**The Vane Safehouse (Waterfall Cave).**
Kaelen sat on the cold stone floor, the grey leather book open in his lap.
**[The Nine-Fold Collapse]** was not a manual for sanity. It was a physics textbook written by a madman.
*"Strike the air until the air screams. Strike the void until the void bleeds."*
Normal cultivators spent decades mastering "Space Qi" to perform minor warps. This manual suggested using pure physical mass to dent reality itself.
"System," Kaelen tapped the page. "Translate this garbage."
> **[Scanning Technique...]**
> **[Complexity: Extreme.]**
> **[Requirement: 100,000 lbs of Force.]**
> **[Analysis: The user must vibrate their muscle fibers at the frequency of the target, creating a localized gravity well, then collapse it instantly.]**
Kaelen closed the book.
"So, hit it hard, but vibrate first."
He stood up. He walked to the cave wall. It was solid granite, reinforced by the mountain's pressure.
He pulled his fist back.
He didn't just tense his muscles; he revved them. The **Thunder King** cells sparked. The **Titan's Ribcage** hummed. His arm became a blur of micro-vibrations.
"**First Fold.**"
He punched.
He didn't touch the wall. He stopped an inch away.
*THWUMP.*
The air between his fist and the wall collapsed. A vacuum bubble formed, then imploded.
*CRACK.*
A circular hole, perfectly smooth, appeared in the granite. It wasn't chipped or broken; the stone had simply been compressed into dust.
> **[Technique Learned: Nine-Fold Collapse (Stage 1).]**
> **[Proficiency: 5%.]**
> **[Warning: Right arm muscle integrity at 80%. Recoil is high.]**
Kaelen shook his arm. It felt numb.
"Only one fold?" Kaelen frowned. "The manual says the Titan could do nine."
Viper, who was eating a ration bar in the corner, looked at the hole in the wall. She stopped chewing.
"Did you... did you just punch the air and break the mountain?"
"It's inefficient," Kaelen critiqued. "I need a live target."
He grabbed his **Nameless Slab**.
"Viper, where is the **Heaven Board**?"
"The Ranking Monolith?" Viper blinked. "It's in the Central Plaza of the Middle Sector. Why?"
"I need to send a message."
***
**The Central Plaza.**
It was the heart of the Inner Sect. A sprawling square of white marble, bustling with disciples trading pills, boasting about missions, and forming teams.
In the center stood the **Heaven Board**.
It was a black obsidian obelisk, fifty feet tall. Golden names were etched into its surface, shimmering with Qi.
1. **Long Tian (Core Formation 1)**
2. **Fairy Lin (Foundation 9)**
...
88. **Lie Feng (Foundation 6)** [Rank Dropped - Injured]
A crowd was gathered around it, whispering about the recent changes.
"Did you hear? Lie Feng got demoted. Some rookie crushed him."
"Yeah, the 'Sun Eater'. I heard he's hiding because the Law Hall is hunting him."
Kaelen walked into the plaza.
He didn't wear a hood. He didn't hide his aura. He walked with the heavy, rhythmic thud of someone carrying a thousand pounds of iron on his back.
The crowd parted. They recognized the tattoos. They recognized the Slab.
"It's him! The barbarian!"
"Is he crazy? The Enforcers are looking for him!"
Kaelen walked straight to the Monolith.
He looked up at the names.
"Hey!" A disciple shouted. "You can't just walk up to the Monolith! You have to challenge someone formally through the arena to get your name on—"
Kaelen ignored him. He touched the cold black stone of the Obelisk.
"System," Kaelen whispered. "Is this thing connected to everyone's tokens?"
> **[Affirmative. The Obelisk acts as a central server for the Merit Point network.]**
"Perfect."
Kaelen stepped back. He widened his stance.
He unclenched his fist. He started the vibrations.
*HUMMMMM.*
A low frequency sound began to emit from his body. The pebbles on the ground started to dance. The air around him began to distort.
The disciples nearby felt their chests tighten.
"What is he doing?"
"Run! He's charging something!"
Kaelen looked at the top of the list. **Long Tian.**
"I don't have time to climb the ladder," Kaelen announced, his voice cutting through the noise.
He pulled his fist back. The air screamed.
"So I'm going to shake the tree."
"**Nine-Fold Collapse: Second Fold.**"
He punched the Monolith.
It wasn't a loud explosion. It was a sickening *CRUNCH* of physics being violated.
The space inside the massive obsidian pillar folded in on itself.
*SCREEEEEE.*
Cracks spiderwebbed instantly from the impact point. They shot up the fifty-foot tower. The golden names flickered and died.
Then, the shockwave hit.
*BOOM.*
The massive Monolith exploded.
Shards of black stone rained down on the plaza. The magical connection severed instantly.
Thousands of disciples suddenly checked their waists. Their jade tokens had gone dark.
"My points! My rank!"
"The board is down! The network is down!"
Dust billowed out from the center.
Kaelen stood amidst the rubble of the Academy's most sacred monument.
He picked up a shard of the Monolith that had the name "**Long Tian**" on it. He crushed it into powder.
"Attention!" Kaelen roared.
The chaotic plaza went silent.
"My name is Kaelen," he shouted. "I just broke your scoreboard."
He looked up at the floating islands of the **Summit**, where the true monsters lived.
"If you want it fixed," Kaelen grinned, looking like a demon amidst the ruin.
"Come down and make me."