August mornings carried a fresh, crystal-clear feeling all their own. A sparse mist hung in the air, though perhaps it was only cooking smoke drifting up from the rooftops. Before the oppressive summer heat descended, plenty of breakfast stalls had already opened for business.
You Su walked slowly through the streets, having come out to buy breakfast for himself and his junior sister.
You Su had long since memorized every road in Chuyun City. Combined with the rudimentary perception of a Spirit Platform Realm cultivator, weaving through the streets was no longer difficult. If a stranger saw him, they would never guess that this bright, youthful lad was actually blind.
"You Su, why are you so late today? It's almost the third quarter of the Hour of the Dragon, and you're only just here to buy breakfast. What were you secretly up to last night?"
"Uncle Liu, you jest. What could a blind man like me possibly do?"
"You can do no less than I can!"
Along the way, many pedestrians and shopkeepers greeted You Su warmly, and he responded to each of them with equal enthusiasm. Though he had lost his sight, his other four senses had grown sharper. Combined with his excellent memory, this allowed him to remember many people by their voices.
It was only when he passed a shop called "Wang's Oil Pastry Shop" that You Su stopped.
The pastry seller, an old woman with a hunched back and white hair, greeted You Su with practiced familiarity.
"Two beef-filled ones for you, and two with preserved vegetables and pork for your junior sister. Is that right?"
"Madam Wang, with a memory like yours, you really shouldn't keep saying you're old."
"The things one wants to remember, one can always remember. There aren't many people on the street yet. I'll pick out a few of the bigger ones for you. Just don't let anyone else see."
"Thank you, Madam Wang." You Su handed over the appropriate amount of silver and thanked her from the bottom of his heart.
Though the blind could not see, they were often even more sensitive to the goodwill radiating from others.
Madam Wang swiftly wrapped the pastries in oiled paper and carefully placed them in You Su's hands. As though he had suddenly thought of something, You Su hesitated before asking, "Madam Wang... have you seen my junior sister?"
"Of course I have." Madam Wang's tone was certain. She did not find it strange that You Su had suddenly asked about his junior sister. "Though this old woman's eyes are dim and bleary, I could never forget a beauty like your junior sister after seeing her. She rarely leaves the house and seldom speaks with anyone, but there are plenty of young men in this city who fall in love with her at first sight. A girl turns sixteen and can begin discussing marriage. Your master ran off, so as her senior brother, you need to pay more attention."
"My junior sister... has devoted herself to cultivation. She probably has no thoughts of that sort for now."
A trace of tension arose in You Su for no reason. Without thinking, he lied through his teeth and said something as absurd as, "My junior sister has devoted herself to cultivation."
"Ah, but isn't cultivation all about luck? If her luck is poor and she only gives up after growing old and losing her beauty, wouldn't that be a waste of such a lovely face?"
Madam Wang sounded rather regretful. In her eyes, so many people rushed forward one after another to pursue cultivation, yet only a scant few succeeded. Calling it "a matter of luck" did not seem inappropriate.
"Is my junior sister... really that beautiful?" You Su murmured.
"Of course! She's practically a Goddess descended from the sacred mountain!" Madam Wang was highly excited and was about to lavishly praise the girl she had seen only a few times when her husband emerged from the back kitchen and interrupted her.
"Women are always nagging people to get married." The old man came out carrying freshly kneaded dough. "You Su, don't listen to your Madam Wang. You and your junior sister should focus on cultivation and not let your master down."
"Grandpa Li, I will."
You Su had gotten the answer he wanted from Madam Wang, yet he discovered that it brought him none of the joy he had imagined. Feeling somewhat lost, he picked up the pastries and prepared to leave.
"Grandpa Li, Madam Wang, I'll be going first. You two carry on."
"All right. Take care on the way home," Madam Wang called out with a beaming smile.
Grandpa Li tore apart a pastry and gazed at the youth's thin back. After shooting his wife a reproachful look, he called out, "You Su, don't think that just because this old grandpa is advanced in years, I didn't visit Henggao City beneath Mount Henggao when I was young. I've seen those so-called divine sons and Goddesses. Even if you can't see, you're not inferior to them in the slightest, understand? Don't ever belittle yourself."
You Su turned back with a smile, feeling that his mood seemed to have improved somewhat.
"You Su will remember that."
You Su proceeded at an unhurried pace. Though he could not see the road, he possessed hazy memories from his previous life. Thus, unlike those who had truly been born blind, he could form some basic images of the world around him.
The blue-gray bricks beneath his feet, the geckos clinging to the alley walls, the dew hanging from the moss without yet falling—he often used such imaginings to fill out the world in his mind.
