northernbook Chapter 244 Strange Eyes
Chapter 244 Strange Eyes
Xiaoqing's words surprised Jiang Yuchuan.
"Why do you think so?"
Xiaoqing glanced at Xiaogu, who was clinging to her, and replied:
"If you take in another pet, Master, then Xiao Gu will no longer be the youngest! I'm the eldest brother, Xiao Gu is the second eldest brother, and this human cub will be the third eldest brother!"
Xiao Gu shook her wings in complete agreement.
"..."
Jiang Yuchuan was both amused and exasperated.
Just then, the boy's eyelids twitched, as Jiang Yuchuan had healed his injuries.
Seeing that the boy was about to wake up, Jiang Yuchuan casually waved his hand and gently placed him back on the ground.
"Is he waking up?"
Xiaoqing's eyes lit up, and she immediately scrambled down from Jiang Yuchuan's body with Xiaogu, came to the boy's side, stood up, and stared at the boy's face without moving.
After a while, the boy frowned and finally slowly opened his eyes.
"You're awake!"
Upon seeing the awakened boy, Xiaoqing immediately greeted him with a question.
Xiaoqing's clear greeting instantly drew the boy's attention.
But when the boy saw that the one who had just spoken to him was actually a white snake, his still somewhat confused pupils widened instantly, and he subconsciously sat up, quickly backing away in terror.
Seeing this, Xiaoqing snorted lightly: "Human cub, what are you afraid of! I am your savior snake! If I hadn't carried you back, my master would never have saved you!"
Upon hearing Xiaoqing's words, the boy noticed that there was another person sitting not far away.
When the boy turned his gaze to Jiang Yuchuan, his eyes widened in surprise again.
At the same time, Jiang Yuchuan also noticed the boy's unusual eyes, which were set beneath thick eyelashes.
—Heterochromia!
Left eye is amber, right eye is charcoal gray.
From the fleeting change in the boy's eyes when he looked at him, Jiang Yuchuan could almost conclude that these heterochromatic eyes, besides being different in color from ordinary people, must have other uses as well.
"interesting!"
Jiang Yuchuan smiled at the boy. "Although your injuries have healed, you are still very weak and need to rest for a while. You can choose to stay here and leave when you are fully recovered. Of course, if you are not comfortable here, you can leave now, and I will not stop you."
After saying that, Jiang Yuchuan got up and went to the training room deep inside the cave.
"Xiaoqing, bring some food to this little guy."
Jiang Yuchuan said this to Xiaoqing telepathically.
After hearing this, Xiaoqing glanced at the boy again and said to Xiaogu, who was lying on top of her:
"Xiao Gu, you go and keep this human cub company. I'll go outside and find him some food!" With that, she wriggled her body, humming a little tune as she crawled out of the cave.
Xiao Gu obediently flew off Xiao Qing's body, flapping its wings, and flew towards the boy.
After Jiang Yuchuan and Xiaoqing left one after the other, the boy's tense and curled-up body relaxed a little, no longer as fearful and vigilant as before.
The boy's eyes lit up with curiosity as he watched the plump, golden beetle fly toward him.
This was Xiao Gu's first encounter with the boy, and she stopped very discreetly on the rock next to him, without getting too close.
The cave fell silent once more.
The man and the insect stared at each other, speechless.
The boy settled down in the cave.
During this time, the boy never uttered a single word or made a sound.
Although he ate the food Xiaoqing brought him without hesitation, he always remained wary and distant when facing Xiaoqing.
Xiaoqing went from being indignant at first to getting used to it. To express her dissatisfaction with the boy's "unfeeling" behavior, she specially gave him the nickname "Little Mute".
It can't really be called a nickname; that's what it truly believes in.
He's not mute, so how could he not say a word for more than ten days in a row?
Jiang Yuchuan has not left the training room since he left last time.
This also filled the boy with curiosity. Therefore, whenever he had free time, the boy would always look at the tightly closed stone door of the training room.
Another ten days or so have passed.
The boy had fully recovered, but he had no intention of leaving.
After spending more than a month together, the boy was no longer so afraid of Xiaoqing, but he still hadn't said a word.
Aside from returning to his cave to rest at night, the boy would wander around the area during the day.
Whether by coincidence or not, the boy would always stop in time whenever he reached the edge of the array set up by Jiang Yuchuan, either walking along the edge of the array or returning the way he came.
This unusual phenomenon naturally did not escape Jiang Yuchuan's secret observation.
His formation, viewed from the inside out, showed almost nothing unusual. Without sufficient strength, it would be impossible to detect with the naked eye.
