Dia woke up to find that it was already daylight.
He lay on the camp bed, staring at the ceiling of the tent for a long time. He wasn't dazing off; he was testing his new ability. His gaze penetrated the canvas, and he saw the sky outside—grey-white clouds, a slowly flowing band of rainbow light behind the clouds, and those ubiquitous aura light spots, like fireflies.
He could see the aura.
It wasn't a vague, hazy sensation, but clear, tangible visual information. Every streak of aura had its own trajectory, speed, and density, like water in a river—some rushed, some flowed gently, some formed whirlpools, and some converged into pools.
He sat up, his eyes sweeping over the other people in the tent.
Xiao Yu was still asleep, holding Afu in her arms. He could see her inner aura—weak but pure, like a clear spring gently flowing within her. Her meridians were slightly wider than an ordinary person's but far below his. However, her aura had a unique texture, soft yet resilient, completely different from Zhao Tieshan's scorching, raging aura.
Everyone's aura was different. Like fingerprints, like voices, unique.
Dia withdrew his gaze, stood up, and walked out of the tent.
The morning air was cold, carrying the scent of dew and smoke. People in the quarantine zone were already starting their activities—a few women were lighting fires and cooking on makeshift stoves, a squad of soldiers patrolled near the barbed wire, and a few children chased and played in the open area. Everything looked normal, but Dia knew this calmness was fake, fragile, and could be shattered at any moment.
Because he could see.
He could see the world outside the barbed wire—zombies wandering the streets, mutated creatures lurking in the ruins, dangers stirring in the darkness. He could see the quarantine zone's defensive weaknesses—the barbed wire on the east side was loose in one spot, the northern sentries had blind spots, and someone could crawl in through the southern drainage ditch.
He could see everyone's fear.
Not with his eyes, but with the eye of the law. Fear left traces in the body—an adrenaline surge, accelerated heartbeat, tensed muscles, and chaotic aura. Those who appeared calm on the surface had a tumultuous aura inside, like wild beasts trapped in a cage.
"You're awake."
Zhao Tieshan's voice came from behind. Dia turned around and saw him walking over with an enamel cup, steaming with hot porridge.
"Have something to eat. You haven't eaten anything for three days."
Dia took the cup and took a sip. The porridge was thin, almost without any grains of rice, but it was warm, traveling from his throat all the way down to his stomach.
"How is your injury?" Zhao Tieshan asked.
Dia stretched out his left arm and removed the bandage. Zhao Tieshan saw the four wounds that had been reduced to faint marks, and his pupils constricted slightly.
"Three days," he said, with an unmistakable tone of shock in his voice. "A normal person would take a month to heal from such wounds. You only took three days."
"Not three days," Dia said, "Three days and seven hours."
Zhao Tieshan looked at him, his expression changing. Not shock, but something more complex—as if reevaluating something.
"Your eyes," he said, "your eyes have changed."
Dia was stunned: "What?"
"You didn't notice yourself? Your pupils." Zhao Tieshan took a small mirror from his pocket and handed it to him. "Look for yourself."
Dia took the mirror and looked at his reflection.
His pupils had indeed changed. Not in shape, but in color—within the originally deep black pupils, there was now a faint ring of gold. The golden ring was thin, as if drawn along the edge of the pupil with the finest brush, almost imperceptible unless examined closely. But if looked at carefully, the gold ring slowly rotated, like a miniature vortex.
"When did this appear?" Dia asked.
"I don't know. But it wasn't there last night." Zhao Tieshan put the mirror away. "Your spiritual energy is awakening. Not just an ordinary awakening, but a kind of... special awakening. I've seen many awakenings in the army, but none of them had changes like yours."
Dia remained silent.
He couldn't tell Zhao Tieshan about the Eye of Law—not due to distrust, but because he himself did not understand it. He could see through everything, yet he could not see through himself.
"What can you see?" Zhao Tieshan suddenly asked.
"See what?"
"Your eyes. What ability have they given you?"
Dia hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell part of the truth.
"I can see aura," he said. "The aura in the air, the aura in human bodies, the aura in everything."
