Chapter 256: Sixth Volume: The Eye of Birth and Death

After examining each treasure, Luo Feng found another item suitable for both Life and Destruction paths besides the Eye of Birth and Death.

The secret treasure, "Indestructible Heart," requires 43,000 reward points to exchange and possesses the traits of indestructibility and infinite vitality; it can strengthen the physical body and additionally condense a supreme battle form, suitable for practitioners of the Life and Destruction paths.

In the entire treasure vault, only these two items are suitable for both Life and Destruction paths.

“This one is much cheaper,” Luo Feng felt tempted, “but it’s still quite impressive.”

Many treasures in the Infinite Space Vault possess conceptual abilities. Thus, Di Qing and others speculated they were all crafted by transcendent Source-Life beings who had escaped the cage.

“Treasures above 100,000 reward points all aid in escaping the cage.”

“Two-thirds of these treasures that aid in escaping the cage cannot be taken out of the Source World.”

Luo Feng studied the information.

Especially powerful treasures forged from the remains of Source Ancestors or World-Level Source-Life beings cannot be taken out.

“It’s clear Elder Yuan and the others truly hope their successors can escape the cage,” Luo Feng thought.

Infinite Space selects numerous brilliant geniuses from the Source Worlds based on mental will and the cultivation of the Dao, then bestows legacies and treasures upon them.

Elder Yuan and the others gain nothing from this.

Perhaps the only benefit… is that more successors might escape the cage!

“I only have about 180,000 reward points total—what should I exchange for?” Luo Feng pondered.

He must also consider future legacy exchanges; the reward points available are not abundant.

He carefully examined the vault’s information.

“I’m uncertain whether I’ll earn rewards in the future for mental will.”

“But for the Birth and Death Dao, if I master the complete Dao, there should still be reward points.” Luo Feng made his decision: mastering the complete Birth and Death Dao would be extremely difficult, yet infinitely easier than escaping the cage.

If he couldn’t fully master the Birth and Death Dao, there was no point dreaming of anything farther.

“Exchange for the Eye of Birth and Death!” Luo Feng decided immediately.

A message arrived: “Warning: After exchange, the test subject may permanently use the Eye of Birth and Death. But upon the test subject’s total death, the Eye of Birth and Death will automatically return to Infinite Space. Confirm: Do you still wish to exchange?”

Luo Feng froze.

As long as he lived, he could use the Eye of Birth and Death forever.

If he died, it would be reclaimed?

The rare treasures crafted by Elder Yuan and the others—if he truly died, his successors, lacking sufficient ability or talent, would indeed have no right to wield such treasures.

“Exchange,” Luo Feng did not hesitate.

“Exchange successful! Test subject Luo Feng, this is the thirteenth exchange of the Eye of Birth and Death. Of the previous twelve users, one escaped the cage and became a High Source-Life being, yet ultimately died in battle.”

Luo Feng’s heart stirred.

He was the thirteenth user of the Eye of Birth and Death?

…

In the quiet chamber of the Governor’s Mansion in Huyang City, Origin Continent, within the Star Tower’s space.

“Hum.”

Luo Feng sat cross-legged as a ripple pierced through spatial barriers and appeared before him.

It was an immensely vast eye—even after being refined and greatly shrunk, its size still dwarfed Luo Feng’s World-Life body by a great margin.

Ninety percent of this eye was pitch black, like dense ink-like mist; only the central region glowed with brilliant golden light, whose source faintly revealed countless golden secret patterns.

After the exchange, Luo Feng received detailed information about the Eye of Birth and Death.

“According to the details, the World-Level Source-Life being known as the Birth and Death Eye Beast was shaped like a single eye, even reaching one-thousandth the size of a normal Source World. Its entire corpse was then forged into a secret treasure.”

“After refinement, only a Divine Emperor-level mental will is needed to control it.”

Luo Feng immediately sent a thread of consciousness to touch the colossal eye before him.

The instant he made contact—

Boom!

