Ambush

Pan Yun gripped the scissors in a reverse hold and moved slowly. In just a few steps, she appeared diagonally in front of Wang Yong. Yet he could not see her. In his eyes, where Pan Yun now stood was a plum tree—and indeed, it was a plum tree. She stood beside it...

Wang Yong frowned tightly, one hand resting on his sword hilt as he searched from side to side. He saw no suspicious person in the grove. Had he come to the wrong place?

A faint unease stirred in his heart. Wang Yong's breathing quickened, and he turned to leave when a whistling sound tore through the air...

Wang Yong suddenly drew his blade and slashed toward the source of the sound. With a swish, he chopped off a branch, then drove his blade viciously into the trunk. At the same time, pain flared in the hollow behind his right knee. His knee gave way, and with a thump, he dropped to one knee.

He reacted swiftly, knowing he had been ambushed. He immediately grasped the hilt with both hands, intending to pull it free with the momentum—but in that instant, pain shot through his neck. With a wet splurt, blood spurted out. A figure suddenly appeared before him. Blood sprayed across her body, then rained back down, drenching him in scorching red.

Wang Yong's eyes flew wide. His hands instinctively released the hilt and reached for the thing embedded in his neck. He stared in disbelief at the little girl standing before him, unable to understand how she had suddenly appeared here. He clearly had not seen her.

Pan Yun clenched the scissors tightly and drove them deeper with all her strength, glaring viciously into his eyes. "I know you. You're Wang Yong, Wang Shan's younger brother and Wang Zhen's nephew. You were the ones who framed my father. The people who died unjustly because of you are all waiting beside you right now!"

Wang Yong opened his mouth, wanting to say that he was not one of them, that he merely shared their surname and had joined their clan. But he could not speak. The moment he opened his mouth, great gulps of blood poured out. The strength gradually drained from his body. He looked at Pan Yun in terror and despair. For the first time, he realized that he, too, could die...

The light in Wang Yong's eyes slowly faded. His body went limp, slowly collapsing to the ground...

Still gripping the scissors, Pan Yun sank to one knee with him. After confirming that he was dead, she suddenly yanked out the scissors. Blood sprayed everywhere—over her clothes, her face, even her hair.

With a cold expression, she wiped the scissors on his clothes. When she found she could not clean them, she decisively gave up and lowered her head to look at the man lying on the ground.

Even the Spirit Realm, which had existed for thousands of years and seen much of the world, was startled by her decisiveness and ruthlessness. It said softly, [I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You're so cruel and ruthless—you will surely achieve great things in the future.]

[If you're praising me, praise me properly,] Pan Yun said. [I've caught ghosts and killed people now. Believe it or not, next time I'll kill a spirit for you to see?]

The Spirit Realm immediately dared not speak.

Once she spoke, Pan Yun calmed down. Reason returned, and she began considering how to clean up afterward.

She swept her gaze around, then decisively went to strip Wang Yong's clothes. She cut open his outer robe with the scissors and wrapped both hands in it before beginning to peel off his clothes. Soon, she had stripped him down to only his inner shirt and trousers. She packed away all his clothes, then retreated more than ten paces and surveyed the area. [Can you pack up the corpse and take it away?]

The Spirit Realm said, [Don't even think about it. Carry him yourself or drag him yourself. There's no way I'm putting him in my Spirit Realm Space.]

It had three jade slips. One was specifically a space for storing physical objects. Most of it remained sealed, and only a very small portion had currently been unsealed. It was spotlessly clean.

Pan Yun did not want that either. After all, her belongings were stored in there. She had only been asking.

Seeing that the Spirit Realm was unwilling, she did not bring it up again and instead began looking for tools she could use.

But she was a sheltered young lady. Even for a weapon, she could only find scissors. What tools could she possibly have for disposing of a corpse?

Everything she had put into the space today consisted of daily necessities from her room—clothes, shoes, socks, wooden basins, bed curtains, and the like. Let alone a hoe, she could not find even a single pointed object.

She sensed her empty Dantian and said to the Spirit Realm, [Give me some more spiritual energy. I'll bury the corpse.]

The Spirit Realm grumbled and cursed, but it still gave her some.

