CHAPTER - 2

"Where am I?" a question popped out in the darkness.

"I remember climbing the Heaven Changing Stairs," the consciousness in the darkness began to recall the last event.

"Yes, I climbed the Heaven Changing Stairs," A blindfolded boy immediately sat up straight on the jade bed. The blindfolded boy was none other than Rui An, who had climbed the stairs.

Although Rui An was blindfolded, he could see the world normally. He blindfolded himself because of his strange eyes. He was born with eyes that allowed him to see many unusual things, but they caused him pain every time he used them. So he always kept them covered to relieve the pain.

"I am in a hut. The strange mist here is very dense," Rui An looked around and saw that he was in a small hut. More importantly, he noticed twinkling dust in the air that no one else could see.

Rui An slowly got up and noticed that his wounds had been treated with special medicine. Almost all his wounds were completely healed.

Rui An opened the door and walked out of the hut. He saw an old man trimming the trees and walked towards him.

The old man noticed Rui An's arrival and said casually, "Little boy, you woke up. How are you feeling?"

Rui An bowed and greeted the old man, "Old elder, I am feeling better. Can you tell me where I am?"

"Haha, you are now in the Heaven Changing Sect territory," said the old man as he continued trimming the plants.

"What? I am in the Heaven Changing Sect?" Rui An exclaimed loudly. To him, the Heaven Changing Sect was a legend.

"What are you surprised about? Since you climbed the stairs, you naturally joined the sect. Could it be you don't want to join the sect?" asked the old man with a doubtful look.

"No, no, old senior, but I have a small request," said Rui An with an embarrassed look.

The old man waved his hand and said casually, "You mean the plague? The sect took care of it. All the villages are cured."

Rui An was very happy hearing this. He immediately expressed his thanks, "Thank you, old elder."

The old man smiled and asked, "By the way, little kid, what is your name? The villagers said they didn't know about you."

Rui An scratched his head innocently and said, "It's because I'm just a little beggar who moves from village to village. Due to the plague, there was no food in the village, so I followed other beggars and came to the city for food. But city life is very tough. I couldn't even find a place to sleep. But I heard about magical stairs from an inn owner. He said there are gambling houses that give a copper coin for every ten steps. So I gave it a try and took the copper coins. The gambling house owner was very honest; he gave me an extra copper coin every day."

Hearing the little boy's story, the old man didn't know whether to laugh or cry but felt sorry for the boy.

"Then, don't you have any parents?" asked the old man curiously.

Little Rui An shook his head and said, "I don't know anyone. Old Dong said he picked me up from a cemetery near the broken Buddha temple. He's also the one who gave me my name, Rui An."

"Who is this Old Dong?" The old man felt the boy's story was really crazy.

"Old Dong was the leader of the Black Rat Beggars. But he died three years ago, and the Black Rat Beggars dispersed," said Rui An with a sad feeling.

The old man noticed Rui An's depressed mood and said, "Don't worry, kid, the dead cannot be brought back."

"I don't need him to be back alive. Old Dong was not a good person. He took away all the food and money that we collected every day," said Rui An angrily.

"I'm sorry, kid," the old man said with an embarrassed look.

"It seems a beggar's life is also a tough life," the old man muttered to himself.

"But kid, why did you request the plague be cured? You could have requested something for yourself," asked the old man, keeping his eyes on the blindfolded boy.

"I didn't know what request I should make. So I simply asked for the plague to be cured so that I could beg there more easily than in the city," said Rui An straightforwardly.

The old man was amazed by the boy's intelligence. "Is this kid stupid or naïve?" he wondered.

"Hey kid, one final question. Why do you blindfold your eyes if you can see clearly?" asked the old man.

Rui An fell silent. The old man looked at him curiously, waiting for an answer.

Rui An said in a serious tone, "Old elder, don't tell anyone about it. My eyes are different. Since the day I was born, I can see strange things. Also, my eyes hurt every time I see strange things, so I blindfolded them. But I can still see, even with my eyes closed, except for the strange things."

"Oh, what kind of strange things?" asked the old man.

"The things I see with my eyes sometimes disappear into thin air. Even a huge tree disappeared when I saw it with my eyes open. I felt terrible pain at that time. Also, the world is filled with a strange fog. Here the fog is very dense," said Rui An softly.

The old man looked at Rui An with a disbelieving expression.

He calmed himself and said with a smile, "Little boy, do you know anything about immortals?"

Rui An nodded and said, "I know immortals are powerful people who can lift mountains and seas. They can live forever."

The old man smiled at the silly child and found him amusing.

"Little Rui, you can call me Old Fang. Help me water the plants. There will be guests coming," said Old Fang as he began to trim the plants again.

Rui An nodded and began to water the plants.

"Old Senior Fang, do you know any immortals? Can you tell me stories about them?" Rui An asked curiously because he had heard that the Heaven Changing Sect had immortals. Since he was here, he thought he might as well ask about them.

Old Fang laughed and said, "There will be guests coming today. She is an immortal. You can ask your questions then. I'm just a simple gardener, so I don't know much about immortals."

"Oh," Little Rui An was shocked. He was delighted that he could see an immortal with his own eyes.

Just like that, the old man and the young boy spent the day working in the garden. Little Rui An simply ate the food the old man made for lunch. It was the best meal he had ever had in his life.