"Since you are awake and no longer screaming," the Sword God said, hovering lazily near the ceiling, "we might as well address the obvious question you are very carefully not asking."
Lin lay back against the wall, shock still prevalent, but his attention was sharp. "Which one?"
"Why do women rule everything and men get chained for talking back," the Sword God replied pleasantly. "Short answer. We broke the rules. Long answer. We broke them creatively."
Lin frowned. "That is not comforting."
"It is educational," the Sword God said. "About thirty thousand years ago, give or take a few apocalypses, cultivation was not divided the way it is now. Men cultivated freely. Aggressively. Stupidly. Especially stupidly."
He folded his arms, drifting in place.
"There was no distinction between male and female paths," he continued. "Everyone followed the same standard cultivation routes. Body refinement. Qi accumulation. Advancement through the ranks. Heaven provided the ladder. People climbed it."
"And then," Lin said quietly, "they reached the top?"
"Realm Nine," the Sword God confirmed. "A significant number of men reached it. Enough to make Heaven uncomfortable."
A faint, sharp smile crossed his face.
"Realm Nine was supposed to be the end. The ceiling. The final word. But men have always had a problem with ceilings."
Lin had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"They decided Heaven was wrong," the Sword God said. "If cultivation was about defying limits, then the final step was defying and overcoming Heaven itself. They sought a mythical Realm Ten. Not ascension. Not harmony. Control."
Lin's throat tightened. "Did they try to challenge Heaven?"
"They tried to ascend it," the Sword God corrected. "Collectively."
He gestured vaguely upward, as if pointing to something distant and uncaring.
"Heaven responded," he went on lightly. "Not by extermination. That would have been inelegant. Instead, it rewrote the system. Male cultivation was crippled at the root. Progress slowed. Bottlenecks appeared where none had existed. Advancement became unstable, rare, and lethal."
"And women," Lin said.
"Were left untouched," the Sword God replied. "Or rather, favored. Their cultivation aligned neatly with Heaven's revised order. Stability. Harmony. Longevity. Authority."
Lin clenched his jaw. "So the world became unequal."
"It became controlled," the Sword God said. "Unequal was a side effect."
He glanced at Lin, eyes sharp despite the casual tone.
"And no," he added, "it did not improve with time. The punishment was never lifted. It fossilized. Law turned into tradition. Tradition into culture. Anyone who tells you this is natural balance is either ignorant or lying."
Lin exhaled slowly, the weight of it settling in his chest.
"So that is why men are weaker," he said.
"That is why men are limited," the Sword God replied. "Weakness is just the name people give imposed limits once they forget they were imposed."
Silence stretched between them.
"And that," the Sword God finished, "is why exceptions make Heaven nervous."
Lin stared at the cracked wall for a long moment, then looked up.
"How far did you cultivate," he asked. "I mean… what rank."
The Sword God blinked.
Then he laughed.
It was not loud, but it was genuine, sharp amusement that echoed faintly in the small room.
"Oh, that is funny," he said. "You think I fit on that ladder."
Lin frowned. "You just explained the ladder."
"Yes," the Sword God agreed. "But I never stepped on it."
He drifted lower until he was closer to Lin's eye level, expression sharpening.
"I did not follow the standard cultivation path," he said. "Not Body Tempering. Not Qi Condensation. Not Foundation Establishment. Not the higher realms you have never heard of."
Lin stiffened. "Then what did you follow?"
"A completely different route," the Sword God replied. "One that does not ask Heaven for permission."
Lin's pulse quickened.
"Martial arts!" The Sword God nodded. "The real kind. Not the fragments people wave around today."
He lifted a hand, and the spectral sword hummed softly.
"Martial cultivation refines body, intent, and will as a single structure," he said. "No spiritual roots. No reliance on ambient qi density. No breakthroughs granted by Heaven's approval."
"Then why does no one use it," Lin asked.
"Because it is slow," the Sword God said. "Painful. Inefficient at the beginning. No pills. No legacies. No shortcuts. You earn everything with blood and repetition. Men these days have no backbone and can't imagine themselves training for their entire life with a slight chance at succeeding."
He smiled thinly. "And because Heaven dislikes systems it cannot regulate."
Lin absorbed that in silence.
"So how far did you go," he asked again.
The Sword God's gaze drifted, memory surfacing.
"By the time I reached what cultivation would call Realm Six," he said, "Dao Alignment, I had depleted all the knowledge that was available.. Martial arts do not break through. They stabilize and boom… evolution!"
He leaned back, hands folding behind his head.
"At that point, I sought refinement rather than elevation," he continued. "So I trained under a Realm Seven cultivator. A woman."
Lin's shoulders tensed.
"She specialized in lightning," the Sword God said. "Through her techniques, her understanding of resonance and force, I adapted the concept into my own path."
Thin arcs of lightning flickered along the blade.
Lin stared. "You learned from her."
"Yes."
"And then," Lin said slowly, "what happened."
"I killed her," the Sword God said plainly.
A cold knot formed in Lin's stomach. "Why?"
"She was unpleasant," the Sword God said.
"Is that the only reason?."
"She kept men," he replied calmly. "As pets. Slaves. Prisoners. Sometimes worse. It was common. Accepted."
Lin's jaw tightened.
"She did not treat me badly though," the Sword God added. "She respected strength."
"Then why," Lin asked, voice low, "why did you kill her? Was it due to your sense of justice?"
