Purple Demon Eyes

The soul train slowly came to a stop at the new station on the outskirts of Tiandou City. When Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena stepped out of the station, an atmosphere completely different from Skysea City and Eastsea City washed over them.

If Skysea City was a futuristic warrior clad in metal and flowing light, and Eastsea City was a scholar blending historical depth with modern vitality, then Tiandou City was an ancient guardian sitting silently in the depths of time, draped in dust yet with eyes that shone like torches.

Looking into the distance, they saw endless clusters of ancient buildings. Blue-gray brick walls, roofs with upturned eaves, stone-paved roads carved with the traces of time... Modern soul-tool skyscrapers were nearly nonexistent here, with only a scattered few on the outermost edges, like onlookers too cautious to overstep their place. The air was filled with a tranquil, weighty ancient rhythm that seemed capable of slowing even one's heartbeat.

"This... is Tiandou City." Tang Wulin spoke softly, his gaze sweeping across streets and buildings that had borne witness to thirty thousand years of storms. An indescribable sense of familiarity and reverence rose within him.

This city carried the weight of far too much history. Thirty thousand years ago, the Tang Sect had been founded here, laying the foundation for a legendary era in the continent's soul master world. As the times changed, the rise of soul tools had once caused the Tang Sect to decline. Yet twenty thousand years ago, another generation of the Shrek Seven Monsters had emerged, restoring the Tang Sect to glory here once more. Even though the Tang Sect's nominal headquarters had moved to Shrek City, the holy land of soul masters, ten thousand years ago, every Tang Sect disciple knew that its true core, the source of its spirit, its original roots, had always remained deeply planted within Tiandou City, never wavering.

Like the most ordinary tourists, the two followed the crowd from Tiandou City's modern outskirts step by step toward the inner city enclosed by ancient walls. The closer they drew to the inner city, the fainter the traces of the modern age became. Soul-tool streetlamps gave way to ancient stone lamps, though soul-tool technology might still have been hidden within them. The clamor of floating vehicles vanished entirely, replaced by the occasional chirping of unknown birds. Most buildings here had retained their original appearance. On many walls, they could even see carefully restored traces of war or mottled scars left by time. They had not been torn down and rebuilt, but preserved as badges of honor.

When the first ray of dawn tore through the darkness and shone upon the ancient city, they happened to step into the inner city.

At that very moment, their powerful divine senses simultaneously detected something unusual.

There were noticeably fewer people in the inner city, and most hurried along with focused expressions, utterly unlike the leisurely atmosphere outside. More strikingly, figures sat cross-legged atop nearly every taller building, pavilion, or open terrace. Their ages varied, from youthful teenagers to white-haired elders, but without exception, all faced the east, toward the sun that was about to rise over the horizon, breathing and meditating in silence.

And in every one of their eyes flickered purple light, faint or intense!

That purple radiance was pure and profound, as though it contained the power to pierce through falsehood and see the essence of all things. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of faint violet auras intertwined above the ancient city, forming a silent yet incomparably shocking field that blended perfectly with the city's own deep historical weight.

Tang Wulin's gaze was instantly drawn to it. Looking at the familiar purple light in those soul masters' eyes, a tremor from the depths of his soul suddenly seized him. This light... he knew it far too well! It felt as though it had been part of him since birth, merely dormant for far too long.

His footsteps halted unconsciously as he stared blankly toward the east, toward the red sun about to burst forth. Gu Yuena noticed his abnormality and quietly stood at his side without disturbing him.

The instant the sun finally broke free from the horizon's restraints and cast endless golden rays over the earth—

Tang Wulin's eyes uncontrollably, instinctively filled with a dense purple hue! That purple was purer and deeper than that of anyone he had seen, as though two condensed violet stars were burning within his eyes!

He had not actively circulated any cultivation technique, yet his body's instinct was faster than his consciousness. The purest strand of dawn-purple qi at the edge of the sky seemed drawn by an invisible force. Crossing space, it transformed into a tiny yet incomparably condensed streak of purple light and instantly entered his eyes!

