Old Man Gu's withered body began to tremble violently.
He sprang up from the broken chair, staggered from moving too abruptly, and raised a twig-like, trembling finger at Zhua Yun.
His skull-like face twisted with fury, and terrifying cold light burst from his eye sockets.
"You wretch! I taught you the 'Nine Secrets' so you could join forces with outsiders and force me from power?!"
"You... you actually told such a secret to an outsider! Do you... do you still see me as your master?!"
His voice was furious, hoarse, and distorted. His chest heaved violently, as though he might pass out from rage the next second.
"Master, please calm your anger! Your disciple knows his fault!" Zhua Yun hurriedly kowtowed.
"Without your permission, this disciple privately told Junior Brother Long about the 'Grafting Technique.' It was indeed this disciple's fault, a grave act of rebellion!"
"But Master, this disciple only had your best interests at heart! This disciple could not bear to see you wasting away day and night, nor could he bear to see your life's work come to nothing!"
"This disciple... this disciple only wanted to fight for an opportunity for you!"
"For my sake? Fight for an opportunity?" Old Man Gu laughed in extreme anger, and that laugh sounded worse than weeping.
Yet his towering fury seemed, for the moment, unable to fully pour itself upon the disciple who had accompanied him for so many years.
He suddenly turned those eyes blazing with rage toward Long Zhanye, who was kneeling nearby and trembling with fear as well.
"It's all because of you! You little brat who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"
Old Man Gu let out a low roar and suddenly clawed forward with his withered hand!
An invisible yet vast and surging wave of Soul Power instantly poured forth, forming a powerful suction force.
Like an invisible giant hand, it seized Long Zhanye's body and forcibly "lifted" him from the ground, leaving him suspended in midair!
Long Zhanye felt his entire body tighten, as if icy iron hoops had bound him fast. Even breathing became difficult.
In horror, he stared at Old Man Gu's face at close range, twisted by anger into something as vicious as a demon.
"Right now, I truly want to cripple you, you little brat who knows neither life nor death and covets my legacy—along with that Second Martial Soul of yours! Then you won't come here and cause trouble again!"
Roaring, Old Man Gu shot out his other hand like lightning, his five fingers clawed as he pressed it directly against Long Zhanye's dantian!
"Let this old man see just what your so-called Second Martial Soul is, to have given you such audacity!"
Before his words had even faded, an incomparably pure and immense stream of Soul Power forcibly flooded into Long Zhanye's already fragile meridians!
This Soul Power was far beyond Long Zhanye's imagination. It was absolutely not something an ordinary Soul Saint could possess!
"Ugh—!" Long Zhanye let out a muffled groan of agony.
Yet just as Old Man Gu's Soul Power drove straight in—
Buzz—!
An indescribable majesty, like an obscure ripple from the beginning of primordial creation—
Like a slumbering dragon thoroughly awakened, it suddenly erupted of its own accord from deep within Long Zhanye's brow!
It was more like the inviolable pressure naturally radiated by a supreme existence, disturbed by the prying gaze of an ant!
The instant Old Man Gu's invading Soul Power touched that ripple—
Like ice and snow meeting a blazing sun, it was effortlessly and completely swept aside!
Not only that.
A faint yet incomparably distinct rebounding force surged back along his Soul Power and slammed viciously into his senses!
"What?!"
As though struck by lightning, Old Man Gu shuddered violently. The hand pressing against Long Zhanye snapped back as if shocked!
The suction force vanished abruptly as well. Long Zhanye fell to the floor with a thud, clutching his chest and coughing violently.
Meanwhile, Old Man Gu seemed like a stone statue that had suddenly lost every last bit of strength.
He staggered back a full three or four steps, only barely stopping when his back struck the cold stone wall with a bang.
His thin, withered body stood rigid and unmoving. His sunken eyes bulged as though they would pop from their sockets, fixed on Long Zhanye collapsed on the ground.
His face was filled with indescribable shock, terror, and a kind of... almost worshipful bewilderment.
"You... you... you, you, you..." He lifted a hand that trembled like a fallen leaf in the wind and pointed at Long Zhanye.
His lips quivered, yet he could not form a complete sentence, as though he had suddenly lost the ability to speak.
"Master! Master! Are you all right?!" Zhua Yun was also terrified by the sudden turn of events.
He hurriedly scrambled up from the ground, rushed to Old Man Gu's side, supported his swaying body, and called out anxiously.
Long Zhanye struggled into a seated position, equally unable to make sense of what had happened.
He had only felt a strange scorching sensation in his brow just now, but it had already returned to calm.
Seeing Old Man Gu's horrified expression—as though he had seen a ghost, no, as though he had seen a deity—only deepened Long Zhanye's doubts.
Deathly silence filled the secret chamber.
Only heavy breathing remained, along with the faint clacking of Old Man Gu's Teeth as they knocked together uncontrollably.
After a long while, Old Man Gu's violently surging breath finally gradually calmed with difficulty.
He pushed away Zhua Yun's supporting hand and straightened himself, but his gaze never left Long Zhanye's... forehead.
His voice remained hoarse, but it was no longer icy or furious.
Instead, it carried an incredulous, dreamlike daze, along with a barely perceptible tremor.
"Just now... that fluctuation... above your forehead... that vertical slit which is usually almost impossible to see..."
He took a deep breath, as though he had exhausted all the knowledge and courage of his life before voicing that earth-shattering conjecture.
"...Could that actually... be an eye?... An eye not yet fully opened, yet already possessing supreme majesty?"
His gaze locked onto Long Zhanye's brow. "The legendary... 'Heavenly Eye'?"
Old Man Gu's voice was as light as a feather. "Could this... be..."
Zhua Yun had long since been left dumbfounded. Snapping out of it now, he hurriedly took up the words, his voice trembling with shock. "Heavenly Eye?!"
He had only known that Long Zhanye was a genius treasured by the sect, possessing Twin Body Martial Souls. He had never known what his Second Martial Soul truly was.
"Wasn't the 'Heavenly Eye' merely a God-Level Martial Soul that existed in legends and ancient texts—said to see through all things, discern truth from falsehood, command a portion of the Heavenly Dao, and rival the gods themselves?"
"Legend says that only those blessed with immense fortune and opportunity, perhaps even reincarnated gods, could possibly awaken it!"
"How... how could it truly exist?!"
Long Zhanye had some understanding of his Second Martial Soul, the Heavenly Eye, and knew it was mysterious and powerful.
But he had never imagined that, in the eyes of a top researcher who truly recognized its worth, it possessed such a terrifying origin and reputation.
His thoughts raced, and he immediately realized that this might be the key to turning the situation around!
Suppressing the weakness and discomfort in his body, he followed Old Man Gu's words and said with precisely measured desolation, "Elder Gu has keen eyes indeed. You are correct."
"This junior's Second Martial Soul is indeed the Heavenly Eye. Unfortunately... this junior is ill-fated. My Martial Soul has been crippled, and my life force is nearly exhausted."
"Even with such a legendary Martial Soul, I lack the strength to nurture it, much less display even one ten-thousandth of its power."
"I fear that... for the rest of my life, it can only remain buried in dust and... perish along with me."
Three parts truth and seven parts performance, these words painted a vivid portrait of a tragic figure who possessed an ultimate treasure yet stood at death's door, his grand ambitions forever unfulfilled.
Before you continue