novelden Chapter 437: Black Points
Chapter 437: Black Points
The man frowned. That had never happened before. Not even with himself.
What was happening?
He remained silent. Waiting.
One minute. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Then... Kyrian opened his eyes. The man froze. The violet eyes had disappeared. There was no lightning. There were no irises.
His eyes were completely white.
But that was not all. At their center, there was a single black pupil. Small. Tiny. Almost nonexistent.
Looking into those eyes... the man felt a chill. It was not the chill of cold, the kind that makes the skin prickle and the hairs stand on end.
It was the same sensation he experienced whenever he observed the black sapling. An unpleasant feeling. As though he were facing something unknown.
Kyrian blinked slowly. He looked around. The room. The candles. The table. The man.
Everything seemed normal. Except...
His eyes stopped on the man.
Black points. Scattered all over his body. Hundreds of them. Some are larger, the size of coins. Others are smaller, like grains of sand. Some bright, as though active, pulsing with energy. Others are dim, dull, and dead, like ashes.
Kyrian frowned.
’What are those things?’
He tried to understand.
But unlike the other paths... nothing happened. No knowledge emerged in his mind. No understanding regarding that path appeared.
It was as though it were incomplete. An incomplete eye. An incomplete path.
The man broke the silence.
"How are you feeling?"
Kyrian slowly stood up.
His knees ached, the impact against the wooden floor had left marks.
"Fine."
He looked once more at the sapling, the black plant with its grayish stem and dried roots. Then, at the man.
"So..."
"Did I pass the test?"
The man remained silent for a few seconds.
He had not died. The Qi had not killed him. There had been no complete rejection.
That was... enough.
Then, he nodded.
"Apparently. You didn’t die. That is enough."
Then he narrowed his eyes.
"Your eyes... What happened?"
Kyrian hesitated briefly.
’Should I explain?’
There was no reason to hide it. He answered.
"My eyes possess different paths. This Qi awakened a new one."
The man froze.
"A new path?"
Kyrian nodded.
"But it seems incomplete."
The man absorbed those words.
Eyes capable of awakening cultivation paths? It was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.
Special ocular physiques... he had already seen those. He knew people with eyes capable of seeing through formations.
People with eyes capable of glimpsing the future, in fragments, in visions. People with eyes capable of hypnosis.
But eyes capable of awakening different paths... Never.
"Can you see anything different now?"
Kyrian looked directly at him.
His eyes, white with the tiny black pupil at their center, scanned the man’s body.
From head to toe. From shoulders to chest. From arms to hands.
Then he answered.
"Black points."
Silence.
"Black... points?"
"Yes. There are many scattered throughout your body."
The man’s breathing faltered.
"Impossible."
Kyrian tilted his head slightly.
"Do you know what they are?"
The man remained motionless.
The Black Points. He had never encountered anyone capable of seeing them besides himself. And Kyrian had managed it within minutes.
He reached toward his spatial ring.
An enormous quantity of scrolls appeared. They were not just a few, there were dozens.
Some silk scrolls, yellowed by time, with frayed edges. Others were jade slips engraved with runes, glowing faintly. Others were leather-bound books, thick and heavy, filled with parchment pages.
He began searching frantically. Scrolls are being opened and closed. Jade slips were examined and discarded. Books were leafed through and tossed aside.
Finally, he found one. A black scroll.
Worn by time, with frayed edges, faded ink in some places, and dried leather.
His hands trembled slightly.
"I call them Black Points."
Kyrian observed the scroll. Diagrams filled its surface. Meridians, fine lines running throughout the human body.
Organs, heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, and spleen, drawn in impressive detail. Dozens. Hundreds. Of tiny dark points.
"You can see them?" Kyrian asked.
The man nodded slowly.
"Yes. But..."
He closed his eyes. For a moment, he appeared tired. Old.
"It took me a hundred years before I could see them."
Kyrian remained silent.
"A hundred years."
The man continued.
"A hundred years to learn how to see them. A hundred years of studying. Fifty years failing."
The word echoed in the air, heavy with weight.
"Failing. Failing, until slowly, year after year, the points began to appear."
"First as shadows. Then as stains. Then as points."
Until finally, a hundred years later, he could see them.
Not all of them. Not clearly. But enough.
His eyes returned to Kyrian.
"And you... managed it immediately."
The disbelief in his voice was obvious.
Talent? Luck? Were the young man’s eyes simply monstrous?
He took a deep breath. Trying to regain his composure.
Then, he extended the scroll.
"Take it."
Kyrian accepted it carefully. The leather felt rough beneath his fingers.
"What is this?"
"My legacy."
"Hundreds of years of study."
"Every discovery, no matter how small, is recorded."
"Every mistake, no matter how painful, has been documented."
"Every observation, no matter how subtle, has been preserved."
"Regarding the Black Points. The Endless Needles. My understanding of everything."
Kyrian observed the scroll in silence. Heavy. Not physically. But in meaning. Hundreds of years of life condensed into a single scroll.
The man continued.
"These points..."
"Can save lives, by unblocking obstructed meridians and removing incurable poisons."
"Or destroy them, by piercing spiritual cores and shattering dantians."
"It all depends on how they are used."
Kyrian raised his eyes.
"And you want to teach me?"
The man remained silent. Then, he answered.
"No."
Kyrian frowned. The man smiled faintly.
"I want you to surpass me."
He pointed at the scroll.
"I will give you the original, the one I found in that cave decades ago."
"And also my notes, my studies, my observations, and my mistakes."
"Combine them. Study them. Understand them."
Kyrian listened in silence. The man looked toward the black sapling.
"Do you see this plant? It is dying. Just like me."
"But..."
His eyes met Kyrian’s.
"You are not."
"You are only beginning."
Kyrian remained silent.
Then, he nodded.
"I understand."
The man relaxed slightly, his shoulders lowered, the tension in his face easing. Then, his attention returned to Kyrian’s white eyes.
That tiny black pupil, minuscule, almost nonexistent, seemed to be observing him.
Silent. Profound. Unknown.
The wind blew softly. The candles flickered.
Inside that small house, two people with special eyes watched one another in silence.
One man is close to death, with damaged meridians, weakened organs, and invisible scars.
And a young man whose potential seemed limitless.
Kyrian looked once again at the Black Points scattered throughout the man’s body. Especially those near the heart.
They seemed... broken. Unstable.
Like cracks, in glass, in a wall, in something that was meant to be solid.
His gaze lingered upon them for a few seconds. Then he asked,
"Those points near your heart..."
The man froze.
"Have they always been like that?"
Silence. Slowly, the man looked away.
"No." His voice came out low.
"It was the technique."
Kyrian remained silent. The man closed his eyes.
"Every use demands a price. And I paid mine."
"Using that black Qi is like a double-edged blade."
"It can heal, but it also kills slowly. It can strengthen, but it also weakens. It can save, but it also destroys."
"A type of spiritual illness that has no cure."
When he opened his eyes again, there was only serenity within them. Not the serenity of someone who had given up. But the serenity of someone who had accepted the price.
That technique had brought him this far. But the cost had been a shorter life than he should have had.
Then, he looked at Kyrian.
"But now..."
A small smile appeared on his lips, not the bitter smile from before, but something lighter, more hopeful.
"Perhaps I have found someone capable of discovering what I could not. Perhaps you can use the technique without suffering."
Kyrian tightened his grip slightly on the black scroll between his fingers.
His white eyes, with that tiny black pupil, remained fixed on the man before him.
A legacy. And now it was being passed on. To Kyrian.