"What did you say?! Is it true?!"
In the courtyard, a skinny old man with a goatee gawped at Lisa. "You shouldn’t joke about this sort of thing!"
Lisa had already anticipated he would react this way. She opened the black wooden box in her hand, revealing the four Lanxin Grass plants inside.
"!!!" The old man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He glanced at Lisa before half squatting down to pick up a pot of Lanxin Grass. His breaths quickening, he carefully examined it under the sunlight.
Lisa was hit with an eerie sense of déjà vu as she watched him. Wasn't this how Li Wei presented the Lanxin Grass to her? But who could blame him? A Lanxin Grass site would be life-changing for the Wind Elephant Sect!
"It’s real!!!" After a moment, the old man raised his head, staring intently at his disciple. His eyes were brimming with excitement and uncontrollable joy.
"Why are our reactions exactly the same..." Lisa muttered to herself.
She had already prepared for this. Without waiting for her master, Oumai, to ask, she began recounting the story Cassius had told her.
It covered everything with minute detail, from Cassius returning to his hometown to pay his respects to his parents, hopping on a train, to accidentally discovering a wild Lanxin Grass site in the mountains.
In the brilliant sunlight, the courtyard with some flowers planted around the white wall edges seemed quite spacious. The old man with the goatee paced back and forth, muttering excitedly to himself.
"There's more than a hundred meters of this...and such good quality..." He froze and stared at Lisa. "Your disciple, my grand-disciple, is truly a blessing for the Wind Elephant Sect!
"Moreover, he’s your blessing!" Oumai stepped forward. "Such a great achievement warrants a Wind Elephant Pill from the sect; taking it might heal your old ailments. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Oumai’s eyes shone as he looked at Lisa. His gaze was filled with fatherly affection and a hint of worry. "I’ll go discuss this with him immediately!" He started walking.
Lisa, who had been silent for the entire time, suddenly called out, "Master!"
Oumai stopped in his tracks.
"I can't lie to myself anymore. I don't want to waste Li Wei’s precious achievement. Who doesn’t want to live? I do! But I know my body. The injury from ten years ago has already damaged my foundation, and any medicine I take will be useless within a few days. My life and martial path have been severed a long time ago..."
Lisa shook her head, eyes downcast and resigned. "Master, don’t waste any more time and resources on me. I know you see me as a daughter, but I'm afraid this is my fate..."
"Lisa..." Oumai opened his mouth, at a loss.
"Don’t worry about me, Master." Lisa’s smile was sincere. "I’ve found my purpose for the remaining years of my life. That child is different now—really different! I can feel it. I'm going to put everything I have into teaching him while I'm still able to move around. You taught me martial arts, helped me grow, even treated me like a daughter, and I'm going to do the same with him. He will continue my dreams, my martial legacy, and my values. I will teach him my Azure Wind Flow and he will perfect it."
Speechless, Oumai stood there for a moment. His fists clenched tightly before weakly releasing. "I didn’t realize you had already come to terms with it..."
"Acceptance? Perhaps, but I see it more as a master passing down her legacy to her disciple. You know about this. After all, wasn't the Wind Elephant Sect built through such legacies over the centuries?"
Lisa clasped her hands behind her back and skipped a few steps toward the flower bed, looking uncharacteristically like a little girl. She picked a small white flower, smelled it, and gently tucked it behind her ear.
Oumai watched silently from the side. The Lisa in front of him seemed to overlap with the little girl from his memories. She used to have a childish and mischievous side to her and, once upon a time, was someone who laughed openly and without restraint. But all of that disappeared because of that incident ten years ago...
That heartless traitor!!!
Oumai didn't realize how heavy his breathing had gotten. He gradually calmed down. "So, you’ve made up your mind?"
"Yes," Lisa replied with a smile, nodding.
"Are you sure? This is your only chance." Oumai couldn’t help asking again despite knowing what her answer would be.
"I’m sure." Lisa nodded again.
"Alright!" Oumai’s goatee twitched, and a strained smile appeared on his wrinkled, age-spotted face. "I’ll take care of this myself. I can, at the very least, get my grand-disciple a Wind Elephant Pill! Give me the box! I’m leaving!"
He snatched the box out of her hands and marched away. It wasn't until he was quite a distance away did he stop and look back. His aged eyes were red, and two cloudy tears fell, which he quickly swiped away with a rough hand.
"Why am I getting more emotional as I get older? Damn it!"
In the distance, at the entrance of the white-walled courtyard.
Lisa, with a white flower tucked behind her right ear, blinked and gazed up at the sky. It was unusually blue and especially pure, like it was made up of the souls from heaven.