Gu Xiaorou widened her beautiful eyes: "Pitiful? Dark creatures are inherently brutal, especially vampires who feed on human blood, creating an irreconcilable conflict with us. How can you say they're pitiful? Moreover, some dark creatures are extremely powerful; even the strongest human ability users might not be able to defeat them. If it weren't for the Tribunal's holy light having a restraining effect on them, who knows how many more people would have been poisoned by them."
“Oh…” Ling Yun lowered his head again, feeling extremely ashamed of his naive thoughts.
"Although the Heavenly Eye possesses the mysterious power of legend, it has changed hands many times over the years, and no superhuman has ever been able to comprehend its secrets." Gu Xiaorou recounted in detail, "As you can see, it is just an ordinary black bead. I have tried almost every method, but I cannot find any changes in the Heavenly Eye."
“Just when I was about to despair, I suddenly met you. And just like you saw, as long as I’m within a certain distance of you, the Heavenly Eye will suddenly pulsate and flash continuously. I don’t know why, so I can only start with you. That’s why I’ve always been interested in you. You said that you are an acquired mutated superhuman. Perhaps that’s why the Heavenly Eye shows a special characteristic only to you. So you can’t die. I have to save you, because if you die, I will never be able to find the secret of the Heavenly Eye again.” Gu Xiaorou sighed softly.
Ling Yun nodded slowly, the mystery in his heart finally solved, but then an even bigger question arose: "Since the Heavenly Eye is the founding treasure of the Heavenly Eye Society, how did it end up in your hands?"
A bitter smile finally appeared on the girl's face: "You think this is what I wanted? Even the commander of the Heavenly Eye Society couldn't figure out the secret, how could a weak woman like me possibly know? My mother was a major general in the Heavenly Eye Society, but I don't know why she suddenly stole the Heavenly Eye. She even risked her life to give it to me while being hunted by the Heavenly Eye Society, and on her deathbed, she told me to take the Heavenly Eye to find my biological father, saying that he was in mainland China. So I was chased all the way here. The psychic you met in Tongjiang City was a pursuer sent by the Heavenly Eye Society. His purpose in creating the corpse puppet was actually to find me, but he was later killed by you by chance."
"So that's how it is." Ling Yun suddenly realized, recalling the scene of fighting the spirit medium with Xia Tian and Xia Zhen, where their lives hung by a thread, as if it were still vivid in his mind.
"If you hide, how will the Heavenly Eye find you?" Ling Yun thought for a moment and then asked again.
“When I was being hunted, a high-ranking officer placed a miniature barrier inside my body. They could determine my approximate location by the shockwaves emitted from the barrier from time to time, but not to a specific place. So no matter how well I hid, they would always find me. Moreover, this miniature barrier also hinders the healing of injuries. I was injured while fleeing, and after fighting you last time and using my mental field to the fullest this time, my injuries will never heal,” Gu Xiaorou said sadly.
Ling Yun remained silent. What Gu Xiaorou said was true. Due to the excessive time that had passed, the miniature barrier within Gu Xiaorou's body had almost merged with her mental energy field. Breaking the barrier without harming Gu Xiaorou's physical body was virtually impossible. Moreover, the miniature barrier, originating from Gu Xiaorou's mental energy field, in turn released star-shaped matter that damaged her body. It was like an extremely annoying parasite, one that one wanted to eliminate but was hesitant to do so for fear of causing serious harm.
Gu Xiaorou smiled sadly: "I don't know why I'm telling you this... From childhood to adulthood, I've never trusted any man, and my mother was more like a drill instructor. From as far back as I can remember, it was all about cultivation, cultivation, and then, as I grew up, it was all about killing. I really didn't like that kind of life, so for the past two years, while being hunted by the Heavenly Eye Society, I've been living as an ordinary person, and it's actually made me feel very happy. Ling Yun, you're really peculiar. I don't know why, but I always feel very safe in front of you, and I'm willing to trust you. Or... maybe it's because I'm about to die, so I don't have to keep my distance like before."
She gently closed her eyes: "I like this feeling, it's so relaxing and wonderful, can you feel it...?"
Chapter Sixty-Four: A Choice Between Life and Death
A warm, gentle hand suddenly touched her forehead. Gu Xiaorou initially opened her eyes abruptly in alarm, but upon feeling the familiar and comforting warmth, her gaze immediately softened, and she obediently allowed the large hand, formed from Ling Yun's spiritual energy field, to touch her. A peculiar feeling, unlike anything she had ever experienced before, began to grow within her.
