Qiuyue Meiyi was a woman of fairly tall stature. She was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and was fairly slim, with wide hips and an average sized bust. She had lightly tanned skin and short, straight black hair that reached just above her shoulders, with brown eyes, a small nose and light pink lips. She also happened to be a cultivator. A powerful one at that, though no one actually new that. Her cultivation had a very wide range and was not limited to simply the use of a sword or spiritual weapon. 

Both of her parents had been former senior disciples of the Quishan Wen Sect before defecting and going rouge after they had decided to get married. They had been well versed in many types of cultivation and had also been fairly powerful. They had managed to train her enough to form a golden core and cultivate it to an average level before they were hunted down and killed by a small army of senior wen disciples sent after them by the Wen sect leader of that time. The wens had not known of her existence though, so her parents were able to send her away before she was discovered and killed, or even worse, taken back to the Wen sect as a prisoner or slave. 

She had been left on the streets with nothing but a few of her parents belongings and the clothes on her back, but continued the journey her parents had begun after becoming free of the Wen sect, travelling as a rouge cultivator all over the lands of China. She travelled far and wide, meeting many different people who taught her to hunt for her own food, to play instruments for fun and for cultivation, to use, write and create talismans, make medicines, poisons and healing potions, and cultivate her core to be much, much stronger than before. Eventually, she became a powerful adult, able to stand on her own two feet and rely on her own powers to protect herself. 

She had many weapons and instruments that she used to practice cultivation. Her favourite to use though, out of all of the weapons and items she had in her possession, was the fan gifted to her on her eight birthday by her mother, with her Father's pipa coming in at a close second. The items contained memories of her parents, her beautiful loving family of three, that brought joy to her heart and mind even in her darkest times. 

At the age of twenty eight, she chose to stop travelling and returned to the lands where she was born, settling down in a small remote village on the border between Yunmeng Jiang and Quishan Wen. Within the next year, she built herself a medium sized cottage in a small clearing in the backlands of the village, deep in the woods and nestled safely between the shrubbery of the mountain side, with a large garden full of flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables for her to eat, along with whatever animal she managed to hunt.

Ten minutes away, just to the north of the cottage, was a beautiful waterfall, with clear waters that never froze no matter how cold the temperatures got. It would stay warm even during the toughest winters and could be used as a healing springs because of the way spiritual energy flowed through the spring. Not that far off, just about a five to eight minute walk away to the west of the cottage, was a clear stream, that widened as it went further into Yunmeng Jiang territory, eventually joining the main Yunmeng river. She often hunted fish in that stream and used it as her main source of water, as it had the purest flow of water compared to any of the other nearby rivers. It was in this river, seven years later in the middle of the night, that she found a small boat containing a newborn baby.

Qiuyue Meiyi had been cleaning and tuning her pipa after spending hours practicing it earlier that day, when soft but sharp cries hit her ears. The cries sounded far yet close by at the same time. She had quickly decided to follow the cries to see if there was anyone who needed assistance. Worry rushed through her as she got closer and closer, the cries becoming louder and making it apparent that they cam from a baby and not an older child or teenager. Once she parted away the last of the hanging branches and shrubs leading to the river, her eyes immediately landed on the small boat floating stagnantly on the shoreline.

She rushed towards it cautiously, the cries becoming the loudest they had been so far, and peered into the boat, only to find thick pieces of cloth carefully wrapped in a bundle. She gently picked up the bundle, feeling a little surprised at their weight, and parted the folds, only to find a newborn baby laying within them. The baby's skin was pale and despite being wrapped in thick cloth, still felt fairly cold. She gathered some spiritual energy gather into her hands to help warm the baby as she began the walk back to her cottage.

At the warmth, the child's cries quieted a bit, though not completely. As she did not have any baby clothes, and the newborn seemed to have been thoroughly cleaned already, the woman did not bother with clothes for the baby. Within a few minutes, her home came into view. She immediately entered the cottage and walked to the kitchen to get some of her goat's milk for the baby to drink. She warmed some goats milk with a heating talisman for the child, poured it into a small bottle and gently coaxed the child to drink. It did not take much coaxing since as soon as the baby realized what was being poured into his mouth was edible and tasty, immediately began to suckle strongly on the nib of the bottle, cries finally going completely silent.

