Chapter 2: ~~~一~~~
~~~兰花在月光下绽放~~~
The Shu Clan was a proud clan of cultivators who were located by the lakes and river of Fengrao, known for their free and ever-changing practices to further their cultivation skills.
The head family consisted of four members, most of which were cultivators to varying degrees; Clan Leader Shu Zhao, Madam Shu-Yu Qiao, the Young Lady Shu Yaling, and the Young Master Shu Xuefeng.
Known to almost none, they had also taken in another girl that had been abandoned with only a small slip of paper containing her birth date and name which was Cháng Lánhuā.
She was the same age as the youngest son of the clan leader; however, she was not able to learn how to cultivate with the other for there was one thing different about her, and that was the fact that she could not see.
She wore a veiled hat at all times unless she was within the confines of the main estate to hide her face, and didn't wear shoes underneath the usual blue robes of those in her clan to better feel vibrations through her feet so she could at least get around without using a cane.
Even if she didn't cultivate due to her disability, the girl didn't seem to have trouble growing up and acting like an otherwise normal child which was a surprise to many that knew of her.
She liked to play music on her lyre, listen to music, write, and play with others, but most of all she loved to explore places she probably shouldn't.
Many times the Shu family had looked away for but five minutes only to find that the girl had completely disappeared from the estate and gone into the nearby forest known for roaming spirits and demons.
"A-Lán! A-Lán!" called a young man wearing blue robes, walking through the darkened trees as he clutched a sheathed sword in his left hand.
The farther in he walked, the more clearly he could hear a light melody being played on steel strings before he said, "A-Lán, I know you can hear me!"
"You know that, but have you ever thought that I might be ignoring you?" answered a calm female voice as he stumbled upon a clearing to see a young woman playing a small harp from her seat on a tree branch.
"A-Lán!" the male gasped with his jaw dropping slightly as his steel-grey eyes widened, "What are you doing up there?! You could get hurt!"
"Xuefeng, I may be blind, but that doesn't mean my sense of balance isn't as good as yours," she replied as the black chiffon of her veil and her hip-long black hair drifted in the slight breeze, "In fact, I believe it's actually better than yours."
"Aish, just get down from there already," the male huffed as he kept his gaze locked on the young woman, "Jiějiě, just finished dinner and is going to worry if you aren't home on time."
"Ah, is it that late already?" the ravenette questioned, tilting her head to the side as she gently lowerered herself from the branch with her feet dangling a few inches above the ground before releasing her grip for a soft landing.
"I apologize then, I didn't notice," she continued while turning in the male's general direction with her instrument held in her left hand.
"Of course you wouldn't notice," he scoffed before walking over and taking her free hand to lead them in the direction of the exit, "Just stop coming out here. It's dangerous for a normal person, let alone you."
"All of you keep saying that, but nothing has happened to me so far," the female muttered as she let herself be dragged along, "I actually find this place to be quite nice."
"That's because you haven't seen it and the things that are crawling around in here," Xuefeng retorted as he blew some of the stray hairs that wouldn't stay in his bun out of his face, "Although, I'm not sure that it would change your opinion much considering how easily you handled the snake that slithered into Young Lady Dai's banquet."
"It was just looking for some shelter from the rain and her mansion was the closest place," Lánhuā muttered as she heard the distance voices of people, signaling that they would be back to the town soon, "I wasn't just going to let it be killed for trying to survive."
"So you do understand the importance of living!" the noiret commented as the clan estate came into his view, "I almost thought you didn't with how much you go back to that damned forest."
"There are literal demons looking to eat anyone that's stupid enough to walk near the it," he continued while shaking his head, "And you always manage to waltz in like it's nothing."
"Because it is nothing," the woman responded as she processed all the sounds and vibrations of things going on around her, "I've never encountered any demons when I went, the only things I found to be disturbing were all the spiders that keep managing to fall onto my veil at random times."
