Chapter 193

Chen Ziwu opened his eyes, stared blankly down at his hands, and seeing Pan Yun watching him intently, he came over after the ceremony and whispered, "Do you know? I suddenly feel a new sense of responsibility toward heaven and earth, toward all things."

Pan Yun nodded. "I understand."

Meeting his skeptical gaze, Pan Yun said, "Truly."

Chen Ziwu still half-doubted it, so Pan Yun frowned and said, "Don't forget, you've only received the talisman grant—you still have no divine office. But I? I'm the temple attendant with the mountain god's seal!"

Chen Ziwu immediately became respectful, bowing his head. "Senior, I was blind to your greatness."

Pan Yun sniffed, then swiftly drew a bundle of talismans. "How about this? You've officially received the grant—it's time to make a name for yourself. Want a few more talismans?"

Chen Ziwu was tempted, but his wallet hurt more—he gritted his teeth and said, "I love peace. I dislike fighting. Let someone else make a name for themselves."

"Love peace, huh? I've got talismans for that too—peace talismans, wealth talismans, romance talismans—all very peace-loving," Pan Yun said, then saw his expression and retracted the talismans. "Got it. You're broke."

Chen Ziwu blushed. "That phrase should come from me."

Pan Yun: "Fine. You're poor."

Chen Ziwu: "Has anyone ever told you you're just like your third senior brother?"

"You mean your compassion for saving lives?"

Chen Ziwu: "No. Your tongue. It's as annoying as ever."

Pan Yun: "You know my third senior brother?"

Chen Ziwu: "I've long heard his name!"

Since he wasn't an old acquaintance of her senior brother, Pan Yun paid him no more attention. She glanced around and quickly spotted a Daoist Priest.

He was imposing, distinctive—especially among a row after row of slender Daoist Priests, there stood one with a round belly, white and plump, wealthy and noble, his Daoist robe noticeably brighter than the others. He stood out.

Pan Yun pushed through, studied his gait and aura, confirmed his cultivation was inferior to hers, then leaned in and whispered, "Daoist friend, buy talismans? First Marquis Grand Master's Lei Fu and Speed Fu."

He blinked, looked her over, saw she wore the Academy's robes, and his expression softened slightly—but remained stern. "Where did you get talismans drawn by the First Marquis Grand Master?"

"My senior sister, Master Xuanmiao, drew them."

He frowned. "Zhang Li? She's recovered? And she's reached the First Marquis?"

Pan Yun asked, "Are you buying or not? I only have five talismans total. If you don't buy, I'll find someone else."

"Wait," the fat man stepped forward, blocking her. "I didn't say I wouldn't buy. As a merchant, you should let me see the talismans first."

Pan Yun: "Which talismans do you want to see?"

"All of them."

Pan Yun pulled out one Lei Fu and one Speed Fu and showed them to him.

The fat man saw the clear talisman lines, his hand shifted slightly, and the lines shimmered in the sunlight—clearly, the talisman held substantial yuan energy and spiritual qi. It was indeed a high-grade talisman.

But he couldn't tell if Master Xuanmiao had drawn it.

Still…

He sized her up. "You're Zhang Li's little junior sister, the new temple attendant from Mount Sanqing?"

Pan Yun nodded. "Your information is quite sharp. That's me."

The fat man: "You should call me Senior Uncle. Zhang Li is my niece."

Pan Yun paused, then smiled. "Really? You don't look it. You look incredibly wealthy and incredibly young—almost the same age as my senior sister."

The fat man: "You flatter well. Don't flatter me again. I really am about Zhang Li's age—just higher in seniority. Didn't she tell you? She used to bully me when she was little…"

Seeing he still held the talismans without paying, Pan Yun snatched them back. "If you're not buying, then forget it."

The fat man blinked. "Why are you still calling me Daoist friend? You should call me Senior Uncle…"

"You don't teach at the Academy," Pan Yun said. "You're just a distant uncle of my senior sister. Daoists don't recognize secular kinship. Everyone in the world can be called Daoist friend."

Seeing Pan Yun turn to leave.

The fat man hurriedly said, "Wait! I'll buy these talismans."

Pan Yun immediately stopped, smiled, and turned back. "Good, Daoist friend. How many do you want?"

"I'll take all five."

Pan Yun swiftly pulled two Lei Fu and three Speed Fu from her sleeve and handed them to him. "Twenty taels each. Total: one hundred taels."

The fat man pulled out a hundred-tael silver note—brand new, high-denomination money!

She held it up nervously, holding it to the sunlight.

The fat man said, "Don't worry. I deposited it at the bank when I returned from Nanjing. The money's real." Pan Yun folded the note and slipped it into her pouch, using the motion to discreetly transfer it into her spiritual realm. "Forgive me, Senior Brother—I've never seen the world. This is my first time holding such a fresh silver note."

"It's newly issued, so of course it's fresh," the fat man said. "If you want fresh notes, you can take silver to the bank and have them issue one on the spot—or take old notes, exchange them for silver, then deposit the silver and have them issue fresh notes."

Pan Yun: "…Who would do that? Isn't that too much trouble?"

