darknovel Chapter 1 Awakening Double Pupils
Chapter 1 Awakening Double Pupils
In a simple courtyard in Huangfeng Valley Market, Yue Kingdom, two people were intently watching a spirit-testing disc in the hands of an eight-year-old child. The child's name was Mu Chunfeng, and the man and woman beside him were his father, Mu Hong, and mother, Su Chun.
With a slight vibration of spiritual energy, three faint lights of blue, gold, and red suddenly lit up on the disc. The next second, joyful shouts erupted in the courtyard.
"Hahaha, three spiritual roots! They're true spiritual roots!"
Mu Chunfeng was overjoyed, and her parents embraced each other, weeping with joy.
The father looked at his son with a look of relief, while the mother's eyes were filled with tears.
After the initial surprise, Mu Chunfeng rushed to his parents, hugged their legs tightly, and said loudly, "Father, Mother, I have three spiritual roots. I will definitely cultivate diligently in the future and never let you work so hard again. From now on, the three of us will surely live a good life!"
Su Chun gently stroked his head, her voice choked with emotion, "Mother believes in you, Mother believes you will definitely be able to do it in the future."
The three of them whispered intimate words as the rising sun climbed higher and higher, its warm light spilling over the courtyard wall and covering the entire small courtyard.
Mu Chunfeng was originally a transmigrator who came to this world from Earth by chance and grew up in Huangfeng Valley since birth.
His parents were both pseudo-spiritual root cultivators, with their cultivation only reaching the sixth level of Qi Refining.
Knowing that they were of inferior talent and had no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime, and that even advancing their cultivation to the next level would be as difficult as ascending to heaven, the two simply gave up their thoughts of cultivation and saved up all their savings, just to pave the way for their future children.
Even if their child still has a pseudo-spiritual root, they only hope that their child will not waste their life like they did, and that they can live a more stable life.
Mu Chunfeng has been in this world for eight years now.
Over the past eight years, he had long since come to know from the familiar words "Yue Kingdom", "Seven Sects" and "Yellow Maple Valley" that he was in the world of "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality".
Although he didn't know the reason for his time travel, he had already settled down—since he was here, he would live another life to the fullest.
Moreover, this is the world of cultivation where one can embark on the path to immortality and seek longevity. More importantly, in this life, he has parents who are connected by blood, and he cherishes this warmth all the more.
Therefore, when he was five years old, he mentioned that he wanted to test his spiritual roots, but his parents always refused on the grounds that he was too young.
Over the years, Mu Hong and Su Chun often used their spiritual power to nourish his body, saying it was beneficial to his physical growth, but in reality they were hoping to improve his spiritual root aptitude and help him cultivate in the future.
Mu Chunfeng knew that one's innate spiritual root could not be changed so easily, but he also knew that he was too young and his meridians were not yet fully developed, so he could not withstand the cleansing of spiritual energy. Therefore, he let the two of them do as they pleased and never objected.
The day the spiritual root was tested was Mu Chunfeng's eighth birthday.
That afternoon, he received birthday gifts prepared by his parents: his father gave him a copy of "The Fire Cloud Technique" and his mother gave him a copy of "The Complete Book of Basic Talismans".
The "Fire Cloud Technique" was originally a cultivation method that Mu Hong practiced himself. Now that his son has been diagnosed with a fire spirit root, it is a good opportunity to pass it on to him and personally guide his cultivation.
The "Complete Collection of Basic Talismans" was something Mu Chunfeng had long coveted—he had glimpsed it a few times at a market stall and had kept it in mind ever since.
Now that he has been diagnosed with three spiritual roots, Su Chun reluctantly decided to spend several spirit stones to buy the book.
She was frugal to the core, saving every penny for her son, so on this joyous occasion, she naturally went along with his wishes.
Mu Chunfeng was overjoyed to see the two books. He first bowed solemnly to his parents to express his gratitude, and then respectfully accepted them with both hands.
