Master

Wang Fei Yin halted, then turned and glared at her. "What decent person would use something as precious as a merit stone for an array stone? Are you trying to carve an immortal array?"

Merit stones were things only immortals who received offerings and incense could possess, and they were useful only if the immortal gave them willingly. Wang Fei Yin would stake his head on it: in all the world, Pan Yun was currently the only one granted such an honor.

Pan Yun's eyes lit up. She asked first, "There are arrays in this world that can create immortals?"

Wang Fei Yin said, "No."

Pan Yun shot him a reproachful look. "Senior Brother, you're one of us, so I'll tell you. I want to carve an array that goes biubiu and displays however much merit I receive. That way, I can clearly know how much merit I can gain from doing different things."

Wang Fei Yin's eyes went blank. "So utilitarian... and the Mountain God still gave you a merit stone?"

He frowned at Pan Yun. "Junior Sister, this won't do. You're being too calculating. I fear you may lose your original heart."

Tears welled in Pan Yun's eyes as she looked at him pitifully. "Senior Brother, I also want to be like you—to live in the mountains and cultivate single-mindedly, with both ears deaf to matters below the mountain and one heart devoted only to becoming an immortal in the heavens. But my father and brother are still suffering at the border. I have no choice. I have to save them."

Wang Fei Yin's heart softened. "So you're carving this array and cultivating merit in order to save your father and brother?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Though I still don't know exactly how to use it, I know there's nothing wrong with becoming a little stronger, then stronger still."

Wang Fei Yin sighed. After considering it, he still reached out and took her hand, transmitting his voice directly into her ear. "Junior Sister, remember this: gods, too, may harbor selfish desires. Be exceedingly cautious, and do not lose your original heart."

Pan Yun knew that he was using secret voice transmission to guard against their Master, the great Mountain God. This was already the third time he had warned her to be more careful.

Pan Yun accepted his kindness and nodded at him.

Only then did Wang Fei Yin openly use his voice to remind her of other matters. "Only you and I know about the merit stone. Don't tell anyone else. A common man commits no crime, but possessing jade becomes his crime."

Pan Yun nodded repeatedly and asked softly, "Senior Brother, don't you want the merit stone? I think it's quite a large piece. How about I share some with you?"

Wang Fei Yin glanced at her. "It is useless to me, and I can't afford to take it."

Wang Fei Yin sighed again and knocked her on the head. "When I took a master back then, like you, I went up the mountain myself to acknowledge one."

Pan Yun's thoughts turned, and she drew out an enigmatic "Oh." Senior Brother was just like her—he had forcibly taken a master.

No, Senior Brother was far more formidable than she was. Not only had he forcibly taken a master, he had also forcibly accepted several disciples on behalf of their elderly Master.

So had Senior Brother received some punishment for that? Was that why he kept reminding her that taking benefits from a god required paying a price?

Pan Yun hugged the merit stone in her arms and decided that tonight, she would have a proper talk with her elderly Master.

Pan Yun hid the merit stone in her robes and brought it back to the Daoist monastery.

When Miao He and the others saw that she had once again been brought back unharmed, they were all delighted. Miao He directly hugged her arm. "Junior Martial Uncle, you'll stay at the Daoist monastery and not leave, right?"

Pan Yun glanced at her hand and nodded. "For now, yes. I'll remain here and cultivate with all of you."

She looked around and asked, "Has Fourth Senior Sister not emerged from seclusion yet?"

Xuan Miao had entered seclusion yesterday afternoon. It had already been a whole day. Was she neither eating nor drinking?

Miao He said, "Fourth Martial Aunt can usually stay in seclusion for around seven days. She's already been able to practice Grain Abstinence for some time. Unlike us, we're still young, and if we skip even one meal, we get so hungry. Junior Martial Uncle, are you hungry? I'll go make you something in the kitchen."

Miao He realized that she liked Junior Martial Uncle so much. She had liked her yesterday too, but she liked her even more today.

Even Miao Zhen at the side was looking at Pan Yun with a rare smile on her face.

Pan Yun nodded.

Miao He then dragged the dazed Tao Yanbai off to help. "Hurry, hurry! Junior Martial Uncle and I both want to eat the noodles you make."

Tao Yanbai came back to himself. "You're the one who wants to eat them, aren't you?"

That left Pan Yun and Miao Zhen staring at each other.

Pan Yun said, "I want to return to my room."

Miao Zhen immediately stepped aside, lowered her head, and said, "Please, Martial Uncle."

After Pan Yun left, Miao Zhen could not help frowning. Just now, she had felt open-hearted and refreshed, as though she had seen lofty mountains and clear spring water, her heart delighted and her spirit gladdened.

Tao Yanbai was also whispering to Miao He. "I don't know why, but when I looked at Junior Martial Uncle just now, it was like I was looking at... looking at my own mother..."

Miao He gave a little cry and whispered, "I just thought Junior Martial Uncle smelled so nice and felt so soft, like the braised pork I once ate..."

That was why she felt hungry. She needed something to eat.

Pan Yun ran back to her room. Only after closing the door did she remember that she had left the black cat outside, so she hurriedly opened it again and let it in.

