Zou Huan had only managed to run for a couple of minutes before coming to a screeching halt in front of a burnt down building.
There was a strange energy in the air and a smell. It was not coming from the innumerable corpses that were littered all around him nor was it coming from the undead that were close enough to be heard by most ordinary people. Somehow, it smelled even worse than decaying corpses.
His brow locked in a tight furrow as he carefully examined the surroundings for any strange happenings but could see nothing. The vibrations and the energy from the fight between Hao Xuan and the minor demon could be felt even here, greatly obstructing Zou Huan's spiritual sense.
Left with no other choice, Zou Huan closed his eyes and summoned his mind palace. It started with a single misty silhouette above his head but the number kept increasing until there were Seven Mind Palaces.
Each of them was exerting heavy pressure on the surroundings, giving off an aura of sturdiness and sincerity to all that gazed upon them. They were surrounded by a golden mist that protected them from prying eyes.
A cultivator's Mind Palace reflects the innermost desires, motivations, and impulses that are the strongest within their hearts. What they wish to achieve, what they want from this life, and how strong their desires are, all these things can be interpreted by the aura of a cultivator's mind palace if they allow them to be seen by outsiders.
It would be equivalent to completely opening your heart to someone without any reservations whatsoever. Although most cultivators chose to hide their mind palaces because of this, many that believe themselves to be virtuous in heart and soul would often use mind palaces openly to increase the power of some special techniques.
One such core scripture of Mount Cai was called the "All-Seeing Eye." It was deemed as a must learn technique for all students and disciples that ventured outwards for whatever reason and was used as the final test for all those that wanted to enter the final sanctum of Mount Cae and become inner disciples.
It was said to have been developed by the first master of Mount Cae himself, allowing the user to see the true reality of things. To distinguish truth from lie, fact from fiction, and to even peek to the other side of the veil.
But it did not come without its own drawbacks. For one, it could only be used by those that were pure of heart.
And secondly, when using the All-Seeing Eye no two persons would see the same thing. Their vision would be warped and twisted and had to be interpreted by themselves according to their own knowledge and thought processes.
Not to mention the danger a person would be putting themself in by exposing the Mind Palaces.
One would have to have reached a certain level of self-actualization and have some accomplishments in understanding themselves and the world around them to be able to correctly decipher the correct meaning of their visions.
Some had compared it to looking at an ocean yet seeing each drop of water separately.
Suffice it to say, most inner disciples and students of the Mountain never reached a high enough level in the scripture to ever see its final stage.
The only person other than its creator to have successfully managed to understand the entirety of the scripture to its core was an outer Elder of Mount Cae that was invited by the First Master himself.
Without a name or title, he only stayed with the Mountain for a few years, departing not long after guiding the youngest generation to continue his journey, whatever it was.
He was never heard from again...
These days it was mostly used as a test for the younger generation to see if they had any doubts or ill intentions before allowing them access to the innermost secrets of Mount Cae.
The seven mind palaces hovered above his head as Zou Huan activated the All-Seeing Eye, linking the spiritual palaces with one another in a formation, forming a perfect heptagon with himself in the center.
Zou Huan closed his eyes and immersed himself in the changing visions he was receiving now. His surroundings changed, all the color was taken away leaving only undefined shapes in the darkness.
He looked left and right, seeing even the undead that were showing up as mere shadows on the ground without a physical form. Subconsciously his feet moved left and right until he was forced out of the state.
"Oww!" a young voice came into his ears, pushing him out.
Zou Huan opened his eyes and saw a kid standing before him, rubbing his bare foot.