Chapter 283: Heart of the Earth Vein

Yan Gang's furious roar still rumbled behind him, but Wang Ping had already slipped like a loach into the vertical passage deep underground that only allowed one person to pass.

As soon as his body entered, he suddenly plummeted downward!

The gravity inside the passage was stronger than outside by more than a notch, and it relentlessly pulled downward, as if an invisible giant hand had grabbed his ankle and was yanking him down.

Wang Ping had been prepared; his inner spiritual power shifted rapidly, especially the earth-element spiritual light in the meridians of his legs flaring up, allowing him to stubbornly resist the downward momentum.

But that wasn't the end—the passage wasn't straight up and down; its inner walls were smooth enough to reflect a person's silhouette, covered in naturally formed crystalline protrusions that refracted some unknown faint light, casting the whole passage in an eerie, variegated glow.

What's worse, the gravity here was not constant.

Having just steadied his posture after sliding down less than ten zhang, Wang Ping felt his body tilt—the gravity on the left side suddenly surged, pulling him toward the left wall.

He reacted extremely quickly, twisting his waist and lightly pushing off the right wall with his right foot, using the force to right himself.

But before he could catch his breath, a suction came from above, nearly sending him flying upward upside down.

The gravity in this damned place was like a fickle madman—its direction and strength changed instantly, with no pattern to follow.

Wang Ping dared not be the slightest bit careless. He condensed his divine sense to the utmost, spreading it out like a fine spiderweb, tightly clinging to the inner wall of the passage as he probed ahead.

For every foot he advanced, he first had to clearly sense the gravity distribution within the next few zhang ahead, calculate the force and angle, and only then dare to move.

Moving with such extreme caution naturally slowed his speed, but he knew clearly that the Stone Demon Clan's madman behind him would never let up; he would surely pursue relentlessly.

Sure enough, after the time it takes to finish half a cup of tea, a muffled "thud" came from the passage entrance above, followed immediately by Yan Gang's deep, gruff angry roar:

"Human ant, I'll see where you run to!"

The sound came from far to near, and its speed was actually a third faster than Wang Ping's!

Wang Ping's heart jolted. The Stone Demon Clan is naturally attuned to the earth, and in this gravity‑disturbed environment they are indeed like fish in water.

He dared not look back, pushing the Five Elements Escape Technique to its limit; his form turned into a wisp of green smoke in the passage, shifting left and right, up and down, doing his utmost to avoid the approaching heavy footsteps and violent earth‑stone aura behind him.

"Bang!"

A rock the size of a millstone, wrapped in gray‑brown spiritual light, grazed Wang Ping's back and smashed into the right wall, shattering into countless crystal fragments—a piece Yan Gang had casually pried from the passage wall and hurled.

"Dodge? Let's see how long you can keep dodging!"

Yan Gang's vicious laugh echoed in the narrow passage, making eardrums tingle. He was clearly truly angry, no longer holding back; he swung his fists repeatedly, each wave of earth‑stone torrent like a living giant python, surging sideways through the passage and blocking every route Wang Ping could take.

Wang Ping's face remained calm as an ancient well. The greater the danger, the clearer his mind became.

Five‑colored spiritual light flowed ceaselessly around him, laying layer upon layer of flexible spiritual barriers behind him; though they couldn't fully block Yan Gang's assault, they consistently deflected about half the force, letting him borrow the rebound to surge forward.

At the same time, his ten fingers flicked like butterflies among flowers, shooting out precise strands of condensed White Tiger Sword Qi and pale golden lightning arcs—not to attack the enemy, but to strike certain specific crystal‑cluster nodes in the passage.

These crystal clusters are the "nodes" of the passage's naturally formed gravity field, inherently fragile and unstable.

When Wang Ping's vigor, imbued with the five‑element cycle of birth and destruction, struck them, they instantly burst into clumps of chaotic force ripples, throwing the gravity in the rear passage into even greater disorder.

Yan Gang, in hot pursuit, suddenly felt his body's gravity lag, then was tugged from all directions by conflicting forces; despite his sturdy physique and strong adaptability, this sudden chaos made his stance falter slightly, slowing his chase.

"Cunning thing!" Yan Gang cursed, yet he had no choice but to divert attention to counter this man‑made gravity trap. His surrounding gray‑brown spiritual light surged, and he brute‑forced the chaotic field into submission, but his speed ultimately fell short by a hair.

In that brief moment of delay, Wang Ping had already shot a hundred zhang ahead. The passage ahead suddenly split into three, three dark‑black branches leading who‑knows‑where.

Without hesitation, relying on the ever‑clearer summons, he chose the middle passage that looked the narrowest and whose gravity fluctuations were the most violent, and slipped into it.

This passage was even harder to traverse than before. Not only did the gravity shift without warning, but the passage itself was twisted severely—alternately wide and narrow, sometimes requiring him to turn sideways and squeeze through a gap barely wide enough for half a person.

