After the Sea of Form, the Sea of Mirrors, and the countless eyeballs suspended in the void all froze, the entire Eye Faculty Emanation Domain fell into a near-complete, deathly silence for the first time.
Qin Yu stood in the center of the boundless mirror sea, with countless reflections beneath his feet layer upon layer, still and motionless; in the distance, the colored waves rolled halfway, permanently freezing into a vast arc; within the sky, all the eyes, as large as stars and as small as mustard seeds, were frozen in the final moment of their gaze.
There was no wind, no waves, no new colors, no division or evolution. Even the deep-seated Sea of Sound, Sea of Qi, Sea of Taste, Sea of Touch, and Sea of Dharmas, with their myriad flowing echoes of origin, all faded away and returned to silence.
In this near-absolute stillness, a vast and ancient voice slowly descended from all directions, ruthless, cold, and devoid of any ordinary timbre. It was not the voice of heaven and earth, but rather, within this Eye Faculty Emanation Domain, in the Ultimate silence, the very act of "being heard" itself.
Qin Yu slowly raised his eyes and opened them. In the center of the silent Sea of Form before him, a tiny crack silently opened.
The crack was initially only a line wide, then slowly extended upwards and downwards. It did not tear apart the void barrier, nor did it create any other space; there was no light, no darkness, and no objects within the crack.
A few breaths later, something slowly stepped out from the crack. Qin Yu's eyes narrowed slightly. It had no body, no head, no eyes, ears, hands, feet, or flesh and muscle. It did not possess any describable or definable form of life.
From the center of the Sea of Form, only a gaze of utmost purity appeared, nothing more. It stood suspended in mid-air, not attached to any eye, not bearing any form, independent in the Emanation Domain, clear, vast, and all-encompassing.
The next instant, this ancient gaze landed steadily on Qin Yu. Qin Yu's eyes suddenly became serious. The perception he felt at this moment was far more than just being spied on or stared at in ordinary times.
This is truly being seen—completely, thoroughly, without any concealment or omission.
His past was laid out in full at this moment. His cultivation journey, every life-or-death decision, every thought and emotion, and all the fragmented memories that had sunk deep into his mind were clearly revealed under this gaze, with nothing to hide.
His present moment is completely exposed. His Fate Soul essence, the foundation of his Dao, his cultivation level, his fleeting thoughts, and even every subtle emotional fluctuation at this moment are all fully read and understood.
Following closely behind is an endless future.
One, ten, ten thousand, hundreds of millions... all the unrealized, unexplored possibilities of the future unfolded and spread simultaneously before and behind him. Ascending to the Great Dao, falling in defeat and dying, Anran leaving the realm, being trapped in the ancestral land, perfectly obtaining the fragments...
Missing the original opportunity, delving into the Six Faculties Secret Realm, stopping at the Eye Faculty Trial... countless parallel futures and myriad branches of life are all seen and understood at a glance by this gaze.
Qin Yu remained motionless, his mind calm. He clearly understood that the formless, pure, and simple gaze before him was the true guardian of this Eye Faculty Emanation Domain — the Sight-Derivation Beast.
An ancient gaze silently hovered over him, devoid of joy or anger, devoid of any murderous intent. "You came to find the fragment." Qin Yu remained silent, offering neither answer nor defense. "But do you know what the fragment is?"
A slight ripple of primordial flow appeared in the silent Sea of Form, breaking the Ultimate stagnation. Qin Yu remained silent, waiting for the words to be spoken. The ancient and vast voice of the Sight-Derivation Beast echoed once more, reverberating throughout the entire Emanation Domain.
"The fragment is a glimpse left by the last thought of the Great Ancestor before entering the Silent Form Realm, the 'Seeing Stillness Return to Evolution'." As soon as the words fell, the surging waves of color in the distance suddenly split in two and opened up on their own. An extremely ancient and timeless scene slowly emerged from the depths of the Sea of Form.
A supreme figure with a blurred face and a vast, ancient aura stood silently before the boundless gray-white primordial chaos. In its vision, the myriad colors of heaven and earth Annihilation layer by layer, extinguishing one after another; mountains and rivers lost their texture and form; the starry sea withdrew its brilliance and returned to chaos; all the heavens and myriad realms Entering Stillness Emptiness.
The voice of the Sight-Derivation Beast rang out again, revealing the Ultimate question posed by the Great Ancestor: "That glance asked—" "If all forms and colors return to stillness, can those who see them be reborn?"
A glint flashed in Qin Yu's eyes as he grasped the true essence of this trial. "If you wish to obtain it..." "Answer first." A brief pause followed, and the shackles of the rules descended as expected. "You cannot answer with words."
"Words themselves are still an attachment to 'seeing'." "You must answer with seeing itself." The pure gaze in the center of the Sea of Form slowly converged and solidified, revealing the only supreme rule of this trial, each word falling into the truth and each sentence returning to its origin.
"If you see the truth," you will never see the truth.
As soon as the words were spoken, the trial began. There was no bell tolling to announce it, no killing spree, and no supernatural power unleashed. This was because the trial of the Sight-Derivation Beast Transformation had no fixed form and no predetermined killing strategy. Everything that Qin Yu could see, what he could think of, and what he could perceive was the entire trial itself.
