A Thousand Eyes Saw All, a Hundred Flowers Washed the Eyes

A True Person's Eye.

Ao Ding knew all too well how many marvels his left eye held.

But his right eye was far too ordinary.

Of course, to ordinary cultivators, that was precisely how a right eye ought to be. As they cultivated step by step in the future, would it not become a "True Person's Eye" once they reached the True Person Realm?

But Ao Ding was cultivating an immortal body and saw his own left eye every day. How could he resign himself to having such a mediocre right eye?

It was only at this moment that Ao Ding deeply felt that Red Boy truly was a part of him.

That blazing greed...

The greed for an immortal body after seeing Luo Qiushui's immortal body.

Because of his own left eye, he craved a True Person's Eye for his right eye as well.

He greedily wanted to make himself stronger, wanted to climb higher...

Suppressing the wild joy in his heart, Ao Ding carefully read through the text.

On the surface, the collection was a volume describing over a thousand kinds of spirit eyes and magic eyes in the cultivation world, such as yin-yang eyes, ghost eyes, fire eyes, thousand-mile eyes, and so on.

Yin-yang eyes could connect the realms of yin and yang, and could even allow one to comprehend the Great Dao of Yin and Yang.

Fire eyes could control all the fires under heaven. Ghost eyes could command ghosts and likewise had the power to reach into the netherworld.

Beyond these, there were all sorts of outlandish spirit eyes. Dragon pupils, for instance, possessed powers akin to true dragons and could also serve as "dragon eggs" to hatch true dragons.

"How will you choose, original self? Since your left eye already has the ability to see through to reality, your right eye should have a different ability, right?" Red Boy said eagerly.

"Something related to time, for example, or life and death. Open your eye and someone gives birth; close it and someone drops dead on the spot."

Ao Ding said nothing, but his thoughts were similar to Red Boy's.

His left eye was for cultivation, for seeing through to the truth of the world. His right eye could very well awaken a combat ability.

It could directly control earth, fire, water, and wind, yin and yang and the five elements; or summon a giant spirit deity that modeled itself on heaven and earth; failing that, an illusion ability would work too.

Wouldn't it be effortless to hypnotize someone into killing themselves with a single glare?

Ao Ding turned the pages, reading the descriptions of the various spirit eyes. The three boys silently recorded how long Ao Ding spent before each turn of the page. They were, after all, beings of one mind and one body with him. They knew his preferences very well and recorded each of the candidates he favored.

"Great Primordial Spirit Divine Pupil, Nine Heavens Divine Eye, Great Void True Eye, Four Symbols True Eye..."

When Ao Ding reached the last page, he suddenly smiled.

"No wonder Senior Sun mentioned back then that I should find a Heavenly Eye Book and give it a good read. These records are all superficial. What truly matters is this cultivation method."

Ao Ding opened his left eye wide, and countless streams of spiritual light flowed through the Heavenly Eye Book.

Under his gaze, these streams of spiritual light seemed to answer a summons, condensing into spirit eyes of every kind.

Each eye, some sacred and others uncanny, met the gaze of Ao Ding's left eye. Then, under his scrutiny, the thousand eyes gathered into a golden divine being.

The divine being had a thousand arms, with an eye in the center of each palm.

"A thousand eyes see all; ten thousand arts are as one?"

Ao Ding pondered. This seemed to be a method of attaining a thorough realization of a True Person through cultivating eye techniques.

One would master over a thousand eye techniques, then use them to condense the manifestation of a thousand-eyed divine being. What this manifestation, this True Person, represented was knowledge of every art in heaven and earth and the unification of every eye in the three realms.

"Interesting. The divine eye ultimately condensed here seems even more formidable than my True Person's Eye."

Of course, that was only in terms of being an "eye." Ao Ding's left eye was, in essence, a spiritual treasure that had yet to be born. Its innate true nature was immensely vast. Even if someone attained the Dao through a thousand eyes and surpassed Ao Ding's left eye in rank and level, their power would not exceed it.

Wait-no-that's not right!

Ao Ding abruptly realized. "This cultivation method is incomplete. Or rather-it's one part of another cultivation method."

He visualized the "thousand-eyed divine being" again and suddenly felt that its head was indistinct, as though it could have multiple heads.

A golden-green light abruptly flashed through his left eye, and he saw heads with differing expressions and functions upon the thousand-eyed divine being's neck.

"So this cultivation method should be a combination of two methods, the Thousand Eyes Sutra and the Many Heads Sutra. Together, they form a divine lord who hears all and knows all."

If the Thousand Eyes Sutra alone could make one a True Person, then the goal the two sutras pointed toward together was probably immeasurably lofty.

Lost in thought, Ao Ding turned to the author's entry.

"Sure enough, it's a product of the Guangfa Sect."

Yellow Boy said, "That stands to reason. It would be strange if they hadn't thought of this."

Would a bunch of cultivation fanatics renowned for research really refrain from studying True Person's Eyes?

