Perhaps because they were too close, Xie Shuci smelled a strong stench of blood and a faint fragrance emanating from the boy.

Their chests were pressed together, their breaths mingling. Xie Shuci could almost feel the exquisite muscle lines on his body. Although he didn't look thick-skinned, he was quite muscular.

"You..." Xie Shuci leaned against his shoulder, opening his mouth to speak, but the boy raised his hand and pinched the back of his neck. He felt a sharp pain in his bones, his body became limp and weak, and his head began to feel dizzy.

Just before losing consciousness, he saw the boy bury his head in his neck, and soon both of them fell into a deep sleep.

The moonlight was hazy, and the forest path was quiet and still.

Two bodies lay pressed tightly together in the grass. Not far away, a white horse with snow-white fur grazed with its head down, its hooves occasionally pattering lightly on the ground. Under the hazy moonlight, everything was quiet and beautiful.

Xie Shuci didn't sleep very well that night.

It felt like a thousand-pound weight was pressing down on him. Every breath he took caused pain in his internal organs. His blood was not circulating properly, and he felt like he had fallen into an ice cellar. His limbs were so cold that they didn't feel like his own.

In the latter half of the night, he vaguely felt the jack pressing down on him disappear, replaced by a cold, strong hand gripping his neck. Xie Shuci couldn't breathe and felt pain, as if his neck was about to be snapped. But he couldn't wake up and unconsciously murmured a few words.

"I fucking... just came back to life... I don't want to die yet..."

Xie Shuci didn't know what he had said, but after a moment of hesitation, the hand loosened its grip.

The suffocating feeling of hesitation was too brief, and Xie Shuci naturally regarded it as a dream.

"cough……"

When Xie Shuci regained consciousness, his throat felt like it was on fire. He coughed painfully twice, a soreness came from the back of his neck, and then his senses returned, and every part of his body felt uncomfortable.

Xie Shuci propped himself up on the soft grass, and thinking about what happened last night, he subconsciously looked around, but there was no sign of the boy.

"Damn!" Xie Shuci rubbed his neck. He still remembered that the boy had knocked him unconscious last night. The little brat looked weak, but he was seriously injured and bleeding from all seven orifices. How could he have such a strong grip?

"It hurts so much," Xie Shuci muttered, then looked around. "You just left like that? I saved you, what kind of person are you?"

Xie Shuci rubbed his stiff muscles, muttering a complaint under his breath. He wasn't worried about the boy dying at all; with his strength, he didn't look like someone on the verge of death.

A sound of footsteps came from not far away. Xie Shuci turned around abruptly and was surprised to see that the boy was holding a bamboo tube in his hand. The bloodstains on his face had been cleaned up and the wounds on his body had been treated. He was slowly walking towards him from the other end of the forest path.

"You didn't leave?" Xie Shuci looked at him in surprise.

Xie Shuci took a closer look at the boy and noticed something was wrong.

The boy walked very slowly, occasionally groping around with his hands, like someone tentatively walking in the dark. Although there was no emotion on his face, his brows were slightly furrowed, his lips were tightly pursed, and his eyes seemed to be covered with a misty veil.

When Xie Shuci saw his appearance, her heart skipped a beat. She quickly got up from the ground and shouted, "What's wrong with you?"

His voice wasn't low, but the boy seemed not to hear him. He lowered his head and touched a small stone by the roadside with his toes to make sure he hadn't gone the wrong way. Then he reached out and felt his way to a big tree next to him. Following the direction he remembered, he walked towards Xie Shuci, stopping and starting at a time.

Xie Shuci's breath hitched. He suddenly realized something, walked across the soft grass to the boy, and waved his hand in front of the boy's eyes a few times. The boy's eyes were dim and unfocused, as if he could not see anything.

The wind stirred by the waving of his hand ruffled the hair on the boy's forehead. The boy paused, his brows furrowing. He probably knew Xie Shuci was nearby. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He could only frantically grab at his surroundings like a headless fly, but he couldn't catch Xie Shuci.

"No way... don't scare me..." Xie Shuci muttered, his face pale, seeing the boy's state.

The boy of today no longer possessed the sharp edge he had when they first met, and his eyes, which once terrified Xie Shuci, were now devoid of any sparkle.

He failed to catch Xie Shuci, and cracks appeared on his calm face. His breathing became rapid, and at one moment, Xie Shuci even saw a hint of helplessness on his face. The boy's behavior was as if Xie Shuci was the only piece of driftwood he had grabbed after drowning, and now that he couldn't hold on to it, he looked both fragile and pitiful, completely lacking the arrogance of yesterday.

Honestly, Xie Shuci was terrified.

He had only been out of the small immortal sect for a day when he encountered one thing after another that he hadn't experienced in nineteen years. Now his mind was completely blank, and he didn't know how to deal with the changes in front of him.

Xie Shuci's only conclusion was that the boy was neither able to see nor hear, and it seemed that he couldn't even make a sound.

The boy failed to catch Xie Shuci, and a look of panic crossed his face. He opened his mouth as if to shout, but no sound came out. At that moment, he was just like an ordinary sixteen-year-old boy, filled with fear of losing his sight and voice, and uncertainty about the future. Xie Shuci felt a pang of sadness watching this.

Without time to think about anything else, he stepped forward and grasped the boy's cold hand, comforting him, "I'm here, don't be afraid."

After he finished speaking, he realized that the boy couldn't hear him.

The moment Xie Shuci leaned closer, the boy grabbed Xie Shuci tightly with his other hand. Just a day ago, the boy had been so strong, but now Xie Shuci felt that the boy's hand was not strong at all, so fragile that he could break free with the slightest movement.

