"So bright!"
"What is that?!"
"Is there a fire somewhere?"
"Impossible! No fire could be that bright! Besides, Cangnan City doesn't even have buildings that tall!"
"Quick, quick, quick! Get a picture! Post it on WeChat!"
"…"
This pillar of light soaring into the sky was far too dazzling — half of Cangnan City noticed it, with pedestrians stopping in their tracks and excitedly speculating about the cause of its appearance.
Theories ranged from an explosion to an optical experiment to a divine miracle descending from the heavens… but only a very small number of people knew what the appearance of this pillar of light truly meant.
Two minutes earlier, the old district.
On the deserted street, a ripple stirred through space, as if someone had lifted a corner of the canvas draped over the old district, and then five figures clad in dark-red cloaks stepped out from within.
One of them glanced around, strode forward, and picked up the "NO ENTRY AHEAD" warning sign from the ground, folding it shut.
At the moment the warning sign was folded away, the silent old district shattered soundlessly like a bubble popping, revealing the true old district beneath.
The streets, stained red with chilling blood, were scattered with broken monstrous limbs. If Lin Qiye had seen this scene, he would have recognized the dismembered pieces on the ground as the ghost face monsters he faced!
Densely packed, there were at least thirty-four of them!
"'Unrestricted Domain' retrieval complete." The one holding the warning sign spoke calmly. "We can call in logistics to clean up the battlefield now."
"Where's Old[1] Zhao?"
"He went after the two Ghost Faces that got away."
"…This was our mistake." The injured woman clutched her right shoulder, her expression weary.
"Don't say that, Hong Ying. No one knew there was a Ghost Face King hiding among that pack of Ghost Faces." The man beside her offered comfort.
"Can Captain handle the Ghost Face King alone?"
"Of course he'll be fine. Don't forget, Captain has reached the Third Realm 'River' level. Nothing's going to happen to him." The man paused. "I just hope… those two Ghost Faces that escaped won't hurt any civilians…"
The moment his words fell, a blazing pillar of light shot skyward from another direction, illuminating half the sky!
All five of them whipped their heads around simultaneously, eyes wide with shock!
"That's…"
"A Forbidden Ruin has awakened — this energy fluctuation… it's insanely powerful!"
"This has to be at least someone at the Fifth Realm 'Boundless' level. No, it might even be Sixth Realm 'Klein'… What would bring someone of that caliber to a small place like Cangnan?"
"No, this doesn't feel like a human's Forbidden Ruin." The man's brow furrowed deeply.
Hong Ying froze for a moment, then seemed to realize something. "You mean…"
"This feels like a god's Forbidden Ruin — in other words… a Divine Ruin."
The moment they heard 'god', everyone's gaze sharpened.
"Which god?"
"That searing heat, the sacred energy, overwhelming strength, and that unmistakable aura of genesis — if my guess is right, then this has to be…" The man stared intently at the pillar of light gradually fading away, speaking each word with measured emphasis:
"Deity Index 003 — Michael, the King of Angels."
***
It was excruciating for Lin Qiye.
Right in the heart of the golden pillar of light, he'd lost all control of his body, suspended in midair while boundless energy surged from his eyes.
Lin Qiye felt as if he'd been drawn back to that moment ten years ago — across the vast expanse of space, he was once again gazing into those eyes.
That overwhelming sense of sacred power — he still remembered it vividly to this day.
The difference was, ten years ago that aura came from the Moon, but now it flowed from… his own eyes.
The Seraph's presence and divine majesty surged wildly from his eyes — they blazed like two burning suns, threatening to reduce everything to oblivion.
Ten years ago, Seraph Michael locked eyes with him from the Moon,
Ten years later, Lin Qiye opened his eyes, and the remnant power of the Seraph within them erupted in full.
Fortunately, the remnant power of the Seraph left in Lin Qiye's eyes wasn't much — after the pillar of light lasted seven or eight seconds, it gradually dissipated, and Lin Qiye's body fell from midair, stumbling as he staggered to regain his balance.
