"Y-You want to practice Dragon’s Gaze? With me? But it’s dangerous doing it outside the Ancestral Dragon Temple." Xi Meili said to him, worried that she might permanently injure him.
Yuan said, "That’s right. You’re more experienced with the technique, so I’d figured you can give me some advice. Furthermore, during our match, it felt like I was understanding more about the technique just from looking at your eyes. As for injuring me... you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll be fine."
"Well... I don’t mind." Xi Meili said.
Yuan then turned to look at Wang Xiuying and said, "What about you?"
"Don’t mind me. I will be watching you in the background," she said.
Sometime later, they arrived at the courtyard.
"I don’t really know what kind of advice I should give you, so let’s just use Dragon’s Gaze on each other like we did during our match and see if you can understand anything from it." Xi Meili said to him.
Yuan nodded.
"Let’s start slow." Xi Meili then stood about 10 meters away from him.
"We’re going to slowly approach each other like previously. Ready when you are."
"I am ready," Yuan said.
"Then we’ll use our Dragon’s Gaze on the count of three... two... one... go!"
Whoosh!
A profound pressure immediately enveloped the courtyard when Yuan and Xi Meili’s Dragon’s Gaze collided, giving Wang Xiuying a nostalgic feeling. However, this time, she made sure to stand all the way back where the pressure didn’t affect her as much.
A few moments later, once they were feeling a little comfortable, Yuan and Xi Meili began approaching each other.
And with each step they took, they increased the strength of their Dragon’s Gaze.
Before they knew it, both of them were standing directly in front of each other again, silently staring right into each others’ eyes like they wanted to see their soul.
Since this wasn’t a match, Xi Meili didn’t try to overwhelm Yuan, and she merely matched his strength, perhaps even slightly above him.
A few minutes later, Xi Meili asked him, "Well? Are you improving?"
"Can you increase the strength of your Dragon’s Gaze some more? You don’t have to go easy on me." Yuan said to her.
After a moment of silence, Xi Meili suddenly increased the strength of her Dragon’s Gaze.
Although it wasn’t quite as powerful as it was during the match, it was pretty close, and it was just enough to not injure him and enough to make him feel pressured.
Yuan quickly began sweating under Xi Meili’s powerful Dragon’s Gaze, feeling as though there was an almighty being staring down at him as though he was an ant.
A few minutes of pure silence later, once Xi Meili noticed Yuan reaching his limit, she closed her eyes and said, "Okay, let’s take a rest here. Any more and you might suffer internal injuries, which is devastating for any cultivator."
"Okay." Yuan nodded, and he proceeded to sit down in the lotus position and closed his eyes, recalling everything he’d experienced just now.
An hour later, once they had recovered, Yuan and Xi Meili returned to their training, and they would continue this until the day ended.
The following day, they also continued to do the same thing.
On the third day, Yuan took a seat in the middle of the courtyard and closed his eyes to recall everything he’s learned for the past two days.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiuying and the Royal Family watched him in the background.
"What do you think? After two days of training, how is his progress?" The Dragon Emperor asked Xi Meili.
"To be completely honest, he’s terrifying— his talents. He absorbs all experience like a sponge absorbing water and greatly improves in a short time. I was able to see a clear difference and improvement in his Dragon’s Gaze after every practice session." Xi Meili gave her judgment.
"If he continues to practice the technique, he’ll most likely surpass me very soon."
"If only he wasn’t born a human but a dragon instead. What a pity." Xi Murong sighed in a truly regretful tone.
"There’s nothing wrong with being talented as a human, as talents don’t favor a certain race. In the outside world, there are plenty of humans with talents that surpass even your father and me." The Dragon Empress spoke with a solemn expression on her face.
Sometime later, a profound aura surrounded Yuan.
When the Royal Family saw this, their eyes widened with shock.
"Enlightenment! He’s experiencing enlightenment!" Xi Murong exclaimed in a baffled voice.
"Shut your mouth! Don’t you dare disturb him!" The Dragon Empress immediately slapped the back of his head while lecturing him.
"What’s an enlightenment?" Wang Xiuying asked in a whispering voice.
"Enlightenment is a trance-like state where your mind and heart becomes crystal clear to focus on one thing— whatever caused the enlightenment." Xi Meili explained.
And she continued, "When that happens, one will improve drastically at whatever they are trying to gain enlightenment on."
"For example, Yuan’s probably having enlightenment about the Dragon’s Gaze. Once he’s done, his understanding and mastery of the technique will improve drastically."
"I see... How long do enlightenments usually last?"
The Dragon Emperor said, "It depends on the complexity of whatever he’s having enlightenment about. If it’s a simple technique, he can be done in a matter of minutes."
"However, if he’s having an enlightenment about something complex— like Dragon’s Gaze, he could be in that state for days if not weeks."
"W-Weeks?!" Wang Xiuying exclaimed in a low voice. What will happen to the Mystic Realm? And it’s not like she could take him out of enlightenment!
"Don’t worry, we have already prepared the teleport formation, so you can leave whenever. It doesn’t have to be today. If you want, you can even return by yourself first. He can follow you after he’s done." The Dragon Emperor said to her.
However, Wang Xiuying shook her head and said, "No, it’s okay. I will stay here until the very last minute. We came here together, so we’ll leave together— at least we’ll try."