The sky itself trembled.
In a place where time, space, and logic had long ceased to exist, a lone man stood in defiance of the heavens. His robes were tattered beyond recognition, drenched in blood that refused to stop flowing. His long black hair, once pristine, clung to his face, obscuring the sharp lines of his features.
But his eyes…
His eyes still burned with defiance.
"Is this it?" the man muttered, coughing up a mouthful of blood. His voice was hoarse, but his smirk remained.
Above him, reality itself quaked as a colossal, formless presence descended. Its voice echoed from every direction, heavy and boundless, like the judgment of an entire universe.
> "Mo Cangsheng," the voice thundered. "You dared to sever the Dao. You dared to climb beyond what mortals should reach. For this insolence—your existence ends here."
The man—Mo Cangsheng—laughed. Not with joy, not with madness, but with a strange, almost peaceful arrogance.
"Mortals?" he whispered. "I was mortal once… and still, I came this far."
The heavens didn't answer.
They didn't need to.
BOOM.
A pillar of light descended, splitting apart the already-shattered realm. Space folded, time unraveled, and everything that Mo Cangsheng was began to disintegrate.
Yet he didn't flinch. He simply raised his hand toward the sky, one last gesture of mockery, one last show of defiance.
"I failed," he admitted, his voice soft but clear even amidst the chaos. "But someone will succeed. If fate cannot be changed…"
He grinned.
"…then I'll leave behind someone who can cut it apart."
And then he was gone.
The light swallowed everything.
But in the briefest instant before oblivion took him, a fragment of his will—pure, unyielding, and filled with defiance—slipped away.
It drifted downward.
Falling…
Falling…
Until it reached a much smaller, much crueler world.
---
Azure Vein Sect – Outer Disciples' Dormitory
Li Tianran sat on the edge of his creaking bed, staring at his trembling hands.
Once, he had dreamed of becoming a great cultivator. Once, he believed in the promises of this sect—that effort would lead to power, that talent could be forged.
But those dreams had died a long time ago.
His dantian—the core of cultivation—was shattered. A single accident during his awakening three years ago had crippled him. No pills could mend it. No elder cared enough to try.
To them, he was no longer a disciple. He was a cripple occupying space.
And yet, he hadn't left.
Not because he loved this sect. Not because he believed in a second chance.
But because of her.
"Qing…" he muttered under his breath, clenching his fists.
His little sister. The only family he had left. She was the only reason he still endured the sneers, the beatings, the humiliation.
As long as she was safe, none of it mattered.
---
The door to his dorm creaked open.
"Tianran!" a familiar voice sneered. "Still pretending you're a disciple? Pathetic."
Three young men entered, fellow outer disciples. Their cultivation robes were clean, their postures smug.
Li Tianran didn't reply.
"Hey, cripple, the senior brothers need someone to clean their cultivation chambers. That means you," one of them said, tossing a filthy rag at his face.
Li Tianran caught it without a word.
The three laughed. "Good dog."
They left as quickly as they came.
When the door closed, Tianran sat in silence. His hands shook—not from fear, but from the effort of holding back his rage.
"I can't fight them. I can't fight anyone," he whispered to himself.
But his chest still burned. He refused to break.
---
That night, when the sect fell silent, he moved.
If he couldn't cultivate, then he would steal what he could.
The Azure Vein Sect's forbidden ground—the so-called "Chamber of Legacy." Rumors said it housed relics of fallen experts, treasures long forgotten.
No disciple dared approach it. Even outer disciples whispered that the place was cursed.
But Tianran had nothing left to lose.
If he failed? He would die.
If he succeeded? Perhaps… just perhaps… there would be hope.
---
Chamber of Legacy
The chamber was colder than death itself.
Cracked stone walls loomed around him, the air heavy with an invisible pressure that made it hard to breathe.
At the center of the room stood a stone pedestal. And on it—a simple, unassuming black pearl, no bigger than a thumb.
The moment he stepped closer, his body froze.
A voice spoke.
> "So… you're the one who found me."
Li Tianran staggered back. "W-who—?!"
> "I am Mo Cangsheng," the voice echoed inside his head. "Once, I reached the very peak of the Dao… and tried to cut the heavens themselves."
Li Tianran's mind went blank. "Cut… the heavens?"
> "Hmph. I failed," the voice admitted. "And now I am nothing but a fragment of will, sealed within this pearl. But you…"
The pearl pulsed.
> "You carry the same fire I once had. A hatred for fate. A refusal to kneel."
Li Tianran fell to his knees. His chest felt like it was burning. "If… if you can help me… if you can give me the power to protect my sister… I'll do anything."
A chuckle echoed in his mind.
> "Good. Then inherit my path. The path of severing. The path of defiance."
Before he could react, the pearl shattered into a thousand motes of black light.
They surged into his body.
Li Tianran screamed.
Agony. Every nerve burned. Every meridian tore open. It felt like molten metal was being poured into his veins.
But beneath the pain, something else stirred.
Qi.
Wild. Violent. Unlike anything he had ever felt before.
The shattered core inside his body—the dantian that had doomed him—began to knit itself back together. Not perfectly. Not like before. But into something new.
A vessel that could hold this alien, violent Qi.
---
When the pain finally subsided, Li Tianran collapsed onto the cold stone floor.
He couldn't move. Could barely breathe. But he could feel it.
Power.
It was faint. It was unstable. But it was real.
And for the first time in years…
He could cultivate again.
> "Listen well," Mo Cangsheng's voice said. "You are no longer a dog of the heavens. You walk my path now—the path of severing. If you wish to live, if you wish to protect what you love, then you must grow strong enough to cut apart fate itself."
Li Tianran clenched his fists, his breathing ragged.
"Cut apart… fate…"
For the first time in years, his lips curved into a faint, trembling smile.
"Then I'll do it. No matter what it takes."
---
And thus began the path of Li Tianran—the mortal who would one day defy the heavens.