Chapter 103

The Dao De Jing, Pan Yun knew by heart, but neither in her past life nor this one had she gleaned anything useful from it, so she soon gave up and stopped pondering it, focusing instead on arrays, talismans, and the study of the Spirit Realm.

Now, perhaps her mindset had changed, and with better methods to unseal the Spirit Realm, she began contemplating the relationship between merit, the Dao, and the world's rules.

Thus, she achieved three moments of sudden enlightenment, deepening her understanding of the world's rules.

Pan Yun had already sensed that cultivation focused solely on Qi and the body was insufficient—she must also cultivate the heart and the spirit.

In their past lives, they had gone astray, emphasizing cultivation alone while neglecting the heart and spirit, which is why, after decades, no one had surpassed the initial battle ceiling.

Not to mention drawing closer to the Dao.

She ought to seriously consider how to proceed with her future cultivation path.

Of course, this was not something she could figure out in a day, so her main tasks remained learning, cultivating, and conducting experiments.

Pan Yun received a letter from her father and brother.

Pan Hong received another fifty taels she had sent; though he didn't understand why she was using money transfers to test world-rule tolerance, he still waited two days before writing back.

He wrote that everything in their area remained unchanged, with no incidents.

As soon as Pan Yun received the letter, she withdrew one hundred taels from her savings and sent it to them.

If exceeding one hundred taels had no effect, then from now on, she had another way to save money.

Seeing Miao Zhen and the others had also experienced no incidents during this time.

She decided to repay all the money she had borrowed, then earn some to lend to Seeing Miao Zhen and the others to test.

With Master Rich as her faithful devotee, her talismans still sold well; while she couldn't hope to earn vast sums, one or two hundred taels was achievable.

Yet her savings cap had risen—earning only one or two hundred taels was certainly insufficient; she needed at least five hundred.

She also had to complete this experiment before her merit points accumulated too much, to keep costs low.

Now, she received exactly fifteen merit points twice daily—once in the morning, once in the evening—both during meal times.

Clearly, those little beggars recited her name before every meal.

So she must complete this experiment before her merit accumulated further, so she'd have a clearer sense of things and act more freely in the future.

Backup plans must be prepared.

The little beggars were too grateful, so though she didn't wish to accumulate more merit just now, when she went to the county again, Pan Yun brought them a sack of grain.

She found Little Seven again beside the food stall near the herbal shop, and patted the grain sack on the donkey cart: "I've brought you a sack of grain, but you'll have to hull it yourselves."

Little Seven clutched her bowl and scrambled onto the cart, shouting: "Thank you, Pan Jie!"

Wang Cong had accompanied her to the county this time—first to buy body-cultivation herbs, second to inspect the fired divine statue.

Recently, Pan Yun, Seeing Miao Zhen, and the others had accelerated their cultivation, consuming herbs faster; the body-cultivation medicine, once needed only monthly, now required replenishment every twenty days.

Wang Cong drove the donkey cart to deliver the grain to the thatched shed.

He stared in astonishment at the children who ran out of the shed.

This sack of grain had been bought in the village after they descended the mountain that morning, paid for by Pan Yun herself.

He had been puzzled why they needed to bring a sack of grain to the county.

Wang Cong stared blankly and asked: "Little Master, is this how you accumulate merit?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Yes. My abilities are limited—I can only do this much."

Pan Yun didn't linger; she patted Little Seven's head and instructed her: "If anything happens, send someone to Mount Sanqing to find me."

Little Seven nodded and enthusiastically saw them off to the main street.

Only then did Wang Cong accompany Pan Yun out of town to meet Yu Qing's brothers.

They arrived just in time—the kiln had been opened that morning, and the divine statues had been treated and placed in the sun, with a group inspecting them for flaws.

Seeing Pan Yun, Yu Qing was thrilled: "Little Daoist, you've come at the perfect time—I was just about to send Xiaojing to fetch you. Look, we've fired the statue—no flaws at all."

Pan Yun and Wang Cong stepped forward to examine it.

The statue's face was solemn, but its eyes were blank; the patterns on its robes were sharply fired.

The sword had been forged separately and needed to be glued on, precisely according to Pan Yun's specifications, and it was well-made.

The glaze was smooth, gleaming with porcelain luster.

Pan Yun circled the statue, checking its base—no flaws whatsoever.

Pan Yun asked: "How many kilns did you fire?"

Yu Qing stroked his beard and smiled: "This is the ninth kiln. We were lucky—we didn't expect it to succeed so soon; we thought we'd need to fire more."

Wang Cong stared blankly at the statue's handsome face and asked: "Little Master, is the Mountain God really this handsome?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Yes. Master looks exactly like this."

Wang Cong: "You said He was a crane…"

"Yes. Every time He appears, He eventually transforms into a crane and flies away—isn't that a crane?" Pan Yun paused. "Do you think Master wants us to raise a crane? If we raise one well, perhaps His spirit could descend upon it?"

Wang Cong stayed silent.