The fat man: "I have. I've done it."

Pan Yun opened her mouth, then raised her thumb. "Senior Brother, impressive."

Pan Yun turned to leave. This time, the fat man didn't stop her. He waited until she vanished into the crowd, then strolled slowly toward Zhang Ziwang and the others.

Zhang Ziwang and the others bowed to him. "Eleventh Uncle."

Zhang Shiyi nodded. "Why didn't Sixth Brother and the others come?"

Zhang Ziwang lowered his eyes. "Sixth Uncle and Sixth Aunt are in seclusion. They didn't come."

"Why are they always in seclusion? Zhang Li's reduced to hawking talismans on the streets—don't they care?"

!. Read

Zhang Ziwang and the others stayed silent.

Zhu Zifang was also discontented, muttering under his breath: "So what if she sells talismans? Who hasn't sold some?"

The Zhang family was large and wealthy, but so were its members. Every little household needed to earn money, didn't they? Everyone here had drawn talismans to sell.

Why was Zhang Li so special?

Zhang Shiyi frowned at him. "You? It doesn't matter. But Zhang Li is a genius, and her talisman craftsmanship is profound. If her talismans flood the market, is that really a good thing?"

Zhu Zifang asked innocently, "Why isn't it a good thing? Isn't it good when talismans work well? And we bought them from our Long Hushan — it's good for Long Hushan's reputation too."

Zhang Shiyi gave him a cold snort, too lazy to answer him.

Sigh, having nephews who are too stupid is sometimes a kind of trouble, especially when this eldest nephew is older than him, eats more than him, yet has a dumber head than him.

Pan Yun didn't know that Fatty had bought the talismans and then turned hostile, and was trying to figure out a way to make Master Xuanmiao stop selling talismans.

She was weaving through the crowd, looking for her customers.

She had quite a method for picking people: either someone like Fatty, who at a glance looked like a person of wealth and status — the kind you could tell even without reading their face;

or someone carrying a sword, with a palpable aura of killing intent on them — either having killed people, or killed ghosts, or captured demons — such people walk the edge of danger and would also buy talismans to protect themselves.

or someone who at a glance was a naive and sweet pushover, the type easily swayed into spending money.

The first two kinds basically had their own ability to judge, and could tell whether the talismans Pan Yun produced were worth the price, so as long as they had a need they could close the deal quickly;

only the third kind — they were swayed into being tempted, but feared it might be fake — oh, not fake, but that the yuan power and spiritual energy above weren't as good as Pan Yun claimed — so they hesitated.

For this kind, Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He came in handy; she led these target customers outside the Celestial Tian Zhang Tian Shi Fu gates, pointed at Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He, and said: "If you gentlemen don't believe me, I can have them demonstrate the power of the two kinds of talismans."

The naive sweethearts heard this and immediately nodded, "Good, good, then let's try."

Try it then.

First Seeing Miao Zhen flung out the talisman, then formed a hand seal, and an arm-thick bolt of heavenly lightning fell from thin air, cracking down on the stone slab with a snap, startling everyone, who leapt aside and cleared a large space.

But it wasn't over — two more bolts of lightning struck from the sky before stopping; by the last one the flash had grown thin and even the thunder was much quieter, yet the bolt that struck was so white it blinded the eyes, and it slammed into the ground with a crack, blasting out a great hole.

Apart from an old beggar huddled in a corner of the wall, no one noticed that as the last bolt struck, the stone qilin to the left before the Celestial Tian Zhang Tian Shi Fu gates — the one closest to where the lightning fell — had cracked open with a thin fissure.

The old beggar, who had been lazily half-closing his eyes and leaning against the wall sunbathing, instantly sat upright, glanced at the stone qilin, then looked again at the little girl who was still proudly introducing her Lei Fu to people; he watched in silence for a long while, then burst into silent, great laughter.

He limped over to the stone qilin, pressed his hand against it, and somehow — without anyone noticing — smoothed away that crack, covering it over.

The naive sweethearts, seeing the Lei Fu Seeing Miao Zhen had demonstrated, were full of wonder and surged forward to buy.

Pan Yun pulled out a handful of Lei Fu and said: "Not many in stock, first come first served, all the same quality, all the same price — twenty taels each, twenty taels each!"

"Give me ten!"

Pan Yun stared at that fellow Daoist in shock; seeing his plain clothes and ordinary face, she couldn't help cursing herself inwardly for judging by appearances — she had actually missed such a rich spender from the start.

She hurriedly counted out ten Lei Fu, handed them over, and said: "Two hundred taels, please!"

Miao He stopped testing the speed talisman too, and helped Pan Yun collect the money first.

Amid the lively rush to buy, one naive sweetheart came to his senses and loudly retorted: "Are the talismans you're selling us really the same as the one you demonstrated?"

Pan Yun glanced at the five talismans in his hand, feeling it was a bit late for him to think of this question only now, but since she wasn't the type to cheat people, she said: "Don't worry, senior brother — if you don't believe it, pull one out right now and try it yourself; if it's any different, I'll give you a refund."

(End of chapter)