The nineteen-year-old male just clicked his tongue as they made it to the main gates before saying, "Just don't go places on your own."
"You may be quite capable for someone who can't see, but people will still take advantage of you for it," he continued while leading her through the main house.
"Ah, Dìdì, Mei-Mei, you're back just in time," greeted a mature, female voice as a woman wearing a light blue hanfu walked into the dining room with a plate of beef, "Come, sit down and eat while the food is still hot."
"Thank you, Jiějiě, everything smells delicious," the younger female said as she took off her hat to reveal a soft smile as her eyes stayed hidden behind a band of enchanted metal that had been on her since she was taken in.
As she handed her a bowl of rice that already had some vegetables and meat in it, a small frown played on the lips of Young Lady Shu before she turned to her brother and asked, "Have you and father made any progress on trying to break the seal yet?"
Before the male could reply the blind female shook her head and said, "Jiějiě, it's been so many years already since you all have been trying to find a way to get this thing off of my face with no results."
"It's okay," she continued with a small smile as she felt around for her chopsticks before bringing them up to her bowl once she found them, "I've already accepted that I'll be like this till the day I die. There's no need to keep bothering anyone with it."
"Nonsense," the male spat as he took his pick of the food spread out in front of the three, "That seal was placed by a cultivator, so there must be a way for us to get it off."
"Some of the top disciples from the Shèng Clan are coming tomorrow, we might be able to ask them for help," he continued, causing the younger female to tense, "So don't even think about disappearing then."
"No, don't ask them for help," she outright refused with a small frown, "The only ones who know the reason why I'm blind are the people in this clan and I would like to keep it that way."
"If word of this got out to other cultivators, someone would probably start a rumor that this was placed on me because I was a sinner or something," she continued with a huff, "And knowing how people love to pin blame, others would believe it easily."
"I doubt they would think that, Mei-Mei, you're not even a cultivator," Yaling reasoned as she poured out some tea for the younger two, "Completely harmless."
"I beg to differ," the Young Master scoffed as he rolled his eyes, "Jiějiě, you have not felt how hard she can hit. She looks fragile, but hits like a man."
"Xuefeng, if you think I have the strength of a man, then I should be fine to walk around on my own every once in a while," the ravenette spoke before taking a sip of the fragrant beverage.
"Dìdì, you shouldn't say such things to a young lady," the older female scolded as she gave the male a light slap on the hand, "It's insulting."
"And Mei-Mei, don't take that to heart," she continued, "It's true that you do have strength, but we want to have you around others for your own safety."
"I understand that and I'm thankful for all of your concern, but it can be a little suffocating if I'm being watched at all times," the woman replied with a sigh, "you know?"
"Plus, some of you aren't as good at sneaking around as one might think," she continued before turning her left ear closer to the door, "Right, Eva?"
Upon being called out, the younger maid let out a squeak before running down the hall with her light footsteps getting farther and farther away.
"Lán-er, are you scaring the maids again?" a deeper male voice questioned as the clan leader walked in with his wife on his arm.
"For someone who claims not to be a cultivator, your sensory abilities are quite developed," Madam Shu commented as she took a seat at the fourth side of the table with her husband, "Much better than some of our top disciples."
"Even with your inability to see, you could have been a force to be reckoned with if you had started training alongside Xuefeng," Shu Zhao commented as he looked to the woman who just kept her head down, though he knew she was listening attentively as her head was tilted so that her right ear was angled towards him.
"It's a shame we don't have someone who knows how to teach the blind," he continued with a sigh before taking the bowl of rice his daughter offered him.
"Please don't feel bad, Clan Leader Shu, I doubt I would be cut out for being a cultivator anyways," the ravenette replied with a soft smile, "I'm too greedy and lack the discipline good cultivators should have."
"I'm happy just to be of assistance with my sensory abilities and healing spells," she continued before continuing her meal.
"Hopefully we'll find a way to remove that metal from you soon," the madam sighed with knitted brows as she took a sip of tea, "if you can't be a cultivator, then I'd at least like to to marry a capable man so you can have an easy life."
