Chapter 130: A Show of Force

Pan Yun was tempted for a moment.

Seeing Miao Zhen said, "Little Xiao Shishu, keeping a little ghost is a great taboo."

Pan Yun immediately snuffed out the little spark and said with an upright face, "Quite right, I would never do something that goes against professional ethics."

Whether it's a great taboo or not doesn't matter—it's a matter of mutual consent—but now the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Residence is looking to cause trouble for her, so it's best not to cross the line. When you know there's a pit ahead, of course you should step around it.

Pan Yun tidied her robes and asked primly, "Besides you, are there ghosts in the other two rooms as well?"

The female ghost said tearfully, "No, there's only me. Zhang Weiliang guessed that the little Daoist Priest would definitely stay in the middle, so they only set something up in this room."

"I see, looks like their calculations were pretty accurate," Pan Yun chuckled, "but they definitely couldn't have guessed that I would treat all three of them equally, absolutely no favoritism."

Pan Yun picked up the female ghost and went out, kicking open the two adjacent rooms. There were indeed no ghosts hidden inside, but there were quite a few little prank mechanisms.

Pan Yun collected them all—dismantling what could be dismantled, and having the female ghost trigger the rest. After taking everything apart, she had the female ghost open the rooms of the three people across the way.

She put everything she could to use, adding little extras to their little designs to make these little games more entertaining.

Miao He wandered around the courtyard, looked left and right, and when she saw no one, she moved a stone from beside the water vat and carried it step by step into Zhang Weiliang's room.

Pan Yun finished her setup and turned around to see her standing on a chair, placing the stone on the door.

Pan Yun: …

"Miao He, what are you doing?"

Miao He: "Treating them the way they treated us."

Pan Yun said, "Let's use something else. If this big stone falls down, it'll kill someone."

Miao He: "Use what, then?"

Seeing Miao Zhen handed over a bottle. "Use this."

Seeing the bottle, Pan Yun broke into a grin and nodded approvingly. "Not bad, not bad."

They finished setting things up, put the tables and chairs back in place, erased their traces, then pushed open the window and jumped out.

After jumping down, Pan Yun even took out a handkerchief to wipe away their footprints.

After all this was done, Pan Yun went back to work on the female ghost.

The female ghost was huddled in the corner of the bed, with the black cat staring at her. The moment she moved, the black cat's paw would swipe at her.

The female ghost could be certain that other black cats at most could see her and absolutely had no ability to hit her, but this black cat could.

So after being swiped twice, she didn't dare move anymore.

Pan Yun dragged over a chair and sat across from her. "Come, let's have an honest talk. Your name, your hometown, how you died, any unfulfilled wishes—tell me everything."

"I don't remember~" the female ghost drew out her voice, but seeing no ripple on Pan Yun's face, she gritted her teeth inwardly.

She hated children like Pan Yun the most—can't scare them, can't seduce them either.

Pan Yun twisted her wrist and said, "I'll give you one more chance."

After a long pause, the female ghost said aggrievedly, "My name is Xiao Hong. I don't remember my hometown, and I've forgotten how I died too, but I can be sure I was killed by someone—otherwise I couldn't have become a ghost."

"I have no other wish, I just want to be a proper ghost," she said with a hint of excitement. "Actually, I think being a ghost is pretty nice—no need to eat, no need to drink, no need to worry about earning money, and no one bullies you."

Pan Yun: "Aren't Zhang Weiliang and I bullying you? Zhang Weiliang keeps you and forces you to do bad things, and I didn't hit you any less just now."

Xiao Hong stiffened, then said, "It's fine. Just the two of you, I can handle it. It's still better than when I was alive and anyone could come bully me."

Pan Yun: "What did you do before? How did people bully you?"

Xiao Hong laughed, "I don't remember, I really don't remember."

Pan Yun stared at her for a long while, then said, "Fine, if you don't remember, then you don't remember. If you want me to let you go, you have to do one thing for me."

Xiao Hong: "What thing?"

"Whatever Zhang Weiliang told you to do to scare me, you do the same to him. Don't wear white anymore—switch to red. Red clothes are scarier."

"How could I possibly scare him? He controls me. What if he beats me until my soul disperses…"

"I'll sever the connection between you two. If he beats you until your soul disperses, so will I. So tell me—would you rather be beaten by him, or beaten by me?"

Xiao Hong was speechless for a long while, and in the end chose to be beaten by Zhang Weiliang.

She felt she could escape from Zhang Weiliang's hands, but from Pan Yun's hands it would be very hard to get away.

Pan Yun gave her an approving look. "Your choice is correct. Go."

Xiao Hong: "Red clothes…"

Pan Yun's face darkened. "Don't tell me you can't even get a set of red clothes together and need me to burn one for you." Xiao Hong immediately said, "I can, I'll go prepare right now."

Pan Yun waved her off.

Once the female ghost left, the whole courtyard fell quiet. Pan Yun said, "Let's eat dry rations tonight."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He had no objections, so the three of them sat together and gnawed through a meal of dry rations, getting it down only by fantasizing about the evening ahead—otherwise they couldn't have eaten a single bite of the bone-dry food.

Pan Yun had them go inside, and set up formations and talismans at their doors and windows. "Just focus on cultivating and sleeping. We've been traveling for two days and need to rest up. No matter what happens tonight, don't worry about it."

"If anyone breaks into your rooms, just shout. I'm right next door, I'll kill them," Pan Yun grinned. "Don't worry, your Little Xiao Shishu may not be good at anything else, but fighting I'm quite capable of."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "I know. Before Little Xiao Shishu entered the mountain, she could already escape from Third Xiao Shishu and Fourth Xiao Shishu, let alone now."

