VESSEL - Extinction Countdown 916: Eye Technique: Azure Dust

As a former member of Fireseed Corps under Zhang Dulao, Yi Qing earned the moniker “Azure Eye” for the unique eye she bore since birth.

In the Fireseed Corps’s classified records, this eye was referred to as the “Innate Azure Eye.”

At first glance, the eye resembled glaucoma—its pupil threaded with blue-white filaments, speckled with white and yellow spots. But Yi Qing’s was something else entirely.

Her Azure Eye bore the purity of flawless agate—crystalline, immaculate, and impossibly clear.

Once, its greatest power was seeing the “aura” clinging to all things. Paired with her sharp discernment and analysis, she naturally became the recon commander of the vanguard.

Based on her former abilities, Yi Qing could easily distinguish auras emitted by every target within several kilometers—provided visibility in the Weeping Valley was decent. From that alone, she could deduce the nature and attributes of each target.

But now, her eye was no longer innate. It had been reborn—forged from Array Spirit: Evil-Slayer of the Three Pure Ones Barrier Formation.

Before she reactivated the Azure Eye after so long, Yi Qing hadn’t even realized she’d blurt out the words: Eye Technique: Azure Dust.

A faint tsk-tsk, like Evil-Slayer’s murmur, brushed her ear:

“Friend Yi, not a cultivator, yet gifted beyond most! This technique, Azure Dust, is one of the Eye Techniques—its light pierces illusions, banishes filth. Where it reaches, ghosts scatter, evils retreat! But… beware…”

Yi Qing didn’t catch the rest, she was channeling all her focus into her sight. The azure glow flared, and the world before her bared itself in completely alien hues.

At this sight, she was truly stunned!

Weeping Valley wasn’t as it seemed. At this moment, they were standing atop a cliff shaped like a colossal tongue, and beneath it yawned a bottomless abyss.

With her enhanced sight, Yi Qing could see thousands of meters below, where the depths were entirely cloaked in towering thickets. It was no mere valley—but a vast gorge carved from jagged mountains and steep ridges.

Strangely, at the far end of the gorge stood a peculiar mountain. Its entire surface shimmered with a deep jade-green hue, as if it were a colossal piece of translucent, sky-piercing green jade.

Even more astonishing—under the influence of Eye Technique: Azure Dust, Yi Qing could perceive everything behind her without so much as turning her head.

From Weeping Valley’s entrance to the cliff, the distance was barely a hundred zhang—how could there be countless burial mounds? Just pits carved into the cliff walls, sealed with black clay, housing Touxiang Village’s ancestors, generation after generation.

For centuries, the villagers had followed the custom of earth burial. And yet, all this time, they had been hollowing out the cliff to inter their dead—without anyone ever realizing it!

To pull off something like this under so many watchful eyes—there could only be one explanation. This place must be shrouded in a massive illusion!

A chill gripped Yi Qing. Three words surged unbidden into her mind:

Contagion Type!

This… was no trivial matter!

According to the threat assessments of the Fireseed Corps, any entity capable of controlling a region, or bending the laws of reality within a localized area, is classified as a Contagion-Type anomaly. Such anomalies are, at minimum, disaster-level. Upon discovery, all units are strictly forbidden from engaging. Abandon fallen comrades and gear, retreat immediately.

In other words, this was at least an A- or AA-level threat.

From what Yi Qing knew, in the entire history of the Fireseed Corps of Eastland Empire, such threats had only occurred twice. And each time, it had taken the combined strength of two full branches of the Fireseed Corps just to mount a viable resistance.

Suddenly, she understood. The Array Spirit: Evil-Slayer hadn’t lied. He truly was guarding something extraordinary.

Just as Yi Qing’s thoughts drifted for a moment, her gaze caught something unusual in the gorge below— a dense forest of branches and foliage, and within it, a faint trail winding into the distance. Something was clearly passing through below!

Was it You Long’er, possessed by a Yin Beast? Vanilla? Or something else... a monster?

