Chapter 233: Thousand-mile Eye

To be honest, Mu Yi holds a cautious, skeptical attitude toward strange encounters.

The strange are the bizarre, the unusual; the encounter is the meeting, the experiencing.

A strange encounter does not necessarily mean something good.

For example, his previous Soul‑Transferring Trial, Guan Yu's Soul‑Transferring Trial was the experience of being beheaded, while Jiang Taigong's Soul‑Transferring Trial was the experience of being fished…

If it weren't for Liu Bei's Soul‑Transferring Trial laying the foundation, Mu Yi would doubt whether the contents of these Soul‑Transferring Trials are all of a decidedly anti‑human nature.

If they truly are all anti‑human types, then the strange encounter related to Flower‑Fruit Mountain, Mu Yi thinks, must be either an assault by the Heavenly Court's great army, or …

Fortunately, the Soul‑Transferring Trial is quite normal; otherwise Mu Yi would think this thing is probably just a dusty, forgotten item at the bottom of a chest.

With reverence in his heart, Mu Yi opens the final treasure chest.

It's not his conspiracy theory; it's simply that Jiuzhou's cause‑and‑effect entanglements are too great, and the big shots are all masters of calculation, so any small scheme they devise would leave him hopelessly lost.

"Legendary chest of the Gourd Child of Gourd Mountain opened successfully; the character receives the following rewards from this chest:"

1. Gourd Child Divine Ability Crystal — Thousand-mile Eye.

2. Gourd Mountain Challenge Dungeon (high‑difficulty side quest extra reward)」

Mu Yi opens his item bag and takes out a crystal‑like object emitting a strange aura.

This thing appears to be a crystal, but its entire hue radiates a holy light.

When Mu Yi places his perception upon it, the light it emits immediately flickers with an irregular special change.

Mu Yi's will penetrates it, as if in an instant his vision expands countlessfold, feeling his will merging with heaven and earth, as if everything is laid bare under his insight.

After a moment of hesitation, Mu Yi chooses to use the Divine Ability Crystal.

A faint golden light spreads from Mu Yi's hand, turning into countless golden specks that flicker like fireflies, dazzling the pitch‑black night like a sky full of Starlight.

Immediately after, the golden specks converge into Mu Yi's eyes.

It is not gentle as the naked eye would see; rather, it feels like a scorching brand seared into his eye sockets, and even Mu Yi's strong will emits an unbearable, painful moan.

Mottled blood‑tears slowly seep from his eyes, trickling down his face, appearing extremely mournful.

Mu Yi's heightened perception makes this painful process even more intense; he seems able to see a special seal being engraved at the bottom of his eyes by holy power.

And this seal continuously emits power to remodel his eyes, the bodily changes feeding back to his soul, which is the root of Mu Yi's extreme suffering.

Even though the pain drives him to collapse, Mu Yi remains conscious.

Having undergone several rounds of void‑will fishing meditation training, pure pain no longer can render him unconscious.

Amid the pain, Mu Yi focuses his will on the seal at the bottom of his eyes, the seal representing the Thousand-mile Eye Divine Ability; during this engraving process, Mu Yi can perceive the wondrous nature of this Divine Ability.

When all dust settles, Mu Yi opens his tightly shut eyes.

His pupils emit a supernatural glow, brilliant golden light flickering within.

If anyone could pierce the golden light spilling from Mu Yi's eyes at this moment, they would see countless profound runes continuously flowing within his pupils.

They are primordial patterns that cannot be borne by mortal things, cannot be comprehended by language, cannot be passed down among people; they are the fundamental rule patterns that constitute the essence of the Transcendent.

"The character uses the Divine Ability Crystal, initiating crystal activation…"

"Activation successful, the character has obtained the Thousand-mile Eye Divine Ability…"

"The character gains a bloodline Divine Ability: Thousand-mile Eye (Epic)."

Bloodline Divine Ability – Thousand-mile Eye:

Quality: Epic

Passive Effect 1: The character's eyes will undergo a permanent strange alteration, granting the ability to see through flesh, matter, space, and to perceive invisible beings. (This ability can be upgraded)

ps: Based on the character's perception and bloodline ability quality, all non‑holy invisible units will be directly seen through by the player.