Zhao Tieshan's hand paused, and a little porridge spilled from his cup.
"You can see aura?" His voice was very low.
"Yes."
"Not just sense it? You really see it?"
"I really see it." Dia pointed to a soldier in the distance. "That person, his aura is red, very weak, like a candle about to go out. He has an old injury on his left knee, and the flow of his aura is blocked there."
Zhao Tieshan's expression changed. It was not shock, but something close to reverence.
"Do you know what this means?" he asked.
Dia shook his head.
"Since the revival of aura until now, I've seen hundreds of awakeners. Some can control fire, some can manipulate water, some can enhance their bodies, some can heal wounds. But I have never seen anyone who can directly 'see' aura." Zhao Tieshan took a deep breath. "Do you know what the biggest difficulty in cultivation is?"
"What is it?"
"Perception," Zhao Tieshan said. "Perceiving aura, perceiving meridians, perceiving the dantian. These things are hidden inside the body, invisible and intangible, and can only be explored through feeling. It's like walking with your eyes closed; you don't know if there's flat ground or a cliff ahead. So most people's cultivation progresses slowly, because most of their time is spent 'finding the way.'"
He stared into Dia's eyes, his gaze intense.
"But you can see. You can see the traces of aura, the paths of the meridians, the changes in the dantian. You don't need to 'find the way'; you can see it directly. This means your cultivation speed—"
"Will be much faster than others," Dia finished.
"Not just much faster," Zhao Tieshan's expression became serious. "It's ten times, even a hundred times faster. What would take others a month, you might do in a day. Heights that others can never reach in a lifetime, you might reach in a few years."
He paused, and his voice grew deep.
"But this is not entirely a good thing."
"What do you mean?"
"An innocent man is blamed for having a jade." Zhao Tieshan looked at him. "If others know about your abilities, many will want to obtain you, and many will want to destroy you. Evil cultivators would want to devour your soul, the army would want to use you as a tool, and other factions would want to control you. So——"
"So I can't let others know," Dia said.
"Yes." Zhao Tieshan nodded. "At least until you have enough strength to protect yourself, you can't."
Dia was silent for a moment, then asked a question that surprised Zhao Tieshan.
"Do you want to learn?"
"What?"
"Perceiving spiritual energy," Dia said. "I can see how the spiritual energy flows inside your body. I can tell you where your problem is."
Zhao Tieshan was stunned.
He stared at Dia for a long time, then suddenly smiled. Not a bitter smile, not a mocking one, but a heartfelt smile, with a sense of relief.
"You kid," he shook his head, "do you know what you're saying? This ability, if others knew, is priceless. Are you willing to give it to me for free?"
"You saved my life," Dia said, "Besides, I need you to get stronger."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not enough on my own." Dia looked at the distant sky, the rainbow-colored light streaks faintly visible behind the clouds. "Those lights are growing stronger. I can see it. The spiritual energy is becoming thicker, more active. What does this mean?"
Zhao Tieshan's smile vanished.
"It means mutated creatures will get stronger," he said.
"Not just mutated creatures," Dia turned to look at him. "It means something even bigger is coming."
The two of them were silent for a long time.
Then Zhao Tieshan stood up and brushed the dust off his pants.
"Alright. You teach me perception, I teach you combat. Fair trade."
He reached out his hand. Dia took it.
"But not today," Zhao Tieshan said. "You have something else to do today."
"What thing?"
Zhao Tieshan pointed to the northern part of the quarantine area: "Supplies are running low. We need to go outside to find food and medicine. You come with me."
Dia looked at his left arm and flexed his fingers.
"When do we leave?"
"Now."
There were six of them in total.
Zhao Tieshan led the team, with Dia following behind. The other four were survivors from the quarantine zone—a pair of young soldiers, a doctor named Li Ming, and a worker named Da Liu. Li Ming was there to collect medicine, Da Liu to carry supplies, and the two soldiers to protect them.
Everyone was very tense. Dia could see the spiritual energy surging violently within them, their heartbeats accelerating, their muscles tensed. They were afraid.
They should be afraid.
The world outside the barbed wire was no longer the world they were familiar with.