The crystal clusters on the walls emitted heart‑pounding energy fluctuations; a careless touch would trigger a small‑scale gravity collapse.

Wang Ping drove his Gravity Technique to an unprecedented level.

This art, already cultivated to the peak of its third layer, now burst with astonishing potential in his hands. He no longer merely resisted or avoided gravity, but tried to "listen" to it and "guide" it.

His divine sense, like the finest silk thread, seeped into the rock beneath his feet and into every inch of the surrounding space.

He "heard" the earth's "breath"—a low, slow, yet vast and boundless pulse. Each pulse drove a subtle undulation in the surrounding gravity field; those seemingly random gravity shifts actually followed a deeper rhythm inherent to the earth itself.

Gradually, Wang Ping's movement changed.

No longer did he brute‑force with spiritual power; instead, he became like a leaf drifting with the current, yielding to each rise and fall of the gravity field—sinking when he should sink, floating when he should float, shifting sideways without wasting an ounce of effort.

His movements became utterly natural, and amid this chaotic labyrinth he found a strange harmony. His speed didn't drop—it actually increased, becoming faster and more effortless than before.

Behind him, Yan Gang's angry roars grew fainter, apparently temporarily stalled by the complex forks and gravity traps. But Wang Ping dared not relax in the slightest; he knew that, given the Stone Demon Clan's adaptability to this place, shaking off their pursuit was only a matter of time.

He pressed on deeper. The passage sloped ever downward, and the gravity grew stronger.

Eventually, each step felt like shouldering a mountain; his bones groaned under the burden, and his viscera seemed about to be displaced by the pressure. Sweat that seeped through his skin was instantly vaporized by the immense pressure, rising as mist.

Breathing became difficult; each inhalation required exerting his full strength.

Yet Wang Ping's gaze grew ever brighter.

Under the extreme pressure, his perception of gravity reached an unprecedented acuity.

He could clearly "see" the gravity field like invisible ripples of water spreading, overlapping, and interfering in space. He could "feel" the pure, violent earth‑element origin power contained within those crystal‑cluster nodes.

In his dantian, the earth‑element spiritual power was more active than ever; the earthen‑yellow patterns on the surface of his golden core flickered unpredictably, as if on the verge of breaking some barrier.

Finally, after an unknown duration of travel and enduring unimaginable pressure, the way ahead suddenly opened up.

Wang Ping stepped out of the narrow passage into a vast space that defied description.

It was a colossal underground cavern, probably a thousand zhang across. The cavern's center had no floor, only a deep darkness that seemed able to swallow all light. Directly above that darkness hovered a mass the size of a house, dense and solid‑like, a earth‑yellow light sphere.

The sphere hung still, slowly rotating. It emitted no blinding light; instead, it had an inward‑drawing quality, as if it could absorb all light. But most terrifying was the dreadful gravity field it radiated—

It was ten times, even a hundred times stronger than the gravity in the passage before! The space around the sphere showed visible distortion to the naked eye; light passing through underwent strange refraction, forming rings of gorgeous yet perilous halos.

Standing at the cavern's edge, merely gazing at the sphere made his bones creak, as if he'd be crushed into pulp the next instant.

He had to exert his spiritual power to the fullest, laying layer upon layer of five‑colored radiance around himself, just barely managing to hold his form.

"Earth Vein Essence…" he murmured, the earth‑yellow glow reflected in his eyes.

This is the source of the summons, this is the core of the gravity anomaly in the Sunk Lands, this is the heavenly‑earth treasure that can transmute the Way of Earth!

But before he could examine it closely, a deafening roar came from the passage behind him: "Found you!"

Boom!

Yan Gang's hulking, mountain‑like silhouette burst through the crystal clusters at the passage entrance, covered in disgrace and surging with sky‑high rage as he charged out.

He clearly had a rough time in the labyrinth; his beast-skin shorts were ripped in several spots, and his rock-like skin showed several scorched lightning marks and crystal scratches, yet his aura remained fierce and violent, his eyes blood-red as if about to spit fire.

Human, you're not bad! You actually dare to use those despicable methods to toy with me!

Yan Gang stared fixedly at Wang Ping, stepping closer step by step; with each step he took, the rock layers at the edge of the cavity trembled slightly.

Now, see where you can run! This earth vein essence is mine, and your life is mine too!

In the midst of speaking, he had already closed to within thirty zhang of Wang Ping. At their level of cultivation, that distance was reachable in an instant.

Wang Ping drew a deep breath and slowly turned around. Faced with Yan Gang's raging fury and terrifying physical pressure, he actually showed a hint of strange calm on his face:

"Run? Why would I run?"

"Huh?" Yan Gang blinked, then gave a sinister grin. "Scared silly? Good, I'll grant you that!"

