I was supposed to die. The sect elders made that clear when they tossed me off the cliff.
No ceremony. No final words. Just a nod from the Execution Master and the shove of a boot.
They said I stole a sacred technique, some ancient scroll that only the inner disciples were allowed to touch. I hadn't even seen the damn thing. But when the Grand Elder's favorite son needed someone to blame, guess who they picked?
Me. Jin Ranziel. The crippled outer disciple who hadn't even formed his first Qi ring.
They said I was trash. Said I'd never cultivate, never break through, never be anything more than a failure washing the sect's toilets.
They were wrong. I didn't die at the bottom of that ravine. I woke up, barely breathing, half my ribs shattered, blood pooling in my throat, but alive. And that's when it happened.
The jade.
It had fallen from my robe pocket when I hit the rocks. I'd picked it up years ago from a dying beggar in the outer market. No one paid it any attention. I couldn't even sell it for food.
But now… it was glowing. A dull, eerie light. Faint pulses, like a heartbeat. I coughed blood, leaned over, and grabbed it. The moment my fingers closed around the jade, the world went silent.
[Initializing… Limitless Ascension System]
[System Type: Unregistered. Status: Illegal.]
[You have been marked as a Heaven-Defier.]
[Welcome, Jin Ranziel.]
My vision spun. A transparent screen opened in front of me, floating in the air.
[STATUS]
* Cultivation: None
* Core Status: Crippled
* Bloodline: Locked
* Destiny Points: 0
* Heaven-Rebellion Points: 0
* System Access Level: Restricted
[Error: Host lacks compatible core. Rerouting Qi flow through external channels.]
[Warning: This path violates Celestial Law.]
Good.
Let it violate whatever it wants. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself to my feet. My bones screamed. My skin peeled. But I stood anyway.
A flash of movement caught my eye, a beast was watching me. A scaled wolf, twice the size of a normal one. Tier 1 predator. Qi-imbued fangs.
It prowled toward me, tail low, eyes hungry. I didn't run. I let it lunge. And just before its fangs sank into my throat, I moved.
The jade burned. My hand shot forward, faster than I'd ever moved in my life, and slammed into its skull.
Something cracked. Blood sprayed. The beast collapsed, twitching once before going still.
Then the System chimed again.
[Enemy killed: Tier 1 Spirit Wolf]
[Absorbing spiritual essence…]
[You have gained: 1 Heaven-Rebellion Point]
[Skill obtained: Feral Instinct (Passive)]
[Qi Path partially repaired. Core status: "Unstable, Active"]
[You are now eligible for your first Ascension Route.]
I stared at the screen. My core… was working?
No. Not just working: changing.
The jade was rebuilding it from scratch, cheating whatever rule the heavens had slapped on me at birth. For the first time in years, I felt it.
Qi.
Real, flowing spiritual energy, rising in my veins like fire and ice mixed together. I laughed. It came out hoarse and broken, but I laughed anyway.
"Trash, huh? Let's see how they like me now."
I glanced up the cliff. It was still there, high above, where the sect's mountain peaks sliced the clouds. The same sect that branded me a thief, a cripple, a nothing.
They thought they got rid of me. But I wasn't dead. I had a system now. And I'd start my cultivation… not from the first level, but from outside their rules.
Let them ascend through sweat, pills, and dog-eat-dog politics. I'd ascend through rebellion.
[New Quest Unlocked: First Step of Defiance]
Objective: Kill 3 Spirit Beasts and absorb their essence.
Reward: Access to Forbidden Ascension Tree
I clenched my fist. I wasn't just going to survive. I was going to make every single person who spat on me… kneel. But just as I took a step forward, I heard something behind me. A whisper. Then a laugh.
Someone else had been watching.
"So… the Jade chose you."
I spun, heart pounding. There, in the shadows, stood a man in tattered black robes, eyes glowing faintly green.
He smiled.
"You don't even know what you've stolen, boy."
The man didn't move. Just stood there in the shadows, half his face hidden beneath a torn hood, glowing green eyes watching me like I was a newborn beast learning to walk.