Dia walked in the middle of the group, his Eye of Law fully open.
He could see everything within five hundred meters ahead—streets, buildings, ruins, vehicles. He could see zombies hidden in the shadows, mutated creatures lurking in the rubble, mutated insects crawling on the walls. He could see the flow of spiritual energy—where it was dense was often where danger lay.
"Stop," he said suddenly.
The group stopped. Zhao Tieshan looked back at him. "What's wrong?"
"There's something ahead."
"What is it?"
Dia squinted, his gaze piercing through three walls, spotting a street two hundred meters away.
"Mutated dogs. Seven of them. They're in a building across the street, eating something."
Zhao Tieshan's expression became serious. "Can we go around them?"
Dia extended his vision to the sides, searching for other routes.
"There's a small alley on the left, we can go around it. But there's a mutated cat in the alley, very large, bigger than any we've seen before."
"How big?"
Dia's gaze penetrated the walls, revealing the full size of the cat. It was about the size of a motorcycle, most of its fur had fallen off, exposing dark red muscles beneath. Its eyes were golden, with vertical pupils like a snake's. Its body contained a large amount of spiritual energy, more than five times that of an ordinary mutated dog.
"About 120 kilograms," Dia said. "The concentration of spiritual energy in its body is very high, equivalent to… a human at the fifth level of Qi refinement."
Zhao Tieshan's face changed.
Level five Qi refinement. He himself was only at level three.
"What about the right side?" he asked.
Dia looked to the right.
"There's a main road on the right, no zombies, and no mutated creatures. But—" he paused, his gaze extending further, "but at the end of the road, a building has collapsed, blocking the way. You can't get through."
"So none of the three routes work?"
Dia didn't answer. His eyes continued to scan beyond the collapsed buildings, beyond the abandoned vehicles, beyond the lurking mutated creatures. He was searching, searching for a safe, viable route.
Then he found one.
"If you go back two hundred meters, there's an entrance to an underground parking lot," he said. "Go through the parking lot, and you can come out on the other side. That side is safe."
Zhao Tieshan frowned: "Underground parking? The space inside is enclosed. If there are zombies—"
"There aren't any," Dia interrupted him. "I can see. The parking lot is empty. No zombies, no mutated creatures, nothing. Just a few abandoned cars and some debris."
Zhao Tieshan looked at him, his eyes showing both scrutiny and trust.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
Zhao Tieshan fell silent for a few seconds and then nodded.
"Let's go."
They walked back two hundred meters and indeed found the entrance to the underground parking lot. The barrier at the entrance was broken, and inside it was pitch black, nothing visible.
Li Ming took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. The faint light illuminated the slope at the entrance, with shattered glass and dried blood on the ground, but no signs of movement.
"Follow me." Dia walked at the front.
He didn't need a flashlight. Under the Law's Eye, everything in the parking lot was as clear as if it were daytime. He could see the pipes on the ceiling, the markings on the ground, the fire hydrant in the corner. He could see the abandoned vehicles—three sedans, one SUV, one van. He could see that the inside of the cars was empty, no corpses, no zombies, nothing.
The parking lot was large, at least two thousand square meters. Dia led the group through the vehicles, moving quickly but steadily. He knew where there was broken glass, where there was standing water, where the ground was uneven. He could see everything.
"How do you do it?" Li Ming, walking behind, couldn't help but ask, "In a place this dark, how can you see so clearly?"
Dia didn't answer. Zhao Tieshan answered for him.
"He has a talent. Night vision."
Li Ming went 'oh' and didn't ask again.
They walked across the parking lot and came out from the exit on the other side. Outside was a narrow alley, with the backs of old residential buildings on both sides. The alley was very quiet, with trash and broken glass on the ground, but no zombies.
"Safe," Dia said. "Go forward three hundred meters, there's a pharmacy. The medicine inside is still there."
"How do you know?" a soldier asked.
"I can see it," Dia said. "The shelves in the pharmacy still have things. They haven't been emptied."
