Yù Quán had been walking through the forest, looking for his prey. He finally found a beast he felt he could handle—a small, brown boar with three fur manes resembling those of horses. Yù Quán hadn’t learned how to discern the level of beasts yet, so he only hoped it wasn’t too strong. He decided it would be best to attempt the power of the eyes before showing himself, in case it didn’t do what he thought it was.

Yù Quán hid in a tree above the boar, who was eating berries from a bush at the edge of a small clearing in between some trees. He removed his shirt to reveal the eyes, and he didn’t think the pressure would be strong enough to be emitted through objects until the eyes got much stronger. He opened the eyes; other than the fact that they were under his chest, they seemed normal. Yù Quán focused on the boar and sent heavenly energy to the eyes. Heavenly energy wasn’t strong enough for combat with other cultivators, whose bodies were strengthened from tempering. But still, it was all Yù Quán would have until he reached the Essence Refinement Stage, and even that would be inferior to qi.

Once heavenly energy was held in the eyes, Yù Quán activated it with a thought. He was surprised at how easy it was, as easy as blinking or looking in a different direction, which the eyes on his chest could also do. At that moment, Yù Quán could feel an invisible force coming from the eyes that traveled in any direction they looked. He could focus it on a smaller area or encompass the entirety of the space within vision. After testing it out, he finally aimed the pressure at the boar, covering him in it. Instantly, Yù Quán could see the boar got vigilant. Hair standing on end, head shifting around, looking ready to pounce. Yù Quán couldn’t understand. Was it too weak to do anything but strong enough for the boar to notice? But then, how could it be a heaven-level art?

Yù Quán thought for a while, then remembered a specific part. The pressure would take on the most prevalent characteristic of the being he took them from. But they were bandits. Yù Quán thought it should be a murderous or ferocious gaze, but why did it only alert the boar? Then he realized. If one’s main characteristic was murder or ferocity, why would they be a bandit? There could be many other things that better fit them. What bandits exuded most wasn’t killing intent or ferocity; it was avarice.

The boar could feel the avarice, which wasn’t a dangerous feeling but was still one to guard against. Even the strongest in the world would be on guard if he felt someone coveted his things. Only a fool would be mindlessly confident. With his eyes, he could make people feel alert. It might not be great for direct combat, but there were definitely ways he could use it, especially in terms of distraction. Unfortunately, he knew that they weren’t strong enough yet. He had taken the eyes from mortals. Although they were stronger than average beings, bandits who killed and stole, they were still mortals. Even with two pairs, the boar couldn’t be that strong if it was affected by the avarice of mortals.

Yù Quán didn’t find a need to fight the beast anymore; he already knew what his bandit eyes could do, and they weren’t suitable for attacking, so there was no need to endanger himself. Instead, he would leave to cultivate. His cultivation should be faster now, using more eyes, and he could strengthen the eyes to make them suitable. But this also made Yù Quán think. Couldn’t he also take the eyes of the boar? A deep grin appeared on his face as he turned back to the helpless boar.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

…

Yù Quán was heading back with the body of a boar slung over his shoulders and two new eyes. He placed them on the side of each arm, at the top where the shoulder and the arm connect. He wanted to test the technique's ability to make new meridian openings using the eyes. While it was surprisingly effective, and he now had two new spots he could take in heavenly energy from, opening a spot in the meridian and connecting an eye to it was much more painful than connecting an existing one.

He didn’t know what to call the different eyes to keep track of them. For now, bandit eyes and boar eyes would have to do. He would name the boar eyes after the actual species, but he didn’t know enough about this world yet. So far, he had mutilated two men and killed one boar. Yù Quán didn’t know how to feel about this. He thought it was wrong, but he knew if he was weak, taken advantage of, or even killed, only he and his weakness were to blame. Ultimately, he decided to put it aside and deal with those feelings after being strong enough to attend the academy.

Thinking about the eyes made him consider the power of avarice. In the Xianxia novels he would read, anything could be a dao or a law. Was there a Dao of Avarice? Or a Dao of Stealing? It could even be of thieves or bandits. He thought that the use of avarice was an interesting topic worth investigating. But he didn’t feel any resonance, so he didn’t believe he would take it as his own.

It had only been a few hours when Yù Quán returned to the cave. Rèn Chāngmíng was still cultivating but hadn’t progressed much since he had last seen him. Rèn Chāngmíng seemed to notice Yù Quán’s presence but didn’t move. Knowing his personality, Yù Quán knew he had reached an essential part of his cultivation; otherwise, Ren Changming would greet and bombard him with questions. Yù Quán didn’t dare do anything to disturb him, so he just sat down, removed his shirt once again, and began cultivating.

Yù Quán was excited; he could now use six more entry points to gather heavenly energy. If this didn’t speed up cultivation, he didn’t know what would. When he started to gather heavenly energy into his meridians through the new eyes, along with his original ones, an incomparable wave of energy flowed through him. He almost forgot to attempt to open meridians because of how shocked he was. Yù Quán began directing the large amount of heavenly energy in his body to several different meridians.

Crack, Crack, Crack

Sections of meridians were cracking open one by one. At this rate, he would break through to the next stage in no time.

…

Yù Quán

Realm: Qi Focusing Realm

Stage: 6th Level Heavenly Energy Gathering

Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 1)

Techniques:

[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 1)

[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 1)

Attributes:

[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)

[Eyes(x6)](Level 1)