The chant echoing through the packed lobby of the Origins Dungeon Hall was low and hypnotic.
"Shopkeeper Yuan… Shopkeeper Yuan…"
By the time the moon rose over the polluted West District of Pyradine City, the cramped shop had turned into a standing-room-only arena. Cultivators from all over the city were packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Yet, for the first time since the shop opened, nobody was watching the eight paying customers suffering in their seats.
Every single bloodshot eye was locked onto the massive, glowing crimson projection hovering above the main counter.
Sitting behind that counter, Yuan Bi casually blew the steam off his green tea. He looked completely bored.
Wu Xueyin stood near the front of the crowd. She had just taken her silver helmet off after being killed by a basic zombie disciple in the simulation. Her usual icy calmness was shattered. She was breathing hard, her hands gripped tight, and she could still feel the phantom pain of the zombie bite on her neck.
She looked from the terrifying projection on the screen above down to the lazy, tea-sipping shopkeeper below. It didn't make sense.
"He is fighting that... that giant while sitting here drinking tea?" Xueyin asked, her voice shaking.
Her brother, Wu Feng, stood beside her with his arms folded. "It's a recording," the Wu Clan heir whispered so the nearby crowds wouldn't hear. "He records his high-level runs after hours on his own private throne. He plays the projection in the lobby to mock the rest of us. It's a ruthless marketing trick, Xueyin. He wants us to see what true mastery looks like, so we empty our pouches of spiritual stones trying to copy him on Hard Mode.
Wu Feng let out a breath. "Watch him. He isn't running in fear. He's hunting."
Inside the recorded projection of the Forsaken Fortress, the atmosphere was dark and hopeless. The corridor stretching before Yuan Bi's avatar was an endless, rotting hallway of black stone.
The Bone-Crusher Titan was chasing him.
It was a ten-foot-tall monster made of bleached human bones and rusted armor. It smashed blindly through the stone pillars, using its massive executioner's sword to widen the hallways so its huge body could fit.
Yuan Bi ran. But to the trained warriors watching the screen, it was the most beautiful, terrifying retreat they had ever seen.
'Thud. Thud. Thud. Every single step was calculated. The dungeon's Hard Mode sealed away Yuan Bi's internal Qi, so he was relying entirely on pure physical strength. He didn't just run blindly; he kept an exact ten-foot gap between his back and the deadly edge of the Titan's sword.
He was tiring the monster out. He was testing how fast it could turn on the slippery floors. He was figuring out exactly how far it could reach.
Suddenly, the narrow hallway opened up.
Yuan Bi slid to a stop in a massive, open central room. The roof had caved in long ago, letting the creepy, blood-red light of the digital sky shine down. There were no pillars here. No walls to hide behind. Just an open circle of broken stone.
Yuan Bi turned around. He dropped his broken, jagged sword. It was way too short for what was coming. Instead, he reached into the rubble and pulled out a heavy, chipped steel spear from a long-dead sect guard. He tested its weight, balanced it in his hands, and took a deep breath.
"I know your reach now," Yuan Bi said quietly to the dark archway. "Come out."
'BOOM!
The Titan exploded into the room, shattering the remaining walls into a cloud of choking dust. Its single, glowing red eye locked onto the tiny human standing in the center of the arena. It didn't roar. It simply raised its giant sword, the rusted steel scraping the ceiling.
Outside in the real world, the crowd went crazy with fear.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" a wandering fighter screamed, stumbling backward toward the street. "That isn't a cultivation trial! That's a walking natural disaster!"
Min Luan gripped his friend Lu Dong's expensive robes so hard his knuckles turned white. "Lu Dong... if that thing ever shows up in my simulation, I swear I am crippling my own cultivation and moving to the countryside to farm cabbages!"
Lu Dong didn't look away from the screen. He was pale and sweating. "You don't have that choice, merchant. When you sit in that chair... there is no logout button. You either kill it, or it breaks your mind."
Inside the projection, the Titan moved.
There was no warning. It just went from standing perfectly still to a terrifying blur of white bone and rusted steel.
'BOOM!
The massive sword slammed down, smashing the solid stone floor right where Yuan Bi had been standing a split-second before. The blast was so strong it sent chunks of stone flying through the air like shrapnel.
Before Yuan Bi could even catch his balance from dodging, the Titan swung again. It didn't lift the heavy sword back up; it used the buried blade as an anchor to swing its entire ten-foot body around for a devastating backhand strike.
CLANG!
Yuan Bi brought the thick wooden handle of his spear up to block, holding it at a perfect angle to deflect the attack away rather than taking the full hit.
Even with the perfect block, the raw power of the strike was unbelievable.
Yuan Bi was sent sliding violently backward across the stone. The friction was so intense his boots started to smoke. The heavy steel head of his spear snapped cleanly off, leaving him holding nothing but a broken wooden stick.
