35. A Pair of Piercing Eyes

The two of them stopped wailing at once, finally realizing what it meant to have an "Uncle-Master."

The next day, the Venerable Wudao kindly lifted the seals on their internal energy. Feeling the shift within their bodies, the two ignored all etiquette and immediately sat down to regulate their breathing. Having been deprived of energy for so long, the sudden surge felt like a rampaging torrent, causing their meridians to ache.

Lin Jiuge quickly brought herself under control, and her cultivation base soared, stopping only when she reached the fifth level of the Mortal Refining stage. Zhou Yan, meanwhile, broke into the third level of the Mortal Transcending stage. He also finally understood why the "Pure Water" had settled in his Dantian back then—it wasn't just water, but a water seed! His internal energy had been purified by the seed’s extraction. He suddenly thought: if he just clung tightly to his junior sister’s coattails, could he essentially "lie down and win" at cultivation?

"So, your cultivation has grown. To stabilize it, your Uncle-Master will help you." With that, Venerable Wudao tossed out a formation disk, and the two were quickly enveloped in a thick mist.

"You brute, see that? If they can break this formation in three days, they’re geniuses," Venerable Wudao said, conjuring a reclining chair.

"Old Bookworm, did you forget something?" Although Li Yun thought the setup was quite good, he would never admit it.

"Forget what?" Venerable Wudao couldn’t recall. They had been too busy lately, and little Fu Zai had been left with their junior brother; surely that was fine.

"I won't say anything about A-Yan, but Jiuge? Old Bookworm, are you sure?" His disciple was terrible at arts and techniques; would she even be left in one piece after being put through a formation?

"I truly forgot." Not having seen Lin Jiuge for a while, Venerable Wudao had completely forgotten her past "glorious achievements."

Inside the formation, Zhou Yan recognized it immediately as a combination of an illusion and a lethal trap. His senior uncle had clearly modified it, likely intending to train them. Soon, his suspicions were confirmed: a misty phantom appeared, lacking a face but mirroring his own build and technique, charging straight at him. For every one he struck down, two more appeared, leaving him no time to wonder how his junior sister was faring.

On the other side, Lin Jiuge’s eyes brightened. She quickly located the formation’s core. She initially intended to destroy it, but remembering that her Uncle-Master only wanted to test them, she simply walked back into the formation.

"Did Jiuge just walk right to the core?" Venerable Wudao stopped rocking his chair, doubting his own eyesight.

"She must have just happened to pass by. Look, she went back into the formation," Li Yun said, dismissing it as a coincidence.

After a day of fighting, the two emerged, their bodies radiating a burgeoning aura of cold lethality. By the time Lin Jiuge passed the core of the tenth formation yet again, both men were forced to reconsider.

"Does Jiuge know how to break the formation?" Venerable Wudao cradled Lin Jiuzi, whom he had retrieved from the Sect Leader’s care. To keep deceiving himself would be truly foolish.

"Old Bookworm, I think you’re right," Li Yun agreed. It was simply too coincidental.

In the eleventh formation, Venerable Wudao separated the two, and his hypothesis was confirmed: Lin Jiuge passed through the core and entered immediately, while Zhou Yan did not. So, all this time, the girl had been playing along with him? Venerable Wudao felt a complex wave of emotions.

"Old Bookworm, your method isn't suitable for my disciple." Although Li Yun’s own grasp of formations was average, he had a keen eye and could naturally see what Lin Jiuge was doing. While she could break the formation in an instant, she was simply curious about what was inside.

In truth, it held little meaning for Lin Jiuge. Every time they practiced, she could clearly see the core; it was like a lighthouse in the fog, completely useless to her! She was purely accompanying her senior brother. Now that they were in separate formations, she wondered when it would be appropriate to leave.

Just as Lin Jiuge was thinking, the formation was suddenly retracted. Before she could adjust her posture, she wondered what her Uncle-Master was planning.

"Jiuge, go and break your senior brother's formation," Venerable Wudao commanded.

"Yes." Though puzzled, Lin Jiuge obeyed, walking straight to the core and shattering it. Zhou Yan stood there, stunned. Who broke his formation?

"Junior Sister!" Zhou Yan was shocked to see who had done it. He had seen her incompetence with arts and techniques firsthand, so why had she broken the formation before him? More importantly, he was the one specializing in formations! How was this reasonable?

Looking into Lin Jiuge's eyes, Zhou Yan recalled the time the Pure Water had dripped into them. Could it be?

"Junior Sister, can you see the formation cores?" Zhou Yan asked tentatively.

"I can," Lin Jiuge answered firmly.

Li Yun and Venerable Wudao stared at her eyes curiously. They looked brighter than others, but they felt nothing unusual.

"A-Yan, how did you know your junior sister could see them?" Li Yun couldn't help but ask.

"When the Pure Water dripped into her eyes, a lot of black substance seeped out," Zhou Yan honestly recounted.

"So, Jiuge, can these eyes of yours see through everything?" Li Yun drew a sharp breath. No wonder that when he used to tease the children, she was the one who dodged the most, and the spots she attacked were always his weaknesses.

"Jiuge, look in that direction. What is the furthest thing you can see?" Venerable Wudao pointed randomly.

Lin Jiuge peered through various obstacles, past the pond, over the palace, and across a mountain. She saw it.

"Uncle-Master, two first-tier Gale Wolves are fighting," Lin Jiuge stated with certainty.

Li Yun released his spiritual sense in that direction, and his expression shifted. Zhou Yan was stunned—was his junior sister clairvoyant?

"That’s the dense forest outside the sect." However, the "fighting" was not what they had expected.

"Jiuge, what about that location?" Venerable Wudao pointed elsewhere.

Lin Jiuge looked, peering through many palaces until she spotted it.

"Uncle-Master, does our Grand-Uncle-Master have a grandson, or perhaps some other young relative?" Lin Jiuge asked with a complex expression. How would you feel if you were being watched by a toddler under five with such a gentle gaze?

"The Heavenly Mystery Pavilion?" But the line of the Grand-Uncle-Master was strictly forbidden from losing their primordial yang. Was this the Grand-Uncle-Master’s secret? The two looked at each other—had they accidentally stumbled upon a piece of dirt on him?

"Boom!" The sound cut them off. "Stop overthinking." Tianjizi had used some unknown method; Venerable Wudao and Li Yun had lost all face in front of their juniors.

Tianjizi had not expected Lin Jiuge to have such an opportunity. He had calculated that she would gain something, but he hadn't foreseen that her poorly developed eyes would evolve into the peerless "Evil-Breaking Eyes." Once her cultivation increased, the entire sect would be under her surveillance.

"Ahem, Jiuge, look at that location one more time?" Venerable Wudao feigned composure. Thankfully, Fu Zai was safe.

Lin Jiuge looked, stopping at a place that resembled a prison.

"A prison, but why are there people mixed in who are wearing other people's skins?" Lin Jiuge frowned. Why did those people look different to her than they appeared to others?

Venerable Wudao handed Fu Zai to Li Yun and vanished with Lin Jiuge.

"Uncle-Master, where is the Senior Uncle-Master taking Jiuge? What exactly did she see?" Zhou Yan asked, unable to contain himself.

"A-Yan, it is not yet time for you to know." Li Yun shook his head. What Jiuge had seen was the Dark Prison.

"Uncle-Master, where is this place?" Lin Jiuge was stunned by the gloom before her. She hadn't realized there was such a dark place within the sect.