Divine Ability

【Deductible martial art 『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』 detected. Proceed with Deduction?】

“Yes!”

Shen Xiuhan growled in his mind.

In his field of vision, the intelligence points he had accumulated over the past half-month, along with those extracted from the 『Purple-Beaked Duck』, plummeted like water bursting through a dam.

Boom!

The entire reed marsh fell dead silent.

The rustling of the lake breeze sweeping across the tips of the reeds, the sound of the distant lake water lapping against the shore, and even the crackling of the firewood in the bonfire all vanished in an instant.

Shen Xiuhan's brow burned like fire, a scorching sensation rushing from his glabella straight into his brain.

In his mind, countless golden seal script characters emerged from the void like fireflies, weaving and gathering together, gradually condensing into a blurry figure with its head touching the heavens and its feet treading on the void.

The figure pressed its index and middle fingers together, pointing them at its brow, while chanting obscure and ancient divine sounds from its mouth. Every single syllable struck Shen Xiuhan's mind like a heavy hammer.

【You painstakingly cultivate the 『Divine General Muxu Upper Radiance Scripture』 for ten years. This scripture is vast and obscure, like reading a book from heaven. Day after day, you temper your eyes with blood qi. Your eye sockets sting, turning blood-red, and your vision blurs to the point of near-blindness. Despite ten years of hard work, you remain unable to find the entry path.】

【By the eighteenth year, you welcome the purple qi from the east every morning and watch the setting sun sink in the west every evening. You are no longer obsessed with seeing physical objects, but instead look at the qi, the wind, and the shifting patterns of light and shadow, distinguishing between reality and illusion. One day, the blood qi in your pupils flows backward, and a phantom image emerges at the bottom of your eyes. You have finally crossed the threshold of this Divine Ability.】

【By the twenty-fifth year, you pierce through to the essence of the scripture and comprehend the original meaning of the word "Muxu"—the ultimate clarity of sight, perceiving all phenomena. You are no longer bound by superficial or external appearances, turning instead to aligning your will with your heart's power, using your mind to peer into the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.】

【By the thirtieth year, you finally comprehend the Divine Ability. The divine light at your brow shifts from motion to stillness, entirely withdrawing into your left eye. A qualitative change occurs in your left eye as golden light replaces the darkness. It is no longer a mortal's eye, but the Divine Ability 『Muxu Eye』, which shatters all illusions and pierces through death acupoints!】

Boom!

An ancient, profound, and sea-like aura, like the waters of the Milky Way pouring backward, surged into Shen Xiuhan's left eye!

“Ugh!”

Shen Xiuhan let out a painful groan, tightly clutching his left eye with his hand.

His eyeball felt as if it had been thrown into a furnace. Boiling blood qi, hot as lava, surged along specific meridians, gathering, compressing, and restructuring toward the Guangming Palace of his left eye.

This burning pain lasted for a full half-cup of tea's time before slowly fading away.

Silence returned to the reed marsh, with only the remnants of the charcoal fire flickering in the wind.

Shen Xiuhan slowly lowered his hand and opened his eyes once more.

Swish!

In an instant, it was as if a brilliant, cold bolt of lightning had pierced through the void!

If anyone were standing before him right now, their scalp would surely tingle with dread!

Because...

His originally pitch-black pupil had actually turned pure gold!

That gold was deep and brilliant, like solidified molten gold. It looked somewhat demonic, yet was filled with an absolute, noble majesty that did not belong to the mortal world.

Even more terrifyingly, the pupil was no longer a regular circle. Instead, an inverted stroke had appeared at its edge.

It resembled...

A magatama!

“Phew...”

Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath, slowly rotating the golden magatama.

The world changed instantly.

The wind was no longer invisible and intangible; he could clearly "see" it.

Currents of air rose from the lake's surface, swirling past the tips of the reeds, bending the grassy stalks before releasing them. Every single trajectory was visible down to the finest detail.

In the distance, a dragonfly was fluttering its wings as it flew by.

In his eyes, the frequency of its wing beats was slowed down dozens of times. Every flap was like a slow-motion replay, allowing him to even count the tiny scales on its wings.