The reason why this young man, whose cultivation was only at the peak of the Strategist Realm, was able to stop himself every time he reached the edge of the formation was clearly due to the effect of his heterochromatic eyes.
While heterochromia, which grants special abilities innately, does exist in the cultivation world, it is an extremely rare phenomenon.
There are generally two reasons for this phenomenon.
Firstly, it's somewhat similar to the atavism of demonic beasts; their ancestors included powerful individuals who cultivated this divine ability. During the transmission of these powerful individuals' bloodlines through generations, occasional awakenings occurred, resulting in these twin pupils.
Secondly, the mother had taken rare and precious herbs during her pregnancy, and the fetus in her womb absorbed these herbs, causing abnormalities in its eyes.
Both of these scenarios are extremely difficult to implement.
Based on Jiang Yuchuan's observations over the past few days, he is more inclined to believe that the boy's heterochromia comes from the first scenario.
Because if one has consumed rare and precious herbs, the corresponding aura of those herbs will inevitably remain in their eyes.
Although this aura would gradually fade over time, it could not escape his perception.
Of course, there may be situations other than these two options, but the probability of such a situation is almost negligible.
If this boy's heterochromatic eyes really come from his bloodline, then his ancestors must have had a powerful figure whose strength was comparable to or even above the Nascent Soul stage!
Only such powerful individuals can pass on their supernatural abilities through bloodline when conceiving offspring.
This is why if a family has an extremely powerful ancestor, the family will not only grow rapidly, but the talents of its descendants will also undergo a qualitative change under the influence of its bloodline, resulting in a succession of powerful individuals.
That night, after eating the roasted beast meat that Xiaoqing brought back, the boy, contrary to his usual behavior, did not return to the corner to rest as usual, but instead took a step and slowly walked towards the training room.
Xiao Qing and Xiao Gu, who were lying on the stone table, looked at the boy with curiosity.
In the past few days, the two of them noticed that the boy was staring at the place where his master was in seclusion for longer and longer periods of time, as if he had something on his mind.
"Could it be that this little mute boy wants his master to treat him so that he can speak again?"
This is what Xiaoqing was thinking.
Under the watchful eyes of a snake and an insect, the boy stopped about ten feet away from the stone door of the training room.
Judging from the boy's hesitant and struggling expression, it seems that he is making a major decision at this moment, hence his indecisiveness.
After a fierce internal struggle, the boy slowly loosened his clenched fists, and his shoulders slumped down, as if all his strength had been released.
Just as the dejected boy was about to turn and leave, the tightly closed stone door suddenly made a sound.
The boy was startled and immediately looked up, just in time to see Jiang Yuchuan walking towards him.
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[The following content is unrelated to the main text and can be skipped.]
The martial arts realms of the human race are divided into nine major realms from low to high: Body Refinement, Maneuvering, Returning to Heaven, True Embryo, Mountain Shaking, Golden Light, Elixir Breath, Shifting Stars and Transforming Feathers, and Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness.
The first seven realms are further divided into four stages: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and peak.
The cultivation realms of the demon race are divided into eight levels from low to high: Gathering Spirit, Bone Transformation, Demon Core, Demon General, Demon Lord, Demon King, Demon Saint, and Demon God.
Breaking through the Bone Transformation stage means refining the transverse bone and gaining the ability to speak human language.
Breaking through to the Demon Core stage requires successfully passing through a tribulation of lightning before a demon core can be formed. Demonic beasts that reach the Demon Core stage can transform into human form.
After the Demon Core stage, each advancement in cultivation level requires undergoing a tribulation of lightning.
The Tianque Continent is divided into six continents: Wanshan Continent, Ying Continent, Zhong Continent, Yan Continent, Yun Continent, and Ling Continent.
Among them, the largest and most prosperous continent is Wanshan, located in the center of Tianque Continent, with a total area equivalent to two Yunzhou. Wanshan Continent is mostly mountainous, and Yanzhou is mostly barren land, so these two continents have the fewest people and are mostly gathering places for demonic cultivators. Yingzhou is located in the sea and consists of nearly a hundred islands of different sizes.
Each continent is further divided into eight prefectures, and each prefecture contains dozens or even hundreds of cities, depending on its size.
The power levels are divided into: Bronze, Iron, Silver, and Gold.
Criteria for advancing a faction:
There must be at least one True Embryo Realm expert in the Bronze Force.
The Black Iron Force must have at least one Mountain Shaking Realm expert and ten True Embryo Realm experts.
The Silver Force must have at least one Golden Light Realm expert and two Mountain Shaking Realm experts.
There are only seven Golden Forces on the Tianque Continent, and this number has remained unchanged for tens of thousands of years.