Passive Effect 2: Can be combined with the bloodline Divine Ability Wind‑Listening Ear for an upgrade; after upgrading, the Thousand-mile Eye and Wind‑Listening Ear abilities will be greatly enhanced, thereby attaining omniscience.

Active Effect 1: True Vision: You can probe to the most fundamental form of observed objects; ordinary hidden units, magical secret doors, mental illusions, etc., vanish from your sight, and when using the probe series abilities, the check is 2.

ps: The character can alter their gaze by focusing vision; the maximum reach of the gaze is based on the character's perception, and the closer the effective distance is to the maximum, the more easily the eyes enter a fatigued state.

After entering fatigue, the character must rest to continue driving the gaze, otherwise permanent vision decline or even blindness may occur.

When the character becomes blind, they can still use this Divine Ability.

PS: What spying, this is blatant slander, I'm a blind man! — True Seeker – The Sightless Ghost – Harvald.

PS: No sound, seeing it is meaningless! — Great Sage – Anlir Tony.

A clear world…

Mu Yi feels the world so clear for the first time, even clearer than his own perception; light, clouds, rain, dust… all scenes are crystal clear in Mu Yi's eyes.

Mu Yi feels his field of view becomes immensely expansive.

Matter, space, chaos… it seems nothing can block his probing gaze.

Mu Yi's original strength was already not lacking; his robust body and Transcendent perception gave him a view that almost stands within the normal human visual range.

But the most immediate change in his body now is his vision.

Although perception and other aspects also changed, the change in vision is undoubtedly the most advanced among them.

The Peach Tree, Seven‑Star Lotus, First Day, Mountain God, Water God… everything on Kunlun Mountain is laid bare under his gaze.

Perhaps due to his close link with the Plane's consciousness, the inner matters of this world cannot significantly hinder his sight.

His gaze pierces space, leaping directly from the material realm to the spirit realm…

"Hm?"

Under his all‑pervasive insight, Mu Yi discovers a distinctive creature, a bizarre being that is part human, part ghost, reminiscent of the uncanny entities often described in horror and weird fiction.

At this moment it is perched at the boundary between the spirit realm and the material realm, attempting to cross the limit and appear in the material world.

Unlike ordinary wandering ghosts, this uncanny creature is a quasi‑energy being detached from flesh, easily affecting ordinary people.

Moreover, judging by its odd shape, the impact could be not just a haunted house or haunted car, but could directly affect an entire hospital, even a school.

If not dealt with promptly, it might cause an entire city to fall into turmoil.

It seemed to have sensed Mu Yi's gaze; the strange creature, like a frightened fish, no longer crawled slowly as before, but as if gone mad, darted quickly into the material realm.

Mu Yi withdrew his gaze and stood up.

No time to delay; he had to deal with that guy first.

Although he had long known that, as the world grew, many such things seeping in from the void were not few, he hadn't expected such a big one to appear ahead of time.

If he hadn't obtained the Thousand-Mile Eye Divine Ability, he would only learn of it after the strange creature had caused slaughter.

Ordinary troubles could be handled by the students of the Transcendent Academy, but an opponent of this level was beyond their capability.

Even the students of the Hundred Schools that Mu Yi had recruited could not handle this big guy.

The opponent not only hid at the boundary between the spirit realm and the material realm, but also possessed some kind of invisibility concealment ability; if Mu Yi did not have the Thousand-mile Eye, it would be hard to detect its traces.

At that point, only after it had caused great impact could Mu Yi rush over to deal with it.

But by then, who knew how many casualties it would cause.

……

An unnamed hospital.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Zhiwei opened her eyes from the bed, her face extremely grim; as a high‑perception unlucky egg full of fortuitous encounters, she discovered the hospital's problem when she got lost.

In the hospital, birth, aging, sickness, and death converge, negative emotions run rampant; from an idealist standpoint, it is itself the most prone place to breed evil cults.

But before, at most they were just stray cats and dogs; these innately high‑perception transcendent seeds, after studying the abilities of the Hundred Schools in the system, could basically easily eradicate such evil cults.

But this time was different; Zhiwei only remembered that she seemed to have discovered something in the hospital's basement, then she lost consciousness.

Pure white ceiling……

Zhiwei gazed at the pure white ceiling and could still smell the hospital's distinctive odor.

