To the current Chen Gao Yang, his so-called girlfriend was like a flower that bloomed and wilted in a single night—here one moment, gone the next, as if she had never existed.

After years together, all he had left of his girlfriend was a name. It was the most absurd joke in the world.

The whole thing was bizarre, but it was also deeply suspicious.

Instinctively, Tu Xiao'an sensed something strange was afoot.

"Can I come over to your house?"

Suddenly, Tu Xiao'an posed the question.

"My house?" Chen Gao Yang was taken aback, but he had no reason to refuse. The man had helped him twice now. He nodded in agreement.

Tu Xiao'an asked doubtfully, "In your state... can you even find your way home?"

A faint smile touched Chen Gao Yang's lips. "Isn't there a saying? 'A blind man's eyes may be sightless, but his heart is not.' How could I not find the way home?"

At these words, Tu Xiao'an gave him a long, deep look, finding profound truth in his statement.

So many people had eyes that could see, but their hearts had long gone blind.

He couldn't help but recall a morbidly humorous joke.

A fool stole a beggar's wallet, and a blind man saw it happen. A mute shouted, startling a deaf man. A hunchback straightened up to intervene, and a cripple landed a flying kick. A madman said, "Everyone, be rational," while a wanted criminal tried to drag the fool to the "Public Security Specialist Bureau." Then, a man with a pockmarked face said, "Just this once, for my sake, let it go."

It was a completely nonsensical joke, one you had to listen to with your heart.

Afterward, Chen Gao Yang led the way. Tu Xiao'an didn't offer to support him or say a word; he just followed in silence.

He stumbled along, frequently bumping into things. Yet, astonishingly, the path beneath his feet seemed perfectly clear to him. The two of them walked slowly, incredibly slowly.

Eventually, Chen Gao Yang led Tu Xiao'an to an old residential area. After passing through a deep, narrow alleyway, a courtyard house that looked to be several centuries old came into view.

"This is my home."

Chen Gao Yang's steps came to an abrupt halt. Tu Xiao'an was thoroughly impressed.

He couldn't see a thing, yet everything was imprinted on his heart—not an inch more, not an inch less. He had stopped precisely in front of his own gate.

"Please, come in. This house hasn't had a guest in a very, very long time."

Chen Gao Yang made a welcoming gesture. The threshold was right in front of him, and he lifted his foot to step over it.

Tu Xiao'an didn't follow him in right away. He stood motionless outside, gazing at the exquisite yet rustic courtyard house before him. With its dark wooden gate and gleaming brass knockers, it looked like a structure from the Ming or Qing Dynasty.

In this day and age, such an ancient-style courtyard house was a rare sight.

This residential area was a stark contrast to the bustling world outside. Turning to look around, he saw old men chatting under an ancient locust tree, children chasing each other playfully, and heard the raspy calls of street vendors growing closer...

'So beautiful, so dreamlike.' For a moment, he felt as if he had traveled back in time.

He never would have thought that a place so quaint and traditional still existed within Wencheng.

After taking it all in for a few moments, Tu Xiao'an stepped over the high threshold. Once inside, he found a square courtyard etched with the scars of wind and time, ancient yet vibrantly alive as it unfolded along a central axis.

Like a treasured perfume box, it exuded a rich historical aura, trapping the light of bygone days within the cracks of its bricks and tiles.

Living in a courtyard house like this today was far more refreshing to the soul than any luxury villa.

"This courtyard house has been in my family for eight generations, down to me," Chen Gao Yang's voice drifted over. "It's been around since the Ming and Qing Dynasties."

Tu Xiao'an took a few more moments to appreciate his surroundings. "To own a place like this, your family must have been quite prominent once."

The moment the words left his mouth, however, Tu Xiao'an felt they were out of place. The vast courtyard house was completely empty.

There wasn't a trace of another person's presence.

"Wealth never lasts more than three generations," Chen Gao Yang said faintly. "What rises must fall. My grandmother once told me that over thirty members of the Chen Family used to live in this house. But by the nineties, it was just her and little me."

"When I grew up, my grandmother passed away, and then it was just me."

"No," Chen Gao Yang added as a final correction. "It was just me and my girlfriend."

Even beneath his sunglasses, his handsome brows and the bridge of his nose seemed to radiate sorrow. It was a good thing he couldn't see; otherwise, living alone here would feel far too large, far too empty.

Tu Xiao'an listened without offering a reply. It seemed as if Chen Gao Yang hadn't had anyone to talk to in a long time.

Now he spoke at a slow, leisurely pace, telling the story of the courtyard house while Tu Xiao'an listened in silence.

This type of architecture was completely new to him; he felt as though he had only ever seen it on television.

An ancient courtyard house was like a history book carved from stone, recording the lives of countless people.

Those people were all gone, but it preserved their memories for them.

As he admired the house and listened to the story, Tu Xiao'an suddenly frowned. He slowly closed his eyes, and his sharp nose twitched, sniffing the air. He smelled the rich scent of history, but also something else, something extraordinary... the aura of a Spirit Monster.

That was it!

Tu Xiao'an's eyes flew open, his bewitching gaze flashing with a sharp light.

He had detected the aura of a Spirit Monster in this history-filled courtyard house.

It was the lingering, potent aura left behind by an Awakened Creature.

Chen Gao Yang had said his girlfriend vanished from his world overnight and was worried something had happened to her.

Now, there was the aura of an Awakened Creature in this house—and a powerful one at that.

It must belong to a Rank Two Awakened Creature.

'Could it be that his girlfriend fell prey to an Awakened Creature?'

'Then why is Chen Gao Yang perfectly fine?'

But no. Tu Xiao'an had experienced his share of incredible things, and he considered another, more bizarre possibility.

His eyes snapped toward Chen Gao Yang, who stood motionless in the courtyard, leaning on his cane and lost in thought.

At some point, he had stopped talking and had simply zoned out. With his sunglasses on, it was hard to tell if he was dazing off.

But Tu Xiao'an could tell with a single glance that he was. He was as still as a wooden statue, lost in some kind of memory.

Tu Xiao'an quietly walked over to Chen Gao Yang's side. Without a word, he reached out and gently touched a finger to the man's forehead, right over his sunglasses.

'Envelop his consciousness. Show me the images.'

Tu Xiao'an had used this move once before on Shu Yao, the Snake Born Woman. It allowed him to see whatever the subject was thinking at that moment.

At the same time, Tu Xiao'an closed his own eyes, preparing to experience it with him.

Suddenly—

—a world of inky blackness. He felt as if he had plunged into a dark abyss. Tu Xiao'an frowned slightly. He couldn't see a thing; there were no images at all.

It was then that Tu Xiao'an realized his mistake. For someone blind from birth, where would images even come from?

Everything he experienced had to be sensed, to be imagined.

It is said that even the dreams of those born blind are dark, though they can dream of sounds they have heard.

A sighted person could hardly imagine what it was like for someone blind from birth. If you can't see anything, what does the world inside your head look like? What about the people and events, the plants and animals, the houses and cars...? 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It must all be built from imagination.

In a blind person's world, there are no dazzling neon lights, no red, yellow, blue, or green. There is only one color: black. An inky, absolute black.

No matter how beautiful and colorful this world might be, their only companion is blackness.