Three Jade Spirit Realm

Pan Yun withdrew her gaze. The little qi in her Dantian had dwindled to a mere thread, enough only to make moving about a little easier. It could not sustain even a single spell.

Stepping out of the house for the first time in such an almost "naked-build" state left Pan Yun deeply uneasy.

After pondering for a moment, she finally took the initiative to contact that presence in her mind. [Who are you?]

A mechanical voice sounded. [I am the system. Congratulations, you have been chosen by me. As long as you obey and cultivate diligently, I can help you reach the pinnacle of life.]

Pan Yun sneered inwardly, though neither her face nor her thoughts revealed the slightest hint of it. [What can I do for you?]

[You need do nothing. Just cultivate diligently. First, find a blessed land, somewhere rich in spiritual energy. Only then will cultivation yield twice the result with half the effort.]

Lowering her eyes, Pan Yun said, [My family is in trouble. I'm afraid I can't cultivate with peace of mind. Could you help me save them? Once my family's crisis is resolved, I'll go with you to find a blessed land and cultivate.]

The mechanical voice was utterly emotionless. [Those who cultivate the Dao must be pure of heart and free of desire. You have been weak and sickly since childhood, which shows your ties to your family are shallow. You have just helped your family avert one calamity, so you may consider your debt repaid. Now, let those ties fade, and let each live in peace.]

Seeing that it would not release the hawk until it saw the rabbit, Pan Yun, who had been suppressing her rage, finally could no longer endure it. She cursed furiously in her mind, [Peace your grandpa's leg!]

[Why do you think I've been weak and sickly? Wasn't it because of you? I was born with memories. I started cultivating from the moment I left my mother's womb, refining even my innate qi. And the vital essence I refined? You fucking swallowed all of it!]

[Don't think I didn't know it was you just because you kept quiet for eight years. You even pretended to be a system, yet you couldn't even come up with a system name. You can't even fake it convincingly. Did you think I was an idiot who'd wag her tail and obey after a few casual words? Don't forget, your grandaunt was your researcher in her past life!]

The thing in her mind was somewhat stunned. Once it realized it had been tricked and cursed at, it could not help but fly into a rage. [You already knew I was the Spirit Realm?]

Pan Yun froze, then frowned. [Spirit Realm? What Spirit Realm? Aren't you the White Jade Lotus Lamp?]

[Don't call me that disgusting name. I am the Three Jade Spirit Realm. You stupid humans saw that I had three jade pieces joined together and decided I was a lamp. A lamp my grandma's lamp.]

Pan Yun said, [A thing that has gained sentience is this vulgar? Why did you name yourself the Spirit Realm?]

[You became human, didn't you? Aren't you just as vulgar?] It refused to yield an inch, then mocked her, [You people studied me for more than ten years and still never figured out what I was for.]

Pan Yun said, [Aren't you basically a storage card? Your lotus petals can store information. As far as I know, the National Museum and the research institute uploaded everything in their databases into you—astronomy, geography, encyclopedias, everything. Other than storing information, what else can you do? Oh, there's one more thing now. You can store physical objects too.]

Her past life had been in the twenty-sixth century. After the Fifth World War, the Earth had been left scarred and devastated, its population dwindling. Many inheritances had vanished into war and the passage of time. Then, at that very moment, a miraculous energy appeared.

Not only did humans gain power and undergo changes, allowing them to survive in that harsh world, but plants and animals gained energy as well, displaying signs of atavism.

This atavism did not mean returning to the twenty-third or twenty-first centuries, eras closer to the present. It meant returning to the barbaric worlds recorded in books, gaining strange and unusual powers. The world called this phenomenon the revival of spiritual energy.

She had been born into the first generation after peace. Her grandparents and parents had all taken part in the World War, only to die afterward in battles against aberrations. The state had raised her.

Her talent lay in her heart. She could communicate with all things in the world, while her eyes could see the truth beneath falsehood. It resembled the legendary Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart, though she possessed only five orifices, and her abilities fell far short of seven.

Her teacher had said that if she cultivated diligently, she would very likely grow seven orifices in the future. Then she would be able to pierce all illusions and falsehoods, making her the most suitable candidate to study ancient treasures such as the White Jade Lotus Lamp.

Yet before she could grow to seven orifices, the research institute exploded with a bang. Her body instantly turned to smoke, and her soul was swept up by something and hurled into a spacetime tunnel blasted open by the explosion. She arrived in this parallel time and space, where she was reborn as a human.

She had been born with her memories and had not wanted too many entanglements with this world's family. She had been a graduate student over twenty years old in her previous life; she was not so easily moved.

But... this world's parents and brothers had treated her too well. Boohoo...

When her father returned home from the yamen, he would carefully place her on his shoulders and let her ride there. Her elder brother would save his spending money to buy her all sorts of things. Her second elder brother would secretly carry her onto the roof to look at the streets outside, then take her punishment when they were discovered...

And that was not even mentioning her gentle, considerate mother. Across both her lives, her mother was the only person she had ever seen who was so gentle, kind, and thoughtful.

A father's love, a mother's love, the love of brothers—she had them all in this life. It was just too short.

Thinking of this, Pan Yun grew even angrier. Grinding her teeth, she said, [I don't care whether you're a Spirit Realm, a lamp, or a storage card. You kept stealing my spiritual power, leaving my cultivation fruitless. When something happened to my father, I couldn't help him at all. Compensate me!]

[Even if I hadn't consumed your spiritual power and you had succeeded in cultivation, what could you have done beneath imperial power?] the Three Jade Spirit Realm said. [Do you think no one knows your father was wronged? The Emperor and Wang Zhen insist that your father die—could he live? The Emperor and Wang Zhen insist that your father take the blame—could he cast off that black pot?]

The Three Jade Spirit Realm said coldly, [This is not the twenty-sixth century. It is not a society ruled by law. Your individual power is not so useful here.]

Pan Yun's chest heaved violently. After a moment, she suppressed her fury and said calmly, [I don't care what others think or what they do. I'm saving my father and my brother. Just tell me—will you do it or not?]

The Three Jade Spirit Realm said coldly, [I can't.]

Hearing that, Pan Yun gave a cold laugh as well. She closed her eyes and adjusted her breathing. This time, she did not refine vital essence or spiritual energy. Instead, she entered meditation.

She entered meditation with astonishing speed. In mere moments, her consciousness sank into her body. In the blink of an eye, she appeared within her Mud Pill Palace, face-to-face with a lotus-shaped treasure.

It was snow-white all over, three petal-shaped pieces of white jade joined together. Each petal was the size of a palm, clustered together like a lotus flower.

Curled up within the jade pieces, the Spirit Realm stared blankly at Pan Yun, who had suddenly appeared before it.

Pan Yun looked at it with a smile that was not quite a smile. [Surprised?]

[I cultivated diligently for eight years without achieving the slightest result. Any spiritual energy I refined vanished the moment it passed through the Mud Pill Palace. Even an idiot would know there was something wrong with the Mud Pill Palace. Did you think I'd make no preparations at all over those eight years?]

The Three Jade Spirit Realm had no answer. Its feelings were tangled beyond measure. She was the person it had chosen, yet her extraordinary talent left it both gratified and furious.