Chapter 101: Observing Qi

Pan Yun clutched her stomach and stumbled back to her room—this was already her third trip to the latrine tonight. She had walked this path countless times, but now, her left foot tripped over her right, and she crashed down with a thud.

“Meow—”

“Shut up!” Pan Yun pushed herself up on her arms, gritting her teeth. “If I hear you laugh again, I’ll sew your mouth shut.”

Pan Xiaohei stopped laughing but deliberately walked ahead of her, tilting his head to look back, his large glassy eyes brimming with mockery.

Pan Yun: …

Pan Yun took a deep breath and decided to let the little cat’s antics slide. She said coldly, “Record it: borrowed five hundred taels. Misfortune begins on the third day.”

Though he mocked her, Pan Xiaohei still did the job.

Pan Yun got up and slowly felt her way back inside, lifted her pant leg to examine her swollen knee, then glanced at her palm. After a moment’s thought, she pulled out the money and went straight to knock on Miao Zhen and Xuan Miao’s doors.

Xuan Miao and Miao Zhen regarded her with cold expressions.

Pan Yun offered them a sweet smile and held out two fifty-tael silver notes. “Sister, I’m lending you one hundred taels.”

“Miao Zhen, I’m lending you one hundred taels. Pay me back in a couple of days.”

Xuan Miao and Miao Zhen looked down at the silver notes thrust before them. Eventually, they humored her experiment and reached out to take them.

Pan Yun exhaled. “This is a one-time thing. I’ll never knock on your doors again in the middle of the night.”

Xuan Miao’s face remained icy. “Only if it’s urgent. If it’s not, hold it in.”

With that, she shut the door.

Pan Yun sat there clutching her stomach, wondering: was her diarrhea an urgent matter—or not?

Pan Yun turned and knocked on Miao He’s door.

After a long while, Miao He came to open it, eyes still closed. She struggled to lift her eyelids, but could only crack them open a sliver, her head drooping as she asked, “What is it?”

Pan Yun shoved a hundred taels into her hands. “Miao He, I’m lending you one hundred taels. Keep it safe. Pay me back in a couple of days.”

Miao He blinked, numbly accepted the money, shut the door, and drifted back to bed like a ghost.

The next morning, she woke up and, while dressing, two silver notes fell from the inner pocket of her robe.

She let out a “Whoa!” and quickly snatched them up, holding them to the morning light, checking again and again until she confirmed they were real. Then she threw on her clothes and sprinted out.

She raced all the way to the front courtyard’s mountain gate and shouted to the group practicing: “Master—Sanqing Ancestor just gifted me one hundred taels!”

Tao Ji nearly toppled off his stone while meditating. Wang Feiyin, still slowly practicing his fists, paused and asked calmly, “What good deed did you do to earn Sanqing Ancestor’s reward?”

Miao He thought for a moment. “I clean the altar for Sanqing Ancestor every day.”

Wang Feiyin: “Your little auntie and Miao Zhen clean it just as often. Why didn’t they get rewarded?”

Miao Zhen pulled out one hundred taels. “I got some too.”

Wang Feiyin stopped his movements and turned to look.

Pan Yun slowly produced two hundred taels. “I’ve got silver notes too, Miao He. Could it be that the hundred taels you got were the ones I lent you?”

Miao He looked utterly confused. “Lent to me? Why would you lend me money? I didn’t ask you for any. Sure, I’m poor, but I’m not short on cash.”

Miao Zhen reminded her: “Last night, little auntie started having bad luck, then came knocking and lent us money.”

“Oh!” Miao He leaned back, eyes wide. “So someone really did knock on my door last night? I really did get up and open it? I thought I was dreaming.”

Miao He tucked the hundred taels away and patted her sleeve pocket. “Little auntie, don’t worry—this hundred taels is safe with me. How many days do you want to lend it for?”

Pan Yun: “Just keep it for now. If no effect shows after ten days, return it to your senior disciple.”

Pan Yun was patient. She was determined to understand this rule, and she didn’t mind diarrhea or falling down to do it.

After morning practice, she felt excited thinking about today’s lesson on subduing demons and eliminating evils.

This lesson clearly involved practical training—learning offensive Daoist arts and martial techniques.

Sure enough, after breakfast, Xuan Miao led them to an open field and said: “Demons and monsters exist. They hide among humans. The more people and the more bustling the place, the more demons and monsters lurk there.”

“As members of the Daoist sect, beyond pursuing the Dao, our most important duty in the mortal world is to subdue demons and eliminate evils.”

Xuan Miao said: “Most demons and monsters lack compassion and stand opposed to humans. Thus, we speak of exterminating demons and killing monsters. But all living beings are equal—not all demons and monsters harm people. For those that don’t, should we kill them?”

