Reading Bar

According to their contract, Pan Yun gives one-fiftieth of the spiritual power she cultivates to the Spirit Realm each time she practices. During this period, she cultivated diligently, day and night. The Spirit Realm absorbed this spiritual power, but there was no change at all.

Unexpectedly, today it suddenly unsealed a part of itself. Not only did it reveal seven techniques from the Thirteen Techniques of Daoist True Qi and the Beginner's Talisman Manual, but the space that could store physical objects also became larger.

Merit... saving people?

Pan Yun pondered.

The Spirit Being also looked at her expectantly. Seeing her snap back to attention, it immediately probed, "Perhaps we should cultivate merit?"

Pan Yun: "Do you have any cultivation methods?"

The Spirit Being fell silent.

Pan Yun sneered.

The Spirit Being said, "Doing more good deeds..."

Its voice grew smaller, "It's always useful."

Pan Yun: "I can't wait, and my father and brother can't wait either."

The Spirit Being tried to persuade her again, but Pan Yun impatiently said, "Why can't I have both? Does cultivation delay me from doing good deeds? Or do good deeds delay my cultivation?"

The Spirit Being: ...Fine, it wasn't open-minded enough.

Pan Yun's thinking could be even more open-minded. "Besides, aren't you still here? When I don't have time, you can do it. The merit you gain from doing good deeds falls directly on you, isn't that better than me getting it and then sharing it with you?"

Pan Yun narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "Speaking of which, the merit I gain from saving people is not within the scope of spiritual power. Why can the Spirit Realm absorb it directly?"

The Spirit Being: "...I don't know."

Pan Yun looked at it quietly.

The Spirit Being shouted, "I really don't know! If I knew, could the golden light of merit Prince Zhou gave you still turn into clouds and float around?"

Pan Yun looked at the small golden cloud in her Mud Pill Palace and mused, "Let's research it."

The Spirit Being couldn't have asked for more. After being sealed, it had lost many memories. Its understanding of itself might not even be as good as Pan Yun's understanding of it.

The Spirit Being had stayed in Pan Yun's Mud Pill Palace for eight years and was very familiar with it. The Spirit Realm was its spiritual body, so it was even more at home.

Although the Mud Pill Palace was its own, Pan Yun had not been able to learn inner vision for long, and her divine sense also consumed energy in the Mud Pill Palace.

She and the Spirit Being split into two groups, searching inside the Spirit Realm bit by bit. Just as she was about to lose her divine sense, she suddenly remembered that the research institute had once set up a formation on the Spirit Realm, specifically for counting the spiritual power invested in it and the progress bar of the Spirit Realm unsealing.

After all, corruption exists everywhere.

The Spirit Realm was like a bottomless pit; no matter how many resources were invested, it rarely changed.

If there were no spiritual power statistics and progress bar statistics, no one would have the confidence to keep investing.

If the Spirit Realm's seal wasn't broken, the people in the research institute would first fall into internal strife due to suspicion.

With this formation, it was not only convenient for researchers to count the relationship between spiritual power and the unsealing progress but also for supervisors to monitor.

The public also trusted the specific numbers shown by the formation more.

Otherwise, if you say you fed a jade stone containing high energy to the Spirit Realm, you fed it?

The Spirit Realm couldn't speak, so who knew if what you said was true or false?

Pan Yun's divine sense suddenly appeared at the top of the Three Jade Spirit Realm. The small figure materialized by her divine sense formed a hand seal. Her body's spiritual power was guided into her Mud Pill Palace and flowed to her fingertips. After she completed the hand seal, a stream of light flew into the Spirit Realm.

The Spirit Realm glowed with radiance, and two lines slowly appeared at the top, one red and one blue.

The Senior Brother who designed this formation proudly said, "It's like playing an old-school online game. Now that you're feeding the Spirit Realm, doesn't it feel like feeding a teammate?"

