Senior Brother, I'm Your Junior Sister

He casually pulled over a meditation cushion and sat down, gesturing for Pan Yun to sit as well.

There in the morning mist, he told her what they cultivated. "Primordial qi exists between heaven and earth, and it also exists within the human body. To cultivate the Dao is to cultivate the body and spirit. Besides drawing upon the primordial qi of heaven and earth, and the vital essence transformed from food after it enters the body, one must also refine the primordial qi within one's own body.

"Every cultivation method refines qi differently, and the Kun Yuan Gong is especially demanding. In the latter half of the technique, you must combine the primordial qi absorbed into the body with the qi within your body. After circulating it through the heavenly cycle, you store it in the Dantian and completely transform it into the Qi within your Dantian. Since this Qi contains your own refined primordial qi, your control over it will be greater.

"Then guide the Qi in your Dantian throughout your body and perform the Circulation Cultivation. Not only can it strengthen your meridians, it can also use them to strengthen your internal organs."

Wang Fei Yin sighed. "This cultivation method trains the meridians within and the body without. When you achieve great mastery in the future, your body will be like bronze walls and iron ramparts, whole within and without. Anyone who wishes to kill you will have to expend tremendous effort. Cough, cough. Of course, we cultivators are very kind-hearted. We generally do not do such lawbreaking and disorderly things."

Pan Yun pondered, committing each of his words to heart.

Seeing how attentively she listened, Wang Fei Yin smiled faintly and explained in even greater detail, "However, the cultivation method you currently practice does not combine the internal and external primordial qi. The route in the latter half of its circulation is also altered, so much so that much of the qi you absorb into your body disperses before it reaches the Dantian.

"Some of this qi scatters through your limbs and bones, while some escapes outward. Although the qi scattered through your limbs and bones can nourish and strengthen your physique to a certain extent, it is far inferior to using refined Qi under your control to nourish and temper your body in an orderly manner."

Pan Yun understood. The greatest problems with her current cultivation method were its low efficiency and its insufficient internal tempering.

Wang Fei Yin looked at her and said, "I can see that you have already made some progress in cultivation, but your frame is underdeveloped, and your five viscera and six bowels are all weak—slightly weaker even than those of an ordinary person. This is most likely because of that cultivation method. You should switch as soon as possible. First strengthen your body, then advance further."

At this, Pan Yun had to speak up for that cultivation method. Her gaze flicked toward the black cat crouching nearby, and she snorted inwardly.

If not for the Spirit Being, even relying solely on the spiritual qi that escaped would have been enough for her to strengthen her body. Not to mention that once her cultivation bore fruit, her body would naturally improve as well.

Pan Yun did not explain. After accepting the half-volume of the cultivation method, she respectfully bowed. "Thank you, Daoist priest. Pan Yun will certainly practice diligently and correct my cultivation method."

Wang Fei Yin stroked his beard and smiled. "Good, good. If you have questions, come ask me. This cultivation method is harder to practice than others, and it is rather overbearing as well. I could tell as much from the Qi you drew in and expelled yesterday."

Pan Yun's opening stance had been correct. That portion drew in Qi and absorbed Qi, but after it entered her body, only a small half of the meridian circulation was correct. The later portions of the cultivation method had gone astray.

The more Wang Fei Yin thought about it, the stranger it seemed. "Could it be that some unscrupulous heretical cultivator had set their sights on you? They knew you were gifted, so they used you to test a new cultivation method?"

Otherwise, who would be so lacking in virtue as to alter only the latter half?

Pan Yun opened her mouth but could not speak. She suspected that too many ancient texts had been lost in her previous life. Perhaps only one move and half a stance had remained, and the predecessors had found a way to fill in the latter half. Though it was not very good, at least everyone had been able to practice it.

Sigh, the predecessors of her previous life had been quite pitiable too. At the time, they had needed to fight wars while dealing with sudden changes in the natural environment and demons and monsters that had appeared out of nowhere. Being able to complete half a cultivation method was already not bad.

