Shen's arms had been cut at the elbows, and Annihilation fragments stopped him from healing. His Idealized Path couldn't remove them. They weren't mere Law fragments but mastered ones and targeted at him at that.

He was kneeling before Liya, not out of submission but tiredness. He should have enough qi to keep going forever—unless it was taken from him as she had done. There was not an ounce of stamina left in him, either. If it wasn't for her fragments keeping him in that position, he would be lying on the ground, which was much more humiliating than kneeling.

"You just reached C-rank," Liya said. "You think you need stamina to move, but you don't. Inform the demonstration overseers about this weakness and fix it."

Shen was surprised to feel nothing negative about kneeling powerlessly before Liya. There was no humiliation or resentment. No bad memories were triggered. She was training him with methodical effectiveness that ignored his feelings, which he was actually grateful for. Leaving emotions out of it made their interaction much simpler.

"I think I need stamina to move, but I don't," he repeated.

| Points received

When he pointed out a weakness, the system let him know when points were added or removed, but not how many of them he had. He guessed it was a way to incentivize participants to keep trying to get more. It also didn't say anything when he fixed a mistake, likely so people could keep thinking about it and potentially find a better—and thus more valuable—way of dealing with it.

That was the third weakness he was pointing out, the first two being his over-dependence on his arms, then his qi. She obviously had been pushing him to get to this point, peeling his bad foundations like rotten layers of an onion.

He had overcome his dependence on his arms by using qi and on qi by using his stamina. Now he had to get to the core of it all, his dependence on any kind of energy.

The way to fix it was obvious: his body and soul were his Idealized Path, a whole, and he should be able to control them like he controlled his Laws. Yet, changing his perspective to accomplish that was much more challenging than expected. Paradoxically, controlling his weapon with his mind was more straightforward than his biological and spiritual selves.

"C-rank marks a fundamental change," Liya explained. "Apparently, that's even truer to cultivators. Your soul is still closely related to who and what you are, but your body is a mere tool you must use for your continued existence and to achieve your goals. You already experienced it; you felt no embarrassment when naked before me, and I know you were fidgety about such matters. But you must change it from instinct into something you can consciously use. Your body is your Path. Take control of that truth. It's your truth."

She was oversimplifying things a bit, but he was considerably less dependent on his body than a commoner. Crushing his heart or making a pulp of his brain wouldn't instantly bring his HP to 0, and he would survive as long as he had 1 HP. He could keep thinking regardless of what happened to his brain, while his heart...

Well, he thought he would still need it to pump blood through his body, but did he? He was Stream. Would a mere lack of heart make the very Law of Stream stop? Of course not.

But that was part of the issue. Shen saw himself as many pieces individually put together, many separate Laws working for a common goal, but his body and soul were his whole Idealized Path. As easy as it had been to take the Heavenly Spears and order the chaotic Laws within them, this next natural—obvious, even—step eluded him.

He felt absolutely stupid for having trouble with something so simple. He also felt crippled and limited. True Boundlessness, more than any other Law, raged within him, striking at the edges of his mental cage, trying to help him break free.

Alas, he found another unfortunate fundamental weakness of his.

"My perspective is too affected by my life before C-rank," he declared. "Similarly to what the first demonstration showed, there's no miracle to be had if my mind limits me. The power of my Laws, qi, stamina, body, and soul don't matter if I make stupid assumptions about them."

| Points received

"Don't worry," Liya said lightheartedly, "you have over seven hours to fix it before you meet your first opponent. And another hour before you two fight. You're supposed to get healed before every fight, but I'm sure I have enough leeway to prevent that. My Annihilation won't leave your body until you change your perspective; you'll fight armless without an ounce of qi or stamina. Improve yourself or taste defeat. Defeat means not gaining points, which means no tips on your Path from someone much more powerful and wiser than me." She smiled. "It sucks to be you."

Liya was a bit mean, but her voice was good-natured. She fully believed this was the best for him, or she wouldn't do it. Maybe there was a better way to accomplish the same thing, but she also knew him and many training methods. Moreover, speed was crucial here. He could fix all his issues later but would only gain points if he did it during his demonstration.

He trusted her, which might actually be an issue because it didn't let him get desperate or fear for his life—she didn't even try to threaten it. His talent wouldn't help here. It was all on him.

Shen focused on himself and did his best to, as Alicia would put it, "git gud."

"Not bad," Liya said as Shen finally stood up by controlling his Path within himself.

It had only taken one hour to use True Boundlessness to connect with every Law individually and pull them like strings on a puppet. His movements weren't fluid, but it worked, and he was damn proud of it.

"It's an interesting last-ditch technique if someone ever disassembles your Path to prevent you from controlling your body as you should," she praised. Then, suddenly, her Annihilation cut True Boundlessness's influence over his other Laws inside his Path. It reminded him of how Uk'Gaar had prevented him from even thinking about his Path.