Miao He shot up her hand immediately. “I know! Last time we covered it—don’t kill!”

Xuan Miao nodded. “So you must learn to discern whether demons and monsters harm people, whether they carry karmic sins, and how grave those sins are.”

“Demons and monsters, like humans, lie. So don’t listen to what they say—learn to observe qi.”

Miao Zhen murmured: “Observe qi?”

Xuan Miao nodded, turning to Pan Yun. “This won’t be hard for little sister. I’ve seen you observe qi. In my judgment, your ability surpasses even your senior brother’s—and even the Daoists of Long Hushan.”

Miao Zhen and Miao He turned to stare at her, gasping in awe.

Pan Yun didn’t deny it. She simply nodded.

But what she possessed wasn’t the art of observing qi—it was innate, a natural gift of her heart orifice.

“So to learn subduing demons and eliminating evils, you must first learn to observe qi,” Xuan Miao said. “The art of observing qi applies not only to demons and monsters, but also to humans, feng shui…”

Pan Yun had never seriously studied the art of observing qi. In her past life, she had focused on arrays and talismans; she’d only learned rudimentary knowledge of observing qi in high school and university.

Because of her innate heart orifice, even without studying the art, she could instantly perceive the true nature of people and things. Thus, observing qi held little use for her.

But listening to Xuan Miao’s lesson, she realized observing qi was more than just observing qi—it was, in a sense, teaching how to discern the true nature of things.

In simple terms, distinguishing loyalty from treachery might be a lifelong lesson.

Xuan Miao gave many examples and taught them the basics of observing qi—but practice was impossible.

The next day, not only Miao He and Miao Zhen, but even Tao Yanbai, whose Daoist skills were weak, had learned the basics. Xuan Miao scanned the group, then singled out Pan Yun. “Think: right now, she’s your guest, come to you for fortune-telling. What do you see in her qi?”

Miao Zhen clumsily formed a hand seal, traced her fingers over her eyes, then opened them to look at Pan Yun. After a moment, she said: “Noble qi. This person is of high status.”

She frowned. “Is little auntie really of high status?”

Xuan Miao’s face was cold. “The noble qi you saw is merit qi. She is a person of merit. You haven’t yet distinguished noble qi from merit qi.”

“Oh—” Miao Zhen slumped, disappointed.

Miao He was also observing. After straining for a long time, she said: “Little auntie, your face glows red—you’re clearly in excellent health.”

Pan Yun pointed at her own nose. “I’m in excellent health?” She turned to look at Xuan Miao.

Xuan Miao studied her briefly, then nodded. “Miao He isn’t wrong. Your health has improved vastly since you arrived. It seems Sanqing Mountain really does nurture people.”

“But Miao He, what you used isn’t my art of observing qi—it’s the physician’s method.”

Miao He looked guilty. “Can’t they be used interchangeably?”

Pan Yun added: “Yeah, why not? It’s all observing qi.”

Xuan Miao: “Though both are called observing qi, they differ. Though you follow the Golden Core path, you must still learn magical arts.”

“Medicine and Dao are inseparable. Do you know physicians are divided into upper, middle, and lower?”

Miao He shook her head.

Pan Yun, Miao Zhen, and Tao Yanbai all shook their heads too.

Xuan Miao said: “You’re old enough to study the Records of the Grand Historian. There’s an essay in it: ‘Bian Que Meets Duke Huan of Cai.’ It clearly distinguishes upper, middle, and lower physicians.”

Xuanmiao said: “You’re old enough to study the Records of the Grand Historian; it contains an essay called ‘Bian Que Meets Duke Huan of Cai,’ which clearly distinguishes upper physician, middle physician, and lower physician.”

“Bian Que said he was a lower physician—he treats illness only after it enters the blood and marrow. Today, most physicians are lower physicians—or even quacks—treating headaches with headache remedies and foot pain with foot remedies.”

Tao Yanbai: “Third auntie told me the same thing. She told me not to learn from them.”

Xuan Miao: “His elder brother treated illness when it first appeared in the hair follicles—that’s the middle physician. His eldest brother treated illness before it even formed, by perceiving the spirit—that’s the upper physician.”

She said: “The true upper physician understands the mysteries of the universe. The human body is like the universe—each person is a universe. When a physician understands the human body deeply, he understands the universe deeply.”

“Qi refinement and Golden Core cultivation are the methods closest to the Dao’s natural laws. Thus, Dao cultivators must understand medicine. The upper physician must be an elite Daoist; the middle physician also understands Daoist teachings.”

Xuan Miao spoke slowly, each word deliberate: “So if you wish to advance further on the Golden Core path, you cannot learn only medicine and elixirs—you must study all other Daoist arts.”

