"Grandpa Su. That boy. His eyes! It made my bloodline tremble…."
Her voice broke down..
"What?!!" The old man roared out in disbelief and his mouth gaped. He grabbed the young girl by the shoulders and pulled her to the side.
"What are you talking about little Shan?" He really couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"His eyes Grandpa Su. His eyes, they emitted a pressure that caused my physique to tremble.. For the first time in 15 years, Grandpa Su.."
She calmed herself, yet her eyes couldn't hide the surge of feelings.
"That is indeed great news, but do you know who he is? Or where we can find him?" The fat old man scratched the back of his head. He was an envoy from a Powerful Sacred Sect sent to the Great Yan Empire on an important mission.
Upon his arrival, his senses led him to the awakening of a nigh Divine Physique within the small Mu Clan in the newborn daughter of the clan leader. Mu Lingshan.
The Nine Nether Yin Physique, one of the ancient divine bloodlines attuned to very
laws of Yin and Death. To say he was overjoyed was an overstatement. To that fact, he even took residence within the clan, becoming its guest leader, wanting to nurture the child before sending her to his Sect.
But a problem soon arose, after 3 years of age, the Nine Nether Yin Physique seemed shut itself within the meridians of the young girl, unwilling to resurface no matter what divine pellets he fed her.
Su Jianghe, with all his experience failed to awaken the bloodline within the frail girl, and watched her meridians deteriorate day after day. Her cultivation soon began to stagnate, and if the Nine Nether yin physique is never awakened, the Yin energies within her body would run rampant and tear her apart from the inside. It was a ticking time bomb.
Planning on taking her back to his Sect for far experienced and stronger Elders to have a look, it was quite surprising that a simple look from some wild boy was able to cause the dormant Physique to tremble with might.
She shook her head. "I have no idea who he is Grandpa. But he was young and frail, his hair was light and dark split in the middle, and his eyes." She paused as she recalled Qingxuan's terrifying eyes.
"One eye was deep black, with the faint figure of what looked like a silver pupil and the other was a deep gold, with the faint outline of a pupil that shone like the sun.." She remembered and gave a detailed description.
The old man placed a hand on his chin in deep thought. "There are many wondrous eye bloodlines in this world, but even I have never seen one with the description you're providing.." He shook his head. The maiden's head hung low.
Right about then, a bunch of triumphant laughs and loud footsteps came rushing towards them. The guards, bloodied and battered, carried the corpse of the Scarlet Eyed Tiger, and in their lead was the young master.
"Junior Sister Lingshan. I did it. I present this Scarlet Eyed Tiger's corpse to you.." He bowed his head slightly with an arrogant smirk, but she only nodded expressionlessly.
The old man interjected. "Slow roast this huge thing on a bonfire. We need to have a feast. You know where my spices are. And come with me Little Shan.."
He gave instructions and dragged her into the carriage before shutting the door.
"Sit, Little Shan. If that boy's eyes did what you said it did, then.." The man sighed. "..I didn't think it was logical at first, but I just realized how stupid I was to not see the truth.." He sat across her and took out an old scroll from the ring on his finger.
"What is it Grandpa?" She raised a brow.
The old man cleared his throat. Your Nine Nether Yin Physique reigns as one of the top Divine Physiques ever recorded in the Ancient World. And if truly those eyes from that boy were able to suppress them, then, they can only be one thing.." He paused and spread out the scroll and then pointed to an ancient inscription.
"Heaven's Eye.." His tone turned ominous, as if he was speaking of a great forbidden secret.
"What is the Heaven's Eye, Grandpa?" She looked down into the scroll, but couldn't read a thing.
He took a deep breath and continued. "After the creation of the world, Heaven and Earth were governed by natural law cycles.
Cultivation existed but was unstable, violent and extremely lethal. Life and death were not clearly separated and Yin and Yang frequently collapsed into chaos.
The Laws of Creation and Destruction, Yin and Yang, Life and Death rewrote reality, but they rarely manifested as living beings, but when they did, they manifested as a pair of eyes that sought to bear witness and understand their role as the balance to the Chaos.
The Observer of Heaven and Earth, as Ancient Kings referred to children of fate blessed to bear the Eyes of the Heavens themselves. These pair of eyes bore a name too obscure to comprehend, so modern and ancient philosophers simply called it the Eye of the Heavenly Dao.
This phenomenon was so rare, that no two bearers of the eye could exist in one millennia.."
He paused and cleared his throat once more.
"She raised her brows. No two bearers could exist in the same millennia? How?"
The old man shook his head. " Because Heaven did not need two observers. Those Blessed with these eyes were not rulers, they were not creators, but witnesses of the Heavenly Law and the balance to the Chaos. These eyes could not be refined by even Gods, neither could they be forcefully inherited.
In every generation, the Heavens themselves chooses an individual who is worthy to bear its eyes.
But, a Great Ancient War shattered the Heavens. Ancient Experts fell like stars. The last bearer of the Eyes disappeared and Heaven lost its eyes.
After the disappearance of the eyes of Heaven, the world tried to correct this wrong, to repair itself and restore the balance. But balance required that only one true bearer of the eyes could exist at one time…
So the solution manifested itself as bloodlines and ancient physiques that bore traces of the Eye of Heaven's heritage. All incomplete, all flawed copies, never the truth.." He paused.