"Apologies, Madam Yu, but I doubt that would happen even without the metal due to my strange personality," the youngest replied with a small chuckle, "I'd just frighten every man I come across."
"Just ask your son," she continued with a shrug as the older woman turned to the male who paused his eating at the sudden call out.
"Xuefeng!" she exclaimed, causing him to jump and fumble a bit with his chopsticks, "What have you been telling Lán-er?!"
"I haven't said anything that isn't true!" the noiret defended, earning a small sighs from everyone as the pair started bickering again.
As they continued their argument, it wasn't hard to tell which parent the nineteen-year-old adopted most of his personality from, but just before the other three could intervene he made a surprising statement.
"None of the other Young Masters are good enough for her!" he barked while standing up from his seat, "They wouldn't make the effort to understand her as well as I do!"
Lánhuā's chopsticks clattered to the ground upon hearing that statement, not able to see the small smiles on the clan leader's and his daughter's faces as the madam looked at her son in shock.
"Dìdì, are you saying that you would be a suitable husband for Mei-Mei?" Yaling mused as she raised her sleeve up to cover her small smirk, the younger sibling finally calming down enough to process the words he just spoke and their implications.
"I-" "Jiějiě, there's no need to tease him, he's just worried about the others taking advantage of my blindness," the ravenette spoke with a smile as she picked up her chopsticks and placed them as well as her empty bowl back onto the table.
"It's sweet," she continued before standing up and grabbing her hat and lyre before giving a small bow with a salute.
"I'll be heading back to my room now," the female said before turning to the exit while placing her hat back on, the black chiffon falling around her, "Thanks for the food!"
Once she was out of earshot, Xuefeng let out a sigh as he sunk back down into his seat while bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
'I wonder if she's finally realized it yet,' the clan leader thought as he took a slow sip of tea, 'It's hard to tell what she's thinking when she acts the same in almost every situation.'
'I think that she's actually happy to have her eyes hidden all the time,' he continued as his family slowly began to resume their meal, 'They won't be able to give away anything that way.'
"Why did Jiějiě have to say that?" the young man sighed as he went through his basic martial arts forms in the courtyard, "A-Lán probably thinks I'm weird now!"
"You say that as if I didn't already think you were weird," interjected the voice of the person he didn't want to see at the moment as steel-grey irises locked onto her form at the stone table a few meters to his left.
"You don't have to worry though," she continued while softly plucking strings of her instrument, "I know you didn't say that because you wanted to marry me, right?"
"Ye-yeah... It's just that a lot of the Young Masters of the other clans are really full of themselves," Xuefeng spoke, hoping she wouldn't catch his stutter, "I know you won't get along well with them."
"Then, I hope I won't have to interact much with Young Master Shèng tomorrow," the female replied as she turned in her friend's General direction, "I'll probably just go to the markets with one of the other disciples."
"Good, at least you're bringing someone with you this time," he huffed while walking over and accepting the bottle of water the woman had held out in front of herself.
"I won't have to worry about you running off to the forest this time," the young man continued as he took a seat beside her, "Who are you taking?"
"I was just going to find whoever was free and take them with me," the woman replied with a shrug, "It's just a way to waste time, so it doesn't really matter."
"Oh no you don't, you're taking one of the senior ranking disciples with you," the noiret huffed as he pointed an accusing finger at her with narrowed eyes.
"If I let you choose someone on a whim, the you'll just pick one of the inexperienced disciples and worm your way out of sight to go to the forest again," he explained, earning a small giggle from the female.
"That's true, but even the senior disciples would get bored and turn away at some point," she retorted, changing her song to a more exciting melody, "You're the only one paranoid enough to keep your eyes on me at all times."
"Yes, but even then you still manage to find ways to just disappear," the older figure sighed while shaking his head, "Are you sure you're actually blind under that?"