"That's quite the compliment, don't do it again next time. You'd better erase this from your memory." Pan Yun slammed the window shut. "Go to sleep."

Miao He didn't even need her to close it—she slammed her own window shut with a bang.

Pan Yun carried Pan Xiaohei around the room and asked, "Where do you want to sleep?"

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"Meow—" Pan Xiaohei broke free from Pan Yun's hands, jumped onto the bed, and walked to the innermost spot.

"No," Pan Yun carried her to the table by the window. "You sleep here—comfortable, spacious, and you can keep watch."

The black cat protested with a few meows, but Pan Yun's mind was made up and she wouldn't budge. She sat cross-legged on the bed, closed her eyes, and regulated her breath to cultivate.

For the past half year, with no spiritual realm competing for spiritual energy, her cultivation speed had been very fast. Her spiritual power had filled up and replenished her previous realm, and she had now reached the Fifth Hour. She only needed to advance one more step to enter the First Marquis.

But this First Marquis was extremely difficult—some Daoist Priests might never cross it in their entire lives.

Only by entering the First Marquis does one truly enter the state of cultivation.

Long Hushan is quite good. Although its spiritual energy cannot compare to Mount Sanqing, the moment she entered, she felt the vibrant Daoist Qi. Here, talismans appear every five steps, and blessing talismans can be seen everywhere. Just as Fourth Senior Sister said, Long Hushan's way of talismans and talismanic registers is indeed unrivaled under heaven. Even if she could only learn a smattering of it, she would benefit from it endlessly.

Since that is the case, she must settle down here properly.

Pan Yun lowered her eyes. The Zhang Zhang Tian Shi Zhang's influence in the court was no small matter; the Emperor would ask them about state policy from time to time, and even the Zhang Zhang Tian Shi would bestow talismanic registers upon the Emperor.

Therefore, whoever blocked her from learning her craft, whoever made her life difficult, she would make their life difficult in return.

As the sky gradually darkened, footsteps came from outside the courtyard, which had been quiet all along. Pan Xiaohei instantly pricked up his head, glanced at Pan Yun who was cultivating, quietly got up, opened the window, and slipped out.

It leapt down from the window, bounded a few times to the top of the wall, walked nimbly to the wall above the gate, and peeked down.

The lantern hanging by the gate lit up. A figure stood beneath the lantern, and upon seeing the three approach, said with a dark expression, "Back?"

As the person stepped out from the shadows, Pan Yun, through Pan Xiaohei's line of sight, clearly saw the other's face—it was Zhang Weiyi, whom she had not seen since he left that afternoon.

The three were startled at the sight of Zhang Weiyi, their footsteps faltering slightly. Zhang Weiliang then scoffed, "What, did the new kid tattle on you?"

Zhang Weiyi: "She didn't tattle, because what you schemed didn't hurt her—it hurt Fifth Uncle-Master."

Zhang Weiliang frowned. "What's the deal with Fifth Uncle-Master? Why does he always love to meddle? He can't really be thinking of looking after these three little brats, can he?"

Zhang Weiyi: "I don't care what he's thinking, and I don't care what you lot are thinking either. In short, remember this—if you want to cause trouble, don't do it inside Phoenix Perch Court. If you make my Phoenix Perch Court a complete mess, I won't show any mercy."

Zhang Weiliang snorted. "What do you mean 'your Phoenix Perch Court'? This Phoenix Perch Court belongs to everyone, alright? You're just the head of the court. Whether you'll still be next year isn't certain."

"I don't want to be next year either," Zhang Weiyi turned and walked away. "Out of consideration for the many years we've lived together, I'll give you one reminder—this newly enrolled junior sister is not as easy to bully as her age suggests."

Zhang Weiliang could not stand the sight of him the most. He chased up from behind and bumped his shoulder, snorting, "I'm not easy to bully either…"

Having said that, he pushed open the door. With a loud clang, a basin of dirt poured down like a waterfall, covering his head and face. The wooden basin then clanged onto his shoulder before falling to the ground.

Zhang Weiyi stopped in his tracks, his face extremely ugly.

Behind him, Zhang Weiqin and Zhang Weigang's faces also looked unpleasant.

Zhang Weiliang shook his head violently, flinging off the dust from his head and face, but still could not open his eyes.

He instantly flew into a rage, letting out a scream of "Ah——", and charged straight toward Pan Yun's room. But after only two steps, his footing went soft, and his entire right leg sank in.

Zhang Weiliang stumbled and fell to the ground. He braced himself on the ground, about to struggle free from the mud and climb up, when the quick-eyed Zhang Weiyi pressed down on his shoulder. "Are you mad? Don't want your leg anymore?"

Zhang Weigang ran up and pressed the gradually hardening soil, his face changing drastically. "She turned the ground into a mud swamp, and now it's about to turn into hard ground. How does she have such an ability?"

Zhang Weiyi: "Don't forget, she's a disciple of the Mountain God."

"Isn't that just Mount Sanqing putting gold on her face and bragging?"

Zhang Weiyi glared at the three, but still formed a hand seal to summon water, letting the water wash away the soil and make it soft again.

The moment Zhang Weiliang exerted force, he cried out in pain. Seeing this, the other two also hurriedly thought of ways to help—one slapped a talisman, the other used his hands to pry at the soil. It took an enormous effort to finally pull the person out of the mud swamp.

End number 2

(End of chapter)