"Your Nine Nether Yin Physique was awakened in the ancient world after this phenomenon along with multiple bloodlines and Physiques.." The old man had to catch his breath.
He allowed the information to digest within her and he smiled.
"I do doubt that this boy possesses the Heaven's Eye. It completely disappeared in ancient times. Many experts tried to begin searches for it, but failed in the end.But if he bears eyes that bear resemblance to them, then he is a child of the Heavens and would rise into a Supreme Expert in future.."
He let out a sigh.
"Grandpa Su, the two celestial phenomena that occurred in the mountain range… Could it be??" She gasped in surprise.
"From your description he looks like a wild child. It is possible.." He nodded with a small smile. "I do hope we get to see him again. Perhaps, he could be the key to unlocking your Physique.." The old man laughed slightly, while she nodded and looked out through the window into the distance and whispered..
"I do hope so too.."
**
Meanwhile, the supposed chosen one had slumped to the ground unconscious near his own encampment. Luckily for him, he managed to swallow two healing pellets that he had received from the young maiden. Unbeknownst to him, as he slumped into darkness, extremely potent Yuan power tore from his core and bathed his entire figure, covering him in a cocoon of matted golden light..
*
*
The next day..
"Ughh.."
The golden cocoon slowly unraveled as the figure within opened his eyes groggily and groaned. Qingxuan sat up instantly, surveying his surroundings. Only after confirming that a 300m circumference of his current location was safe, did he finally calm himself.
Finding his head ached terribly, he quickly closed his eyes and wrapped them with a piece of dark opaque cloth, and then rose to his feet.
"Wait.. wasn't I injured badly from running from that damn tiger and that heavy fall?" He touched his chest and his back, but apart from a few scratches on his skin, there was nothing. Not even a scar.
It was then that he remembered. His encounter with the young maiden, the pouch she gave him, and the pill he swallowed from it.
"Wow, I feel great.. Hold on.." He stretched lightly, feeling great and then paused, feeling the incredible strength flowing within his joints and tendons.
"I broke through? Again?" He began to skip lightly, entering the Bai Jong stance as he tightened the tendons and muscles in his thigh and then kicked out.
SHUA!
His feet whipped through the air like a fan, sending a sharp wind billowing. He had grown stronger.
"I broke through to the peak of the third layer, but this isn't just an increase of 300 Jin." He spun around and then kicked out with incredible force, a powerful 360 degree turn into a hook kick.
"Whoosh!"
The air made a whooshing sound, as he skipped backwards and shook his head. This was incredible. He estimated the increase in strength to be about 500jin or more. That was a whooping 200 Jin stronger than the ordinary 3rd layer Body Tempering Realm.
He saw the pouch lying on the ground haphazardly and grabbed it, before looking through and picking out another pill that resembled what he had swallowed and then a smile blossomed on his face.
The pouch didn't just contain these healing pellets. There were enough low grade Yuan stones to feed him and Aunt Lin for a year, as well as what looked like a dozen medium grade Yuan stones.
Qingxuan didn't know who she was, but judging from the amount of Yuan stones she could hand over casually, her background wasn't ordinary.
His tummy growled making him laugh and rub it in embarrassment. There was a clean lake about 50m away, he was sure to get some fishes within.
He stuffed the pouched into his pockets, reached into his things and picked out his Silent Gale Bow, a couple of his Heart Chasing Arrows and headed for the stream.
The Heart Piercing True Aim sutra revolved within his brain. Having already analyzed the technique, there was no need for further cultivation, just practice.
It basically involved following one's heart and mind and the tranquility of the senses to fire arrows that never missed.
Qingxuan didn't need all that complexity and serenity. He had the God Eyes, a literal overpowered cheat code.
Walking into the stream, he spotted a large fish from his periphery, swimming leisurely. Knocking one Heart Chasing Arrow onto the Silent Gale Bow, his gaze locked on the fish, and then he turned around and fired once.
SHUA!
The arrow shot through the air with incredible precision and lodged deep into the fish's left eye, killing it instantly.
"Bullseye.."
He laughed, walked to fish, pulled out the arrow and tossed the fish to the banks of the lake.
"I wonder what happened to the damn tiger.." He chuckled lightly, and then shot another fish that was nearly 20m away from him without even turning his head. Qingxuan fished for a while, and then took a bath within the stream, before building a small campfire to cook the fish.
As night fell, he sat beside the fire and ate. "Aunt Lin would definitely be worried about me. I haven't been home in two days.." He sighed.
"But I can't go back now. I need more training. I need more strength. Even my archery needs a bit of polishing.." He threw a large scaly bone away and continued munching on the fish in hand. Luckily, natural flavours from the Yuan rich environment were imbued in the fish's flesh, otherwise it'd have been a struggle to eat them.
"What if I start hunting down demonic beasts and selling their parts?" A moment later, an idea lit up in his head. This was a route nearly all xianxia MC's went.
It'd help him practice his archery and test his combat skills. If he ever encountered a powerful demonic beast like the Scarlet Eyes Demonic Tiger…
He laughed. He'd find a way out.