The Sword God looked at him.
For a moment, something sharp and ancient flickered behind the humor.
Then he smiled.
"Honestly," he said, "I just felt like it."
Lin froze.
"It was convenient," the Sword God went on lightly. "I had just integrated lightning into my martial arts. I wanted to test it against a Rank Seven."
He tilted his head. "It worked."
Lin stared at him, horror and disbelief twisting together.
"That is it," Lin said. "That is your reason."
"Yes."
"Not justice. Not revenge."
"Oh, those were present," the Sword God said. "They were simply not decisive."
He drifted closer, gaze level and unblinking.
"I killed her because I could," he said calmly. "And because the world had already decided men were disposable. I proved otherwise."
Silence filled the room.
"That," the Sword God added after a moment, "is when the hunting began."
A silenced settled in.
"Enough about me," the Sword God said suddenly, waving one hand as if brushing his own past aside. "If we continue, you will either start moralizing or asking inconvenient questions. Both are exhausting."
Lin did not argue. His head was already full.
"If you are going to stay alive," the Sword God continued, "you need to understand the cultivation system you are trapped inside. The part of it that is still publicly acknowledged, at least."
He glanced at Lin. "I will warn you now. I only know the methods up to Rank Three. Beyond that, I know names. Not roads."
Lin frowned. "That seems… incomplete."
"Exactly," the Sword God confirmed cheerfully. "Which means you will eventually have to learn under a woman or steal a guidebook."
A grin tugged at his mouth. "Preferably both."
Lin ignored that.
"Realm One," the Sword God said, tone shifting into something closer to instruction. "Body Tempering."
He gestured toward Lin's frame. "Its purpose is simple. Strengthen the physical body enough to tolerate qi without tearing itself apart."
"Typical lifespan increase," he went on, "about fifty years."
Lin blinked. "That much?."
"For most people, yes."
The Sword God continued without pause. "Population-wise, roughly three percent of men reach it. Women, closer to thirty-five."
Lin's jaw tightened.
"Skin Tempering comes first," the Sword God said. "Diluted qi absorption into flesh. Physical training. Medicinal baths. Pills that make you regret being born."
He looked Lin up and down. "Skin becomes tougher. Minor weapons stop being fatal. Pain becomes familiar."
"Bone Tempering follows," he continued. "Qi circulated through the skeletal structure. High-impact training. Marrow-washing elixirs. Bones densify. Fractures stop being convenient ways to die."
"And Blood Tempering finishes it," he said. "Qi infused directly into blood and organs. Requires controlled breathing and steady circulation. When complete, the body can finally store qi."
He paused. "Men usually stall at Skin or Bone Tempering. Qi rejection. Structural instability. Women pass through all three smoothly."
Lin absorbed that in silence.
"Realm Two," the Sword God went on. "Qi Condensation."
He tapped the air where Lin's abdomen was. "Purpose. Gather and circulate qi within the dantian."
"Typical lifespan increase," he said, "around one hundred years."
"And population," Lin asked quietly.
"Half a percent of men," the Sword God replied. "Fifteen percent of women."
Lin exhaled through his nose.
"Initial Condensation opens the dantian," the Sword God said. "Loose internal reservoir. Requires breathing methods and circulation techniques."
"Stable Condensation establishes continuous flow through the meridians," he continued. "Repeated cycles purge impurities. Failure results in qi deviation or stagnation. Both are unpleasant."
"And Peak Condensation," he finished, "is saturation. Pressure stabilizes. Preparation for foundation."
He glanced at Lin. "Men tend to leak qi. Or circulate violently. Women stabilize."
"Realm Three," the Sword God said, "Foundation Establishment."
His tone sharpened slightly.
"This is where cultivation becomes permanent," he said. "Where failure stops being recoverable."
"Typical lifespan increase," he added, "three hundred years."
Lin felt a faint chill.
"Population," the Sword God continued, "point zero one percent of men. Four percent of women."
Lin said nothing.
"Cracked Foundation comes first," the Sword God said. "Forced compression. Pills. Formations. External aid. It works. Poorly."
He smiled thinly. "Limits future growth."
"Stable Foundation forms naturally," he went on. "Requires precise timing. Emotional stability. Abundant resources. Long-term cultivation stability."
"And Perfect Foundation," he said, "is rare even among women. Ideal qi density. Balanced meridians. Heaven-aligned timing. Maximum potential."
He paused.
"Men," the Sword God concluded, "almost always form Cracked Foundations. If they succeed at all."
The room felt smaller.
Lin stared at the floor. "Then why would I cultivate at all."
The Sword God tilted his head. "Go on."
"It is restricted," Lin said. "Biased. Designed to fail me. Why walk a road that ends in a wall."
The Sword God studied him for a long moment.
"Because," he said slowly, "when I took control of your body, something felt… wrong."
Lin looked up.
"Wrong... how so," he asked.
The Sword God's eyes narrowed slightly, curiosity cutting through the humor.
"Your body accepted me too easily," he said. "Your meridians did not resist the lightning the way they should have. Your flesh held intent better than expected."
Lin's pulse quickened.
"You are not built like other men," the Sword God continued. "Not according to Heaven's accounting."
He smiled faintly.
"That is why," he said, "you should cultivate."
Lightning flickered softly along the blade.
"Not because the system welcomes you," he added. "But because you may not belong to it… it's like the world adores your soul but heaven does not."