"Forget that former teacher of yours. I'll find you another Master," Wang Fei Yin said enthusiastically. "I have a Second Junior Brother. He is kind-hearted, gentle-tempered, learned, and highly talented. How about I accept you as his youngest disciple on his behalf?"

The moment Pan Yun heard this, she immediately gathered herself and sat up straight, her expression solemn. "Senior Brother, I had a dream last night. I dreamed of Mountain God Pan Gong. He wanted to accept me as his personal disciple."

Wang Fei Yin looked utterly bewildered. "What?"

"It's true. Not only did I dream of Mountain God Pan Gong, I also dreamed of Lingbao Tianzun. He wanted to take me as his disciple too, but he said his true body could not remain in the mortal world for long. In the end, he yielded me to Pan Gong and allowed Pan Gong to accept me as his personal disciple."

Wang Fei Yin: ...

He opened his mouth several times, wanting to say something, yet not knowing what to say. In the end, he could only close it.

Pan Yun looked at him eagerly and called, "Senior Brother?"

Wang Fei Yin weakly raised a hand. "Don't, don't call me Senior Brother. Let me think."

After thinking for a while, he earnestly tried to persuade Pan Yun. "You are still so young. Wouldn't it be nice to be of the same generation as Miao Zhen and Miao He, so you could keep each other company? There would also be so many elders to look after you."

With a solemn expression, Pan Yun said, "Senior Brother, I am already eight years old. Because I have been frail since childhood, I am especially considerate. There are three siblings in my family, and we are especially devoted as brothers and respectful as sisters. I will properly care for Miao Zhen and Miao He, my two nephew-disciples. I have already grown up. I do not need my Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters to especially look after me. And I will surely treat my Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters as I treat my brothers at home, devoted as brothers and respectful as sisters."

Pan Yun nodded earnestly at Wang Fei Yin. "I am very considerate, Senior Brother, truly!"

The request you were making right now was extremely inconsiderate.

When Pan Yun saw that he was not very willing, she asked, "Senior Brother, do you not believe that I dreamed of Lord Pan?"

Wang Fei Yin merely smiled without replying.

Pan Yun sighed. "I know it sounds bizarre, but it is true. Lingbao Tianzun liked me very much. He even bestowed a divine ability upon me and bore witness for my Master and me."

Good heavens, in the span of one sentence, Pan Gong had become her Master?

Seeing her look at him with wide, pleading eyes, Wang Fei Yin could only indulge her and take the initiative to ask, "What divine ability did Lingbao Tianzun give you?"

Pan Yun immediately said, "Language of All Things!"

"What?"

"It means communicating with all things. So long as something possesses spirit, whether livestock or plants, I can commune with it. Lingbao Tianzun said this divine ability is called Language of All Things."

Wang Fei Yin was certain that Lingbao Tianzun did not possess such a divine ability. Even if he could communicate with all things, it would not be called by that name.

She had most likely named it herself.

But even if it had not been bestowed by Lingbao Tianzun, it did not necessarily mean she lacked such a divine ability, so...

Wang Fei Yin rose half-convinced and half-doubtful. "Then let's go test your divine ability."

Pan Yun immediately stood up. "How shall we test it? Senior Brother, how about using my cat? I'll have it meow once, then I'll tell you what it said."

Wang Fei Yin nodded. "All right, try it."

Pan Yun nudged the black cat with the tip of her foot, making it rise from where it had been lying. "Come greet Senior Brother."

"Meow—You idiot, he doesn't believe you at all."

Without changing her smile, Pan Yun translated for Wang Fei Yin. "It said it likes Mount Sanqing very much and wants to remain on Mount Sanqing to cultivate the Dao. What it likes most is Senior Brother, who gives off a harmonious air all around him."

Wang Fei Yin said, "It only meowed a few times, and it said all that?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Isn't that so? It has a lot to say. Sometimes I even find it too noisy."