The blind man gripped Xie Shuci tightly, as if he had found a piece of driftwood, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly placed the bamboo tube in his right hand into Xie Shuci's palm, and at the same time wrote a word in his palm with his cool fingertips: "Drink".

Xie Shuci felt a lump in his throat. He had a strong sense of empathy. He remembered that the boy was only sixteen years old. He was fine yesterday, but today he had become like this and had even gone out of his way to get him water.

Xie Shuci is a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur) youth who always feels that he should shoulder some kind of mission. Just like at this moment, as the only good person by the little blind man's side, he feels that he is needed and must help the little blind man get through this difficult time.

After all, in his mind, the little blind man was a pitiful little thing who was all alone and burdened with a blood feud.

Xie Shuci took the bamboo tube, took a hearty sip, and wrote in the little blind boy's palm while reading aloud: "Can you speak?"

The blind man's face returned to calm. Apart from holding Xie Shuci's hand, he seemed to have no significant reaction to the changes in his body.

After Xie Shuci finished writing, he saw the little blind man shake his head.

Xie Shuci thought to himself, "As expected," and wrote again, "What's wrong with you?"

The blind boy grabbed his hand and wrote in his palm: "Medicine can save lives, but it is also poisonous."

"Poison? Can it be cured? I have many pills that might be useful to you."

The blind boy paused for a moment, then shook his head, pursed his lips slightly, and wrote in Xie Shuci's palm: "Why did you save me?"

Xie Shuci pulled his hand, about to continue writing, when the little blind man suddenly grabbed his wrist and gently placed his right palm on Xie Shuci's lips.

Xie Shuci stared blankly at him, not understanding what he was going to do.

The blind man raised his hand, releasing a wisp of fragrance from his sleeve. His warm palm touched Xie Shuci's lips, and the unfamiliar, tingling sensation made Xie Shuci stare blankly.

As a 19-year-old lifelong single, Xie Shuci was obsessed with anime and manga characters. Although he had received love letters and confessions from many girls, he was brainwashed by shonen manga and only wanted to do something earth-shattering. For example, if thunder roared at 2 a.m., he would run to the rooftop in his slippers, hoping a bolt of lightning would unlock his inner energy. He did many similar silly things in middle school, even believing that dating would only slow down a man's sword-drawing speed. Later, he became a content creator and was kicked into the BL (Boys' Love) fandom by his fans, spending his days watching men date on a certain online forum.

The key point is, it was just looking! In real life, he'd never let anyone touch his lips, especially not such a... such a handsome boy...

Pah! Xie Xiaoci, are you out of your mind? Is this the time to be thinking about nothing?

Xie Shuci hurriedly averted his gaze from the blind boy's face. Even though the boy couldn't see, he still lowered his head guiltily and slightly increased the distance between his palm and his own. Seeing this, the blind boy wrote in his palm: "Speak."

Then he covered Xie Shuci's lips again with his other hand.

Xie Shuci realized what he was trying to do and asked with a hint of disbelief, "You know what I'm talking about?"

He spoke very slowly, his lips opening and closing lightly touching the little blind boy's palm, his breath like feathers gently brushing against the little blind boy's skin.

Xie Shuci wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt the little blind man's hand stiffen for a moment.

The little blind man nodded, indicating that he knew what he was talking about.

He placed his other hand in Xie Shuci's palm, and just as he was about to continue writing, Xie Shuci said, "You're saying this, I can tell what you're talking about."

For a while in high school, spy movies were popular, and one of their essential skills was lip reading. Xie Shuci thought this skill was particularly cool, so he searched for many techniques online to learn them. In the end, he barely managed to learn it, and as long as the speaking speed wasn't too fast, he could understand it.

The blind boy hesitated for a moment, then moved his lips and asked silently, "Why did you save me?"

Xie Shuci understood what he was saying, and a smile played on his lips. The little blind man sensed his smile and waited for his response with a puzzled expression.

Xie Shuci proudly raised his chin, "I am naturally charitable."

The blind man was silent for a moment, then, as if remembering something, he smiled enigmatically and said, word by word, "Good people don't get good rewards."

Xie Shuci said nonchalantly, "I didn't expect any reward. In the place where I was born, no one would just stand by and watch someone die."

The little blind man pursed his lips, seemingly trying to savor the meaning behind Xie Shuci's words. In the end, he seemed to have figured something out and tried to pull his hand away from Xie Shuci's lips.

Before Xie Shuci could finish his question, she grabbed his wrist just before he pulled away, pressed the little blind boy's palm to her lips, and asked, "Besides not being able to hear, see, or speak, do you have any other physical problems?"

The blind man's face darkened slightly. He parted his lips slightly and said silently, "Your cultivation is completely destroyed."

Xie Shuci's heart sank suddenly, and he looked at the little blind man in disbelief.

His cultivation was completely destroyed... In this world where the strong are revered... his cultivation was completely destroyed...

Xie Shuci only had a vague understanding of the book's setting and hadn't read it carefully, but through a small part of the original owner's memories, he could realize what "complete loss of cultivation" meant in this world, not to mention that the little blind man was still being hunted down.

Compared to Xie Shuci's shock, the little blind man quickly regained his composure and asked, "What's your name?"

Xie Shuci swallowed hard, her lips lightly touching his palm, and replied, "Xie Shuci."

Seemingly feeling that this answer was not enough, he wrote his name again in the little blind boy's palm.

The little blind man felt the mark on his palm, a slight smile playing on his lips, and silently murmured:

"So your name is Xie Shuci."

Xie Shuci was taken aback, sensing that his words were quite subtle.