"I can sense souls, shifts in energies, and have more accute hearing than most people, but that's the extent of it," Lánhuā explained in response, "I rely on living things to get around and survive. If I were locked in a soundproof maze by myself, or even just a land made of completely stone, then I would surely die."
"The reason I'm able to stay so calm and mess around here is because I know that I have all of you here and I'm in no danger," she continued while feeling across the table until she felt his hands, calloused from years of training, and wrapped her hands around his palm, "Long story short, I'm able to escape so easily because you're the ones that make it easy."
"Knock it off," the male sighed as he reached out and gave a light tap to the side of the woman's head, earning a yelp as she jumped slightly at the sudden contact, though neither of them made any move to let go of the other's hand, "That started off as something meaningful, but you had to ruin it."
"It's true though, your soul wavers slightly when you turn away so I can easily tell when I have chances to slip away," she chuckled while setting her lyre down on the table, relishing in her friend's frustration.
"You're sensory abilities are really too much," he scoffed, giving her hand a tight squeeze as he looked right at her, "I really will have to start holding your hand again when we go out to places just to make sure you don't have a chance, won't I?"
"I wouldn't mind that either," the female mused with a soft smile on her lips, "Your hands are always warm and it would be like we're going around like kids again!"
'I wish you still acted like how you were when you were a kid,' Xuefeng thought as he continued listening to the random stories the woman was telling, 'You always held onto my hand and refused to leave the side of our family wherever we were.'
'I didn't have to worry about you nearly as much,' he continued as the full moon revealed itself from behind the clouds, casting an ethereal glow down onto the nineteen-year-old woman, 'I'm glad you gained confidence, but I hate not knowing where you are, somewhere that I might not be able to protect you.'
"Xuefeng, are you even listening to me anymore?" she huffed, bringing the male back to reality with a small pout as her shoulders were slumped forward.
"Sorry, I'm just a bit tired from my training," he replied with a small chuckle while rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand before she grabbed her lyre and bottle to stand up.
"Well, if you're tired, then I'll leave you to get some rest," the female said with a sigh, "You should have some energy to greet our guests nicely tomorrow."
The next morning, Lánhuā was already up and getting ready just before the sun peaked over the horizon, not that she could witness its beauty.
With practiced ease she put half of her hair up into a bun held by a single hairstick made of carved buffalo bone she had received as a birthday present from the clan leader before slipping on her robes and wrapping the sash securely around her waist.
After placing her woven hat atop her head and making sure the chiffon was properly draped around her, the ravenette made her way out of her room and navigated her way down to the training grounds, following the sounds of metal clashing with metal.
Even if she couldn't properly acknowledge them, all of the disciples gave proper salutes to the woman with a lyre holstered at her left hip alongside a dark blue pouch.
"Young Lady Cháng," greeted one of the drill trainers with a salute as they saw the young woman approach, "How can we help you today?"
"I was going to go out and walk around the market for a bit, maybe play my lyre for the local children and the Young Master won't let me unless I have a disciple or two accompanying me," she explained, earning a chuckle from the elder female.
"And you're actually abiding by that today?" she mused with a grin as she held her sheathed blade in her right hand, "Well, it would be a good training exercise for them considering how slippery you are, so I'll spare you two of my students for the day."
With a sharp whistle ten of the disciples stopped what they were doing and gathered around whilst looking curiously at the pair.
"There's an opportunity for two of you not to go through our usual training regimen for today," the trainer spoke as she crossed her arms over her chest, receiving excited whispers and looks from her students.
"Interested? Well, your assignment instead will be to keep watch over Young Lady Cháng in her trip to the market and make sure that you don't lose her," the woman continued, earning less than happy groans from the group.
"Master, everyone knows that task is impossible!" whined a male voice as he pointed at the ravenette with the hidden face, "everyone knows that is like trying to grasp an eel with their bare hands."
Upon hearing the mutters of agreement from the other disciples, the blind woman held up her right hand and said, "I swear that I'm not going to pull any tricks today. Just going to go around the market, play some music there for a bit, and then come back to the estate in time for dinner."