(The above-mentioned standards for the realm of martial artists are the minimum standards. In addition to the realm of martial artists, the inheritance of cultivation techniques is also of paramount importance for the development and growth of a force.)
Advancement of a faction requires verification and recognition from a Gold-level faction in order to obtain a token symbolizing the corresponding faction's rank.
In addition, there is no power in the Tianque Continent that can govern all the continents like a court or dynasty, so everything is basically controlled by the major powers.
The Golden Force is the strongest and the true ruler of the Tianque Continent.
However, the Gold faction generally does not concern itself with worldly affairs, so under normal circumstances, the Silver faction takes over.
Although the Tianque Continent values strength and respects martial arts, no matter how intense the battles between martial artists are, they must not affect innocent civilians.
This is an unwritten rule passed down from ancient times, which every martial artist must abide by. Anyone who violates it will be hunted down by the local forces once discovered.
In severe cases, it may even attract the attention of the gold mining industry.
Few righteous martial artists dare to violate this rule, but it is different for demonic martial artists.
Because of the nature of their cultivation methods, many demonic martial artists need blood and human organs to cultivate, so they inevitably turn their attention to righteous martial artists and ordinary people.
This is also the fundamental reason why the righteous and the demonic paths have been irreconcilable enemies since ancient times, a situation where it's either you die or I perish.
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The sky was clear and blue, and the water and sky blended into one color.
Xu Changliu, his face covered by a straw hat, lay half-reclined on the shore, his head resting on a stone. Beside his feet, a bamboo fishing rod was propped up high, stretching straight out into the lake.
It's been an unknown amount of time since he traveled to this place.
There is no sunrise or sunset here, nor the changing of the seasons. Putting aside the period of repeated slumber at the beginning of his journey, Xu Changliu only remembers that the thick peach tree in front of the wooden house bore fruit a total of four times, while for the outside world, more than a hundred years have passed.
At that moment, the fishing line that had been lowered into the lake suddenly trembled, creating ripples on the flat surface of the lake.
Xu Changliu seemed to sense something, took off his straw hat, sat up, and looked towards the lake—
Through the rippling water, a picture gradually emerges on the surface.
The scene shows a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old running quickly through a dark forest late at night.
Xu Changliu remembered that the boy's name was Han Yunzhi, the second son of Han Zheng, the current head of the Han family.
At this moment, Han Yunzhi looked grief-stricken, his eyes red and moist. Although he had rushed into the woods, the sounds of fighting and screams behind him continued to echo, gripping his heart tightly.
The Han family is currently facing annihilation, and he longs to return to fight alongside them and share life and death. However, burdened by his mission and the hopes of his people, he cannot act on his own whims. He can only flee this disaster without regard for the consequences, in order to save his own life.
The pale moonlight was broken up by the dense branches and leaves, scattering mottled spots of light on the ground.
Han Yunzhi suddenly stopped, steadied himself, and looked ahead at the road—
Several figures blocked his path, seemingly having been waiting for him for some time.
Upon recognizing the boy who was about his age leading the group, Han Yunzhi was immediately startled, then enraged, gritting his teeth as he called out the boy's name:
"Ma-Ming-Ze!"
The boy named Ma Mingze took a few steps forward, looked at Han Yunzhi with a mocking expression, and sneered: "I never thought that the young master of the dignified Han family would be such a coward who would abandon his clan and run away alone at this critical moment. How pathetic and laughable!"
Han Yun snorted angrily, drew his sword and pointed it at Ma Mingze: "Ma Mingze, stop being sarcastic! Your Ma family is so despicable and vicious, you will not have a good end!" With that, he thrust his sword straight at Ma Mingze's vitals.
The Ma family, to which Ma Mingze belongs, has a long-standing feud with the Han family. Tonight's disaster for the Han family was instigated by the Ma family!
The fact that Ma Ming was able to appear here and intercept him means that there is a traitor among the direct descendants of the Han family! Otherwise, this secret road leading to the outside world would not have been exposed!
Han Yunzhi knew that at this point, it was impossible for him to escape unscathed. Only by fighting to the death could he have a chance to survive! That's why he launched the first attack, intending to gain the upper hand.
Seeing Han Yunzhi thrust his sword at him, Ma Mingze immediately drew his knife to meet him.
Seeing this, the other six disciples of the Ma family immediately followed suit and joined the battle, surrounding Han Yunzhi and cutting off all his escape routes.
Although Han Yunzhi was only thirteen years old, he had already reached the late stage of the Meridian Opening Realm!
To have such a level of cultivation at such a young age is to be considered one of the top geniuses even in the entire Guangping Town!