Holding the two books, he almost couldn't resist sitting down and reading them right then and there.
Seeing his barely suppressed yet trying-to-be-composed little adult demeanor, Mu Hong couldn't help but smile: "If you can't resist, don't force yourself. Go inside and read properly. Your mother and I are going out for a bit. You stay home and read in peace. If there's anything you don't understand, we'll ask you when we get back."
Mu Chunfeng composed herself and looked at her parents: "Father and Mother, you must be tired from your journey. Please be careful. I'll be waiting for you to come home."
Su Chun smiled gently, patted his head, and then walked out of the courtyard with Mu Hong.
As soon as the two left, Mu Chunfeng could no longer contain himself. The excitement that had just subsided surged up again. He grabbed two books and rushed into the house, plunging headfirst into "The Fiery Cloud Manual".
Fortunately, he had already memorized the body's meridians and acupoints thoroughly. After carefully confirming that the first layer of the mantra was correct and memorizing it word for word, he immediately sat cross-legged and began to cultivate his qi.
A month later, as Mu Chunfeng's cultivation technique reached its perfect state, a faint wisp of heat flowed slowly along his meridians. The moment he completed the first cycle of the technique, he suddenly opened his eyes, a smile playing on his lips.
Success! Level 1 Qi Refining!
Feeling the faint yet real spiritual energy within his body, a month of meditation and arduous cultivation finally yielded results.
But just then, Mu Chunfeng suddenly noticed something was wrong.
The swaying of the leaves outside the window suddenly slowed down, and everything in front of me became exceptionally clear—was this…divine sense?
He gazed intently out the window once more.
At this moment, even pedestrians on the road outside the courtyard were clearly visible, and one could even see through the courtyard wall to discern the faces and clothing of pedestrians several feet away. Wait a minute! How could someone at the first level of Qi Refining awaken divine consciousness?
Before he could think it through, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his eyes.
Mu Chunfeng quickly grabbed a bronze mirror and, forcing himself to look up despite the discomfort, saw that each of his eyes had two pupils, one large and one small, with a faint reddish-purple glow around the edges, looking extremely eerie. This was… double pupils?
Immediately afterwards, he felt a wave of dizziness and lightheadedness, and then everything went black before he passed out.
He didn't wake up until his parents returned in the evening.
Over the next three days, Mu Chunfeng consulted his father about common knowledge related to spiritual consciousness and tried several times, finally figuring out his own situation.
He had indeed awakened his divine sense, and its strength was comparable to that of a cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining, covering a range of over ten zhang. The ability to pass through walls and objects was an innate ability of his double pupils, which could be activated simply by channeling his magical power into his eyes. However, with his current meager spiritual energy, he could only sustain it for a short while before his magical power was exhausted and his eyes began to sting. As for whether his double pupils possessed any other supernatural abilities, due to his low cultivation level, he was unable to explore or test them for the time being.
Even so, Mu Chunfeng was overjoyed.
This was, after all, his own cheat ability. Although he hadn't fully figured out its specific functions yet, recalling the stories he had read in his previous life, he was certain that his double pupils were no ordinary thing—after all, there's a saying that goes, "Double pupils are the path to invincibility."
Time flies, and I steadily cultivate myself under the spring breeze; four years have passed in the blink of an eye.
His family was already poor, but his parents always gave him every spiritual stone and resource they earned to help him with his cultivation.
Even so, his cultivation level only reached the fifth level of Qi Refining.
Firstly, he couldn't bear to see his parents overworked and didn't want to waste spirit stones without restraint; secondly, although the three spiritual roots were true spiritual roots, their cultivation speed was already mediocre, so their progress was naturally slow.
But Mu Chunfeng was already very content. What made him even happier was that he could finally hand-draw talismans and add an extra source of income for his family.
For the past four years, he has devoted himself to studying the art of talisman drawing.
