Fwoosh!
A blade tore through the air, passing by Wang Yun's right ear, making his body shiver and his hair stand on end, continuing forward like a silver blur, headed for the unlucky tree behind him.
Cut!
Hitting the trunk, the cutting edge opened the bark as if it were paper, splitting it in two. The top section fell to the ground with a crash, striking the soil and sending dust into the air.
Wang Yun glanced back and froze in shock, trembling with wide eyes.
He quickly composed himself, blinking and trying to calm his heart.
With a serious expression, he turned forward to face a girl who looked about thirteen, black hair falling down her back and a slight fringe over her brow. She had red, piercing eyes—those of someone trained for combat, who would kneel to nothing.
"Xueya, wait—let me train a little more! I'll surpass you any moment now." He said confidently outwardly, but was panicking inside at the vast gap in skill; he even wondered if they were really the same age.
Li Xueya kept an expressionless face; she merely cast a look up and down at Wang Yun, finding him quite frail. His physique, in her opinion, was worse than a girl's.
"Give up that idea." She shook her head and, with a tone of disdain, said: "You're far too weak. Before you try to fight me, improve that body of yours first."
"What's wrong with it? Grandpa said it's charm."
Li Xueya rolled her eyes at that statement and fell silent, trying to figure out why his grandfather would say such a thing.
"Your grandfather is lying. If you keep that up, people will despise you. You'll be treated like a little girl!"
After hearing that, Wang Yun let out a breath through his mouth. "I know... I was teasing you, idiot. And I won't be despised—it's only a matter of time until I awaken my special eyes. From then on I'll beat you!"
He slapped his hands against his chest and straightened his back until it was perfectly erect.
"The idiot is you! And what was that?" Li Xueya looked at the boy with a strange expression, considering him delusional for thinking himself a powerful martial artist. "A piece of advice: stop. It's embarrassing."
She warned sharply, then softened her tone. "Do you know what the ability of your special eyes is?"
Wang Yun shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
"Good luck." Li Xueya didn't like that boy, but she didn't hate him either; she felt a bit tender toward him. Even though he was unbearable, he was her friend—someone who challenged her daily and always lost. Deep down, she wished he would grow stronger so he could keep up with her in the future.
"Tsk!" Wang Yun snorted. "I won't lose next time. To reach the martial peak, I must defeat you first."
"I'll be the one to do it! With my sword, I'll cut everything in my path and soar to unimaginable heights!"
Both were ambitious; neither wanted to be beneath the other.
"Really?" Wang Yun did not doubt Xueya—she was utterly extraordinary, mastering Sword Qi at thirteen. Not even the elders with years of training had done that.
That realization shook him; cold sweat formed on his brow. But thinking of the arrogant words he had just spoken, he didn't back down. A man pursues his goal to the end.
"Let's keep training—" He tried to resume training, but before he could finish, his eyes began to contract in their sockets, as if an invisible finger were squeezing them from the outside.
"Aaaaaaa!"
Wang Yun let out a high, agonized scream. Worried, Li Xueya, who stood ahead, trembled completely and ran toward him, stopping only when she saw his pupils turn gold like molten metal.
"Is he awakening his eyes now?" She was surprised and murmured gently: "Wang Yun, hold on! If you endure, you may reap the rewards."
She encouraged him. Even without knowing what ability he would gain, merely awakening something would make him incomparable. She, who had the Star River Sword Body, could be considered exemplary.
Wang Yun, still screaming, bit his jaw and gritted his teeth at the soft whisper. He didn't want to show weakness before his opponent, for the Martial Dao.
'My eyes are awakening?' he thought, swapping his expression of pain for anxious anticipation.
Even not knowing what he would obtain, knowing that his life was changing meant his goal was officially beginning.
His heart raced with every second feeling like an eternity. Time seemed to move in slow motion.
A minute later, with his heart nearly leaping from his chest, his vision expanded like a flash; after locking onto Xueya and leaving her behind, it traveled farther ahead, cutting through trees and everything in its path.
Traveling two kilometers, he saw a cave within his field of view. Inside, a lotus covered in fire appeared, and a lava serpent lay beside it with its eyes open, watching the plant ahead as if it were its last meal.
The scene left Wang Yun with his mouth slightly open. He didn't understand what was happening—why was there a lotus there? How did he find it? And how strong was that snake?
Questions flooded his mind, and one of them was answered like a message sent straight from his subconscious, in a cold, emotionless voice without gender or age—practically a living ghost.
[Fire Lotus]
[A ninety-nine-year-old medicine, about to reach one hundred in an hour, formed with the warm Qi of an inactive volcano beneath the cave.]
[Consuming it can nourish the meridians, transforming them into fire properties and advancing a lower realm in cultivation.]
"Huh?" Wang Yun blinked and returned to normal vision, seeing Xueya watching him with curiosity. Ignoring her, he rose from the ground and placed a hand on his chin, thoughtful.
'What the hell! My pupils can find treasures? And provide information? And that serpent—how strong is it?'
Removing his hand, he looked at the girl. "Xueya, have you ever heard of a lava serpent that prefers hot environments?"
"Hm." Li Xueya tilted her neck at the unexpected question. Thinking more about his pupil's ability, she deduced there was a connection. "The only one I've heard of is the fire-spitting serpent. If it has orange eyes and black scales with incandescent streaks like fiery flakes, then it's that one."
"Yes!" The description matched the image Wang Yun had seen. "How strong is it? Is it powerful?"
She made a dramatic pause before answering. "If it's you fighting it, certain death! Its power is equivalent to the Ninth Realm of Acquired Veins."
"Damn!" Wang Yun clenched his fists, digging his nails into his flesh from the fury. "And you? What are the chances you'd beat it? You'd lose too—"
Before he finished, Li Xueya shot him a look of contempt. "Don't be ridiculous. For me, losing would mean having my arms immobilized. That serpent is a bit of work, but I still trust I can beat it to death."
Faced with that arrogance, Wang Yun rolled his eyes and drew a long breath, staring at the confident girl.