Chapter 168: Intake of Spiritual Qi

Zhang Weiyi's lunch box was bought from the cafeteria, containing roast duck, steamed chicken, braised pork, meatballs, and several vegetarian dishes.

Pan Yun's gaze swept over the dishes, and she couldn't help but sniff the aroma of meat in the air.

Our Sanqing Monastery, like the Long Hushan Celestial Master's Mansion, belongs to the Zhengyi Sect of Daoist Priests; our rules are not as numerous or strict as those of the Quanzhen Sect, and we do not forbid meat or alcohol in daily life.

But not forbidding meat and alcohol doesn't mean we eat them every day.

In fact, we don't eat meat often.

When we were on Mount Sanqing, Wang Feiyin thought we were still growing and needed meat and alcohol, so if no one brought meat up from below, he would give us eggs.

If the interval exceeded a month, he would even reluctantly slaughter a chicken for us.

On average, we got a meat meal every five days, and the portion was quite generous.

But even this was rare among Daoists overall, because since coming to the Academy, our daily meals were vegetarian, with only one meat dish every three days—and even that meat…

Was no thicker than shredded meat, offering only a hint of flavor, with no real sensation of eating meat at all.

Daoist Priests live a hard life indeed.

So this lavish lunch box full of meat and fish was still very eye-catching.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He's gazes also fell unconsciously toward the lunch box.

Pan Yun: "What's this, Brother Zhang?"

Zhang Weiyi explained: "This is prepared to celebrate Sister's descent from the mountain—we three pooled our money to buy it, as a gesture to cleanse your impurities and welcome you back."

Pan Yun looked at the lunch box but didn't move.

Zhang Weiyi sighed: "All that happened before was a misunderstanding; please don't hold it against us, Sister."

Seeing Miao Zhen leaned close to Pan Yun's ear and whispered: "Little Auntie, Zhang Weiliang, Zhang Weigang, and Zhang Weiqin have all moved out of Fengqi Courtyard—Zhang Weiliang was sent to the Reflection Cliff, while Zhang Weigang and Zhang Weiqin are on external trials and won't return until graduation next year."

So now only six of us remain in this courtyard—and unluckily, Zhang Weiyi, Xue Hua, and Deng Ziyu will also graduate this September, leaving after receiving their talismans.

There are only three months left.

Clearly, this is Zhang Weiyi's group's gesture of goodwill—they hope the remaining three months can be peaceful, with no more conflicts between us.

Pan Yun understood, smiled faintly at them, and reached out to take the lunch box: "Very well, thank you, three Senior Brothers, for this lunch box."

Zhang Weiyi covered the lid for her, nodded with a smile, and said: "Then we won't disturb you three Sisters while you eat."

After delivering the lunch box, the three turned and left.

Pan Yun watched them return to their rooms, then turned and brought Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He back inside.

She sighed: "If Zhang Weiliang and the others had acted like this from the start, so much trouble would've been saved."

Pan Yun told Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He: "So when we're out in the world, we must always be kind to others, never rashly offend anyone—beyond the sky there is higher sky, beyond people there are greater people; who knows when you'll meet someone truly beyond you?"

Miao He: "Little Auntie, we always follow you, so…"

Pan Yun: "You don't need to say the rest."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "Little Auntie, are you praising yourself or teaching us? Because to Zhang Weiliang and the others, you are that person beyond them."

Pan Yun couldn't help but look up at the sky and sigh: "How long have we been off the mountain? You've all grown so complicated."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He smiled, lips pressed together.

After descending the mountain, the main task is study.

The Academy has few female Daoist Priests; no matter how Daoism proclaims equality among all beings, the prevailing environment means few families will let their daughters show themselves publicly.

Daoist Priests are still born of parents; regardless of why they became Daoist Priests, everyone has an original family.

This ensures Daoist Priests remain mostly male and few female.

People of the same gender naturally prefer to associate with their own kind.

After Sanqing Mountain and Long Hushan improved relations and developed friendly ties, and after Pan Yun demonstrated she was not to be trifled with, many more girls in the Academy began to approach her.

They did nothing special—just nodded and greeted each other in class, or unconsciously gathered together at the cafeteria, laughing and chattering.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He thus quickly found new friends.

Of course, the one they got along with best was Sister Xuan Li.

To be fair, though this girl has a sharp tongue, she truly is a worthy friend to have.

When trouble comes, she truly steps forward.

Xue Taixu, during his Daoist Art class, saw Pan Yun and said: "Pan Yun, come up and draw the Mingmen diagram."

Pan Yun was about to rise, but her black cat, sleeping soundly beside her, made her unusually gentle—she gently lifted it aside with her hand.

That brief delay caused Sister Xuan Li, seated across from her with Seeing Miao Zhen in between, to assume Pan Yun didn't know how to draw due to missing class—she suddenly stood up and declared: "Yuanzhu, I can draw it—I'll do it."

Pan Yun's half-risen buttocks slid smoothly back down, her face filled with gratitude and admiration as she looked at Sister Xuan Li.

Sister Xuan Li caught the look and grew even more proud, lifting her chin and waiting for Xue Taixu's approval.

After a moment of silence, Xue Taixu said: "Then Sister Xuan Li, come up and draw it." Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He looked puzzled—they didn't understand why she'd compete for this; Little Auntie clearly knew how to draw.

