Chapter 3 Part II

    "Owwww!" She pushed Xiaoxin away forcefully, causing the little boy to fall to the floor.

    "Big Sister! What's wrong?" Xiaoxin was startled by her push. He wasn't hurt but was shocked. What was wrong with his sister? He had forgotten his own grief and crawled back to her, laying his small hands on hers, which she had raised to cover her eyes. Soon, she was writhing on the floor, her feet kicking the wooden floor loudly.

    "Big Sister! Big Sister!" Shocked, he didn't know what to do and just kept calling out to her.

    "Ah!"

    "It hurts!"

    "Ugh!" Her beautiful form rolled across the floor.

    "B… Big Sister, wait for me a moment; I'll get someone to help!" Xiaoxin was trembling with fear when he saw her actions. It reminded him of two years ago when his grandfather was covered in blood, and all he could do was run for help since he was too young and weak to assist. This time was no different. The little boy ran to the nearest neighbor's house.

    "Uncle! Aunt! Help, my sister, she's really bad off!"

    "What's happened, Xiaoxin?" The middle-aged couple came out of their house puzzled.

    "Uncle, Aunt, my sister is very ill. Please help," the little boy pointed shakily towards his house, his eyes red and teary.

    Soon, several people followed Xiaoxin back to Xuyao's house. Her house wasn't big, surrounded by a woven bamboo fence that enclosed the house and garden. Besides, she had planted climbing plants along the fence, creating another thick barrier.

    As they entered through the front gate, they saw Xuyao in a pale robe sitting on the floor of the house, her hands holding up a light brown cloth to cover her eyes, refusing to look up at the newcomers.

    "Big Sister, I've brought people to help. What's wrong with you?" Xiaoxin asked when he returned and found her still writhing on the floor. The boy couldn't help but be worried.

    But Xuyao didn't look up. She replied wearily, "Everyone, I apologize for my brother's disturbance. I'm just a little unwell. Xiaoxin must have panicked and thus called you all. I'm not seriously ill; a bit of medicine should fix it. Thank you all," he replied, her voice slightly hoarse and tired.

    "Miss Lin, are you sure you're alright? Shouldn't you see a doctor?" One of the villagers asked. Miss Lin was beloved by the villagers because she cared for almost everyone in the village when they were sick or unwell. Some who couldn't afford to pay were allowed to pay off their debts, so they were genuinely concerned without hesitation when she was unwell.

    "It's really nothing, I assure you. I just need to take some herbal medicine and I'll be fine. Xiaoxin is just a bit too alarmed," the young woman continued to hold her head down and keep her eyes covered with the cloth as before.

    "Oh, in that case, please rest, Miss. If there's anything, let Xiaoxin call us." Her expertise in herbal medicine and healing was evident to all, and many people trusted her to treat herself. As such, they gradually began to take their leave.

    "Xiaoxin, go close the front gate," instructed Xuyao.

    "Yes," the little boy complied easily, though still a bit perplexed. Once he had securely shut the gate, he returned inside.

    This time, Xuyao slowly lifted her head and gradually lowered her hands. The cloth that had covered her face slipped, revealing to Xiaoxin the blood that had stained the light brown fabric, some of which was still smeared across Xuyao's face, as if she had been crying—yet the tears were vivid red blood.

    "Big… Big Sister!" the boy exclaimed in shock.

    "Xiaoxin, don't be alarmed, good boy. Go fetch some water in the pot for me to wash my face," Xuyao said in a hoarse and weary voice, yet her voice strangely soothed Xiaoxin’s heart.

    Xiaoxin ran to the water pot, then hurried back with a bucket of water, struggling slightly. He raced back for a clean cloth to wipe his sister's face.

    Xuyao managed to clean the bloodstains from her face and eyes. Exhausted, she could hardly move to another place. She was processing the events that had just unfolded.

    Her eyes had suddenly hurt, feeling burning and intensely painful as if flames were consuming her eyes. After the burning sensation had subsided, it felt as if a cold fire was forging new eyes. Xuyao wondered if the earlier sensation was just a dream or a hallucination, but seeing the blood from her own eyes confirmed that it was not a dream.

