After an unknown amount of time passed, Jun Xie had no concept of time while concentrating. In any case, all the spiritual energy in the meridian closest to the spiritual vein had been guided by him into the spiritual vein.
This kind of cultivation consumed far more mental energy than physical energy. After completing the first meridian, Jun Xie already felt extremely mentally exhausted. After all, this was his first proper cultivation, and his body was not yet accustomed to it.
"The human body has many meridians, thirty-seven of which are used for cultivation. After the spiritual energy enters the spiritual vein along the meridians, it will be tempered and strengthened within the spiritual vein, making the spiritual energy stronger, and then it will be released back to its original position. At the same time, the circulation of the spiritual vein will also help you absorb more spiritual energy from the outside. Each meridian completing this process once constitutes a heavenly cycle. You took twenty-three minutes to complete one meridian just now, but with experience, you should be faster later on. You must complete one heavenly cycle before dawn; this is very important for you," Cang Xiao's voice reappeared in Jun Xie's mind.
"Thirty-seven meridians, twenty-three minutes, complete before dawn." Jun Xie opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and once again closed his eyes, sinking his mind.
I must press on. Teacher has already helped me this much; if I can't even manage this, what's the point of rewriting my own life!
As Jun Xie sank his mind again, his consciousness returned to the vicinity of the spiritual vein. With the experience from the first meridian, Jun Xie clearly felt that the second meridian was completed much faster than the first. As for how much faster, Cang Xiao did not speak to tell him.
After completing the second meridian, Jun Xie did not pause for a moment and started working on the third meridian marked by Cang Xiao.
Third meridian, fourth meridian… thirty-seventh meridian.
When spiritual energy was guided into the spiritual vein from the thirty-seventh meridian, Jun Xie's heart experienced a moment of trance, feeling as if a great burden had been lifted.
"Now, use the method I transmitted to you to circulate the spiritual vein. You must complete one full circulation before dawn," Cang Xiao's voice sounded again. Jun Xie found that his spiritual vein seemed to be marked with something, a more detailed method of circulation, and at the same time, some complex cultivation methods were transmitted into Jun Xie's mind by Cang Xiao.
Jun Xie had just completed one heavenly cycle, and before his mind could relax, he urged himself to continue circulating.
Outside Jun Xie's body, Cang Xiao's eyes slowly opened. He was calculating something in his mind, muttering, "Fifty-one minutes remaining. I hope you can succeed tonight."
Jun Xie had just been possessed by the Evil Eye. If he could successfully circulate the "Evil Eye Heart Technique" tonight, Jun Xie would be able to control the Evil Eye's abilities much better than under normal circumstances.
The Evil Eye leans towards the dark element. For a novice like Jun Xie, it is best to cultivate at night. Once dawn passes, it will be at least until tomorrow night before he can perform the same operation.
At this moment, Jun Xie was following the method Cang Xiao had transmitted to him, circulating the spiritual vein with all his might. This process was like the intricate cooperation of various parts within a machine, except this machine was Jun Xie's spiritual vein.
And the name of this circulation method also appeared in Jun Xie's mind: "Evil Eye Heart Technique."
As soon as Jun Xie saw the name, he knew this was definitely a Spiritual Art closely related to the Evil Eye.
Normal spiritual energy circulation merely refines one's spiritual energy, while the circulation of a Spiritual Art changes the attribute, operating method, and cultivation efficiency of one's spiritual energy, thereby enhancing various aspects of one's abilities.
Although Jun Xie did not know the grade of the "Evil Eye Heart Technique" among Spiritual Arts, since Cang Xiao gave it to him, combined with its name, it must be the most suitable for the Evil Eye, even if it wasn't the strongest.
As the Evil Eye Heart Technique circulated, it repeatedly approached the area around his eyes, his brow, and his brain. The spiritual energy also felt different, becoming colder, more sinister, yet also more aggressive, and his control over spiritual energy became much smoother than before.
He also felt another kind of power flowing between his eyes, brow, and brain. Jun Xie found this power difficult to control at the moment, but he could feel that this power belonged to him. Although his control over it was not as good as his control over spiritual energy, in terms of sensation, this power felt several times clearer than spiritual energy!
Jun Xie guessed that this must be what is called spiritual power.
Cang Xiao outside the body gave a slight smile. He could already sense the spiritual power within Jun Xie's body, which meant the first circulation of the Evil Eye Heart Technique was complete. Although Jun Xie could not control spiritual power yet, since he had reached this stage, Cang Xiao had ways.
Although it was a bit harsh, he had gone through the same process himself back then…
Before long, dawn arrived. In reality, given Jun Xie's disposition, he would have reached his limit and stopped to rest the moment he completed one circulation of the Evil Eye Heart Technique, as he was not someone with invincible willpower.
But the moment Jun Xie sensed the spiritual power within him, his mind cleared up, and the fatigue from cultivating all night almost vanished. His energy surged as if he had been injected with adrenaline. Jun Xie seized this momentum and continued cultivating for several more hours.