In a daze, Luo Feng saw a towering, colossal creature shaped like an eye. Facing its gaze, he felt as if all his secrets were stripped bare, everything laid utterly bare.

“Hum.” Luo Feng’s mental consciousness rapidly penetrated, reaching the deepest core of the Eye of Birth and Death.

Within the deepest core of the Eye of Birth and Death lay countless secret patterns.

These patterns fell into two types.

One type was Life; the other was Destruction.

Both types were immensely vast, intertwined, mutually nurturing and interdependent, ultimately converging into the shape of the original eye.

“Life and Destruction have not merged, yet their coordination is profoundly subtle. This treasure is perfect for me,” Luo Feng marveled, though he himself sought their complete fusion.

Still, observing how Life and Destruction cooperated granted Luo Feng immense insight.

Whether the Star Tower or the Eye of Birth and Death, both rely on the coordination of countless secret patterns—not fusion into one. Fusion must ultimately be discovered by Luo Feng himself.

“From the internal secret patterns, the Eye of Birth and Death is one major tier less subtle than the Star Tower,” Luo Feng saw at a glance.

The difference between them.

Like a star versus the sun—the gap was obvious.

But even as a star… its subtlety remained boundless. After all, it was forged from the complete corpse of a World-Level Source-Life being; unraveling it fully would be fraught with countless obstacles.

“Hum!” When his mental consciousness fully imprinted upon the innermost core of the eye, the entire Eye of Birth and Death was completely mastered!

After all, it was a secret treasure crafted by Yuan and the others—easy to use.

Whoosh!

The colossal Eye of Birth and Death rapidly shrank, then flew toward Luo Feng, entering his third eye at the center of his forehead. As a secret treasure, the Eye of Birth and Death could be placed separately—on the palm or elsewhere—but as a being from Earth, Luo Feng instinctively placed his third eye at the forehead.

“Open your eyes, and see this world,” Luo Feng’s forehead Eye of Birth and Death slowly opened: ninety percent black, with only the pupil blazing with blinding golden light.

Under Luo Feng’s control, the Star Tower’s walls offered no obstruction—he instantly saw the world beyond.

First, he saw Huyang City!

Within Huyang City, billions of beings—Luo Feng swept his gaze over them, seeing through their lives completely: flesh and soul, down to the most fundamental life structures, nothing remained hidden. Only the Ultimate-Realm beasts showed slight resistance.

“Mo Luo Sa,” Luo Feng gazed across the city. The Ultimate-Realm beast, whose Dao was complete, still concealed some secrets from Luo Feng’s sight.

Under the Eye of Birth and Death,

Luo Feng still saw the world within Mo Luo Sa’s body—that world’s essence was a complete Destruction Dao in motion, just as the Original Universe’s essence was a complete Life Dao in motion.

Mo Luo Sa’s internal world, at its peak, rivaled the Original Universe.

“Mo Luo Sa’s greatest strength is his internal world. If he could use his ‘world’ with even greater finesse, his power could advance further.”

As he observed further,

“Yet his greatest weakness is also his internal world. The operation of a world, if targeted at its weak points, can easily collapse. When the world is annihilated, Mo Luo Sa is annihilated.”

Luo Feng still had some confusion about Mo Luo Sa’s internal world.

But even from the portion he observed, he identified at least seven operational weak points—he was certain he could destroy its operation with a single blink, killing Mo Luo Sa.

“I can see the greatest strength of life—and its fatal weakness,” Luo Feng turned his gaze beyond Huyang City.

Under the Eye of Birth and Death,

All powerful beings on the Origin Continent could no longer hide.

The masters of Shadow Heaven Realm, the Divine King Pu Xin, and other mysterious entities—Luo Feng’s Eye of Birth and Death pierced through barriers and hidden spaces, revealing these powerful beings.

“Source-bloodline creatures!” Luo Feng also saw the Source-bloodline creatures cultivated by the two ancient nations. Though these creatures usually hid in independent spaces, shielded by arrays, none could escape his scrutiny.

“On the entire Origin Continent, there are nine types of Ultimate-Realm Source-bloodline creatures,” Luo Feng saw clearly.

