The story was simple: a man named Ji Chang wished to learn archery.

So, he sought to apprentice himself to the archery master, Fei Wei.

Fei Wei stipulated that Ji Chang must first train his eyesight, specifically to be able to keep his eyes open without blinking, even when an arrow flew right before his face, before he would qualify to learn archery. Ji Chang practiced for over two years and finally succeeded. He went to Fei Wei, who then said, "Now that you learn archery, you will perceive small things as immensely large, and you will have essentially mastered archery."

So, Ji Chang took the finest strand of ox hair, tied a tiny louse to its end, and hung it outside his window. He stared unblinkingly at that louse, watching it constantly for three full years. After three years, the tiny louse he observed had grown as large as a cartwheel.

When Lu Yuan first heard this story as a child, being interested in everything, he tried practicing keeping his eyes open. He was quite determined and practiced for a full month. All the other children had long since given up, but Lu Yuan persisted. In the end, after a month, he had achieved no results whatsoever; he simply couldn't manage to keep his eyes open without blinking automatically after a short interval.

This story is such a deception.

This was Lu Yuan's childhood thought.

However, now, having reached the ninth level of Body Tempering, just one step shy of the Great Perfection before reaching the ultimate breakthrough, recalling this story made him feel he could attempt to use this method to train his eyes and see if it could help him successfully complete this stage of Body Tempering.

First, keeping the eyes open? This method was not difficult, and he immediately began testing himself by not blinking.

In the beginning, his eyes felt no strain at all; it was simple.

But gradually, his eyes began to sting painfully, and keeping them open felt like an ordeal.

Fortunately, he channeled a bit of Cloud-attribute magical power through, and the gentle, soothing energy flowed through his eyes, significantly reducing the fatigue. Enduring this way for a time, Lu Yuan discovered that he could now indeed keep his eyes open. In truth, while this task was difficult for ordinary people, it was nothing much for a cultivator.

The difficult part was the second stage.

There was no ox hair here, nor any lice. Of course, this stage didn't strictly require a louse.

Looking around this place, Lu Yuan wandered until he spotted a pine tree. The needles of the pine tree stood vertically, one by one. Lu Yuan immediately sat cross-legged and stared unblinkingly at a pine needle about five zhang away, focusing on just one needle initially.

A pine needle is naturally larger than a louse.

However, looking at a single pine needle was not necessarily easier than looking at a louse.

After all, there was only one louse, but countless pine needles. Fixing his gaze on just one of them was not an easy feat; a momentary lapse of concentration, and his gaze would shift to a neighboring needle.

Lu Yuan watched the pine needle with unwavering focus. It was green and spiky. It seemed that gradually, this single needle grew significantly larger. But as soon as his mental focus wavered even slightly, shifting to another needle, he immediately felt the original needle shrink back to its normal size. Must be serious.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, daring not to be careless for even a moment—he focused his entire being on observing that pine needle.

Time flowed, and the pine needle grew larger and larger. It was once so fine, but now it appeared nearly the size of a writing brush.

Lu Yuan continued to gaze at the needle, waiting for it to enlarge further. After an unknown period, the pine needle was no longer the size of a writing brush; it was now the size of a small club.

Staring closer, he couldn't tell when it happened, but the pine needle now stood as tall as a great tree.

At this moment, he vaguely sensed a miraculous energy flowing from his liver, one of his five major organs, into his eyes. His vision momentarily went dark, and a flash of divine light erupted from his eyes. The world was suddenly so clear, bright, and sharp; every minute detail of existence was magnified infinitely within his sight.

The pine needle looked like a massive tree.

And the pine tree itself loomed like a towering mountain.

What a vast world!

Lu Yuan knew he had succeeded in training his eyes. With the next blink, the divine light vanished, and the world returned to normal.

The eye training was complete. In the future, if needed, he could cause the world to suddenly expand, though normally he would suppress the divine light and let the world remain in its standard state. Fang Qingzheng, standing nearby, was left speechless. Succeeding in eye training just like that? It was too exaggerated. Fang Qingzheng had also succeeded in eye training, but it had taken him several years, nothing like Lu Yuan’s simplicity.

With eye training successful, it was time for the ears and nose next. He decided to start with the ears first. To train the ears, he needed to close his eyes. It was almost impossible to train them otherwise, as normally, one relies far too much on sight, while relying much less on the ears. Without closing his eyes, training the ears would be incredibly difficult.