Never mind True Person's Eyes and True Person bodies; they could study other True Person organs as well. Even the evil art Red Boy was researching had previously been considered by a True Person of the Guangfa Sect.

But before it produced any results, the Purple Sun Sect had stamped it out.

More than half the Purple Sun Sect's reputation as the "chief justice of the cultivation world" had been built on the Guangfa Sect.

"Original self, have you decided how to choose your spirit eye?"

"Yes, I have an idea. I want the 'Golden Light Eye,' and I want the 'Divine Aspect Eye.' I also want these 'thousand eyes.'"

With each divine eye Ao Ding named, an eye appeared within the Cloudsea Space.

One eye shone with brilliant golden light, perfectly matching the Golden Light Art. At full mastery, its golden pupil could illuminate the three realms and ten directions, its divine light sweeping away three thousand evil demons. Utmost righteousness and utmost might, subduing demons and defending the Dao.

One eye was blue-green. As immortal light flowed through it, the vague image of a divine being appeared, propping up the heavens and standing upon the earth. At the magic eye's summons, this divine being would appear between heaven and earth to fight Ao Ding's enemies in his place.

One eye was seven-colored, the hidden magic eye within this Heavenly Eye Book and the very essence of the Thousand Eyes Sutra. It could transform at will and wield the abilities of any kind of eye.

Of the three divine eyes, the third seemed immensely powerful, with limitless potential. But its excessive power also caused the difficulty of cultivating its magic eye techniques in the early stages to rise without limit. The second magic eye seemed formidable, but it too would only become useful in the later stages. Its purpose was merely to summon a "True Person" into battle, one that shared the source of Ao Ding's true nature at that. As for the first, its path seemed narrower still.

Yellow Boy said, "A single function also means purity. The golden-light divine pupil can unleash golden light to slaughter the living beings of the three realms. It counts as a top-tier divine eye of tremendous power, specializing in combat. As for summoning a divine being... that may not be much use."

Blue Child suddenly said, "No, you're wrong. The Divine Aspect Eye happens to serve as a transition. If our original self elevates the Golden Light Eye into the Divine Aspect Eye, he can summon a golden-light divine being. Then he can refine the divine being and make it grow a thousand eyes... that way, a genuine True Person's Eye will be complete."

Ao Ding smiled. "Exactly. That's what I was thinking. I want you to set aside all your current deduction work and help me deduce a new cultivation method. A thousand eyes is the ultimate goal, but in the early stages, we can use the Golden Light Eye as our method of entering the Dao."

Blue Child said, "Why not let us first work through the Heavenly Pool? Once it has been successfully built, we can continue creating a cultivation method for you."

"Very well." Ao Ding readily agreed. He could take this opportunity to make some preparations for "opening his eye."

That evening, he went to find Ji Diyun, explained the matter, and asked to borrow a Spirit Acupoint.

"You want to communicate with the netherworld? All right. There's a spirit spring on the mountain behind us. Use that to speak with the netherworld."

"Many thanks." Overjoyed, Ao Ding bowed deeply in thanks, then immediately went to the spirit spring to contact the Green-Eyed Ghost.

"You want to awaken a True Person's Eye? Is that really necessary?"

The remnant soul from the Green-Eyed Ghost's former life had belonged to a cultivator with two True Person's Eyes. As far as True Person's Eyes were concerned, the Green-Eyed Ghost did not believe later cultivation could make up for their absence.

"Since you have a True Person's Eye, you should understand that an innately formed divine eye naturally carries the power to resonate with one's true nature. No matter how you cultivate afterward, you cannot make up for that deficiency. And if you truly can make up for it, that means you're almost a True Person. Would you still need that eye then?"

"You seem to have forgotten that I only have one true eye. I can use this eye to make up for the other eye's deficiencies. But I still have a long road ahead before the True Person Realm. For now, I'll just cultivate it as an alternative kind of True Person body."

According to the heavenly-eye, thousand-eyes method, this eye needed to evolve through three stages, just like an ordinary True Person body. That was why Ao Ding had chosen three eyes to fuse.

Of course, opening the eye also required certain rituals.

For instance, cleansing water and sweet rain.

Washing the eye with sweet rain would make it easier to begin cultivating eye techniques.

"I need you to get some money and cowries on your end. I want to wash my eye with Hundred-Flower Dew."

It was similar to using ox tears and willow leaves to let someone temporarily see the netherworld. Since Ao Ding wanted to awaken a high-level magic eye, he naturally needed a special medium to perform the ritual.

The substance he had chosen was Hundred-Flower Dew.

"Hundred-Flower Dew? How would the netherworld have that? Even if you put up the money, I have no way to buy it for you."

"Haha... I don't need you for that. You only need to send a messenger to Peach Blossom Creek in the human world and ask the flood-dragon maiden in its waters for some dew. I'm asking you to prepare money so I can trade with her."