This was an Imperial Guard. If they did not handle this properly and were discovered, they would all be finished. It did not believe Pan Yun could now defeat a group of Imperial Guards. She had needed the aid of an array just to deal with one.

Feeling strength return to her hands, Pan Yun said, [Give me a spell for digging a pit.]

The Spirit Realm said, [Eh? You don't know one?]

Pan Yun said, [In my past life, we had robots to dig pits. At worst, there were excavators. Why would a researcher like me need to know a digging spell?]

The Spirit Realm said, [From now on, give me half the spiritual energy you cultivate each day.]

Pan Yun said, [You're bargaining with me at a time like this?]

The Spirit Realm said, [Knowledge has value. You know how much knowledge your people recorded within me. Won't you need it in the future? It's only half your spiritual energy. Consider it tuition. Once my seals are lifted in the future, you'll even be able to see cultivation techniques from ancient times. By then, you can access whatever cultivation knowledge you need at any time.]

Pan Yun lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before responding, [Oh.]

The Spirit Realm let out a breath of relief. It knew that once it had exposed itself, it could no longer obtain spiritual energy from her for free. And what it possessed most now were the cultivation techniques and all kinds of knowledge recorded within it.

The instant the Spirit Realm agreed, an incantation, hand seals, and a diagram of spiritual energy circulation surfaced in Pan Yun's mind.

It looked very familiar to Pan Yun. It was the standard arrangement from their National Academy textbooks.

To make self-study easier for students, the textbooks had always been extremely detailed. They included the incantations for spells, hand seals, spiritual energy circulation diagrams, and even which posture was best for casting a particular spell in a fight.

Pan Yun had always been a top student. One glance was enough for her to remember it. She lowered her eyes, formed the hand seals, and silently recited the incantation. An invisible force caused the earth before her to writhe. The soil softened and shifted apart to either side, and before long, a large pit appeared.

Pan Yun let out a breath of relief and pushed Wang Yong's corpse into the pit. Then she formed the hand seals in reverse. The loosened soil immediately poured back, moving in reverse until it quickly filled the pit flat.

Seeing this, the Spirit Realm could not help asking, [You know a spell for filling pits?]

[I don't,] Pan Yun said coolly. [I reverse-engineered it from the digging spell. Is that difficult?]

The Spirit Realm: ...

The corners of Pan Yun's lips lifted slightly. She picked a relatively clean garment from Wang Yong's pile of clothes, wrapped up the rest of the dirty clothing, then said, [Put this away. There are too many traces on these clothes. They can't be allowed to know that the murderer was a little runt.]

It would be easy to guess her age.

Though the possibility was small, she still would not allow anyone to connect this matter to the Pan family, or to Pan Yun. Not even the slightest possibility could remain.

This time, the Spirit Realm put away the bundle without complaint.

Yet Pan Yun did not leave immediately. She had just killed someone. She was young, physically weak, and had used up seven or eight tenths of her spiritual energy. At this moment, she seemed unable to hold herself up any longer. So she leaned against the plum tree, sat cross-legged on the ground, and began cultivating.

The Spirit Realm did not urge her either. This place was remote, and people rarely came here. At the moment, the outside was full of constables and bailiffs summoned by Wang Yong. It was safer to remain in the plum grove.

Pan Yun completed two consecutive Lesser Celestial Circuits. Though the circulation was slow, the spiritual energy it generated truly settled into her Dantian. As the spiritual energy flowed through her, the soreness and weakness in her limbs and bones began to dissipate, and her strength returned.

Pan Yun felt slightly reassured, but she did not stop. Lowering her eyes to hide the coldness within them, she mobilized all the spiritual energy in her lower Dantian and continued circulating it through her meridians. As it traveled, it eventually reached the Mud Pill Palace.

Her consciousness followed the spiritual energy and suddenly descended upon the Mud Pill Palace. The Spirit Realm abruptly saw her consciousness sink in. Just as its vigilance rose, it saw her spiritual energy transform into a talisman and come crashing down...

The Spirit Realm shrieked, [You stupid madwoman! You're trying to seal me inside your own Mud Pill Palace? Do you have a death wish? Aah—]