They walked along the alley and soon saw the pharmacy. The glass door was shattered, and inside was a mess—the shelves had fallen, medicine bottles were scattered on the ground, and there were dried bloodstains. But Dia was right, in the corner there were still a few intact shelves, filled with various medicines.
"Quick! Take as much as you can!" Zhao Tieshan ordered.
Li Ming rushed in and started stuffing medicine into his backpack. The others helped too, filling up everything they could find—antibiotics, painkillers, bandages.
Dia stood at the doorway, with the Eye of Law fully activated, watching everything around.
He could see all life forms within a 500-meter radius. The survivors shivering in basements, the zombies wandering the streets, the mutated birds resting on rooftops. He could see the flow of spiritual energy and sense approaching danger.
Then he saw it.
Three hundred meters to the east, a group of mutated creatures was approaching them.
Not zombies, not mutated dogs. It was something he had never seen before—dog-sized, covered in scales, flattened heads, with two rows of sharp teeth in their mouths. Their speed was extremely fast, moving through the ruins as if walking on flat ground. They contained a large amount of spiritual energy, each one equivalent to a third-stage Qi cultivator.
"Something's coming," Dia said. "To the east. Seven of them. Very fast."
Zhao Tieshan rushed out of the pharmacy and looked in the direction he pointed. But he saw nothing—the street three hundred meters away was blocked by buildings.
"What the hell is that?"
"Don't know. Never seen it before," Dia's gaze penetrated the buildings, tracking the movement of the creatures. "It looks like… they're chasing something."
He saw it.
In front of the creatures, there was a person running. A young man, probably in his early twenties, wearing worn-out sportswear, covered in blood. He was fast, but clearly exhausted, his steps beginning to falter.
"Someone is being chased," Dia said. "A young man. Injured."
Zhao Tieshan gritted his teeth: "We can't get involved. Grab the stuff and leave."
Dia looked at him: "He will die."
"We'll die too," Zhao Tieshan said firmly. "Seven third-stage Qi mutated creatures—we can't handle that."
Dia fell silent.
He knew Zhao Tieshan was right. Among the six of them, Zhao Tieshan was at Qi Cultivation level three, two soldiers were at Qi Cultivation level one, Li Ming and Da Liu had no cultivation, and he himself was at Qi Cultivation level two. Seven mutated creatures at Qi Cultivation level three—they were no match at all.
But he could also see the young man's spiritual energy. Weak, dim, like a flame about to go out. The spiritual energy in his body was rapidly depleting, not because he was injured, but because—
He was burning his own life.
He was using his last strength to escape, fully aware he couldn't get away, yet still running.
"Thirty seconds," Dia said, "Give me thirty seconds."
"What are you going to do?"
"Lead them another way." Dia's eyes scanned the streets, looking for usable terrain, "There's an alley to the west, very narrow, they can't fit through. If I can lure that young man into the alley—"
"You go lure them?" Zhao Tieshan's voice rose, "Are you crazy?"
"I can see their movement patterns. I can predict their paths. I can be faster than them."
"You're only Qi Cultivation level two!"
"But I can see." Dia looked into Zhao Tieshan's eyes, "I can see everything. Their weaknesses, their speed, their attack range. I can do it."
Zhao Tieshan stared at him for three seconds.
During those three seconds, Dia could see the spiritual energy inside him surging violently—anger, worry, hesitation, struggle. Then, that spiritual energy calmed down.
"Thirty seconds," Zhao Tieshan said, "After thirty seconds, wherever you are, we go."
Dia nodded and turned to run.
He ran fast. Not because he had practiced running, but because the Eye of Law was helping him. He could see the conditions of the road beneath his feet—where there were pits, broken glass, or raised bricks. He could choose the optimal path and run at the fastest speed with minimal effort.
He ran through two streets, took a turn, and then saw the young man.
It was a boy, even younger than him, probably sixteen or seventeen. His face was covered in blood, his left arm hanging at an unnatural angle—clearly broken. His legs trembled, each step staggering, but he didn't stop.
Less than fifty meters behind him, the seven mutated creatures were closing in.
Up close, they looked even more terrifying. Their scales were gray-black, glinting with a metallic sheen in the sunlight. Their eyes were red, pupil-less, like burning coals. Their mouths stretched to their ears, showing two rows of jagged teeth, still smeared with the remains of unknown animals.
