Chapter 14: Magic Eyes

Each character radiated an immortal aura, unleashing a domineering pressure that shook the heavens. Cheng Lingyu stood rigid in the stone room, his breath stifled as if suffocating.

“Land of Extreme Yang, Extreme Yin nurtured, reality and illusion intertwined, evolving boundlessly.”

These sixteen characters blazed with golden light on the stone wall, nearly blinding to behold, each brimming with unfathomable divine power. The Source Pearl had detected energy fluctuations here—undoubtedly from these words.

Who left them? What did they mean? Cheng Lingyu had no answers.

After staring intently, he abruptly shut his eyes, his thoughts halting momentarily before he snapped back to awareness. The wall possessed a magical quality, ensnaring one’s focus with a relentless power of seduction. Yet Cheng Lingyu’s Dreamless Technique defied such soul-capturing tricks, shielding him from its lure.

Shifting his gaze, he scrutinized the other walls. In one corner, he discovered the cultivation techniques for Thousand Layers of Snow. But the version here was more complete than what he knew, and its script starkly differed from the sixteen radiant characters—proof of two distinct authors.

The He family’s Thousand Layers of Snow contained only two-thirds of the content. The final third had been inscribed using a cryptic method. Additionally, the He clan’s copy falsely labeled it as a sword technique—an obvious addition meant to mislead.

Cheng Lingyu studied further. The first two-thirds of Thousand Layers of Snow formed a coherent whole, while the final third stood apart, detailing a unique refining process with specific benchmarks for each realm.

For the Ordinary Martial Realm, it outlined standards for tempering the Physical Body: minimum thresholds, superior achievements, and perfection. Similar criteria spanned all realms—True Martial, Soul Martial, Blood Martial, Spirit Martial, Sacred Martial, up to Heavenly Martial. These guidelines, though unrelated to cultivation itself, helped practitioners gauge their progress. Cheng Lingyu found them invaluable for understanding his own body.

The final third’s text glowed eerily, its characters warped and mentally draining to decipher. Only those with exceptional cultivation levels could withstand its illusionary magic. Cheng Lingyu surmised the He family’s copy was incomplete because their experts had failed to interpret these passages. Thanks to the Dreamless Technique, he effortlessly grasped the full method.

On another wall lay the cultivation art for Magic Eyes. Its pitch-black characters devoured all light, plunging readers into darkness. Mental power scattered, thoughts blanked—rendering the text unreadable. This, Cheng Lingyu reasoned, was why the He family had never mastered Magic Eyes, and why the Cheng family also failed to claim it after destroying them.

Cheng Lingyu painstakingly memorized the dark script, pausing six times to rest his strained mind. After nearly two hours and three thorough readings, the characters crumbled under his gaze. By the third pass, they had vanished entirely, a peculiar energy surging into his eyes and concealing secrets within.

Startled, Cheng Lingyu realized the Magic Eyes script’s style differed entirely from Thousand Layers of Snow—clearly not the same author. Three distinct writing styles adorned the room, each from a different hand. Questions flooded his mind: Who were these three? Why had they left their marks here? Coincidence… or design?

Based on the aura and released energy of the characters, the one who left sixteen symbols was likely the most formidable. The strength of Thousand Layers of Snow and Magic Eyes’ owners remained unclear.

Cheng Lingyu stayed briefly before exiting the stone room without disturbing anything.

After departing Wushan, Cheng Lingyu followed clues to a Cheng family mining area. He circled the perimeter without entering, proceeding instead to verify his hypothesis at another site.

As anticipated, all eight remaining locations lay within mining zones. Cheng Lingyu deduced undiscovered mine sources existed deep within these areas, unnoticed by Cheng family experts.

Gazing back at Wushan mining area, realization struck him – the hundreds who perished there must have been He family members who discovered mine sources and paid dearly.

Returning home, Cheng Lingyu questioned his father: “Were there anomalies when our family destroyed the He clan?”

Cheng Yun furrowed his brow. “The He family had rivaled us in strength for decades. Yet during their destruction, most He experts vanished mysteriously, leaving only one-third their normal force. That’s why we crushed them effortlessly.”

Understanding dawned on Cheng Lingyu. The He family must have found mine sources and dispatched experts who perished there. The Cheng family’s timely attack exploited this vulnerability.

“This connects to the mine sources… but our family suppressed this knowledge.”

Cheng Yun nodded. “You’ve grown wise. After taking He’s mines, we learned the truth but feared repeating their fate. Secrecy was prudent.”

Researching Thousand Layers of Snow, Cheng Lingyu discovered those with special physiques could also practice it, though less effectively. The technique’s self-assessment had three tiers: qualified (512x explosive power in Fusion Phase), superior (2048x), and ultimate (4096x). Yu Wuchen’s peak performance matched Cheng Lingyu’s current capabilities.

The manual’s final section detailed physical conditioning requirements. Insufficient body strength risked fatal explosions during power surges. Cheng Lingyu confirmed ordinary practitioners couldn’t endure this cultivation.

Self-assessment revealed imperfections in his Luck, Wave Shock, Transformation, and Circular Motion phases – all superior but not ultimate. Resolving to perfect each phase, Cheng Lingyu opted for gradual improvement starting with Luck Phase rather than months-long immersion.

Three days later, he visited a nearly depleted mining area. Descending its deep tunnel, familiar sensations awakened his internal active metal sources. As inspector, he relocated remaining miners before investigating.

Through The Source Pearl, he perceived a black-and-white sunflower twelve zhang ahead, radiating source energy matching his own. At its roots lay a black Stone Pearl with white patterns, mirroring Wushan’s discovery. The sunflower grew from this pearl through intertwined silver-black sources.

Separated by impenetrable black gold stone, Cheng Lingyu pondered excavation strategies. Manual tunneling would take months alone. He stood deep in thought, weighing possibilities.