Chapter 126: Changing Fate

Xiao Cui's expression brightened slightly; Wang Feiyin fumbled in his robes and pulled out a vial of medicine, pouring out one pill for her.

Xiao Cui, who had previously been wary of Pan Yun and the others, took the pill without hesitation and put it in her mouth.

Pan Yun, dying with curiosity, had long abandoned her new disciple and pushed forward; seeing this, she swiftly handed over a bamboo tube.

The bamboo tube contained clear water; Xiao Cui took it, swallowed the pill with it, and after a moment, her complexion improved further.

Wang Feiyin examined the blood on her fingers, cleaned it off, applied medicine, and wrapped it with a clean linen strip.

"That's settled. I'll give you two more doses; take them home and start taking them. By the third day, when the gathering ends, have your son bring you here so my younger brother can prescribe three more doses—after you finish them, you'll be nearly healed."

Wang Feiyin gently advised: "I know you're quick-tempered, but times have changed. We're old now—what haven't we seen? Some things aren't worth holding onto, and you shouldn't over-worry."

"Take buying this fabric—you just wanted to save your children some money, right? In my view, saving a little is enough. If we push the price down further, your children might find out and blame us for shaming them."

Xiao Cui: "How dare he?"

"Who cares if he dares or not? We don't know what he really thinks. If he can't afford the fabric, it's not that you're bad at saving—it's that he's incompetent. He's well past twenty, and he can't even support his family."

Wang Feiyin: "You mustn't let everything weigh on your heart. Life is only a few decades long—live lightly, joyfully, freely. Let your heart be free, let your body be free."

Xiao Cui gazed at Wang Feiyin with envy. "How could we ever compare to you, Daoist?"

"Same as you, same as you," Wang Feiyin smiled. "I'm supported by my son too, but I don't meddle in his affairs, so I'm calm and well-fed. If I managed his life like you do, I'd be full of rage too."

Xiao Cui fell into thought.

Xiao Cui's home wasn't far—just in the next village.

Those who came to the Mount Sanqing Gathering for the temple fair were all villagers from within ten li, so word of this quickly spread back to Xiao Cui's village.

Her son and daughter-in-law were composting manure in the fields; hearing their mother had fainted at the fair, they immediately dropped their shovels and ran toward the gathering.

Her daughter-in-law followed right behind.

By the time the couple arrived, breathless, Wang Feiyin had already calmed Xiao Cui and helped her up from the ground.

Xiao Cui's son was Luo Dadong; he clearly remembered Wang Feiyin. Along the way, people had pointed him out, so he already knew his mother had collapsed and stopped breathing. He rushed over, grabbed his wife's hand, and knelt before Wang Feiyin, banging his head hard on the ground. "Daoist, you've saved my family again."

Wang Feiyin quickly pulled him up, smiling. "You're bowing to the wrong person—this time, it was my younger brother and younger sister who saved your mother."

Xiao Cui then remembered she hadn't thanked Tao Ji and Pan Yun; she pulled her grandson over and told her son and daughter-in-law: "This young Daoist spotted I was ill; this Daoist gave me acupuncture and saved me. Bow to them."

Luo Dadong and his wife didn't hesitate—they immediately bowed their heads hard to Tao Ji and Pan Yun.

"And the Mountain God," Xiao Cui added. "The Mountain God protected us—this time, I escaped unharmed. I'll burn three big sticks of incense later."

Luo Dadong and his wife turned on the spot, facing Mount Sanqing, and kept banging their heads.

Tao Ji wiped sweat from his brow and hurried forward to help them up, while Pan Yun was staring in astonishment at the Spirit Realm.

The Spirit Realm displayed: Merit +2 +2 +100 +100.

Pan Yun looked at Luo Dadong and his wife, then at Xiao Cui and her grandson, and used her talent to observe them again—she saw the crimson aura swirling around them had vanished.

But what did that crimson aura mean?

Wasn't it the blood disaster?

She understood—she fell ill, was cured, and the blood disaster disappeared—but why did she get a hundred points? That was too much! And why did the child's count count too?

Oh dear, books are useless until you need them—I still can't match Fourth Master.

Just as she thought of Fourth Master, her peripheral vision caught Master Xuanmiao standing among the crowd.

She had been standing there for some time, watching intently.

Pan Yun was about to approach when she saw a faint shadow appear in midair, like a few wisps of cloud sketched together.

She halted, looking up at the sky.

The Mountain God Pan Gong looked down upon all this, his expression solemn, silent.

Seeing the Mountain God merely observe without speaking or acknowledging her, Pan Yun quietly slipped back beside Master Xuanmiao.

Li Jisi followed closely, standing silently behind his little master.

Master Xuanmiao glanced at him, then at Pan Yun, said nothing, and made no move to stop her.

"Fourth Master, I just received a huge amount of merit—I glanced a little longer, called out Third Brother, and yet earned so much merit?"

Master Xuanmiao knew Pan Yun had received a Merit Stone from the Mountain God and forged it into a treasure that revealed her own merit. Though she didn't understand why Pan Yun wasted such a precious artifact on this trivial thing, she knew Pan Yun loved doing meritorious deeds. Even when she didn't go to the county town, she'd periodically send rice and flour through others to the beggar children there.

