Fairy, Don’t Be Afraid, I’m Blind

Chapter 62: The Redemption of Lotus Sword Venerable 

The stars and the moon were hiding behind the tall trees, and the night was getting darker.

Xun Su had already finished his preparations. He looked up at the black jellyfish floating in the air, now much larger than before, and spat out in disdain:

“Who knows where she picked up such a sinister method, actually sealing away her own cultivation to experience the mundane world? The profound energy that could be used for oneself remains unused, what a waste! Now that you’ve been reduced to food for the Black Sea Moon, I think you’ve turned your so-called ‘experience’ into a joke!”

Suddenly, the crimson python coiled around his body began to move, bringing a small shell to his ear.

The shell was about the size of a palm, covered in disgusting algae and moss, with tiny tendrils sprouting from its opening. It was clearly a malevolent object.

Xun Su’s expression changed, and he quickly brought the shell to his ear, speaking to it as if it were a person, his tone respectful:

“Senior Sister, what are your orders?”

The tendrils on the shell twisted to the right, and a seductive voice emerged from within:

“How is the situation on your side?”

“Everything is fine. The Lotus Sword Venerable has indeed sealed her cultivation, just as Master had predicted. She is now trapped inside the Black Sea Moon that Master gave me, unable to move.”

Xun Su was quite pleased with himself. He, a mere Feather Transformation cultivator, had managed to trap the famous Lotus Sword Venerable of the Five Continents. It was something to be proud of.

“Master even gave you the Black Sea Moon?”

“Yes. Master said that the Black Sea Moon was specially designed to deal with those righteous cultivators who are strong on the outside but weak on the inside. If her will is strong, she might break free in half a day. But if her will is weak, she will fall into despair and lose all her cultivation”. Xun Su licked his lips and then asked eagerly, “Senior sister, if I manage to kill the Lotus Sword Venerable-someone even Master couldn’t defeat-what kind of reward do you think Master will give me?”

The voice from the shell became unusually serious:

“Don’t underestimate her. If someone like you could kill her, why would Master only task you with delaying her? If you’re greedy for merit, be prepared to lose your life.”

“I understand, Senior Sister. How about your side? Is everything going well?”

“The Mist Lord has appeared, but the Dream Devourer has yet to appear. However, everything is going as planned.”

“As expected of Senior Sister! Then… when will Master arrive?”

“Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t. Just concentrate on delaying the Lotus Sword Venerable.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the tendrils on the shell twisted to the left and the voice fell silent.

Xun Su resentfully reattached the shell to his waist, muttering under his breath, “What’s with that b*tch? Just afraid I’ll outshine her, huh?”

Then he looked up at the even larger Black Sea Moon, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

This meant that the profound energy of the Lotus Sword Venerable was rapidly depleting as it was greedily absorbed by the Black Sea Moon.

Half a day had already passed, and the Lotus Sword Venerable had yet to break free from the illusion. This suggested that she might have lost herself within it completely.

He refused to believe that after being tormented by the Black Sea Moon for so long, this woman could still pose a threat to him!

…

He Shutong didn’t know where she had fallen into. The endless void of darkness filled her with panic.

She wanted to break free from this amniotic-like restraint, but she was powerless. She could only keep falling… falling.

Suddenly a glimmer of light appeared, and she struggled to swim toward it.

In the light and shadow were four beautiful women. Three of them looked envious, while one was beaming with joy. Beside the joyful woman was a delicate, jade-like little girl, her face full of pride.

The joyful woman lovingly ruffled the little girl’s hair:

“Our little Tong reached the Meridian Opening realm at the age of three. A few days ago, during her Zhuāzhōu, guess what she grabbed?”

(Zhuāzhōu – the traditional Chinese custom where a child chooses an item on their first birthday to predict their future)

“What?”

“A book! How rare is it to enter the Dao through books? In the future, she will surely become a celestial being!”

The others laughed and joined in, showering the little girl with praise.

…

The scene shifted and another image appeared:

The woman who had praised her daughter had aged slightly. Beside her stood a burly middle-aged man in luxurious robes, and the little girl had grown into a stunningly graceful young woman.

The woman looked reproachful, the man stern, and the young woman defiant.

“I told you to study! Why do you have to learn the sword? Among the thousands of female cultivators, who has ever attained true immortality through the sword? Throw away those wretched swords!”