"There you have it, the Young Lady gave her word, so which two of you is up for it?" the older female chuckled, looking over the sea of unsure individuals before a girl raised her hand.
"We'll do it!" she chirped while holding up the hand of a tired looking male, "my brother and I will accompany Young Lady Cháng!"
"Thank you very much, Miss," the veiled woman replied with a small bow in the direction that she heard the voice.
"Young Lady Cháng, it's Charla and Louis!" the same voice responded, closer this time as the male lazily followed his younger sister.
"Charla and Louis?" the female echoed as she tilted her head slightly to the right at the unfamiliar names, "Are you two foreigners?"
"Yeah, our parents heard that there was some interesting martial arts we could learn here and sent us over to see if we could learn," the male responded as the older female began to lead them out of the estate, "We've been here for about a week."
"Ah, my apologies for not coming to introduce myself sooner then," she replied as they made their way onto the streets, "I would have done so if I had heard we had gotten new disciples."
"There's no need for the formalities let's all just be friends!" the energetic female chirped as she suddenly enveloped the other, who immediately tensed, into a large hug.
"Charla, knock it off, she's a noble!" the male hissed, prying his sibling off of the woman before apologizing with a sigh.
"There's nothing to apologize for, she's just really energetic," she chuckled before turning in what she believed to be the other disciple's direction, "We can all be friends, just warn me before you try to touch me, alright?"
"Right, I'm sorry!" said the shorter female with golden blonde hair with a salute, "I forgot that you're blind and can't see what I'm doing!"
"Oh my God, Charla, just stop talking," Louis groaned as they continued walking, in fear of offending the flower of their clan.
As the day went on, the trio managed to visit multiple stalls and stores before taking a break for lunch where the ravenette played her lyre and sang for those at the restaurant they chose to eat at.
It was in the afternoon, walking around some of the jewelry stalls when the pair of disciples noticed that the woman they were supposed to be escorting and protecting was gone.
"Oh, we're definitely fucked," the male sighed as he ran his hand through his bangs, not looking at panicked as his sibling who was calling out the female's name in hopes of finding her.
"Louis, what do we do?" Charla questioned as she turned back to her brother with furrowed brows, "Everyone knows that the Young Master really cares about Young Lady Cháng. He'll really kill us!"
"This is your fault for volunteering after hearing the stories about her great escapades," he hissed in return, "But all we can do now is hope that we can find and bring her back to the estate before dinner without running into any other Shu Clan disciples."
Meanwhile, the ravenette was walking along the familiar path to the place she was forbidden to go, guided by the untouched, natural energy she had come to recognize as a second home as she held her basket of purchased goods close to her form.
She honestly didn't plan on going that day, wanting to uphold her promise to the Young Master, but something felt off around the time that her group had finished their lunch so she had to check it out.
The woman honestly knew why the place had such a bad stories surrounding it, having felt the demonic aura radiating from it from the first moment she got close, but all of the malicious spirits seemed to avoid her so she paid it no mind.
"Hello?" she called upon walking deeper into the trees, sensing another human soul besides her own, "Is anyone there?"
"You shouldn't be here," the nineteen-year-old continued as she got closer to the source, hearing some rustling to her right before a metallic smell wafted up into her senses, "It's too dangerous for normal people to be here."
"Shouldn't you be taking your own advice, Miss?" questioned a raspy male voice as the rustling got closer to her, every other step sounding heavier than the other, "You're out here all by yourself."
"So are you, and it sounds like you're injured," she hypothesized with a frown, taking a cautious step in the direction she heard the male as she turned her head so that her right ear was directed at him.
"Sounds like? Can't you see me?" the unknown man questioned as he waved his hand in front of the ravenette's veil only to have no reaction.
"I was born blind, but that doesn't matter right now," she replied, "You really shouldn't be here in that condition, the smell of blood could draw demons to you."
