Escape and Recapture

The young woman had already noticed. As soon as Pan Yun was handed over, she began circling the open space by the plum trees, soon tracing out a circle—the very same one where Wang Yong had been buried.

Pan Yun saw this and her eyebrows twitched. She was being held suspended in mid-air by the young man, her wide eyes staring into the black cat in his arms.

She wanted to speak but found she couldn't make a sound. Her eyes widened even further, and she mentally prodded the Three Jade Spirit Realm, thinking, Bite him.

The black cat stared back at her with its big eyes, unmoving.

Pan Yun said softly and gently, "If I die, I swear I'll destroy my Mud Pill Palace before I go."

The black cat's eyes widened even more, its chest heaving unevenly. The young man holding it couldn't help but look down at it, filled with worry. "What's wrong?"

He wanted to look at the cat but dared not put Pan Yun down. He weighed the options, a headache forming.

Then the black cat made the choice for him. Its claws suddenly swiped towards his eyes and it bit down on the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

The young man cried out, "Aow!" To his and Pan Yun's surprise, he didn't shake the cat off. Instead, he dropped Pan Yun and reached for the cat, seemingly intending to comfort it through the pain.

But the black cat clearly wasn't grateful. Seizing the opportunity as he reached, it endured the pain and leaped with all its might, bounding far away...

After being dropped, Pan Yun rolled on the ground. As she passed the black cat, she reached out, scooped it into her arms, and fled towards the depths of the forest...

She was a person of her word. They could fight later; for now, they were allies.

Even the young man, foolish as he was, could see that the cat and the child were in league!

He took off in pursuit.

The young woman glanced back once, then ignored them. She had already found the area and skillfully retrieved a shovel and hoe from a nearby corner, beginning to dig with practiced ease.

The young man sprinted after Pan Yun. As Pan Yun ran wildly, she tried to gather spiritual energy again, only to discover her meridians were blocked, rendering the incantations she cast useless.

She cursed inwardly, hugged the black cat tighter, and dodged the plum trees in front of her, heading for the back door of the temple ahead.

The young man whooshed past her head, completely disregarding the obstacles she had set using the terrain and the plum trees. He landed lightly in front of her.

Pan Yun almost crashed into him.

The young man reached out and grabbed the back of her collar, lifting her up again. "Run, why don't you run? Your meridians are sealed, how can you escape? Have I been living for nothing all these years?"

Pan Yun, dangling in his hand, kicked at him angrily. The young man raised his hand, batting away each kick. His strength was considerable, and the pain made Pan Yun hiss.

He carried Pan Yun back, poked her a few times, and then threw her to the ground. After this, not only could she not use magic, she couldn't even move. She lay on the ground as she had fallen.

The young woman had already dug out the pit and was now squatting by its edge, examining the body.

The young man stepped forward, saw the blood-red pit, and frowned. "Junior Sister, we should report this to the authorities."

The young woman nodded. "You go find the constables. I'll stay here and watch."

Pan Yun, unable to move, was secretly anxious. If the outside officials were truly summoned, not only she but the Pan family would be implicated.

Pan Yun lowered her eyes, entered a meditative state, and began to mobilize the essence within her body to continuously impact her meridians.

So-called acupoint sealing was merely the opponent injecting a stream of energy into her meridians' acupoints, blocking the function of the corresponding meridians.

Acupoint sealing would naturally recover after a period of time because the injected energy would slowly dissipate. The deeper a person's cultivation, the more energy they could inject, and the longer it would last.

Besides waiting for it to dissipate naturally, one could also use their own energy and strength to impact the acupoints and meridians.

However, those who seal acupoints rarely target only one spot. Therefore, mobilizing the energy from the Dantian required impacting them one by one. But they forgot that the meridians of a person's limbs and body also contained essence.

Seeing the young man already walking away, Pan Yun had no time to mobilize the weak spiritual energy from her Dantian to impact the meridians. She directly compressed the nearby essence within her body to force open an acupoint.

The sudden pain made her cry out involuntarily. A trace of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She said urgently, "The person in the pit is from the Imperial Guards!"

The young man stopped in his tracks and turned back in surprise. The young woman also looked up at Pan Yun from the edge of the pit.

After catching her breath, Pan Yun said, "His name is Wang Yong. He's the nephew of the great eunuch Wang Zhen. You two righteous individuals must have heard of the unjust case of Xue Xuan, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, two months ago, right?"

These two had clear features and righteous expressions; they looked like good people.

Pan Yun changed her tone, appearing weak and looking at them pitifully. "My father is Pan Hong, a Censorate Official who was implicated."

The young man's brow furrowed even tighter. "Pan Hong? Wasn't his entire family exiled?"

Hearing that he knew her father, Pan Yun felt both joy and worry. She sized up their expressions and carefully explained, "Yes, before my father was unjustly exiled, I was gravely ill and beyond cure. He couldn't bear to see me suffer the hardships of exile, so he hid me away and only took my two elder brothers with him to Datong. Today, the Imperial Guards received a secret report and went to search my home. To avoid implicating my elderly grandmother and innocent uncles and aunts, I ran away."

Pan Yun's eyes welled up with tears. "Who knew I'd run into Wang Yong on the way? He didn't recognize me, but seeing me walking alone and looking like my father, he wanted to capture me to frame my father. During the struggle, I accidentally stabbed his neck with scissors, and he... he died..."

The young man's heart indeed softened, and a look of pity appeared on his face. "Then let's go. I'll take you to the yamen to surrender. I'll plead for you. You're young, so the yamen shouldn't impose a heavy sentence."

Pan Yun: ...

The young woman, who had been indifferent, instead said, "I believe you. You can go."

The young man was greatly shocked and exclaimed disapprovingly, "Junior Sister!"

The young woman circled Pan Yun with great interest, then said, "You might not be a good person, but he is definitely a villain. Killing a villain is stopping evil, which can be considered doing good."

Pan Yun looked at her in surprise.

Even the black cat couldn't help but lift its head and meow. In Pan Yun's mind, it said, This person's talent seems quite good.

So you're scared? It's not like I have no other choice but you.

Pan Yun: Then hurry up and leave.

The black cat fell silent. While it was good, it was still far from Pan Yun's level, so it was willing to continue adventuring and stay.

The young woman unblocked Pan Yun's acupoints and raised her chin. "Let's go."

Pan Yun tentatively stood up and walked a couple of steps. Seeing that the woman didn't stop her, she picked up the cat and was about to leave when a young man with a dark expression blocked her and dragged her back.

"Junior Sister, even if these Imperial Guards are evil, it shouldn't be up to this child to kill them. She's so ruthless at such a young age, and she even tried to kill your cat just now. It shows her nature."

The young woman said, "Wang Zhen will one day ruin the country. The more of his cronies die, the more people will be saved."

Pan Yun's eyes sparkled as she looked at the young woman, nodding repeatedly. Isn't that right? Although she didn't know much about ancient history, she knew about Wang Zhen ruining the country. This person had foresight and was worthy of being able to see that she was a good person.