Zheng Zhuxi blinked at what she heard, repeating her mother's words:
"Responsibility..."
The candle flame swayed gently in the room. Tao Wenshu sat down, a look of recollection on her face:
"Your Grandmaster Ancestor told me that two years before he passed away in meditation.
"Do you remember where you usually lived when you were little?"
Zheng Zhuxi set down the Iron Crown, sat beside her mother, and gave a quick, small shake of her head:
"I don't remember much. Just the Flame Capital, Changhua, the sect, and Flat Lake Town."
"We spent most of our time in the Flame Capital then. Each year, I returned to the sect for only three months to fulfill my duties as a disciple, until your Grandmaster Ancestor told me that the sect's two elderly Martial Grandmasters had failed to survive the winter. They had passed away. He had suffered a grave injury at sixty that had never healed, and his own days were numbered. In two years at the earliest, three at the latest, he would follow his senior and junior brothers into the grave." Tao Wenshu spoke softly, her tone somber. "At the time, he was the only Martial Grandmaster left in his generation. No one in mine had entered the Law Realm yet, and I was the one with the best chance.
"Your Grandmaster Ancestor said he hoped I could become a Martial Grandmaster within two years. Otherwise, the Xiaoming Sect wouldn't even have anyone to uphold its standing. But even if I failed to enter the Law Realm in time, he would still hand the sect leadership to me, because I was reasonably fair and had always commanded respect among my fellow disciples. Then he told me what I just told you."
At this point, Tao Wenshu reached out to