Quinn Shepherd's heart trembled: "Carrying the stone statue—is that like carrying a god?"
Grandpa Blind said calmly, "To walk while carrying a god is to bear a weight beyond imagining. Back when Granny Sue and the others were rescuing you, Grandpa Mark carried one of these statues to bring her to the riverbank. Even though the distance was short, it nearly broke Grandpa Mark despite his strength."
Quinn felt his scalp tingle—were the stone statues in the village really that heavy?
Then who carved these statues?
And what gods are carved onto these statues? Why do they become so heavy when shaped in their likeness?
When I was little, I used to climb up on the statues to poop and pee—would the gods hold a grudge against me for that?
"Don't worry—the god who carved these statues is long dead. Quinn, I'm having you look at the statues to train your eyes. What I want you to see isn't just an ordinary statue, but an idol carved by a god for other gods!"
Grandpa Blind's voice thundered, making Quinn's eardrums buzz. He shouted at the bamboo basket beside the statue, "Quinn! The Ninefold Heaven Eye Art opens god eyes. Since they're god eyes, you must see gods! Use your eyes to witness a god—see its presence, its rhythm, its aura, its bearing, its divinity!"
Quinn's mind reeled. "See a god? See the god within the statue?"
"Channel your yuanqi into your eyes—open the first heaven of your mortal eyes!"
Grandpa Blind’s bamboo cane gently tapped Quinn’s chest—this time, striking with uncanny precision. Instantly, Quinn felt his yuanqi surge forth, billowing toward his eyes!
Cultivating the eyes is extremely dangerous. Quinn’s yuanqi had already begun to refine his body, purging impurities and excess fat, but the eyes are the hardest place to temper—almost a forbidden zone. One careless mistake, and he could be blinded!
Quinn had once asked the Village Chief how to train his eyes, but the Village Chief hadn’t said much—only warned him never to attempt eye refinement lightly.
Yet Grandpa Blind was forcefully driving Quinn’s yuanqi straight into his eyes, the momentum fierce and domineering—completely against common sense!
Quinn felt a stabbing pain shoot through his eyes as his yuanqi flooded in. His cultivation was strong, but under Grandpa Blind’s terrifying power, it was compressed into a fine thread.
How big are a person’s eyes, really?
But at that moment, Quinn felt as if his eyes had become unimaginably vast—big as the sky itself!
His yuanqi surged like a dragon, the massive serpent plunging into eyes as vast as the heavens. Then, all at once, it erupted—yuanqi shot skyward like a pillar holding up the world, then rolled out in torrents, weaving strange, intricate patterns across the firmament. These net-like lines crisscrossed the sky, as if the laws of heaven themselves were inscribed above.
The pain vanished in an instant, replaced by a comfort so profound it was unlike anything Quinn had ever felt.
"Quinn, memorize the patterns in the sky. That’s the first heaven of the Ninefold Heaven Eye Art—the Divine Firmament Heavenly Gang Pattern." Grandpa Blind’s voice echoed from somewhere beyond, lofty and distant.
Quinn hurried to memorize every detail. Under Grandpa Blind’s guidance, his yuanqi formed the Divine Firmament Heavenly Gang Pattern within his eyes. He could clearly see the flow, structure, and intricacies of the formation, but it was so complex that committing it all to memory would take time.
Grandpa Blind repeatedly drove Quinn’s yuanqi, again and again. After a long while, Quinn was nearly spent before Grandpa Blind finally lifted his cane from Quinn’s chest.
"How much did you remember?" Grandpa Blind asked.
"About sixty or seventy percent."
A look of satisfaction crossed Grandpa Blind’s face. "That’s not easy in such a short time. Recover your yuanqi now."
Quinn broke into a run, activating the Overlord Three-Core Art to quickly restore his yuanqi.
When his cultivation returned to its peak, Grandpa Blind said, "Now activate the Heavenly Gang Pattern I taught you. Look at the statue again—see if it’s any different than before."
Quinn channeled his yuanqi into his eyes, constructing the incomplete Divine Firmament Heavenly Gang Pattern—only sixty to seventy percent, but enough to spread clarity through his vision. That cool, penetrating sensation returned, as if he could see through everything.
He raised his eyes to the dragon-headed elder statue before him—and was shaken to his core. What once seemed an ordinary stone carving now erupted in dazzling color!
