3 The Gift Of Sigh (1/2)
In the city square, the markets where open and bustling with chatter. The adults shopped while the children ran rampant through the streets.
Within the crowd there was an 18 years old boy. His silk robes were torn and ragged, his hair was tied up in a mess, and face dirtied, but the most disturbing thing of all was the bandage that wrapped around his eyes like a blindfold. They were bloodied as if his eyes had been recently gouged out. The boy walked as if he had just crawled out of a grave. Many of the store owners cursed inwardly because he was scaring away the customers. This boy was Xiao Fang.
He had been traveling for 5 days now. The pain in his eyes gradually disappeared and eventually stopped bleeding. Just like how we might not realize when a fire alarm stops beeping, Xiao Fang didn't realize his eyes were feeling fine until much after the fact.
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Xiao Fang eventually exited the city and entered an area that was lush green with vegetation. He found a place to sit next to a medium sized pond then began to remove the bandage that wrapped around his eyes. He cupped a hand full of water, then washed his face with it. He did it two more times before completely submerging his head under water. Feeling refreshed, he took off his clothes then jumped in.
Once he was done washing himself, he took out a clean robe from his spatial pouch, then slipped them on in an extremely odd way. The top half of his robes hanged over his belt, revealing the white tanktop underneath. He put his blindfold back on then prepared to leave.
”It won't be long till I reach the Black Paradise sect now”, he thought to himself.
The moment he took his first step, his focus increased, and his field of view grew many folds. It was at that moment that he realized someone was watching him.
”There's no point in hiding, I can see you. Come out and tell me why you are following me”, despite only finding out now, he spoke in a tone that made him seem as if he had always known, and was only now getting tired of playing along.
After some time passed, a girl finally stepped out. ”H-how did you know?” she asked. This girl wore the robes of some sect he was unfamiliar of, but she didn't look much older than he was. She wore an apologetic look on her face, her cheeks were as red as peaches, and her head was slight lowered as if she was expecting to be berated.
Xiao Fang, understood how she felt since he was a pervert himself. ”I heard you”, he said kindly while pointing at his ear.
The girl took a few seconds to reply, ”I didn't mean to peak at you, I just wanted to know what happened to your eyes”.
The girl seemed to have something to say, but she stopped herself once she noticed him removing his blindfold. She curiously lowered her head in a tilt to follow his line of sight. Once his eyes were open, she couldn't stop herself from gasping.
”Wow~ they're so beautiful”.
Her words mirrored Xiao Fang's thoughts exactly. Until today, he had never even seen shades of white or grey, much less colours. But standing before him was nearly every colour imaginable. The vibrant colours of the brightly lit up forest, flowers, shimmering pond, and cloudless sky, but the most shocking of all being the beautiful girl that was standing right infront of him.
She had brown hair, wore emerald earrings that matched the colour of her eye, her skin was as fair as jade, and she had a slim figure with generous proportions. If any ordinary person were to see her, they would think she was a goddess.
To Xiao Fang, all of it was captured within a single glance. For the first time in his life, he felt his eyes watering. This picture perfect image will forever be engraved into his soul. What a precious gift this was. The gift of sight.
Xiao Fang's eyes were violet. His abnormally coloured eyes struck her speechless. After sometime, the girl was the first to speak. ”Are... are you crying?” She noticed his eyes watering up.
”Ah no, that's not it... My eyes are sensitive to colours, that's why I carry blindfolds around”, he said the first thing that came to mind.
”Ah I see, My name is Li Lian, what is your name?”.
After a thought Xiao Fang decided to lie about his surname. In a rush to speak he accidentally used her surname, ”I am Li... Fang”.
”You are also surnamed Li? What a pleasant surprise”, she smiled. ”Wher-” before she could finish asking her question, a man's voice suddenly rang out from behind her:
”Junior Disciple Li, where are you!”. It was extremely faint but they both heard it.
”Dammit, how did he find me already”, she said with a shocked expression. Without thinking, she grabbed Xiao Fang's hand then started running, but upon realizing what she was doing, she immediately let go. Xiao Fang, being unaccustomed to using his eyes, frequently tripped so he closed his eyes and used his ears to run at a pace that matched hers.
They ran for more than an hour, before she finally stopped. ”Let's hide. I can't run anymore”, she said, struggling to say each word. Not waiting for his response she pulled him into a large fallen hollow log that was roughly 3 feet in diameter and 10 meters long.
She had gone in first. After they were inside she started feeling uncomfortable. She quickly realized Xiao Fang must have been facing her butt as she crawled up the hollowed log. As soon as the thought crossed her mind she felt something touch her.