Chapter 54: The Heavenly Eye Divine Power

"Now, the Dao has the pure and the turbid, the dynamic and the static. The heaven is pure and the earth is turbid, the heaven is dynamic and the earth is static, the male is pure and the female is turbid, the male is dynamic and the female is static. Descending from the origin to flow to the branches, all things are born..."

Having completed one full cycle of energy circulation, Yang Rui slowly opened his eyes, yet felt something was amiss. Usually, after finishing his cultivation, he would be brimming with restless energy and would have to busy himself with something before he could fall asleep. Today, however, his eyelids felt leaden, and he was so drowsy he could hardly keep his eyes open!

His heart skipped a beat: Did his cultivation go awry? Recalling the path of his energy circulation, there had been no errors. Hesitating for a moment, he decided to try once more.

Just as he silently recited the incantation, a sudden change occurred!

A scorching torrent of heat violently surged out from his dantian, acting like a wild horse with broken reins, rampaging wildly through his meridians! It was completely different from the usual gentle, warm current! Yang Rui tried to rein it in, but he had zero control over it! Immediately afterward, a bone-scraping, flesh-cleaving agony swept across his entire body, hurting so badly he almost bit his tongue off! The heat surged straight to his crown, and he felt a buzzing numbness in his head. His entire body instantly stiffened and became completely immobile! Yet, his consciousness remained abnormally clear!

It's over! Yang Rui's soul nearly leaped out of his body as he desperately guarded the last sliver of clarity in his spiritual platform. He knew that if even this shred of awareness were washed away, he would either turn into an idiot or die on the spot!

That violent torrent of energy repeatedly battered him dozens of times, each surge fiercer than the last! The agonizing pain rolled over him like a tidal wave, and several times Yang Rui wanted to give up the resistance and find total release, but he relied entirely on a stubborn grit of determination to bite his teeth and endure.

Unaware of how long he had suffered, the scorching torrent finally slowly subsided, and an unprecedented sense of comfort diffused outward from all his limbs and bones. With a lightness in his head, Yang Rui opened his eyes.

The pitch-black room appeared as bright as day to his eyes, every single detail vividly clear! If anyone else had been present, they would surely have been stunned by his current abnormal appearance—those eyes were glowing brilliantly in the dark night, sparkling like stars! Unfortunately, he could not see it himself.

Yang Rui's heart surged with wild elation! A blessing in disguise? Could this be the "Heavenly Eye" among the "Six Supernatural Powers" mentioned in ancient books? That was assuming those crappy books hadn't been lying to him! He wanted to try again to verify it, but recalling the excruciating, worse-than-death sensation from just moments ago, he immediately lost his nerve.

For now, ignoring the fact that his entire body was soaked in cold sweat, he snatched up the tattered book on Qimen Dunjia and began to study it with a ravenous hunger.

Qimen Dunjia is rooted in the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams, the Luo River Writing, and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms. Its core lies in the "Strange," the "Doors," and the "Hidden Jia." "Strange" refers to the three wonders of Yi, Bing, and Ding; the "Doors" are the eight doors of Rest, Life, Hurt, Du, Scenery, Death, Shock, and Open; "Hidden Jia" refers to "Jia," the head of the ten Heavenly Stems, which is concealed beneath the six仪 (yí) of Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui.

When performing divination, one arranges the Heaven, Door, and Earth disks to symbolize the Three Talents. The Heaven disk's nine palaces deploy the nine stars, the Middle disk's eight palaces deploy the eight doors, and the Earth disk's eight palaces set the directions, remaining completely stationary. According to specific times, arranging the pattern using the six仪, three wonders, eight doors, and nine stars, and choosing an auspicious time and direction, constitutes this profound and unpredictable secret technique. It is said that when cultivated to the ultimate extreme, summoning the wind and calling the rain is no difficult feat.

Yang Rui had long since known these things by heart, only finding them overly cumbersome and rigid. He could draw gourds according to the pattern and set up a few shallow formations, but what use was that? What he pursued was a realm of complete freedom and unconventional mastery. It was precisely this unorthodox, rebellious train of thought that would later propel him to an unmatched pinnacle in the world of Feng Shui.

Right now, what Yang Rui cared about most was whether this "Heavenly Eye" had actually succeeded or not. Legend has it that the Heavenly Eye can see through everything and perceive the mysteries of the universe.

X-ray vision? He had little interest in that. What he craved was the ability to comprehend the universe, which meant he could foresee fortune and misfortune. If that really worked out, he would be set for life!

