The uncontrolled streak of light crashed into an obscure mountain in the distance. Chen Gensheng was slammed against the rock wall by sheer inertia, spitting out a large cloud of thick, black blood. The thrust from burning ten mid-grade spirit stones was far too overbearing; even his heavily modified, non-human frame nearly rattled apart in that instant of extreme velocity.

  He slid down from the human-shaped crater he had smashed into the rock and slumped onto the ground, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. Li Simin and the Essence-Marrow Toad stood quietly by his side, relatively unharmed.

  Gensheng wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and casually set up a few rudimentary breath-concealing and illusion arrays around the area. He lowered his head, his shoulders beginning to twitch uncontrollably.

  "Heh... hehe... HAHAHAHA!"

  Manic laughter echoed through the narrow cave, shaking loose stone dust and causing the Toad to retract its head into its folds. Gensheng was trembling all over. Is this what cultivation is? This feeling of hanging your life by a thread, where a single misstep leads to eternal damnation and the annihilation of the soul!

  "Zhang Cuizhan! Xiao Bai!"

  Gensheng snapped his head up. His face was a mask of filth and blood, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright. The malice in his chest felt like it was about to explode. He suddenly lunged forward, gripping a jagged stone edge until his knuckles turned white and blood seeped from his fingertips. "Good! Very good!" he hissed. "By a mere hair's breadth! My wretched life nearly became a stepping stone for two pieces of filth like you!"

  He turned to look at Li Simin. It was her eyes that had allowed him to dodge a dozen lethal arrows within the array. And it was precisely because those eyes didn't belong to his own body that he had suffered such a massive setback at the critical moment.

  Gensheng wore a grotesque, half-smiling expression. "Simin, we've been comrades for a few years now." He reached out a hand, gently stroking her cold cheek. "Your eyes..."

  Li Simin gave no reaction, remaining as still as a wooden carving.

  "Your senior brother is naturally stingy and cold. If I don't repay this grievance a hundred—no, a thousandfold, I fear I won't be able to sleep. Those two pieces of filth must die!"

  He withdrew his hand and took out the Flesh and Blood Nest-Vestment from his storage ring. Gensheng was currently arrogant to the extreme; having personally tasted a true battle between Middle-stage Foundation practitioners, he felt his blood boiling. Every inch of his bone and muscle was screaming in exhilaration.

  These were the enemies he craved! Such cunning and power made his entire body shiver with excitement.

  His gaze locked onto a specific chapter discussing how to transplant organs without damaging the root of the soul: "Use resentment as the thread, and the soul as the guide..."

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  Gensheng turned to face Li Simin, his six arms slowly spreading open. "Simin, today, I want your eye!"

  He firmly gripped her shoulders. His middle pair of hands formed an incredibly strange mudra, guiding wisps of pure corpse-qi out of her body to coil and condense at his fingertips. His bottom-most pair of hands extended their nails slowly and resolutely toward her hollow eyes.

  "It won't hurt," he whispered like a ghost, his voice carrying a bone-chilling cold. "When the time comes, I’ll take you with me. You use my eye, and I’ll use your Void-Gazing Eye. Together, we shall witness a massacre of supreme beauty, alright?"

  As he spoke, his hand actually shook slightly. He gazed at her lifeless face and suddenly stood up, pacing the cave agitatedly. Without him realizing it, this corpse-puppet had become his only solace. He loathed the feeling of his life being held in someone else’s hand.

  He suddenly crouched back down in front of her. "You are already dead; what use do you have for these eyeballs? I am helping you! Simin, if you were still alive, you surely wouldn't blame me."

  The black qi at his fingertips transformed into threads finer than spider silk. His fingernails turned jet-black and sharp, slowly probing toward her left eye.

  There was no resistance.

  Gensheng suddenly froze. An illusory voice seemed to ring in his ear: "Senior Brother, you’re just hungry. Eat this; it’s cleaner."

  He jerked his hand back, staggering two steps away as he looked around wildly. Li Simin sat there quietly, but a faint wisp of black qi seeped from the corner of her left eye, looking like a tear that would never dry.

  Those hollow eyes just stared at him. No blame, no hatred.

  "My father said that if I can share a bite of food with you, we are comrades." Gensheng walked forward again and crouched down, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. "I understand. Simin, I am a petty person by nature. I pay back every grudge, and I must... repay every kindness. I owe you a life; that debt must be settled clearly."

  "But this Void-Gazing Eye is a supreme opportunity. Without it, I cannot move a step. I must take it. However, I cannot take advantage of you."

  He reached out and wiped the black qi from her eye. "This way—we’ll take one each. From now on, you will see through my mortal eye, and I will see through your Void-Gazing Eye. We shall truly be one within the other. Only then can we be true comrades."

  He hesitated no longer. The black threads of corpse-qi burrowed into Li Simin’s left eye like living things, while the other end connected to his own right eye.

  Agony surged, but Gensheng didn't even flinch. Using his soul as a guide, he manipulated the two disembodied eyeballs to complete a bizarre exchange in mid-air.

  When the eye endowed with the power of Void-Gazing settled into his right socket, an indescribable sense of clarity pierced his soul.

  He saw the turbulent spiritual energy flowing in the air; he saw the weak power of the Five Elements hidden within the mountain rocks; he saw the circulating corpse-essence within Li Simin that sustained her dead shell. The fundamental nature of all things was deconstructed and presented nakedly before him.

  This was the Void-Gazing Eye! The power to see through illusions and reach the source!

  "SIMIN!!!" Gensheng lunged forward, four of his arms gripping her shoulders as he lifted her to eye level. "Do you see! I’m going to use your eye to turn this gods-forsaken secret realm upside down!"

  "What is Zhang Cuizhan’s pathetic array? To my new eye, it’s nothing but a pile of rotten wood stacked with energy nodes! One eye to match my six arms—Simin, isn't this the perfect pair? Can I not slaughter my way through the entire Foundation stage now? Hmm?!"

  He stopped, crouching anxiously before her, using a bottom hand to stroke the lifeless mortal eye now resting in her face.

  "Don't worry! Once I’ve slain those two pieces of filth, I will find you a vessel even better than before. Since we are comrades, your vengeance is my grievance!"