Chapter 105: The Birth of the Pagoda

The underground forge of the Cloud-Sea Pavilion was filled with heat and spiritual light. Crimson Earth-Fire cast long shadows across the bedrock walls, while hours of continuous work had left the air heavy with the smell of scorched metal.

Lin Tian stood before the meteorite anvil, sweat covering his face and clothes. Beside him, Aunt Lin’s silk robe clung to her body. Her hands were still trembling from the pain in her chest, but her eyes never left the metal.

"The final seal," Lin Tian said.

Aunt Lin gathered the last of her spiritual energy and guided it into her carving knife. With careful movements, she connected the final node of the Spiritual Suppression Loop to the Void-Stone at the base.

Her movements remained precise despite how little strength she had left.

Lin Tian raised the hammer.

He didn’t use spiritual fire. He relied only on the strength of his body and his understanding of the metal. He knew where the heat had gathered and exactly where the final strike needed to land.

He had already calculated it countless times in his mind.

Aunt Lin held her breath without realizing it. Every muscle in her body tensed as she waited.

CLANG!

The hammer struck.

The force traveled through the Profound Steel. Because the heat had remained steady at its core, the impact didn’t damage the spiritual nodes. Instead, the final impurities were forced out, completing Aunt Lin’s array work without a flaw.

The sound of the strike was deeper than the ones before it.

Something had changed.

A pillar of dark-silver light suddenly erupted from the anvil, scattering the ash and sulfur in the air. The sudden brightness forced both of them to turn away.

The System interface appeared before Lin Tian.

[Artifact Crafted — Abyssal Suppression Pagoda, Tier 2 Peak-Grade]

[System Evaluation:This artifact contains an exceptionally clean spiritual arrays, far beyond what the tools of a Foundation Establishment cultivator should normally be capable of producing.]

Lin Tian lowered the hammer, a satisfied smile appearing as the light faded. Across from him, Aunt Lin stared at the finished artifact, still unable to believe that her own hands had carved something of such quality.

***

Resting on the anvil was a miniature seven-layered pagoda, no taller than a forearm. Its blue-silver surface was smooth and dense, with faint patterns running across each layer like veins of light. At its base, the Void-Stone gave off a soft spatial resonance, while the runes Aunt Lin had carved remained dim, waiting for spiritual energy to awaken them.

"It’s complete," he murmured as he lifted it.

Despite its small size, the pagoda felt incredibly heavy in his hand. It had none of the fragile feeling that its appearance suggested. The weight was concentrated deep within it, as if each layer had been compressed into a much denser form.

Aunt Lin leaned against the stone table, catching her breath. Her face was pale from exhaustion, but her eyes remained fixed on the pagoda.

"Master... did the arrays hold?"

"Let’s find out."

Lin Tian steadied the pagoda in his palm and guided a single drop of liquid Qi from his Dantian into its central node. He kept the flow slow and controlled, making sure the energy entered the artifact without disturbing the spiritual paths Aunt Lin had carved.

The moment the Qi reached the center, the pagoda gave a low tremor.

WUMMMM!

A deep hum spread through the forge.

Black light emerged from the Void-Stone and moved upward through the first layer. The runes lit up one after another, the light passing smoothly from one layer to the next until all seven were connected.

A faint vibration ran through Lin Tian’s palm.

He could clearly feel the spiritual energy moving inside the artifact.

There was almost no resistance.The formation was holding.Then the Abyssal Weight Array awakened.

An invisible pressure spread outward from the pagoda and filled the forge within moments. The air itself seemed to grow heavier, pressing down from every direction.

The Earth-Fire flames bent low.

Loose ash and dust dropped from the air instead of drifting away, landing across the stone floor. The heavy meteorite anvil gave a deep groan as its weight pushed slightly farther into the stone beneath it.

Even the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to slow under the pressure.

Aunt Lin’s expression tightened as she felt the force settle over her body. She instinctively gathered her spiritual energy around herself, resisting the pressure on her meridians.

"Such pressure..." she murmured.

Lin Tian said nothing.