"What does this feel like?" the girl wondered, savoring the bittersweet feeling of excitement and anticipation that she had almost never experienced before.
"I will heal you," Ling Yun suddenly said. His tone was filled with unwavering determination. He wasn't just comforting Gu Xiaorou. Perhaps to others there was no way to break the miniature barrier, but in Ling Yun's heart, Old Yu was an omnipotent god. As long as Old Yu was there, Ling Yun always had an indestructible trump card. Moreover, although Ling Yun hadn't learned it in the fourth layer of the barrier, he did know of a peculiar healing technique.
Gu Xiaorou thought Ling Yun was trying to comfort her. Although she didn't believe him, she couldn't help but feel happy. She said softly, "Ling Yun, thank you. I'm so glad to hear you say that. Actually, I don't care about life or death, I really don't. If I die, can you give me the Heavenly Eye? I just hope you can find my father, whom I've never met, and give him the Heavenly Eye to fulfill my mother's last wish."
“I’m not lying to you.” Ling Yun looked at Gu Xiaorou. “I really do have a way to break the barrier inside your body.”
"What can you do?" Looking at the determined expression on Ling Yun's face, Gu Xiaorou became skeptical. Her heart, which had been gradually turning to despair, suddenly felt a renewed sense of hope.
“I don’t know yet,” Ling Yun said. “But I’m going somewhere. You hold up this barrier and take good care of my body. I may be gone for a long time.”
"Where are you going?" Gu Xiaorou asked curiously. Ling Yun's words puzzled her. Guarding his body? Did he want his soul to leave his body? Even though she had seen a lot since childhood, Gu Xiaorou had never seen such a strange technique.
"I'll tell you when I get back." Ling Yun smiled slightly. "Remember, I will definitely come back with a way to cure you, please believe me." With that, Ling Yun lay down in the barrier, closed his eyes, and his mental field immediately triggered a mental imprint, entering Yu Xiujie's barrier.
………
"Teacher, I wish to learn the Holy Healing Technique." Standing before Yu Xiujie, Ling Yun always felt as if he were standing before a towering, precipitous mountain peak. He hadn't felt this way when he first met Yu Xiujie; ignorance is bliss. But the deeper his understanding of barriers became, the more Ling Yun felt their profound and vast nature. He could now set up simple barriers, but compared to Yu Xiujie's, they were worlds apart. The person who could create such a barrier was not only a powerful figure at the pinnacle of the world, but also an artistic master. It wasn't just about power; it required boundless wisdom, experience, skill, and profound understanding of life and the universe—a combination of many realms—to create it.
Yu Xiujie was slightly taken aback, looked at the student in front of him, and asked calmly, "Why?"
Ling Yun briefly recounted Gu Xiaorou's situation and concluded by saying, "Teacher, when I was cultivating my special techniques within the fourth layer of the barrier, I once saw a special technique called Holy Healing, which should be able to break the miniature barrier within Gu Xiaorou's body."
"Do you know why you can understand the Holy Healing Technique but can't cultivate it?" Yu Xiujie asked.
"It's because my abilities aren't strong enough yet. The training plan for the barrier is gradual, from weak to strong. With my current abilities, I can't learn the Holy Healing Technique," Ling Yun answered honestly.
“Yes.” Yu Xiujie nodded. “The saying goes, ‘haste makes waste.’ Your abilities are not yet sufficient, yet you want to learn higher-level supernatural arts. In the end, it will only be detrimental to you. Moreover, the fourth layer of the barrier will only teach you basic and common supernatural arts. More profound and complex supernatural arts need to be cultivated in the fifth layer of the barrier. You have already entered the first stage of the fifth layer of the barrier to simulate reality and should know how.”
“Teacher, I know all that you’re saying,” Ling Yun sighed. “But I want to help her, I really do. Besides, she saved my life, and I have to do something about it.”
“Alright, I can let you learn Holy Healing.” Yu Xiujie looked at his most beloved student and said seriously, “You can directly enter the fifth stage of the simulation, but this is equivalent to skipping a level, and the barrier will automatically adjust.”
"Teacher, that's wonderful!" Ling Yun was overjoyed and rubbed his hands together excitedly, not knowing what to say.
"Don't thank me yet," Yu Xiujie said calmly, lowering his eyes. "Adjusting the barrier comes at a price. Remember, you can enter the fifth stage of the simulated reality, but you will only have one life. Once you die, you can never come back."