This was already the fifth day inside the Longevity Cave.

The Longevity Cave was immense, and the inner world seemed boundless.

In a corner, a young man in green robes with closed eyes was flying leisurely at a low altitude.

Lu Yuan flew alone. Fang Qingzheng had already departed. After taking rapid recovery medicine, Fang Qingzheng’s injuries had healed significantly over two days, and he had left. He had come to the Longevity Cave to obtain the Longevity Fruit, and being with Lu Yuan meant no chance of getting the fruit, so he naturally departed.

Although Fang Qingzheng wanted to witness Lu Yuan’s progress—how could one not be astonished by such terrifying speed of growth?—securing the Longevity Fruit was more important. Fang Qingzheng hadn't obtained a single fruit yet, so he was anxious.

Lu Yuan, flying continuously, kept his eyes tightly shut.

He had been like this for over a day.

The air during his flight was not empty. This was low-altitude flying; sometimes the terrain rose, sometimes it dipped. If he kept his eyes shut the whole time, he risked colliding with small hills or other obstacles. Oh yes, there were also tall trees. Yet, Lu Yuan, flying with his eyes closed, didn't strike anything.

Correct, one could use hearing instead of sight.

When he had always relied on his eyes, he hadn't realized the extent of the ears' capabilities.

In fact, the variations in ground elevation could be perceived entirely through hearing. Don't forget the wind; the collision of wind against the ground created subtle sounds—sounds so faint they were almost imperceptible, but if one looked closely (or listened intently), they could be felt. Initially, Lu Yuan had crashed into many trees and hills, damaging the trees and bruising his body against the stone.

But gradually, as he adapted, he stopped colliding with trees and mountains. If the ground was higher, the wind's response to his ears came faster; if the ground was lower, the response was slower. Although the difference between slow and fast was minimal, a meticulous listener could discern the change.

And yes, there were people. If someone was nearby, he could even hear the faint sound of air being displaced. This displacement sound was incredibly subtle; unless he kept his eyes closed and slowly adapted, he would never hear it.

It felt as if a door had opened before him.

In this wondrous Longevity Cave, with its diverse topography and varied weather, Lu Yuan heard many beautiful sounds.

The sound of snowflakes drifting down onto the earth was so gentle, as if afraid to wake the ground.

The sound of flower buds slowly unfolding in the spring breeze—that vibrant burst of life—could actually be heard.

The scent of distant blossoms carried on the wind.

All these things could be heard.

Lu Yuan suddenly experienced an enlightenment. Yes, he was close to breaking through the threshold for his ears, but he still lacked that final push. Without this pivotal moment, he couldn't break through. What was this final push? Lu Yuan fell into deep thought. Perhaps it should be combat!

In battle, one could utilize hearing without sight. If he could fight completely relying on his ears and without his eyes, his ear training within Body Tempering could reach completion.

Ahead, the sound of fighting drifted toward him.

Lu Yuan listened intently, discerning a significant amount of information from the exchange.

For instance, there must be two people fighting. Both their cultivation levels were considerable—ninth level of Body Tempering. The location was likely a shallow valley, the ground sinking inward about three zhang, with a gentle downward slope.

These two must be skilled fighters. One seemed to be using a magical artifact—likely a disc-shaped item that could fly out continuously for high-speed cutting, imbued with golden elemental energy, making it supremely sharp. The other seemed to be using swordplay. Listening closely to the sword paths, the wind generated by one move resembled the Qingcheng Immortal Sect's move, "Cold Rain In All Directions," yet it also had similarities to the Nanhai Immortal Sect's move, "Four Seas Advance." These two moves were quite alike, and if he could see, he could distinguish them immediately, but identifying them through sound took slightly longer. He confirmed it: it was the Nanhai Immortal Sect's Sea Roll Heart Killing Sword technique.

Lu Yuan listened for more information.

He also heard that within the shallow valley, there was a tree, and upon that tree, there was likely a Longevity Fruit.

Detecting the Longevity Fruit purely by sound was quite difficult, but the wave fluctuations of the combatants' energy disturbed the air around the fruit, creating a distinct sound profile that allowed Lu Yuan to identify it.

(I feel the latter half of this chapter has a Hua Manlou/Yuan Suiyun feel. Incidentally, I've always wanted to write a novel about a blind person named Yuan Suiyun reincarnated in another world, but I was afraid it deviated too much from the mainstream tastes on Qidian, so I never started it.)