In the middle of the outer courtyard of the Azure Cloud Sect, several disciples gathered at the back of an arrogant looking older disciple, his robes pristine, his posture straight with the confidence of someone who had never known humiliation, Zhao Feng. As a respected senior disciple, his words carried weight. And today, he had chosen Lin Mo as his target.
"Look at him," a voice rang out, sharp with amusement. "Still pretending to be part of the sect."
In front of him knelt a thin figure in worn grey robe, his head bowed low as he tightened his fist on his lap in anger. But even if he was angry, what could be do? He was blind and had no cultivation
"Tell me," Zhao Feng continued, folding his arms as he looked down at the kneeling boy, "how does it feel to live leech off the sect without contributing anything?"
"Ah, I forgot," Zhao Feng said with mock realization. "You wouldn't even be able to contribute even if you wanted to.
The other disciples laughed, louder this time
Lin Mo was angry, the humiliation causing tears to sting at the back of his eyes. But he didn't dare say anything, everyone standing in front of him could crush him with just a flicker of their fingers, retaliating would only mean more insults and beating. He was already used to this.
"How about this?" Zhao Feng went on, tilting Lin Mo's head up with the edge of his sword, "let's compete, you hit me once, and I'll stop bothering you, what do you think?"
Everyone laughed louder, but Lin Mo said nothing, only tightened his fist more
"Why? You can't?" Zhao Feng mocked, "I heard the old sect master brought you in because he sensed extra ordinary spiritual fluctuations in you, so show it" he jabbed him with his sword, harder this time, and Lin Mo winced "maybe, he needs a little push" Zhao Feng said, pinning him down with his sword as he signaled the others
"Yes!" They screamed, throwing things at him, "fight! Fight! Fight!" They threw pebbles, eggs, floor, and even dumped a bucket of dirty laundry water on him.
"Stop! Stop it!" A young disciple pushed through the crowd, breath uneven, his robes slightly disheveled. Liu Wei. Compared to the others, he was shorter, more plump, and heaved heavily as he ran. His cultivation low, barely enough to keep him in the rank of the lowest disciples.
"Senior Brother Zhao, this has gone too far," Liu Wei said, forcing steadiness into his voice. "If something happens, the elders—"
"The elders?" Zhao Feng turned, raising an eyebrow. "Go ahead. Tell them."
The surrounding disciples burst into laughter. Liu Wei clenched his fists but said nothing more. After a brief, helpless glance at Lin Mo, he turned and ran. The others only laughed harder.
—
The elder hall was quiet. Incense burned steadily, its smoke curling upward in thin, lazy spirals. Several elders sat in place, their expressions calm, detached. Liu Wei didn't slow down as he entered, bowing hastily.
"Elders! Lin Mo is being bullied in the outer courtyard—Senior Brother Zhao is—"
"Lin Mo?"
One of the elders opened his eyes, his tone indifferent.
"That blind one?"
Liu Wei swallowed. "Yes, Elder. If this continues, he might—"
"Might what?" another elder interrupted. "Break?"
A faint chuckle followed.
"He should have left on his own long ago," a third added. "The previous sect master's judgment was flawed. We are only keeping him out of respect for the old sect master."
Liu Wei's heart sank.
"But… he's still a disciple of the sect—"
"Our sect has no such disciple," the first elder said coldly, waving him away, "go child, and focus only on improving your own cultivation, or you might end up worse than him"
Liu Wei, bowed his head, fat plum tears stinging his eyes "…Understood."
—
"Still not reacting?" Zhao Feng said
"Maybe he really is useless." one of the disciples replied
"Try aiming closer this time." another said
Another stone flew. This time striking his arm. Lin Mo winced, biting back his pain, even if he cried, no one was going to rescue him, and even if he ran, where could a blind good for nothing run to? Then another object hit him, the force made him fall to the ground, splitting his head open as warm liquid streamed down his face stinging his eyes. His head tinged, and he bit his lips hard until it bled, the pain forcing the anger out of him. He searched around him frantically, feeling the ground for anything he could grab
"Look at that," someone laughed. "The blind trash wants to fight back?"
Lin Mo's hand tightened against the first thing his hand could touch. A big rough stone. The one that had split his head. His arm trembled as he raised it, his head turning towards the location of the notices while they laughed and pointed at him. Unable to locate precisely where the voices was coming from, he threw the stone blindly, heaving heavily as the stone landed with a thud on someone.
Everyone froze, the noise dying down immediately, as a scream thundered through the courtyard "How dare you!" Heavy footsteps followed.
Talk about bad luck. Lin Mo had thrown the stone right at an elder who was just stepping out. The one time he wants to fight back, and he fucks up. Real bad.
Lin Mo froze. "I—" His voice came out in stammers, fear gripping him. "I didn't—"
A sharp force struck his chest. He was thrown backward, his body slamming against the ground. Pain exploded through him. "You dare raise your hand against an elder?" the voice roared. "You have no discipline, no respect—utterly worthless!"
"I didn't mean—" Another blow. This time, he didn't have the breath to speak. "Take him." Hands grabbed him, pinning him down as blows upon blows descend on him, fast and heavy. It was as if they now had an excuse to thoroughly deal with him.
By the time they were too exhausted to continue hitting him, Lin Mo could barely breathe, his bones were broken in the wrong place, and he could feel life slipping out of him
"Throw him out," the elder's voice said. "Let him die outside. The sect has no place for such filth."
—
The mountains beyond the sect gate was ice cold. And the disciples carrying Lin Mo shivered as the cold air blew making them shiver
"Let's just leave him here," one of them said
"But the third elder asked us to take him out" the other replied, "it'll be a problem if he ends up dying at the steps of the gate"
The other one sighed, "even dying, he's still a problem, let's just roll him down the cliff, that way he wouldn't be able to crawl back even if he wanted to"
The other nodded, and they pushed him down, not even bothering to watch as his body tumbled down the rough slope, striking stone and ice before finally coming to a stop right at the middle of an open ice cave. Lin Mo lay there, breath shallow, cold seeped into his bones, dulling what little sensation remained. He dragged himself against the slippery ice, his bones screaming in protest, and his fingers freezing. He searched desperately for something to hold on to. Anything. Then his hand wrapped around something, rough around the edges like a rock and smooth in the middle like jade. Lin Mo squeezed his hand tightly around it, the sharp edges prickling his skin and drawing blood. Immediately his blood touched the object, it shimmered, shiny brightly and slipped out of his grasp vanishing into his eyes.
Lin Mo screamed, a sharp pain scourging through his eyes. Lin Mo's hand immediately went to his eyes, trying to pry them open and remove whatever had just disappeared into it. He gasped in pain, his whole body convulsing as the sensation spread, burning through him. When he finally calmed down breathing heavily as the pain dwindled, Lin Mo opened his eyes and froze, bringing his hand to his line of sight, his once dark world was now filled with something else. Countless threads. It was as if his hand was transparent, with thin threads light flowing through it. He looked around him. Everything seemed weird. There were numerous streams of light in the cave flowing around it as if they were alive.
A faint glow formed in front of his eyes, characters he couldn't read written on it. Then a voice followed, "Congratulations. You have successfully activated the Heaven Devouring Eyes System."