Chapter 199: Space Jade Tablet

Pan Yun placed the array knife on the table; after completing one great heavenly cycle and filling her dantian with abundant yuan force, she abruptly opened her eyes, seized the polished jade tablet in hand, lifted the array knife, and channeled yuan force to carve the array lines upon it.

The array knife glided across the jade tablet as smoothly as ink on paper; at each array point, she poured in vast amounts of yuan force and captured and locked the spiritual energy drifting in the air.

Her internal yuan force depleted rapidly; for the space array, she was utterly familiar—before carving, she had even reviewed it on paper. Now, holding the array knife, memories from her past life surfaced; though she had no bodily memory in this life, her hands still landed steadily on each array point.

Each pause drew a flood of yuan force from her dantian through her hand and knife into the array point.

By the time she reached the forty-seventh array point, her dantian's yuan force was nearly exhausted; she accelerated her cultivation technique to draw spiritual energy from the air and convert it into yuan force, while squeezing the yuan force stored in her meridians, bones, and blood to prevent the array lines from breaking.

The fifth-level space array was still slightly beyond her limits, even though it was a very small one.

Pan Yun's expression remained unchanged as she continued carving; when she reached the forty-eighth array point, the last bit of yuan force stored in her dantian was instantly drained, while yuan force surged from her meridians to fill the remaining deficit.

Vast quantities of spiritual energy were drawn into her body by her cultivation technique; barely entering, it completed half a small heavenly cycle before transforming into yuan force and pressing into her dantian—her elixir palace's spiritual realm couldn't even claim its allotted share.

Pan Xiaohei crouched beside her, lifted her head to soothe her main body, and did not disturb Pan Yun.

Pan Yun's knife tip never ceased, continuing leftward and downward until she reached the final array point.

At this moment, all the yuan force in her entire body surged toward the array point; the yuan force newly cultivated in her dantian was exhausted, then her meridians', then her muscles'; seeing her foundation about to be damaged, Pan Xiaohei cursed loudly but still compelled her main body to release a portion of spiritual power to replenish Pan Yun, finally making up the shortfall.

The yuan force was locked into the array points; all forty-nine points ignited, flashing three times in the luminous room, drawing in massive amounts of spiritual energy into the jade tablet. Pan Yun seemed to hear a sharp *pop*—a sub-space was split open and expanded by yuan force and spiritual energy, then the array points flickered, stabilizing the space.

The space within the jade tablet was now stabilized.

As the creator of the space, Pan Yun did not need to look; she could "see" the dimensions of the expanded space—it was a three-meter cube, roughly three meters in length, width, and height; not large, but sufficient to store their valuables.

Pan Yun exhaled in relief; once certain the space was stable and would not collapse, she immediately set down the jade tablet, closed her eyes, and absorbed spiritual energy.

Her dantian, depleted of yuan force, now ached painfully.

As soon as Pan Yun relaxed, vast amounts of spiritual energy poured into her through her seven orifices and skin pores, converging in her meridians; as her cultivation technique circulated, it carried the energy through her body; after one small heavenly cycle, a tiny fraction remained in her elixir palace's spiritual realm, while the rest settled into her dantian.

Yet for her massive dantian, the yuan force refined in one small cycle was merely a shallow trickle.

So she did not stop; spiritual energy continued rushing toward her in a frenzy.

The three residents in the main chamber rose at dawn to sit and cultivate, only to find today's spiritual energy unusually scarce—yet unusually active.

They stirred, simultaneously opening their windows and leaning out to look.

As their heads emerged, they saw another head poking out from the neighboring room; they exchanged glances, then turned together toward Pan Yun's chamber.

There, spiritual energy had thickened into mist, nearly coalescing into spiritual pearls hanging from the eaves.

The three fell silent.

After long silence, they realized they could not overpower or steal from her, so they quietly closed their windows and returned to bed.

After deliberation, they decided sitting to cultivate now was a waste of time; instead, they rose, washed, and went out to practice swordplay.

Zhang Wei continued packing his belongings.

He had already received his talisman and graduated, so he must leave the academy to undergo trials; after three years, he would take the license examination, then use his three years of experience to seek employment.

Originally, he had planned to remain at the academy.

But because of Pan Yun, he decided to leave.

He felt an academy with Pan Yun was more dangerous than the martial world; better to leave.

At this moment, he confirmed his decision was correct—luckily, when Pan Yun entered, he was a fifth-year student nearing graduation; if it had been Xue Hua or Deng Ziyu, they would have had to stay another year—truly unlucky.

Pan Yun entered deep meditation until the sun rose high; even then, her dantian was only half-full.

But there was no help for it; she had sat too long and grew restless, and she was hungry.

Pan Yun opened her eyes, clutched her stomach, and groaned; she pushed herself up from the chair, then smelled a foul odor. She looked down at herself, sniffed, and immediately wrinkled her face in disgust.

Pan Xiaohei, who had long kept her distance, snorted, "You're disgusted by yourself? So you finally realize how filthy you are?"

Pan Yun looked bewildered. "I didn't ascend—why did I expel so much impurity?"

"Congratulations," said Pan Xiaohei, "you've turned misfortune into fortune. Originally, because of your innate deficiencies, although your talent was excellent, your foundation was weak—but this time, by pushing your limits and promptly absorbing spiritual energy to convert into yuan force, you've repaired your innate deficiencies."