Qiuyue Meiyi rocked the child slowly as he fed from the bottle until he was full, burping him afterwards to get rid of any excess air the baby may have swallowed while feeding. The newborn spat up before yawning again. She smiled softly at the child and laid him down on her soft bed, surrounded by pillowed to ensure he didn't roll off the bed and then got to work on sewing clothes for the child. 

Over the next week, she diligently worked to take care of the child. As the baby slept, she sewed him clothes, built him a crib and even handmade some toys for him. As she had found him on November 5th, the woman decided that that would be his birthday. She also decided to name him 'Cheng' meaning 'clear' as both the night sky and the river where she had found him that day, were crystal clear.

"A-cheng," she softly called to the child at night.

Within that week, it also didn't take long for Qiuyue Meiyi to realize that the child was both blind and deaf, which was likely the reason she had found him discarded in a boat near the end of Yunmeng territory. The child was also likely from Yunmeng as the boat had been facing away from inner Yunmeng territory and because the currents that day had been flowing out of Yunmeng. He was probably the child of a high ranking disciple as well, since a brand new clarity bell had been neatly tucked into the swaddles of cloth surrounding him.

None of this really mattered to her though and as time went by, she found herself becoming more and more attached to the baby.

Though, she had begun to notice something strange occurring with her A-cheng. He was not able to see her or hear her physically, yet he always seemed to know the general direction she was in and always looked directly in her direction whenever she was using her spiritual energy or training her golden core. It took her another entire week to figure out what was going on, but when she did, she couldn't help the grin of happiness that spread over her face.

She picked up A-cheng and gently spoke to him, though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"It seems that fate has decided to give you a gift in exchange for taking so much from you, A-cheng."

For despite being born both blind and deaf, the child had been gifted with the ability to intimately see and sense spiritual energy. 

***

It had been a few months since Qiuyue Meiyi had found A-cheng in that boat on the river. By that time, both her and A-cheng were practically inseparable. The baby had already begun to babble and lift his head by himself. He could also sit up by himself and was well on his way to be able to crawl long distances. A-cheng loved sitting on her lap so she could cuddle him and largely enjoyed playing with the large soft teddy bear she had sown for him. 

It was bright and sunny outside that morning, the sky almost cloudless as cool breezes wafted through the air constantly, keeping the atmosphere warm instead of hot. Qiuyue Meiyi decided to take her baby outside to the garden instead of cooping him up inside. She packed a small basket with a large cloth mat, bottles of milk for A-cheng and a bowl of chicken soup and a few moon cakes filled with lotus seed paste for herself. She then picked up her baby and walked out of her cottage.

She slowly trudged over to the bed of flowers containing peonies, plum blossoms and the most abundant flower around their cottage, lotuses. She set down the mat carefully, smoothing it out to remove any wrinkles or lumps. She then set down the basket and then sat down herself, with A-cheng right in front of her, caged by her long legs.  Butterflies, grasshoppers, ants and other insects flew and walked about their business around the mat. Qiuyue Meiyi giggled softly as her son excitedly tried to reach for any insect in sight. Unfortunately, and much to the dismay of the tiny baby, the butterflies and grasshoppers simply flew or jumped out of the way. 

Qiuyue Meiyi once again, for the millionth time since the child had come into her life, wondered what exactly the insects looked like to A-cheng. Spiritual energy flowed through all living things after all. Did they simply look like small blotches of colour depending on what animal they were? Or did they simply look like blots of gold, the general colour of a golden core? How would he be able to tell if something was human or animal? She was genuinely curious and excited to see how her son grow and how his unique skills would develop.

Her thoughts were cut off by a small whimper. Qiuyue Meiyi immediately shifted her gaze to look down at the baby in her lap, only to find the child tearing up. Within seconds, A-cheng began crying in earnest, his yells loud and sad. Worried as to why he was now upset, she hugged him to her chest, rocking him gently and hummed a soft lullaby to him. Looking around, she realized that all of the insects had flown off to parts of the garden that were far out of the reach of her son. 

