Because the last page was completely blank.
No words or markings. Yet, something felt wrong.
Xiao Feng stared at it for a moment longer before slowly extending his hand.
His fingers brushed against the surface. Instantly, a subtle difference became apparent.
It was smoother than the other pages, cooler to the touch.
And slightly thicker, as if it did not belong to the same material as the rest of the book.
"This… isn't part of the book…"
His voice was low, almost a murmur to himself.
Without hesitation, he pinched the edge of the page and gently pulled.
There was no resistance and the page separated cleanly. It was a loose sheet, hidden within the book.
At that very moment, the strange resonance within his body intensified.
His Pill Bone trembled faintly, a subtle heat spreading through his arm, traveling along his meridians like a silent signal.
"It seems I have good luck."
He remembered those stories in his previous life, where protagonists found treasure and secret arts during such encounters.
He didn't expect that he would have similar encounter like them.
But now there is another problem.
That is how to found the secrets of this paper sheet.
If not for rule that nobody could take out anything from library out of this building, he would take this thing with his home and research it slowly.
But, that's now the case now. He had to find its secrets on the first place.
"Huh... is this medicine herb smell?" Suddenly, he smelled a faint fragrance from this sheet. He carefully examine this and found his doubt is correct.
"If this thing is really something like that... then this method should work."
Xiao Feng's eyes brighten with this thought. The corners of his lips lifted slightly, forming a faint, knowing smile.
He raised his hand and next moment, a flame ignited instantly at his fingertips.
After checking around him was nobody present, he brought the flame closer and began to burn the page.
The fire wrapped around it completely, engulfing it from all sides.
"Sizzle!"
The flame fiercely burnt the paper, yet the seemingly fragile latter remained motionless. Not even their color changed in the slightest.
Xiao Feng became more exited with this. This means that this opportunity is more greater than he thought.
Maintaining a calm state of mind, he was neither rushed nor impatient. He allowed the flame to continuously roast the paper, while his eyes were scanning the surroundings.
It was not until more than ten minutes, that paper faintly emitted a soft glow and gradually changed.
Its brownish color slowly faded, replaced by a deep, dark gold.
Upon closer inspection, a golden light was subtly contained within, and a strange fluctuation quietly spread.
Hiss!
In the quiet room, a strange sound of liquid flowing suddenly came. Xiao Feng's gaze looked towards the flames in front of him, and he was immediately stunned.
Within the flames now, there was a strange, dark golden liquid.
The liquid slowly flowed within the flames, as if it possessed its own sentience, occasionally condensing into various strange shapes.
"What treasure is this?"
Xiao Feng softly murmured, hesitated for a moment. Then took a deep breath of the slightly dry air.
He gently extended his hand, then reached into the flames. After a pause, he finally inserted a finger into the pool of dark golden liquid.
Sizzle!
As his finger plunged into the liquid, a sudden change occurred.
The liquid suddenly began to writhe violently, then flew towards his face and instantly engulfing his entire right eye.
"Ahhhh... fucking damn it!"
The dark golden liquid enveloped his entire right eye, and an uncontrollable sharp pain suddenly came from his mind, causing his face to distort.
Under the embrace of the dark golden liquid, his eye also began to writhe strangely. Even faint sounds of meat being roasted could be heard.
"My teacher should have a pill to grow my new eye!"
The sensation of burning grew stronger and stronger, and just as Xiao Feng thought he will need a new eye, the sharp pain abruptly stopped.
The dark golden liquid, like a tide, seeped into his eye and quickly disappeared.
Before Xiao Feng could even react in astonishment, his head suddenly vibrated, and his right pupil subtly glowed with a dark golden light.
From his mouth, a low murmur escaped.
"This is... 'Dao Origin Pupil' !"
A deafening roar suddenly exploded within Xiao Feng's mind, not as a sound carried through the air.
But as a violent tremor that originated from the deepest layer of his consciousness. In that instant, his vision was swallowed completely.
When he regained his senses, he found himself in a peculiar space.