    Then, her vision changed. Instinctively looking out, she noticed the large tree not far from the house. Today, it seemed different. She could see what was hidden in the trunk, leaves, and branches. She could see the life force sustaining it, observing the water, nutrients, light, and air that energized this big tree.

    Just then, a noise from the front of the house occurred—it was when Xiaoxin brought the villagers to help. She quickly grabbed the nearest cloth to cover the bloody marks on her face and eyes. This strange event was still unclear, and she could not let anyone know.

    Xuyao was surprised that such a thing could happen to her. As she looked up at Xiaoxin blinking rapidly in front of her, she saw a faint aura of vital energy radiating from him. Could this young boy already be a skilled martial artist in level one?

    This realization shocked Xuyao deeply. She knew such things were never supposed to happen to her because she had been born with a physical defect that prevented her from practicing martial arts. She was the only one among the Bai family descendants who could not cultivate martial arts, which was why she headed towards the path of apothecary.

    If one could not practice martial arts, they would not be able to discern the level of a master martial artist in front of them. Yet now, she could see this vital energy—it couldn't be that she was now able to practice martial arts, could it?

    The young woman slowly examined her own body, but unfortunately, it was still incapable of martial practice. Thus, the anomaly must be in her eyes.

    Yet, what she perceived through these eyes wasn't entirely new; it had been with her since birth. Xuyao couldn't explain this feeling, but she felt it was true. Her eyes were the same yet endowed with an extraordinary new ability.

    Eh?... Had this been the case since birth? She paused at her own thought.

    Birth!

    Yes!

    How could she forget that today was her eighteenth birthday!

    Could this phenomenon be related to that?

    "Big Sister, are you okay?" Seeing her remain silent for a long time with a confused look in her eyes, Xiaoxin sitting in front of her asked.

    "I'm fine now, thank you very much, Xiaoxin. Help me to the room, please. I need to rest a bit." Right now, she felt extremely exhausted.

    "Understood," the boy stood up to support his sister, but as his hand touched hers, Xuyao stiffened, her eyes widening in shock.

    "Big… Big Sister, are you in pain again?"

    "No... it's not that," her shock was not due to pain, but what she saw had startled her. She could see the boy's body, his muscles, blood vessels, organs, various energy points, and even the vital energy circulating in his small frame.

    Isn't this too astonishing? Merely by touching a human body, she could see all this!

    "Xiaoxin,"

    "Yes?"

    "Run to the garden, pull up one herb, and catch one of the hens, quickly."

    "Do you want to eat stewed chicken again?" Didn't they just eat that last night? Why is she being so extravagant all of a sudden?

    "Just go, don't ask too many questions."

    "Understood." Without getting an answer, the little boy complied with his sister's request, still puzzled. She was too strange. The young boy ran to the garden and after a while, returned, struggling with a hen that was flapping in his arms.

    "Ah... it took so long to catch, I had to chase it around for ages," he complained breathlessly.

    Xuyao reached out to take the hen but then, her eyes could see through the feathers and skin into the internal organs of the hen. As she focused deeper, she saw the circulation of nutrients and energy within the hen.

    This was too shocking!

    She threw the hen aside and picked up the herb, ignoring Xiaoxin's loud complaints. He had made such an effort to catch it, and she just let it go. The boy sat down abruptly with a sullen face.

    Nevertheless, Xuyao paid him no heed. She was absorbed in the herb the boy had pulled, and as expected, as soon as her hand touched the herb, she could see every detail within the stem, leaves, seeds, roots. She could instantly distinguish what was medicinal and what was poisonous and could even determine the age and quality of the herb—far better than mere visual observation.

    "Hahaha," she suddenly burst out laughing, startling Xiaoxin again.

    Oh, no. Has Big Sister been possessed by an evil spirit? What should I do now? There's no shaman in the village.

