Chapter 12: Transaction

Tao Ji was muttering about the black cat on the boat, "Pan Yun treats it so harshly—I wonder if she'll abandon it to save her own life."

After all, a little girl carrying a black cat is quite noticeable, and easier to inquire about—if it were him, he might very well ditch the cat to shake off pursuers.

Just imagining the black cat wandering the human world, suffering hunger and cold, limping on one leg, its fur matted and filthy when they next meet, making it unrecognizable as the old companion, filled Tao Ji with heartache.

Master Xuanmiao glanced at him. "Third Senior Brother, don't fixate only on alchemy—learn some divination techniques in your spare time."

"Pan Yun won't abandon that cat. Though I don't know why, their fates are bound together—the bond between her and the cat is deeper than the bond between her and her father, Pan Hong."

Tao Ji: "Then when we reach Kaifeng, won't we just need to ask around for a little girl carrying a cat to find her?"

Master Xuanmiao: "If she hides the cat, it'll be harder to find. Still, be thorough—mainly inquire about children around seven or eight years old, traveling alone."

Children of that age, once dressed up, can be indistinguishable in gender, so we can't even fixate on gender.

But they hadn't expected that upon arriving at Zhuxian Town and asking around, no child traveling alone at seven or eight years old had ever come to the dock.

One man, asked twice in succession, grew annoyed and snapped, "Who would let a seven- or eight-year-old child travel alone by boat from Da Ming Prefecture to Kaifeng? Afraid of being taken by water ghosts as a substitute corpse?"

Tao Ji stood there, innocent-faced, turning to look at Master Xuanmiao.

Master Xuanmiao frowned, turned away, and said, "Let's eat something first. Eat well, then keep searching."

They sat at a stall. Master Xuanmiao pulled out a handful of copper coins, selected three of the cleanest, most identical ones, held them in her palm, shook them, and cast them six times in succession, then arranged the hexagram for divination.

Tao Ji whispered, "Sister, didn't you say it's bad to repeatedly divinate the same matter?"

Master Xuanmiao: "When there's no path ahead, divination is necessary."

Master Xuanmiao stared at the arranged hexagram, frowning. The omen was too strange—it showed she was in danger, yet the omen wasn't bad. After thinking, she simply overturned it and started over.

Master Xuanmiao performed the simplest divination, asking only: "Where is Pan Yun now, in relation to us?"

The hexagram appeared. Master Xuanmiao said, "After eating, we head north. The omen shows Pan Yun is north of us."

Tao Ji: "So she's already left Kaifeng and gone north? Then we'll catch up faster by land."

Master Xuanmiao felt something was off, yet couldn't pinpoint what, so she nodded: "At least heading toward Datong won't be wrong—her ultimate goal is to find Pan Hong and his son in Datong."

After eating noodles, Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji went to the carriage and horse stable to rent horses.

Yes, to chase after her, they had finally splurged on renting horses.

One rider each, they galloped along the imperial road northward, scanning the people ahead until dusk, when they finally stopped.

By the fire, Tao Ji tossed more wood on it, incredulous: "We haven't seen her all this way—could she have rented a carriage or horse like us? I remember she had no money. Or did we search in the wrong place?"

Master Xuanmiao was arranging the hexagram. After a moment, she tucked away the coins and said gravely, "She's still north of us."

Tao Ji opened his mouth but held back.

Master Xuanmiao snorted, "I couldn't have miscalculated. She definitely took the water route southward."

Then how could she have reached north of us so quickly?

Tao Ji's eyes widened. "Could it be some arcane art? Shrinking distance, traveling a thousand li in an instant?"

The more he spoke, the more excited Tao Ji became. "It's possible! Sister, she can vanish into plum trees—this kind of arcane art you can't even do. Too bad she's been so hostile all this way—we couldn't ask about such secrets."

Master Xuanmiao fell into thought, considering this possibility.

But regardless, it had successfully stirred her competitive spirit. She clenched her fist. "I will catch her."

In the flickering firelight, Pan Yun completed her Small Heavenly Cycle, pressed the Qi into her Upper Dantian to make it her own power, and let the excess energy disperse into her limbs and body, nourishing every part.

Days of exhaustion vanished. She rose, stretched her arms and legs, feeling refreshed. "Eight years—I've never felt this healthy before."

The black cat, curled on the leaves, remained silent.

Pan Yun glanced down at it, sat cross-legged opposite, choosing to face it directly. "Since our formal meeting, we've never had the space or time for a serious talk. Now there are no outsiders here—for our future, don't you think we should speak openly?"

The black cat lifted its front half, sitting like her, hind legs pinned by branches, one leg splayed out—making it look unimposing—but it still gave a solemn "meow." "Fine. Let's talk."

A Xiuchun knife suddenly appeared in Pan Yun's hand. The black cat startled, reared back, rolled over with a "gul," and angrily "meowed"—before it could speak, Pan Yun had already laid the blade across her knees. "See? Without you, I can still retrieve things from the Three Jade Spirit Realm."