“Tong’er, your mother is right. Your talent lies in the Dao of books. Writing for the world, guiding the literary veins of humanity, is a great merit for both immortals and mortals. The Book Immortal Peak of the Mystic Firmament Sect is willing to take you as their chief disciple. Stop being so stubborn…”

“What? You dared to secretly learn the clan’s forbidden techniques! The Ice Heart Technique requires you to sacrifice your emotions and desires! Do you want to become a heartless monster? Do you want to stop recognizing me as your mother?”

“Tong’er, you are being foolish! Defying your mother like this is going too far!”

The young woman glared back at her, tears in her eyes. She tore the book in her hands to shreds and stormed out of the city.

What she didn’t say was that she had secretly learned the Ice Heart Technique to live up to the image of the prodigy her mother had boasted about to others.

…

The scene changed again and a clearer image appeared:

An elderly man and woman lay on their deathbeds, the air thick with the sorrow of separation.

Two women of incomparable beauty stood by the bed, one in a black robe, the other in a white dress. The one in white was clearly the young woman who had run away from home years ago.

“Chujun, Tong’er, don’t be sad. Everyone has to die one day. Even the immortal ancestors couldn’t avoid it, so why cry? It’s just that the Yuan Sword… will end with me…”

The old man’s trembling sigh made the woman in black cry even more, while the woman in white felt the pain even more, though no tears came.

“Father, don’t say that! It is my fault that the Yuan Sword is ending, not yours!” The black woman grabbed the old man’s hand.

“You still have the nerve to say that! You, a girl, insist on fighting with your bare hands. You haven’t even learned the basics of the Yuan Sword! What kind of heir are you? Cough, cough!”

The old man’s coughing fit made the woman in black quickly pat his back. Then he continued, “Your mother was better. She could die with a smile. Taking in the talented Tong’er as her disciple was enough to honor the ancestors of the Yang Sword.”

The old woman elbowed her husband with effort, then took the hand of the woman in white:

“Tong’er, don’t listen to that old man. I took you as my disciple because I liked you, not because of the legacy of the Yang Sword. You don’t have to carry this burden.”

The woman in white nodded numbly.

The old woman smiled kindly, “More than the legacy, I hope you and Chujun can find Dao Companions who fit you. The road to immortality is cold and bitter. Without someone to warm you up, it will be very lonely…”

The woman in white bit her lip and confessed, “Master’s wife, I… I can achieve true immortality on my own. I don’t need a Dao Companion.”

The old woman was stunned for a moment, then smiled even more kindly, though a hint of sorrow lingered in her eyes:

“In life, it’s best to follow your own heart…”

The next moment, that smile was frozen on the old woman’s face forever. The old man seemed to sense something and closed his eyes, two drops of tears rolling down his cheeks.

The woman in black cried out in grief. She wiped away her tears and glared at the woman in white:

“He Shutong! Even as my mother was dying, you couldn’t bring yourself to lie to her? Did she have to die with regrets? If you hadn’t been so desperate back then, my mother would never have taken you in!”

“This is the Mandarin Duck Sword Sect! You, a heartless ice woman, forced your way in to learn the sword. If you don’t want a Dao Companion, then why learn the Mandarin Duck Sword?”

The woman in white lowered her head in silence, unable to answer.

…

He Shutong understood now. All these were memories from her past. The scenes continued to flash before her eyes like a revolving lantern:

In the next scene, she was still dressed in an ethereal white gown, standing hesitantly outside the gates of the He Family in Eternal Height City.

The He family was adorned with lanterns and decorations, a festive atmosphere everywhere. Under the big gate, a steady stream of guests offered their congratulations:

“Congratulations to the patriarch of the He family on the birth of a son!”

The aloof He Shutong stood amidst the joyful crowd like an out-of-place outsider.

She pursed her lips, then turned around and left.

This departure lasted for sixty years. During this time, she traveled across the Central Continent, always alone.

She felt her sword growing colder, and her heart along with it.

Later, to break through to the next realm, she meditated for twenty-five years in the Jade Ring Pool, one of the spiritually blessed lands surrounded by ten thousand lotus flowers. She finally broke through to the Void Realm and created the world-shaking Lotus Sword Technique.

With one stroke of the sword, ten thousand lotuses bloomed.

After her breakthrough, she returned to the gates of the He Family. But this time the He family did not celebrate. Instead, white cloths were hung everywhere, and the atmosphere was solemn. Everyone was in mourning and wept bitterly.

