Chapter 1 - The Blind Boy, Li Guanqi

Azure Cloud Continent, Northern Frost City.

A young boy, only six or seven years of age, was curled up next to a stone lion statue at the back door of the Zhao Estate.

Even though it was snowing and the temperature was freezing, the young boy was wearing thin, ill-fitting clothes, and he was shivering.

The strange thing about him was the black cloth strip covering both his eyes. The features not covered by the cloth were a pair of defined brows, a tall nose, and slightly thin lips. His cheeks were sunken because of malnutrition, and his jaw was clearly defined.

Creak ~

The mansion's back door opened, and a dull thud quickly followed.

Someone had flung a stiff corpse out the door. The thin body crashed into the snow, forming a shallow pit. Zhao Qing, who was wearing a thick coat, hesitated. There was a flash of unwillingness in his eyes. He tossed four strings of coins[1] on the ground and put the rest in his sleeve.

The young boy rose hurriedly, shook the snow off his clothes, then forced a warm smile.

“Brother Qing, did someone toss out some scraps just now?”

As he spoke, the boy squatted down and felt the ground next to his feet with his hand. The smile on his face vanished the moment he felt something—a corpse that had long turned cold!

Li Guanqi’s hand froze. He choked and shivered slightly.

After a brief moment, he knelt on the ground and touched the corpse’s face with trembling hands. It was a young girl.

When he touched the girl’s jaw, he quickly retracted his hand, as if he had been electrocuted. He had touched a long scar. It was a result of his uncle beating his sister two years ago, after he had gotten drunk and lost money while gambling.

“Sister...”

A sorrowful moan escaped the boy’s mouth. His smile was long gone. His tears flowed freely, escaping his control. Despite the heavy snowfall, he took the only tattered linen shirt off his back and wrapped it around the girl’s body!

He was as thin as a matchstick and covered in gruesome injuries. The bruises on his back had yet to fade. Reaching out with his chilblain-covered hand, he gently stroked the girl’s hair.

With his head hung low, he muttered hoarsely, “Death is not so bad. When you’re alive, you just... suffer.”

Ignoring the bone-chilling snow, he started to search for the four strings of coins on the ground.

His heart was filled with sorrow.

Who would've thought that his sister would be denied proper respect even after death? Receiving the price of someone’s blood was never easy!

A chilly breeze blew past them, and Zhao Qing hurriedly tightened the opening of his sleeves. Watching the boy, he could not help but say, “Your sister... was unlucky. Take this money and go.”

The boy undid the strip of cloth covering his eyes, revealing a pair of pale white eyes. He looked up in the direction of Zhao Qing’s voice, then slowly extended his right hand and said softly, “When a subordinate dies unjustly, the master must pay ten strings of coppers! That money... is the last shred of respect you owe my sister. You can’t take it!”

Zhao Qing crossed his arms. The moment he heard the boy ask for money, the look of pity on his face disappeared instantly. He said coldly, “You stupid blind kid! Four strings is all you get! Take it or leave it; it’s up to you!

Six-year-old Li Guanqi might have been frail, but the expression on his face was fierce! He hurried up the Zhao Estate’s steps, then grabbed the man’s hand and shouted, “Give me what she deserves!”

When Zhao Qing saw Li Guanqi grab him with his chilblain-ridden hand, he furrowed his brows. There was a cold flash in his eyes, then he grabbed the boy’s hair and flung him down the steps.

Crash!

The frail boy slammed hard into the snow. Beneath the snow, the ground was laid with stone tiles; even a gentle fall would result in bruises, let alone being tossed down from upstairs!

Zhao Qing took one glance at the boy on the ground, then spat viciously, “You stupid blind kid! Take the corpse and get out of here! If it weren’t for my pity, I wouldn’t even have given you four thousand! Ptui!”

Just as Zhao Qing was about to turn and leave, someone grabbed the hem of his clothing.

Zhao Qing turned and realized the boy had somehow appeared right behind him, clutching his coat in a death grip.

“Give me the money! My sister died for that money!”

Anger welled up inside Zhao Qing. He was about to strike the boy when he looked down at the pair of white eyes! Although those eyes were blind, he felt as if the boy were staring directly at him.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

A chill rose from the depths of his heart. He turned to look at the girl who had been worked to death. In the end, he put down his raised fist, took out the remaining coppers from his sleeve, and stuffed them into the boy’s hand.

“Take it and piss off! What rotten luck!”

Li Guanqi let go and counted the coppers in his hand numbly.

Thud!

The estate’s door closed.

A young voice called out from inside, “Xiao Qing~[2] What are you doing? Hurry up and feed my birds!”

“Right away, Young Master Yuanlin. Right away.”

“What were you doing just now?”

“...”

“Wasn’t that just a servant girl who died? Who freaking cares? Tell that damn cripple to fuck off!”

Holding the coppers, Li Guanqi stood on the steps of the Zhao Estate for a long, long time, gazing up at the sky with soulless eyes. He descended the steps, struggled to hoist the stiffened corpse onto his back, then turned to leave.

Creak... Creak...

The sound of his feet crushing the snow echoed, one step at a time. Although he was slow, he walked with great determination.

An old man sitting upstairs in a guesthouse only a dozen or so zhang[3] away had observed the whole incident. He was wearing plain, gray robes. Both his beard and hair were white.

He had a tall nose, and although his lips were thin, they did not make him look shrewd. There was not a hint of muddiness in his eyes; they were extremely clear.