At first, his cultivation was too weak to truly draw spirits into talismans, so he often practiced writing with a tree branch on the ground, repeatedly simulating the method of drawing energy into talismans in his mind.
Whether it was due to his superior spiritual sense compared to others of the same level, the talent brought by his double pupils, or a combination of both, he succeeded in drawing two out of ten talismans on his first official attempt, so at least he didn't lose money.
Mu Hong and Su Chun were both greatly shocked when they saw it.
As far as they knew, even a talented talisman master would only have a 40% success rate when first learning to make talismans. Most newcomers would fail dozens of times before they could even grasp the basics. For him to have a 20% success rate on his first attempt was an astonishing talent.
As he continued to draw, his skills became more and more proficient, and he could often successfully draw four or five out of ten talismans.
Mu Chunfeng's parents were overjoyed, and he was happy to go with them to the market to sell their wares and supplement the family income. His parents had been running errands and doing odd jobs in the market for many years and were very familiar with the ways of the place. On their first day, they successfully sold four talismans and earned eight spirit stones—Mu Chunfeng's first pot of gold on his path of cultivation.
Over the past few years, Mu Chunfeng has also discovered another ability of the double pupils: locking.
Simply focus your spiritual energy into your eyes, gaze at the target, and with a thought, you can imprison objects or even living beings, freezing them for three breaths. The more magical energy consumed, the stronger the imprisonment effect and the longer it lasts, but the maximum duration is only three seconds.
However, he could still clearly sense that deep within his double pupils lay unawakened supernatural powers, waiting for him to reach a higher level of cultivation before he could truly unlock those stronger abilities.
The days passed quietly in the daily practice of cultivation and drawing talismans.
On a sunny afternoon, Mu Chunfeng was drawing talismans in his room when a strange feeling of unease suddenly welled up in his heart. The blank talisman papers he was drawing kept failing and burning, seven or eight in a row, which made him feel a little anxious.
He quickly held his breath and tried to calm himself, but his usually rock-solid state of mind wouldn't settle down. What was happening? This trembling feeling was as if some terrible disaster was about to strike.
Just then, his double pupils appeared on their own, uncontrollably.
Mu Chunfeng was already very familiar with activating the double pupils, and now that it appeared on its own for no reason, his unease surged to the extreme.
"Squeak—" The wooden door of the courtyard was slowly pushed open.
Mu Chunfeng turned her head sharply and saw her father, Mu Hong, covered in blood and swaying precariously as he slowly walked in, leaning against the doorframe.
The scene before him struck Mu Chunfeng like a thunderbolt, his mind reeling.
He rushed out the door, supporting Mu Hong tightly. As he pulled him back into the house, his voice trembling, he urgently asked, "Father! What happened? How did you get so badly hurt? Where's Mother? Why didn't she come back with you?"
The moment the words left his mouth, a surge of panic welled up inside him.
He carefully laid Mu Hong flat on the bed. Mu Hong spoke weakly, "Chunfeng... I'm sorry... your mother... cough cough..."
Before he could finish speaking, Mu Hong burst into a violent cough, gushing out mouthfuls of blood.
"Healing Pill! Healing Pill!" Mu Chunfeng muttered in a panic, frantically rummaging through drawers and cabinets to find the healing pill treasured in his home.
The moment he found the pill, he could no longer hold back his tears, and he tried to stuff the pill into Mu Hong's mouth while crying.
But Mu Hong gently spat out the pill, weakly shaking his head: "No need... I don't need it anymore... Chunfeng, listen to your father..."
Mu Chunfeng wiped away her unstoppable tears while nodding frantically.