“Only those who master both can approach the Dao infinitely.”

Pan Yun listened intently and decided she would study Qi refinement and Golden Core cultivation seriously, no longer clinging only to her past-life expertise in arrays and talismans.

Seeing everyone now attentive, Xuan Miao told them to continue observing Pan Yun’s qi.

When it was Tao Yanbai’s turn, he flushed red before saying: “I—I see little auntie’s qi is very strong.”

Xuan Miao asked expressionlessly: “And then?”

“And then?” Tao Yanbai rubbed his forehead. “Then I felt uneasy. I wanted to stay far away from little auntie.”

Xuan Miao looked at him in surprise. “You have some talent. But you’re older than Miao Zhen and Miao He, so don’t get proud.”

“No, no, I won’t be proud.”

Pan Yun turned to him. “Am I not approachable?”

Tao Yanbai looked torn. “Little auntie, you’re very approachable. But when I observed your qi just now, I really wanted to run far away. I’m a little afraid of you.”

“Good,” Xuan Miao said. “Those with sharp senses instinctively keep their distance from you. Even those of us with strong observing qi will keep our distance.”

Pan Yun frowned. “Why?”

“You carry a kind of qi—representing authority, representing trouble,” Xuan Miao said. “Dao cultivators learn to avoid trouble, not to invite it.”

Pan Yun: “But you and Third Brother chased after me.”

“First, I promised your father I’d help you. Second, you truly have cultivation talent. I valued you. I knew that once you left, your fate would be fraught with hardship—even death. I couldn’t bear to let you be wasted.”

“Besides, Sanqing Mountain already has so much trouble. One more won’t hurt. I’m sure your senior brother will handle it.”

Pan Yun: “Thank you.”

Xuan Miao: “No thanks needed. Now that you’ve seen something else in her, observe my qi.”

With that, she stood before them.

Pan Yun immediately formed a hand seal, traced her fingers over her eyes, and looked—but saw nothing.

She refused to believe it. She activated her cultivation method and used her innate gift to look—and what she saw was staggering: three strands of qi entwined around Xuan Miao.

White, gold, red. White was the color of most people’s fortune; gold was merit. The red—was karmic slaughter.

Pan Yun stared, dumbfounded. This was the kind of qi she’d seen on demons meant to be subdued and eliminated.

She turned to look at Miao Zhen and Miao He, seeing both desperately forming hand seals, occasionally blinking, and asked, “Can’t you see it?”

Both shook their heads in disappointment, “We can’t see anything.”

The three of them turned together to look at Tao Yanbai.

Tao Yanbai hesitated, then whispered, “I can’t see anything either, but I also want to stay far away from Fourth Master Shu.”

Miao He was speechless. “Then just say who you don’t want to stay far from.”

Tao Yanbai looked at her, then at Miao Zhen, and whispered, “I don’t want to stay far from you—I want to be closer to you.”

Just then, Tao Ji came over with a teapot and five bowls for them to drink, and Tao Yanbai said, “I also don’t want to stay far from Third Master—I want to be close to Third Master.”

“What are you talking about?”

Xuan Miao sized up Tao Yanbai and said, “You have little innate talent for Dao cultivation, but you do have talent in the Art of Gazing at Qi—you should study it more; it will benefit your elixir and medical arts.”

Tao Ji poured tea for them and said, “You’ve all had an hour of class—drink some water.”

Xuan Miao nodded to them, then took a bowl of tea and drank it down in one gulp.

After seeing they had all drunk, she continued, “You can’t see my qi because I’ve concealed my qi signature.”

Pan Yun: “Conceal?”

After a pause, Xuan Miao said, “That’s not wrong—concealing and shielding mean the same thing.”

She said, “Beyond heaven lies more heaven; beyond people lie more people. As cultivators, when you wish to hide your condition from others, you may conceal your qi signature.”

“After concealing your qi signature, even those with higher cultivation base will find it hard to fully perceive your qi or understand your state,” she glanced at Pan Yun and added, “Except for those of extraordinary talent—these individuals do not use the Art of Gazing at Qi to observe qi; they possess innate talent that allows them to perceive qi directly.”

“But such people are rare—perhaps one in ten thousand—and you may never encounter them. Even if you do, they may not become your enemies, so there’s no need to be overly anxious.”

Xuan Miao said, “Our goal is merely to conceal our identities from fellow cultivators, so no one can see through us at a glance.”

“Therefore, besides the Art of Gazing at Qi, you must also learn to conceal heavenly fate.”

Pan Yun raised her hand high and shouted, “I want to learn it!”

This was perfect for her—she knew everything, while her opponents knew nothing—hahaha…

Lucky number: any number ending in 1, screenshot as proof

(End of Chapter)