"What?!" Ling Yun was immediately shocked. "Teacher, didn't you say that I could repeat my life countless times in the simulation of reality? Why is it that I only have one chance when I enter the fifth stage of the simulation?"
His heart pounded. He hadn't expected that entering the simulation would mean only one life. If that was the case, what was the difference between the simulation and real-life danger? Old Yu had never mentioned before that skipping levels to enter the simulation would have such cruel conditions. If he couldn't return from the barrier, not only would he lose his life, but he would also be unable to retrieve the cultivation method for the Holy Healing Technique for Gu Xiaorou.
Yu Xiujie slowly explained, "The fifth-level simulation is the highest-level simulation of the fifth layer of the barrier. Normally, the barrier will only determine that you can repeat your life an unlimited number of times after you enter the simulation in the order of the segments. The barrier's automatic settings are very precise. If any part of it changes, the entire barrier will be affected by a domino effect, which may cause chaos."
"Both of us are spiritual entities within the barrier. Although we are not real bodies, we are no different from the real you. Once your spiritual entity is affected, your real body outside the barrier will also be affected in the same way. In other words, although it is called a simulated reality, once you have invested your spiritual entity, it is no different from having a real body in reality."
"When I first set the trajectory of the barrier, I added very precise periodic points. In the years that followed, I continued to add various parameters, to the point that the barrier became so large and complex that even I could hardly control it. Even now, I rarely change some of the barrier's settings, because changing them would mean chaos, and chaos would mean that the barrier would adjust itself. In the process of adjustment, some unexpected effects might occur, which might even devour our spiritual essence."
"If you skip to the highest level of the simulation, it will break the barrier and you will likely encounter chaos and adjustments. This chaos is not simply a bad thing. You may have very special experiences or even benefits that I cannot predict during the simulation. However, the most likely outcome is that you will be lost in the chaos forever, which means you will lose your life."
"Do you still want to choose?" Yu Xiujie looked at his student seriously and said, word by word.
Chapter Sixty-Five, Paragraph Five: Simulation (1)
An endless, desolate wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky was a dark gray, cloudless, moonless, and starless, as if draped over a black cloth with twisted, wavy patterns. Occasionally, streaks of lightning flashed across the dark horizon, like silver snakes darting to the ground. The entire wilderness was filled with an eerie and malevolent aura. In the distance, where the horizon met the earth, a small black dot could be seen.
Staring at the target—a mere black dot even with his sharpest eyesight—Ling Yun took a deep breath and walked to the black dot. This was the main objective of the fifth stage of the simulated reality. As for what that black dot was, what he would do there, and how to obtain the method for practicing the Holy Healing Technique, Ling Yun knew nothing. The barrier only gave him the simplest hint, and then fell silent.
Despite being shocked, Ling Yun still chose to enter the fifth stage of the simulated reality. This wasn't just to fulfill his promise to treat Gu Xiaorou; Ling Yun knew perfectly well that although Yu Xiujie had proposed extremely harsh conditions, his teacher probably still hoped he wouldn't give up out of fear. Moreover, if he did, not only would Yu Xiujie be disappointed, but Ling Yun himself would also despise himself.
A true strong person must face the most dangerous predicaments and shoulder the responsibility without hesitation; otherwise, there will never be any progress.
The wilderness is covered in dark brown soil. Due to the lack of water, the ground is irregularly crisscrossed with cracks of varying widths. Occasionally, a strong wind will blow by, stirring up clouds of dust and billowing smoke, just like a desert storm.
Although the ground was extremely dry, Lingyun occasionally found shallow puddles of liquid in the low-lying areas. The liquid, resembling the pus of necrotic and rotting biological tissue, was a deep, bluish-green color and constantly emitted a putrid odor. Along the way, one could frequently see the fragmented skeletons of various unnamed creatures buried in the dry, soft, dark brown sand.
With a snap, Ling Yun accidentally stepped on the skull of an unidentified creature that was already completely corroded, instantly shattering the bone. Casually glancing at his feet, Ling Yun strode forward again towards the black dot. The wilderness, though dark, was a vast plain, with the shadowy outlines of huge, hazy hills and mountains in the distance. But towards the black dot, there was a straight, flat road.
A jet-black ghostly claw slowly emerged from the ground beneath the crushed skull, followed by a massive arm, as thick as a human thigh and covered in black hair, that also emerged from the ground.
Ling Yun didn't notice the strange changes on the ground behind him. Although he was just walking, he was actually moving at an extremely fast speed. In the blink of an eye, he had covered a distance of several hundred meters, but the black dot in the distance still looked like just a black dot.