"This way!" Dia shouted.
The boy saw him, and a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. He changed direction and ran towards Dia.
Dia turned around and ran, taking the boy in the direction of the alley. His eyes of the law were always open, always paying attention to the movements of the mutant creatures behind him. They are fast, more than twice as fast as the average person, but their cornering is not flexible – this is their weakness.
The alley is right ahead.
"Quick!" Dia shouted.
The boy gritted his teeth and rushed into the alley with the last of his strength. Dia followed, and as soon as she ran in, she heard a loud noise behind her - a mutant creature hit the wall at the entrance of the alley, knocking a big hole in the brick wall.
The alley is indeed narrow, only half a meter wide. Those mutant creatures are too big to get in. They huddled together at the entrance of the alley, roaring angrily, scratching the walls with their claws and slamming their heads against the walls.
But the alley is too narrow. They can't come in.
Dia leaned against the wall and gasped.
The boy had collapsed to the ground, his face as pale as paper. His left arm was broken so badly that the bone poked out of his skin, and the bleeding couldn't stop.
"You... Who are you... the boy's voice was faint.
"Don't talk." Dia crouched down and checked for his injuries. Under the eyes of the law, he could see the spiritual energy in the boy's body being rapidly drained, like sand leaking from between his fingers. His dantian was already empty, and his meridians were shrinking.
He was dying.
"Uncle Zhao!" Dea shouted outside the alley, "I need you! Someone is injured! "
A few seconds later, Zhao Tieshan appeared at the entrance of the alley. He looked at the mutant creatures that were still hitting the wall, and then at the boy on the ground, his face ugly.
"He's dying." Dia said.
Zhao Tieshan came over and squatted next to the boy. He reached out to probe the boy's pulse and shook his head.
"Too much blood loss. And—" he paused, "his dantian shattered." "
Dia's heart sank.
The dantian was broken.
He looked in with the eye of the law, and sure enough, he saw - there was a crack in the boy's dantian, and the aura was leaking out of the crack, like a balloon with a hole. The crack was not caused by trauma, but by the backlash of the spiritual energy - he over-activated the spiritual energy in his body while escaping, causing the dantian to be unable to withstand the pressure and shatter.
"It's hopeless." Zhao Tieshan stood up, with a hint of unbearability in his voice, "Unless there is professional medical equipment, or there is an elixir that can repair the dantian." But we have nothing. "
The boy heard them. He opened his eyes and looked at Dia, a smile that was uglier than crying at the corner of his mouth.
"I knew ... It will be like this... his voice is getting weaker and weaker, "those lights... After those lights came... It's all over..."
"What's your name?" Dia asked.
Lin ... Lin Xiaofei ..."
"Lin Xiaofei, listen to me." Dia held his hand, "You'll be fine. We'll find a way to save you."
The boy shook his head: "No need... I know... I'm going to die..."
He closed his eyes, his breathing growing weaker.
Dia could feel his life energy dissipating bit by bit. That life energy surged from his Dantian, seeped out from his pores, like a wisp of light smoke, slowly drifting away in the air.
Then, he made a decision.
He didn't know if this decision was right. He didn't know if he could do it. He didn't even know if doing this would kill him. But he had to try.
He placed his hand on the boy's chest, closed his eyes, and guided the life energy within himself into his palm with his mind.
A stream of heat flowed from his body into the boy's body.
He could feel it. That life energy passed through the boy's skin, through his muscles, through his bones, gathering around his shattered Dantian. It was like a group of tiny craftsmen, beginning to mend the crack.
Very slowly. Very painstakingly. Every bit of life energy used to repair consumed a huge amount of his strength. Sweat broke out on his forehead, his arms started to tremble, and the life energy in his Dantian was quickly draining.
"What are you doing?" Zhao Tieshan's voice was filled with shock.
Dia didn't answer. He concentrated all his attention, guiding the life energy to repair the crack bit by bit. Using the Eye of Law, he watched the Dantian's changes—the crack was shrinking, the leakage of life energy slowing.
