**Chapter 1 (Simple Version):**
Lin Wei lived in a poor city that always rained. He was not strong. He was not special.
But he helped people—doctors, old people, kids—anyone hurt or sick.
One night, he found a boy fallen from the sky.
The boy had black lines on his skin—poison from above. No doctor would help him.
Lin Wei touched his chest and said: "Stay with me."
Then… something woke up inside *him*.
A warm glow on the back of his neck—like a flower under his skin.
It pulsed once… gently… like a heartbeat.
Far above, in the cold clouds… someone *felt* it.
A tall man in white clothes stood on air like it was ground. His eyes glowed silver as he looked down at Lin Wei.
"Impossible," he whispered. "The Lotus of Mending is alive again…"
His name was **Jie Ran** — top disciple of Heaven's Edge Sect.
He came to kill weak immortals who break rules…
But now?
He wanted to see this healer with fire in his hands—and light under his skin…
---
Rain kept falling.
Lin Wei's hands shook as he covered the boy with his coat.
The flower on his neck? It didn't hurt.
It just felt… warm. Like someone was watching over *him* for once.
Then—wind blew hard, even through the rain.
Footsteps... but no one walked.
A man stood in front of him—tall, white clothes clean and untouched by mud or water. His hair floated like smoke, and a sword hung at his side, glowing faintly blue.
Lin Wei stood up fast. "Who are you?"
The man didn't answer right away.
His eyes went straight to Lin Wei's neck… where the skin glowed soft white under wet hair.
"You feel pain," Jie Ran said quietly. Not a question.
Lin Wei blinked. "What?"
"Every time you heal… your body burns, yes? Your blood turns hot…"
Lin Wei froze. That was true—but no one knew that but him.
Before he could speak, Jie Ran reached for his sword—
—and pulled it halfway out…
"Don't move," he said coldly…
Then paused…
Because the flower on Lin Wei's neck pulsed again...
And from its light... came a tiny voice:
**"Don't let him hurt you..."**
---
The warm flower on Lin Wei's neck went silent again.
Just a pulse. Just a glow.
Lin Wei looked confused. Scared. But he did *not* run.
Jie Ran's eyes flicked down to his neck.
*Then...*
He sheathed his sword.
He did not attack.
The white-robbed cultivator knelt in the mud, rain on his face… and asked:
"Why did you save that boy?"
Lin Wei didn't understand. He was just helping people. Like he always did...
He looked at Jie Ran like he was crazy, and said slowly:
"... He was dying. I was trying to save him."
Jie Ran looked at Lin Wei. His eyes were cold, but his voice was softer now.
"You are not a cultivator," he said. "No energy in your body. No training. But... that thing on your neck—it spoke to protect you."
He reached into his robe and pulled out a small mirror made of jade.
"Look," he said, handing it to Lin Wei.
Lin Wei took it with wet, shaking hands.
In the mirror—just for a second—the back of his neck *glowed* with five thin white lines… like petals about to open...
"It's not just healing," Jie Ran whispered. "It's growing."
Then thunder crashed above.
Jie Ran stood fast—eyes sharp—looking up at the sky.
"They felt it too."
"Who?" Lin Wei asked, scared.
"The sects above," he said coldly. "The ones who kill mortals like you… just for knowing we exist."
He turned back—and for the first time—looked *down* at Lin Wei... not with anger...
But warning:
"If they come, run."
"But…"
Jie Ran hesitated… then dropped something in Lin Wei's hand—a white feather from his sleeve that didn't get wet in rain…
"If you need help… burn this."
And then—he vanished into wind and storm…
Left behind?
Only silence...
And the soft thump-thump...
Of something blooming under skin...
Lin Wei looked at the feather in his hand. It was warm. Not like fire—but like a heartbeat.
He didn't understand anything.
Who was that man? Why did he care?
And what *was* this thing on his neck?
But one thing felt true...
He couldn't stay here.
The rain fell harder now—mixed with something strange... red dust floating from the sky.
People in the streets began coughing. Kids cried. Dogs howled…
Lin Wei felt it too—a tightness in his chest, like poison starting to spread.
Then—his neck *burned*.
The flower pulsed once… strong…
And a whisper came again, soft and low:
**"They are coming down… to kill you."**
Lin Wei stood up fast, heart pounding.
He looked at the fallen boy—he still wasn't awake… but alive.
"I can't leave him," he whispered to himself.
So he pulled out an old needle from his coat—the kind doctors use for sewing wounds shut—and held it tight in one hand...
And Jie Ran's feather in the other…
"Please…" he said into the storm, "help me save him first."
As if hearing him...
Wind spun around them both—and somewhere high above...
A sword rang once in its sheath.
---
*The Lotus of Mending Veins.*
The name felt right as soon as Lin Wei said it—like he'd wanted to call the glowing flower that since the moment it bloomed. (Though… it wasn't quite a lotus yet, more a small bud with five soft lines instead of petals...)
But before he could say anything else… the wind *spun* around him…
And someone with white hair and a glowing sword landed in the mud just in front of him…
Jie Ran.
"You didn't run," he said coolly.
Jie Ran stepped forward, his white robe untouched by the rain. His sword glowed faintly, like it was awake.
"You didn't run," he said again. Not angry. Just… surprised.
Lin Wei held the needle tight in one hand, the feather warm in the other.
"I *can't* run," he said, voice shaky but strong. "He'll die if I leave!"
Jie Ran looked at the boy on the ground—then back at Lin Wei's neck.
The glow there pulsed again—softer this time. Like a heartbeat protecting something small.
"...You are not afraid?" Jie Ran asked quietly.
Lin Wei took a breath—and then said:
"Yeah… I'm scared! But that doesn't mean I stop."
A silence fell between them… just wind and rain…
Then—Jie Ran did something unexpected.
He knelt down beside Lin Wei—and placed one hand over the boy's chest...
White light spilled from his palm... clean and cold...
"The poison is from Skyfall Cliffs," he said. "Only cultivators should go there... but someone sent him down on purpose."
His eyes turned sharp toward the dark sky above—
"They're testing us."
"Us?" Lin Wei whispered.
Jie Ran looked at him—the soft glow on his neck, his muddy hands still holding that tiny needle...
"Yes," he said simply. "You and me."
And for just one second…
His fingers brushed Lin Wei's wrist—not with force…
But warmth."
---
To be continued