Chapter 10 – The Sky That Shattered
The wind over Ashen Valley did not move like normal wind.
It trembled.
Kai stood at the cliff's edge, robes fluttering as black-gold spirit threads coiled faintly around his arms. The seal inside his chest pulsed in slow, heavy beats—no longer silent, no longer dormant.
Below him, the battlefield burned.
Spirit techniques clashed like falling stars. Elders from the Silver Flame Sect formed formation arrays, their swords carving light across the sky. Across from them stood cloaked figures—disciples of the Abyssal Covenant—each radiating cold violet aura that devoured the surrounding qi.
At the center of it all stood the masked man.
The one who had been watching Kai since the beginning.
"You've grown faster than predicted," the masked man said, voice distorted as if echoing from a deep well. "The seal within you… it is awakening."
Kai's eyes were steady. "You knew about it."
A low chuckle. "Of course. That power does not belong to this lower realm."
The sky rumbled.
Kai felt it too. The world itself was reacting.
The Truth of the Seal
Memories that were not his own flickered in Kai's mind.
A throne floating above shattered stars.
A hand wreathed in endless darkness and light.
A voice whispering one word:
Ascend.
Kai clenched his fists. The seal was no longer simply power—it was a gateway.
The masked man raised his hand, and the battlefield froze as if time itself hesitated.
"You are not merely talented," he continued. "You are a fragment."
Kai's breathing slowed. "A fragment of what?"
The masked man's aura exploded outward, tearing cracks in the sky.
"Of a Sovereign."
World Rank Revelation
The clouds split apart, revealing something no one in Ashen Valley had ever seen before.
A second sky.
Beyond the cracked heavens shimmered layers upon layers of realms—each brighter, vaster, more terrifying than the one Kai had known.
The masked man spoke words that shook the foundation of the world:
"This realm you live in is ranked Ninth."
Gasps echoed from surviving elders.
"Ninth?" one elder whispered. "Impossible… there are higher realms?"
"Yes," the masked man said coldly. "Above this world are Eight greater realms. And above those… the Sovereign Heavens."
Kai's heart pounded.
So that was why the seal felt restless.
It did not belong here.
The First True Awakening
The masked man extended his palm toward Kai.
"Come willingly. Your power will break this realm if you stay."
Kai stepped forward instead of retreating.
"I decide my own path."
The seal reacted instantly.
Golden cracks spread across Kai's skin—not wounds, but radiant fractures glowing with ancient script. Black lightning spiraled around him, yet instead of destruction, it felt controlled.
Balanced.
His cultivation surged past its limit.
Peak Spirit Core Realm shattered like glass.
He stepped into a state no one present could comprehend.
Not Nascent Soul.
Not Ascendant.
Something beyond the realm's natural laws.
The ground beneath him levitated.
The masked man staggered.
"Impossible… you're forcing a Sovereign Pulse in a Ninth-Ranked World?!"
Kai opened his eyes.
One iris glowed gold.
The other burned black.
"I won't ascend because someone commands me," he said calmly. "But I won't stay weak either."
The Sky Shatters
The masked man attacked first.
A spear of condensed void energy pierced toward Kai, splitting mountains in its path.
Kai raised one hand.
The spear stopped.
Not deflected.
Stopped.
With a flick of his fingers, the void energy dissolved into pure qi.
Shock spread through the battlefield.
The masked man retreated, but it was too late.
Kai stepped forward—and space folded.
He appeared directly before the masked figure.
Their eyes met.
"You are not ready," the masked man whispered.
"Maybe," Kai replied.
He placed his palm on the masked man's chest.
Light and darkness intertwined.
The explosion that followed did not burn—it erased.
When the brilliance faded, the masked man was gone.
Not dead.
Not destroyed.
Banished beyond the cracked sky.
Aftermath
Silence fell over Ashen Valley.
The cracks in the heavens slowly sealed themselves, but faint traces of the higher realms remained visible—like shadows beyond glass.
Kai stood alone in the center of the ruined battlefield.
His aura had stabilized, but the seal no longer slept.
He now understood:
This world was too small.
And yet—
He would not abandon it blindly.
An elder approached, trembling.
"What… what are you now?"
Kai looked up at the sky.
"I'm still Kai."
But deep inside, he knew the truth.
He was no longer merely a cultivator of a Ninth-Ranked Realm.
He was a Sovereign Fragment walking in a lower world.
And the higher realms had finally noticed him.
End of Chapter 10