Ah. Her A-cheng was feeling lonely wasn't he? She couldn't help but feel a tad bit sad for the disabled child.

Qiuyue Meiyi stood up, holding her sobbing son to her chest, picked up a few bottles of milk and walked into the forest. As she walked, she parted the bushes and tree branches carefully to ensure none would make contact with her son. The babies cries slowly quieted, though not completely, as she continued humming to him. A few minutes into the walk, she began singing to him. It was an old Yunmeng lullaby that her parents often sung to her whenever she cries or was feeling sad.

After walking a good bit further into the forest, she came upon small clearing in the dense trees, just big enough for only so few people to lay down in comfortably. She lowered herself into a seiza position and placed her son carefully atop her thighs, still carefully holding him to her breasts and torso. With a burst of qi, she gathered all of the nearby fallen fruit into a pile in front of her, and waited. She didn't need long, only a few moments of silence before a rustle was heard from the bushes close by that definitely wasn't the wind.

She smiled softly as the rustling stopped, only for squirrel to emerge from between the thin emerald leaves, and gingerly approached them. Her son's softened whimpers and cries silenced themselves immediately at the noticeable brand new presence in the small clearing. Qiuyue Shu lowered her hand to grab some nuts from the fruit pile in front of her and offered them to the squirrel. 

The tiny woodland creature scurried up to her hand, sniffing it before carefully taking a nut and stuffed it in its mouth, causing it's cheek to puff up. She then took another nut and placed it in her son's tiny hand, before holding his hand out to the squirrel. The squirrel sniffed the baby's hand just as it had hers, but seemed to like the child more than her as it took the nut, stuffing the remaining space in its mouth with it, and nuzzled his hand. A-cheng giggled at the light brush of fur against his hand. A new but pleasant feeling no doubt. The squirrel scurried up her legs to nuzzle the child's cheek before running off back into the woods.

Qiuyue Meiyi and her son sat in the small clearing for hours, simply feeding the woodland creatures that came across them. They encountered many more squirrels, as well as a few rabbits, a small family of hedgehogs and many naughty monkeys. A-cheng had a fantastic time with all of the different creatures. He was smiling, laughing and giggling up a storm the entire time. It actually felt as if the spiritual energy surrounding them brightened and her own qi flowed easier, the happier the child became. 

By the time A-cheng had eaten and she began standing up to head back to the cottage, the baby was fast asleep. Qiuyue Meiyi smiled softly, kissing the baby's forehead as they headed home, and once there, placed him to rest in his cot. It was just past lunch by then so she ate some congee and smoked fish, before taking up her guqin and moving to sit next to her son's cot. She played soft original melodies and traditional lullabies of both Yunmeng Jiang and Quishan Wen. The wind blew gently through the room as she continued playing, carrying the soft melodies into the woods for the animals to hear, and eventually Qiuyue Meiyi also fell asleep in the peaceful silence of her son's room.

***

Qiuyue Meiyi awoke to the sun shining in her eyes, a small weight on top of her belly and a mouth slobbering all over her breasts. With a groan she gently moves her hand to wipe the crust and sleep out of her eyes, and then moved her gaze to breasts, knowing exactly why they were wet and exactly what the weight on her stomach was. 

On top of her stomach, lay an awake A-cheng, who was hungrily mouthing at her chest through her sleeping robes. She chuckled amusedly.

The night before, she had decided to lay him with her in her bed, as he had spent the previous week sobbing uncontrollably whenever he was left to sleep by himself in his own cot at night. The boy slept soundly. When she thought about it, A-cheng probably felt terrified of the constant darkness around him since he was only ever able to sense her when in close proximity with her.

Now he was mouthing at her chest, likely having mistaken her nipples for the nub on his milk bottle. Qiuyue Meiyi gently lifted him to her neck, cuddling him softly and whispering good morning into his deaf ears. She stood up from the bed and walked to her small kitchen. She grabbed one of A-cheng's usual bottles of milk and heated it with a heating talisman before softly placing it on the child's lips, gently coaxing the nub into his mouth. When a drop of warm milk dripped onto his tongue from the nub of the bottle, A-cheng began enthusiastically sucking on it, calming down and gently wrapping his tiny fingers around the bottle to get as best a grip as he could. Qiuyue Meiyi gently rocked him as he fed from the bottle. 