The more Pan Yun thought about it, the more convinced she became: "When we return, we'll buy a few cranes to raise."

But Yushan County had no cranes for sale—not even a single household kept them.

People raised chickens and ducks; cranes were rare livestock, requiring travel to distant, larger places. Wang Cong was poor at refusing others, especially elders, so he could only nod: "I'll ask when I return."

The statue was fired, but still needed painting and eye-dotting.

Daoist divine statues are vividly colored—clothing bright, even hair strands luminous—so painting was necessary.

Yu Qing's team had already prepared the pigments; they were experienced in this work. After confirming the statue had no flaws, Yu Qing ordered Wang Xiaojing to bring out the paints.

"There's one more thing I must ask of Little Daoist."

Pan Yun smiled. "Master Yu, speak plainly."

"I see that Xiaojing is diligent and sharp-witted—I'd like to keep him as an apprentice, but I don't know if your monastery will agree."

Since Wang Xiaojing had been brought by Pan Yun's group and was specifically assigned to oversee the statue's firing, Yu Qing had naturally assumed Wang Xiaojing was from the monastery.

It's just that he's not a Daoist Priest.

Pan Yun said, "Wang Xiaojing is a villager from the foot of Mount Sanqing. We must ask for his own opinion—if he's willing, our monastery has no objection."

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Yu Qing said happily, "I've asked—he's willing."

Just then Wang Xiaojing brought out the pigments; Yu Qing immediately called him over. "Come, tell the young Daoist Priest yourself—do you want to become my apprentice?"

"I do!" Wang Xiaojing turned to look at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun nodded to him; Wang Xiaojing immediately knelt before Yu Qing, banging his head hard on the ground, shouting loudly, "Master!"

"Good, good, good!" Yu Qing laughed heartily. "I never expected I'd not only fired a divine statue, but also gained a fine apprentice—hahaha…"

Yu Sheng grumbled, "Like I didn't contribute at all—this statue was fired by both our families together."

"Yes, yes, yes—I never meant to take your credit. Hurry up, come and paint. Once it dries a bit, we can wrap it up and send it off with them."

Pan Yun rolled up her sleeves. "I'll help too."

Wang Cong quickly grabbed her arm. "Little Auntie, can you even do this?"

"Can I? I'm a master of arrays and talismans—I've won awards in fine arts, and I drew the statue's blueprint with your father. Please drop the 'can you?'"

Pan Yun knew the blueprint by heart; she didn't even need to look at it to know which color went where.

She took up vermilion pigment, dipped her brush, smoothed it out, then began painting—each stroke continuous, her hand perfectly steady.

Not just Yu Qing—even Yu Sheng's eyes widened in awe. "This…"

They glanced at Pan Yun, burying their regret deep inside—such skill should be in our kiln yard, not here.

She can paint, her hands are steady—she must carve clay with equal ease.

The statue is molded and carved from clay before being fired in the kiln, so molding and carving are vital to us.

And both require extreme steadiness.

They turned to Wang Xiaojing, their eyes now holding a touch of hope—perhaps he possessed Pan Yun's talent.

"Come on, let's hurry and paint!"

The three worked together and finished coloring quickly.

Pan Yun left it to dry, then told Wang Cong to settle the final payment.

To prevent any mishaps today, Pan Yun handed Wang Cong the public funds that Master Xuanmiao had provided.

These were funds prepared in advance for building the Mountain God Temple.

Yu Qing: "The eyes…"

Pan Yun said, "We'll paint the eyes after the Mountain God Temple is built—we can do it ourselves."

That's the custom: the eyes are painted only after the deity enters the temple, usually by hiring a kiln master for an extra fee.

But Pan Yun has the skill—no need to trouble them.

Mount Sanqing is too far away, and Yu Qing didn't want to make the trip just for a small red envelope—he gladly agreed.

He told Wang Xiaojing, "You've been away long enough. Go back with the young Daoist Priest now—tell your family you're becoming an apprentice, then return in three days."

Yu Qing said, "When you come back, you won't be able to go home for a month. Apprenticeship is hard—you'll do every kind of work. You and your family understand that, right?"

Wang Xiaojing nodded fiercely. "I know, and my family knows too. Master, don't worry—give me any order, they have no objections."

Yu Qing nodded in satisfaction.

He told him to go fetch his bundle and leave with Pan Yun.

The Yu family waited until the paint dried, then wrapped the statue in a ragged cloth, laid a thick layer of straw on the cart, and carefully placed the statue atop the straw, securing it firmly.

That settled the transaction.

Pan Yun waited until Wang Xiaojing arrived, then they drove off together.

Pan Yun sat to one side, her leg swinging back and forth. "Let's go to the Qian family."

Wang Cong felt awkward for his little auntie. "Little Auntie, why not give me the talismans—I'll sell them for you? It's not fair to keep troubling Master Qian."

Pan Yun: "Big Nephew, you're a merchant—don't you see? The Qian family doesn't lose by buying my talismans. They resell them for profit and use them to build connections."

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(End of this chapter)