The matriarch of the family-her mother-had passed away.

As the mourners passed by her, they whispered to each other:

“I heard that before Madam Liu died, she kept calling out her daughter’s name. She was literally worried to death by her daughter!”

“Who wouldn’t be worried to death if his daughter ran away from home and didn’t come back for a hundred years?

That day, it rained heavily. The rain beat against her face, but she didn’t dare step inside to see her mother one last time.

Whether out of guilt, indifference, or anger, she turned around and ascended the Divine Mountain of Eternal Height with her sword in hand. No one could stop her.

She stood at the foot of the towering, mist-shrouded Book Immortal Peak and split it in two with one sword strike.

The extra half became Lotus Peak, the thirteenth peak of the Mystic Firmament Sect.

From then on, she became the thirteenth grand elder of the Mystic Firmament Sect, the foremost sect of the Central Realm Continent. She was known throughout the world as the Lotus Sword Venerable.

But her father and the younger brother she had never met never came to see her, and she never went to see them.

Her surname was He, but it seemed that her surname no longer mattered. From then on, the world only knew her as the Lotus Sword Venerable.

Although she was the master of a peak, she took no disciples and gave no lectures. Her cold, solitary demeanor drew much criticism, but the kind-hearted Sect Leader of the Mystic Firmament Sect, like her master’s wife, supported her against all opposition.

And then, ninety years ago, during the Great War when Divine Mountain vowed to eradicate all evil, the old Sect Leader known as the Jade Serenity True Monarch died right before her eyes.

She died saving her.

The algae that should have grown on her body covered the old Sect Leader instead. Endless tendrils sprouted from her orifices, and her round eyeballs rolled to her feet. She was powerless.

The Jade Serenity True Monarch, enduring the rot consuming her body, comforted her, saying that she wasn’t dying to save her, but because she deserved to die. This was just her way of dying a worthy death.

The Jade Serenity True Monarch looked at her expressionless face and smiled, asking her to pierce her spiritual platform and grant her a final release.

Still unable to shed tears, she nodded and raised her sword.

“It is better to save you. You’re as cold as ice. Ending me yourself won’t make you sad… so I… won’t feel guilty either…”

The Jade Serenity True Monarch’s final whisper lingered in her heart, though she couldn’t tell if it was mockery or honesty.

Later, by chance, she gained a disciple. But she had almost forgotten how to interact with people, let alone how to be a teacher.

Fortunately, her disciple was a prodigy, quickly rising to the top of the Divine Mountain’s Heavenly Pride Ranking, known as Heavenly Maiden Wangshu.

Unfortunately, her icy demeanor turned her only disciple into an even colder iceberg than herself.

Later she read in a book that those who practiced the Ice Heart Technique were influenced by the technique to become emotionally detached and indifferent. If they wanted to change, they could seal their cultivation and return to being a mortal and experience the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of life again. After experiencing the mundane world, they could resume their cultivation and possibly change the Ice Heart.

At that very moment, Guan Chujun found her. Chujun asked her to take care of her only disciple, a ten-year-old blind boy, while she herself needed to investigate a hidden truth.

She agreed, and as part of the deal, she was allowed to return to the small courtyard of the sword sect.

At the same time, she sealed away her cultivation and became the blind boy’s “master’s wife,” a seemingly ordinary woman with no cultivation.

However, even as a mortal, she didn’t feel any different. Her heart was as cold as ever. She sat in her room, habitually meditating, playing the zither, listening to the rain and watching the snow.

The blind boy once brought her a stick of candied hawthorn and asked, “Master’s wife, do you want some?”

She refused and didn’t open the door.

Another time the boy carried a pile of cotton and asked, “Master’s wife, are you warm enough?”

Again she refused and didn’t open the door…

Countless similar scenes were repeated. These refusals were the most natural, instinctive actions she had taken over the past two hundred years.

She felt she should change, but she didn’t know how to respond, nor did she know how to speak more than a few words to anyone other than Guan Chujun.

Offering the boy some guidance on swordsmanship and answering his cautious questions were the limits of what she could do. She often thought:

“He must be afraid of me… If someone else were his Master’s wife, perhaps he would be happier…”

The pain and confusion of being a mortal was overwhelming. She despaired, thinking that perhaps a cold, unnoticed death was the punishment she deserved.

