Chapter 145

Pan Yun's smile vanished. "Is the academy Zhou Bapi? Sweep the ground for a month and get only one merit point—why don't they just rob us outright?"

Pan Yun: "So to exchange this sword technique, you need to sweep for ninety-nine months? Eight years and three months?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: "Little Master, I'm not just good for sweeping. Once I learn skills and earn enough credits, I can take missions down the mountain to train—then I'll earn more merit points, no need to wait eight years."

Pan Yun spun in place. Why was everything about merit points?

Her spiritual realm needed merit points to break its seal, her luck needed merit points to improve, and now even the academy's exchange of cultivation techniques demanded merit points.

Though the calculation methods differed and the sources weren't the same—one measured human emotional value, judged by the Dao; the other was an academy rule—but…

Pan Yun lowered her gaze in thought. The Celestial Master's Office governed all local divine posts, acting as the bridge between state affairs, imperial authority, and celestial worship. If they set merit points and encouraged all Daoist Priests to exterminate demons, defend the Dao, and accumulate virtue, wasn't it because they'd touched the Dao's rules?

Seeing Miao Zhen and Seeing Miao He exchanged a glance at their little master's silence, then whispered: "Little Master, is there a problem with merit points?"

"No problem," Pan Yun said. "This is fantastic! I'm overjoyed!"

How could she not be happy?

The academy also uses merit points—that means she now has dual income.

Do one thing, earn double merit points—doesn't that equal double salary? Without extra work.

Seeing Miao Zhen perked up. "Little Master, should we go work for merit points? I've already inquired—besides sweeping, cleaning the Grand Pure Palace and the Dipper Mother Hall, refilling incense oil, folding spirit gold ingots, even making talisman paper—all earn merit points."

Pan Yun: "These are all manual labor. If we're going to work, we'll do something with technical skill."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "But I only found out about these jobs, and they're hard to get—most are already taken by second-year senior brothers and sisters."

Pan Yun: "Who did you ask?"

"Sister Xuan Li."

Pan Yun sighed. "She really has good connections."

She said: "Go directly to Brother Zhou. He's a fourth-year and works in the Law Hall—he must know. I'll go ask him. You two stay put. Wait until I've gathered the facts, then we'll plan properly."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Seeing Miao He agreed.

Pan Yun turned to Seeing Miao He. "What about you? What book did he give you?"

"It's a prescription book. I looked through it—many of the herbs listed I've never seen on the mountain. Some seem to be new formulas," Seeing Miao He said eagerly. "There are also handwritten notes. Look."

Pan Yun glanced. The notes were extremely detailed. Even with her mediocre alchemy, following this, she might still succeed in refining the medicine.

Seeing Miao He flipped to the last few pages. "Besides the prescriptions, it also records many herbal processing methods—all things Mount Sanqing lacks."

There are so many herbs in the world. Though Mount Sanqing has many kinds, due to climate differences, it can't possibly include them all.

Besides common processing methods, Seeing Miao He only knew those used for Mount Sanqing's usual herbs. Others, she couldn't learn. Tao Ji didn't know them well either.

So this handbook was vital to Seeing Miao He. Mastering it meant learning many prescriptions and processing herbs herself—from gathering to refining, she could handle everything alone.

Honestly, Zhang Liuzhen's gifts to both were extremely valuable. Pan Yun guessed Seeing Miao He's handbook required no less than ninety merit points.

Ninety merit points—for her and her spiritual realm—was the food supply for Xiao Qi and the others in Yushan County for three days. But for academy members, it was eight years and three months' wages.

At this moment, Pan Yun grew curious about her own gift. What would Zhang Liuzhen give her?

"Go back to your rooms and cultivate. Don't tell anyone about the gifts—someone might grow jealous," she said. "Even though we have Zhang Liuzhen as our backer, it's still better to stay low-key and avoid drawing attention."

Seeing Miao He: "I get it—pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger. Grand Master said this way, you live longer and don't feel stifled."

Pan Yun: "... Your Grand Master is right. Don't learn your master's temperament—he does good deeds but still gets people wanting to ambush him in dark alleys. I often think you should change masters."

Seeing Miao He, though she spent more time with Grand Master, still loved her own master, so she whispered: "I don't want to change…"

Pan Yun waved her hand. "Go back, go back. I'll go find Brother Zhou Wang."

Zhou Wang didn't expect Pan Yun to return within half an hour.

He was curious. "Little Sister Pan, why aren't you back taking medicine and healing? Healing is your top priority now." Pan Yun paused, remembering her persona, pressed her chest, and coughed lightly twice. "I plan to take it at night when it's quiet—then I can enter meditation more easily."