When feeding treasures, the red bar shot forward rapidly, while the blue bar didn't move at all. Occasionally, after feeding too much, the red bar would fill up and fluctuate several times, and only then would the blue bar move forward slowly.

It was precisely this situation that led some people in the research institute to oppose further investment in the Spirit Realm. They believed that the Spirit Realm's seal consumed too much energy, and the input was not proportional to the output.

Others were more determined to continue investing. They reasoned that if unsealing required so many treasures and spiritual energy, it showed how powerful the Spirit Realm's functions were.

The pain point of the current world was the loss and fragmentation of heritage. If they could read so much knowledge from the Spirit Realm, perhaps people in the past did the same?

If the seal were broken, they might obtain the treasures left by past civilizations and reconnect the broken cultivation civilization.

Just thinking about it made them feel that any effort was worthwhile.

Pan Yun's teacher, however, belonged neither to the first nor the second faction. He formed his own school, commonly known as the third faction.

He decided to take a technical approach: break the formation and unseal it.

Pan Yun was one of his most accomplished disciples, and she naturally supported her teacher.

Thus, on a certain year, month, and day, while her teacher was researching how to break the formation, he triggered something, and the laboratory exploded...

So, the technical approach wasn't that easy to follow.

Pan Yun hovered in the air before the reading bars, her emotions complex.

The Spirit Being also emerged and looked at the formation with her, its emotions equally complex. "You found it?"

Pan Yun: "My Senior Brother obtained his doctorate with the help of this formation. Now it seems that Senior Brother didn't do it perfectly. A person can't modify it, but the Spirit Being can."

The Spirit Being was a little embarrassed and explained, "I didn't modify it. I just shielded you. It's been working all these years, and I was very troubled. I tried several times to destroy it but couldn't find a way."

Pan Yun: "Are you trying to tell me that you've also been living in anxiety for the past eight years?"

The Spirit Being fell silent.

Pan Yun circulated her cultivation technique, allowing more spiritual power to enter her Mud Pill Palace and channeling it to the Spirit Realm. The red bar advanced slowly, while the blue bar didn't move at all.

Pan Yun reached out to summon the golden cloud. The cloud swirled around her fingertips. She pointed it at the Spirit Realm, and the golden light of merit flew towards it. The red bar remained unchanged, but the blue bar jumped forward a segment. The Spirit Being was ecstatic. "I can feel it! A seal node has loosened!"

Pan Yun looked at the remaining golden cloud, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It's actually this useful."

The Spirit Being nodded repeatedly. "Very useful, very useful."

Just as Pan Yun was about to speak, she heard movement outside the door. She lowered her divine sense and opened her eyes.

The Spirit Being also flew out from her forehead and merged into the body of the black cat, whose breathing was shallow. The person and the cat simultaneously looked towards the door.

The next moment, a knock sounded.

Pan Yun said, "Come in."

Tao Ji pushed the door open and saw that her money was still on the table. He frowned slightly. "Why haven't you packed yet? Prince Zhou's funeral procession is about to start, aren't you going?"

Pan Yun asked calmly, "Are you guys going?"

"We're going to see him off. We'll set off for Mount Sanqing tomorrow morning," Tao Ji said. "We've been out for too long."

Pan Yun nodded in agreement. "Okay."

Seeing her compliance, Tao Ji couldn't help but look back at her repeatedly as he left.

Pan Yun closed the door, collected all the money she had received recently into the Spirit Realm space, and then went to see Prince Zhou off.

Prince Zhou was considered to be caring towards his people in the Zhou region. Compared to his uncles and brothers who enjoyed eating human brains and livers, forcibly abducting men and women, and tying up commoners to use as punching bags, his preferred hobby was writing and staging variety plays.

His father, the previous Prince Zhou, had left him a substantial legacy in medicine, such as medicinal estates, pharmacies, and doctors.

As a member of the royal family, he could not engage in business or compete with the common people for profit. The pharmacies were managed by the government office in a semi-public welfare capacity, and doctors under his name were dispatched wherever there was a large-scale epidemic.

