Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures

Zhushan Town was a remote town under Qinghe Prefecture, Hengshan Prefecture.

On the town's streets, a boy of about fourteen had been sitting on the ground begging for years.

Unlike ordinary beggars, who dressed in filthy rags, the boy wore simple, plain clothes that were clean and neat.

Unlike other beggars, who roamed the streets and alleys, pleading for alms, the boy simply sat cross-legged, his back straight, eyes quietly closed, waiting for people to place food before him.

His name was Jiang Feng.

He was the son of Jiang Yunhai, captain of the town's vanguard guard.

Two years ago, Jiang Yunhai had offended a young member of the powerful Qi Family. He and his wife had both been demoted to slaves.

That Qi Family scion had deliberately spared Jiang Feng, ordering him to beg for a living—

Eating scraps from a hundred households, clinging to life without a shred of dignity;

Using the sky for a quilt and the earth for a bed, enduring all the world's torments.

Fortunately, before offending the Qi Family, Jiang Yunhai had served faithfully, leading the guards in repelling Magic Beasts that attacked the town several times. His service in defending the town had earned him the residents' affection. A handful of townsfolk who still remembered the old days would give Jiang Feng something to eat, so he would not starve to death on the streets.

Even so, under the Qi Family's power, Jiang Feng had suffered every kind of humiliation.

This was a world where martial might reigned supreme and the weak were prey to the strong. Martial Artists held sway, their status exalted.

The Qi Family's patriarch, Qi Xingyun, was the strongest in Hengshan Prefecture. His cultivation had reached the peak of the Heaven Martial Realm, and he was only one step away from awakening his Spirit Root and transcending the mortal world.

With Qi Xingyun's overwhelming strength, the Qi Family dominated all the other noble clans in the prefecture. Its influence reached nearly every corner of all eighteen Prefecture Cities in Hengshan Prefecture, allowing it to cover the sky with one hand. No one would dare utter a single word of protest if they demoted the captain of a tiny town's guard to slavery, let alone razed all of Zhushan Town to the ground.

Jiang Feng understood all too well what was at stake!

He knew that only by becoming a Martial Artist could he stop begging for food and scraping by!

But in everyone else's eyes, there was no way Jiang Feng would ever become a Martial Artist.

That was because even before Jiang Yunhai was demoted, Jiang Feng had already been known by all as a good-for-nothing.

Jiang Feng had been frail and slow-witted since childhood.

Ordinary children took their first steps at one, babbled away at two, and learned to walk at four and spoke little;

Ordinary children began martial training at seven, and by ten their bodies could wield a hundred catties of force. Jiang Feng, meanwhile, spent his days lying down or sitting, and even now, he could not hurt a chicken.

That was exactly why the Qi Family scion had ordered him to beg for a living, without the slightest worry that he might become a Martial Artist and turn his fate around.

Imperial decree: Anyone who became a Martial Artist before the age of sixteen was entitled to an imperial stipend, no exceptions.

In other words, if Jiang Feng could become a Martial Artist before turning sixteen, he could receive an imperial stipend and would no longer need to beg just to survive.

A Martial Artist was someone who used a thousand catties of brute force to shake their Dantian, open their Dantian Qi Sea, and sense the energy of heaven and earth.

It sounded easy enough when put into a few words, but achieving it was exceedingly difficult.

Among ordinary mortals, only one in ten could enter the ranks of Martial Artists in their entire lifetime. Those who managed it before the age of sixteen were rarer still—one in ten thousand!

For someone like Jiang Feng, who was fourteen and still too weak to hurt a chicken, becoming a Martial Artist before sixteen was out of the question. He could not achieve it even in his entire lifetime.

But Jiang Feng himself did not think so!

He had only learned to walk and speak at four because there was a breath of Primordial Clear Qi in his chest. To keep it from leaking out, he had not dared say much. It had taken him a full four years to refine that breath of Primordial Clear Qi and form his Primordial True Spirit;

He spent his days lying down or sitting, unable to hurt a chicken, because he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivating the soul art, the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, with no time to spare for martial training or physical strength.

Fourteen years ago, Jiang Feng's soul had been reborn in this continent after reincarnating from Earth. The person responsible for his transmigration and reincarnation had passed on this soul-cultivation art to him—the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures.

To cultivate this art, one first had to use the innate breath of Primordial Clear Qi in one's chest at birth to form a Primordial True Spirit, laying the foundation for soul cultivation. So, from the moment he left the womb, he had not dared speak much, afraid that he might accidentally lose that irreplaceable, innate breath of Primordial Clear Qi. Only after four years, when he had refined it completely and formed his Primordial True Spirit, had he finally begun to speak and walk.

After forming his Primordial True Spirit, he began cultivating the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures.

He had spent ten years enduring, ten years lying low. Now, he was on the verge of mastering the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures. In two hours, after night fell, he would reach the final moment of his cultivation.

Once he mastered it, the strength of his soul would rival that of a deity. Entering the ranks of Martial Artists would be as easy as reaching out his hand!

Night shrouded Zhushan Town, and all was quiet.

In a hidden nook in an alley, Jiang Feng made his usual shelter.

At that moment, Jiang Feng sat cross-legged with his eyes tightly shut. Beads of sweat the size of beans seeped from his forehead and trickled down. Powerful waves of energy occasionally poured from his body. Under their influence, cats and dogs fled from within a hundred meters of him. Even the townsfolk who had gone to bed were trapped in nightmares they could not escape.

Cultivating the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures was no easy task. The agony of having his soul torn apart was beyond what ordinary people could endure.

Jiang Feng had been able to bear it thanks to who he had been in his previous life. Back then, he had been a top assassin who had undergone countless brutal training sessions, and the tenacity of his will had been astonishing.

Even so, tonight's final push had him gritting his teeth.

His soul seemed to be torn into countless fragments, then fused back together, over and over again. Through this endless cycle, the power of his soul continued to grow and transform.

Suddenly, Jiang Feng felt a ray of light pierce the darkness. It tore through the gloom and drove away the endless pain. A sense of serenity he had never known before enveloped him completely.

It felt as if he were bathed in his mother's womb, giving him an infinite sense of safety.

As the feeling slowly faded, Jiang Feng opened his eyes.

They were clear as could be, like mirrors reflecting the heart. Even the night could not hide the brilliance in his gaze. They were lamps in the dark, beacons in a sea of suffering, stars in the cosmos!

He had succeeded!

Jiang Feng felt that his mind was clearer than ever. He could see everything within a hundred miles, and hear sounds from ten miles away.

As expected, once the soul grows stronger, all the senses become incredibly sharp, Jiang Feng murmured to himself.

But he knew that none of this was anything special. After mastering the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, sharper senses were merely a secondary benefit.

"Let's try it." Jiang Feng made up his mind, stood upright, slowly closed his eyes, and focused his thoughts.

A roar rang through his mind. Immediately afterward, the darkness around him shifted, and everything within a hundred meters entered his awareness. He saw himself, saw through his skin to the heart beating in his chest, the blood surging through his veins, and his inner organs and meridians. He saw everything in the soil beneath his feet, and the household items on the other side of the wall...

"Is this divine sense?" Jiang Feng opened his eyes in delight. "Incredible!"

Within the range covered by his divine sense, nothing could escape notice or remain hidden!

According to the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, divine sense was born from the soul. Only when the soul grew strong enough could it be released. As the soul grew stronger, the range of divine sense would expand as well.

"Now that I've mastered the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, and my soul is as strong as a deity's, it's time to train my body in the martial path." Jiang Feng let out a deep breath. After enduring for fourteen years, was he finally about to rise above the rest?