Chapter Forty-Six: The World Within the Vertical Eye

After a long while, Ye Yun finally managed to calm the turmoil in his heart. He understood now why his master had left a message for the manor lord Ye Haiyi to deliver, rather than bidding him farewell in person. Experiencing the sorrow of parting firsthand was indeed the most unbearable feeling.

Collecting himself, Ye Yun moved his mud-caked body and looked up. The three-eyed black ape that had been sent flying by his master’s single strike now breathed more out than in; it was clearly on the brink of death.

With the threat of the black ape eliminated, Ye Yun set it aside for the moment and took out the spirit stone he had acquired from killing Wu Lie, clutching it in his hand. He circulated the Crimson Flame Demon Art within himself, refining the spiritual energy in the jade, beginning to mend his injuries.

The Crimson Flame Demon Body bestowed upon him formidable combat prowess, but also granted Ye Yun an almost monstrous ability to recover from wounds. In less than half an hour, the spirit stone crumbled to dust in his grasp, and the trauma to his chest and internal organs had healed nearly completely, leaving no lasting harm.

Gripping the White Tiger Sword, Ye Yun rose and walked toward the three-eyed black ape, a hundred yards away. As he drew near, he discovered that the great demon had expired during the time he spent healing, its corpse cold and stiff, the vertical eye at its brow dim and lifeless.

The world was rife with countless strange beasts; ordinarily, a black ape with a third eye would not be considered unusual, but Ye Yun felt that the vertical eye at the ape’s brow was somehow special, evoking a feeling he could not quite explain.

With considerable effort, even with the sharpness of the White Tiger Sword, Ye Yun managed to gouge out the vertical eye from the black ape’s brow. What was remarkable was that, once removed, the eye bore not a trace of blood; it was entirely crystalline, glowing like a ruby—dazzling and sinister.

“Could it be that this vertical eye wasn’t innate?” Ye Yun wondered, curiosity piqued. He channeled a strand of internal energy into the eye.

As the internal energy entered, a mysterious connection formed between Ye Yun and the vertical eye.

Boom!

It was as if, when he first practiced the Crimson Flame Demon Art, his consciousness entered a world of profound forces. Ye Yun felt his mind blur for a moment, then found himself transported to a strange realm.

“What is this…?”

Looking around, Ye Yun saw he was standing upon a wide stone bridge, with a bottomless abyss below. “Where am I?” he murmured, but the emptiness around him offered no answer.

At the end of the bridge, mist swirled in obscurity. When he tried to step back, he found an invisible barrier blocked his retreat, leaving him only the option to advance.

“How peculiar,” Ye Yun muttered, turning to stab at the barrier with the White Tiger Sword.

Clang!

The barrier was like iron or stone, sparking under the blade. Even the White Tiger Sword could not scratch it, and the impact left his wrist numb.

Strange as these phenomena were, Ye Yun did not lose his composure. He carefully recalled what had happened, realizing his presence here was likely due to infusing internal energy into the vertical eye, forging some kind of link.

“Could this be the internal space within the vertical eye?”

Even a lowly artifact like the Dragon-Phoenix Pendant possessed a Sumeru space. In the vast and bizarre world of cultivation, a world within the vertical eye was not so astonishing.

What puzzled Ye Yun was why he appeared here.

The unknown breeds fear, but with no way out, Ye Yun could only steel himself and move forward.

His footsteps rang hollowly against the stone bridge. Ye Yun, idly curious, hacked at the bridge with the White Tiger Sword, only managing to spark flashes of light. Overexerting himself, he even chipped the blade, which pained him greatly.

He walked an indeterminate distance, and when he finally reached the other side of the bridge, a sudden scene unfolded before him.

In the boundless sky, a dazzling, sinister red light streaked down like a meteor. A black ape moved through the forest, noticing the anomaly above. It looked up, and the red light struck its brow…

The vision faded at that point, seemingly revealing the origin of the black ape’s third vertical eye to Ye Yun.

Yet the origin was vague—merely something fallen from the heavens, with no further detail.

Shaking his head, Ye Yun pressed onward. Along the way, more scenes appeared: battlefields filled with thunderous cries, peerless warriors whose bodies could span thousands of feet, enchanting women who could shatter the void with a wave of their hand. Immortal light flashed, treasures soared, the spectacle vast and majestic.

It was a war among cultivators. Supreme beings struck down thousands in an instant. Armored generals, clad in gold and silver, slaughtered foes like mowing grass, but were besieged by armies and decapitated, their bodies reduced to ashes.

These scenes of carnage felt almost real to Ye Yun, thrilling and stirring his blood.

When the visions faded, Ye Yun came to his senses and found himself far beyond the stone bridge, now standing in an ancient hall.

“To claim my legacy, you must pass three trials. Succeed, and inherit my will; fail, and perish!”

A voice of absolute authority echoed in the hall. Before Ye Yun could react, nine beams of black light descended from above, landing two yards away and manifesting as nine figures.

Clad in black, faceless, each wielding a blood-red blade, these nine figures showed no signs of life—puppets, cold and merciless.

“A trial? Could defeating these nine puppets be the first test?”

Ye Yun dared not be careless. The White Tiger Sword appeared in his hand, and he braced himself for battle.

Boom, boom, boom…

The nine black-clad puppets moved in unison, their steps thundering like a heartbeat, gathering an invisible aura that pressed toward Ye Yun.

“The Totem of the Elephant!”

Ye Yun understood that if he were overwhelmed by their momentum, he would fall into disadvantage. His body shifted, transforming into a Crimson Flame Fire Elephant. Four feet struck the ground, as if an ancient beast had returned to life, unleashing a fierce aura to counter the pressure of the nine puppets.

The totem form could not last, but in that instant, it nullified their oppressive force. Ye Yun flashed forward, employing exquisite footwork to attack the nine puppets.

Yet these puppets were formidable, moving as one, forming a battle array that surrounded him. Nine blood blades struck at him together.

“The Totem of the Black Tortoise!”

A turtle shadow appeared to defend against the assault. Ye Yun maneuvered between the nine blades, discovering that each puppet matched his own strength.

Their internal energy was as potent as his, and their bodies nearly as resilient as low-grade artifacts!

This meant that Ye Yun faced nine opponents equal to himself in the first trial.

A blood blade sliced across Ye Yun’s left shoulder, drawing blood, but Ye Yun seized the opportunity to pierce a puppet’s head with the White Tiger Sword.

Bang!

The head exploded, and the puppet dissolved into dust.

Originally, the nine puppets were an indivisible force, attacking and defending as one. With one defeated, gaps appeared in their formation, making it impossible to surround Ye Yun as before.

“Dragon’s Claw!”

Ye Yun transformed into a crimson dragon, clawing through a puppet’s chest, his tail sweeping two others aside.

The tide turned, but the puppets were still formidable, their blood blades adding more wounds to Ye Yun’s battered body.

…

When Ye Yun finally destroyed all nine puppets, watching them vanish into dust, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

The battle, though seeming endless, was in truth brief. His concentration had been so intense, even more so than his first life-and-death struggle.

His body was nearly devoid of intact skin, blood streaming from head to toe, his clothes in tatters and his internal energy depleted.

Busy with moving, so today’s second update is a bit late. Forgetful as ever, I apologize to everyone. Thankfully I made it home before midnight. Hope you all enjoy reading as quickly as possible~