B-ranks were scary.

"However, this isn't enough for me," Liya said dismissively. "I guess you did fix the issue of being overly dependent on stamina, but I want you to fix your perspective. Try harder or die trying when you face a C-rank."

Ah, there was the threat. She wasn't talking about defeat anymore but death. Not that it was a good threat because he knew the system would give him a new body even if he died in combat.

Then, she said almost absent-mindedly, "I wonder if Reality would interfere this time if the Guardian System tried to mess with your mind while rebuilding your body..." A moment later, she shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Nevermind that. I'm sure your exalted, Ethereally Harmonized existence will do just fine when resisting a will that dared to face Reality itself. Please, continue with your half-assed effort."

Shen knew she was lying. She had to be lying. If the system was going to do anything, it would do it now.

Yet, he said, "Damn it," and did his best not to have to find out how good of a liar Liya was.

"How old are you?" Liya said, taking him from his thoughts.

"Eighteen, why?" he replied.

"Oh, nothing. Just asking."

"Look at the skies," Liya said, once more taking him from his musings.

Shen did as told. They kept silent for a while. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Don't you find it pretty?"

He gave her a deadly stare.

"What color was the sky again?" Liya asked.

Shen had felt at the edge of something and barked at her. "Green, Liya. Is there a purpose to this?"

She smiled provocatively at him.

He asked, "Are you testing my willpower? Well, I'm failing. Can I have some peace?"

Her smile widened.

And extra three Standard hours, that's how long it took him to do it.

Liya's questions were the last piece of the puzzle. Or rather, his reaction to them: talking. Yes, it was that ridiculously simple. He simply had to take note of how he was speaking without stamina.

Shen knew he was doing it, yet he hadn't consciously taken inventory of it. That was the most absurd and stupid thing he had ever done. Really, in his entire existence, he had never willingly blinded himself to something as simple as his own actions—not thoughts, desires, or emotions; actions. It went against everything he knew about his expanded mind and learning ability.

So, he said, "Not only did I limit by my perspective, but such limitation became much more serious and potentially crippling at C-rank, especially because I'm a cultivator. I broadened my Path during my breakthrough, but I still thought of myself as more of a biological being than I actually am. My instincts let me ignore at least some misconceptions; I'm doing it right now by talking despite having no stamina, as I should, because my body is my Path. However, it became harder to notice it happening despite even my learning ability upgrade. My mind became much harder to change, too, even when I'm told what's wrong and know the theoretical solution."

Shen had known that was likely to happen when he decided to broaden his Path and was glad he did. Still, he had clearly not thought things through. In hindsight, it was evident that cultivators also went on closed-door cultivation for months or years before a breakthrough to also iron out such details.

Fortunately, he knew how to fix both issues.

He would deal with his mind limitation by paying even more attention to himself than he had planned to. He found his new weakness by noticing the instinctual usage of his mouth. And that would lead him to the next solution.

Shen could now grasp what he was unconsciously doing and use it to straighten his twisted perspective. That had been impossible when recalling how he hadn't felt embarrassed about his nakedness. Even getting naked now wouldn't help; there was something powerful about noticing it himself that likely had to do with willpower.

So, he clenched that certainty that he could talk even without stamina, brought it from the depths of his soul, pushed it into his entire self, and turned instinct into part of his conscious mind.

Shen was his Path, and the lack of any kind of energy would never stop him.

He controlled his body like any Law and stood up with a cocky smile.

Liya smiled back. "Four hours overall isn't bad. I have seen people do much better, but they were few. Almost everyone takes a few weeks to get the trick, and they aren't cultivators. As you guessed, your mind is pretty limited when changing an opinion intrinsically linked to your Path, even when you know it's wrong. You need to deeply feel its wrongness, work on it for a while, or luck out in having you instinctively ignore it—and notice it."

"There's something I don't get," he said.

He pulled his severed arms back to their sockets using his control over his Laws and body—even parts separated from him. Liya hadn't removed the Law fragments yet, but there was no longer any reason to keep them inside him. He had overcome her test. She should get to it soon.

"Yes?" she said.

"I thought C-ranks couldn't control Laws as I do. Scrap that; I was sure it was a cultivator thing. You can do it, but you have mastered your Laws, so it would be weird if you didn't."

Liya raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"You can rank up after you master one Law, and you would need to master all Laws to do what I did; you need to be in sync with your entire Path. I cheated by being a cultivator. So how can you have statistics for how long C-ranks take to control their body and soul the way I just did? "

She smiled. "We lied."

Shen frowned. "Who?"

"Everyone. The Alliance. Me. The Grand Senator. The Republic's cultivators through the antidron."

His frown deepened. "And you lied about what exactly?"

"You don't need to master a Law to go from C to B-rank. You need to master all Laws in your Path."