Chapter Five: The Soaring Stone (Part Two)

But things were far from as simple as Kuangchi imagined.

Kuangchi thought that the force that had just slammed him down from mid-air was the prank of a few old men who had gone up before him, assuming they wanted to embarrass him and disgrace the Kuang family. All he could think about was rushing up to the meteorite and confronting those old fellows.

But when Kuangchi was slammed down from the air by that force a second time, he finally realized that the power that knocked him down was not some internal energy manipulated by a person. It lacked the touch of humanity, feeling rigid and unnatural—clearly a kind of gravitational defensive barrier.

As laughter echoed around him, Kuangchi swept his cold gaze in all directions, and gradually, the noise died under his intimidating eyes.

At that moment, Kuangchi seethed with anger. He turned his head, looked up at the sky with a cold expression, and then extracted his legs, which had sunk into the stone up to the knees.

After glancing at those still quietly cultivating around him, Kuangchi finally calmed down.

Clearly, everyone here understood the difficulty of ascending the Soaring Stone and were sitting beneath it, quietly restoring their true energy. Only he was ignorant of all this.

Kuangchi was no fool. Once calm, he quickly pieced things together. But he was not willing to admit defeat—not just for the honor of the Kuang family, but also because of the mocking laughter he had just endured.

He, too, sat cross-legged and began to quietly recover the excess energy he had lost.

While he regulated his breathing, he kept a close eye on the situation around him, wanting to see how others would attempt to ascend the Soaring Stone, since he didn’t know what tricks it held.

But after half a day, the hundreds present remained utterly still. Everyone simply sat there in silence, even those who had clearly finished their meditation. It was as if all were waiting for something.

In the end, almost everyone's gaze fell on Kuangchi. Clearly, just as he had waited for others to go first, everyone else was waiting for him.

Kuangchi had intended to feign ignorance, regardless of how they looked at him, but a voice from atop the Soaring Stone shattered that plan.

Just as Kuangchi sat quietly with eyes closed, ignoring the others’ stares, an aged voice drifted down from above.

"Hey, brat from the Kuang family, don't play dead like the others. If you’ve finished your meditation, get up here. If you all keep waiting for each other, how long are you going to make us old men wait?"

Kuangchi, who had always looked young for his age, hated being called a brat. Hearing this, his temper flared anew.

With a snort, Kuangchi leapt up and shouted, "Who's playing dead? I'm just curious to see how others get slammed down. I've been thrown off twice already—can't I watch someone else for a change?"

His words provoked another round of laughter, and even the old man on the Soaring Stone responded with a chuckle, "Well said. That’s fine too. You can watch from the side—but if someone gets up here before you, those ten mid-grade crystal cores will go to someone else, you know!"

Kuangchi was momentarily stunned, then asked, "Are you saying whoever gets up first gets a reward of ten mid-grade crystal cores?"

"Of course," the old man replied, laughing heartily.

Kuangchi pondered for a moment, then glanced back at Zixia.

From afar, he saw Zixia nodding, confirming that the old man’s words were true.

But this only puzzled Kuangchi more. He had just learned from the Demon Thieves the value of ten crystal cores in the Carol Empire—at least several million Carol coins. Yet those around him seemed utterly unmoved, as if they all wanted him to go first. It was all very odd.

He looked at the crowd, their eyes still fixed on him. Kuangchi wanted to ask why none of them would try, but now, he really couldn't bring himself to say it.

All he could do was take a deep breath and quietly muster his true energy, first summoning his Battle Dragon.

Frustrated... after days without writing, I just can't find the feeling... truly exasperating...