Unfortunately, the young man was stubborn. He wouldn't listen, wouldn't listen, simply wouldn't listen. Even if he didn't send Pan Yun to the authorities for judgment, he still insisted that she could not be released.
"Letting someone like her go leaves me deeply uneasy. Who knows when she might grow into a great weapon of slaughter? You say killing evil stops evil, but isn't indulging evil also doing evil?" The young man pointed at Pan Yun. "Doesn't she count as an evil person now?"
After thinking for a moment, the young woman nodded. "Third senior brother has a point. Then let's take her back and let her cultivate the Dao and her heart. Once she has reformed, we can let her go."
Pan Yun cut in, "My heart is very kind. I killed someone in self-defense—it was an accident, not intentional. And as for killing a cat, that's even more baseless. We're companions. Before you came, I was treating its injuries. It only cried so miserably because it hurt.
"The injuries on its body were all inflicted by Wang Yong, really!"
The black cat let out a sharp "meow" from the side and snorted at Pan Yun.
In the eyes of the young man and woman, it looked as though the black cat were testifying for Pan Yun.
The young man smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Treating injuries? Then I misunderstood."
"I forgive you," Pan Yun said. Studying their expressions, she pressed her advantage. "So, could I make a request?"
With tears shimmering in her eyes, she said, "I haven't seen my father for a long time. I miss him very much. I want to go to Datong to find him..."
The young man said, "That won't do. You're so vicious—how could we feel at ease just letting you go like this..."
The young woman found their arguing annoying and said directly, "Either come with us or go to the county office. Choose one."
Pan Yun immediately fell silent.
She dared to bargain with the young man, but she did not dare to pester the young woman.
The black cat suddenly raised its upper body, lifted its head toward the woods beyond, and began meowing. "Someone is coming."
This time, the voice did not come from inside her mind. She heard it with her ears.
Pan Yun could not help glancing at it, but her movements were swift. She immediately looked at the young woman. "Someone's coming."
The young woman had sensed it too. She turned and glanced outside. "I'll give you half a quarter-hour. You'd better fill in that pit and erase the traces."
After saying that, she headed out. When she passed the stones Pan Yun had used to set up the formation earlier, she paused and nudged them with her foot, shifting their positions.
Pan Yun saw it, and her gaze flickered. It was a very simple bewildering formation. It could not trap anyone, but it would make those who entered unconsciously avoid this place.
The young man leaned on his iron shovel and watched her, his eyes shining. "Right, you know strange arts. This body was buried so neatly. With that tiny body of yours, you used strange arts to bury it, didn't you?"
Pan Yun said, "They're not called strange arts. They're called spells."
After some time, she had refined another portion of spiritual energy. She did not delay, instead forming a hand seal and making the excavated soil wriggle and slide back into the pit. It slowly packed tight, and all traces of the digging vanished.
Not only that, the ground where she had fallen and stepped also gently writhed, the marks gradually disappearing until there was not the slightest clue left.
When the young woman returned and saw this, she immediately sealed Pan Yun's meridians once she had erased every trace.
Meeting Pan Yun's widened eyes, the corner of her lips lifted. "This is for our safety. Once we are safe, you can be safe too."
With that, she tossed her to the young man. "Let's go."
The young man picked her up and left. Before departing, Pan Yun could not help looking back toward the woods. Her gaze passed over the plum trees, and she happened to catch sight of a face flashing past.
It was Liu Jing.
Pan Yun immediately behaved herself. The spirit talisman hidden in her sleeve slowly dissipated as she pressed her palm against the black cat's belly.
The black cat sensed the familiar spiritual power spilling around it and immediately absorbed it. Unfortunately, the black cat was far inferior to its original body. It absorbed less than a tenth before the spirit talisman completely vanished.
[At least you have a bit of conscience,] the Spirit Realm said in her mind. [We are the allies who cannot be separated.]
Pan Yun replied, [You're right. Happy cooperation, Black Cat.]
The black cat said, [Please call me Spirit Realm.]
Pan Yun said nothing, either aloud or in her mind, because the young man and woman had carried her into the temple. They skillfully entered a courtyard, opened the door, and went inside.
The young woman said, "Pack your things. I'll go bid the abbot farewell."
The young man nodded. He set Pan Yun down on the kang bed and began packing their luggage.
Pan Yun sat on the kang bed holding the cat, her little legs swinging back and forth. She asked obediently, "What should I call you, Brother?"
The young man glanced at her. "Please call me Uncle. I am Tao Ji."
"Uncle Tao, what about that young lady?"
Tao Ji folded all the clothes and placed them on a large piece of cloth. He straightened up silently and looked at her. "You call me uncle, yet call my junior sister 'sister'? Aren't you afraid she'll come back and beat you up?"
Pan Yun said, "Girls don't like being called old."
"My junior sister isn't an ordinary girl. Besides, who doesn't enjoy being an elder?" Tao Ji looked Pan Yun up and down as he spoke. Thinking of something, his eyes brightened slightly. He leaned closer and said, "Hey, why don't you take my junior sister as your master? You know strange arts too, and at such a young age, you already possess this level of cultivation. It looks like your talent is quite good."
Pan Yun said proudly, "Not just anyone can be my master."
Tao Ji snorted. "And not just anyone can become my junior sister's disciple. She is from the Zhang Family of Mount Longhu, inheriting the lineage of mystical arts. You, at most, know a few strange arts."
Pan Yun asked, "Do you also study arts at Mount Longhu?"
"Of course not. I am a Daoist of Sanqing Temple on Mount Sanqing. My junior sister also cultivates at Sanqing Temple. This time, we're taking you back to Sanqing Temple to cultivate your heart..."
"Third senior brother!" The young woman entered carrying a set of clothes, looking at him disapprovingly.
Tao Ji instantly came back to himself. He had practically spilled all their secrets.
So he glared at Pan Yun, turned around, and continued packing.
The young woman said, "Let's go. Change clothes in my room. The bewildering formation in the plum grove won't stop that person for long. Either he'll discover the body, or he'll find his way to the temple."
Pan Yun obediently followed her.
The clothes the young woman had brought were made of common dark blue-green fabric, half-worn and sized for a boy. The sleeves were a little long on her, but rolling them up would do.
Pan Yun did not really want to wear them. Although she could smell soapberry on them, showing they had been washed, she still was not used to it.
"Whose clothes are these?"
The young woman had already packed her own things and tied her bundle onto her back. Hearing this, she looked at Pan Yun for a moment before saying, "They came from the temple's charity hall. Some pilgrims who come to offer incense donate incense money, while others wash clothes their families no longer need and bring them here for pilgrims in need to take."
Pan Yun no longer minded. She tidied the clothes she had changed out of, wrapped them in the small piece of cloth the young woman handed her, and copied her by tying them onto her back.
Mm, she was someone with luggage too.
Tao Ji called out from outside. The young woman picked Pan Yun up and said, "My name is Xuan Miao. You'd better behave yourself on this journey. I'm not as easy to fool as my senior brother."
Once the two met up, they immediately took a side path out through the temple's side gate.
Not long after they left, Liu Jing, who had been circling around in the plum grove, finally found his way out and pushed open the temple's back gate.
Frowning, he searched through the temple. He did not see any trace of Wang Yong. After thinking it over, he still followed his instincts and returned to the plum grove to keep searching, though this time, he grabbed a monk to accompany him.
That plum grove was clearly strange. Since it belonged to the temple, the monks ought to know where its strangeness lay.
Before you continue