The ancient method for cultivating the "Heavenly Eye" was extremely complex: one had to use porcelain bowls to catch dew at night, store it in a container, and chant incantations over it for forty-seven days, seven times a day! Afterward, one had to use freshly sprouted banyan or willow tree leaves dipped in the water to wipe the eyes. However, this was truly a path of Daoist practice requiring deep foundations, and those with insufficient internal strength still had to borrow the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for reinforcement.

Yang Rui scoffed at this. He had once read in a miscellany that the Heavenly Eye is divided into innate and acquired types. The innate is commonly known as "Ghost Eye Art" or "Yin-Yang Clarity," allowing one to unconsciously and limitlessly see what ordinary people cannot. The acquired is different; even once successfully cultivated, it cannot be abused, as every time it is opened, it heavily damages one's vital energy and requires time to recover.

After a little while longer, he realized his whole body was wet and cold, so he went to take a hot shower, then sat cross-legged on the bed feeling refreshed and clear-headed. Recalling the incantation for the "Heavenly Eye," he recited it silently in his heart. Immediately afterward, he gently pressed the corners of his eyes with his index and middle fingers and gave a low shout: "Heavenly law is clear, earthly law is spiritual, Yin and Yang condense their essence, water spirits manifest in form, spiritual light is captured by water, penetrating heaven and reaching earth, all laws must be obeyed, Yin and Yang magical mirror, true form appear swiftly, appear swiftly in true form, I obey the command of the Three Maos True Lords! Execute this command urgently!" His fingertip pads swept across his eyelids, and he concentrated his gaze toward the door.

The door was still a door, the window was still a window! He didn't see a damn thing!

"Damn it! Are you kidding ghosts?!" Unconvinced, Yang Rui tried again. Still absolutely no movement! Just as he was feeling discouraged, a sudden sharp pain wrung his eyes, and his head felt as though it had been struck by a heavy blow, spinning wildly! A final thought flashed through his mind: I'm going to go blind! Then everything went black before his eyes, and he collapsed onto the bed.

Early the next morning, the very first thing Yang Rui did when he woke up with a start was to open his eyes—thankfully, he wasn't blind! He moved his limbs, and there were no abnormalities either, prompting him to let out a long sigh of relief. Last night's strange phenomenon was clearly the precursor to the Heavenly Eye opening; why couldn't he see anything? Could it be that it required a specific environment or a target object? Hmm, he would have to find an opportunity to try again!

Actually, he had guessed half right: opening the Heavenly Eye acquired indeed required a specific person or event to serve as a "catalyst," otherwise opening it was completely useless and caused severe damage to the body. The fact that he forced it open twice last night to no avail and didn't drop dead on the spot was a blessing from his ancestors!

Just as his mind was wandering, Yan Lan's voice called from outside: "Xiao Yang, phone for you!"

"Coming!" Yang Rui responded as he ran out.

In the living room, Cao Wanri still wore his usual deadpan expression, ignoring him completely. To his surprise, Zhu Ming was also there, and the two of them were leisurely drinking soy milk. Upon seeing him walk in, Yan Lan's pretty face flushed red, and she immediately put on a composed front.

Too lazy to bother with those two fellows, Yang Rui forced a smile at Yan Lan and grabbed the receiver. Before he could even speak, Xie Tingfeng's roar exploded through the line:

"Did you fucking sleep yourself to death in some woman's lap?! How many times have I called you, why the hell aren't you answering? I told you a thousand times to get here early! What time do you think it is?! Get your ass over here right now! Immediately! At once!"

Yang Rui subconsciously held the receiver away from his ear, took the opportunity to fish his mobile phone out of his pocket, and took a look—a full twenty missed calls! He hurriedly apologized with a smile: "Calm your anger, Boxing Champion! I'm running over right now!" Without waiting for the other man to curse further, he decisively hung up.

"Have some breakfast, Xiao Yang! Sister Lan bought it for you!" Seeing that he was about to bolt, Yan Lan hurriedly called out.

Yang Rui didn't stand on ceremony either, picking up a fried dough stick and biting down on it: "Urgent matter!" Just as he was about to leave, catching sight of the familiar look of disdain on Zhu Ming's face, he stopped in his tracks and grinned broadly: "Oh, I thought I, Yang Rui, was the only one thick-skinned enough to freeload meals, but it turns out Manager Zhu is into this too?"

Zhu Ming let out a cold snort, too lazy to engage with him.

"You can't even plug that broken mouth of yours with food!" Cao Wanri said impatiently, "Xiao Zhu specifically took time off work to accompany us to the hospital for a check-up! Did you think everyone was like you?"