I kept my distance. Every instinct in me screamed danger. The system didn't say anything, but the jade in my palm pulsed once, soft, subtle.
A warning: "You're not supposed to be alive," the man said.
His voice was strange. Like two voices at once, one human, one hollow.
"Same to you," I muttered, shifting my stance.
I didn't know who he was. I didn't care. I had just crawled out of death, killed a Tier 1 Spirit Wolf with my bare hands, and awakened a system no one else in this realm even dreamed of.
If he wanted a fight, I'd give him one.
"Don't bother," he said, reading my tension. "You're not worth killing yet."
He stepped into the moonlight. Old. Cracked skin. Rotten Qi. But something in his aura felt wrong, twisted, sharp, endless. He didn't belong to this realm.
"You touched the jade," he said. "That means the System accepted you. But it also means... you're marked."
"Marked by who?"
"By Heaven."
I didn't respond. My heart thumped once. Hard.
He smiled.
"It doesn't like when trash takes shortcuts."
I clenched my fists.
"You calling me trash?"
"Not anymore." His eyes flicked to the jade. "But you will be hunted. Not just by men, but by laws. This world has rules. You've already broken one."
I glanced at the screen hovering faintly beside me.
[System Message]
Warning: Presence of Heaven-Fragment detected nearby.
System shielding engaged.
Passive trace initiated.
"You're not here by accident," I said slowly.
The man nodded.
"I'm a fragment. What's left of a cultivator who defied the laws too early."
So this was what failure looked like. A man who tried to walk the path I'd just stepped on, and got shattered for it.
"You came to warn me?"
"No. I came to see if I needed to kill you." He smiled again, rotted teeth exposed. "But you're too weak. For now."
My jaw clenched.
"You won't get another chance."
He turned away.
"Good. I hope you climb far. I want to see how high you get... before the world breaks you."
He vanished in a shimmer of static. Not teleportation. Something deeper. Like his presence was never real.
The forest fell silent again. I stood alone, breath heavy, muscles screaming. But I wasn't scared. That man… whatever he was… just confirmed something: I was no longer on the regular cultivation path.
I wasn't part of this world's hierarchy anymore. I'd stepped onto a forbidden route. The Heaven-Rebellion Route. And once you step off the path the heavens approve of, there's no going back.
I checked my system screen again.
[Quest: First Step of Defiance - Progress: 1/3]
Kill 3 Spirit Beasts
Reward: Access to Forbidden Ascension Tree
[Active Perks]
Feral Instinct (Passive): Increases reaction speed when health is below 50%
* Qi Rerouting (System-aided): Enables broken-core users to circulate external Qi
* Steal Skill [Locked - Requires 2nd Kill]
Not bad for a cripple. I moved forward. My steps were still shaky, but my Qi was active now. Real. Flowing. A few minutes later, I found the next target. A Rockhide Serpent, coiled under a ruined altar, basking in moonlight.
It sensed me immediately and struck with blinding speed. Too bad for it, I had instincts now. I dodged left, rolled under its body, then drove my hand straight into its belly, channeling Qi the way the system showed me; a pulse, a scream, blood, then silence.
The system chimed again.
[Enemy killed: Tier 1 Rockhide Serpent]
You have gained: 1 Heaven-Rebellion Point
Skill obtained: Stone Skin (Active)
[Skill locked until core stabilizes]
Qi Path: 23% restored
Still not enough. I needed one more kill to complete the quest. But my body was done. My vision blurred. Blood oozed from reopened wounds. The fall off the cliff hadn't healed completely.
I stumbled toward the roots of a dead tree and collapsed. System screen flickered.
[Auto-Recovery Mode Engaged - Estimated Healing Time: 4 Hours]
I leaned my head back, breathing shallow, eyes half-closed. The stars above felt cold, distant, uncaring. But I was still alive, still rising, still climbing. Somewhere far above, back in the sect, they were probably celebrating.
The Elders. The inner disciples. The Grand Elder's arrogant son. They thought they'd erased me.
They had no idea I was alive, or what I'd become, yet.
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