    Discovering the secret abilities of her new eyes, Xuyao was overwhelmed with excitement. Instead of resting, she dragged her weary body into the herb garden, touching and examining the leaves, laughing as if she had lost her mind. But perhaps more terrified than her was Xiaoxin, who grew increasingly afraid as his sister acted stranger and stranger. He wanted to run and find a shaman right away but was afraid something even stranger would happen to her, so he just quietly followed her, jumping every time she laughed.

    Finally, by noon, Xuyao managed to compose herself and went into the kitchen to cook in good spirits.

    Afterwards, she returned to being the simple, ordinary Xuyao that Xiaoxin knew, and the little boy sighed in relief.

    "Big Sister, I found this paper on the bedside table." Now that she was calm, he brought her a stack of papers he had found, some of the words on it readable to him.

    "Hmm," when Xuyao took the papers, she saw that they were the ones she had bought for listing herbs and medicine comparisons. Did Dadou steal her papers to write on? Glancing at the uneven, messy handwriting that sprawled across the paper, she couldn't help but smile—it was the Eight-Petal Moon Blade technique she often heard from Xiaoxin.

    From the smeared ink and slanted yet firm handwriting, it was clear that Dadou had struggled greatly to write these characters while blind. Indeed, he had left a great gift for Xiaoxin.

    "This is the Eight-Petal Moon Blade technique. Dadou must have written it for you,"

    Instead of being pleased, the boy's face suddenly saddened as he thought of his first master who had left.

    "Come on, now focus on learning to read with me, so you can read this. Once you can read, concentrate on your training. Don't let your master down. See how much effort he put into writing this? It's not easy for a blind man to write," she handed the papers to the little boy.

    "Understood," the boy accepted them, holding them close with care. He resolved to study hard and train diligently. In the future, if he met his master again, the master would surely be proud to have a disciple like him.

    Seeing the boy's sadness lessen, Xuyao casually stroked his head. However, as soon as her hand touched his head, the image of his veins, tendons, and vital energies appeared in her mind.

    The woman was startled and immediately pulled away, her beautiful face turning pale.

    Umm… Indeed, with every blessing, a curse is hidden. From now on, she wouldn't be able to touch someone else's body without these images appearing. Was this what she had to sacrifice?

    "Big Sister, what happened to you?"

    "No... nothing. You go rest, and I'll rest too," she was exhausted from the day's events and deserve some rest. She had a lot to contemplate about the strange occurrences of the day.

    The young woman didn't expect that it would take over two months to settle her thoughts. For those two months, Xuyao hadn't left the house at all, so her food and supplies had dwindled to almost nothing. But, upon realizing it again, even the rice was almost gone, down to just the bottom of the pot.

    In the past two months, she had finally adjusted to the peculiarities of her new vision. Not only could she see the inner workings of humans, animals, and plants, but at times, she could also predict events in the near future.

    For example, one day while grinding herbs as usual, a brief hallucination suddenly flashed before her special eyes—she saw Xiaoxin practicing his sword in the garden, slipping and crushing her precious jade-horned white egret orchid plant. At the moment, she thought it was just a paranoid illusion. However, not long after, Xiaoxin came running up with a face about to cry, holding the broken orchid branch, ready for punishment. That was the first event that she discovered the strangeness.

    After that, more such premonitory visions occurred, whether it involved patients who came for treatment or neighbors who visited. The events she foresaw always came true, but this ability wasn't under her control; it appeared and disappeared mysteriously.

    It could be said that she was seeing the future.

    This realization made Xuyao increasingly anxious. She was unsure what undesirable things she might see in the future. Her joy turned into fear and confusion; the abilities of these eyes were more than she could handle. Xuyao longed for her normal eyes back.

    "Big Sister, we've run out of paper," Xiaoxin ran out from the house to her with the last sheet of paper on which he had been practicing his writing until it was full.

    "Hmm, we haven't been to the city in a long time. How about I take you to the city tomorrow?"

    "Yes, please!" How could it not be a good idea? He hadn't seen Fufen City for a long time since they last traveled there. Often, he tried to tell his sister that it was time to deliver the ground herbs, but she didn't seem to care. The boy had no choice but to wait silently until today when they finally ran out of writing paper. She wouldn't be able to write prescriptions any longer.