At the very center of the small wooden cabin's roof was a skylight deliberately left open, providing light for this dim interior during daytime. Directly below it sat a one-square-meter cultivation plot.
Within the plot, ten spider lilies of various colors were neatly planted.
Notably, aside from the most common red and white varieties, these spider lilies even included yellow and black ones!
Sumire stepped forward and crouched down. She carefully examined all ten spider lilies one by one, earnestly confirming their color variations before finally picking up her pen and writing in the cultivation record:
[The 234th cultivation attempt has been declared a failure. Sunlight is likewise not the key factor for cultivation.]
[On the contrary, after reducing the sunlight exposure required for normal growth, the ten spider lilies used in this experiment not only failed to produce any special mutations, but also withered to varying degrees.]
[Conclusion: I should stop doing these impulsive foolish things in the future...]
Having completed this entry, recalling the scene from several months ago when she had suddenly been struck by inspiration and decided to use sunlight as a cultivation variable, Sumire's brow furrowed slightly.
After some hesitation, she raised her pen again and continued writing:
[Supplement: To this day, I still cannot understand why I suddenly had a brain lapse back then, deciding to use sunlight exposure—which should never have been treated as a variable—for this cultivation experiment.]
[Whether from the perspective of normal flower growth, or from the perspective of demons needing to overcome sunlight, the birth of the Blue Spider Lily cannot be separated from adequate sunlight exposure.]
[This point was something my grandmother and mother had already reached consensus on in the past.]
[I cannot comprehend, regarding this long-established consensus, why I would make such an unforgivable error, even wasting several precious months because of it?]
[What exactly was going through my mind at that time?]
The pen tip paused slightly. Sumire closed her eyes gently, and after brief contemplation, she continued writing:
[I speculate that this may be what my grandmother and mother both mentioned in the past—the interference originating from the gods.]
[Before her death, my grandmother repeatedly instructed me that gods truly exist, and their interference with mortals is silent and imperceptible.]
[Under the influence of divine power, even our own memories and thoughts become unreliable.]
[Therefore, in order to resist this influence from the gods upon our clan to the greatest extent possible, we need to record each of our cultivation attempts carefully and in detail.]
[Thus, using the failures of our predecessors to continuously pave the way for those who follow.]
[Until someday in the future, our clan will finally exhaust all methods in this world and find that one correct path.]
[And cultivate... the true Blue Spider Lily.]
[Conclusion: The Blue Spider Lily definitely exists, and there must be a possibility for it to be cultivated.]
[But divine obstruction is likewise omnipresent. At every moment, He tries every possible means to affect our clan's research progress, interfering with our thoughts, using all methods to make us fail again and again.]
[To my future successors, please do not feel disheartened by this. As long as you remain firm in your convictions and continue forward, we will eventually achieve success.]
The figure of Mitsuba suddenly surfaced in her mind, and the corners of Sumire's mouth rose slightly.
After some hesitation, she still picked up her pen and wrote down the thoughts currently in her heart:
[Additional supplement: Miss Mitsuba is still residing in this town where I am now, and continues to work at the dojo.]
[Just as my grandmother said, she is very lovely. From five years ago until now, we have long since become familiar friends.]
[Even so, I always have a premonition that after a few more years, Miss Mitsuba may choose to leave.]
[But it matters not. Time surges forward, and Miss Mitsuba—who is not subject to the manipulation of gods or fate—no matter how far she leaves, will eventually meet with my descendants again at some point in the future.]
[I hope that by then, my descendants will have completed the cultivation of the Blue Spider Lily, allowing Miss Mitsuba to break free from her current defective body and advance toward true, complete evolution.]
[Additionally, Miss Mitsuba has been going out at night recently, seemingly investigating something.]
[Although my grandmother once said that Miss Mitsuba possesses power comparable to the gods, I still worry somewhat about this.]
[After all, Miss Mitsuba's personality is too carefree, and she always approaches things without much seriousness. If targeted and exploited by others, she could very well fall into extremely dangerous circumstances.]
[Regarding this point, I will also pay more attention in the future.]
Having written this final character, Sumire finally stood up and returned to the clinic room, placing the "Blue Spider Lily Cultivation Records" back into the drawer.
Yes, from the very beginning, she had known Mitsuba's identity.
Even before Mitsuba knew of her existence, she had already known of Mitsuba's existence.
Perhaps Miss Mitsuba herself had already forgotten, but Sumire had always remembered.
Their meeting in this town five years ago was not their first encounter.
Twenty years ago, on the night before her grandmother's funeral, Sumire had once seen Miss Mitsuba.
That night, Miss Mitsuba had come quietly to see her grandmother off.
Sumire still remembered clearly to this day: on the night her grandmother passed, the bright moon hung high in the sky.
Her grandmother, who had already reached her final moments and lost her sight, lay on the sickbed, using her weak voice to continuously tell Sumire—who was sitting by the bedside—stories of the past related to Miss Mitsuba.
Sumire, who was only six years old at the time, listened quietly, but her gaze noticed Mitsuba—who had appeared at the window at some unknown moment—silently watching her grandmother with eyes that revealed a trace of sorrow.
She was unbelievably beautiful.
Though it was their first meeting, though she hadn't even asked the other's name, Sumire had recognized Mitsuba's identity at first sight.
In that instant, she suddenly understood why her grandmother, even at this final moment before death, remained so fondly attached to Miss Mitsuba—whom she had only accompanied for a few years in her youth...
Only that night, Miss Mitsuba ultimately did not reveal herself to meet her grandmother. She simply stood quietly outside the window until after her grandmother had completely passed away, then silently left.
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