He had also imagined his junior sister's face. Each time, it was more or less different. Perhaps her eyes should have been a little larger, her nose a little more prominent. But now, whenever he thought of his junior sister, that monstrous face from his dream would involuntarily surface.
"It shouldn't be like this."
You Su stopped, closed his eyes, and shook his head, trying to fling that bizarre dream from his mind.
You Su opened his eyes, and once again all he saw was chaos. Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound not far away. He instinctively turned his head toward it, only to see a pitch-black monster appear abruptly within his field of vision.
The monster clearly had a fish head covered in sharp teeth, fins, and gills, yet its limbs and torso were as sturdy as a dog's. It was crouched atop a corpse, gnawing away at it.
You Su stared fixedly at the monster and the corpse beneath it, his brows drawing together slightly.
Sensing someone watching it, the monster slowly turned its head. A fleshy protrusion shaped like a small lantern rose above its head, flickering with an eerie crimson glow, as though luring some curious moth to fling itself into the flame.
You Su instinctively tried to take a few steps forward, then suddenly realized that his vision had returned! Yet the range of what he could see seemed limited to this abrupt monster...
Before You Su could fully comprehend what was happening, a powerful pressure swept over him, nearly stopping his breath. The monster, however, withdrew its blood-red light. The "blood lantern" instantly became a revolting, enormous lump of flesh. It bared every one of its pale, gleaming teeth, as if smiling.
"Evil fiend, meet your death!"
A righteous voice, hoarse with exertion, rang out abruptly. Several more bursts of force tore through the air, snapping You Su fully out of his daze.
You Su's heart still trembled with lingering fear. Though he could not see the white-bearded, white-robed Old Immortal Master who had appeared out of nowhere, he could see that several wounds had opened across the monster's curled-up body, red flesh turned inside out, while numerous pitch-black worms crawled from them. The monster whimpered and wailed under its breath.
The monster did not fight back, as though it had already accepted its inevitable death. Its round fish eyes were filled with fear and pleas for mercy, along with what seemed to be a trace of confusion. The silent lump of flesh continued to flicker, but the light no longer carried any hint of danger. Instead, it was filled with fawning submission.
"Collect!"
The aged voice rang out again. White light suddenly enveloped the monster from head to toe. It bared its teeth in agony, its expression twisted with pain, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished together with the corpse. Presumably, the Old Immortal Master had collected them into a magical artifact.
Before You Su could speak, the Old Immortal Master asked first, "You, you can see it?"
"Replying to Senior, I'm blind." You Su bowed to the Old Immortal Master, then looked at him calmly and without servility.
"Blind?"
The Old Immortal Master had white hair and an aged face, yet his eyes shone brightly. He carefully examined the youth before him. With a face as handsome as carved jade and a bearing like rosy clouds lifting into the sky, it was difficult to associate him with the word "blind." Yet his eyes were unfocused and vacant, and his tone was level and sincere, showing no sign of deceit.
"You weren't lying. You are indeed blind." The Old Immortal Master's withered face crinkled with wrinkles, and he looked as though he had realized everything. "But that doesn't mean you didn't see it."
He spoke with absolute certainty, as though he did not think those were two contradictory matters.
You Su did not believe his little trick could truly deceive the Old Immortal Master. The fact that he had kept his eyes fixed on the monster's movements would certainly have been noticed by the immortal master. Thus, he answered frankly, "Replying to Senior, I did see it."
"You know what it is?"
"This junior does not."
"It is called a Lantern Ghost. It carries a lantern at night, lures curious people into throwing themselves into its trap, and then devours their flesh and blood."
"What a terrifying evil fiend. Fortunately, Senior intervened and rid the people of this scourge."
The Old Immortal Master, with his otherworldly bearing, ignored You Su's flattery. He drew the gleaming sword from his waist and swept it through the air in a sharp sword blossom.
"Do you also know that it is interested only in cultivators and excels at concealment? Anyone who can see it is at least in the Condensing Water Realm."
Channel Opening, Spirit Platform, Condensing Water, Feather Transformation, Hollow Insight, Heaven Awakening, and the legendary Supreme Spirit. Ninety-nine percent of the world's cultivators remained in the Channel Opening Realm. Only by reaching the Spirit Platform Realm could one be said to have gained an initial foothold on the immortal path, while the Condensing Water Realm was already enough to transcend the mortal world and earn oneself a place on the sacred mountains.
This evil fiend, which had been utterly helpless beneath the Old Immortal Master's hand, actually required the Condensing Water Realm to see its whereabouts. But I...
I'm in the Spirit Platform Realm!
The pressure from before had not dissipated. Instead, at this moment, it surged violently, becoming even more impossible to withstand!
The old man let out a low, distant sigh. "You shouldn't have been able to see it..."
Arriving together with that aged voice was a sword flashing with cold light, sharp and unstoppable!
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