Before the male could come up with a reply, his vision started to dot at the edges as breathing became difficult for him.
Hearing another stagger in the man's steps, the nineteen-year-old instinctively reached forward to catch him before he could completely crumple to the ground.
"Hey!" she called, reaching up to cup the male's face and make sure that he was still breathing as she used her other hand to take off her veiled hat, "Hey, you'll be okay but you have to stay awake right now."
"How... how can you say that?" the male uttered with his eyelids too heavy to keep open as he was moved onto her back, "You can't even see... how can you... get both of us out of here?"
"Considering how deep in the forest we are and how you can't even stand on your own, I don't have time to get you out," Lánhuā replied as she began to carry the male in a specific direction, "I'm taking you to cave that's been warded from the demons to heal up a bit and we'll see what happens from there."
"You're... you're a cultivator?" he asked directly in her ear since his head was currently resting on her shoulder.
"No, I'm just someone who knows a few healing spells," the woman replied while continuing forward with no fear of her surroundings.
A few hours later, when the sun had gone down and the guests had retired to their rooms for rest before discussing the purpose of their visit the next day, Xuefeng and Yaling waited by the gates of the estate for their last piece of family only to be greeted by the two foreign disciples on their own.
"Young Master, Young Lady, I'm so sorry!" cried the younger female as she immediately dropped to her knees with tears streaming down her face, "We lost Young Lady Cháng!"
"Of course you did," the noiret growled about to push past the pair with one destination in mind before he was stopped by a hand on his wrist.
"Dìdì, I know where you want to check, but it's too dangerous to go by yourself," the elder Shu sibling said with knitted brows, "We need to alert father first and well send out search parties right away."
"You're right," the male hissed before sending a cold glare towards the other set of siblings, "But they're punishment can be issued right here and now."
"Dìdì, there's no time for that!" the darkette huffed before dragging her brother straight to the main hall and informing their parents of the nineteen-year-old's disappearance.
"What?!" the man roared alongside his wide-eyed wife as they stood up from their seats in the main hall of the estate.
They had been used to hearing that the ravenette had disappeared, but it was always during the day and she would always return before nightfall when demons became the most active.
"Take the all of the senior disciples and start searching the forest right now!" the madam ordered, but before anyone could pass on her instruction the doors burst open.
It was another disciple who scrambled to give hasty salutes to everyone before he turned to Shu Zhao and said, "Clan Leader, Young Lady Cháng has returned, but... but..."
"Spit it out already!" the youngest of the family barked as his grip tightened on his weapon that was vibrating in its scabbard.
"She's covered in blood!" the boy declared earning wide eyes from everyone in the room who was silent as they processed the information.
"Where- where is she now?" the Young Lady questioned, her hands beginning to shake at all the thoughts of what could have happened to her sworn sister.
"She's making her way to her room, but she isn't in the best mood," the disciple replied, but that's all it took for the family to begin making their way across the estate.
The Young Master was the first to spot the ravenette, clothes indeed stained a deep red just as she reached the courtyard in the center of their separate bedrooms.
"A-Lán!" he called, rushing over to take the female by the shoulders and check her over for any injures, "What happened to you?! Why are you covered in blood?!"
"Relax, it isn't mine," she huffed in response, shaking her head as she sluggishly released herself from his grip, "I sensed a weird soul while I was with the other two disciples and it turned out to be an injured traveller."
"So this blood is from the traveller?" the older female questioned as her parents came up, "Then how did they..."
"I don't know, I didn't ask," the younger woman sighed as she brought a hand up to scratch the back of her neck.
"Listen, I'm sorry that I worried all of you, but I'm really tired right now so I'm just going to wash up and head to sleep," she continued while keeping her head low, "Is that alright?"
"Fine, but you will give a detailed explanation in the morning," sighed the clan leader as he brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Is that clear?"
"Yes, Clan Leader Shu."
~~~Fin. Chapter 1~~~
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone