“Father, Mother, don’t worry. I will work twice as hard on my cultivation and break through to the second level of martial arts before the family martial gathering.”

William Bennett clenched his teeth, his voice trembling.

“There are still two months until the clan gathering, but registration must be done a month in advance. Breaking through to the second level of martial arts within a month—I'm afraid that's not easy.”

Andrew Bennett shook his head.

Only one month?

William Bennett’s expression dimmed, as if he had fallen into an abyss.

If he had two months, with double the effort, maybe there was a twenty or thirty percent chance.

But to break through to the second level in just one month—he had no confidence at all!

A long silence.

The Bennett Family gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and said softly, “Feng’er, no matter success or failure, we are proud of you… At worst, we’ll just go back to Qingye Town. As long as you live a safe and peaceful life.”

“That’s right! Back in Qingye Town, you’re still one of the outstanding youths of the Zhao family—better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big one!”

Andrew Bennett nodded in agreement.

As parents, they would rather their child live safely, even if it meant being a bit mediocre…

Go back to Qingye Town?

“No way!”

William Bennett shook his head fiercely. “I don’t want to go back to Qingye Town and live a mediocre life!”

He had once sworn: he must earn a place in the Zhao family, carve out a world for himself in Yuyang City.

In his heart, he yearned even more for the ninth level of martial arts, the peak of martial cultivation, and the vast world beyond…

How could he possibly admit defeat and go back in such a cowardly way?

William Bennett forced back the wetness at the corners of his eyes, let out a roar, and dashed out of the house.

“Feng’er! Don’t be so stubborn…”

His parents’ anxious shouts echoed in his ears.

Boom!

Suddenly, thunder exploded in the sky, and a torrential rain poured down outside.

William Bennett felt unbearably stifled, raised his head and howled at the sky, sprinting through the downpour.

At this moment, lightning flickered incessantly in the sky, casting shifting shadows across the young man’s face.

“Not good!”

William Bennett suddenly felt a sense of oppression. He looked up and was utterly shocked.

In his entire life, he had never seen such a vast expanse of lightning—dense and tangled, interwoven like a spider’s web.

In a fleeting instant, the lightning overhead seemed to twist and collapse along with space itself, as if under the influence of some mysterious force.

Whoosh—

A streak of black light flashed from the endless sky above.

It passed through the dense lightning, causing ripples as beautiful as a dream.

It was unimaginable what that “black light” was, to actually ignore the might of nature’s thunder.

Crack!

William Bennett suddenly felt numbness under his feet, his hair and clothes singed black, and the roaring in his ears abruptly ceased.

The whole world seemed to fall into dead silence in an instant.

“What is this…”

His face pale, he looked down to see a strange black bead at his feet, shaped like an eyeball—the very black light from before.

Thump! Thump…

That eyeball-like black bead seemed to be alive, emitting a steady thumping sound, and “staring” at William Bennett.

For some reason, the rhythm of the “eyeball” matched his heartbeat perfectly, giving William Bennett a sense of intimacy.

Vaguely, he heard a kind of calling.

“Could this thing be alive?”

He held his breath, full of vigilance and caution.

However, before he could react—

Whoosh!

The eyeball-like black bead turned into a shadow and shot into William Bennett’s left eye.

“Ah…”

William Bennett let out a miserable scream and fainted.

In the last moment before losing consciousness, only one thought flashed through his mind: It’s over… my eye is blind!

Chapter 002: Victory in a Single Move

No one knew how much time had passed before William Bennett gradually regained some awareness, but he could barely sense the existence of his body.

The only sensation came from the stabbing pain in his left eye.

Left eye?

William Bennett shivered. He suddenly remembered: before he fainted, that strange eyeball-like black bead had pierced into his left eye.

If nothing unexpected happened, his left eye was probably blind now—enough to compare with those ugly, fierce “one-eyed dragons.”

Thinking of this, William Bennett felt like crying but had no tears.

Thump! Thump!…

A faint heartbeat, carrying an inexplicable sense of intimacy, came from his possibly blinded left eye.

Since his left eye was the only part of his body he could sense, he could only focus all his effort on it.

Swish!

With a thought, his consciousness actually merged into his left eye.

Boom!

His mind shook violently, and William Bennett’s consciousness entered a pitch-black, empty space.

At the center of the space was a very dim, pale blue spiral halo, stretching over a foot long.

“What is this place…”

William Bennett was filled with fear of the unknown. Such a bizarre scene was completely beyond his understanding.

His mind was drawn to the pale blue spiral halo at the center of the dark space.

That pale blue spiral halo was mysterious and deep, slowly rotating, as if stretching from ancient times to the present, giving a sense of endlessness and eternity.

William Bennett’s mind was captivated, almost completely lost, as if he would remain there until the end of time, until space and time themselves collapsed.

“Eternity shatters, the ancient gods fall, turning into trillions of specks of dust…”

A desolate sigh echoed in the dark space, as if piercing through time itself.

Who’s there!