The world fell silent. The clamor of the streets, the distant cries of vendors, the very wind itself seemed to hold its breath. Lu Feng’s fingers, which could command ten thousand swords to shatter mountains, trembled slightly as they closed around the half-jade pendant. It was cool to the touch, yet it burned his soul like a brand. His mother’s memento. The other half. For three years, he had been a dog in the Ye family, enduring endless scorn. For ten years before that, he had been a ghost, wandering the world alone, his past a blood-soaked nightmare. This small piece of jade was the only key, the only tangible link to a life stolen from him. And now, its twin rested in his hand, given to him by a blind swordswoman he had saved on a whim. An aura of absolute zero radiated from Lu Feng. The killing intent was so pure, so dense, it was almost visible. It was not aimed at Xue Feng, but at the heavens, at the fate that had orchestrated this cruel, impossible meeting. Xue Feng, though blind, felt the cataclysmic shift. The air grew heavy, pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe. The man before her, who had felt like a calm, fathomless ocean, had just become a maelstrom of divine wrath. “Your aura…,” she whispered, her hand instinctively going to the hilt of her sword. “What is it?” Lu Feng did not answer. His gaze lifted from the jade in his palm to her face. Her eyes, clouded and sightless, were a testament to a tragedy he now felt inexplicably tied to. He saw the dried tear tracks on her cheeks, the proud set of her jaw that refused to yield to despair. She was a survivor, just like him. His voice was flat, devoid of emotion, yet carried the weight of an imperial edict. “Come with me.” He did not wait for an answer. A single step, and he was beside her. He did not touch her, but a gentle, irresistible current of Inner Qi enveloped her, guiding her forward. Xue Feng felt as if she were walking on clouds. The world blurred past in a symphony of sounds and scents, yet she felt no fear. The cold, overwhelming power guiding her was a shield stronger than any fortress wall. They moved through winding alleyways, then through a nondescript gate that opened into a silent, ancient courtyard. The air here was different. It was thick with spiritual energy, so rich that a common martial artist could cultivate for a day and achieve a month’s worth of progress. Lu Feng led her down a flight of stone stairs, deep into the earth. They entered a chamber carved from a single, massive piece of black obsidian. There were no torches, yet the room was bathed in a soft, ethereal glow emanating from the walls themselves. In the center of the room sat a single, unadorned stone plinth. “Where are we?” Xue Feng asked, her voice a hushed echo in the vast silence. “A place of healing,” Lu Feng stated. It was a forbidden chamber of the Dragon God Hall, a place where even his most trusted commanders were not permitted without his leave. A place where the sect’s most priceless treasures were stored. “Sit.” It was a command, not a request. Xue Feng obeyed, settling herself onto the cold stone plinth. She felt his presence before her, a mountain of silent power. Lu Feng’s hand swept through the air. A small, intricately carved jade box appeared in his palm as if from nowhere. He opened it. A wave of unbelievably potent spiritual energy washed over the room. A soft, golden light pulsed from within the box, and the scent of a thousand blooming spirit flowers filled the air. Xue Feng gasped, her own Inner Qi surging in response to the sheer potency of the object. “That… that is the Thousand-Year Spirit Dragon Pearl! A legend! It was said to have been lost for centuries!” “It was not lost,” Lu Feng said simply, his tone suggesting that such a divine artifact was a mere trifle. He took the luminescent pearl from the box. Its value could buy an entire kingdom. He intended to use it to heal a single pair of eyes. “Your meridians are not just blocked,” he said, his voice cold and analytical. “They were deliberately shattered by a corrosive poison. A cruel technique. The poison is still there, dormant in your optic nerves.” He did not ask for permission. He did not explain further. His actions were his explanation. “Endure this,” he commanded. Two of his fingers, glowing with a faint golden light, pressed gently against her temples. Supreme Inner Qi, the True Essence of the Celestial Sword God, poured into her. Agony. Pure, white-hot agony erupted behind Xue Feng’s eyes. It felt as if a thousand needles of molten steel were stabbing into her skull, burning away the darkness and the flesh along with it. She bit her lip until it bled, her body trembling violently, but she refused to scream. This was a battle, and her will was her only weapon. The golden energy from Lu Feng’s fingertips became a torrent. It surged through her shattered meridians, not just clearing them, but reforging them. The ancient, insidious poison that had blinded her sizzled and evaporated like mist under a divine sun. Simultaneously, he crushed the Spirit Dragon Pearl into a fine, glowing dust with his other hand, and with a wave of Qi, guided its essence directly into her system. The divine elixir merged with his own god-like power. It was an act of creation, a reversal of fate that would make any so-called Divine Physician in the world kowtow in shame. For a Grandmaster, this would have been a suicidal expenditure of true essence. For Lu Feng, it was as simple as breathing. From Xue Feng’s perspective, the world of blackness she had inhabited for a decade began to crack. First came flashes of searing gold, then rivers of silver light. She felt the searing pain recede, replaced by a warm, soothing current that healed every damaged cell, every broken pathway. It was more than healing; it was a rebirth. Her own cultivation, stagnant for years, suddenly roared to life, breaking through a bottleneck she had been stuck at for half her life. The process, which felt like an eternity of torment and bliss, lasted only a few minutes. The golden light in the room dimmed. Lu Feng withdrew his fingers, his expression as impassive as ever. He stood back, a silent shadow against the glowing walls. The chamber fell silent once more. All Xue Feng could hear was the frantic beating of her own heart. “Open your eyes,” Lu Feng commanded. Her eyelids, heavy as lead, fluttered. She squeezed them shut, then forced them open. Light. Not flashes, not imagined colors, but real, true light flooded her senses. It was overwhelming. Shapes, textures, shadows… a world she had only remembered in dreams was now before her. Her gaze, blurry at first, slowly focused. It settled on the first thing she saw. The first person. A man. Tall and imposing, dressed in simple servant’s clothes that could not conceal an emperor’s bearing. His face was cold, handsome beyond mortal description, but it was his eyes that stole her breath. They were endless pools of night, containing the sorrow of ages and the power to shatter stars. And in that instant, a memory locked away in the deepest, most traumatic corner of her mind exploded into life. Ten years ago. A night of fire and blood. Her sect, the Cloud Heart Medical Valley, massacred. Her parents, cut down before her. A river, choked with the bodies of her people. And a young boy, no older than she was then, appearing from the shadows with a rusty iron sword. He moved like a phantom, his sword-qi a whisper of death that claimed the lives of a dozen black-clad assassins before they could even scream. His face, illuminated by the flames, was etched into her soul a second before a splash of black poison mist had stolen her sight forever. That face. It was his face. Xue Feng’s breath caught in her throat. The world spun. Her voice was a choked, disbelieving gasp. “It’s you? The one who saved me by the river of blood ten years ago!” At that very moment, the entire stone chamber trembled violently. A thunderous roar, amplified by the Inner Qi of thousands, crashed down from above, shaking the very foundations of the forbidden ground. “By order of the Martial Alliance! The remnants of the Dragon God Hall are surrounded! Surrender now, and the Alliance Leader of Divine Sword Manor may grant you a swift death!”

The Divine Physician's Touch