Master Xuanmiao glanced again at Xiao Cui and her grandson, and said calmly: "You changed their fate. What did you see in their aura?"

Pan Yun replied: "Thick white aura, with a patch of red—evil qi, striking straight toward the crown, dark red almost black."

Master Xuanmiao said: "Observing aura isn't just seeing the aura—it's observing the whole person. Her aura is pure, nearly free of impurities, thick white—that means her life has been without fault."

"Look at her hands—rough and calloused, clearly from hard labor. Her marriage palace is dim, indicating her husband died early; her children palace is bright, meaning she's a widow raising a child alone," Master Xuanmiao said. "A widow raising a child alone is especially hard. Yet she lived her whole life without fault—her character is clear."

"Haggling over prices may lack gentleness, but since both sides agree, there's no right or wrong."

Pan Yun: "What if they misunderstood our good intentions?"

"You mean she didn't recognize kindness when she saw it?"

Pan Yun smiled.

Master Xuanmiao said: "Every effect has a cause. She dislikes monks and Daoists because she's been betrayed by them—and suffered deeply from it."

!. Read

She said: "Observing their aura, her life has been full of hardship. Her sudden collapse, nearly dying on the spot—her grandson is young; chaos would naturally bring him harm. You glanced a little longer, and saved their lives."

Pan Yun couldn't help glancing at Li Jisi—when it came to cause and effect, it was Li Jisi who first noticed the grandmother and grandson.

Li Jisi was also lowering his gaze in thought, occasionally glancing up at the pair, comparing their story with Pan Yun and Master Xuanmiao's conclusions—he was beginning to grasp the edge of the Aura-Observing Art.

Pan Yun didn't disturb him—cultivation was like this: the master guides, but mastery depends entirely on oneself.

She beamed at the merit progress bar—it had jumped forward so far. If she gained another seven thousand six hundred eighty-five merit points, she'd reach ten thousand, fill the bar, and unlock one seal.

She wanted to see what new ability the Spirit Realm would unlock when the next seal broke.

"You did well this time. Their fate has changed." The shadow of Pan Gong stood beside Pan Yun, unseen until now.

Pan Yun kept her gaze straight ahead and whispered: "Are their fates so important that even Master, you, came down to watch?"

Pan Gong said, "She devoutly worshipped me for nineteen years. This time, because of a quarrel with someone, rage surged up in her and she dropped dead on the spot. In the chaos, her little grandson was carried off by a child trafficker."

"Because the child was clever, though young in years, he still remembered his own name and home, so he couldn't be sold no matter how many times they tried. The trafficker broke his hands and feet, cut off his ears and tongue, and threw him out on the street to beg. Within two years he fell ill and died — he was only six years old when he passed."

Pan Yun grew solemn and said nothing more.

Pan Gong went on, "Luo Dadong and his wife had suddenly lost their mother, and then lost their son as well. Grief-stricken, they took to their beds and never recovered. Some clansmen of the Luo family took the chance to bully them. The couple searched long for their child without finding him, and being constantly bullied by the village clan, they fell into a long depression and illness. After his wife He Hua died, Luo Dadong took his own life as well."

"After He Xiaocui died, she refused to cross the Naihe Bridge to be reincarnated. She never expected that in the netherworld she would see her whole family of three in such pitiful states of death — especially her grandson. So her grievance ran deep, and she lodged a complaint against me with King Yama."

Pan Yun: "What?"

Pan Gong, his expression calm, narrated, "She devoutly worshipped me for nineteen years, yet in the end I failed to protect her family. So she accused me of failing to perform my divine duties."

Pan Yun was silent. Only after a moment did she ask, "So she won the case?"

Pan Gong nodded. "What she accused me of was not wrong, but my magic power is limited and my faith-power is not much either. I watched them fall into misfortune, and several times I wanted to rescue that family from fire and water, but the Mandate of Heaven was not on their side, and I missed them again and again."

He sighed with regret, "I don't have many believers, and that family was among the most devout. But still I couldn't protect them. What's the use of a god who can't protect his people? So they were right to accuse me."

Pan Yun looked up at him. "What does Master mean?"

Pan Gong: "You know."

Pan Yun said solemnly, "Please rest assured, Master. I will certainly work hard to develop believers and safeguard your reputation and dignity, old man. When I charged straight ahead at the front back then, it was because I had already seen the karmic tie between her and our Mount Sanqing."

Pan Gong's face still showed little expression, but his tone eased considerably. "Now all of my steadfast believers were developed by your Senior Brother. I hope you can be the same as your Senior Brother."

Pan Yun nodded again and again. "I will certainly learn from Senior Brother."

Pan Gong was satisfied. He took one last look at He Xiaocui, his form grew faint, and he slowly vanished into the air.

The moment he left, with a soft "pop," a layer of air-membrane around Pan Yun seemed to shatter. Only now did Li Jisi see Pan Yun. He walked over and asked quietly, "Master, I seemed to see a blanket of misfortune- Qi over that family's heads just now, and afterward it looked like they'd still be unlucky. Do you think I saw wrong?"

Pan Yun looked at him with approval. "You didn't see wrong. The Ruzike Sect is teachable."

Today's lucky number is the one ending in 1 — screenshot as proof

(End of this chapter)