11. The Empyreal Eyes

Johan saw Qitian Dasheng's annoyed face. He just said the fact. But, he didn't expect Qitian Dasheng to be this angry. It seemed he needed to write down in his dictionary that saying "cultivating is easy" was forbidden.

Johan scratched his head while saying, "Sorry! I thought cultivating was easy since I reached a third of my rank in the span of a night."

Qitian Dasheng waved his hand.

"Never mind. Not everyone will get enlightenment easily. You are fortunate enough to be enlightened after you have just stepped onto the path of cultivation. Furthermore, I think you need to choose a cultivation technique that is suitable for you now."

"Suitable for me? Suitable in what way?"

"Normally, a first-rank cultivator learns a basic cultivation technique. After one breaks through the second rank which has awakened an ability or talent, then he or she changes a cultivation technique that suits his or her affinity."

Qitian Dasheng explained slowly. Johan who heard it started to think something.

At that time…

— — — —

— — — —

"Where am I?"

Johan frowned and looked around. The scenery around him was like a clear night sky filled with sparkling stars. He didn't know yet that the scenery around him was the same as the pattern of his eyes.

Even though he had just been meditating, somehow he appeared in a strange place like this which made him confused.

"Did I fall asleep while meditating?"

Suddenly, he saw a shadow. The shadow looks like dark matter forming a human shadow. It also had a sinister crimson-colored mouth that looked like it was formed by blood. And what surprised Johan more was the shadow spoke.

"So, it's already the ninth possessor of Empyreal Eyes, huh? Time passes so quickly."

Johan's eyes opened wide. Then he asked while sweating all over his body.

"W-who are you?"

"Well, I'm just a will of someone who has died. The possessor of Empyreal Eyes. Just like you."

When Johan heard that, he stiffened.

"S-someone…w-who has died? W-what should I do? Did I just meet a ghost? Ah, someone please help me! I'm not good with this kind of thing." Johan was scared silly. Since childhood, he could not stand the smell of horror. So, when the shadow said the words "someone who has died", Johan became frightened. He tried to run away, but strangely, he seemed to be running on the spot. From there, he realized that he had no physical body after looking down.

"AH!! I'M DEAD!! I BECOME A GHOST!!"

"SHUT UP, STUPID KID! YOU'RE NOT DEAD! YOU'RE NOT A GHOST, AND I'M NOT A GHOST EITHER!!" The roaring sound made Johan stiffen motionless as if under hypnosis.

Then, Johan became calmer. He said in his heart, "That's right. This should be a dream. There's no way I'd die while meditating, right?"

Since Johan thought it was just a dream. He tried his best not to be afraid of the shadow in front of him and tried to think of it as an ordinary human to talk to.

Seeing Johan who had calmed down, the shadow said.

"You seem to have calmed down. Then, we can talk again."

"It's your fault for scaring me to death!" He tried to point his finger at the shadow, but he realized that he had no physical form.

"Hey, I'm just a will that could disappear at any moment. Besides, you're too timid yourself. Thinking I'm a ghost."

"A will, huh? I thought a will was written on paper or a video recorder. I didn't think a will could be a shadow like a ghost."

"Video recorder? What was that?" The shadow knew nothing about electronics. Hence, the shadow was confused by what Johan said.

"You don't know about a video recorder? How backward your era is. Never mind. More importantly, what do you mean by the Empyreal Eyes you mentioned just a moment ago?"

Johan didn't hear it wrongly. He believed hearing the shadow say that Johan had Empyreal Eyes. Empyreal can be interpreted as Empyrean or Celestial. And before that, Johan had been told that he had Celestial Qi. He immediately thought that the two were related. But he was dreaming right now, so whatever he was thinking might be wrong.

The shadow explained what the Empyreal Eyes were. Including the identity of the shadow which was a will of the previous predecessor. In other words, there were other people who possessed Empyreal Eyes like Johan's. It also said that Johan was the ninth possessor of the Empyreal Eyes. Johan didn't think too much. What it said might be true and might not. But when it explained what abilities the possessor had from the first to the eight predecessors, Johan began to listen carefully.

Johan had realized that the eyes he had were not ordinary, and if what the shadow said was true, then he could more or less understand his abilities. Even though he felt that everything was a dream, he also remembered the saying that dreams can come true.