Zhou Wang: "Good. The entire academy has denser spiritual energy at night, especially just before dawn—probably because fewer people use it. Training then yields double results. Fengqi Courtyard's energy is second only to Fanxi Courtyard. You'd do better to sleep early, wake after Zi Hour, take your medicine, and heal—the results might be better."

He said: "I stayed in Fanxi Courtyard for a few days. Big Brother told me to meditate after Chou Hour—he does the same."

Pan Yun: So this was an open secret.

Pan Yun asked softly: "Why not tell the students this secret? Let them all rise to meditate?"

Zhou Wang: "Of course, to let them sleep well and preserve their energy."

He said: "For us, cultivation matters, but learning knowledge matters more. Everyone entering the academy has at most five years. Not all Daoist Priests have a complete lineage like your Mount Sanqing does—with full methods for arts, talismans, and alchemy."

"Many temples lack completeness—even one complete technique might be fragmented. Much Daoist knowledge is half-understood, so they must learn here."

"If we revealed this, students would think the academy values cultivation over study, rush to train, and slack off in daytime classes. Better to leave it as is—those with initiative will eventually discover it themselves, and choose whether to prioritize cultivation or study. Those who never find out? They simply need sleep—they lack the affinity."

Pan Yun: "Oh, fate~~"

"It's all about affinity," Zhou Wang studied her expression, then whispered, "You don't seem surprised at all. Have you already discovered it?"

!. Read.

Pan Yun grinned. "Not at all—I'm precisely the one with intent."

Zhou Wang laughed. "No wonder your cultivation is so high—you extinguished my fire in one go. You've been able to cultivate Yuanli all along?"

Pan Yun: "It's my master's gift."

She'd never tell anyone she was born with a Dao Body. Never mind the question—blame it all on her Mountain God master.

Zhou Wang was both envious and curious. "Little Sister Pan, did you really meet the Mountain God?"

"Of course. I have the Divine Seal." After the Temple Fair, Pan Yun had learned how to activate the seal on her wrist. Seeing Zhou Wang's curiosity, she used her technique to reveal it for him to see.

Zhou Wang was awestruck. "So this is the Mountain God Seal… How did you become the Mountain God's disciple?"

Pan Yun sat on the steps and spun tales for Zhou Wang—naturally, the version agreed upon by Mount Sanqing's elders. "... I suffered terribly—like soaking in bitter broth. Every day, I was hungry, cold, couldn't sleep soundly, never knew when my master would beat me to death."

"Being a servant is indeed hard, but Little Sister, you don't look like a slave at all," Zhou Wang hesitated, then whispered softly. "You look more like a master—your aura isn't just any master's."

Pan Yun's face turned solemn. "Everyone is the master of their own spirit. I was sold—but to me, only my labor was sold, not my personhood or spirit."

Zhou Wang stared, stunned. After a long pause, he sighed. "Little Sister, at such a young age, you've reached this insight—no wonder the Mountain God took you as a disciple."

What was he doing at nine?

Oh, he was carrying a sword, pretending to be a wandering knight-errant, roaming the jianghu, righting wrongs and upholding justice, becoming the Lin Mengzhu of the Wu Lin Alliance, and finally sacrificing himself for the sake of Wu Lin.

In the end, he carried that sword and was unbeaten among the children. His father, seeing he truly would not submit to discipline, sent him to his master's hands, letting his master discipline him, hoping he could learn a bit of his master's solemnity and uprightness.

Pan Yun: "Sigh, just average, I guess. Blame it on having suffered too much at such a young age, bearing too much, so my insights are plentiful."

Zhou Wang said: "... And then?"

"And then? Then my Fourth Senior Sister and Third Senior Brother spotted my thin and wretched figure in the vast sea of people. They had a keen eye for talent, saw at once that I was a fine seedling for learning the Dao, and so they wanted to take me back to cultivate the Dao."

Pan Yun, with tears brimming in her eyes, said: "At the time, I also felt an instant kinship with Fourth Senior Sister and Third Senior Brother. The moment we met, it was like heaven's lightning striking earth's fire. The instant our eyes met, I felt we must have met in a past life — otherwise, how could our emotions surge so greatly at first sight?"

Zhou Wang listened with great interest and hurriedly asked: "And after that?"

"After that, I went back to Mount Sanqing with Fourth Senior Sister and the others. The moment I stepped onto Mount Sanqing, ten thousand rays of colored light burst forth. From the foot of the mountain to the peak, I walked in less than a quarter of an hour. Keep in mind I was still an eight-year-old child with no cultivation at all. Once I reached the peak, my master — that is, the Mountain God — immediately appeared and declared that I was the final little disciple He had been waiting for all these years."

Pan Yun waved her hand and said: "What happened after that, you already know. I naturally succeeded in taking him as my master, and from then on cultivated together with master, senior brothers, and senior sisters."

(End of chapter)