From the top of the high ground, Kael stood silently, gazing at the city in the distance. It was far larger than it had appeared from the valley.
Black stone walls towered dozens of meters into the sky, stretching as far as the eye could see. Above them, layers of faint light flowed like streams of water, forming intricate patterns that interconnected across the entire city—a massive defensive array. Even from where Kael stood, he could faintly sense the quiet pressure emanating from it. It was not a pressure meant for destruction, but for absolute monitoring.
"This place is much livelier than the valley," Seris's voice came from beside him, her small form floating casually.
Kael glanced briefly at the entity. "That's why we can't afford to attract unnecessary attention."
Seris chuckled softly. "Yet trouble always seems to find you."
"Then I only need to make sure that attention doesn't last long."
Kael began walking down the slope. The closer they got to the city, the denser the spiritual energy in the air became. Cultivators of all kinds could be seen coming from every direction—some in formal sect robes, merchants traveling with heavy carriages, and groups of rogue cultivators riding tamed spiritual beasts.
As they neared the entrance, Kael slowed his steps. A transparent system panel flickered before his eyes.
[Environmental Assessment:]
[Detected Region: Azurefall City]
[Qi Density: High]
[Defensive Array: Active]
[Array Functions: Aura Detection, Spiritual Suppression, Energy Tracking, and Defense]
[Warning: Excessive spiritual energy fluctuations within the city's radius may attract the attention of the array's overseers.]
Kael committed the name to memory. A city protected by an array of this scale was clearly not a place one could enter carelessly. Fortunately, Kael had no intention of recklessly flaring his spiritual energy.
However, just as they approached the northern gate where a long queue of cultivators waited—
"Stop!" A sharp, arrogant voice suddenly echoed from the front of the line.
The crowd fell silent. Kael raised his gaze. A young man dressed in dark blue robes stood in the middle of the road, displaying a silver sword emblem surrounded by a circle on his chest. Five imposing guards stood behind him, their auras indicating solid cultivation foundations.
The arrogant youth sneered at an elderly civilian before him. "Entry fee."
The old man bowed nervously. "Senior, I've already paid the standard gate tax to the guards..."
"That's the ordinary entrance fee," the young man replied coldly. "Someone of your status doesn't deserve to walk the same ground as me without paying extra. Hand over five low-grade spirit stones."
"Five?!" The old man's face turned pale. "Senior, I... I only have two..."
Before the elder could finish, one of the followers stepped forward.
BOOM!
An explosive wave of spiritual pressure erupted, forcing the elderly man instantly to his knees. The surrounding crowd stumbled backward in panic. "Don't make Young Master repeat himself!"
No one dared to interfere. Kael merely watched from a distance as he bypassed the crowd.
"A powerful local faction?" Seris asked quietly.
"Likely," Kael replied, keeping his pace steady. "And it has nothing to do with us." He wasn't a hero, nor had he come to Azurefall City to play savior. He needed information, nothing more.
"Everyone, halt!" the young man in blue suddenly barked, sweeping his cold gaze over the waiting line. "From now on, anyone who wishes to enter through this gate will pay three times the usual fee!"
Restlessness rippled through the crowd. A middle-aged cultivator finally spoke up, "Senior, isn't the entrance fee strictly regulated by the City Lord?"
"So?" The young man sneered.
"You have no right to—"
BANG!
Spiritual pressure blasted outward once more, sending the middle-aged cultivator flying several meters back, coughing blood. The uncontrolled pressure spread too far, causing several ordinary civilians and children nearby to stumble and fall hard onto the cobblestones.
Kael stopped mid-step. He quietly exhaled. *Troublesome.*
"Don't move," Kael whispered to Seris.
"Oh? Changing your mind?" Seris smiled with amusement.
Kael didn't answer. He simply raised one foot and took a step forward.
Step.
There was no explosion, no radiating aura, and no visible surge of spiritual energy. Yet the moment his foot touched the ground, the environmental balance shifted.
*Weight Authority.*
Kael didn't crush the young man directly. Instead, he subtly altered the localized gravitational weight in the exact space surrounding his target—an adjustment so refined it was practically invisible to normal spiritual senses.
The young man in blue suddenly froze, his arrogant smile vanishing. "What the—"
His legs felt as heavy as lead. He tried to lift his boot, but it refused to budge.
"Young Master?" his followers asked in confusion.
Panicking, the young man circulated his internal qi to force himself up, but the extra energy only amplified the localized downward pressure.
THUD!
Both of his knees slammed violently against the ground. The entire crowd gasped in disbelief.
"What?!"
"Young Master fell?!"
"Get off me!" The youth gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his neck as he tried to stand. But the invisible weight pressed harder, trapping him like a mountain resting on his shoulders.
Kael continued walking calmly past the scene without ever looking back.
Seris floated beside him, her eyes wide with intrigue. "You didn't even touch him."
"That's the point."
A sleek system interface appeared before Kael's vision:
[System Insight:]
[Weight Authority successfully applied to external environment without generating spiritual energy fluctuations.]
[Method: Environmental Weight Distortion]
[Effectiveness: High against targets unfamiliar with the Laws of Weight.]
[Note: Repeated application under live conditions will accelerate Authority mastery.]
*Interesting,* Kael thought. Until now, he had used Weight Authority primarily for direct suppression or personal weight manipulation. Modifying localized environmental laws proved far more flexible—and infinitely harder to trace.
Behind him, the young man roared in humiliation, "Who did this?!"
The city guards exchanged bewildered glances, unable to detect any spell or spiritual activation. One guard even swept the area with a blue detection talisman, but it revealed nothing.
As Kael approached the archway, a guard stepped forward, eyeing him suspiciously. "You. Hold on."
Kael stopped, his expression impassive. "Is there a problem?"
"You were the closest person to Young Master when he collapsed," the guard stated, probing him.
"Was I?" Kael replied evenly, gesturing with his chin toward the five followers hovering around the kneeling youth. "They seem much closer."
The guard hesitated, looking back at the confused followers who had no answers to offer. Seeing no proof, the guard begrudgingly stepped aside.
"Wait!" one of the followers suddenly pointed at Kael's back. "It must be him!"
The young man in blue, struggling on his knees, barked back furiously, "You idiot! Don't throw blind accusations when there's no qi signature!"
He tried to push himself up again, briefly succeeding for a second before Kael subtly nudged the Weight Authority one last time.
THUD!
The youth collapsed back onto the cobblestones, gasping for breath, genuine panic finally creeping into his eyes. He couldn't sense the attack. He couldn't see the enemy.
Satisfied, Kael withdrew the Weight Authority completely and walked through the gates into Azurefall City.
"What was that emblem on his chest?" Seris asked as the noise at the gate faded behind them.
"A silver sword inside a circle," Kael noted. "I'll find out soon enough."
"Even though you just made an enemy out of them?"
"He brought it upon himself," Kael replied flatly.
However, as they stepped onto the main thoroughfare of the city, Kael suddenly paused. He felt it instantly—not an aggressive killing intent or a surge of aura, but a focused gaze watching his every move from high above the gate towers.
A new system panel materialized:
[System Insight:]
[Host is currently being observed by an entity possessing high-level concealment skills.]
[Target Identity: Unable to determine]
[Power Level: Concealed / High]
[Target Intent: Unknown]
Seris felt the shift in atmosphere. "Kael... someone's watching."
"I know."
"Should we blend into the crowd?"
Kael placed his hands inside his sleeves, his eyes turning icy cool. "No. If they wanted to strike, they would have done so already. If they only wish to observe... let them."
***
High above the northern gate, shrouded within the deep shadows of the watchtower, a black-robed figure stood silently. His sharp eyes remained locked on Kael's disappearing back.
After a long pause, the figure pulled out a communications token engraved with the exact same silver sword emblem.
"Report," a voice echoed faintly from the token.
"The target has entered Azurefall," the black-robed figure reported, his tone unusually solemn.
"And?"
The watcher stared at the gate below. "He forced the Young Master to his knees twice... without utilizing a single thread of spiritual energy."
A faint crack formed across the surface of the token as the watcher tightened his grip.
"Notify the elders," the watcher whispered. "That man... is no ordinary cultivator."