"You've returned, foolish disciple..." a quiet voice called out to Zhou Yulong.
Turning toward the source of the sound, a woman of unearthly beauty appeared before him.
Her white hair lay neatly down her back. Her delicate lips were slightly parted, exhaling a barely perceptible mist. She wore a blindfold, symbolizing her blindness. Her pale, almost translucent skin was visible through her simple yet comfortable dress, and her delicate hands held a sword.
Zhou Yulong bowed respectfully to the woman who had arrived. His mouse, Heping, who had been perched on his shoulder the entire time, did the same.
"Long time no see, Master!"
The disciples, who had been discussing the boy until then, sighed in unison and bowed.
"Look, it's Master Su Bailing!"
"Didn't she go looking for the 'boy from her dreams'?!"
"How beautiful she is!"
The disciples whispered among themselves.
The woman named Su Bailing smiled tenderly, oblivious to the conversation.
She reached out and placed her palm on Zhou Yulong's cheek.
The boy froze. For a second, his lips twitched, but it disappeared very quickly.
His thoughts flew back to the day they first met...
10 years ago...
The sky turned red.
Crimson flames surrounded the houses of a small village, consuming them.
A small boy looked at this chaos and saw a single cultivator mercilessly murder his mother.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry and call for help. But not a single sound came out.
With wide eyes, he could only helplessly watch as a group of cultivators ravaged the village and slaughtered the civilians.
One of them noticed him and walked toward him, sword in hand.
The boy didn't move. He was too shocked to comprehend the danger.
Before him lay the lifeless bodies of his parents and sister. And now he would join them.
The cultivator raised his sword over his head and was about to cut off the child's head when he suddenly froze.
His group also froze.
A figure in a snow-white robe walked toward them from the other end of the village, walking with light steps.
Her pale, bare feet softly trod the ground. Her white hair was tied in a neat ponytail, and a blindfold covered her eyes.
She walked leisurely and, passing the cultivators, stopped in front of the boy.
She paused for a few seconds, looking at his frozen expression, and then said in a quiet, gentle voice:
"What is your name, young Daoist?" she asked with a gentle smile, bending slightly. The little boy flinched and looked at her fearfully. His eyes were filled with fear, but he still managed to answer.
"Yu-Yulong..." he whispered softly.
The woman smiled tenderly.
She reached out and stroked his head.
"What a sweet name. And I'm Su Bailing. Nice to meet you!"
Her voice was full of tenderness and maternal care. It seemed her presence was enough to calm the child.
The cultivators who had previously attacked the village came to their senses and pointed their weapons at the woman.
"Hey, who are you? What sect are you from to interfere in our affairs?!" the one who had tried to kill the boy asked loudly.
Su Bailing didn't respond. She continued to gently stroke the child's head.
The cultivators, enraged by this, surrounded her and prepared to attack.
"You bitch! How dare you ignore us?!" the second one shouted.
Su Bailing sighed. She removed the blindfold and handed it to the boy.
"Little Yulong... Could you put this blindfold on for a while while I talk to these guys?"
The boy timidly reached out and took the blindfold, putting it on, closing his eyes.
The woman, having confirmed he couldn't see, smiled tenderly and stroked his head.
"Well done. Wait a bit, and don't take it off until I tell you!"
The black-haired boy nodded and sat down on the ground, clinging to his parents' bodies.
Su Bailing smiled tenderly and finally turned her attention to the men.
They flinched. A pair of dull eyes, devoid of color and life, looked at them.
They started laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA, so you're blind? It turns out your fears were for nothing!" "Why scare the poor cultivators like that?!"
"Moreover, what's such a beauty doing alone, and without guards, no less?"
"Just look at that body! I think we can wait a little while before we finish off the brat!"
The cultivators surrounded her from all sides, grinning maliciously. There was nothing good in their thoughts.
However, Su Bailing wasn't afraid. Her posture was relaxed, her gray eyes looking at the ground, and a slight smile played on her lips.
One of the cultivators, enraged by her ignoring them, decided to teach her a lesson.
"Hey, I'm talking to you! What are you—" he didn't have time to finish.
As soon as he reached out to turn her to face him, his arm was severed.
His hand fell to the ground, and blood gushed from it.
"AAAAAAAH!" — Grabbing his arm, he fell to the ground and began screaming in pain.
The other cultivators flinched and took a step back.
"What the... How did she do that?!"
"I didn't even see her draw her sword..."
The cultivator, who had been silent until then, frowned.
"I saw it... Though vaguely, I saw how, in a split second, she drew her sword and spun the hilt. The blade circled around clockwise in front of her, protecting her like a shield. What kind of speed is this?!"
While he was pondering this, another cultivator attempted to attack Su Bailing from behind.
"You bitch!..."
Leaping toward her, he attempted to strike her vertically with his sword, but Su Bailing merely took a step to the right and dodged the attack.
Gripping her sword hilt tighter, she struck back.
[Lotus Sword Technique. First Lotus: Petal]
One step. One horizontal swing.
The cultivator couldn't even comprehend what she had done.
His body split in half in mid-air. The lower half fell right next to the woman, and the upper half a little further away. His intestines and some organs spilled out.
The cut was so clean that his heart was perfectly bisected, and she herself was so fast that her sword wasn't even stained with blood.
However, it wasn't just the cultivator that was cut in two. The sword swing created a massive wave. a sword that cut through everything in its path and flew 5 li (2.5 km).
The other cultivators flinched. They didn't expect this from a blind woman who seemed fragile.
The third cultivator concealed his presence and attempted an ambush, but Su Bailing was still able to find him.
Just as he was about to attack from invisibility, Su Bailing merely took a step forward.
[Fourth Lotus: Wind]
Her blade pierced his invisibility and pierced his heart.
