Free Web NovelChapter 20: Chapter 20—Inner Vision
Chapter 20—Inner Vision
Lei Cheng glanced at his surroundings.
He found himself back in the same space—the place where he had first woken after fainting, back when he had comprehended the Illusion Intent. Water lapped at his feet. High above, the bright golden eye blazed in the sky like a silent sun.
’This is my Soul Space.’
He understood it through the knowledge granted by the Golden Eye. He also knew that receiving further prophecies came at the price of his Luck—and he knew exactly what losing Luck meant in this world. Unless his life itself hung at the very edge, he had decided he would not spend that currency on cryptic words. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. ’I have to sense my body. Time is running out.’
He found only pitch darkness. He tried his best—but nothing came through. He kept going anyway.
After a few moments, he opened his eyes, frowning. ’I cannot sense it. Check the status first.’
"Status."
[ Ding! ]
『 STATUS PANEL 』
[ ...
Health: Severely Injured — Vitality draining at extreme speed
Lifespan: 17 / 18 (37)
... ]
The number looked absurd, no matter how many times he read it.
’So I’ll live for roughly one more year in this current state.’ He clicked his tongue. ’My actual lifespan is 37 years. The panel is showing 18 because of the combined severity of the injuries. If I am healed properly, the 37-year figure can be restored.’
"I need to act. No time to waste."
He exhaled and steadied himself. ’I’ll have to use my trump card—Instant Enlightenment.’ He had avoided using it since the first time—because he didn’t know whether his mental strength could sustain it for more than a few seconds before he collapsed again. Fainting in front of Mo Yong, Lin Mei, and Clan Head Nie would have been more dangerous than the injuries themselves.
’But I have no choice now.’
He took a deep breath and said quietly, "Instant Enlightenment."
[ Ding! ]
[ You have activated your supernatural ability: Instant Enlightenment.]
A layer of soft blue light wrapped around his body. Two seconds later, it vanished. Lei Cheng’s head tilted sideways. His body followed.
Thud!
Water splashed. He had fainted again—mental exhaustion claiming him in an instant.
Two seconds. That was all he could currently endure.
But in those few seconds of clarity, his Enlightenment had done something new. He had been able to see within his own body—not merely sense it, but truly see it. The skill had branded itself into him.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have acquired the Level 1 Auxiliary Skill: Inner Vision.]
---
On the other side—in the room of the Qian Pharmacy—the scene was far less quiet.
Qian Shu gripped her grandfather’s arm. "Grandpa—how long will it take for him to wake up?"
Doctor Qian said nothing. The silence filled the room.
Qian Jun couldn’t bear it any longer, "Doctor Qian... how long?"
Doctor Qian exhaled slowly. "It depends entirely on his will. He might wake in the next moment. He might wake tomorrow. He might wake a year from now." He paused, drawing a deep breath. "Or he might not wake at all. He could die like this." freewёbnoνel.com
The room went cold.
Qian Shu and Qian Jun’s faces drained of color simultaneously.
"Grandpa—" Qian Shu tightened her grip on his hands. "We need the information about the Bizarre creature that did this to him. If he dies without telling us—how will we know how to escape?"
Doctor Qian opened his mouth to respond, but footsteps stopped him.
Thud! Thud!
Qian Shu turned.
The purple-veiled young woman from outside had somehow entered the room, walking in as though she had always had the right to be there. Her rose brocade robe moved without sound. Her purple eyes swept the room.
"Who are you?!"
Qian Jun stepped forward sharply. Doctor Qian reached out and pressed his hand firmly over Qian Jun’s mouth before another word could leave it. His forehead had broken out in immediate cold sweat.
On the woman’s forehead—between her brows—there was a closed eye.
The woman noticed Doctor Qian’s reaction and smiled, light and unhurried. "This goddess is impressed by your perception. It seems you are no fool, unlike most."
Qian Shu swallowed visibly, voice barely holding steady. "W-were you the one who injured him?"
The woman leaned casually against the wall to her right, glancing toward Lei Cheng on the bed. "Him? No. I didn’t." A brief pause. "But he is no stranger to me."
Qian Shu opened her mouth to say more—
The woman’s eyes glowed.
A faint flash of purple light pulsed from her gaze—and all three occupants of the room went blank simultaneously. Every trace of intelligent light left their eyes. Their bodies stilled like statues. She waved her hand gently to the side. All three shuffled obediently to the edge of the room and stood there, silent and empty.
She walked to Lei Cheng’s bedside.
From the pouch at her hip, she drew out a small glass bottle. Inside it, a collection of elixirs shimmered with deep purple light—visibly luminous even through the glass. She uncorked it. A sweet fragrance bloomed through the entire room instantly.
She selected one, rolling it between her fingers. "A Level One Soul Energy Boosting Elixir. This will be enough for you." She placed it into Lei Cheng’s mouth, then stoppered the bottle and tucked it back into her pouch.
As she looked down at his face—the third eye on her forehead opened.
It was nothing like her other two. It sat vertically between her brows, oriented up and down rather than side to side. It was a deep, featureless crimson—no iris, no pupil—a single unblinking eye of solid red.
It studied him.
She grinned—wide and genuine—as whatever she saw confirmed something she had already suspected. "So even without this goddess’s help... You would have recovered on your own eventually, wouldn’t you?" Her grin softened into something almost fond. "As expected of you. Though it might have taken a few months—at least this goddess has sped things along."
---
In Lei Cheng’s Soul Space—
His mental body, which had collapsed into the water moments ago, suddenly twitched. His eyes opened. He sat up slowly, pressing a hand to his forehead.
’What just happened?’
He noticed it before he could finish the thought. His body was glowing—a warm purple light spreading steadily outward from within him.
’My mental strength is growing... exponentially.’
His eyes shifted. His mouth opened slightly. ’How...?’ He shook his head—no time to dwell on the source.
"Instant Enlightenment."
[ Ding! ]
[ You have activated your supernatural ability: Instant Enlightenment.]
This time—with his mental strength restored and surging—the Inner Vision held. He pushed his awareness inward and downward, diving into his own body. He reached his chest.
A white circle barrier, glowing steadily, held a dense golden orb suspended within it. ’That Qi. It’s from Clan Head Nie’s strike.’ He scowled. ’I’ll remember this, Fox.’
He moved on, mapping the rest of the damage. His sternum cracked. His nerves and meridians throughout the chest region—broken apart. Crippled. His heart and lungs—visibly scarred, bearing the marks of that single devastating blow.
He could see the vitality bleeding out of him—not as an abstraction, but as a visible aura. A green life-force, flickering and thin, pressed hard on all sides by a tide of grey death-aura surging steadily inward.
Yet despite everything, it refused to go out.
He focused on the green.
’That is the last hope.’
’The Life Dao.’
He understood it with grim clarity. His Enlightenment could not conjure solutions from nothing—it needed something to comprehend, a living example to read. Right now, within the landscape of his own body, the only power still fighting was that fragile, struggling green life-force.
’The Life Dao is the only path available to me here. I have to comprehend it from within myself—sense its nature, understand its flow—and use it to begin healing.’
"Now I can only hope my mental energy doesn’t run out." He sighed, fixing everything he had onto the green.