He stopped talking, his arm muscles bulging violently as gray-brown spiritual light shot up like a volcanic eruption!

This time he evidently employed some secret technique, his aura rising steadily until it faintly touched the limit of the Golden Core stage!

What's more terrifying, as his aura erupted, the gravity field within the cavity began to fluctuate violently, as if he were pulling it to suppress Wang Ping together!

"Technique: Thousand Peaks Seal!"

Yan Gang bellowed, clasped his fists together, raised them overhead, then slammed them down hard toward Wang Ping's direction!

No fancy moves, only pure, violent force! Before his fists even arrived, a visible gray-brown force field crashed down like a collapsing mountain!

Where it passed, space emitted a groan of being overloaded; the edge rock layers cracked inch by inch, and rubble was pulverized to dust by the terrifying pressure before it could even fly up.

This strike drew on the cavity's already formidable gravity, its terror far surpassing any previous attack! Yan Gang clearly intended to use absolute force to crush Wang Ping, that slippery opponent, together with this area, into dust.

Faced with this heaven‑shattering, earth‑crushing blow, Wang Ping instead did something unexpected.

He neither dodged nor bore it head‑on.

He closed his eyes.

His divine sense spread out like a tide, no longer limited to himself, but connecting with the earth beneath his feet, the surrounding rock walls, the entire cavity, and even the floating earth‑yellow light ball…

He "heard" the earth's pulse, a hundred times clearer and a thousand times vaster than before.

Thud…… thud…… thud……

Slow, heavy, yet brimming with endless vitality and power. Each pulse drove the crust's subtle rise and fall, the flow of subterranean spiritual energy, and…… the breath of the all‑encompassing gravity field.

Gravity has never been a dead thing. It is the extension of the earth's will, the manifestation of the earth vein's throbbing, and the invisible hand that binds, sustains, and nourishes all things on this massive planet.

All along he has cultivated the "Gravity Technique," merely treating it as a method for controlling power.

Only now, under the radiation of the earth vein essence and at this life‑or‑death moment of extreme pressure, did he truly touch the threshold of the "Dao" of gravity.

"So that's how it is……"

Wang Ping opened his eyes. His pupils held no trace of panic or struggle, only a deep, earth‑like calm, and beneath that calm, a weight and inclusiveness that seemed able to bear everything.

He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread, aiming at the gray‑brown force field crashing down.

There was no dazzling burst of spiritual light, no earth‑shaking momentum.

Just his five fingers, gently closing.

Hum——!!!

The entire cavity shuddered violently!

It was not the vibration caused by Yan Gang's attack, but a resonance emanating from deep within the earth, from that earth‑yellow light ball, and from the point toward which Wang Ping's fingers were directed……

Centered on Wang Ping, an intangible yet real "ripple" suddenly spread out. This ripple was not a fluctuation of spiritual power, but…… a ripple in the gravity field!

Where the ripple passed, Yan Gang's summoned, violently pressing‑down gravity field, as if striking another force of the same origin but more exquisite and vaster, suddenly stalled!

Immediately afterward, something happened that left Yan Gang stunned.

His "Thousand Peaks Seal" force field, capable of suppressing ordinary Golden Core peak cultivators, actually sank into an invisible mire, its downward pressure growing ever slower and more difficult.

Moreover, the very structure of the force field began to destabilize; internal gravity became disordered and clashing, and…… part of it was "guided" and "diverted" by that invisible ripple, turning back to act on Yan Gang himself!

"Impossible!" Yan Gang's eyes nearly popped out. His mastery of gravity stemmed from his racial talent and the "Earth War Body," which had never failed him—when had he ever seen someone so casually dismantle, even counter, his gravity attacks?

Wang Ping ignored his shock, keeping his fingers in a loose grasp, his mind fully immersed in the marvelous state of resonating with the earth's pulse and guiding gravity as if it were an extension of his own hand.

He "saw" every weak node in Yan Gang's force field, every flow trajectory. He "heard" the discord between the force field and the earth's pulse.

Then, he moved his fingers slightly.

Like plucking an invisible string.

With a soft "pop."

Yan Gang's massive gray‑brown force field, less than three zhang above Wang Ping's head, suddenly collapsed! It turned into countless chaotic gravity torrents that spread outward, blasting the cavity's edge rock walls into flying debris—yet it swerved clear of Wang Ping's position.

Yan Gang himself, due to the backlash of his shattered force field and the portion of gravity Wang Ping deliberately guided back at him, grunted, staggered back several steps, his face turning pallid, clearly his viscera had been shaken.

"You…… you with gravity……!" Yan Gang stared fixedly at Wang Ping, his eyes filled with disbelief. He could feel that the gravity fluctuations emanating from this human before him were completely different from before. It was no longer mere control, but…… as if he himself had become part of this land's gravity.