The air changed.
Not suddenly.
Gradually.
Each step Kael took felt like entering deeper layers of a living body.
The stone beneath his feet darkened, veins of compressed Qi pulsing slowly like a heartbeat.
Seris stopped.
"This is it," she said quietly. "The heart zone."
Kael nodded.
The pressure here was no longer chaotic.
It was deliberate.
Measured.
Judging.
Other survivors emerged from different paths.
Only nine remained.
Nine out of dozens.
Their auras were sharp, wounded, and desperate.
The moment they stepped into the heart zone, the pressure shifted again.
Not downward.
Inward.
A massive formation activated silently.
No announcement.
No warning.
The Ridge closed.
Screams erupted instantly.
One cultivator tried to flee—
his body collapsed into a pool of blood and bone before he took three steps.
Another activated a forbidden technique, burning his lifespan to escape pressure.
The Ridge crushed him anyway.
Kael stood still.
Pressure surged—
then flowed.
Around him.
[Core Zone Recognized:]
— Crushing Ridge: Heart
— Pressure Logic: Selection-Based
[Authority Response:]
— Kael: Partially Exempt
Eyes turned toward Kael.
Fear replaced hostility.
One man shouted, "Why is he standing?!"
Kael exhaled slowly.
"Heavy bodies don't get pushed," he said quietly.
"They get tested."
The ground split open.
From the center of the heart zone, a pillar of black stone rose slowly, etched with ancient symbols.
At its top—
a single platform.
A voice echoed.
Not sound.
Pressure.
"Advance."
Only one path remained.
Up.
Cultivators moved.
Not together.
Not coordinated.
Everyone rushed, driven by instinct and terror.
The pressure intensified violently.
Two collapsed instantly.
One made it halfway before his body imploded.
Seris gritted her teeth and advanced cautiously, following Kael's rhythm.
Kael moved last.
Each step bent the stone.
The pressure surged harder around him, as if annoyed.
Kael accepted it.
His body compressed further, stabilizing at a deeper density.
[Continuous Authority Reinforcement:]
— Body Tempering: 52.3% → 53.9%
— Pressure Authority: Expanding
Near the top, three cultivators remained.
One screamed and leapt—
the pressure folded him in half mid-air.
Another collapsed from exhaustion.
Only Kael and Seris reached the platform.
The moment Kael stepped onto it—
the Ridge shook violently.
The pressure fell silent.
The pillar glowed.
A mark burned itself into Kael's forearm.
Not painful.
Heavy.
[Crushing Ridge Mark Acquired:]
— Type: Endurance Sigil
— Effect: Pressure Affinity Increased
— Status: Permanent (Dormant)
Seris stared.
"That mark…" she whispered. "Only one can receive it."
Kael looked down at his arm.
He felt it.
A connection.
Not ownership.
Recognition.
The Ridge exhaled.
The heart zone collapsed inward slowly, sealing itself.
Those who failed were buried.
Those who survived—
were changed.
Far away, sect elders sensed it.
A pressure signature unlike any before.
"He reached the heart," one whispered.
Another voice replied grimly.
"And the Ridge answered."
Kael looked at the sky above the heart zone, now clearing.
"This was only the beginning," he said quietly.
Seris nodded.
"Now the world will come."
Kael clenched his fist.
Stone cracked.
Pressure bent.
He stepped off the platform.
And Crushing Ridge—
bowed.
The moment Kael stepped off the platform, the world tilted.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
The pressure that once pressed against his skin now lingered inside him, coiled and obedient, like a sleeping beast bound by invisible chains.
He inhaled.
The air felt thin.
Heavy.
Perfect.
Seris watched him closely. "You're different," she said. "Even from a moment ago."
Kael flexed his arm.
The mark on his forearm pulsed once, then faded beneath his skin, leaving no visible trace.
"It's not power," he said. "It's tolerance."
The Ridge responded.
Not with pressure—
but silence.
[Endurance Sigil Integration:]
— Status: Stable
— Passive Effect: Continuous Load Adaptation
— Warning: Overreliance May Attract Predators
Seris frowned. "Predators?"
Kael nodded slowly. "Not beasts."
"People."
The heart zone began to collapse in earnest.
Stone folded inward like closing ribs.
The path they had climbed cracked apart behind them, sealing the dead and the failed beneath layers of compressed rock.
There would be no retrieval.
No corpses.
Only pressure.
A final test.
Kael walked calmly as the ground shifted, guiding Seris through stable zones without speaking. He felt the stress points instinctively, the way a body knows where it can bend without breaking.
They emerged at the ridge's upper exit just as the heart sealed completely.
Behind them, Crushing Ridge fell silent.
Dormant.
Outside, the sky was painfully wide.
Clouds drifted lazily, ignorant of what had occurred below.
Survivors gathered in small, broken groups.
When Kael appeared, conversation died instantly.
Eyes followed him.
Not with envy.
With caution.
One cultivator whispered, "That's him."
Another muttered, "The one the Ridge didn't crush."
Kael ignored them.
The sigil on his arm grew warm.
Not threatening.
Responsive.
Miles away, deep within sect halls and floating pavilions, elders stiffened simultaneously.
Pressure rippled through formation arrays.
Crystals cracked.
Scrolls trembled.
One elder opened his eyes sharply. "That pressure signature…"
"Not destructive," another said slowly. "Enduring."
A third voice spoke with quiet unease.
"Someone was acknowledged."
Silence followed.
Then—
"He cannot be allowed to mature unchecked."
Back at the trial grounds, Seris finally spoke again.
"From now on," she said, "wherever you go, pressure zones will favor you."
Kael shook his head. "They'll test me harder."
She smiled grimly. "That's worse."
Kael looked at the horizon.
He felt the sigil resonate faintly, as if answering a distant call.
The world was heavier than before.
And he fit it better.
[System Observation:]
— Environmental Resistance: Reduced
— High-Grade Pressure Zones: Attracted
— Growth Path: Confirmed
Kael clenched his fist.
Stone dust drifted from his palm.
"Good," he said.
Seris studied him for a long moment.
"You're not afraid of what comes next."
Kael met her gaze.
"I was afraid before."
He turned away, walking toward the path leading out of the trial grounds.
"Now," he said quietly, "I'm prepared."
Behind him, whispers spread.
Ahead of him, sects moved.
And somewhere deep beneath the sealed Ridge, pressure slept—
waiting for the next time Kael would return.
He didn't look back.