266: Chapter 266 Blind Girl Gong Yu

Stepping onto the stairs paved with agarwood, Xu Chen and Hua Jieyu arrived at the second floor of Listening to Rain Pavilion.

Compared to the simplicity of the ground floor lobby, the decor on the second floor was significantly more elegant.

Pale green Xiangfei Bamboo curtains hung all around, and a few wisps of breeze blew in through the half-open carved wooden windows. The air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood that could calm the mind.

The waiter led the two to the "Heaven" rank private booth with the widest view directly ahead. He respectfully served a pot of freshly brewed spiritual tea and then tactfully bowed and withdrew, not daring to make even the slightest sound while walking.

Xu Chen took a seat on a cushioned prayer mat.

Directly in front of the private booth, there was only a curtain made of rounded jade beads. Through the gently swaying gaps, the scene on the high platform was clearly visible.

On the high platform in the very center of the second floor sat a frail figure dressed in plain colors.

It was a young girl wearing a moon-white long dress.

Her waterfall-like black hair was casually held up by a simple wooden hairpin. A few playful strands fell onto her snow-white nape, adding a touch of pitiable fragility.

Resting across her knees was an ancient zither, entirely pitch-black and covered with the mottled traces of time.

The girl's jade-like hands, as white as scallion stalks, were leaping lightly across the zither strings.

Every pluck would stir a ripple of pure spiritual power. That sorrowful and sublime zither music, capable of shaking the mind of someone in the Saint Realm, came from these seemingly delicate hands.

*Ding.*

The System's mechanical notification tone rang out punctually in Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness like the most loyal radar.

Target with a special Physique discovered.

System scan initiated.

Name: Gong Yu

Cultivation: Early Stage of the Dragon Transformation Realm

Measurements: 84-56-86.

Special Physique: Seven Orifices Exquisite Zither Heart

Current Status: Blind in both eyes, Innate visual closure, transparent Mind's Eye.

Comprehensive Rating: 94 points

Evaluation: A cold and elegant little white flower stubbornly growing in the darkness, possessing extremely high value for care and nurturing. Warm reminder: This target has a closed heart and is highly defensive. It is suggested that the Host use magic to defeat magic, dealing a dimensional reduction strike on the levels of art and Soul.

Listening to the detailed System broadcast in his mind, Xu Chen's hand holding the white porcelain teacup paused slightly.

Blind in both eyes.

No wonder such intense loneliness and repression permeated the zither music.

A girl who was Innately unable to see the myriad colors of this Major Thousand Worlds was locked in boundless darkness all day long.

She could only entrust all her emotions, all her struggles, and her longing for this world to the ancient zither in her hands.

Using the zither as eyes, using music to speak for the heart.

This unique sense of artistry brought about by her incompleteness instead gave rise to a strong desire for protection and exploration in Xu Chen's heart.

It felt as if he were looking at an exquisitely beautiful piece of fragile porcelain, making one unable to resist wanting to hold it in their palms and brush away the dust.

He sat quietly in the private booth, lifting the cup of steaming clear tea, his gaze piercing through the layers of jade beads to quietly watch that thin back.

At this moment, Gong Yu, sitting on the high platform, was not entirely unaware of the changes in the outside world.

Although she had lost her sight, the Seven Orifices Exquisite Zither Heart granted her a transparent Mind's Eye that far surpassed ordinary people.

In her world of perception, there were no lights, shadows, or colors, only streaks of different colored Qi and various subtle sounds.

She was currently playing an ancient tune called "Guanghan Yin."

As her fingertips plucked the zither strings, Gong Yu's Mind's Eye clearly reflected the various faces of the people in the teahouse.

The Qi of the tea drinkers downstairs was mostly murky and foul. Some were obsessed with her appearance, radiating a nauseating greed. Others, having heard of her blindness, showed a high-and-mighty hypocritical pity.

Gong Yu hated this kind of pity.

She didn't consider herself a cripple. On the Great Dao of music, she had traveled further and saw more clearly than anyone else in Tianyin City.

Just as she was immersed in the cold and lonely world she had woven for herself.

From the direction of the "Heaven" rank private booth, a strange aura suddenly burst in.

Gong Yu's fingertips, which were flying over the zither strings, trembled imperceptibly.

In her Mind's Eye perception, this newly appeared aura was completely different from everyone else in the teahouse. The other party didn't deliberately release any spiritual pressure; even the frequency of his breathing perfectly synchronized with the flow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

It was an aura of the Dao, as profound as the vast starry sky and encompassing all things.

Just by sitting there without making a sound, he gave Gong Yu a sense of overwhelming pressure, like looking up at a high mountain. Her Seven Orifices Exquisite Zither Heart even throbbed uncontrollably, as if encountering an insurmountable towering mountain.

What made Gong Yu feel even more flustered was the gaze projected from the private booth.

There was no greed, no contempt, and certainly none of that nauseating sympathy. The gaze was as calm as water, yet it carried a purity that saw through the vanity of all things in the world.

Gong Yu's heart was in disarray.

The originally cold and detached "Guanghan Yin" finally lost half a beat in the final movement. The suppressed emotions in the zither music were like a flood breaking a dam, pouring out with a hint of urgency and panic.

*Zheng.*

Along with the last long-drawn-out trailing note echoing for a long time among the beams of the teahouse, the piece finally came to an end.

The sorrowful lingering sound was like autumn leaves, circling in the air a few times before dissipating into nothingness.

The second floor of the teahouse remained silent for a full dozen breaths.

Only then did the tea drinkers in the surrounding private booths wake up as if from a dream, breaking into heartfelt cheers and praise.

"Superb! Miss Gong Yu's zither skills are truly the best in Tianyin City!"

"Listening to the young lady's piece is better than three months of secluded cultivation! It's just a pity that heaven is jealous of beauty, causing her to lose her eyes, alas..."

Listening to the monotonous praise and regret around her, Gong Yu on the high platform gave no response.

She placed her fair jade hands flat on the black ancient zither, her chest rising and falling slightly. Her empty eyes, covered with a faint grayish-white layer, stubbornly turned toward the "Heaven" rank private booth.

Inside the "Heaven" rank private booth, Hua Jieyu saw her master's interested expression and tactfully stood to the side, acting as an invisible person.

Xu Chen looked at the blind girl who stubbornly turned her face toward him, a hint of an appreciative smile appearing in his eyes.

He slowly set down the white porcelain teacup in his hand.

The porcelain base collided with the table, letting out a crisp and pleasant clink that seemed particularly abrupt amidst the noisy cheers.