This pass is called "Attachment to Seeing." The dormant Sea of Form suddenly revived, and the waves surged wildly. Boom—the first magnificent wave of color rose into the air and unfolded, and a figure that looked exactly like Qin Yu stepped out from the heart of the wave.
The second, the third... countless waves of color rose and bloomed one after another.
In the blink of an eye, countless versions of "Qin Yu," each with a completely different form, circumstance, and fate, stood atop the vast Sea of Form.
Some hurried along, persistently searching for fragments of the origin; some sat quietly on the mirror, their expressions weary, their minds exhausted, having already given up on moving forward; some lay broken bodies, their Dao foundations incomplete, their bodies stained with blood, prostrate deep within the ancestral land, their Fate Soul nearly exhausted; some never even set foot in the Wanyan Ancestral Land, experiencing entirely different paths of cultivation; and many more figures, their faces blurred, their outlines incomplete, existing only as wisps of light, suspended amidst the waves of color.
Qin Yu stood silently in the center, and all the myriad illusory figures raised their eyes, looking at his true form. He observed all things, and all things observed him; he saw all of me, and all of me saw him. Countless gazes crisscrossed and intertwined, weaving an endless visual net that enveloped all directions.
Qin Yu's gaze narrowed slightly, and a thought unconsciously arose in his mind: to discern the most authentic self, the one most in tune with the present moment, from among the myriad illusory images. The moment this obsession took hold, disaster struck; the calm and tranquil mirror sea beneath his feet suddenly trembled, its waves surging wildly.
Crack! A huge mirror, spanning hundreds of feet, suddenly rose from the sea of mirrors, reflecting the void. The mirror contained no myriad illusory images, no phenomena of heaven and earth, but only reflected the deepest obsessions and delusions in Qin Yu's heart.
Which one is the real me? Without any written manifestation, the Daoist intent naturally emerged, clear and transparent. Qin Yu instantly suppressed his thoughts and withdrew his gaze.
He had already foreseen the danger. If he insisted on distinguishing truth from falsehood and locking onto his true self, he would be deeply entrenched in the obsession of "Seeing Oneself." Once he clung to a certain form of self or a certain life trajectory, the Emanation Domain would infinitely expand and nest along with this obsession, eventually dragging him into an endless mirror of self, where he would be eternally trapped and unable to escape.
Qin Yu stopped gazing at his myriad selves and instead turned his gaze to the four directions, his mind returning to the original purpose of this journey: to find the fragments and obtain the Primal Evolution. But just as this thought took root, the turbulent Sea of Form in front of him instantly solidified, and a clear mirror appeared out of thin air, blocking his path.
The mirror contained no fragments of origin, no secret realm opportunities, only Qin Yu's persistent posture of reaching out and searching, his gaze fixed intently on a single point, his Dao intent clearly revealing his true nature. Desiring the fragment, Qin Yu abruptly stopped, completely suppressing his desire to obtain it.
He turned his gaze into the distance again, trying to find an exit from the Emanation Domain and escape this trial, but another mirror appeared in response, blocking his way. There were no doors or paths in the mirror, only the deep-seated concerns buried in his heart.
Wanting to leave this place, a deeper layer of Daoist thought emerged, leaving him nowhere to hide. Fearing being trapped, Qin Yu's brows gradually furrowed, and his mind became increasingly clear. He raised his eyes to look at the pure gaze of the Sight-Derivation Beast in the center of the Sea of Form, wanting to see through its root, understand its body, and define its form.
The mirror reappeared, covering the void. The original form of the Sight-Derivation Beast in the mirror. Only Qin Yu's posture of concentrating, exploring the unknown, and seeking to investigate the origin was visible. His Ultimate calm, sharp and clear Dao thought dissected layer by layer, pointing directly to the core of his obsession.
To define it, to go a step deeper, to believe that as long as one sees it clearly, one can understand it, and to go an even deeper level, to believe that once one understands it, one can control it. Qin Yu fell completely silent, with Delusionless or desires. Sight-Derivation Beast had not uttered a word, Emanation Domain had not made a single comment or judgment.
This world needs no judgment or ruling. Whatever arises in the mind, whatever the gaze falls upon, whatever is seen will inevitably return to the obsession in the heart. Seeking fragments reveals greed; looking for an exit reveals fear; examining the beast's body reveals the arrogance of defining the unknown.
All that he saw was a naked dissection of the entanglement, the causal chains, between the seer and the seen, Qin Yu finally understood the fundamental nature of "Attachment to Seeing."
This world is free from falsehood and deception, free from illusion and seduction. The myriad images reflected in the mirror are never meant to create falsehoods, but rather to dissect and reveal the fundamental act of "seeing" layer by layer.
As soon as a practitioner has a goal or a desire to seek something—"I want to see something, I want to know a certain principle, I want to obtain a certain result"—they will instantly be divided into two extremes. One extreme is the "I" who can see, and the other extreme is the thing that is seen.
Two opposing poles form a relationship; once a relationship is formed, chains are born. Seeing and being seen define, bind, generate, and entangle each other. The more one insists on seeing clearly, the more one is shackled by the gaze; the more one insists on seeking truth, the more one is trapped by the truth.