"First, enhanced vision including penetrating, telescopic, and panoramic vision. Second, Illusion manipulation. Third, Energy perception. Fourth, Accelerated perception. Fifth, Dimensional perception. Sixth, Pattern perception. Seventh, Evil Eyes. Eight, a guardian spirit summoning. Those are abilities from the first to eight predecessors. Every possessor of Empyreal Eyes has innate abilities, which is to have a higher perception than normal people and can see through low-level or early mid-level illusions. And it should be emphasized that these innate abilities are when the possessor has not yet stepped onto the path of cultivation."

Johan knitted his brows. Some time ago, he heard Qitian Dasheng murmur that Johan could see through an illusion.

"Is it because of my eyes?" Johan asked himself.

The shadow also said an Empyreal Eyes possessor like Johan could learn the previous predecessor's abilities. However, it didn't tell him how.

After a moment, he asked the shadow.

"Some abilities are easy to understand, but some are not. Can you tell me what Pattern perception is? And what is the difference between innate perception ability and Accelerated perception? There is also Evil Eyes which is somewhat vague."

The abilities like summoning a guardian spirit, Illusion manipulation, or Enhanced vision were easy to understand. As for Energy perception, it might be related to Qi, the flow of Qi inside the body, aura flow and vibration, or something like that. The dimensional perception was more or less understandable since there was also a character in the game who had that ability. The person who could use Dimensional Perception could see across Dimensional Boundaries to sense energies, attacks, or presences. In a certain case, it might evolve into Dimensional Manipulation to travel through other dimensions at will.

The shadow patiently explained those to Johan. After that, Johan asked.

"What about me? You said each Empyreal Eyes possessor has a different ability? That means I have one too, right?"

Its mouth formed a smirk in response to Johan's question. Then, the shadow suddenly dispersed, leaving Johan alone without getting an answer.

To be honest, he was quite annoyed. But, he couldn't do anything and didn't have a way to get out of that place, at which, he decided to meditate, hoping that he would wake up quickly.

— — — —

— — — —

He thought that was a dream, but after knowing it was not, Johan concluded that it was something like diving into deep consciousness. And in that deep consciousness, he learned something unbelievable.

"Qitian big bro, how can I know my affinity?" He didn't know his exact ability, however, he might have another, which were the abilities of his predecessors, the previous possessors of Empyreal Eyes. Furthermore, he could see through the illusion already. Although, it was just a low-level illusion.

"Hmmm, didn't you notice anything?" Qitian Dasheng pointed at his eyes, gesturing if Johan knew something had changed in his eyes which had just awakened recently.

Johan knitted his brow. With Qitian Dasheng's gesture, he understood that Qitian Dasheng might see the change in his eyes. But still, he didn't know how to understand his ability without someone guiding him.

"Try to channel your Qi into your eyes!" Knowing Johan's confusion, Qitian Dasheng pointed him out.

Johan nodded. When his Qi channeled to his eyes, he felt a faint throb as his irises and pupils changed into a clear night sky pattern.

When he felt a faint throb, he also noticed something strange with his vision. He put down his glasses, and unexpectedly his eyesight got better. However, the moment he stopped channeling the Qi into his eyes, his vision returned to how it was before.

"Why did you stop channeling your Qi?"

When Qitian Dasheng asked, Johan told him what happened to his eyes. Then Qitian Dasheng said to him,

"Hmmm, I don't have much understanding about curses. Senior Wu Tian said, your curse drastically increased your bad luck, be it you or your blood-related. Senior didn't explain the other things. But I could guess something from what happened to you. The person who bears the curse may lose one to five of his senses first. However, because you have Celestial Qi, the curse is suppressed and only your eyes are affected."

What Qitian Dasheng said made sense. Johan also couldn't figure out any other reason why the curse that increased bad luck had also affected his eyes.

Since his eyes deteriorated because of his curse, he didn't have any other way except to find how to lift the curse first.

Sometime later, Johan once again channeled Qi into his eyes. He raised his head and looked around. Weirdly, there was nothing changed within his sight.

"How is it? Can you feel anything?"

It was only when Qitian Dasheng asked him that Johan changed his expression to astonishment and disbelief.