"There, there, my little one. Eat your fill now," she cooed softly to him. 

-

A few hours passed after they both finished eating, Qiuyue Meiyi having eaten steamed meat buns for breakfast after A-cheng had completely emptied his bottle of milk. She had spent the morning washing clothes, trimming the grass and watering the flowers, before coming back inside and cleaning her hands to start practicing her music. She walked to room first, and retrieved her guqin that was neatly placed in the corner near her bed, before heading to the living room, carefully placing it down and then sitting behind it. 

A gentle melody began flowing through the air as Qiuyue Meiyi plucked the stings of her guqin. The tune was gentle and slow, like a slow breeze on a warm summer day, but gradually became faster and more upbeat like a dance between two lovers. The melody then began to slow down a bit, the song becoming more emotional. And then Qiuyue Meiyi began to sing.

She walks alone deep at night

By the riverside;

Holding her baby

The last light of her life;

The autumn moon shines brightly overhead

Gracefully,

Beautifully,

And oh so brightly;

The river gleams  and ripples

Oh so clearly,

The flowing breeze around them 

Oh so cool;

The animals' lullaby

Caresses them deep at night,

The flowers dance longingly

And the clouds drift over the mountains, 

As she returns to her glowing garden home.

The rhythm of the tune began to speed up a little, and as she continued to sing, Qiuyue Meiyi unconsciously began slowly filtering soft waves of spiritual energy through her guqin, forming soft spirals and patterns of qi in the air. 

The autumn moon shines brightly in the black sky,

Amongst the tiny twinkling stars

And amongst the almost invisible clouds;

And on that night

The night of the birth of that tiny blessing,

A gift was bestowed,

A life was changed,

And a new happiness was granted.

Suddenly a loud thud startled Qiuyue Meiyi out of her calm state, interrupting her singing and pausing her fingers on the stings of her guqin, though her flow of spiritual energy into the instrument below her fingers did not stop. She turned her head towards the direction of the thud and found A-cheng sitting on the floor, a fallen cup of writing brushes laying in a messy pile on the floor just in front of him.

The baby had been peacefully napping on a fluffy mat on the ground, surrounded by soft toys, in the living room when Qiuyue Meiyi had gone out to tend to the garden, but was now, very evidently awake and had begun crawling towards her. She wondered however, how the boy had known the direction of the cup of writing brushes, as they had been set on a small stool well out of the way of the direction she was sitting in.

She got her answer when A-cheng began shifting and moved his body into a crouching position. He then moved his weight onto his hands and pushed off of the ground, bringing his body to stand up fully. Then he took a shaky step foward. Then he took another step forward. And then another. Then another again until he reached her.

Qiuyue Meiyi stared in awe as her son took his first steps and reached out her arms to carefully pick him up once he reached her on the other side of the room. A-cheng stumbled a bit during his walk but eventually made it across the room. Qiuyue Meiyi gathered him in her outstretched arms and twirled him around in the air. She couldn't believe he had just taken his first steps! She finally stilled a few moments later and began cuddling A-cheng to her neck and fondly kissing his forehead and cheeks.

A-cheng however, seemed to have other plans. He began to wriggle and squirm in her arms, reaching for something in the air. Qiuyue Meiyi loosened her grip on her son just a bit and looked up to see what he was reaching for. A smile grew on her soft face when she realized her son was reaching for the stray patterns of qi that had been floating in the air due to her playing the guqin earlier. She nuzzled the baby closer to her, the smile on her face growing more and more.

***

It hadn't been long before that tiny baby that she had cradled in her arms almost all hours of the day became a lively toddler. Qiuyue Meiyi sighed in amusement and exasperation as she watched her now five year old son run energetically around their garden chasing a frog, from the window in their living room. She finished drying all the dishes before she decided to go outside and watch him. As soon as she stepped outside however, her son immediately stopped running and turned to face her. He had sensed her. 