The black cat's anger stalled. It said nothing.

"That means, without its spirit, the Three Jade Spirit Realm is just like the one in my past-life lab—any unsealed portion can be used," Pan Yun said. "Now, it resides in my Upper Dantian, fused with my soul. Naturally, except for the sealed portions, I can use whatever remains whenever I wish."

So the spirit is more of a liability than an asset to her. Unless it can bring her substantial benefit, it's unlikely to convince her to keep it.

The black cat had followed her this whole journey and knew arguing on emotional grounds wouldn't work. She was ruthless and held a grudge over it consuming her Qi for eight years—it was unlikely to be swayed by their mutual aid to let it back into her mind.

"My distant memories are sealed. I remember little," the black cat began. "But I still recall the purpose of my creation." It sat upright, gazing at the moon in reflection. "The human body is merely a vessel; the soul is the essence. With an eternal soul, one achieves immortality. My creator intended me to become a world capable of housing souls. Within my world, these conscious beings could continue and transcend, possessing extraordinary wisdom."

"In my world, they could attain immortality!"

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow in surprise. This direction was unexpected.

Her fingers tapped the scabbard. She pondered: "Super AI? No—that's not right. Immortality beyond the body—that's beyond even super AI."

The black cat looked down its nose at her. "This is Spirit Refinement!"

Pan Yun glanced at it. "Did you and your creator achieve it?"

The black cat lowered its head. "I don't know. I was sealed."

"But I know this unsealed portion is merely a tiny fraction of me. Space, storage functions—compared to my other abilities, they're negligible."

Seeing Pan Yun didn't refute it, the black cat spoke more sincerely: "This world differs from your past life. Here, Qi is scarce, cultivation is far harder, and production technology is backward. Above you sits an Emperor who can decide life and death at will. Acquiring cultivation resources here will be infinitely harder than in your past life."

"But I am your resource!"

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Seeing Pan Yun lost in thought, the black cat proudly lifted its head. "You don't know, do you? The cultivation methods in your past life always had flaws—the Qi storage rate was extremely low, constantly leaking into the surroundings."

Pan Yun looked at it with disdain. "I know. Not just me—everyone in the country, everyone in the world knows."

The black cat's grand speech choked in its throat.

Pan Yun: "Otherwise, why do you think the lab poured so many resources into you, trying to unseal you?"

"To us, you were nothing but a storage device—like ancient heavenly texts. Many experts believed you held cultivation methods recorded by our ancestors."

Pan Yun stared coldly at it. "Now it seems you really do have them—not just have them, you remember them. But you hid in my Upper Dantian for years, watching me use inferior methods without warning me—was it because the Qi I generated was absorbed by you before it could even leak out?"

The black cat fell silent.

Pan Yun: "Fine, I agree not to seal you. Let's talk about a deal now—stop talking nonsense about splitting half the Qi I've cultivated. Your current leverage isn't enough to earn that reward."

The black cat slumped its shoulders, its tiny form looking pitiful. "Then how much will you give me?"

Pan Yun fell silent, then said after a long while: "One fiftieth. Consider it the cost of renting the Three Jade Spiritual Realm."

The black cat's chest rose and fell, but meeting Pan Yun's gaze, it caved. This amount of spiritual energy was less like rent for the Three Jade Spiritual Realm and more like payment for trading cultivation techniques.

After all, it wasn't in its true body—she could use the Three Jade Spiritual Realm too.

The black cat agreed, but couldn't help muttering, "So little? How long will it take me to break the seal?"

Pan Yun: "Breaking the seal can't rely solely on you absorbing Qi to free yourself. Wait until I study the arrays and talismans—maybe we can find a way to unlock it from outside."

The black cat: "Your teacher, an expert far superior to you, couldn't do it. How can you be better than them?"

Pan Yun: "I have talent. Haven't you heard the old saying? The waves behind push forward those ahead—I'm the wave behind."

"Enough idle talk. Give me the technique."

She needed to cultivate urgently. A persistent unease lingered in her heart—as if she'd never truly escaped safety, still trapped beneath someone's five-fingered mountain.

The black cat's true body resided within her dantian. Though it couldn't sense her specific thoughts, it still felt something—like a soul-deep resonance.

Impossible to explain.

So it felt it too.

The black cat said: "The techniques I know are recorded on my second jade tablet. Over the years, I've partially unsealed it—but then I resealed it."

Pan Yun: "Oh, to prevent me from sensing it, right?"

The black cat ignored that remark. "I'll unseal it now—you can read it yourself. But before I do, I have one more condition."

Pan Yun signaled for it to speak.

The black cat lay down and lifted its hind leg. "Besides giving me Qi as rent, you must guarantee my safety—my safety as the realm's spirit!"

It emphasized: "I keep my word—I'll never steal or rob your Qi again. But you must guarantee you'll never again consider sealing me, and no one else may harm me."

Pan Yun agreed at once: "Fine."

(End of Chapter)