Chapter 002
1596 Words
Jake drifted in darkness for what felt like an eternity.
Time had no meaning there—only fragments of memory, pain, and something surreal that blurred the boundary between dream and reality. He saw flashes of light, heard indistinct voices, and felt as if his consciousness was being pulled apart and stitched back together again.
Then, suddenly—
he woke.
His eyes snapped open.
Morning light filtered into the ruined temple, soft and pale, cutting through the lingering scent of damp earth and decay. For a moment, Jake simply lay there, breathing, feeling his chest rise and fall, unsure if he had truly returned to the world of the living.
Then he saw him.
A white-haired old man sat quietly in front of him, cross-legged, as if he had been there all along.
Jake’s body tensed instantly. Instinctively, he tried to push himself back, his heart pounding.
“Relax,” the old man said with a gentle smile. “There is no need to be afraid. I have already healed your eyes… and every injury on your body.”
Jake froze.
His eyes.
He blinked.
Once. Twice.
The world did not dissolve into darkness.
Instead, it remained—clear, sharp, vivid.
He could see.
Actually see.
A tremor ran through his entire body. He raised a hand slowly, almost cautiously, and touched his own face as if to confirm that this reality would not shatter at any moment.
To make sure, he pinched himself.
Pain shot through him.
Real.
This was real.
But his mind struggled to catch up. Everything felt disjointed, chaotic, impossible to process in such a short span of time.
The old man watched him quietly, his gaze carrying both weariness and a faint trace of satisfaction.
“My time is almost up,” the old man said calmly. “I have only a final breath left in me. To encounter someone like you before I die… I suppose that is fate’s last kindness to me.”
He lifted a hand and gestured.
“Kneel. Accept me as your master. Only then will I tell you everything.”
Jake did not hesitate.
In his current state—rescued from death, given back his sight—there was no room for doubt or pride. He dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
“Master,” he said.
The old man’s hand rested on Jake’s head, patting him lightly, like a grandfather acknowledging a long-awaited successor.
“Good,” he said, a faint smile appearing. “Sit. Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. Remember every word. And speak of it to no one.”
Jake straightened his posture, his attention sharpened to a razor’s edge.
The old man began.
“You are not ordinary,” he said. “You are a once-in-a-millennium bearer of Dual Sight.”
Jake’s breath hitched.
“Your condition was suppressed,” the old man continued. “When your corneas were taken, your innate ability could not awaken. But now… that limitation has been removed.”
Jake lowered his gaze slightly, memories stirring.
He had always known he was different.
While others had a single pupil in each eye, he had been born with two. Even as a child, people had whispered, stared, avoided him. Some called him cursed. Others, a monster.
Only his parents had ever treated him like a normal human being.
The old man then spoke of his own identity—his origins, his past, his unfinished ambitions. His voice remained steady, but beneath it lingered something unresolved… something heavy.
Jake listened in silence.
When the old man finished, he suddenly extended a finger and pressed it against Jake’s forehead.
In that instant—
everything exploded.
A torrent of information surged into Jake’s mind.
Techniques. Knowledge. Methods. Secrets of cultivation, medicine, combat—countless disciplines layered together into a vast and intricate system.
Among them, the most profound were the techniques known as Fate-Changing Needles and Mind-Guided Needling—arts that blurred the line between healing and power, between life and death.
Jake gasped, his entire body trembling under the overwhelming influx.
And then—
it stopped.
The old man’s hand fell.
His head slumped forward.
His body… dissolved into ash.
Gone.
Just like that.
Jake remained frozen for several seconds before finally lowering his head deeply.
“Master… your disciple will fulfill your final wish,” he said quietly. “And your enemies… I will make them pay.”
This man, whom he had only just met, had given him everything.
A second life.
A path.
A purpose.
Jake reached for the Arcane Satchel the old man had left behind. Inside, he found a single pill—the Primordial Unity Elixir.
Without hesitation, he swallowed it.
The transformation began immediately.
Heat surged through his body like a raging current. His skin tingled, then burned, as impurities were forced out through his pores in the form of dark residue. Old scars began to peel away, flaking off like dead bark.
