Chapter 141 - 140: Open Heavenly Eye, Clear Enlightenment

Chen Yuran took Ji Qing and Jing Ming away, while Li Jing, alone, followed the four Rat Demons out of the pedestrian street.

To avoid arousing suspicion, he chose to trail a distance behind.

For him, the four Rat Demons, each with a health bar above their heads, were strikingly conspicuous and impossible to lose.

After all, Li Jing didn’t need to recognize people; recognizing the health bar was enough.

The four Rat Demons left the pedestrian street, walked a long distance along Central Avenue, and finally turned into a 24-hour, 722 Convenience Store along the road.

The moment he saw the four enter the convenience store, Li Jing paused and stood at the side of the street.

The storefront of the convenience store wasn’t large, and if he went there now, he would inevitably meet the four of them.

If he encountered them without gaining anything, it would be difficult to follow them afterwards.

The transaction of stolen goods, that for sure, was not feasible in a convenience store.

It was simple reason, the store had surveillance cameras.

Pulling out a little gadget, Li Jing murmured a command.

"Hinder the surveillance of the 722 convenience store in the distance, I want to see real-time footage."

"Understood."

Hearing the response, a video window popped up on the screen of the gadget.

The footage from the convenience store’s surveillance camera emerged as the video window on the screen shook a bit.

In the footage, the four Rat Demons were spread out in the store, each seemed to be choosing goods.

Seeing this scene, Li Jing narrowed his eyes.

The chances of the four Rat Demons simply choosing goods were very low.

He had followed them from a good distance away, so there was no reason for them to notice him.

It was not difficult to conclude, then, that the four Rat Demons had entered the small convenience store out of caution to prevent people from following.

Being the core member of the team, they were significantly more cautious in their actions than the seven brainless ones they had encountered earlier.

Once confirmed that all four were in the convenience store, Li Jing patiently waited.

The caution of the four Rat Demons only pointed to one thing.

They were indeed planning to fence the stolen goods.

The stolen elixirs were likely on one of them.

All he needed now was patience.

Regardless of whether their contact was the Bookless or not, at least he had to see the elixir before making a judgement. Otherwise, there would probably not be a chance to get the elixir back later.

While waiting, Li Jing received a message from Chen Yuran.

"I have sent Ji Qing and Jing Ming home, where are you now?"

Seeing the message, Li Jing frowned slightly.

Sent home?

Whose home?

Ji Qing’s home?

Jing Ming’s home?

Were they really foolish enough to tell Chen Yuran where they lived?

So the "home" Chen Yuran was referring to was...

With a strange look on his face, Li Jing sent his location to her.

Then, he turned his head to look in the direction of his villa, the Closed Moon Flower Garden.

In the dusky night, a sword light appeared in the distant sky, shooting straight towards him.

With one look, he confirmed it.

Chen Yuran had indeed brought two cats into his house.

Seeing the sword light approaching quickly and landing on the corner of a nearby street, and then Chen Yuran, her face flushed, walking out, Li Jing raised his hand to his forehead.

This woman was really beyond help.

Still kidnapping cats while on a case!

On the other hand, Chen Yuran arrived quickly and lightly on foot.

Seeing Li Jing’s speechless face staring at her, she guessed what he was probably speechless about and coughed nervously.

"Ji Qing and Jing Ming are important sources of information. Until the case is truly closed, as an on-duty inspector, I don’t think it’s excessive to take precautions for their safety?"

Upon hearing these words, the corner of Li Jing’s mouth twitched, and he replied in silence.

"Let them stay for one night if you really must, just don’t make too much trouble."

"I know, I know the limits."

Chen Yuran gave an embarrassed laugh and said.

"I brought them back with their consent. I was only going to let them stay over for one night and have a meal together tomorrow. I won’t hold them against their will."

As she spoke, she looked around.

"Where’s the Rat Demon? Did you lose track of it?"

"In the convenience store ahead, it’s been dawdling for a few minutes now."

Li Jing responded, passing her a small device displaying surveillance footage.

Chen Yuran’s investigative experience was quite seasoned.

Seeing the Rat Demon and three others all uneasily browsing and selecting products in the surveillance footage, she lightly raised an eyebrow.

"These Rat Demons are quite cautious, they’re aware of counter-surveillance. It seems like our night might not be in vain."

No sooner had she finished speaking, the surveillance showed that the four Rat Demons were leaving the convenience store.

Seeing this, they subtly came together, walking side by side.

Ahead of them, the four Rat Demons came out of the convenience store one by one. They lingered at the store’s entrance for a moment then walked into a dark alley next to a neighboring store.

Frowning at this scene, Li Jing stopped and said,

"We can’t follow them through that alley, come with me."

Chen Yuran, of course, understood the difficulty in tailing in a narrow alley.

Their presence would surely be detected by the Rat Demons who were aware of surveillance.

Instinctively trailing Li Jing, she inquired in confusion.

"What do you plan to..."

Before she finished her sentence, Li Jing took her into a blind spot at the corner of the street. He rapidly changed the hand signs repeatedly and lightly scolded,

"Heavenly Eye, open!"