The statue seemed to come alive, transforming into a towering god that reached from earth to sky!
He even saw delicate halos of light radiating from the statue, each beam highlighting its sacred majesty.
His spirit was instantly crushed beneath the statue’s overwhelming presence!
In his eyes, the statue was no longer stone—it was a living god!
The god’s bearing, aura, rhythm, and momentum slammed into Quinn’s mind, crushing his spirit and nearly his body. His knees threatened to buckle; he desperately wanted to kneel!
"Keep looking—don’t close your eyes, and don’t kneel."
Grandpa Blind said coldly, "When you were little, you’d climb this statue to poop and pee—if you dared then, why kneel now? Quinn, the Ninefold Heaven Eye Art isn’t just about opening your eyes. It’s about opening your heart, letting you face the world’s power and cruelty head-on!"
"A warrior’s true strength isn’t just in their moves—it’s in their heart! If your spirit is crushed by a pile of stone, all the power in the world won’t mean a thing!"
Grandpa Blind slammed his cane to the ground, shouting, "If you resist the statue’s oppression, your spirit will grow stronger! To become truly powerful, you must first strengthen your heart—be your own god, and fear nothing!"
Cold sweat streamed down Quinn’s forehead as he fought desperately against the urge to kneel. The statue’s oppressive force was overwhelming—he could barely withstand it.
Grandpa Blind said to be fearless, but Quinn simply couldn’t do it.
Opening the god eyes and not opening them are worlds apart.
Without your god eyes, the statue is just ordinary stone—you could climb it and do your business without a care. But once your eyes are opened, that statue becomes a god, and even looking at it feels like blasphemy!
Grandpa Blind said, "It’s easy to change the god in a broken temple, but hard to break the god in your heart. Do you know who said that?"
Quinn was so shaken by the statue’s presence that he couldn’t answer.
"The man who dared say such a heretical thing is none other than the Imperial Preceptor of the Everpeace Empire, the one hailed as ‘first beneath the gods’!"
Grandpa Blind, full of swagger, shouted, "Quinn, every god living in your heart is a twisted god, a false god! Only by smashing them can you raise your own statue! Forget a stone idol—even if a true god stands before you, you must never kneel!"
He staked his cane in the ground, loosened his belt, and burst out laughing: "Not only should you refuse to kneel—you should piss on it!"
"Piss on it?"
Quinn stared in disbelief. "Piss on a god?"
Grandpa Blind stood before the statue and urinated on it, laughing heartily. "That’s right—piss on it! When you were little, you did it a hundred times. Afraid now?"
Gritting his teeth, Quinn unbuckled his belt. A hot stream shot out, splashing across the statue.
With that act, the statue in Quinn’s eyes was still sacred and imposing, but the crushing urge to kneel vanished without a trace!
The old and the young exchanged glances and burst into carefree laughter, full of joy.
The Village Chief sat sunning himself at the doorway. Hearing their laughter, he turned to look and couldn’t help but shake his head: "Grandpa Blind is a mischievous genius—using this bizarre method to shatter the god in Quinn’s heart and strengthen his spirit. Anyone else would never think of it, but Quinn actually dared to join in. By making him piss on the statue, Grandpa Blind broke not just Quinn’s inner god, but his own—the god who gouged out his eyes... The Gun God has returned."
He understood exactly why Grandpa Blind did it.
The bamboo cane in Grandpa Blind’s hand wasn’t truly a cane—it was a spear.
Back when Grandpa Blind first arrived at Oldridge Village, his eyes were ruined, his body battered, filthy as a beggar.
Yet his steps were steady, and the cane in his hand was unwavering.
When he entered the village, the Village Chief felt as if a furious dragon was sweeping into their humble home—Grandpa Blind’s bearing was like a pillar holding up the sky.
Only the Gun God could possess such spear mastery and spirit.
But the Gun God’s greatest power wasn’t his spear—it was his eyes. God eyes that could pierce every flaw in any technique!
And now, Grandpa Blind had passed those god eyes on to Quinn.
To train the spear, first train the eyes. To train the eyes, first train the heart!
Grandpa Blind’s eyes were god eyes—the stronger they grew, the more reality they saw, and the more terrifying truths they revealed.