Pan Little Black walked in with a calm face, lightly leaped onto the table, sat back on its haunches, and silently watched her with a pair of glazed, enormous eyes.

Pan Yun took out the merit stone and showed it to it. "Look, how about using this as the foundation for the new array?"

Before entering the room, Pan Little Black had already resolved to be angry with her. But upon seeing the merit stone held before its eyes, it could not resist. It stretched out a paw and hugged the stone, pinned it beneath itself, then sprawled its entire body over it and luxuriously stretched. Its cat eyes revealed attachment and fondness.

Pan Yun had been watching it all along. Seeing this, she could not help muttering, "It seems Senior Brother was right. This thing really is a heartthrob for ten thousand people—no, for all things. Whether human or animal, no one can resist liking it."

When Pan Little Black saw her using it as an experiment, it found that it could not feel angry at all. It lazily lifted its eyes and glanced at her.

That made Pan Yun's brow furrow even deeper.

It seemed that the merit stone had relatively little influence on her, even less on Senior Brother, but it greatly affected Pan Little Black, Miao He, and the others.

Pan Yun's gaze fell on the black cat. She just did not know whether this influence on it was an effect on the Spirit Being or on the black cat itself.

She had made up her mind. When using this thing as an array stone, she would use as little as possible. She could not use too much. Otherwise, since the Three Jade Spirit Realm was bound to her divine soul, whatever it possessed would count as hers. She had no desire to truly become a heartthrob for all.

Just thinking about it made her shudder all over. Being watched like Tang Sanzang meat was not a pleasant experience.

Pan Yun glanced at the blissful Pan Little Black and let it play with the merit stone. She herself took out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from the Spirit Realm Space to draft the array's structure and calculate the minimum amount of merit stone this array would require.

During this period, she had already thoroughly figured out Senior Brother's array. Back then, he had even given an academic presentation on it.

The only thing missing was a material capable of recognizing merit.

In her previous life, materials and arrays that could measure spiritual energy were everywhere. Safety inspections by sea, land, and air all required them, so Senior Brother had easily found the materials for this array. But merit...

Forgive her limited knowledge, but it seemed that only Buddhist cultivators had even a little connection to merit, and in her previous life, Buddhist cultivators had not stood out much.

Lord Pan had truly seized hold of her most urgent lifeline. This merit stone was practically tailor-made for her.

She also wanted to know what He wished to obtain from her.

As soon as night fell, Pan Yun lay down early. Pan Little Black unusually did not go to sleep in its nest. Instead, it crouched beside her bed, one person and one cat waiting together for Mountain God Pan Gong to arrive.

Ever since learning that a Mountain God truly existed, Pan Yun and it had preferred communicating in their minds rather than speaking aloud.

She did not believe the Mountain God could be so powerful as to spy on their inner thoughts as well.

Pan Yun lay on the bed, actively conversing with the black cat in her mind about where to put the remaining merit stone and how to use it.

Would it affect her and Pan Little Black if she stored it in the Spirit Realm Space?

Pan Little Black's answer was no.

[That is a space from another dimension. It cannot affect either of us. Only merit stones on the main body will produce an effect.]

Pan Yun did not believe it, so she tossed the huge merit stone into the Spirit Realm Space. The stone's influence on them vanished at once.

Having abruptly lost the stone, Pan Little Black nearly rolled off the bed: ...

Pan Yun said, [You were right.] Yet she did not take the merit stone back out.

Sleepiness gradually washed over her. Pan Yun slowly adjusted her breathing and soon entered a state between dreaming and waking. Pan Little Black suddenly straightened up. This time, it finally sensed a breeze slipping through the gaps in the window and door, passing over it and brushing through Pan Yun's hair...

Pan Yun saw Lord Pan in her dream.

He was still dressed as a military general, a treasured sword in hand. His clear, cold eyes watched her, carrying a chill that made one's blood run cold.

Yet Pan Yun seemed unaffected. She trotted forward and saluted him. "This disciple greets Master!"

She dropped cleanly to her knees and thumped her head against the ground three times. Though this was a dream, the sounds were still crisp and clear.

The Mountain God: ...

Pan Yun raised her little face and looked at him eagerly, her face full of adoration.

The Mountain God said expressionlessly, "Rise."

This was Pan Yun's third night on Mount Sanqing. After appearing in her dreams for three consecutive nights, He had finally deigned to speak.

Pan Yun rose and stood with her body bent in respect, as deferential as could be. "Master, this disciple received the meeting gift You sent today. This disciple likes it very much."

Even in her dream, she forcefully squeezed out two tears. Wiping at her eyes with emotion, she said, "Master, ever since I was little, apart from my father and brother, only You have ever given me anything. What a coincidence—our surnames are both Pan. Could it be that five hundred years ago—no, five thousand years ago—we were one family?"

Mount Sanqing must certainly have existed five thousand years ago, but had there been a Mountain God then?

The Mountain God looked at her expressionlessly. Seeing that she was about to speak again, He cut her off. "The thing was not given to you for nothing."

Pan Yun's spirits lifted. "What does Master wish this disciple to do? Please give Your orders. Even if I must climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a sea of fire, this disciple will not hesitate."

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