The Flawed Cultivation Method

Senior Brother set down his rice bowl, straightened his Daoist robe, and gestured for Pan Yun to sit across from him. "Come, let me examine you."

Pan Yun raised a brow. She circulated her cultivation method and looked at him again. His blood and vitality were abundant, and the qi around him was upright and orderly. At the very least, he was an upright and kind man.

At some point, Pan Little Black had run over and lightly padded to Pan Yun's feet before lying down.

Pan Yun glanced down at it, then sat opposite Senior Brother and crossed her legs.

She also wanted to know exactly what was wrong with her cultivation method.

Both the Spirit Being and Xuan Miao had mentioned it more than once, yet neither could identify the root cause.

Senior Brother smiled, entirely unconcerned by her examination. Once she was seated, he said, "First enter meditation and run through one Lesser Celestial Circuit. Let me see."

Pan Yun lowered her lashes, calmed her breath, and began breathing in and out. Before long, she entered meditation and set her cultivation method in motion.

Senior Brother was startled. He rubbed his eyes uncertainly, then, after confirming that she had truly entered meditation, sat up straight in shock. His gaze at her seemed to glow.

He could not help looking toward Tao Ji and Xuan Miao. Tao Ji and Xuan Miao nodded at him. That was right—she was this talented.

Senior Brother composed himself. After thinking for a moment, he raised a hand, formed a hand seal, and waited quietly. The qi around them seemed to stir, surging toward Pan Yun along with Senior Brother's seal.

First came the qi around them, then it spread ten paces, twenty paces, fifty paces... The qi throughout the valley also surged forward bravely, rising in response to the summons like a white silk ribbon winding upward and gathering around Pan Yun...

Miao He, who had come looking for the cat, stumbled in. When she saw Pan Yun seemingly draped in white silk, she stopped in astonishment and did not dare make another sound.

Tao Ji and Xuan Miao turned back to glance at her. Miao He immediately stood straight, sucked in her stomach, and wore an obedient expression.

Tao Ji waved her away, and Miao He turned and ran.

Tao Ji: ...

Why was his disciple still so lively?

Worried.

Tao Ji turned back to continue watching the two seated facing each other. Pan Yun was absorbing the spiritual qi gathering around her as though swallowing clouds and exhaling mist.

Not only was her body greedily absorbing it, Pan Little Black was also drawing upon the spirit realm in her Mud Pill Palace, actively absorbing spiritual qi from outside and gathering it into itself.

In other words, Pan Yun's body was currently running two cultivation methods. Yet the spirit realm's absorption was concealed beneath her enormous intake of spiritual qi, utterly inconspicuous and naturally unsuspected.

Heaven knew how long one person and one realm had gone without encountering spiritual qi this dense.

Oh, they had not encountered any since being born into this world. So this world was not entirely like the Capital City, barren of spiritual qi. Places like Sanqing, with spiritual qi as rich as that of a secret realm, did exist.

She just wondered how many such blessed lands there were.

Pan Little Black sighed comfortably and lay motionless on the ground. How wonderful it would be if Pan Yun always lived in a place like this in the future.

None of the three people present discovered the spirit realm or suspected Pan Yun's Mud Pill Palace because, after the spiritual qi she absorbed circulated once, much of it dissipated. A fair amount was ultimately compressed into her Dantian, but just as much scattered through her limbs and bones.

She clearly took in and expelled a considerable amount, yet it did not produce the corresponding cultivation results.

Though Senior Brother could not directly inspect the condition within her meridians, by observing the spiritual qi around her and then the hazy inner sight, he could make a judgment that was seven or eight parts out of ten based on experience.

Senior Brother quietly waited until she had completed two Lesser Celestial Circuits before withdrawing his seal and allowing the spiritual qi to drift away.

Pan Yun slowly opened her eyes, inwardly astonished beyond measure. She glanced at Senior Brother's hand. Without an array, he could draw upon the spiritual qi of heaven and earth with hand seals alone?

Senior Brother asked with a smile, "Who is your master, little Daoist friend?" How could they mislead a disciple so badly?

Pan Yun shook her head. "I learned on my own. I have no master."

Senior Brother was relieved to hear that. Pointing at Xuan Miao, he said, "I heard from the two of them that you are skilled in talismans. Would you be willing to take Junior Sister Xuan Miao as your master? Within Sanqing Temple, Junior Sister Xuan Miao is the most skilled in talismans."

Pan Yun and Xuan Miao spoke in unison. "No!"

Though regretful, Senior Brother did not blame them and quickly accepted it. "All right, then. If you are unwilling, so be it."

Though she was unwilling, Senior Brother was still willing to explain the matter of her cultivation method. "Among us cultivators, there are those who cultivate on their own and attain understanding, but they are ultimately few. Most people are like you—they ponder things by themselves, then ponder their way onto the wrong path."

Pan Yun looked utterly bewildered. How could it be wrong? This cultivation method had been taught at school in her previous life. Everyone in the country learned it.

Someone had cultivated this method to the Second Marquis, nearly reaching the Third Marquis. She had heard that once one entered the Third Marquis, one could extend one's life by a thousand years, ride the clouds and command the mist, hardly any different from an immortal.

Pan Yun did not dare dream of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Marquis, realms found only in legends. Her goal had always been the Third Marquis: to ride the clouds and command the mist, living freely for hundreds or thousands of years.

And now someone was telling her that the cultivation method she practiced was wrong?

Pan Yun did not believe it. Besides, these were ancient people. Could ancient people really be more capable than someone from the future like her?

That was what she thought, but her mind churned like rivers and seas overturned. One moment she thought of how highly her country in her previous life had valued spirit realms and how urgently it had researched them; the next, she thought of the rapid, uncontrollable mutations of plants and animals back then...