His muscles tightened. His bones felt lighter, yet stronger.
It was as if his entire body was being dismantled and rebuilt from within.
This was more than healing.
This was rebirth.
The Primordial Unity Elixir shattered the limits of the mortal body, allowing him to bypass the lower stages entirely and step directly into the Innate Realm.
At that moment, Jake became something entirely different.
An Innate Grandmaster.
More importantly, his Dual Sight fully awakened.
Power flowed through his eyes—mysterious, unfathomable. He could feel that this was only the beginning. As his strength grew, so too would the abilities tied to it, evolving into something far beyond conventional understanding.
He took a slow breath.
Then his expression hardened.
“Vivian Hawthorne… Elena Hawthorne…”
His voice was low, filled with restrained fury.
“You ungrateful, venomous snakes.”
“You thought I would die.”
“You never imagined… that I would come back stronger.”
His fists clenched.
“I will make you pay for everything.”
After mastering the initial control of his abilities, Jake learned to conceal his Dual Sight, masking it from anyone who might recognize its value.
Because if discovered—
it would invite disaster.
Once everything was prepared, he fulfilled his master’s final wish, scattering the ashes into the river.
Then he turned.
And headed straight for the Hawthorne Family villa.
This time—
he was not returning as prey.
He vaulted over the wall effortlessly, landing inside the vast garden. His movements were silent, controlled, precise.
He pushed open the door.
And froze.
Before him, reclining on a sofa, was Vivian Hawthorne.
She held a book casually in one hand.
And nothing else.
Her body was completely exposed, her posture relaxed, as if this was the most natural state in the world. There was nothing crude about it—no vulgarity, no self-consciousness.
She looked… sculpted.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Her figure carried a maturity that transcended simple beauty—each curve refined, each line deliberate, radiating a quiet but overwhelming presence.
Despite having given birth, she maintained the physique of someone in her early twenties.
Jake’s breath hitched.
He had never seen anything like this before.
A raw, instinctive reaction surged through him, his blood heating uncontrollably.
Vivian glanced up, finally noticing him.
Her brows lifted slightly.
“You’re not dead?”
Jake stepped forward slowly, his jaw tightening.
“Disappointed?”
His voice carried barely concealed hatred.
Yet his gaze lingered, unwilling to look away.
Vivian, assuming he was still blind, showed no concern.
“If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have made it to today.”
Jake let out a cold laugh.
“Then should I thank you?”
He made no effort to reveal his restored vision.
Why would he?
In front of him was a sight no man in Larkspur City would willingly turn away from.
Vivian returned her attention to the book, dismissing him entirely.
“Go back to your kennel,” she said coldly. “Don’t stand in front of me.”
That tone—
that absolute disregard—
was what Jake hated most.
The audacity of someone who had stolen everything from him… to still look down on him as if he were nothing.
His hand moved.
The book flew from her grasp.
“I’m not your dog.”
Vivian rose instantly, her expression turning sharp.
“Have you lost your mind?”
She pointed toward the basement.
“Get out of my sight.”
Jake moved faster.
His hand shot forward, gripping her throat, forcing her back onto the sofa.
“From today onward,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, “I’m no longer the person you can trample over.”
“Everything you’ve done to me… I will repay.”
Vivian’s eyes narrowed.
Despite the sudden turn, she remained composed.
“What are you going to do?” she asked coldly. “Kill me? I doubt you have the courage.”
Her presence remained imposing—refined, sharp, commanding.
But it no longer suppressed him.
Because now—
he stood in the Innate Realm.
A true Martial Grandmaster.
Her aura meant nothing.
“Kill you?” Jake said slowly. “That would be too easy.”
A dangerous thought surfaced in his mind.
Uncontrolled.
Relentless.
Vivian sneered.
“What? Something worse? Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have the ability.”
“You’re blind. Broken. Useless.”
Her words struck like sparks against dry fuel.
Jake’s restraint shattered.
His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper.
“Then I’ll show you… exactly what I am.”
- Writer
