Chapter 48 - The Ninth Lightning
Inside Heaven, lightning had shape.
Nine dragons circled the city.
Each represented a law of cultivation.
The ninth dragon watched me.
The Judge followed.
"Leave."
"Busy."
I could see the machinery now.
Cultivation routes ran through the city like rivers.
Realm breakthroughs were checkpoints.
Tribulations were audits.
Spirit roots were access permissions.
Heaven was not fake.
Qi was real.
Cultivation was real.
But the path had been standardized until everyone forgot paths could be made.
I reached the central pillar.
A list of prohibited roots scrolled across it.
Ash.
Void Lotus.
Black Vein.
Heaven-Eater.
All were techniques once used to break control.
The ninth lightning dragon descended.
It opened its mouth.
The system whispered:
[This strike will kill you.]
No prediction percentage.
No alternative.
Just honesty.
I smiled.
"Thanks."
Then I stood still.
The dragon struck.
My body disappeared.
For one impossible instant, I was nothing Heaven could measure.
No Rank.
When I returned, the dragon had passed through me and hit the central pillar.
The prohibited list shattered.
Across the lower world, millions of spirit roots changed classification at once.
Heaven's Judge stared in horror.
"Do you know what you've done?"
"Not yet."
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