"Buzz—"

A faint hum, audible only to him, rang in his mind.

A cool and gentle current slowly flowed along the meridians around his eyes, nourishing his pupils. At the same time, like a key, it violently pried open a heavy lock within his vault of memories!

Purple Demon Eyes!

Those four words exploded in the blank field of his heart like thunder!

A crystal-clear inherited memory surged forth like a tide—

· This was not a simple soul skill, but a supreme art of the Tang Sect, one of the foundations upon which Patriarch Tang San had made his name!

· It was divided into four great realms: All-Encompassing View, Microscopic Insight, Mustard Seed, and Vastness. When cultivated to the utmost, it could discern the tiniest details, see through falsehood, and even interfere with reality, possessing limitless power.

· Its cultivation method was to gather the strand of innate purple qi contained within the rising eastern sun at dawn, using it to temper the eyes and enhance vision and spiritual power.

All the information naturally surfaced in his mind, as though he had cultivated it hundreds or thousands of times before and had only temporarily forgotten it. Now, stimulated by the unique environment formed by countless Purple Demon Eyes practitioners and stirred by the dawn-purple qi, this technique rooted deep within his bloodline and soul had awakened!

The purple in his eyes slowly receded, but his gaze became clearer and deeper than before, as though it could pierce the human heart and see through the essence of all things.

"What happened?" Gu Yuena asked with concern. Though she could not see the strand of purple qi being absorbed, she could sense the strange fluctuation that had flashed across Tang Wulin's body and the instant change in his eyes.

Tang Wulin took a deep breath and suppressed the confusion and shock in his heart. Turning toward Gu Yuena, disbelief still lingered in his eyes. "It was the Purple Demon Eyes... a supreme art of the Tang Sect. It... awakened on its own."

He pointed at the soul masters on the rooftops who were finishing their cultivation. "They're all cultivating it. This place... really is where the Tang Sect is."

Understanding flashed through Gu Yuena's violet eyes. Looking at Tang Wulin's eyes, which seemed to have become brighter, she could sense the profound, inseverable connection between him, this city, and the so-called Tang Sect.

"It seems we came to the right place," she said softly.

The two continued deeper into the inner city. After this unexpected change, Tang Wulin felt differently when he looked upon the city again. He was no longer merely a tourist. An inexplicable sense of belonging began to grow in his heart. The ancient buildings on either side of the streets seemed, through the newly awakened vision of his Purple Demon Eyes, to be veiled in a faint historical glow, silently recounting the Tang Sect's thirty thousand years of rise, decline, and steadfast perseverance.

He could even vaguely sense an incomparably ancient and vast aura quietly sleeping at the very center of the city, one that shared the same origin as him. That place was surely where the Tang Sect had been founded, as well as the ultimate destination of their journey.

"Do we need to go now?" Gu Yuena asked.

Tang Wulin shook his head. His gaze swept over the soul masters who looked toward the heart of the city with reverence. He then felt the Mysterious Heaven Technique's inner power within him, faintly stirring with excitement due to the awakening of the Purple Demon Eyes. Only now did he clearly realize that the warm energy that had always existed inside him was the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

"No rush." His tone carried a new understanding. "Since I've returned here, I should properly experience this place's aura. Besides..." He paused, and a trace of remembrance and determination flashed in his eyes.

"I feel that what awaits there is a Tang Wulin who has truly 'returned,' not merely a visitor with power but no past."

Gu Yuena nodded in understanding and tightened her grip on his hand. She understood that in this city, Tang Wulin was recovering the lost pieces of himself at an even faster pace.

The morning sun had fully risen, bathing the ancient city in golden light. The soul masters on the rooftops ended their cultivation and departed one after another. The purple in their eyes had faded, but their spirit and vitality were exceptionally full.

Hand in hand, Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena strolled along the bluestone-paved streets, truly beginning to experience this holy city of the Tang Sect with their hearts and listen to the whispers of history carried on the wind across thirty thousand years. They knew that more memories and truths lay ahead, waiting for their arrival.