Shattering illusions, perceiving the origin.

With the 『Muxu Eye』, if anyone performed a martial art before him, their cultivation path, the flow of their blood qi, and the flaws and death acupoints of their moves would be as clear as the lines on his palm, with nowhere to hide!

And this was only the initial form of this Divine Ability.

“Once I master Gangjin and form the second magatama, I will be able to copy all the techniques under heaven... If I am fortunate enough to step into the Divine Descent Rank and form the third magatama, only then can I fully unleash the complete power of this Divine Ability.”

Shen Xiuhan murmured to himself as the descriptions from the scripture surfaced in his mind.

“According to the scripture, when the 『Muxu Eye』 is cultivated to its limit, one can even forcibly copy and strip away another's Divine Ability origin, fate, and even talent...”

He let out a long breath. With a slight stir of his mind, the slowly rotating golden magatama in his left eye gradually faded, and his pupil returned to its ink-black color, looking no different from an ordinary person's.

“As expected of a Divine Ability, it truly possesses boundless mysteries.”

Shen Xiuhan marvelled to himself, “I wonder what kind of wondrous uses the other three Divine Abilities of Diaohai Pavilion possess?”

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than his expression suddenly changed.

The blood qi within his body, like a lit powder keg, suddenly boiled over!

Shen Xiuhan leaped up, landing on a protruding reef like a giant bird spreading its wings, his feet sinking into the mud to firmly anchor himself.

He sank his waist and settled his hips, his spine rising like a great dragon as he assumed the starting stance of the 『Golden Eagle Soaring Technique』!

With his arms slightly spread and his ten fingers curved like talons, his entire aura surged abruptly, resembling a golden eagle about to spread its wings and battle the vast sky.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Stance after stance was executed by him as smoothly as flowing water.

At first, it was relatively slow, each move and form distinct and clear. But as his blood qi flowed more and more smoothly, his movements grew faster and faster, gradually leaving behind afterimages that seemed both illusory and real under the moonlight.

His green robes rustled loudly, the sleeves fluttering as the gravel beneath his feet was swept up by the fierce wind and scattered in all directions.

Within him, his blood qi surged like a raging ocean tide, advancing triumphantly all the way to launch a fierce assault on the Dai meridian, the second of the five main tendons!

Rumble! Rumble!

The blood qi, like a siege hammer, struck the invisible barrier again and again, each impact vibrating his bones with a buzzing hum.

The impact rose from his dantian, traveling all the way up his meridians straight to his chest, making his chest feel tight and bringing a sweet taste to his throat.

He crashed against it dozens of times in succession!

A crisp sound rang out, like ice cracking or shackles shattering.

The great barrier of the Dai meridian...

...was finally blasted open!

“Exhilarating!”

Shen Xiuhan threw his head back and roared toward the sky, his voice shaking the reed marsh and startling several waterbirds into fluttering flight.

He stood up, his bones chiming in unison as a series of crackling sounds like popping beans erupted from all over his body.

Five days ago, he had cultivated the 'Chong meridian', the first of the five main tendons, to Minor Accomplishment, and had thought it would take another month of hard work to break through the next meridian.

To his surprise, using the opportunity of deducing the 『Muxu Eye』 today, he had actually charged through it in one fell swoop!

With this, among the five main tendons of the Tendon Tempering Rank—the Chong, Dai, Ren, Du, and Yangqiao meridians—he had already cleared two.

Only the three meridians of Ren, Du, and Yangqiao remained to be broken through.

And since the Ren and Du meridians were connected, they were usually broken through together.

At his current breakthrough speed, it would take at most two months to clear the final three meridians and reach the Great Perfection of the Tendon Tempering Rank.

By then, he could start planning to break through the great barrier of the Anjin Rank!

Just then, Luo Feng's loud call echoed from afar: “Patrol Envoy, the Garrison Master requests your presence!”

“...Coming!”

Shen Xiuhan called back. Joy welled up in his heart. After packing up his things, he shifted his feet, his figure instantly vanishing from the spot.

After waiting for a full half-month, he could finally go home and take a look!

...