“The weakest possess only three phases.”

“The strongest possess twelve phases.”

At this moment, Luo Feng’s Eye of Birth and Death could pierce through countless arrays and spatial barriers, seeing these Source-bloodline creatures—and even their most fundamental life structures.

These Source-bloodline creatures possessed low intelligence; their uniqueness lay entirely in their bloodlines. Under Luo Feng’s scrutiny, their bloodlines were utterly exposed—not just their vital strengths and Destruction weaknesses, but every inner and outer aspect of their lives laid bare.

“I need not even collect materials from these bloodline creatures to comprehend their life forms—I already understand their matter and can transform it,” Luo Feng marveled.

Previously, he had collected materials from three Ultimate-Realm Source-bloodline creatures.

Now, he needed none—merely by observing them within the Origin Continent under the Eye of Birth and Death, it was as if he held them in his hands, examining them in detail, with no difference!

“The Three Alien Races, the Founders of the Two Nations, the Founder of the Eastern Pole Region!” Luo Feng saw them too, frowning slightly, “But their observation is too blurred.”

These Divine Emperor-level beings were far superior in realm to Source-bloodline creatures; their lives were far more subtle, protected by countless concealment techniques.

Luo Feng could not see their fundamental life structures.

Only the most basic ability remained: seeing where vitality surged and where Destruction weaknesses lay.

“Even seeing their weaknesses poses no threat,” Luo Feng knew immediately, for the avatars of Flame Wind Founder, Lei Ting Founder, and Eastern Pole Founder were far too powerful.

Even with the Origin Continent’s maximum power, targeting their fatal weaknesses was useless!

Luo Feng continued observing other locations.

He observed the operation of the Origin Continent!

He observed the operation of the Cosmic Sea!

He observed the Three Thousand Dimensions’ Original Universes—each appeared as if viewed up close.

With a single blink of his forehead eye, Luo Feng clearly saw the core of the Origin Continent: the supreme rules formed by the nine primal Daos.

The Daos themselves permit Divine Kings to observe them; they pose no defense against beings within the Source World.

Thus, with the Eye of Birth and Death, Luo Feng saw the complete supreme rules.

“This is the supreme rule,” Luo Feng observed, “To comprehend the supreme rule, one must first comprehend these nine primal Daos, then fully understand how they perfectly coordinate, and only then can the supreme rule form.”

“Once one comprehends the supreme rule, one has long since escaped the cage—and may even hope to create a new Source World.”

Luo Feng had his suspicions.

He saw it, but it was useless.

Just as mortals can see the sun and guess at its life cycle, yet creating a sun is a billionfold harder than merely observing it.

“Observation is the most crucial first step.” Luo Feng now understood the importance of the Eye of Birth and Death. Most cultivators grope in darkness, gaining only fragmentary knowledge of what lies beyond the cage by studying the corpses of higher-level Hunyuan beings.

The Eye of Birth and Death allows Luo Feng to peer beyond the cage and learn more of the higher-level secrets.

Such a level of opportunity is granted only to the most brilliant geniuses among countless worlds!

Huh.

Luo Feng blinked again, and the Eye of Birth and Death pierced through the membrane of the Source World, revealing the boundless, raging Hunyuan forces beyond.

“Though after death, the Eye of Birth and Death will return to the Infinite Space, it is still a tremendous opportunity.” Luo Feng knew that in terms of profundity, the Eye of Birth and Death paled beside the Star Tower.

But in aiding cultivation, the Eye of Birth and Death was far superior.

“Even so, the previous twelve exchangees were all peerless geniuses, yet only one managed to leap beyond the cage—and even that one died in battle.” Luo Feng understood the path was arduous.

In the Infinite Space, he had already seen dozens of artifacts ranked higher than the Eye of Birth and Death; as for those of even greater value, he currently had no qualification to even view them.

Many exchangees throughout history must have possessed those artifacts—each astonishingly gifted—but how many truly succeeded in leaping beyond the cage?

(End of Chapter)