Pan Yun's eyes brightened with surprise. "Really?"

Pan Xiaohei: "You can check yourself."

Pan Yun sank her spirit inward, observing her body.

At first glance, nothing seemed different—her upper, middle, and lower dantians remained the same size, her meridians the same width—but upon careful inspection, distinctions became clear.

The walls of her upper, middle, and lower dantians had changed color—smoother, more solid at the base, compressing the stored yuan force more tightly.

Yuan force concentrated mostly in her lower dantian, now resembling a pool of emerald water; the dantian's walls were smooth, allowing gentle yet firm containment of the yuan force.

Her middle dantian strengthened her heart immensely; even her breathing now sensed more spiritual energy.

Since childhood, she had been frail, her lungs and heart weak. After Pan Xiaohei ceased competing with her for spiritual essence, her body slowly improved—her heart and lungs grew stronger, no longer leaving her breathless after climbing a hill.

But merely normal human strength; now, she felt far stronger than ordinary people—finally, she felt the truth: I am truly a genius.

Not just in comprehension and talent, but in her body too.

A genius in every aspect.

Her dantian foundation strengthened; though her meridians hadn't widened, they had reinforced; her tendons and bones grew robust, her three dantians flourished, and her five viscera and six bowels followed suit.

Moreover, this growth would not cease when she ended her cultivation—it was progressive; since she was young, her five viscera and six bowels were still developing, so they would grow stronger and stronger.

Isn't this precisely the effect they sought with body-strengthening elixirs?

Strengthen tendons and bones, then fortify the five viscera!

After checking, Pan Yun proudly clasped her waist and burst into laughter. "I am truly a genius!"

Miao Zhen and Miao He, waiting outside with their chins propped up, jumped up at the sound of her laughter and shouted, "Little Master, you've emerged from meditation!"

Hearing her triumphant tone, Miao He knew she had succeeded and called out joyfully from the door: "Little Master, did you succeed?"

This book has recently been updated in ##!! UPDATE!

Pan Yun rose to open the door. "I succeeded. Come in and see."

Outside, Miao Zhen and Miao He stepped back in unison, hesitating: "Little Master, you… wouldn't you wash up first?"

Pan Yun: "You find me filthy?"

Though Miao Zhen and Miao He desperately wanted to nod, they shook their heads vigorously in denial.

Pan Yun sniffed. "Fine. I find myself filthy too."

Miao Zhen and Miao He brought two buckets of water; Pan Yun tossed two fire talismans into the water, and soon it heated.

Pan Yun simply washed her hair too.

After scrubbing all grime away and lightly drying her hair, she used yuan force to dry it; steam rose, and in less than half a moment, her hair became fluffy and completely dry.

Pan Yun stepped out of the washing chamber with her hair loose; she saw the two girls sitting neatly before the table, eyes fixed intently on the pale green-and-white jade tablet. She walked forward and said, "The space jade tablet is done."

She took the tablet, turned it over, and asked, "There are only lines on it—would you like me to carve something else on it? Make it prettier?"

Miao He swallowed and asked, "Can you carve it? Won't it break?"

"No," Pan Yun said. "I have this skill. See here? This is the blank area—you can carve flowers, grass, birds, or anything you like. What do you want?"

Miao He studied it carefully. "It's mostly pale green—how about carving a lotus leaf?"

Pan Yun glanced, then nodded. "Alright. This upper part is pale white—a transition. I'll carve a lotus blossom here, with lotus leaves below; they'll connect beautifully."

Miao He clapped excitedly.

The three examined the jade tablet again, then sighed in unison: "Too bad there's no space to carve a lotus root."

After speaking, all three fell silent.

Miao He whispered, "You think carving a plump white lotus root below would be more fitting?"

Miao Zhen: "But there's no yellow-brown here."

Miao He: "Lotus roots can be pale greenish-white too."

Miao Zhen: "I've never seen or heard of one."

Pan Yun: "It's your own item—you wear and use it. Who cares? If you like it, I'll carve it all."

Miao He nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes!"

Pan Yun picked up the carving knife. "I'll carve it now."

Miao He opened her mouth to say it wasn't urgent—that she should first see the space—but seeing Pan Yun already carving, she swallowed her words.

Pan Yun's carving skill was decent; carving on jade was as easy as drawing on paper. Soon, the lotus leaves, the pale white unopened lotus blossom, and the plump lotus root hidden beneath the leaves were all carved.

She did not touch a single array line, then pierced the hole.

Pan Yun blew away the jade shavings, held the tablet before Miao He's neck, and beamed. "Beautiful!"

Miao He joyfully took it. "Little Master, how do you use this space jade tablet?"

Two things: one, this book has been placed on the anti-theft list, so updates on Xiaoxiang will be delayed by about a week;

two, I've recovered considerably from my illness; though I still need to take medicine for a while, I'm no longer dizzy after stopping IVs, so I've decided to resume normal updates.

I calculated how many chapters I owe—I count today's pre-dawn chapter as today's, so two chapters are done; yesterday's is still owed, so I owe eleven chapters total.

My god, I got sick and missed eleven chapters. I'll resume normal updates first, then catch up as I can.

My god, I was just sick for a while, and I missed eleven updates—I'll resume normal updates first and make up the missed ones if possible

(End of chapter)