"Cough! H-how...?" asked the man, who was invisible.
Su Bailing merely smiled and quietly replied,
"You see, I've been blind since birth. The heavens deprived me of the ability to see, but in return, they gave me the ability to sense the Qi of other objects and move with it. In other words, all you had to do was conceal your Qi!"
Su Bailing finished explaining and pulled out The sword swung from top to bottom.
The first male cultivator, who had lost his arm in fear, tried to flee, but Su Bailing easily caught up with him and severed his head. Only two remained.
"What kind of monster is this..." the analyst whispered quietly and took a step back.
"To hell with this!" the last cultivator said and jumped back.
He formed a hand seal in the air, and hundreds of copies of himself instantly appeared, flying straight at Su Bailing.
"You're good at fighting one-on-one, but what about a hundred?!" he shouted, and all his clones formed hand seals, preparing various techniques.
The woman didn't flinch; she clutched the sword in front of her and assumed a fighting stance.
[Sixth Lotus: Fall]
One swing of the sword, and all the cultivator's clones were cut in half, including the original.
Blood spurted. A bloody rain poured from all directions and from the sky. Organs and limbs fell from all sides. Even birds unlucky enough to be in the attack's trajectory fell from the sky.
A cultivator who had previously stood aside in horror watched as a single blind woman single-handedly crushed their entire group.
When she took a step toward him, he instinctively took a step back.
"W-who are you??? Where did you get such strength?!" he asked, horror in his voice.
Su Bailing looked at him. Her graceful features betrayed complete indifference to him.
Her delicate lips parted slightly to answer.
"My name is Su Bailing... I am one of the elders of the White Jade Sect. Also known as the Sword Saint of the White Jade Sect!"
With these words, she swung her sword and took the life of the last cultivator.
Afterwards, she gathered all the villagers who had perished in the attack, burned their corpses, and stood next to Zhou Yulong.
The boy, who had lost everything in one night, stood before the fire, staring at it with empty eyes.
Su Bailing stroked his head.
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
The boy shook his head.
"Then... Would you like to become my disciple?" she asked.
The little boy looked at her, his eyes widening for a moment.
"Is that possible?" he asked in a quiet whisper. A glimmer of hope blazed in his eyes.
He wanted to become a cultivator. To wander the world, to grow stronger, and to save ordinary people.
And since he had such a chance, he would agree.
Seeing Su Bailing nod, he agreed, and thus became the disciple of the White Jade Sect elder.
Days passed. Upon arriving at the sect, it became clear that he had a talent for cultivation, but it was so weak that it was pointless.
So he studied swordsmanship. Even if he couldn't... Cultivate, he could still become stronger and save ordinary people.
However, this was only in the beginning.
Zhou Yulong remembered how in his first life he was a lazy slacker who followed Li Yuhua everywhere.
Because of his weakness, he died during Yan Pantu's attack. However, fate gave him a second chance.
In his second life, he took his training seriously and managed to survive Yan Pantu's attack, became stronger, traveled the world, and even gained the opportunity to cultivate. However, he was still too weak and died at the hands of a powerful enemy.
In this life, everything will be different!
In our time
Zhou Yulong looked at his master for a long time.
According to his memories, Su Bailing saw a vision of herself in the arms of a man with long black hair and an impassive face.
Everything would have been fine, but she's blind and can't dream. However, she claims to have had this dream and, because of it, left the sect to find this man.
This happened a month before the martial arts tournament.
"Master, how is your search going?" he asked with a gentle smile.
Su Bailing smiled gently in response and sighed.
"Not very... I couldn't find this man..."
One of the students chuckled softly.
"She doesn't even know his face, so how could she possibly be looking for him?"
At this, some of the students chuckled quietly, to which Zhou Yulong and Heping frowned. The mouse was ready to fight.
Su Bailing, in turn, merely smiled sweetly and said in a light tone.
"It seems my students have relaxed too much in my absence~ How about increasing your training?... Let's say 20 sets!"
The disciples were horrified at this and tried to justify themselves, but Su Bailing didn't hear them.
She returned her gaze to Zhou Yulong and stroked Heping.
"How are your training progressing?" Her voice was filled with motherly love for her disciple.
"Basically good... I've mastered the basic cuts and can now hold my own against early-stage cultivators!"
Su Bailing smiled proudly at these words. Her lips parted, revealing her snow-white teeth.
"I'm glad to hear that. Well then, I won't interfere. Continue training diligently, but don't overexert yourself! I don't have any extra healing pills if you die during your training!"
Zhou Yulong smiled. He knew it wasn't true. Su Bailing had a great many high-grade spiritual healing pills, which she never spared for him.
Su Bailing turned and went back to her chambers, while Zhou Yulong returned to his training, but he still followed her advice and reduced his workload.
***
That evening, after Su Bailing visited Zhou Yulong and took care of some business, she returned to her chambers.
Her room was completely silent.
Closing the door, she removed her outer garment, placed her sword next to the bed, and then sat by the window. The soft evening light gently touched her pale skin before disappearing over the horizon and night fell.
Su Bailing removed her blindfold, but her eyes remained closed.
She saw neither the moon nor the stars. For her, night was no different from day.
The blind woman ran her fingers along the edge of her blindfold and, for the first time in a long time, allowed herself to reflect on the past.
A time when she could still see.
About the person she was before becoming an elder of the White Jade Sect.
About losing her sight for the first time.
About the first blood on her sword.
About the people she couldn't save.
About her family.
About her youth.
And about why she once decided she would never allow herself to become attached to anyone again.
Su Bailing slowly closed her eyes.
Even though they were already devoid of light.
Her memories brought her back to where it all began. To where, two hundred years ago... She saw the world for the first time. And lost it for the first time.
To be continued...