Lin Mu sat in the courtyard of the Great Burden Monastery, a scroll unrolled before him. The golden threads etched into the aged parchnt glinted faintly under the light of the midday sun, though the ever-present gravity weighed heavy on his limbs, as if the earth itself wished to pull the knowledge from his bones.
The Golden Dominator Sutra was a thing of elegance and brutality.
Even fragnted, it bore a majesty that stirred sothing deep within Lin Mu—a recognition, a resonance with his very path. The True Gold Body Forging Art, which he had cultivated for years with diligence and pain, was no longer a mystery. It was a seed, a re prelude to sothing far greater.
Yet that understanding ca with bitter clarity.
"The art was never ant to stop here," he murmured, scanning the ancient runes. "It was supposed to continue… to rise past the Mortal Realm…"
His fingers tightened on the scroll.
He could now see where the limit was drawn—where the forging process plateaued. The Mortal-realm version of the technique lacked the essence required to refine the flesh further, to transmute spirit and marrow into the Immortal Gold Vessel. Without that catalyst, the body remained strong but ultimately mundane.
He traced a phrase repeated across multiple scroll fragnts:
"Only with the Dominator's Breath shall the mortal shed their weight and rise sovereign."
The Dominator's Breath—that was the key.
A treasure, or perhaps a divine substance. The very fuel needed to ignite the next phase of the technique and transcend the body's boundaries.
Determined, Lin Mu sought out the abbot again. He found the old monk seated in a silent chamber near the Heart of Gravity itself, robes pooling around him like ancient moss.
"I need to ask you sothing," Lin Mu said, offering a respectful bow and handing him the scroll.
The abbot opened his eyes slowly and read the scroll before speaking. "You wish to know of the Dominator's Breath?"
"So you've heard of it?" Lin Mu asked, hope glinting in his voice.
The abbot nodded. "Only by na. It was ntioned in the oldest texts—used during the Grand Ceremonies of the Immovable Vajra Temple to anoint disciples before they broke through to the Immortal realm."
Lin Mu leaned forward. "Do you know what it was? What it looked like?"
The abbot shook his head slowly, solemnly. "I'm afraid not. It was a sacred treasure crafted by the high masters of the temple. Even during my youth, it was already considered lost."
"Lost…" Lin Mu echoed.
"We… no longer have the ans to recreate it," the abbot continued. "The craftsman monks, the Sacred Furnace Halls, the Gravity Anvils—we left them all behind in the Vimana Realm. Perhaps they were destroyed in the calamity. Or perhaps they were scattered to the far corners of the void. No one knows."
Lin Mu stood still for a long mont, processing the words. Another wall. Another broken bridge.
He had hoped that this place, this ancient stronghold of body refinent, might offer the missing key. Instead, he found only fragnts and mories. The Dominator's Breath was no longer here—maybe nowhere in this world at all.
A soft sigh escaped him.
So close… and yet still so far.
But then he chuckled quietly and shook his head.
"Of course it wouldn't be easy," he said, half to himself. "If it were simple, soone else would have done it long ago."
The abbot regarded him carefully. "You're not disappointed?"
"I am," Lin Mu admitted. "But not enough to give up."
He looked out through the stone archway to where the monks still sat in heavy ditation, their bodies trembling slightly under the oppressive pressure of the Heart of Gravity.
"I've walked a long road filled with puzzles and pieces. One more mystery won't stop . If I can't find the Dominator's Breath now, then I'll forge ahead until I do. One way or another."
The abbot smiled faintly, sothing almost reverent in the look he gave Lin Mu. "Then you carry the true spirit of our temple. Even in the face of shattered lineages, you press forward. You carry the burden."
"But before I continue on that path," Lin Mu said, straightening, "I'll help you first. This monastery… it needs relief. Your people are carrying a burden that's killing them slowly."
The abbot nodded, the weariness in his gaze deepening.
"Yes," he said. "The Heart of Gravity… it has begun to spiral out of control. Many have already perished over the years." he muttered in sorrow.
"How many of you are left now?" Lin Mu asked.
"Just around two hundred. A re fraction of our thousands strong..." The abbot replied making Lin Mu grow silent.
That evening, Lin Mu returned to the stone platform at the center of the monastery, where the Heart of Gravity slumbered beneath layers of formation seals. The oppressive pressure radiating from it had grown subtly worse in just the past few days. Even ng Bai, still recovering in the courtyard, had comnted on it.
The monks ditated not just to cultivate, but to suppress the surging tides of gravitational force that threatened to break through the bounds of the inner sanctum.
"This isn't just a cultivation treasure," Lin Mu murmured, scanning the runes etched into the surrounding stone. "It's becoming unstable. And if it collapses…"
The entire monastery might be crushed.
He reached out with his spirit sense, tentatively touching the gravity well at the core.
It was ancient. Vast. Alive in a way few natural treasures were.
But it was not malevolent.
Just… burdened.
The array stabilizing it had long since degraded. The monks' continued ditation was the only thing keeping it from collapsing into a singularity of Dao force.
Lin Mu stood up, eyes narrowing.
"Alright," he said aloud. "If I can't find the Dominator's Breath yet… I'll start by fixing this."
The True Gold Body Forging Art could wait.
The Dominator's path could wait.
Right now, the people here needed him—and that, more than anything, was sothing Lin Mu would never turn away from.
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