Wang Fei Yin felt that he could not follow her lead. He took the initiative and said, "Let's find some other animals."

But Sanqing Temple did not even keep chickens. They could not find any animals at all, so Wang Fei Yin led her toward the mountaintop. The terrain there was relatively flat, the trees thick, and beneath them lay fairly soft fallen leaves and decayed earth.

As they walked, Wang Fei Yin said, "Mount Sanqing is mostly granite. The entire mountain is hard stone. Trees grow among the rocks, and over time, fallen leaves accumulated and soil formed. Only after tens of thousands of years did this mountain become covered in green.

"There are more plants up here, so birds and beasts often come here to forage."

Wang Fei Yin expertly led her upward. In the grass, a pheasant was startled and flapped its wings as it tried to flee, only for Wang Fei Yin to catch it with one hand.

The pheasant cried wildly, "Gah gah, cluck cluck!"

Wang Fei Yin looked at Pan Yun with concealed anticipation.

Pan Yun said, "...It is calling for its mama. Mama, save me, save me."

Wang Fei Yin fell silent for a moment. He could not say she was wrong, so he released it.

The pheasant clucked and cursed as it flapped its wings and staggered away through the air.

Pan Yun said, "It is cursing you, Senior Brother."

"You can leave that untranslated."

Pan Yun changed the subject. "Senior Brother, do we need to test other animals?"

"No need." Wang Fei Yin had also realized that he had no way of knowing whether she could commune with all things, because he could not.

At most, he could tell that her divine sense had attached itself to the black cat last night and run off to eavesdrop.

But that had been a human soul, so he could detect it. He was not very familiar with animal souls.

So how could he determine whether her translations were true?

The two stared at each other with wide eyes. Wang Fei Yin asked, "Do you truly have to become Mountain God Pan Gong's disciple?"

Pan Yun nodded repeatedly. "Mainly because I want to be Senior Brother's Junior Sister."

"If you take Yin Song as your Master, I will be your Martial Uncle. I would raise and teach you all the same."

Pan Yun shook her head and looked at Wang Fei Yin with starry eyes. "Senior Brother, Master really has accepted me as his disciple. If you do not believe me, ask Master himself when you dream tonight."

How could a nephew-disciple be as close as a Junior Sister? There was a whole generation between them, wasn't there?

Wang Fei Yin said, "Fine, then I will accept you as a disciple on Master's behalf. You shall be Master's fifth disciple."

Pan Yun happily answered and called, "Senior Brother!"

Wang Fei Yin waved a hand with a headache and led her back.

Smoke curled from the kitchen, and steam billowed through the air. As soon as they entered the kitchen courtyard, the youth who had been following Tao Ji had already set out a long table. He was carrying a stack of bowls and chopsticks, and upon seeing the two of them, he immediately greeted them warmly. "First Martial Uncle, Junior Martial Aunt, breakfast is ready."

The youth set down the bowls and chopsticks and clasped his hands in salute. "Junior sister, poor Daoist is Tao Yanbai, your third senior brother."

Wang Fei Yin said, "Don't call her that randomly. She is your Junior Martial Aunt."

"Ah?" The youth's face went blank.

Tao Ji heard this from the kitchen and rushed out holding a wooden ladle, glaring with grief and indignation. "What? Senior Brother, what did you just say?"

Xuan Miao and the others also came over from all directions.

Wang Fei Yin said, "You came at just the right time. Everyone is here, so let me formally introduce her. This is the fifth disciple I accepted on Master's behalf, your Junior Martial Aunt, Pan Yun.

"Third brother, fourth brother, this is your junior sister. She is young, so you must take good care of her in the future."

Tao Ji's lips trembled. "Senior Brother, I know she is talented, but... there was no need to accept her as a Junior Sister, was there? You could have accepted her as your disciple!"

Wang Fei Yin said, "I am not suited to being a teacher."