Chapter 38 - The Skill with No Rank
No Rank had one description.
[Do one thing without being evaluated.]
That was it.
No cooldown.
No damage number.
No explanation.
I tested it on a rock.
Nothing happened.
I tested it while punching Jace.
He punched me back.
"Great skill," he said.
Then Fen understood.
"Use it while cultivating."
I did.
For one breath, Heaven could not see me.
Qi entered my body without classification.
No realm.
No stage.
No approved route.
The Ash Root opened like a black flower.
My shattered core did not reform.
Something larger grew around the empty space.
A field.
A personal law.
Mira stepped into it and gasped.
"My seal is gone."
Inside my field, Heaven's restrictions did not apply.
Only for three steps around me.
Only for one breath at first.
But it was mine.
Lyra felt it from across the mountain.
She came alone.
"Mother wanted this," she whispered.
"Then why are you opening the gate?"
"Because freedom requires breaking the prison."
"With everyone inside it?"
She did not answer.
There it was.
Our difference.
She wanted freedom as an outcome.
I wanted choice as a condition.
The gate trembled behind her.
A hand reached through and touched her shoulder.
The First Defier spoke through the crack.
"Daughter."
Lyra froze.
So did I.
May you like
The thing behind the gate knew our mother.