"Am I still in the hospital?" flashed through Zhiwei's mind.

However, her mind was foggy and heavy, as if filled with lead, her thoughts extremely sluggish.

She glanced to the side; an IV stand and IV bag…… was she receiving an IV?

Zhiwei wanted to get up, but her body felt extremely heavy, as if pressed down by something, rendering her unable to move.

"... Not right!"

In a daze, Zhiwei suddenly woke up; she activated her inner magic power, widened her eyes, and looked around.

What was supposed to be an IV was actually drawing blood; the blood flowed back up the IV tube, which was also the reason for her utter exhaustion.

If she hadn't woken up, her fate would have been to be drained of blood to death.

"Hey!"

Zhiwei shouted angrily; magic power surged from her throat, the feeling of being pressed by a ghost instantly vanished, she yanked out the IV tube from the back of her hand and rolled off the bed.

Gathering magic power in her eyes, Zhiwei lifted her gaze.

Looking again, it was no ward; she lay on the mortuary's morgue slab, and from the ceiling dangled something like tentacles, sucking blood from each "corpse".

Among those "corpse" she recognized familiar figures; obviously they, like her, had been knocked down by a strange monster and were now having their essence drained.

If nothing unexpected happened, they would be dried into human jerks without pain, then perish.

Zhiwei felt a compass and a handful of copper coins on her body; thank heavens, her equipment was still with her.

She did a quick calculation with her fingers, and Zhiwei's face changed dramatically.

"Great misfortune..."

Not daring to delay, Zhiwei pinched the copper coins into a copper‑coin sword and swung it at the surrounding tentacles.

The copper‑coin sword infused with magic power instantly severed the surrounding tentacles, dark‑red blood dripping from them.

"Wake up, wake up!" Zhiwei shook the rescued companion, but to no avail.

"Supreme Platform Star, ever‑responsive. Banish evil, bind spirits, protect life and body. Wisdom pure and clear, mind tranquil. Three souls eternal, corporeal soul undiminished."

Zhiwei mobilized her inner magic power, recited the Purify Heart and Spirit Spell; although she had not formally joined any of the Hundred Schools, she had learned a bit from each school.

When Zhiwei touched her companion's forehead with a finger glowing with spiritual light, the companion, previously like a corpse, showed a slight movement—only a couple of groans—before falling back into deathly stillness.

"It's over!" Zhiwei's face turned truly pale, not only depleted of magic power but also trembling with fear.

Dealing with this unknown anomaly, pooling everyone's strength still offered a slim chance; relying on her alone would merely repeat the mistake, lying there awaiting death again.

Just as Zhiwei wondered what to do, the tentacles she had previously cut extended down from the ceiling again; unlike their former stiffness, this time each tip bore an irregularly shaped eyeball.

Apparently sensing Zhiwei's gaze, dozens of tentacles twitched slightly and slowly opened their eyes.

Zhiwei could clearly see that the irregular eyeball was composed of countless countless large and small single eyes combined.

They were packed tightly, like a honeycomb, closely linked together, forming that irregular eyeball.

They stared fixedly at Zhiwei, wobbling irregularly, then slowly extended toward her.

Zhiwei gripped her copper‑coin sword tightly; she knew she was probably doomed today, and her emergency rescue device on her person was as if failed, having no effect.

"Huu~" Zhiwei slowly straightened her body; even if she were to die, she did not want to die in such a pathetic way.

The copper‑coin sword traced several arcs in the air, cutting off the approaching tentacles; the severed tentacles twitched on the ground, then turned into mist and re‑merged with the tentacles.

"Damn it!"

No matter how Zhiwei hacked, the many tentacles kept spreading toward her, while she was utterly exhausted.

Her body had already been drained; now she could barely sustain herself, and the copper‑coin sword in her hand, bereft of magic power, instantly scattered to the ground.

Yet the moment it hit the ground, Zhiwei noticed that the omen had shifted from great misfortune to great auspiciousness.

"Huh?"

Just as Zhiwei stared blankly, a soft dubious sound rang out.

Zhiwei's field of view was instantly filled with illusory fire; the tentacles that no amount of hacking could dispel before turned to ash and vanished in the seeming‑but‑not‑real flames.

A strange yet familiar figure appeared in Zhiwei's field of view.

(End of chapter)