Seeking and Seeking

"East..." Senior Brother put away the tortoiseshell and began searching the eastern side of the house...

The moon hung directly overhead, its light at its richest. In the silent courtyard, the sound of a door opening rang out. Senior Brother, his hair in disarray, walked outside holding a compass, calculating as he went. "The tortoiseshell isn't very accurate. I should have thought of using the compass sooner. Why is it still east..."

"East, east, east... south?"

Senior Brother turned around and found himself facing an empty room.

He blinked, then suddenly remembered. Right—some unused odds and ends had been piled in his son's room.

Senior Brother put away the compass, pushed open the door, and went in. Without even lighting a lamp, he began rummaging through the darkness.

He turned the perfectly good room upside down, and at last found several books in a box of toys.

Most were books on mechanisms. Sandwiched among them was half a damaged manual, barely clinging to one of the mechanism books.

"Ah, this is it! Just as I thought. My memory's so good—how could I possibly remember wrong? I knew I'd seen a similar cultivation method before. Kun Yuan Gong. Pity there's only half a volume. Who knows where the other half is."

Senior Brother opened it and examined it carefully. After reading only the beginning, he hurriedly flipped to the end. "Not bad, not bad. This is indeed it. Though there's only half a volume, there are few in this world who can cultivate to this realm anyway. There's no need to rush."

Senior Brother tucked the manual into his robes. When he turned back and saw the messy room, he shook his head. "What a mess. I'll have the children clean it up tomorrow."

With that, he returned to his room to sleep.

Meanwhile, Pan Yun, in the courtyard next door, had not slept either. She was reading the scattered introductions to Mount Sanqing that she had found in the spirit realm.

She had never visited Mount Sanqing of the twenty-sixth century, but she knew that the great wars and the development of civilization over the millennium had damaged it.

Culture had suffered a break since then, yet quite a bit could still be found in the records. For example, what did the Mount Sanqing Mountain God look like?

Pan Yun flipped through the information bit by bit. With a Spirit Being, searching for keywords took only a thought; even without one, she could search with precision.

The problem was that too many Mountain Gods of Mount Sanqing had appeared in the search results, and there were many different depictions. She had no idea which one to believe, so she could only slowly sift through the database, trying to find the most plausible image.

Lord Pan with the head of a chicken and the body of a man?

Pan Yun could not help glancing at the black cat and sighing. Why could the Mountain God not have anything to do with cats?

Even night-owl Pan Little Black was getting sleepy. Seeing her still lying there, rummaging through the spirit realm in her mind, it could not help asking, "Why are you searching for the Sanqing Mountain God, anyway?"

Pan Yun said, "Xuan Miao became a Daoist to repay a debt of gratitude. Since that's the case, if I'm going to take a master, I should take the strongest one—the most honored one.

"Who is the strongest in Mount Sanqing? Naturally, the Sanqing Mountain God! I want to become fellow disciples with Daoist Priest Wang."

Pan Little Black said, "...What does one have to do with the other? Your thoughts leap around too much. Fine, but shouldn't the most honored ones in Mount Sanqing be the Three Pure Ones? Wouldn't even the Mountain God have to listen to them?"

Pan Yun fell silent.

Seeing that she said nothing for a long while, Pan Little Black hesitantly asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." Pan Yun sat up. "You weren't wrong. I was wrong. I didn't dare think big enough, didn't dare act boldly enough.

"My courage could clearly be greater. You're right—which of the Three Pure Ones do you think would suit being my master?"

Pan Little Black said, "Are you... serious?" It had only said that casually.

But Pan Yun was very serious. She began considering it in light of her own circumstances. "The spacetime I came from had already developed to the twenty-sixth century, far in this era's future. I think Lingbao Tianzun and I are a perfect match. What do you think?"

The black cat lay down without saying a word.

After getting excited for a while, Pan Yun gave up on the idea herself. "Forget it. Daoist friends throughout the world worship the Three Pure Ones; they are all believers of the Three Pure Ones. If I chose one of those three, not many people would believe it, and it would disrupt the market besides. The Sanqing Mountain God is perfect."

Only then did the black cat lift its head.

Thinking of Tao Ji's strange encounter after a song when they had gone up the mountain that day, Pan Yun became even more resolute. "Our Mountain God sounds like a very kind deity who loves entertainment. That suits me perfectly too. Once I take Them as my master, I'll sing to Them every day."

The black cat shuddered, then said, "As long as you're happy."

Putting aside her worries, Pan Yun closed her eyes and began imagining the Mountain God's appearance in her mind.

A breeze gently stirred the talisman pouch hanging beneath the corridor, and another breeze brushed through Pan Little Black's fur. Yet no one noticed—not even the cat.

Once Pan Yun quieted down, the girl and cat soon fell asleep.

Perhaps because she had thought too much before bed, Pan Yun dreamed all night of a man in armor, holding a huge sword, gazing at her with a smile that was not quite a smile.

He looked all right, but he was far too tall. Dream Pan Yun seemed short and tiny beside him, feeling the pressure brought by his height.

Pan Yun was very displeased. A table appeared not far from Dream Pan Yun, and she directly dragged it over and climbed onto it. Then she and the man who looked like a military general glared at each other, eyes wide, for the entire night.

Not until dawn began to break and the figure in the dream transformed into a crane and flew away did Pan Yun wake up.

