The spring equinox came again.
Beside the Ruin Abyss Well, the breeze was gentle and the clouds were pale. The lantern lights of the Nine Provinces were like stars fallen into the mortal world, joining into a boundless sea of light. The Source of Starfire lay hidden deep within the earth. The Lamp Core, lotus-like, turned quietly, reflecting the flickering of every lamp and the coming and going of every soul.
That night, the Blind-Eyed Old Woman carried her Pottery Bowl Lamp and slowly knelt on the bluestone beside the well. She was a hundred years old, her eyes sightless, yet she seemed to "see" more clearly than anyone—she "saw" smiling faces flowing through the lamp flame, heard the way home in the souls' whispers, and sensed the pulse of the Source of Starfire.
She gently stroked the earthenware bowl and whispered, "Miss Li, I've never done anything great in my life, never saved ten thousand people. I only lit lamps day after day, for souls passing through, for birds that lost their way, for one unknown 'you' after another."
The wind brushed past, and the lamp flame trembled faintly, revealing scenes from her life—
As a child, her mother had taught her to light lamps, saying, "As long as the lamp is lit, home is there."
In middle age, she had kept vigil over a lamp at the village entrance for a boy killed in battle, for three days, until his soul returned to the well.
In old age, she had lit lamps for stray cats, butterflies frozen to death, and nameless beggars, never asking whether it was worth it.
"I always wondered, if the light could reach just one inch farther, would there be one less soul weeping in the wind?" She smiled, her wrinkles gentle as the