Upon chanting the Great Perfection Sky Eye Technique, a thin line appeared on Li Jing’s forehead. It quickly widened into a third eye- a golden vertical eye.

Insightfully observing the scene, Chen Yuran was taken aback.

She might not understand other ocular techniques.

But she was quite familiar with the Sky Eye Technique.

Her cousin, Yang Qiuci, practiced the same technique. Practice was so challenging that she often complained to Chen Yuran.

The cultivation talent of Yang Qiuci was no less than that of Chen Yuran.

However, Yang Qiuci’s talent was more apparent in non-combat magic skills.

Most of her skills would take just a few months to master, excluding combat-oriented ones.

Only the Sky Eye Technique was an exception.

It took Yang Qiuci a full five years to reach the basic proficiency level. She could never attain the threshold to open her third eye.

Therefore, seeing Li Jing wield the Sky Eye Technique, let alone opening his third eye right in front of her, how could she not be taken aback?

The threshold level?

It seemed far beyond that!

Merely catching sight of Li Jing’s golden third eye made Chen Yuran feel as if she were being laid bare and defenseless.

Li Jing facing Chen Yuran, indeed had her fully exposed.

Not in that sense, though.

Unlike the Star Moon Divine Eye, the Sky Eye Technique didn’t have an x-ray effect. It was sensitive to varying Spiritual Qi levels.

At this moment, Chen Yuran’s solid Spiritual Qi almost reaching the Four Realm within her body was visible to Li Jing, likening her cultivation level to an open book.

Observing Chen Yuran, Li Jing noticed that the rich Spiritual Qi around her spiritual platform eyebrows had compressed into a dot, with something about to be born.

Noticing this, Li Jing was taken aback.

This was a sign of nearing the Four Realm.

The object set to be born was what he frequently read about in various cultivator novels before his transmigration — the Golden Core.

The stages in this world were represented by ten pure numbers. However, symbolic objects such as Golden Core and Yuan Infant still existed for cultivators.

The first qualitative change of Spiritual Qi density signaled the entrance into the Three Realm.

The transformation of the Golden Core symbolized entry into the Four Realm.

The Golden Core evolving into a Yuan Infant was a sign of the Fifth Boundary.

When Chen Jing reached the Six Realm, the Yuan Infant could fight independently and the Primordial Spirit was capable of leaving the body. To summarize, it was "Soul Exit".

However, people in this world didn’t fuss about the embellishments — a stage system from one to ten was more than sufficient.

Li Jing knew about Chen Yuran’s high cultivation talent, but he didn’t expect her to be just a step away from the Four Realm.

Meanwhile, Chen Yuran felt a bit self-conscious when she noticed someone staring at her unblinkingly after activating the Sky Eye. She folded her arms in front of her chest and voiced her displeasure.

"It’s okay to have a look, but don’t keep staring. Do you want me to tell Sisi that you’re being a pervert?"

"....."

Li Jing was speechless.

He understood that peeping into others’ cultivation was impolite and taboo.

But did that equate to being a pervert?

This is not like the Star Moon Divine Eye...

With closed brows, Li Jing spoke.

"Your Golden Elixir is just a step away from formation. I’ve used the Sky Eye Technique and seen that the spiritual Qi in your spiritual platform is cluttered. You could try compressing it."

"Compress?"

Chen Yuran was slightly taken aback, her eyebrows furrowing closely.

Those who naturally excel often walk a faster and easier path in cultivation than ordinary people, but not everything goes smoothly.

What needs to be experienced, still needs to be experienced.

Sometimes, taking a big step might lead to stumbling.

Chen Yuran has currently touched the bottleneck of the Three Realm, but she can’t grasp that understanding which would break her through the bottleneck.

How to break through one’s own bottleneck varies from person to person.

Some people need to refine their hearts.

Some people need to accumulate their own foundation for a hard breakthrough.

And some people need to gain enlightenment.

The method to smoothly break through the bottleneck depends on individual enlightenment.

Chen Yuran’s enlightenment has not yet arrived.

She needs the right opportunity.

If it were someone else telling her to try compressing the Spiritual Qi in her spiritual platform, she would certainly sneer at them.

A breakthrough is not something that can be accomplished so casually.

One wrong step can lead to continuous errors.

In the absence of enlightenment, rushing to face the challenge is not wise.

Each encounter with a bottleneck gives only a single opportunity to break through it.

A failed attempt means having to start from the beginning, and losing touch with the bottleneck.

How long it takes to touch it again is uncertain.

Relying blindly on others in cultivation and listening to so-called suggestions may result in not even knowing how he died.

But Chen Yuran believes that Li Jing will not harm her.

He might have really seen something...

Her beautiful eyes blinked twice, and Chen Yuran bit her red lip lightly.

"If something goes wrong when I compress it, you have to take responsibility."

"Alright."

Li Jing nodded.

He doesn’t understand cultivation.

He doesn’t understand how to cultivate a Golden Core either.

But he knows what the problem is with giving careless advice to others.

The reason why he dared to say it was because he had a moment of enlightenment under the support of the Great Perfection of the Sky Eye Technique.

What Chen Yuran lacks is just that.

A simple and crude moment...

