Bab 24: Inner Devil (5)

The two heavenly treasures floated into the air, exuding auras of absolute dominance. Lower caliber treasures would attempt to run at this moment, but these Origin Grade treasures felt that it was far beneath them to do such a thing. They could sit completely still and still have the arrogance to say that no one could catch them. This was the pride of a heavenly treasure!

As for the fact the Ventus and Tatsuya Clans had technically done exactly that, this was ignored by them. To such sentient treasures, they didn't consider being 'claimed' by a Clan to be akin to being truly captured. To them, the only way to lay claim to them was to become their master!

The Heavenly Wind sparkled with an arrogant gold, fluttering in the air aimlessly. Not to be outdone, the Origin Flame bared its prowess. Its flame wasn't hot, but it bathed the ceremonial hall in a rainbow of bright colors.

Gale's expression became serious. His feet left the ground, allowing him to meditate in the air. Soon, his body seemed to disappear despite the fact one's eyes could clearly see him in the same position.

"To enter a meditative state so quickly. Truly a heavenly genius." Someone of the crowd murmured. "The Ventus Clan must have done its absolute best to nurture this young man."

Similar evaluations spread out amongst the guest. There was no doubt that they were well warranted. However, it could only be expected for someone with cultivation as deep as Gale's to enter this first stage of meditation so easily.

Gale silently adjusted his mental state. He felt absolutely no pressure in this competition. He already knew exactly how difficult it was to gain the acknowledgement of these heavenly treasures because he had yet to gain the acknowledgement of the North Heavenly Wind!

Why was it that Gale had this treasure with him yet had not used it? Obviously, this ordeal caught him off guard so he hadn't been saving it for this occasion.

The truth was that Gale had been accumulating momentum to gain the Heavenly Wind Embryo's acknowledgement for several months now. Everyday, he would constantly nurture it with his own qi, this was exactly why it was stored in his eyes' inner world. Of course, this was yet another shameless ploy. After all, Gale had specified that they could gain the acknowledgement of one or both!

Those who hadn't become enamoured by the presence of the heavenly treasures immediately realized that something was fishy the moment Gale evoked his inner world. This realization caused the anger of the Ryu's family to boil once more, but there was nothing they could do. No matter how shameless Gale wanted to be, it was Ryu who had already accepted the conditions. If he had had a problem with it, he should have said so before.

Gale's eyes finally snapped open, flooding the room with an enigmatic presence only those with Heavenly Pupils could match.

His eyes flashed with aggression, sparking with a fierce green light that seemed to carry the depths of the universe itself. One couldn't help but become hypnotized by his gaze… This was truly the seventh ranked Heavenly Pupils, The Eyes of Truth!

There was not a single pair within the Heavenly Pupils ranking that could be looked down upon. In fact, The Eyes of Truth could be said to be the most feared without exaggeration!

The reality was that these pair of eyes were only arbitrarily ranked so low because their combat abilities were marginally lower than the six that outranked it. However, its abilities were wholly devastating.

Some of the most devastating techniques of the martial world were those of the mind. These so-called Mental Realm Masters were so taboo that Clans banded together to eradicate them from existence entirely. In fact, to many, Mental Realm techniques were more atrocious than even Fiend Path ones.

It may sound silly to compare sacrificing virgins for the sake of cultivation to mental tricks, but imagine this for a moment. What if a virgin was completely aware that the man they were with only wanted to use them as tools before discarding them, yet did so happily anyway, thinking that it was their own will?

This was the devastation a master of the Mental Realm could inflict upon a person. One wasn't even safe within one's own mind!

Today, the so-called Mental Realm that Old Mistress Holy Wing referred to simply involved a calm mental state, it was about tempering one's will from within instead of projecting it outward.

All of this said, there was one staple of the Mental Realm Master that survived to this day, and that staple referred to the Eyes of Truth!

With his eyes, the range of abilities Gale had was frightening. For one, his Mental Realm was perpetually far above what his cultivation dictated, allowing him more Spiritual Qi. This permitted him to meditate, maintain focus, and contemplate for values of time far exceeding those of his cultivation level. However, this wasn't the end of it.

Gale's eyes had the ability to influence the Mental Realm of others, even peering into them. Not only did this allow him to tell falsehoods from truth, he could employ suggestive abilities on the psyche of others. Of course, he wouldn't dare to do the latter now due to taboos, but who's to say that he's never done so before in secret?

If Gale was given a set of Mental Realm Techniques, his abilities would soar far beyond imagining. In fact, it's because these techniques were all destroyed that the ranking of his pupils fell from the fourth rank to the seventh. However… Legend has it that each set of Heavenly Pupils comes with a hidden legacy. Once Gale's cultivation reached a high enough level, wouldn't he gain exactly what he was missing now?...

Still, there were two restrictions on Gale's abilities that made Ryu not fear him in the least. The first was that those with cultivation far above his rendered his eyes completely useless. And the second was that the Eyes of Truth couldn't exert their dominance over pupils ranked above it! While the fourth, fifth and sixth ranked eyes were exceptions to this due to the fall of the Eyes of Truth from fourth to seventh, the top three Heavenly Pupils were completely unaffected!

Unfortunately, this truth did nothing to stop the fact that the Heavenly Wind had stopped moving entirely… And it definitely did nothing to stop the fact that this very same Heavenly Wind then began to fly toward Gale at blinding speeds…