Immediately, a large grin forming on the child's chubby face. He then began hurriedly toddling towards her, like a man on a mission, animatedly waving his arms around and making grabby hands at her. Chuckling, Qiuyue Meiyi stepped forward and scooped the child into her arms and began kissing him all over his face. A-cheng began giggling happily at the attention.

Over the past few years, A-cheng had gotten much better at seeing and sensing spiritual energy. From what she could tell by observing him, he was currently able to see and sense every single type of spiritual energy like spiritual energy from a golden core and pure spiritual energy from nature. 

As was apparent by the way he was attached to the rivers and woodland animals. She had tried teaching him to swim before. However, as A-cheng was blind and deaf, even though he could see spiritual energy, she had no clear way of communicating with him. So it didn't work out. Though it did teach A-cheng that he couldn't breathe underwater and would have to hold his breath to stay under and 'see' all the fishes and plantlife. He usually sat in the shallows playing with the fish that came near him whenever they visited the river, which was quite often. 

Of course, all types of spiritual energy also included demonic energy. Qiuyue Meiyi's put down her son, giving him a little push to play with the rabbit she had seen across be the daisies. The boy moved his face towards her, seemingly looking at her before scampering off after the bunny. Her mood soured a little as she remembered the danger her son had unknowingly ended up in just two a few weeks before.

It had been a regular day in the Qiuyue household, with Qiuyue Meiyi tending to the garden while her son sat a ways ahead of her, though still in her line of sight, gently playing with the lotus flowers that bloomed all around him. 

Qiuyue Meiyi had just finished pulling all the weeds near the chrysanthemum flowers when she glanced over at her son to see what he was doing, only to see him no longer playing with the flowers but staring, in a very focused way, in the direction of the forest on the western side of their house. She moved her gaze to the same direction, looking to see if there was something there. She did not expect to see a fairly large fox demon hiding in the bushes, its red piercing eyes looking directly at her son.

Before she could even get up to run and grab A-cheng, the beast leapt at the boy with a snarl on its lips. 

'No! A-cheng!' she yelled in her mind.

To her immediate shock, the five year old dodged the fox demon's attack. The fox demon continuously swung it's extremely long claws at her son, backing him into the forest. Without another second of hesitation she rushed inside the house, grabbed her sword and rushed back into the forest. She chased the fox spirit and her son a good ways into the forest, following all the broken trees and scattered branches and vines until she found them in between two large trees. The demon had pinned her son to the ground, was lunging it open jaw towards his head and was vigorously attempting to  trying to bite him. 

Her son on the other hand had a strong grip on the longest claws on each of the fox demon's front paws and was dodging every single lunge of the fox's open jaws at his head even if all he could do was twist his neck. She immediately rushed towards them, flowing her qi through her sword and in a single 'SLASH!', cut the fox demon straight down its back, piercing its spine and heart, and killing it instantly.

The body twitched a bit before collapsing to the side. Qiuyue Meiyi immediately ran to her son, pushing the demon's claws off of him and picked him up, cradling him to her chest. She checked him over and was relieved to find that he only had a few light scratches and was covered in dirt. 

She carried her son all the way back home, whispering reassurances she knew he couldn't hear but hoped he could somehow understand into his ears. Her son's fingers clenched her robes in a harsh grip, but he kept looking in the direction of the dead body of the fox demon.

There had never been a doubt in her mind that her son was a fighter, however, she never truly new how much of a survivor he was until then. A determination filled Qiuyue Meiyi as she continued looking at her son. 

She would find a way to communicate with her blind and deaf son, who could see and sense spiritual energy.

His instincts were phenomenal due to him not having his hearing or eyesight. She would teach him, train him, so he could become stronger, and be able to protect himself if she couldn't be there.

She would do her best for her son, and protect him with everything she had from all dangers.

She swore that on her life as she watched the happy five year old play in the garden of their small cottage, a bright smile on his adorably chubby face.

She would do whatever she could to keep that smile right where it was.

***

A/N: Qiuyue means ''Autumn moon' and Meiyi means 'Beautiful kindness'.

Sorry for taking so long with this chapter!! I've had a lot of exams and labs to finish, plus all my extra curricular activities and my rehearsals for the two concerts I'm taking a part in. But anywho, today is my last day of school before Christmas vacation so here is the new chapter!!!