The dazzling golden light in his eyes faded gradually, bit by bit, leaving behind nothing more than a faint golden shimmer.
If the golden radiance earlier could rival the sun, now it barely glimmered like candlelight.
While the golden outburst earlier possessed incredible might, it was never truly his — whereas the faint golden aura now settled in the depths of Lin Qiye's eyes was entirely under his control.
A faint trace of the Seraph's power.
Lin Qiye took a deep breath and slowly raised his head.
The pitch-black night sky, the dilapidated streets, the grotesque monster, blood pooling everywhere… When this nightmare of a scene materialized before Lin Qiye, he smiled.
He smiled with genuine joy.
It had been ten years. At long last, after a decade of blindness, he was looking at the world with his own two eyes again.
At that moment, through Lin Qiye's eyes, even the blood smeared monster appeared oddly cute.
Earlier, when the Seraph's divine might had erupted from within Lin Qiye, both monsters were crushed against the earth by that dominating aura, inches away from being flattened completely.
Only after the golden pillar of light had vanished could they recover, glancing around in confusion for a moment before fixing their gaze on Lin Qiye once more.
Bloodlust surfaced in their eyes again.
"Keeegh—!"
One of the monsters shrieked and violently lunged straight at Lin Qiye!
Compared to before, Lin Qiye was noticeably calmer now — the instant the monster made its move, he predicted its trajectory in his mind and launched himself sideways with all his strength.
While Lin Qiye's speed was indeed much slower than the monster's, his reaction time was astonishingly fast — those precious few seconds of advanced prediction bought him just enough time to dodge.
It wasn't that he could see the future, but rather that after opening his eyes, his perception had undergone a complete transformation.
One major improvement was the expansion of his spiritual perception — its range had doubled from ten meters to twenty. It had taken him five years to push that boundary to ten meters, but now, with his eyes open, it instantly stretched twice as far.
The other change was his dynamic vision.
Within that twenty-meter radius, Lin Qiye now had dynamic vision nearly three times sharper than a normal person's, and his reflexes bordered on superhuman. In close combat, he could react with near-precognitive speed.
As for any other abilities these eyes might grant him, Lin Qiye hadn't sensed them yet.
But there was no time to slowly figure them out now.
The monster lunged like a released arrow, barreling straight past where Lin Qiye had just been standing, smashing a large section of wall in its path. It then kicked off the wreckage with all four limbs, hurling itself back at Lin Qiye.
By now, Lin Qiye had already dodged away from the monster's landing with a rolling dive, reaching out to snatch up the broken half of his white cane from the ground.
Springing back to his feet, he dropped into a crouch, his eyes locked on the monster rushing at him, both hands gripping the cane tightly.
The monster's charge blurred into afterimages, the howling wind whipping Lin Qiye's black hair across his forehead.
Its rear legs tensed, and with a powerful kick, it launched itself high into the air!
This time, Lin Qiye didn't dodge.
He gripped the broken half of the white cane tightly, his eyes locked on the monster's own.
"Keeegh—!"
The creature's claws slashed out, aiming straight for Lin Qiye's throat.
Right at the moment of impact, Lin Qiye's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
The faint golden halo within his eyes flared as if tossed a handful of kindling, exploding with light — his gaze now burned like two blazing furnaces!
A surge of divine power shot from Lin Qiye's eyes straight into the monster's body.
In that instant, the monster's perception of Lin Qiye warped — suddenly, what it saw was not a teenage boy, but a supreme being, a six-winged Seraph radiating a terrifying, godlike aura!
Under the crushing pressure of that divinity, the monster's body seized up, paralyzed for a brief moment.
And within that fleeting window, Lin Qiye raised the broken half of his white cane high…
and drove it straight through the monster's right eye!
[1] "Old" is a common Chinese honorific for colleagues.