Sage of Humanity

The days passed uneventfully as he patrolled the valley's Formations with Xie Yunhan, inscribed spirit runes on ten cultivators, and then practiced saber skills with Xia Liang.

It was a recurring cycle.

If it weren't for the lingering thoughts of the Fox Demon's previously mentioned quest for vengeance, such a life would indeed be quite pleasant.

Nine days later, all the cultivators in the valley had received their rune tattoos, specifically defense rune tattoos. During this time, Lu Ye had quite an eye-opening experience...

After finishing his tasks, Lu Ye sought out Xia Liang, ready to practice saber skills with him.

Unexpectedly, Xia Liang said, "I've already taught you all the basics I could; what remains must be understood through your own experiences in life-and-death battles. Mere instruction is no longer of much use now."

After all, the fundamentals of saber skills are limited, and with over ten days of teaching, Xia Liang had imparted all he could; indeed, there was nothing left to teach Lu Ye.

Moreover, the enhancement of saber skills primarily relies not on instruction but on the accumulation and sublimation through successive real combats. Each person needs to slowly refine their mastery of saber skills amidst bloody battles.

Over these ten days, Lu Ye felt that his saber skills had improved significantly; his foundation was more solid than before, and his comprehension of saber skills had ascended to a new level.

It's safe to say that just for this aspect alone, his strength had increased by at least ten percent, which undeniably was a huge gain.

So, even though there had been numerous grievances between him and Xia Liang, just for these days of instruction, Lu Ye formally bowed and said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Xia!"

It was uncertain how Xia Liang would react if he had the chance to break free from the Fox Demon's mental control.

He was originally supposed to kill Lu Ye, but due to an unexpected turn of events, he ended up teaching Lu Ye quite a bit about saber skills.

"I can no longer teach you the basics, but today I will teach you something else." Saying so, Xia Liang took out his long saber from the storage sack, assumed a stance, closed his eyes, and said, "Attack me!"

Seeing his demeanor, Lu Ye hesitated no longer. He reached for the hilt of his saber, his figure flickered, and he charged toward Xia Liang, slashing down with his saber while keeping a close watch on Xia Liang's movements.

When the Boulder Mountain Saber was less than a foot away from Xia Liang, Xia Liang suddenly moved, raising his long saber, and blocking the Boulder Mountain Saber first.

Lu Ye couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

Xia Liang was at Cloud River Level 9, while he was only at Level 4; the vast difference in cultivation made it unsurprising for him to block his strike.

What surprised him was that Xia Liang, with his eyes closed, seemed to see his attack.

Using the force from the rebound, Lu Ye gracefully retreated.

"Again!" Xia Liang called out.

Lu Ye charged again, this time opting for a more concealed direct stab rather than a grand slashing attack.

This fellow was able to block his slashing attack with his eyes closed, possibly by listening for his position, but how would he block such a concealed straight stab?

To Lu Ye's surprise, still at half a foot away, Xia Liang's long saber suddenly moved, gently deflecting the Boulder Mountain Saber while his head tilted aside, letting the saber stab into the void close to his neck.

Lu Ye was greatly astonished.

"Again!"

Lu Ye struck a third time...

But the result was the same each time; each attack was blocked by Xia Liang as it neared half a foot away from him.

Although Lu Ye was not employing his full strength, Xia Liang's ability to do so with his eyes closed still seemed incredible to him.

After more than a dozen strikes, he had not even touched a corner of Xia Liang's clothes.

Then he opened his eyes and looked at Lu Ye, "Do you see what I mean?"

"Perception?"

"Mental Eye!"

"Mental Eye?"

"What the eyes see may not be real, but what the Mental Eye sees can never be false," Xia Liang earnestly explained. "This isn't a saber technique, but it is indeed a supplementary secret technique useful for all combat cultivators. You mentioned perception, which isn't entirely incorrect. Most combat cultivators have their perception of danger during combat, but the Mental Eye is based on that perception, yet it transcends it."

He paused, then continued, "The cultivators we deal with now are in the Cloud River Realm. Their draw speed might not be too fast, allowing the naked eye to catch them, but as your cultivation level increases, a day will come when many powerful opponents will move so fast, your eyes won't be able to follow. How will you respond then? Reliance solely on your perception might not give you time to react, but if you can master the Mental Eye Secret Technique, it will be different. Even if you are blind, with a long saber in your hand, no enemy could approach you unnoticed. The Mental Eye Secret Technique is unique to my Mad Saber Sect, possessing a curious parallelism with the Sword Heart of the Beixuan Sword Sect. My mastery of this technique is only just beginning, so I can only defend against attacks within half a foot."

Lu Ye suddenly understood why his attacks were always responded to by Xia Liang when they were about half a foot away; apparently, the technique had its range.

Excitedly, he asked, "How can I cultivate it?"

This was a secret technique exclusive to the Mad Saber Sect, not accessible to anyone but its elite disciples. Had Lu Ye not ended up in Fox Fairy Valley, he would never have come across this technique.

