Secret Behind the Heavenly Eyes

Although it has been many years since Yan Ping lost her sight, she could still navigate her way around with her second sight. Not many cultivators actively use this skill because it requires a lot of mental focus and is difficult to maintain over a long time. Thankfully, the Mystical Qilin sect prefers to train the mind over the body. With more than a hundred years of meditation under her belt, activating her second sight became as natural as breathing.

Little did Yan Ping know that a meeting with the youngest princess of the Celestial Dragon sect was about to unveil a secret that would shake the very foundations of her world.

"Anji greets Elder," the three-year-old princess hopped off her stool when she saw the lady dressed in all white arriving. According to her mother, this lady was the important sect leader of the Mystical Qilin sect, who expressed an interest in taking her under her wing as a teacher. Her father was reluctant to send her to the secluded Qilin Mountain, but Anji was secretly thrilled. All her life, she thought she would never have the chance to learn how to cultivate. She wasn't even allowed to learn basic martial arts because her body was weak. With such an overprotective family, Anji spent all her life polishing her wits in the library instead. Hearing that she had an opportunity to learn something more, Anji immediately pounced on the chance. She had to make a favourable first impression and win her teacher over!

Slightly startled at the sudden greeting, Yan Ping missed a step. However, she quickly recovered with the support of her staff. Unlike other things like grass, flowers, and even rocks, which contained weak forms of life energy that she could see with her second vision, this child was completely invisible.

"Is this Zhao Anji?" the prophet asked carefully, expanding her second sight to test if there was even a trace of life energy coming from her tentative student. She knew how Mingfeng sealed the cultivation core away. However, she had no idea what type of seal he used. It was as if the doting father had poured all his energy into twisting the tap so tightly that it would never open again. Normally, that would stop the leak. However, in Anji's case, it would only cause problems in the future. Even if the water stopped leaking, the pressure built up in the pipes would eventually cause the pipes to burst even if the tap was tightly shut.

Behind her daughter, Zhao Wanting greeted the respected prophet and introduced her youngest daughter. With the veil hiding her expression, nobody knew what Yan Ping was thinking. Nervously, she glanced at Anji, hinting that her daughter should behave properly in this meeting.

Anji was bright for her age. She understood her mother's intention and quickly pulled out a stool, offering her teacher a seat.

Still unable to sense any life energy coming from the little girl, Yan Ping decided to take a sit first. She did not want to walk into the little girl accidentally. It was the first time since losing her sight that Yan Ping felt blind. 

"I'd like to talk to her alone first," Yan Ping announced, turning her head slightly towards Mingfeng. "Could you give us some space?"

Bowing out of respect to Yan Ping, Mingfeng dismissed the servant and escorted his wife to the garden. Before he left, he patted Anji on the head with a small smile. She would be in good hands.

Finally, with some privacy in the stone pavilion, Yan Ping removed her straw hat and revealed her face to her future student. It wasn't as if Yan Ping hated showing her face to the world. The veil was mostly to hide that she was physically blind to others who would use that against her. Although she could see where physical objects were, it was still difficult to differentiate between a copper coin and a silver coin.

Seeing those dead white pupils, Anji gasped silently, covering her mouth quickly. She meant no disrespect. However, she had never seen a blind person before, even if her mother informed her about it beforehand. The sect master of Mystical Qilin did not make her blindness known to many people and wanted to keep it a secret. Out of consideration, Anji did her best to behave normally. However, it was still fascinating and slightly unnerving to see greyish-white pupils that resembled a steamed fish on a person.

"Are you surprised to see my eyes?" Yan Ping asked after a while. Other children would have been absolutely terrified when they saw how hideous her eyes were. However, Mingfeng's daughter was different. Despite her young age, Anji was brave and mature.

"A little," Anji replied, knowing it was better to tell the truth than lie. "Was it painful?"

Smiling at her innocent question, Yan Ping shook her head and tried to reach for the child's hand. Even after trying for a while, she could not sense any life energy from Anji.

"Come here, child. Let me have a better look at you. Also, it doesn't hurt. This is a side effect of living in a dark cave for too many years. What you do not actively use, you will lose."

Anji thought that was a strange thing to say. Do people usually lose their eyesight because they do not actively use them? Even in a dark cave, animals develop night vision. Unless Sect Leader Yan had not opened her eyes for many years, it would have been impossible not to use her eyes.

Even without seeing the child, Yan Ping felt a piercing gaze full of questions. However, after grabbing hold of that tiny hand, she was more focused on finding the child's inner core. Where was it?

As Yan Ping poured more energy into Anji's body through their physical contact, the little girl saw something change in those eyes. The greyish-white pupils suddenly turned molten golden, similar to when she used her Heavenly Eyes. Excited to find a new clue about her strange ability, Anji's heart raced.

"Elder! Your eyes are golden! How did you do that?"

Golden eyes? Yan Ping gave up concentrating on locating the seal. Anji was too distracting. Maybe she should answer some of the young princess' questions before proceeding.

"It happens naturally when you have mastered the highest level of spiritual cultivation. Are you interested in learning more?"

Learn? Anji nodded vigorously.

"What else can the Heavenly Eyes do?" she bounced on the stool, grinning from ear to ear.

Heavenly Eyes? It had been a long time since Yan Ping had heard anyone talk about it. Where did such a young child find this sort of information?

"How did you know what they were called?"

Blushing, Anji explained how she had suddenly gained a new gift after attempting to mimic her siblings in their meditation practice when she was younger. Although she could not feel any energy going into her cultivation core, she could see a different world by concentrating on the world around her.

"I asked everyone about the colours surrounding people when I activated the Heavenly Eyes. However, all the adults thought I was lying and imagining things. So, I poured through the family's library to learn more about it. However, I only know its name and not its abilities. Please, Elder! I'm not making it up! I can really see the aura colours of cultivators!"

Although Anji used different terms, she had the correct fundamental understanding, even without proper guidance. Zhao Mingfeng truly had a genius daughter. It was reasonable for him to worry about Anji.

"There are not many records of the Heavenly Eyes because most people with the ability die before reaching adulthood. My golden eyes are probably not the same as yours because I'm using qi to look at the world. The real Heavenly Eyes can use the soul and disassociate with the physical world to peer into the souls of others. However, if you are careless, you could lose your soul and never come back. Never use this ability again until you learn how to control it. Can you promise me that? If you can, I'll return when you're six to officially take you in as my disciple."

Scared but thrilled that someone could explain more about the heavenly Eyes to her, Anji promised. However, her mood plummeted when she recalled how she could not cultivate or train in martial arts.

"But I'm a cultivation cripple," Anji looked down at her toes sadly. "How can I learn cultivation from you?"

Taking hold of Anji's hand again, Yan Ping smiled. All we have to do is modify that seal on your cultivation core. Luckily, no other cultivator is better than me when it comes to spiritual arts. Now, stay still. I need to see what your father has done to your core."

Straightening her back, Anji remained very still as she felt an itchy feeling travelling from her wrist to spread across her whole body. However, the disciplined child did not move a muscle to scratch it. Instead, she stared deep into the molten gold eyes that sometimes reflected the hues of a rainbow. How pretty!