able to grasp around fifty runes.

Thus one sees why Foundation Establishment cultivators find it so hard to grasp Dao Arts—just the pressure of runes alone blocks who knows how many.

Wang Ping couldn't help recalling the old man's saying that ancient cultivators once had someone grasp three Dao Arts during Foundation Establishment; truly, I don't know how such a prodigy came to be.

But these are merely stray thoughts born in study; Wang Ping soon dispelled them.

"My will is enough, but my mind is not yet pure."

Wang Ping recalled how, when breaking through the Qi Refining Great Completion, he had risked his life to practice the Refining Soul Heart Sutra in times of danger.

At that time, his Dao will was steadfast, his mind pure, and he also had that state during the great battle with Huoyunzi.

"Can't just lie here studying; I must rise against the pressure and regain that state!" Wang Ping thought thus.

Creak— creak— creak!

As Wang Ping gritted his teeth to overcome gravity and rise, his whole body's bones emitted a grating, teeth-aching sound, muscles tensed, skin oozing blood.

Yet this extreme opposition best purifies one's mind.

The middle-aged cultivator's eyes were sharp; he naturally knew what Wang Ping was doing, his gaze showing admiration. Over endless ages he had seen too many cultivators who, once suppressed by his gravity, lay on the ground with no fighting spirit—such people he had no interest in attacking.

"When will someone appear who can make me lose? Probably never, after all I'm so strong—strong enough to slay early Golden Core cultivators as easily as killing a dog! If a cultivator grasped the Second Realm of Dao Arts…"

The middle-aged cultivator sighed deeply, feeling this could never happen—how could a child lift a thousand‑catty stone?