Whether immortal or mortal, this Ice Heart could no longer be melted.

She should have listened to her mother from the beginning, believed in the ritual, chosen the books she hated, and abandoned the sword she loved.

If she had obediently followed that path and not stubbornly learned the Ice Heart Technique, she would have become the celestial being her mother boasted about.

Then she wouldn’t have caused her mother’s death from worry, she wouldn’t have left her master’s wife with regrets, and she wouldn’t have been responsible for the death of the Jade Serenity True Monarch.

As the Jade Serenity True Monarch had said, she wouldn’t grieve for others’ deaths, so no one would grieve for hers.

Her only disciple would find a better master on Divine Mountain, and You Su, who was entrusted to her by Chujun, would be taken care of by others.

So, she could die in peace…

Ending this failed life unnoticed…

He Shutong allowed herself to drift and sink into the darkness, her body becoming like ashes scattered by the wind after a fire, growing more and more transparent.

A sense of relief washed over her. She wanted to cry, but no tears came…

“Master’s wife! Let’s go together!”

He Shutong thought that she heard someone calling her. The voice was familiar, urgent.

“Master’s wife, don’t be afraid! They won’t dare to act recklessly! Come out, let’s go!”

It was You Su… What had happened to him?

“Master’s wife! Let’s go! Come out, let’s go together!”

That always calm and composed boy – why did his voice sound so pleading, so tearful?

He Shutong desperately searched for the source of the voice, swimming forward with all her might.

She pushed through the fog and saw a scene of dozens of fierce, menacing people surrounding You Su and trying to kill him.

Covered in blood, You Su looked like a cornered beast. His eyes were pitch black, one hand holding his Junior Sister, the other hand gripping a young boy. He stood in front of her room, shouting for her.

He Shutong understood what You Su was doing. He was stubbornly trying to take her with him in order to escape.

“Don’t worry about me! Just take your Junior Sister and run!” she silently screamed at the illusion. “Don’t worry about me… Just let me die…”

The old man told You Su that his master’s wife was no longer in the room, that she had left a voice transmission talisman to deceive him.

You Su cursed loudly. This was the first time she had ever heard that polite boy swear.

He Shutong felt as if her heart was being cut by a knife, just like every time before.

“Master’s wife, forgive me, I’ll take you away!” You Su raised his foot, and was about to kick open the door.

Even in such a moment, he still asked her to overlook his rudeness.

“No! Don’t!”

He Shutong felt like she was suffocating, powerless to stop You Su.

She didn’t want You Su to open that door. She didn’t want him to think that she had deceived him, nor did she want him to find her absent when he needed her most.

She was afraid that the only person in the world who cared about her would be disappointed in her.

Just treat me coldly, like I treated everyone else!

I only saw you as a condition of a deal, someone to be given to others for protection! Why do you stubbornly see me as someone worth protecting with your life?!

I don’t deserve it!

You Su kicked open the door with a loud bang.

Crack.

He Shutong felt her heart shatter.

When You Su realized that she wasn’t in the room, his sorrow was so profound that it seemed to spill out of the scene.

These people slashed at him with swords, burned him with spells, and froze him. Everyone looked at him as if he were a monster, wanting to kill him…

If you hadn’t cared about me, you wouldn’t have entered this room, you wouldn’t have fallen into this trap!

“Master’s wife, Master’s wife, Master’s wife…”

She would never hear that gentle, well-mannered boy calling her name tirelessly with such warmth again…

How could she accept this?!

At that moment, intense and complex emotions, like an eternal heavenly fire, melted the heart that had been frozen for two hundred years.

The ice heart melted, turning into two clear streams of tears that flowed down her cheeks.

Mother, Master’s wife, Sect Leader… You Su!

This time! I will not be powerless again!

As He Shutong’s resolve solidified, the fragments of her dissipating body returned to their original places. Her transparent form gradually regained its solidity, and the profound energy that had been drained by the Black Sea Moon rushed back into her body like a torrent.

With a single sword stroke, ten thousand lotuses bloomed!

The Black Sea Moon exploded like fireworks, and Xun Su, seeing the pristine Lotus Fairy floating in the air, was terrified out of his wits.

The bright moon hung high in the sky, its pure radiance unblocked by even the tallest trees.

On this night, the leader of the female sword cultivators, the Lotus Sword Venerable, returned to the Void Realm, reclaiming her status as a Venerable.