His attention remained on the pagoda.

The seven layers were working together exactly as he had intended. Instead of allowing the spiritual energy to scatter after activating the array, each layer supported the next, allowing the pressure to build steadily.

That was the most important part.

A powerful array that wasted most of its energy would be little better than a flawed one. But the spiritual energy inside the pagoda was moving cleanly through the formation, with almost nothing escaping.

The pressure continued to spread through the forge, becoming heavy enough to strain the meridians of anyone without enough strength to resist it.

Lin Tian remained standing at the center.

The force pressed against his body, but his Primordial Yang-Tyrant Body remained completely steady. His robe stirred slightly beneath the invisible pressure, yet his feet did not shift even a fraction.

***

Aunt Lin had no way to resist the pressure.

She had already spent almost all the strength her body could give. Hours in front of the Earth-Fire, the pain she had forced herself to ignore, and the constant strain of carving the array had left her barely holding herself together.

When the pagoda’s pressure filled the forge, it struck her exhausted body all at once.

The carving knife slipped from her fingers and fell to the stone floor.

"Ah—!"

Her breath caught as the sudden pressure pressed down on her chest. Her vision blurred, and the edges of the forge darkened. She tried to steady herself against the stone table, but her arms no longer had the strength to support her.

Her knees gave way.

Lin Tian’s eyes snapped toward her.

He cut the flow of Qi to the pagoda at once.

The pressure vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, and the forge returned to normal as the Earth-Fire rose back to its usual height.

Lin Tian moved immediately.

He reached her just before she struck the ground and caught her in his arms.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound in the forge was the steady roar of the Earth-Fire.

Aunt Lin’s head rested against his shoulder. Her face was pale, and sweat covered her forehead and temples.

"Aunt Lin."

His voice was quiet now, the command gone.He checked her condition and felt the faint rhythm of her pulse beneath his fingers.

She had pushed herself far beyond her limit without saying a word.Only now, with her barely able to stand, did he realize how much the entire night had taken out of her.

***

He didn’t leave her in the heat of the forge. After securing the pagoda to his belt, Lin Tian lifted Aunt Lin carefully and carried her through the pavilion toward his private resting chamber.

The walk was short, but each step reminded him how close she had come to collapsing completely.

The chamber was cool and quiet, filled with the faint scent of sandalwood and the soft glow of moon-pearls set into the walls. Compared to the intense heat of the forge, the change in temperature was almost startling.

Lin Tian lowered her onto the bed.

Against the pale silk sheets, her exhaustion was even more obvious. Her face was still pale, her breathing shallow, and her hair damp against her forehead after hours spent working beside the Earth-Fire.

Lin Tian sat at the edge of the bed and gently moved the damp strands away from her face.

Her eyelids trembled before slowly opening.

"Lin Tian...?"

Her voice was weak.

"Did I fail you?"

Lin Tian shook his head.

"You didn’t fail me."

He looked toward the pagoda at his waist before turning back to her."The arrays held. The artifact is stable, and the suppression force is even stronger than I expected."

Some of the tension left her expression.

"I’m glad."

A faint smile appeared on her tired face.

"You’ve already done enough tonight," Lin Tian said. "You shouldn’t have pushed yourself that far."

Aunt Lin gave a small shake of her head.

"I wanted to finish it."

He pulled the blanket over her and checked her breathing again. She was still weak, but the strain from the forge was slowly fading from her expression.

"You need to rest," he said. "The pagoda can wait."

Her eyes softened as she looked at him.

"All right."

She closed her eyes again.

Lin Tian stayed beside the bed instead of leaving immediately. He watched the rise and fall of her breathing until it became slower and more even.

Only then did the tension in his shoulders begin to ease.He looked toward the door, beyond which the forge had finally fallen silent.

The pagoda was finished.

But seeing Aunt Lin collapse because of it had made one thing clear to him.A powerful artifact was worthless if the people helping create it were pushed beyond their limits.

Lin Tian lowered his gaze toward her sleeping face and quietly adjusted the blanket once more.

This time, he would be more careful.