She climbed out of bed and sat blankly at its edge, staring into space. Her dream from the night before gradually faded, until Pan Yun remembered only a vague silhouette.

She could not help furrowing her brow and asking the black cat, "Pan Little Black, do gods really exist in this world?"

Pan Little Black said, "Ghosts and gods have always been mentioned together. Since you've seen ghosts, why are you still asking whether gods exist?"

Pan Yun said, "But there were ghosts in my previous life too, and yet I had never seen a god."

Pan Little Black sneered. "That is precisely why your arts could not advance any further. You wanted to use divine power, yet refused to believe that gods who stood above you existed in this world."

Pan Yun asked, "Did the person who created and possessed you become a god?"

Pan Little Black became wary. "Why?"

Pan Yun threw back the covers and got out of bed. "Nothing. I just wanted to know whether I could pull some strings. Since you won't mention it, they probably didn't become a god."

Pan Little Black: ...

Pan Yun had already worked out her plan. There was no point dwelling on matters from her previous life; what mattered was the present.

After folding her bedding, she went outside.

In the room next door, Miao He also opened her door. Stretching as she came out, she immediately dropped her hands upon seeing Pan Yun and skipped over. "Little sister, you're awake! Come on, I'll take you to wash up."

Pan Yun had just nodded when the door of a room diagonally across from them also opened. A little girl, about half a head taller than them, came out. She paused slightly upon seeing Pan Yun, then stepped forward and clasped her fists like an adult. "Junior Sister Pan, poor daoist is Miao Zhen."

Why was she calling her Junior Sister already?

But it did not matter. Soon, she would not be.

Pan Yun also clasped her fists in return. "Daoist friend Miao Zhen, I am Pan Yun. I have not formally entered Mount Sanqing yet."

Miao Zhen looked utterly serious, her little face stern. "Since you are here, you will enter eventually. Calling you that earlier or later makes little difference."

Miao He stood to one side, watching in a daze and finding it immensely fun. She immediately squeezed in. "I want to do it too."

She first clasped her fists toward Pan Yun. "Junior Sister Pan, poor daoist is Miao He."

Then, grinning, she clasped her fists toward Miao Zhen. "Fourth Senior Sister, poor daoist is Miao He."

Pan Yun: ...

Miao Zhen: ...

Pan Yun returned the greeting. Miao Zhen looked helpless, but under Miao He's expectant gaze, she returned one as well.

When they came back to themselves, they realized Xuan Miao had been standing at the entrance to the main hall for who knew how long, watching them.

The moment she saw the three facing her and preparing to salute, she waved a hand with a dark expression. "Go wash up!"

Miao Zhen and Miao He each grabbed one of Pan Yun's arms and ran off. "Hurry, hurry! It's time for morning practice."

Under their guidance, Pan Yun washed her face, brushed her teeth, dried herself, and headed toward the front courtyard.

The two girls carried a meditation cushion each and stuffed one into Pan Yun's arms as well.

When they brought them to the wide open space before the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, Tao Ji and a teenage boy were already practicing punches.

Their movements were slow and gentle, yet each punch carried a current of force.

Miao He set down her cushion. "We're practicing the Twelve Great Strengths today. Junior Sister Pan, do you know it?"

Pan Yun said, "I know the Eight Brocades, the Five Animal Frolics, and Tai Chi Chuan."

"Oh, we practice those too. Later, we also have to practice Circulation Cultivation."

Tao Ji slowly drew in his stance, then turned to look at Pan Yun, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "Are you awake, Pan? Come, I'll teach you the Twelve Great Strengths. We'll use it in morning cultivation from now on."

Pan Yun did not argue with him over forms of address and stepped forward to learn from him.

After they finished the punches and regulated their breathing, they still had to practice Circulation Cultivation, which required sitting on meditation cushions.

Pan Yun's Circulation Cultivation differed from all of theirs. Remembering that they had said there was a problem with her cultivation method, she did not dare circulate her energy again. She merely regulated her breathing and entered meditation, which was also one way of increasing cultivation.

A cultivation method began with meditation; only the methods of breathing differed.

No matter how many times he saw it, Tao Ji was still astonished by the speed with which she entered meditation.

After marveling inwardly at her talent, he closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, entered meditation, and practiced Circulation Cultivation.

When they emerged from meditation and everyone opened their eyes at almost the same moment, they saw Senior Brother standing some distance away, swinging his arms.

Wang Fei Yin swung his arms as he looked back at them. "Awake? Go make breakfast. Pan Yun, stay behind."

Everyone scattered at once. Before Tao Ji left, he gave her a smug look. The next time they met, he could call her Junior Nephew more openly and aboveboard.

Wang Fei Yin did not bring up that matter first. Instead, he took out the half-volume cultivation manual he had found the night before and showed it to her. "This is Kun Yuan Gong. Don't let the fact that it's only half a volume fool you—it won't be easy to finish cultivating it. Take a look. Isn't it very similar to the cultivation method you practiced before?"

Pan Yun flipped to the first level of the method and read it. After a long while, she nodded solemnly. "Yes. It's just that the latter half of the forms has been altered... Is my cultivation method flawed because the meridians and acupoints through which the latter half runs are different?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang Fei Yin said, "Not only that. Those who cultivate the Dao cultivate Qi. It is not wrong for you to call it spiritual energy, but primordial energy is a more accurate name."