Mu Hong's voice, barely audible, rang out, each word distinct: "We accepted a commission from someone who wanted us to accompany him to slay a low-level demonic beast, promising a reward of ten spirit stones. We were tempted by greed and followed him out of the market. Who would have thought he harbored such malicious intentions, launching a sneak attack halfway there? I was severely injured on the spot. Even your mother and I, working together, were no match for him… Your mother… to ensure I could escape and report back, she stayed behind alone to hold him off, and in the end… cough cough…"
"Your mother told me I had to come back, that I had to tell you that she has always loved you and wants you to live well..."
"Spring Breeze... Father is incompetent..."
Tears mingled with blood, sliding down Mu Hong's face and dripping onto the bed.
His life was weak, humble, and mediocre until his son was born, which brought a glimmer of light to his life.
With his last breath, he gripped Mu Chunfeng's hand tightly, gazing at him: "Chunfeng, you have three spiritual roots... If you have the chance in the future, you must join a sect and cultivate diligently, don't end up like your father, wasting your entire life. From now on, you must be careful in everything you do... Don't think about avenging us, just live a good life... The person I've wronged the most in my life is your mother, who struggled with me at the bottom of society her whole life, never letting her have a single good day... Fortunately, fortunately, we have you..."
His voice trailed off. The last glimmer of light vanished from Mu Hong's eyes.
"father!"
Mu Chunfeng wailed loudly, tears streaming down her face. She held her father's gradually cooling body and cried until late at night, until her tears dried up and her voice became hoarse, and she could no longer utter a sound.
Several hours later, Mu Chunfeng suppressed his deep grief, cleaned up his father's body, and silently put away the storage bag that Mu Hong had clutched tightly in his hand before his death. At this moment, he had no intention of looking at what was inside.
The next day, he tried to find out more information, but no one in the market cared about low-level cultivators like Mu Hong and his wife. No one knew where they had gone that day, and the two of them had not revealed their whereabouts to anyone before they left.
Mu Chunfeng had no choice but to erect a cenotaph for Su Chun in a mountain valley dozens of miles outside Huangfeng Valley Market.
He sat quietly in front of the stone grave, gazing at the name on the tombstone.
Only when the sun had set and the last glimmer of sunset faded into the horizon did he softly finish expressing all his longing, rise and gaze at the silent valley, and slowly depart with a melancholy heart.
The sun rises and sets, and the morning sun still rises, but the courtyard is no longer filled with the lively atmosphere of the past.
Mu Chunfeng returned to her empty home and began to take stock of the storage bags left behind by Mu Hong.
Inside were only a dozen or so low-grade spirit stones, a low-level protective talisman, two sets of worn-out clothes, a mid-grade magic weapon short sword, and a low-grade magic weapon.
This is all the wealth that the two parents accumulated through half a lifetime of hard work.
Even those few talismans were only given to his parents three each for self-defense after he learned how to make them; otherwise, they wouldn't have kept even this small amount for themselves.
Su Chun couldn't even afford to buy her own basic storage bag; the two of them shared the same one for half their lives.
Looking at these things, Mu Chunfeng couldn't help but smile bitterly.
They lived such a frugal and stingy life for the rest of their lives, all for him.
A moment later, he released his divine sense and carefully scanned the inside and outside of the courtyard. After confirming that no one was watching, he walked to the corner of the house and lifted a loose floor tile.
Hidden below was a storage bag. He brushed away the dirt, opened it, and the moment he probed it with his divine sense, his eyes welled up with tears again—inside was all the resources this family had accumulated over half a lifetime, a full hundred or so low-grade spirit stones.
They could have used those spirit stones to buy pills and resources, and at least steadily cultivated to the eighth level of Qi Refining, but for his sake, the two of them couldn't bear to spend a single penny, saving it all for him.
A thousand thoughts surged within me, ultimately culminating in a heavy sigh.
Mu Chunfeng gripped the storage bag tightly in his hand, gazing towards his parents' memorial tablets. In his heart, he swore a blood oath, word by word: "Father, Mother, rest assured, your son will live well. But I, Mu Chunfeng, swear that I will not be a human being if I do not kill this villain!"