It was like a boundless void that seemed to exist beyond the limits of reality itself. There was no sky above him, no ground beneath his feet, and no sense of direction to anchor his perception.
His gaze swept across it briefly, then suddenly stopped at a certain spot in the Space.
There, a middle aged man stood with hands clasped behind his back. It stood there quietly, as though it had always been there, waiting to be noticed.
Its edges wavered faintly, like a reflection disturbed by ripples, making it difficult to determine whether it was truly a physical presence or not.
Before Xiao Feng could react further, the figure suddenly laughed out loudly.
"Finally… finally!"
"I have waited for so long… and at last, a successor has appeared!"
The voice carried excitement, relief, and a trace of something almost unhinged, as though the speaker had endured an immeasurable passage of time in isolation.
Xiao Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression remaining calm, but his mind had already become fully alert. Every instinct warning him that the existence before him was far beyond anything he could handle.
The figure's gaze slowly lowered, landing directly on Xiao Feng.
That single glance felt penetrating in a way that defied explanation.
It was not merely looking at his body, his existence was being seen through completely without resistance.
For a brief moment, the figure paused.
A faint hint of surprise appeared on his face.
"Qi Refining Realm?"
The words were spoken with a slight frown, as if the answer did not align with his expectations.
But that surprise lasted only an instant.
In the very next moment, the figure burst into even louder laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! Good! Good!"
"If that is the case… then your talent is far beyond what I expected!"
Xiao Feng did not respond, but a subtle tension lingered in his mind, as he silently observed, waiting for the figure to reveal more.
The man slowly raised his hand and pointed toward Xiao Feng's right eye, his expression gradually turning serious.
"Listen carefully," he said, his voice lowering, carrying a weight that seemed to press upon the surrounding space itself. "What you have obtained… is my legacy."
A faint tremor spread through the void.
"Dao Origin Pupil."
The moment those words were spoken, Xiao Feng felt a subtle resonance within his right eye, a deep, uncontrollable warmth that seemed to respond instinctively to the name, as if acknowledging something long predestined.
"This eye do not merely allow you to see," the figure continued slowly. "This allow you to see mystery of the Heaven."
"They resonate with the Dao, revealing truth beneath illusion, essence beneath form."
"With them, you can sense heavenly treasures hidden from the world, no matter how deeply concealed."
"You can discern unawakened physiques, dormant bloodlines, and even the faintest trace of ancient inheritance that lies hidden within a person."
"Nothing escapes their gaze."
As he spoke, his tone grew heavier, as if each word carried the weight of experience accumulated over countless years.
A subtle pressure spread outward with those words, causing even the surrounding darkness to ripple faintly.
"Their mysteries are endless, far beyond what you can currently comprehend. In time, you will understand."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"The Heavenly Spirit Saliva has already tempered your eye, allowing it to withstand the power of this inheritance. You now possess the qualification to cultivate the Dao Origin Pupil."
Xiao Feng's heart trembled slightly as the explanation settled into his mind, but before he could fully process it, the figure's expression turned solemn.
"There is one thing you must never forget."
His voice dropped, becoming colder, heavier.
"This technique… can only be passed on in one way."
A brief silence followed.
Then—
"By removing your own eye… and giving it to the next successor."
The words fell like a heavy stone into still water, sending ripples through Xiao Feng's thoughts.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
A chill spread along his spine.
That meant this was not simply a cultivation technique.
It was a singular inheritance, a treasure that could only exist in the possession of one individual at a time.
And the key to passing it on… was the eye itself.
In that instant, a horrifying realization surfaced in his mind.
That dark golden liquid…
That thing that had forced its way into his eye…
Could it be—
this man's eye?
Xiao Feng's expression stiffened almost imperceptibly.
A wave of nausea surged up from his stomach, his throat tightening as the memory of that writhing, living sensation replayed itself vividly in his mind.
The heat.
The movement.
The way it fused into his flesh.
For a brief moment, he genuinely felt like vomiting.
But before that thought could develop further, a cold voice cut through his mind.
"Watch your thoughts, kid!"