The stone door of the inner chamber had not moved in over a year.
When it finally swung open, the sound echoed softly through the corridor beneath Neo Terra Palace.
Emery stepped out.
The first thing he noticed was the air. After so long sealed within the cultivation chamber, even the faint draft drifting through the underground passage felt almost foreign against his skin.
The second thing he noticed was himself.
Something inside him had changed.
He exhaled slowly, and for the first time, he truly understood what had happened.
Somewhere along his path, knots had formed within him—old losses he had never properly grieved, regrets he had buried rather than confronted. They had wrapped themselves around his Dao without his knowledge, quietly constricting it for years.
The ordeal within the abyss had cut them loose.
One knot at a time.
One burden at a time.