But it was too slow.
He didn't have enough life energy.
The life energy stored in a second-stage Qi practitioner's Dantian was nowhere near enough to repair a shattered Dantian. He felt his life energy rapidly depleting, like water being drained from a pool.
Just as he was about to give up, he sensed another force.
Not coming from inside him, but from outside.
The life energy in the air.
Those ubiquitous, firefly-like points of light began converging toward him. They passed through his skin, into his meridians, replenishing the energy he was expending. The speed was incredible—more than ten times faster than his absorption rate.
The Eye of Law was helping him.
Not actively, but passively—whenever he needed life energy, the Eye of Law would automatically guide the surrounding energy into his body. As natural as breathing, as instinctive as a heartbeat.
With a continuous supply of life energy, the repairing accelerated. The crack gradually shrank, from the width of a hair to the tip of a needle, and eventually completely disappeared.
The boy's Dantian was restored.
Dia withdrew his hand and collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat.
He could feel that his dantian was empty as well—although the spiritual energy in the air was constantly replenishing, it couldn't keep up with the rate of consumption. He was now weak like an ordinary person who had never practiced cultivation.
"You…" Zhao Tieshan looked at him, eyes full of disbelief, "you repaired his dantian?"
"Yeah." Dia panted, "but I'm not sure… if he can wake up…"
Before he finished speaking, the boy coughed.
His face was still pale, but his breathing had stabilized. He opened his eyes and looked at Dia and Zhao Tieshan in bewilderment.
"I… I didn't die?"
"You didn't." Zhao Tieshan's voice was a little hoarse, "this kid saved you."
The boy looked at Dia, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.
"Thank you… thank you…"
"Don't thank me." Dia stood up, his legs a bit weak, "Can you walk?"
The boy tried to move his left arm, grimacing from the pain: "Seems… I can't really."
"Da Liu!" Zhao Tieshan shouted, "come help carry him!"
Da Liu ran in from outside the alley and carried the boy on his back.
"Let's go!" Zhao Tieshan said, "back to the quarantine zone!"
They retraced their steps, passing through the underground parking lot and returning to the quarantine zone. Along the way, Dia kept his Eye of Law open to ensure there was no danger. His spiritual energy had recovered a bit, but he was still very weak.
By the time they reached the quarantine zone, it was already noon.
Li Ming delivered the medicines to the medical tent, and Da Liu carried the boy to a bed to rest. Zhao Tieshan pulled Dia aside, his expression very serious.
"Do you know what you did today?" he asked.
"Saved someone."
"Not just saved someone." Zhao Tieshan's voice was very low, "You repaired a shattered dantian. Do you know what that means?"
Dia shook his head.
"The dantian is the foundation of a cultivator. If the dantian is broken, they're basically ruined. Everyone knows this. But just now—" He took a deep breath, "you broke this rule."
"I just used spiritual energy to mend the cracks—"
"Spiritual energy can't repair the dantian," Zhao Tieshan interrupted him. "At least, ordinary people can't. Only those with special abilities can do it. The power you just used wasn't just spiritual energy—it was also your eyes' ability. You can see the structure of the dantian, know where it's broken, and how to fix it. Others just can't do that."
Dia was silent.
"I'll say it again," Zhao Tieshan stared into his eyes. "Your ability is very precious. And very dangerous. Don't let anyone know you can do this until you have enough strength to protect yourself."
"I understand."
"One more thing." Zhao Tieshan's expression became even more serious. "You saved that boy today, but you also exposed yourself. Those two soldiers saw what you did in the alley. They'll tell others."
Dia's heart sank.
"Then I—"
"I've already talked to them," Zhao Tieshan said. "They agreed to keep it a secret. But how long you can trust them, I don't know."
He patted Dia on the shoulder.
"That's the first lesson of the new world, kid. In this world, the greater the power, the greater the danger. Your ability can save lives, but it can also kill you. Learning to protect yourself is more important than learning to protect others."
Dia nodded.
He looked at his hands, at the unseen, flowing spiritual energy in his palms.
The first lesson of the new world.
He remembered it.