Therefore, Prince Zhou was very popular with the people.

As soon as Prince Zhou's coffin was carried out, the streets were filled with people sending him off. Gentry and officials had set up altar sheds along the roadside.

Those who had benefited from Prince Zhou's kindness followed the funeral procession out of the city, escorting it for a long distance before being persuaded to return by the people of Prince Zhou's Mansion.

Although the imperial edict for Zhu Zijin's succession as Prince Zhou had not yet been issued, he was the Heir Apparent and still the new master of Prince Zhou's Mansion. The people of the mansion were at ease, and no chaos ensued.

Zhu Zijin, leading Zhu Tongqie, who was in mourning attire, saw Pan Yun and the other two out. He couldn't help but try to persuade them again. "Are the three Daoist priests really not staying for a while longer? My mother is very fond of Daoist priest Xuan Miao, and my son is close to Daoist priest Pan. Daoist priest Tao's medical skills are superb. I would very much like to invite the three Daoist priests to be retainers."

This was not the first time Zhu Zijin had made the offer, but all three of them had firmly refused.

Cultivating the Dao was so happy and free; they had no desire to be confined to a mansion as retainers.

Unlike his father, Zhu Tongqie was not sad at all. He broke free from his father's hand and stepped forward to take Pan Yun's hand. "Sister, you go to Mount Sanqing first and wait for me. After I finish observing mourning, I will come to find you to become my disciple."

Pan Yun asked, "Take me as your master?"

Zhu Tongqie looked at Tao Ji and grinned.

Tao Ji also grinned at him, but after receiving a glance from Xuan Miao, he restrained himself and muttered in a small voice, "This child has my Pill Dao talent..."

Zhu Zijin's forehead beaded with sweat. He finally stopped trying to persuade the three and enthusiastically saw them off.

He tightly held his son's hand and coaxed him, "You should learn to recognize characters first. When you grow up, you can go to Mount Sanqing to play. Otherwise, if you go out, you won't even know the way. What if you get lost like last time and can't find your way home?"

The main gate closed behind them. From this day on, Prince Zhou's Mansion would officially observe mourning, and the gate would not be opened easily.

Pan Yun looked back at the closed gate. Auspicious purple energy rose from the entire Prince Zhou's Mansion, showing no signs of decline. This indicated that the next Prince Zhou would also be able to receive sustenance from the people's goodwill, just like the current one.

Xuan Miao also looked back before getting into the carriage and said, "Let's go."

Pan Yun hugged the black cat and jumped into the carriage.

The Heir of Prince Zhou was very generous and gave them a mule cart. He had wanted to give them a covered carriage, but Tao Ji refused, saying a covered one wouldn't hold much.

They traveled south, and Tao Ji kept buying bargains along the way: medicinal herbs, fabrics, spices, shoes, socks, ready-made clothes...

He even stocked up on several wooden basins. Don't ask why; just assume they were cheaper here.

At first, Pan Yun and the black cat could recline in the carriage, watch the clouds, enjoy the breeze, and focus on studying the formation arrays for readings in the Spirit Realm.

She wanted to add a reading for merit.

She and Pan Little Black had discovered the reason why it could directly absorb merit. During the time the Spirit Being was separated from its main body, she had nurtured it with spiritual power. The Spirit Realm, having lost its Spirit Being, seemed to have mistaken her for it.

Coupled with the fact that it was already connected to her soul and they had a contract, it had now truly become one with her. This meant that if she died one day, the Spirit Realm would likely be destroyed along with her, or it would follow her soul into reincarnation.

Unless she died again, she wasn't sure. This experiment couldn't be completed in this lifetime.

As a result, just as she had a clue about the formation array, the items in the carriage kept increasing. In the end, she could only sit on half of the carriage seat. Forget watching clouds and enjoying the breeze or studying formation arrays; she had to try very hard not to be thrown off the carriage.