She knew that her country in her previous life lacked many inheritances and had lost countless arts and techniques. But she had never known that even the national-standard foundational method cultivated by so many people was wrong.

It was the only cultivation method capable of reaching the Second Marquis.

If even it was wrong...

While Pan Yun was still worrying over her homeland from her previous life, Pan Little Black raised its head and meowed, "Worry about yourself first."

Pan Yun immediately gathered her mind and came to her senses. In her shock, she had loosened the barrier around the spirit realm and allowed it to glimpse her thoughts.

Pan Little Black snorted. Glimpse them? The Mud Pill Palace was churning endlessly right now, and that noise passed straight through it. Even if it did not want to listen, it had no choice.

She was clearly the one deliberately making noise and constantly disturbing it, wasn't she?

Pan Yun steadied her mind and looked up at the daoist priest sitting cross-legged opposite her.

Seeing her eyes brimming with tears and her face full of confusion and helplessness, Senior Brother hurriedly comforted her. "Do not be afraid. Wrong is wrong. Fortunately, we found out early. We only need to correct it."

Afraid she would cry, he gently reassured her, "It is like a child learning to write. When learning alone, the child holds the brush incorrectly. Once they know, they simply correct it. Though the hands have formed a memory and it may be harder to change, you are so clever. You could cultivate on your own while knowing nothing at all. Would a small matter like this not be as easy as taking something from your hand?"

But she had not just cultivated for a short time. That ingrained memory was not merely eight years—it also included her previous life.

Pan Yun took a deep breath and forced out a smile. "Daoist priest, you are right. I will certainly correct it."

No matter how difficult it was, could it be harder than clearing her father's name?

It was only changing her cultivation method.

She would change it!

Pan Yun looked at the daoist priest with complete trust and asked, "Then what cultivation method should I switch to?"

"First tell me how your cultivation method circulates. Let me see whether I can find one similar to yours."

Pan Yun immediately told him.

At first, Senior Brother listened intently with furrowed brows. A moment later, his brow drew tighter and tighter. He had the feeling that he had seen this cultivation method before, yet could not remember where.

He stopped Pan Yun. "Let me think. Let me think..."

Senior Brother sat on a stone in deep thought, his face twisted with conflict. Where on earth had he seen it?

After waiting a long while without hearing another word from him, Tao Ji saw that night had fully fallen and simply said, "Pan Yun, I will take you to find a room to rest in first. Once Senior Brother remembers, he will naturally come find you."

Pan Yun left reluctantly.

The black cat did not move and remained sprawled there. It was mocking Pan Yun in her mind. [I thought you trusted him so much. You even told him the cultivation method you practice, yet you told me to stay behind and eavesdrop.]

Pan Yun followed Tao Ji with a touched expression, but sneered repeatedly in her heart. "If you have the ability, then do not stay. If I have judged the wrong person, the two of us will be finished together."

A cultivation method that anyone could learn upon entering school in her previous life, in exchange for an examination and solution from a personal doctor—was that not an absurdly small price to pay?

The only thing she needed to guard against was whether he sincerely wanted to solve her problem.

Also, Xuan Miao and Tao Ji had always acted somewhat strangely toward her. Though Xuan Miao had explained herself and stated that she was only keeping a promise, Pan Yun remained half believing and half doubting.

Pan Yun pulled out her small bundle from her back basket, hugged it, and followed Tao Ji toward the neighboring courtyard.

He said, "There are few people at Sanqing Temple. The front is where we worship the Three Pure Ones, Immortal Master Ge, and Minister Li. Cultivation and such are also done in the front. There are two courtyards in the rear: this one is the men's courtyard, and that one is the women's courtyard.

"The place we just came from was the kitchen. It has no walls and was built beside a cliff. Though it is spacious, you must still be careful, especially after dark. Do not fall over the edge."

Pan Yun asked, "Why not build walls?"

"Why build them?" Tao Ji answered as if it were only natural. "The place is spacious. When chopping firewood, you can face the cliff and watch the sea of clouds. How delightful."

Thinking it over, Pan Yun found that reasonable and nodded in agreement.

"Few people came out today. It must be because tomorrow is the first day of the month, and Senior Brother will inspect their lessons, so they are cramming at the last minute. As for Miao He... she probably could not sit still and got hungry. I will have Miao He come show you around."

Tao Ji pushed open the gate to the women's courtyard, put his hands on his hips, and called, "Miao He, Miao He—"

A window on the left opened, and Miao He poked her head out. Seeing the dark figure in the courtyard, she called, "Master?"

"Hurry and bring out a lamp. Take your sis—Pan Yun to her room to rest."

Miao He agreed, carried out her oil lamp, and happily said to Pan Yun, "Sister Pan Yun, we prepared a room for you long ago. Come with me."

Miao He pushed open the room next door and entered first with the lamp.

Seeing Pan Yun follow Miao He, Tao Ji flicked his hand and left. "Later, remember to go to the kitchen and get Pan Yun something to eat."

Miao He agreed.

The room was not large. Immediately to the left of the entrance, against the wall, stood a small bed without mosquito netting, bare and plain.

There was a pillow and a quilt on the bed, both neatly folded. Beneath the window stood a table and chair. Diagonally opposite, near the rear window, a screen partitioned off an area containing a chamber pot.

Pan Yun felt that she could endure the hardship of getting up at night.

There was another window beside the door, the front window, with another table beneath it. A bronze mirror rested on top.

Miao He placed the oil lamp on the table and told Pan Yun, "Fourth Senior Sister gave you this bronze mirror."