Cultivation was no easy feat

Shen Hui made no rash promises. Instead, he lifted his teacup, took a sip, and said slowly:

"Why don't you tell us first, senior? If it is reasonable and accords with what is right, I will certainly do all I can."

Daoist Yun Su nodded slightly, then turned to Green Bamboo and instructed her gently:

"Bamboo, the water on the stove has gone cold. Go boil another pot."

Green Bamboo nodded in assent, picked up the earthenware pot, and stepped lightly out through the courtyard gate.

Only after the girl's footsteps had faded did the elderly Daoist woman's smile vanish. A gathering dusk crept into her eyes, and her voice grew heavy:

"I ask for little. I only hope that when you leave this time, fellow Daoist, you will take Green Bamboo down the mountain with you."

Her words brought a sudden stillness to the air.

Shen Hui and Patriarch Baoxue exchanged startled looks.

"Why would you say that, senior?" Shen Hui asked.

Daoist Yun Su sighed softly, her voice wistful:

"To tell you the truth, when I found her over ten years ago, I was merely thinking of how lonely my old age would be. I wanted someone to keep me company, someone who would see me to my grave and tend it after I passed, so my bones would not lie abandoned and forgotten."

"But as the years flowed by, and I watched her grow from a little child into a graceful young girl, I thought it over day and night. In the end, I regretted it."

She raised her eyes once more toward the distant mountains beyond the courtyard, her gaze filled with sorrow:

"Green Bamboo has grown up in the Secluded Valley. All she has ever seen are mountain forests and this Daoist temple. The only