But Sister Xuan Li drew it correctly—the Mingmen diagram in Daoist cultivation is not difficult: just depict the two kidneys and the swirling energies of liver and gallbladder.

Sister Xuan Li's drawing was perfectly standard.

Xue Taixu nodded approvingly, told her to sit back down, then called Pan Yun's name: "Pan Yun, explain this Mingmen diagram."

Pan Yun thought for a moment and said: "The internal kidneys are the Two Polarities; between them lies a ring, concealing my true essence—the red and white qi. Left is Xuan Yang, right is Pin Yin."

Xue Taixu stroked his beard and nodded, pleased: "Excellent. Observe—this point is the Zhong acupoint, my postnatal sea of qi, also called True Lead, the northern qi of solemn destruction. Following it gives birth to life; reversing it leads to immortality. This water and fire both belong to the Five Phases, ceaselessly circulating day and night, so the two kidneys together form a single Taiji within the human body…"

Xue Taixu taught them how to cultivate kidney qi, and how to use it to drive the Five Phases qi through the five viscera, storing essence within and projecting it outward.

The former can sustain life in critical moments; the latter allows one to feign weakness, then strike instantly with surprise, killing the enemy off-guard.

Of course, he didn't just teach techniques—he extended them into views on conduct and life.

He taught them not to be overly sharp or showy, but to learn how to conceal their momentum.

!. Read

Pan Yun and the others listened intently; only now did she truly feel that the Academy was indeed a place for learning knowledge.

It looked very much like her past-life school—well, still a bit off, but quite impressive for this era.

No one troubled her again; the three junior disciples' lives returned to normal, their energy focused entirely on cultivation and study.

Every ten days, they received money sent from some unknown place, then used it to buy bath herbs when going down the mountain.

Pan Yun also painted talismans and left them for sale at the Wenda General Store; when delivering them, she would casually hand her written letters to Shopkeeper Chen, asking him to mail them for her.

So far, there was not a single problem.

When she was confined on Si Guo Cliff, she had not written to Datong; her father, receiving no letter from her for so long for the first time, grew anxious and sent three letters to Long Hushan—all intercepted by Seeing Miao Zhen.

Pan Yun did not mention her punishment; she only said her cultivation had recently made progress and she was in seclusion, hence unable to descend the mountain to send letters.

Whether Pan Hong believed it or not, Pan Yun firmly believed it herself—wasn't being sent to Si Guo Cliff essentially the same as seclusion?

On the night she descended the mountain, she did not sit in meditation; in her sleep, spiritual energy rushed eagerly into her body.

Since emerging from the cave, her body had been in this state.

It was like a sponge left under the sun for over forty days, dried and shriveled to extremes—suddenly placed in a humid space, even without water poured on it, it would automatically expand and absorb moisture from the air.

In short, since descending the mountain, her body had been continuously absorbing spiritual energy, replenishing the Upper Dantian and the qi of her limbs and bones.

She was playing the long game.

After all, she had not damaged her foundation; there was no need to push herself too hard. Besides, she still had to eat meals with Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He—she had no time yet to sit down and cultivate.

After nightfall, she had no intention of meditating; she washed up early and lay down, letting her body slowly adapt to the spiritual energy environment.

She hadn't expected that, at dawn, the spiritual energy in Fengqi Courtyard grew thick—her body automatically opened, gulping down spiritual energy in great mouthfuls; without her awareness, several Taiji qi clusters formed within her.

She finally woke from the pain.

After sensing the abnormality in her body, she immediately sat cross-legged and began practicing her technique, first refining all the spiritual energy she had absorbed, converting it into her own yuan force, then pressing it down to her Upper Dantian…

Only then did she begin absorbing the spiritual energy pressing toward her.

Vast amounts of spiritual energy were drawn in; first, the energy around her, unable to enter, swirled restlessly and refused to leave, eventually forming clusters of small spiritual energy orbs above her head and around her body…

Then, above her rooftop, the spiritual energy within Fengqi Courtyard surged rapidly, forming a vortex above the roof…

Finally, from high above, the spiritual energy of the entire academy, even of Long Hushan, flowed toward this spot—forming ribbon-like streaks in the air, culminating in a massive spiritual energy cluster high above.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He, who were meditating, opened their eyes; they sensed the spiritual energy around them had dropped, nearly nothing left to absorb.

This was the first time since they had moved into Fengqi Courtyard.

Seeing Miao Zhen thought for a moment, then opened the door and stepped out.

At a glance, she saw vast amounts of spiritual energy surging toward Pan Yun's room; she looked up at the slowly forming spiritual vortex above the roof, then turned back inside.

She took down the sword hanging on the wall, walked to Pan Yun's door, and sat cross-legged.

No sooner had she sat than Miao He quietly opened her door and peeked out.

Seeing Miao Zhen turned her head to look at her.

Miao He, seeing her, blinked, then stepped out, ran up quietly, and whispered: "I'll guard with you."

The two sat on either side of Pan Yun's door, guarding her.

A faint sound came from the three central rooms; Seeing Miao Zhen tightened her grip on the sword and turned to look.

But no one emerged; someone merely stood by the window for a while, then left, without even lighting a lamp.

Seeing Miao Zhen quietly exhaled in relief.

Miao He also stopped rummaging in her sleeve for talismans; the two sat in silence, occasionally glancing up at the ever-larger spiritual energy cluster high above.

(End of Chapter)