Suddenly, he remembered chasing after Xia Liang and fighting him. Xia's defense had indeed felt as solid as a fortress. Had Xia not been severely injured at that time, Lu Ye would never have been able to do anything to him relying solely on the Mental Eye Secret Technique.

Xia Liang wore a reminiscent expression: "When I first cultivated this secret technique, I was under the supervision of my seniors, fighting demon beasts of various numbers, all while blindfolded. So if you truly wish to cultivate this technique, you must experience it firsthand, allowing your body to memorize the sensation of impending crises. Over time and with enough repetition, you will naturally succeed. Unfortunately, we don't have the conditions for that here; you'll have to find an opportunity to do it later."

Lu Ye nodded slightly.

With prior instructions from Zhou Yuntian, Xia Liang would never lay a hand on Lu Ye. Thus, even if Lu Ye wanted to cultivate this secret technique, Xia could not serve as his sparring partner.

"Remember one thing – the execution of the Mental Eye Secret Technique relies on your own sensory perception; the stronger a person's perception, the easier it is to cultivate successfully."

"Understood," Lu Ye replied.

The strength of perception depends crucially on the psyche, and the strength of the psyche is closely tied to the psyche itself.

In short, the stronger a cultivator's psyche, the easier it is to cultivate this secret technique, and the psyche... was one of Lu Ye's strengths.

After parting ways with Xia Liang, Lu Ye returned to his own room, activated a Formation, assigned Yiyi to stand guard nearby, and then retrieved the Breath Fruit Core from his storage space.

Indeed, Fox Fairy Valley lacked the conditions for cultivating the Mental Eye Secret Technique due to the absence of suitable sparring partners. However, the Breath Fruit Core in Lu Ye's hand could provide him with the best cultivation environment.

In the past, whenever he entered the Mirage Realm, Lu Ye would relentlessly kill the monsters inside to hone his saber skills. However, as his cultivation increased gradually, his trips to the Mirage Realm had likewise become less frequent.

Firstly, each entry into the Mirage Realm consumed merit points. Secondly, he did not lack life-or-death combat experiences in his daily life, so he scarcely needed to enter the Mirage Realm for training.

But now that he wanted to cultivate the Mental Eye Secret Technique, the Mirage Realm was undoubtedly the best option.

Spending one hundred merit points and pushing open the massive door, Lu Ye stepped into the Mirage Realm, steadied himself, and closed his eyes.

He had just gotten ready when the fog nearby suddenly churned, and a figure burst forth, viciously pouncing toward him.

The attacking prowess of this figure was only at the Level 4 Cloud River Realm level, matching Lu Ye's own level; shrouded in fog, it was impossible to see the assailant's face or distinguish their gender.

Normally, Lu Ye could have easily knocked down such an opponent with a single strike.

But now, with his eyes tightly closed, Lu Ye had to rely solely on his own sensory perception and some sounds to track the enemy's movements, which was undoubtedly a huge challenge for him.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind hit his face. Following his instinct, Lu Ye unsheathed his long saber and slashed downward.

However, the strike did not hit anything. On the contrary, his abdomen ached from an injury inflicted by the opponent.

Another gust of wind struck, and Lu Ye turned around, slicing sideways with the Boulder Mountain Saber, still achieving no success and feeling another pang of pain.

Moments later, on the second floor, Lu Ye opened his eyes, a sharp pain throbbing in his head, causing the corners of his eyes to twitch.

An opponent of the same cultivation level, who he could usually defeat with a single slash, had managed to force him out of the Mirage Realm in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea with his eyes closed!

How could Lu Ye tolerate this?

Again!

After another cup of tea, Lu Ye opened his eyes once more.

Again!

After repeating the process more than ten times, Lu Ye's face was visibly pale.

Even with his strong psyche, dying once or twice in the Mirage Realm had little effect on him, but dying too many times in a short period was something even he could scarcely endure.

Now, his headache was splitting, his entire head felt like it was about to explode; he had only felt this way a few times when he first got the Breath Fruit Core, and never since his psyche had grown stronger.

However, dying more than ten times was not without gains. With his eyes closed, he was able to last increasingly longer against his enemy, even accurately blocking several of the enemy's attacks on several occasions.

Xia Liang had said that to cultivate the Mental Eye Secret Technique, one needed to personally experience it, allowing the body to memorize the sensations of looming crises. Therefore, with each strike from the enemy inside the Mirage Realm, Lu Ye would intensely focus his senses, estimating the landing spots of attacks and feeling the crises brewing inside his body.

Xia's initial cultivation under the supervision of his seniors and fighting various demon beasts had gradually led him to success with this secret technique.

Compared to Xia's method of cultivation, Lu Ye undoubtedly had more advantages because he was in the Mirage Realm where, even if killed, he wouldn't suffer much loss. These experiences, remembered by the body, were undeniably more vivid and deeply imprinted.

Moreover, Lu Ye's psyche was much stronger than cultivators of the same level, which was another advantage for him.

He did not know how long Xia Liang had spent cultivating this secret technique originally, but he was certain that his own cultivation of this technique would definitely be much quicker.