Li Tianran could no longer feel the difference between pain and breath.
For three days, he had done nothing but swing. Morning until night, he carved the walls of the Legacy Chamber into jagged ruins, his blood painting the stones like offerings to some ancient god. He hadn't eaten. He barely slept. But the storm in his dantian grew steadier.
It was still wild, still violent—but now, it answered him.
> "You're learning," Mo Cangsheng's voice echoed in his mind. "But you're still blind."
Tianran, panting, wiped sweat and blood from his face. "Blind? I can feel the Qi. I can guide it."
> "Hmph. Any child can push Qi through their veins. What you lack is intent. The Severing Path isn't about moving energy. It's about making your will reality. Every strike you've made until now? Empty."
Tianran tightened his grip on the crude training blade he'd found in the chamber—a dull, nicked thing that felt like lead in his hands. "Then tell me. What do I do?"
> "You will learn through blood."
The chamber darkened.
At first, Tianran thought it was his exhaustion making him hallucinate. But then the air grew heavy, oppressive. The cracked stones seemed to vanish into darkness, and in their place, a vast, featureless void stretched out in every direction.
A presence appeared before him.
It wasn't human.
The thing's body was a writhing mass of shadows, its face an empty void with two faintly glowing eyes. It carried no weapon. It didn't need one. Its very presence screamed death.
Tianran instinctively stepped back. "What… is that?"
> "A manifestation," Mo Cangsheng said calmly. "Born from your fears. From your doubts. If you can't sever this thing, you'll never sever anything."
The shadow lunged.
It moved like a phantom, its limbs stretching unnaturally as it struck. Tianran barely managed to block with his blade, but the force sent him sprawling across the ground.
Pain exploded in his ribs. He coughed blood.
> "Get up," Mo Cangsheng said coldly.
Tianran groaned, clutching his side. "It's too fast—"
> "So the heavens are faster. Will you kneel and beg them to slow down for you?"
The shadow was already on him.
Instinct screamed at him to run. But Tianran forced himself to plant his feet, raise his blade, and meet the attack head-on.
The impact rattled his bones, but he didn't fall.
> "Better," Mo Cangsheng said. "Now cut it. Not with desperation. Not with fear. Cut with purpose."
Tianran gritted his teeth.
Purpose.
He thought of the nights his sister had gone to sleep hungry so he could give her his share of food. The sneers of the disciples who mocked him. Wu Jian's arrogant grin.
His rage ignited.
The black Qi surged in response.
"MOVE!"
He swung.
A jagged arc of energy cleaved through the shadow's chest, splitting it in two. It let out a soundless scream as its form unraveled into smoke and vanished.
Tianran fell to one knee, chest heaving.
The void dissolved. The chamber returned.
> "That… was the first true slash you've made," Mo Cangsheng said. His voice wasn't praise. It was simply fact. "Remember that feeling. Every strike must be like that—an act of rejection. A denial of what stands before you."
Tianran wiped the blood from his lips. "What… was that thing, really?"
> "Yourself," Mo Cangsheng said. "The part of you that still kneels. That still believes in fate. When you cut it, you took your first step on the Severing Path."
Tianran stared at his hands. They were shaking, but not from fear.
From exhilaration.
---
He spent the next two days in the chamber.
Again and again, Mo Cangsheng summoned the shadow. Each time, it grew faster, stronger, more vicious. And each time, Tianran learned to cut deeper.
Every slash left him broken, battered, half-conscious on the floor. But he got up.
He always got up.
> "You are beginning to resemble a cultivator," Mo Cangsheng said at last. "Barely. But this is good."
Tianran collapsed against the pedestal, breathing raggedly. "What now?"
> "Now, you leave this chamber."
Tianran blinked. "Leave? Why?"
> "You've learned to sever shadows. It's time to cut something real."
---
Azure Vein Sect – Outer Courtyard
The courtyard was bustling with activity. Outer disciples trained in neat rows under the morning sun, their laughter and chatter filling the air.
It all stopped when Li Tianran walked through.
They stared.
The cripple, once hunched and meek, walked with a strange, unnerving calm. His eyes were cold, his posture steady, his torn hands still wrapped in bloodied cloth.
Whispers erupted.
"Is that… Li Tianran?"
"He looks different."
"Didn't Wu Jian say he'd deal with him?"
Speak of the devil.
Wu Jian appeared, flanked by two other disciples. His wounds had mostly healed, but his pride hadn't.
"Well, well," Wu Jian said with a smirk. "The cripple shows his face."
Tianran stopped a few paces away. "Move."
Wu Jian blinked. "What did you say?"
"I said move."
The words weren't shouted. They weren't even threatening. But the way Tianran said them made Wu Jian's smirk falter.
Then he laughed. "You've got some balls now. Must be all that time hiding in the Legacy Chamber."
The other disciples chuckled.
Tianran didn't respond.
Wu Jian's smirk twisted into a snarl. "Fine. Let's see what you've learned."
He lunged.
But Tianran was already moving.
The black Qi roared to life, surging into his arm. He swung his crude training blade in a single, precise arc.
The strike wasn't flashy. It wasn't wide.
But it was fast.
Wu Jian didn't even see it coming.
In an instant, his weapon was torn from his grip and a shallow, bloody line opened across his chest.
He stumbled back, eyes wide in shock.
The courtyard fell silent.
Tianran lowered his blade. "I said move."
Wu Jian froze.
For the first time, he felt it—the killing intent in Tianran's eyes.
It wasn't empty rage. It wasn't bravado.
It was real.
Wu Jian swallowed hard and stepped aside.
Tianran walked past him without another word.
---
> "You see?" Mo Cangsheng's voice rumbled in Tianran's mind. "When you cut with intent, even weaklings fear you. But fear is nothing. You must become strong enough that even the heavens themselves tremble when you raise your blade."
Tianran didn't answer.
Because deep down, he knew Mo Cangsheng was right.
And he wasn't strong enough.
Not yet.
---
Far from the courtyard, in the sect's inner sanctum, a man sat cross-legged on a jade platform.
He was older than the outer disciples, his aura oppressive even in stillness.
An attendant knelt before him. "Elder Brother, there's been… an incident with the cripple, Li Tianran. He humiliated Wu Jian in front of the outer court."
The man opened his eyes.
They glowed faintly with golden light.
"Li Tianran…" he said, tasting the name.
A cruel smile crept across his lips.
"Bring him to me."