A few dishes lay on the table, along with a jug of warm wine. As he watched the boy use a wall to guide himself forward, his hand, which was holding a cup, stopped mid-air. There was a nigh-imperceptible twinkle in his eyes when he looked at the young boy.

He muttered in a low voice, “I can’t believe the disciple I have been searching for centuries is blind...

“Whatever. Perhaps this is what the heavens want.”

Then, the old man rose slowly and said in a mellow yet clear voice, “Waiter! The bill, please!”

***

It was a cold December winter, and the northern winds were bone-piercingly cold. The cold gusts of wind were like sharp knives cutting Li Guanqi. He had to stop and rest several times along his journey, and by the time he placed the stiffened corpse at the door of a clinic, night had already fallen.

The gray-robed elder was now following the boy. Yet, even though his clothing was also thin, he seemed entirely unaffected by the wind and snow, as if they were avoiding him of their own will.

The boy entered the clinic, only to be met with a raised eyebrow.

“The girl is dead; her soul has already entered the cycle of reincarnation. Why did you come to my clinic?”

“I’m here to get medicine for my mother... Not her...”

Not long after, the boy reappeared outside the clinic with a few packets of medicine. He once more struggled to pick up the body, then continued his journey.

Next, he arrived at a shop with white cloth hanging at the entrance. This time, he took the body with him inside, but when he emerged, he was holding an urn instead. There was a piece of paper stuck on the urn.

It read,

Li Cuiwei.

He wrapped the girl’s pink clothes around the urn. Throughout the whole process, his face showed almost no emotion.

Along the way, he found two stone-hard steamed buns at the entrance of a steamed bun shop. And when he picked them up, a hint of a smile finally appeared on his face.

This baffled the old man following him. The boy had not shown any particular emotions when he found his sister dead, yet he had angrily argued with the Zhao Estate servant who tried to withhold his money. He had not shown any emotion as he held his dead sister’s ashes, yet he smiled when he picked up those discarded steamed buns.

This piqued the old man’s curiosity, and he continued to follow the boy.

Suddenly, the old man stopped in the blizzard and looked up at the sky. He muttered calmly, “Tsk tsk, I only destroyed a sect, yet the Northern Frost Kingdom’s Guardian Priest has personally come to see me?

“He’s merely at the Nascent Soul Realm... Well, it’s best that I meet him anyway. It’ll save both of us some trouble.”

Whoosh!

The old man took one step forward and crossed ten li[4] instantly.

He appeared in a pavilion in the countryside. An old man in brocade robes had warmed some wine and was brewing tea. It looked like he had been waiting for a long time.

When the Guardian Priest of Northern Frost Kingdom saw the old man, he quickly rose and bowed despite his status. He said politely, “Greetings, Elder.”

***

In the southern part of Northern Frost City, there was a rundown house whose door could not even close completely. The boy hesitated at the door for a long time. In the end, he took a deep breath and pushed the door to enter the house.

Creak~

There was not even a candle lit in the house. The house was almost empty, and even the paper in the windows had many holes they could not afford to patch up.

A shadow moved on the cold bed-stove[5].

Then, a weak voice called out, “Guanqi... You’re home?”

The woman’s voice was very gentle but very weak. This was Li Guanqi’s mother, Song Wanrong.

Song Wanrong rose to her feet. Her face was pale and her cheeks were sunken, but she looked at the boy with warmth in her eyes.

Song Wanrong looked around with the help of the moonlight, then she asked softly, “Where’s Cuiwei?”

Li Guanqi, who was searching for a candle in a drawer, stiffened. He lit the candle, revealing the lonely clay urn next to him.

He answered bitterly, “Big Sister Cuiwei... died. The Zhao Estate paid ten strings of coppers... I managed to get the money from them. I’ll hide it well and use it to treat your illness.”

Then, the boy fished out the buns from his clothes and gave them to Song Wanrong. They had slightly thawed from his body’s warmth.

Feeling around, he walked to the kitchen with the herbs and said hoarsely, “I’ll boil the medicine for you, Mother.”

Song Wanrong gently pulled Li Guanqi’s hand and placed a bun in it. Holding back tears, she replied, “I’m... I’m not hungry. You eat.”

Withered strands of hair concealed half of her face, but Li Guanqi could hear a few drops of tears fall on the mat.

Thud!

Someone kicked the door open, and the freezing wind blew into the house. The boy shivered—whether it was from the cold or fear, only he knew.

It was Li Guanqi’s distant uncle, Li Dashan.

Li Dashan was short, and he was wearing navy blue robes. He had protruding cheekbones, downturned eyes, and a nose shaped like an eagle’s beak.

With just a glance, it was enough to tell that this was no kind soul. Before he even entered, his cruel voice filled the room.

“You little fucker! Where’s the money?!”

1. One string (贯) is traditionally one thousand coins strung up together for easy counting. They are the so-called “cash coins” or

qian

, which have a square hole in the middle for this purpose. In this particular case, we don’t know the exact number of coins on a string, so we’ll just go with “string.” ☜

2. Xiao (小) literally means “little.” It’s a term of endearment. ☜

3. zhang (丈) is a unit of measurement for distance. 1 zhang = 3.3 meters ☜

4. 1 li (里) = 500 meters ☜

5. A bed-stove or

kang

(炕) is exactly what it sounds like: a fireplace with a stove made of bricks or hardened clay that does not reach a very high temperature and is used traditionally as a bed. ☜