"I missed something," Yuan Bi muttered on the screen, spitting blood onto the floor. "It moves faster in the boss room than it did in the hallways."
The Titan finally roared—a sound so deep that the spectators in the real world felt it shaking their teeth. It stomped its massive foot, cracking the floor, and prepared for a huge, sweeping charge that would cut the entire room in half.
Yuan Bi didn't run away. He threw away the useless wooden stick.
He charged forward.
"HE'S GOING IN?!" Min Luan yelled in the lobby. "Without a weapon?!"
The Titan swung its giant sword. Yuan Bi didn't try to outrun the blade. He dove *forward*, sliding on his knees across the grit and blood, slipping under the whistling sword by mere inches. He aggressively entered the "Danger Zone"—the space right up against the Titan's legs, where the creature's massive sword was too long to be useful.
As he slid, Yuan Bi reached into his boot and pulled out a thick, jagged iron spike he had grabbed earlier in the run.
'CLANG!
He stabbed upward, aiming for the Titan's ribs. The iron bounced off the thick bone armor in a shower of useless sparks.
Tough armor confirmed, Yuan Bi thought instantly. I can't pierce its shell with basic iron.
The Titan, realizing its sword was useless up close, simply dropped the weapon. A giant hand reached down, trying to crush Yuan Bi like a bug.
Yuan Bi ducked and rolled backward. The jagged bone-claws of the Titan grazed his shoulder, spraying digital blood into the air.
Yuan Bi rolled to his feet with a faint, dangerous smile on his lips. The pain was searing, but to Yuan Bi, pain was just information. And he finally knew how to win.
The armor is too thick. I have to strike from the inside.
The Titan, furious at the annoying human dodging its attacks, charged forward like a runaway train. Both of its massive hands reached out to grab and crush him.
Yuan Bi didn't dodge to the left. He didn't roll to the right.
He stepped directly toward the monster.
At the very last possible second, as the giant hands closed in, Yuan Bi slipped under the grab. He leaped upward, planting his heavy boot squarely onto the Titan's massive arm. He didn't use the arm to block.
He used it as a ramp.
"HE'S CLIMBING IT?!" a player shouted, grabbing the edge of the counter.
Yuan Bi ran straight up the creature's massive arm, completely defying the high gravity of the dungeon. The Titan thrashed wildly, trying to swat him off, but Yuan Bi was too small, too fast, and staying right in the monster's blind spot.
He reached the creature's broad shoulder. He planted his boots directly on the collarbone and leaped straight up into the air.
Time seemed to slow down on the screen.
Yuan Bi hung in the air against the red sky. The Titan threw its massive head back and opened its jaws to roar, its single, glowing red eye tracking the human above it.
It was completely exposed. No armor.
"End," Yuan Bi whispered softly.
He flipped the iron spike in his hand. Using his falling weight and every ounce of his physical strength, he drove the jagged iron straight down.
'CRACK.
The spike buried itself deep into the center of the Titan's glowing red eye, piercing straight into its brain.
The Titan froze instantly. Its massive body trembled violently for a single second. Then, the burning red light in its eye flickered, dimmed, and died.
'BOOM.
The giant fell backward, hitting the floor with a crash that shook dust from the ceiling. It didn't get back up.
Inside the projection: Absolute stillness.
Outside in the real world: A silence so heavy you could hear fifty hearts beating at once.
Then—
**"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The Origins Dungeon Hall exploded. Everyone went crazy. Fighters were jumping into the air and punching the ceiling. Mercenaries were screaming at the top of their lungs, hugging rivals they had wanted to fight just an hour ago.
"HE KILLED IT! HE KILLED THE WALKING MOUNTAIN WITH A RUSTY NAIL!"
"WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING WITH OUR LIVES?!"
Min Luan literally fell to his knees on the floor, crying tears of sheer awe. "I've been in that array fighting weak zombies... and this man is out here destroying gods..."
Wu Xueyin stood frozen, staring at the fading screen. She looked back down at Yuan Bi. The shopkeeper was calmly pouring himself a second cup of tea, completely ignoring the wild celebration in his lobby. The arrogance she had carried into the slums was completely shattered. That is what true man fighting looks like, she realized. No flashy magic. Just pure skill.
Inside the projection, a flood of bright golden energy erupted from the Titan's body, washing over Yuan Bi. Then, the projection blinked out, leaving the ceiling dark again.
"Shopkeeper!" Min Luan cried, pointing at the empty air. "How are we supposed to beat that?! That's not a training challenge; that's just a death sentence!"
Yuan Bi took a slow sip of his tea. "You are the ones who keep complaining that standard meditation is too slow. You asked for a real challenge."
"WE DIDN'T ASK FOR GUARANTEED DEATH!" Lu Dong yelled.
"In this world," Yuan Bi said calmly, "they are the exact same thing."
He pulled out an iron pocket watch and clicked it open. "It is exactly midnight. The daily cycle is over, and the arrays need to cool down. Everyone out."