It was now the afternoon of the next day. Jun Xie's eyes flickered, and then slowly opened. Beneath his eyelids, his eyes, with their sinister purple crystal-like color, finally revealed themselves to the world. Opposite Jun Xie, Cang Xiao looked at him in the same posture.
Two pairs of completely identical purple pupils met.
"Green Spirit Level Four. Not bad," Cang Xiao said calmly.
Every three levels form a minor bottleneck, and reaching the tenth level of a stage to the next major stage constitutes a major bottleneck. Apart from these two situations, cultivating through other minor stages is merely an accumulation of quantity.
This is also why Cang Xiao had only helped Jun Xie reach Green Spirit Level Three before; the next level presented a minor bottleneck, and forcibly breaking through with the external force of a high-level expert would be detrimental to future cultivation.
This was the first minor stage Jun Xie had broken through with his own strength. Although this cultivation session was beyond his usual performance, he had preliminarily sensed spiritual power.
What was important was Cang Xiao's next action. He extended his right hand towards Jun Xie.
Jun Xie immediately felt an extremely strong pressure, and at the same time, extremely pure spiritual energy appeared around him. Jun Xie immediately understood Cang Xiao's intention and immediately circulated his spiritual veins with all his might to absorb the spiritual energy.
Green Spirit Level Five… Green Spirit Level Six.
In less than a minute, Jun Xie broke through two more levels. However, these two levels were only accumulations of quantity. As for Cang Xiao, he would not let his disciple waste time on such matters.
With Cang Xiao's King Spirit Level power, let alone Jun Xie at the current Green Spirit Level, even at Qi Ling Level or True Spirit Level, Cang Xiao could do this without any pressure. However, if it were Martial Spirit Level, Cang Xiao would have to be careful. Tian Ling Stage would require various high-level materials to assist in such an operation. Xuan Ling Stage, unless it involved sacrificing one's origin spiritual energy, could only restore the opponent's energy bar and not add experience points.
"Green Spirit Level Six!" Jun Xie said excitedly. After a night of hard training, he finally saw the reward.
"Don't get so excited. Being my disciple is not easy. If you fail to complete the upcoming training, you will surely die," Cang Xiao said sternly.
Jun Xie also restrained his excitement and listened intently to what Cang Xiao was about to say.
"You must gradually master the abilities of the Evil Eye. First, I will introduce you to your ability to see others' emotions," Cang Xiao said in a deep voice.
Jun Xie's eyes immediately widened; this was what he was most curious about.
"Except for those like me who have been possessed by the Evil Eye before, all other living beings, even at King Spirit Level Ten, as long as they appear within your sight, or more precisely, within the Evil Eye's sight, you will be able to see their emotions. This applies even to a soul clone, but not to projections. Furthermore, the Evil Eye sees the most genuine emotions deep within the other person's heart. Even the greatest master of emotional control in the world could not deceive the Evil Eye."
"I surmise that the Evil Eye can release an extremely high-level, invisible energy from its eyes. After visually locking onto the target, this energy can transmit the target's emotions to your mind in an instant, allowing you to see their emotions."
"Even King Spirit Level Ten can be seen! There's no level restriction? This ability ignores levels? Wouldn't that mean all lies and undercover activities would be exposed before the Evil Eye?" Jun Xie exclaimed.
Although this ability had no substantial offensive power, its level-ignoring nature was too overpowered. Moreover, the emotions observed by the Evil Eye were not just a simple emotional label written in one's mind; Jun Xie, as the possessor of the Evil Eye, knew very well how detailed the Evil Eye's perception of emotions could be.
If combined with psychology, social skills, or combat experience, it could directly predict the opponent's next move in battle, which would undoubtedly be a huge advantage!
"Based on my experience, there is indeed no level restriction. As long as you can see them, as long as they are physically standing in front of you and you can still see them, even if they are wearing a full body armor, you can see them. However, you cannot see them if they are inside vehicles or buildings. This is entirely determined by the Evil Eye's judgment. As for the basis and standard of the Evil Eye's judgment, I don't know either."
"Also, you mentioned earlier that after killing that Hat Man, your sense of guilt disappeared. That was not your inner strength; it was also an ability of the Evil Eye. You could not control it before, but now that you have cultivated the Evil Eye Heart Technique, you can. You must never use this ability again in the future. No matter how great the guilt, you must overcome it yourself, otherwise, if you become dependent on this ability, you will lose yourself before long."
"Besides this, the Evil Eye has other abilities, such as the night vision you can use now. As for other stronger abilities, you cannot use them yet," Cang Xiao explained the Evil Eye's various abilities to Jun Xie.
Before taking Jun Xie as a disciple, Cang Xiao rarely spoke so much.
"What comes next is equally important. If you do not pass, you will surely die," Cang Xiao said expressionlessly.
Jun Xie did not know if Cang Xiao was trying to scare him to put pressure on him. After all, the Evil Eye could not see the emotions of those who had been possessed by it before. Regardless, for Jun Xie, what came next was important, so he just had to give it his all.
Because Jun Xie subconsciously did not believe that Cang Xiao would really train him to death, although he seemed to want to give his all, he actually felt no pressure in his heart.