Grace Miller placed a bottle of mineral water bought from the cafeteria on a stone bench in the forest. He chose a slightly larger open space at the edge, stood in the center, closed his eyes, and began to visualize the first pattern of the first level of the first stage. His hands slowly formed a circular mudra at his lower abdomen. As time passed bit by bit during the visualization, Grace Miller could clearly feel his energy and blood circulating faster, and a tingling sensation spread throughout his body, as if countless ants were crawling through his veins. This was the so-called “ant-walking sensation.” In his previous life, Grace Miller had also come into contact with some standing meditation cultivation methods, so he was quite familiar with this kind of knowledge.

The ant-walking sensation sounds mysterious, but in fact, under normal circumstances, only people with weaker bodies experience it most quickly when first practicing standing meditation. This is because their energy and blood are weak and easy to mobilize. If it were a strong and healthy man, it would probably take at least half an hour to feel this sensation. Now, Grace Miller experienced it after only a few minutes of visualization, leaving him unsure whether to lament his poor physical condition or marvel at the power of the cultivation method.

As the ant-walking sensation spread all over his body, even to his scalp, Grace Miller also began to feel a slight itching and tingling on the surface of his skin. This was a sign that the circulating energy and blood had begun to impact some tiny capillary endings. Normally, with ordinary standing meditation, it would be impossible to reach this level without several months of foundation. It was clear how powerful this cultivation method was.

This slight tingling and itching is similar to the feeling some people get after not exercising for a long time and then suddenly running a few laps on the track. It’s a manifestation of blocked capillaries being forced open by the rapidly circulating energy and blood. Yet what Grace Miller was feeling now was even more intense than that.

Simply visualizing the pattern could replenish energy, but combining it with the mudra actually produced the effect of circulating energy and blood to strengthen the body’s fundamental qualities—something Grace Miller had not expected. However, the visualization of the first pattern lasted only a few minutes at most, and even after five consecutive times, it was only about twenty minutes. Only when he reached his limit did Grace Miller slowly stand still, release the mudra, and let his energy and blood naturally settle. But even in just these twenty or so minutes, he was already drenched in sweat.

“This one session is as effective as running for several hours. And it’s a full-body circulation of energy and blood. Without the first pattern to replenish energy, an ordinary person probably couldn’t last even five minutes before collapsing. The energy and blood consumption is too great to replenish in time—this training method is just too overbearing.” Feeling warm all over and not too exhausted from standing still, Grace Miller continued with the second part of his cultivation.

He casually broke off a straight branch from a small tree nearby. Following the postures shown in the basic sword technique, he began to practice the footwork step by step. The basic sword technique’s footwork was extremely strange; every step contained a different and complex combination of force. Grace Miller had only tried two steps before he was out of breath and fell straight to the ground on his butt.

“This isn’t right. These two steps are supposed to be continuous, so why do they feel so awkward? And my force isn’t right either.” Sitting on the ground, Grace Miller began to carefully recall his previous movements.

The footwork of the basic sword technique replayed in his mind again and again. On the fourth time, he suddenly noticed a key point.

“Why is there no explanation of the transitions between these postures? It just goes from one posture to another, but at a glance, it feels completely continuous?” He noticed that between every two postures, there was an almost opposite requirement for force.

Following the first posture, Grace Miller gripped the branch and began to pose exactly as shown.

“If I look forward along the direction of the branch, this attack direction…” Grace Miller imagined it carefully, and suddenly a chill surged up from his heart. The chill shot straight to his eyes, and suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his eyes, tears streaming down. At the same time, a small portion of his energy instantly flowed out from his eyes, leaving his body somewhat fatigued.

“This feeling…”

‘This move is used to cultivate the Eye Sword. When practicing, you must close your eyes.’ A strand of information suddenly flowed out from the posture in his mind.

“Eye Sword?” Grace Miller thought for a moment, withdrew from the posture, rested for a while, and after his body recovered a bit, began to pose again.

This time, he kept that sentence in mind and tightly closed his eyes while practicing.

He had just assumed the posture, but none of the previous symptoms appeared.

“Didn’t it work just like this last time?” Grace Miller was a bit puzzled. He recalled the process of his previous movements.

“That’s right, last time I was also imagining the part I wanted to attack! Could that be the reason?” Instantly, he began to imagine the target area in his mind. Almost immediately, a cool sensation surged from all over Grace Miller’s body, quickly gathering at his eyes. But since his eyes were tightly closed and there was no outlet, it could only linger around his eyes. However, this time, he didn’t feel the fatigue from before.

“This time it should be right.”

Once the Eye Sword is mastered to the highest level, one can shatter the enemy’s courage with a single glance, causing death without a wound. This was the new content that had appeared in the basic sword technique.