Enlightenment does not come from the Sky Eye Technique, but from the cognitive ability that mysteriously improves as his cultivation level increases.

This cognitive ability is indescribable.

If it must be described, it is an understanding of power, nature, and the world.

On getting a response from Chen Yuran, Li Jing turned his head to open his vertical eye.

Easily, he captured four grey-brown Qi clusters in the depths of a narrow alley on the side of the convenience store.

Seeing this situation, Li Jing was somewhat surprised.

The Sky Eye Technique does not have the function of penetrating vision.

However, objects without spiritual Qi can be ignored according to his wish.

Seeing through walls is easy.

The special function of the Great Perfection of the Sky Eye Technique to search for spirits and objects is based on this principle.

The four Qi clusters he saw were clearly the four Rat Demons.

The darkest color represented the Four Realm Rat Demon.

The three lighter ones were the other Three Realm Rat Demons.

Li Jing was not surprised to be able to detect the four of them.

Monster Qi, Evil Energy, and even Demon Miasma are essentially composed of Spiritual Qi, only that their manifestations are different.

However, Li Jing did not expect that the difference would be so obvious under the Great Perfection of the Sky Eye Technique, and what he saw was a very obvious gray-brown color.

Normal spiritual Qi is milky white.

Gray-brown--something seems wrong at first glance.

Apparently, the Great Perfection of the Sky Eye Technique has the function to identify the form of energy inside an object.

This discovery surprised Li Jing.

Not everything that he can see with the health bar might be monsters, they could be other Alien Species.

With the Great Perfection of Sky Eye Technique, he will be much more convenient in the future.

Just as he was rejoicing, a Qi cluster darker than the Four Realm Rat Demon appeared in the alley like a ghost. Its energy appeared as a milky white color.

Seeing this scene, Li Jing raised his eyebrows.

The contact person for the four Rat Demons was indeed Wu Shu.

Up until now, the only person he had seen who could use the special escape method to come and go as a ghost was Wu Shu.

"The contact person has arrived, it should be Wu Shu."

Li Jing said a sentence, and then continued.

"Let’s wait and see. If the Rat Demon takes out the elixir, my Heavenly Eye..."

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a sudden "bang" beside him.

The sudden noise startled Li Jing.

Subconsciously turning his head...

He saw Chen Yuran with half-closed eyes. Dots of golden light shone from the bottom of her eyes, and a golden bead in her spiritual platform was slowly rotating.

???

Li Jing slowly formed three question marks.

Chen Yuran had completed her breakthrough, it was clear at a glance.

So...

How casual was she, standing on the street to break through the realm?

Wasn’t she afraid that interference would cause her previous efforts to go to waste, or that her heart demons would appear?

Li Jing had a baffled expression on his face.

While he was still in a daze, Chen Yuran slowly opened her eyes.

When she raised her eyes and saw Li Jing staring at her, she avoided his gaze for a moment and said softly.

"Well, I couldn’t resist trying, I didn’t expect that without even using any strength..."

"Next time you want to mess around, please pick a time when I’m not around, so I won’t get caught up in your disaster."

Li Jing said flatly.

Chen Yuran didn’t respond. She cheekily stuck out her tongue, then blinked her eyes innocently.

"What were you saying just now?"

"The courier from the Dark Web has arrived, it’s the same one I saw previously."

Li Jing said, letting out an angry breath, he continued.

"If the Rat Demon takes out the Elixir for disposal, my Heavenly Eye should be able to capture the spiritual Qi, when it is handed over to Wu Shu..."

Before he could finish, Chen Yuran interrupted.

"I just made a breakthrough and I’m feeling a bit pumped. I’ll take on the Four Realm Rat Demon leader, you deal with the other three from the Three Realm."

"..."

Li Jing.

Feeling pumped immediately after a breakthrough, that’s something...

However, as Chen Yuran had just broken through to the Four Realm, dealing with these Rat Demons should not be too difficult for them.

Although she has only just entered the Four Realm and is likely not to fare as well against a late-stage Four Realm practitioner.

She is Chen Yuran.

The daughter of Chen Jing, a highly skilled practitioner of the Six Realm.

After a brief thought, Li Jing nodded silently, turned his gaze to the five Qi clusters comprising of four gray and one white in the depths of the alley beside the convenience store.

At the moment when Li Jing was about to take another look, the dark gray Qi cluster representing the Four Realm Rat Demon pulled out a big patch of rich illuminating Qi that almost blinded his Sky Eye Technique.

This big bundle of Qi consists of more than a hundred smaller clusters.

Li Jing determined right away that this big cluster of Spiritual Qi was the stolen Elixir.

As he watched the big cluster of Qi settling next to and then disappearing into the milky-white cluster of Spiritual Qi, Li Jing felt a sudden jolt of excitement and spoke quickly.

"The Rat Demon has handed over the Elixir, let’s go."

"The Boundary Stone?"

Chen Yuran quickly responded.

"Everything is prepared."

Li Jing said, summoned the Flying Sword Qingfeng, and soared up with his sword-controlling technique.

Chen Yuran didn’t delay either, she followed closely, turning into a stream of light through her own sword-controlling technique.