The Blind Sword Sovereign : Resonance of the Blameless Soul

"When will my sword be finished, Li Xuan? You’ve been working on it since before the sun came up, and now my back is drenched with sweat!" Li Xuan didn’t immediately answer. His rough hands continued to move the iron blade across the whetstone in a steady, deliberate rhythm. Shhk. Shhk. Shhk. The sound might be tedious to others, but for Li Xuan, it was the only way he experienced the world. "Just a little longer, Sir Han. The iron still feels slightly unbalanced," Li Xuan replied calmly. His voice was soft, barely audible above the gurgling water from the small bucket next to him. Sir Han snorted loudly. He took a step closer, causing the wooden floor of the old workshop to creak. "Unbalanced how? It's just a market guard's sword, not some emperor's heirloom. You're too particular for a blind man. All you need to do is make it sharp; you don't need to make it talk!" Li Xuan offered a faint smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes, which were obscured by a thin white gauze. "Iron always speaks, Sir Han. It's just that sometimes we're too noisy to hear it." "Tch, nonsense! You're just trying to drive up the price of your work, aren't you? Just say you need extra money for rice wine or that worthless eye medicine." Sir Han spat on the ground, right beside Li Xuan's bare feet. Li Xuan wasn't angry. He was already accustomed to such insults after years of living in Silent Village. To the villagers, he was nothing more than a burden who happened to possess some manual skill. A twenty-two-year-old man who had lost his sight, confined to a damp hut, relying solely on his ears to survive. Suddenly, Li Xuan’s hand stopped. The vibration traveling from the blade to his fingertips felt different. It wasn't the usual friction between metal and stone. There was something else. A subtle frequency that pierced directly to the base of his brain. The sound was like a groan, yet also like an opening note to a vast, unfolding piece of music. "Why did you stop? Hurry up!" Sir Han snapped again. "Sir, do you feel something?" Li Xuan asked quietly. He c****d his head, as if trying to pinpoint a sound coming from far away. "Feel what? I only feel hungry!" "Not that. The sound is like crying iron. To the north, far from here, many pieces of metal are vibrating simultaneously." Li Xuan frowned. His focus shifted from the sword in his hand to the air around him, which suddenly felt heavy. Sir Han burst into laughter, his voice hoarse and irritating. "You really have gone mad, Li Xuan! Crying, he says? Maybe that's just your empty stomach growling. Enough of this, give me my sword!" Sir Han grabbed the sword by force. But the moment his fingers touched the hilt, he yelped and dropped it immediately. The sword clattered onto the wooden floor with a sharp, piercing sound. "Ow! Damn it, why is the sword so hot?" Sir Han clutched his reddened palm. Li Xuan stood silently. He didn't need to see to know that the sword was reacting to something. To his ears, the sound of the falling sword didn't sound like ordinary iron. It resonated like a false musical note, a dissonance that disturbed the natural harmony. A vibration pulsed up from the ground, traveling through his feet and into his spine. Li Xuan felt his heart begin to pound. This wasn't just a sensation. He could hear the melody now. A cold, sharp melody, full of the scent of death. "Sir Han, you must go home. Now," Li Xuan said with a suddenly serious tone. "What are you talking about? You haven't finished the work, and now you're kicking me out? I won't pay if this is how you do business!" Sir Han was still blowing on his hot hand, his face flushed with irritation. "Listen to me!" Li Xuan stood up, his slim frame rigid with tension. "Something is coming. Something very loud. The metal throughout this entire village is starting to vibrate. Don't you hear it? The cauldrons in your kitchen, the hoes in the field—everything is making the same sound." Sir Han paused, trying to listen. "I don't hear anything except that crow in the tree. You're just trying to scare me so I forget about paying you, aren't you? You crippled trickster!" Sir Han roughly picked up the sword, using a cloth to protect his hand, and walked away while continuing to swear. "I'll make sure people know that this blind sword sharpener has finally gone mad!" Li Xuan didn't chase after him. He stood frozen in the middle of his workshop. In his dark world, everything was starting to shift. Lines of vibration began to form in his mind, creating an image he had never seen before. He saw ripples of sound radiating from the direction of the Immortal Cloud Sect on the mountain peak. It wasn't just the sound of battle. It was a musical score. A sequence of notes arranged for destruction. "Why can I hear this?" Li Xuan thought, his hands trembling. He had always believed his sharp hearing was simply compensation for his blindness. But this was different. He could sense the atomic structure of the iron around him. He could feel how the air was being cleaved by the murderous intent carried on the sound of distant swords. Suddenly, the sword Sir Han was carrying exploded in the distance. The sound was deafening, followed by Sir Han's hysterical scream. Li Xuan flinched. He bolted out of his workshop, knocking over a wooden table. He didn't need a cane now. The vibrations from the ground told him the exact position of every stone and tree. "Sir Han!" Li Xuan shouted. At the end of the village road, Sir Han was sitting limply. The sword in his hand had shattered into tiny fragments, as if exploded from within by an unseen force. The man's hands were covered in blood, but that wasn't what truly terrified him. "Li...Li Xuan..." Sir Han's voice trembled violently. "The sword... the sword suddenly sang... then it exploded..." Li Xuan knelt beside the metal fragments. He reached out, touching one of the pieces that was still warm. The moment his skin made contact with the metal, a flash vision entered his mind. He saw the shadow of a magnificent robed man standing on a pile of corpses, holding a sword that radiated a black light. The man's voice echoed in Li Xuan's head: "Find the resonance. Destroy the score." Li Xuan pulled his hand back quickly, his breath coming in gasps. "Who was that?" he whispered to himself. "What is it, Li? What happened?" Sir Han whimpered, his face pale as death. Li Xuan didn't answer. He felt something far more terrifying. The melody of death he had heard in the distance was now rapidly approaching. Like an invisible storm, it annihilated everything with a weaker frequency. "Run, Sir Han. Tell everyone to leave this village," Li Xuan said, his voice trembling with an emotion he couldn't explain. "But where? What exactly is happening?" "Something big is waking up," Li Xuan answered while standing tall. He turned toward the mountain, even though his eyes saw nothing. "And my swords... they are all calling for me." At that very moment, all the metal implements in Silent Village, from kitchen knives to hunting daggers, began to vibrate simultaneously. The sound filled the air, creating a horrifying symphony that made anyone who heard it want to cover their ears tightly. Li Xuan clenched his hands. In the darkness behind his eyes, he perceived a tiny point of light emanating from the vibration. A destiny he had avoided for so long was now coming to claim him in the most bloody way possible. In the distance, an explosion of sound energy struck the forest, leveling trees in an instant. And amidst the flying dust, Li Xuan heard incredibly measured footsteps. Footsteps that made no sound on the ground, but resonated powerfully within his soul. Someone was looking for him. And that person hadn't come to ask for his help sharpening a sword.