Yi Qing’s first instinct was to yell for Ye Shisan to flee.

This was a Contagion-Type zone, a chaotic space that defied all human logic. Even Tongmo’s commander Zhang Dulao wouldn’t act rashly here, let alone just her and Ye Shisan.

But You Long’er and Vanilla’s faces flashed in her mind, and her heart clenched. Was she really going to abandon them?

Yi Qing stood frozen, uncertain what to do.

“Yi Qing, are you okay?”

Ye Shisan froze. After Yi Qing blurted out something odd, she stood motionless for several full seconds, like a statue carved from stone. A chill crept down his spine.

“Hey, snap out of it! You possessed or something?”

He reached for her shoulder, but a bolt of azure lightning shot from her body, stabbing his fingers with sharp pain, numbing his scalp.

Pain lanced through his nerves, and he instinctively staggered back a few steps.

In that instant, from behind him, a translucent arm whipped forth, forming a strange hand seal.

For the second time, Ye Shisan saw it with naked eyes—lunging over his head, striking toward Yi Qing’s skull like a bolt of lightning.

Danger! That's a Pseudo-Spirit’s reflexive response to attack!

Almost simultaneously, his blood surged violently. He summoned every ounce of will, desperately trying to halt the arm’s assault. But a void-like force at his back—vast and invisible—was draining him dry. Strength, focus, even thought itself—all being pulled away.

Hold on! Fight it! No retreat!

It lasted a full ten seconds—but to Ye Shisan, it felt like centuries of torment. Only then did he realize he had barely managed to hold his own against the surge of murderous intent.

The arm froze mid-air, its twisted gesture, two fingers extended, hovered just three inches from piercing Yi Qing’s skull.

Before he could breathe, a strange male voice rang out: “Ye Shisan, that thing inside you knows Sword Arts?”

It was Array Spirit: Evil-Slayer!

Seeing Ye Shisan remain silent, Evil-Slayer gave a low chuckle: “Friend Yi’s casting for the first time. She’s not used to it yet. Best not to touch her. Stay put, and you’ll be fine. But take a few more steps… and I can’t guarantee a thing.”

It wasn’t that Ye Shisan didn’t want to speak—he simply couldn’t. All his focus was locked in resisting the arm controlled by the Pseudo-Spirit. There was no room for distraction.

Evil-Slayer seemed to notice his plight. “Heh… I told you before. As a descendant of the Deity bloodline, this is the extent of your ability. If you can’t subdue the thing inside you, you’ll destroy yourself sooner or later.”

Ye Shisan’s face flushed red. He summoned every ounce of strength, and through clenched teeth, forced out a few words: “Damn—it—stop—talking—crap!”

Evil-Slayer seemed to take perverse pleasure in the current predicament. After a few chuckles, he finally spoke:

“If you need my help, it’s not difficult. But you must promise me—never betray Friend Yi in this lifetime. If you do, even if my essence scatters and my path dissolves, I will hunt you to the depths of the Nine Springs.”

“Get lost!”

“Ha, what a fine ‘get lost’! I’ll take that as your agreement.”

“…”

Ye Shisan couldn’t utter another word. He wanted to snap back—even if he saw Yi Qing as family, this wasn’t the time to make oaths under duress.

Yet somehow, Evil-Slayer worked some spell, Ye Shisan couldn’t make a sound—and that silence became tacit consent.

Then came a clear cry from Evil-Slayer, and a burst of azure light flared overhead:

“Heaven holds its Spirit, Earth its Mother; now stands the Three Pure Ones Barrier Formation, with Array’s spirit, Evil-Slayer, and Descendant of the deity, Ye Shisan, here to bind this oath by words!”

“Mighty is the Great Way, this oath unbreakable! Solemn sun and moon, these words be witnessed!”

“Heaven above, earth below, with ‘get lost’ as bond: with faith, it endures; without faith, no mercy!”

“The oath is sealed!”