“Senior. Legacy is just that legacy. It could be right. It could be wrong. It could be a shining symbol of glory, love, diligence and all virtues that you can name. However, that does not make it more important than anything else.”

“That’s impossible.” A resounding rejection, one without hesitation.

"A legacy is the same as the very palace and throne of the previous generation. Surely it's majestic and surely the tales that accompanied its existence holds great novelty, but can you claim that all of these legacies are all invaluable to point of disregarding a reconsideration? The kingdom we lived on is just the most recent dominion. Its countless predecessors surely have their own legacies and glories. The number of sects and families that once lived and followed their own legacies surely could claim that their tradition and history were as bright as starlight above. Then why is it that all of these were put to an end?

Senior. As much as your sentiment said otherwise, you must have realised that there is no good rationale for a legacy of the past to be holier than anything else. I can tell you, senior. You feel that way because that is what our morality system is. To be grateful of the wisdom of old. To show gratitude to the work of the previous generations. To respect our elders.

Subconsciously we suppressed our judgement for what was older than ourselves and we dared not stray from the paths that were carved by our ancestors."

Tian Zhong's face was hard. He couldn't refute her but he couldn't being himself to accept her either.

“Senior. If I may, I want to offer you the way I see this. The works of your ancestors, the love of your parents, the guidance of your master aren’t for you to pay back literally. That’s not how karma works. That’s not how morality works. That’s not how we, humans, should do.” 

She paused, seemingly to compose herself.

“Senior. Your parents give you your flesh and blood. That doesn’t mean they would be glad to see you spill those for them. I am sure you will just cause them grievances. They, who are closer to yellow springs (underworld) than you, would rather die for you than the other way around. You are to repay them by raising your own children to be good people and good parents.”

<I can’t rebuke but… this... I love them too much to not sacrifice for them. Wouldn’t it be unfilial to not put your bearers above?>

“Your ancestors have provided you with the opportunity to improve your talent. You should repay them by passing it to the next generation, allowing them to also develop themselves. Water from the mountains streams down to the river then takes on a journey to the sea. Rain clouds from the sea would bring water back to the mountains. The fruits of previous generations are to be passed down like water down the waterfall. Just like water, they don’t go back up.”

<Yun An…> Looking at her back, he couldn't discern the emotion on her face but he could tell there was a major event that forced her to deliberate on this matter and reach this conclusion.

“Master had opened your eyes. Then what you should do is to offer your guidance to your disciples or to junior disciples. However, that doesn’t mean you have to follow every single word that the master has taught you.”

“Yun An. You are not making sense.”

“Senior. Please understand. What you have learned and will learn, not all of them will be applicable to your disciples. You have to filter them carefully. There are things only you can do. Each disciple will have a different best way for them to learn. You can not overgeneralise just because that was how you were taught. Danger to your disciples must be minimised.”

<I am supposed to be the senior. I am supposed to be the one who knows more. I thought I did… but I didn’t. I couldn’t keep a cool head nor could I understand her reasoning. How can there be something master taught that is harmful to others?>

Tian Zhong needed time to think about this matter, and Yun An miraculously knew she should stop to let Tian Zhong have his time.

“I finished your treatment.” It was his weak excuse to retreat, one she too used to break up from this heavy atmosphere.

Yun An rose up in one fluid movement and offered her gratitude. “Thank you, senior.”

“It’s what I should do.”

They stood in silence until Tian Zhong broke the awkwardness. “We had had a long day. Let’s rest.”

<Let’s just end today.>

“Yes, senior.”

Tian Zhong killed the fire then climbed up to the branch on the opposite of hers. With their eyes away from each other, Tian Zhong found his relax.

<She is a peculiar one. By her work and conduct, I can tell she is far more insightful than most people I had met. Only master and several elders could match her perceptiveness.>

However, Tian Zhong knew it was not just her way of thinking that was special. There was a reason he didn’t want the He boy to treat her.

---

 

A few days after the incident in Xincheng, Tian Zhong had come to bring up his confusion to his master.

“Master. Why didn’t you just treat her wound there?”

The boy knew his master could easily fix the damage Dong Meng caused to her with a simple touch on the back but he didn’t do so. He clearly used qi to treat her for a bit before telling him to bring her to the side of the street for a more thorough treatment. The point he could not explain.

“You have good eyes, lil Zhong. It is not that I didn’t want to heal her there. I couldn’t.” The answer was shocking to him.

<Someone in Ascension realm like master couldn’t do it?>

“The flow in her body is so different and complex that even after spending a while to examine, I couldn’t completely grasp it. I had to resolve to temporarily stabilise her injury with my qi and move her to the side. That way we wouldn’t obstruct the people, and I would have more time to get used to her body.”

“Master. Could there be any relation to her strength?”

The grey-hair master let out an audible sigh. “At last, I am uncertain.”

Treating her today, Tian Zhong found out just how much of a trouble his master had faced. Merely neutralising the yin qi that had seeped into her body took half the evening. 

<If I left it to someone with lower cultivation like young master He, he might accidentally damage her body.

Today is really a long day. Tomorrow, we should stick to a safer area to recuperate.

Talking about recuperation, she really worried me. Her disregard for safety was unnatural. I knew that girls are conscious about their body. Those wounds on her body could leave scars. That would make it difficult for her marriage later on. That was why my mother warned me not to be rough with the girls.

Yun An. She wasn't even fazed in the slightest by the injuries, the same as when she was beaten by Dong Meng. Did becoming an orphan have something to do with her peculiar behavior?>