Chapter 203: Almost

Pan Xiaohei was sprawled on the windowsill watching Pan Yun break through; as it saw her growing ever more distant, it couldn't help but feel relieved about its initial choice.

Among so many people in the lab, it chose the most talented one to take with it.

If Pan Yun can break through to the First Marquis this time, within her lifetime she will surely reach the Third Marquis—perhaps even shatter the void and return to her original timeline.

As Pan Xiaohei was daydreaming, it heard someone below the window calling it.

It lazily turned its head downward and saw Seeing Miao Zhen waving at it frantically.

After a moment's thought, Pan Xiaohei swiftly slid down the wall, walked up to them, and looked up silently.

Seeing Miao Zhen crouched down and said seriously: "Xiaohei, you must wake up your junior aunt. She can't break through here in the Academy—we must hold back and break through at Mount Sanqing."

Pan Xiaohei's glass-clear eyes gazed at her, radiating a stupidity anyone could understand.

Li Wenying thought it couldn't understand and chimed in: "You expect a cat to understand you? Even if it's spiritually attuned and grasps a little, how can it communicate with Pan Yun in meditation?"

Pan Xiaohei's pupils shifted slightly; it shot him a sidelong glance, turned away haughtily, presented her hindquarters to him, and leapt up the stairs in three quick bounds, slipping through the window with a hiss.

Li Wenying widened his eyes and turned to Zhang Liuzhen: "It's mocking me?"

Zhang Liuzhen smiled but said nothing.

Li Wenying huffed.

Pan Xiaohei, having leapt into the second floor, ignored the gathering spiritual energy and the pressure radiating from Pan Yun, walked up to her, studied her closely, paused in silence, then lay down, closed its eyes, sent its spirit out of its body, and entered her crown palace.

It returned to its body, adjusted for a moment, then began communicating with Pan Yun.

Seeing Miao Zhen hadn't explained why they couldn't break through here, but Pan Xiaohei wasn't an ignorant cat.

Human scheming and intrigue—it had existed for so many years, how could it not know?

The moment Seeing Miao Zhen mentioned it, Pan Xiaohei immediately understood: they feared Pan Yun would face danger if she broke through here.

She was already fiercely brilliant; if she broke through to the First Marquis at this age, her brilliance would be too exposed, harming both others and herself.

Her talent was obvious; tempering it a little wouldn't hurt.

The Spirit Realm had existed for thousands of years—it had endless patience. A few months were nothing; if breaking through at Mount Sanqing could avoid much trouble, it was far better to hold back and break through there.

So Pan Xiaohei began muttering inside her crown palace, finally pulling Pan Yun out of meditation.

She continued cultivating while coldly saying: "Speak."

Pan Xiaohei replied succinctly: "If you break through in the Academy, will you survive to return to Mount Sanqing?"

Pan Yun frowned. "You mean someone on Long Hushan can't stand you and Mount Sanqing thriving—they'll kill you?"

Pan Xiaohei said: "The moment you showed signs of breakthrough, Fuxi Courtyard activated its array. Even Zhang Liuzhen doesn't fully trust the Academy."

Pan Yun immediately slowed her absorption of spiritual energy, focusing on compressing the primordial force in her Upper Dantian—turning it from vapor into liquid, slowly forming a lake within her dantian, her primordial force now a lake of water.

Once all her primordial force was properly compressed, she began slowly absorbing spiritual energy again, continuing the compression.

The Solidifying Pill inside her body emitted energy, drawing out her primordial primordial qi while traveling with the incoming spiritual energy, strengthening and purifying it further.

Her foundation was being gradually turned over and then compacted again.

Pan Yun no longer merely filled her dantian; she converted spiritual energy into primordial force, then extracted that force to forge and fill her meridians.

The primordial qi unearthed by the Solidifying Pill was guided by Pan Yun into motion, mingling with the primordial force as it slowly seeped from her meridians into her bones and blood…

Pan Xiaohei stared in awe—Pan Yun's move was equivalent to rebirth, refining primordial qi as if she were an infant again.

This could fully compensate for her innate deficiencies—and even elevate her talent to a higher level.

Just as she thought this, her previously calm, fluttering heart suddenly throbbed; before Pan Yun's eyes, all things transformed. Her consciousness pierced through walls and trees, as if standing in midair, viewing the entire Fuxi Courtyard.

The array covering Fuxi Courtyard—its nodes, its core—she saw through at a glance; beyond the array, she saw even farther…

Pan Xiaohei shared Pan Yun's consciousness; since Pan Yun imposed no limits, it rode with her through the air, its vision rising and falling, near and far, as if the arrays hidden in every courtyard were her toys, peeling open layer by layer under her awareness to reveal their true forms…

For the first time, Pan Xiaohei experienced Pan Yun's talent from her perspective, left speechless with shock.

After who knew how long, Pan Xiaohei finally came to its senses within Pan Yun's crown palace, murmuring: "Your Five Orifices Heart has grown."

Pan Yun radiated joy, her lips unable to suppress their upward curve: "I felt it—but still not enough. If only I could grow one more orifice…"

Pan Yun now thought the Solidifying Pill was truly an amazing thing.

She now had another goal: not only repay Zhang Liuzhen's favor and stock up on Solidifying Pills for Seeing Miao Zhen and the others, but also stock up for herself.

Pan Yun clenched her fists, her eyes gleaming.

The four people who had been nervously standing in the courtyard saw the swirling spiritual energy slowly dispersing—they knew Pan Yun had ended her meditation.

All four exhaled simultaneously; that cat had actually woken her up.

Zhang Liuzhen was the first to ascend the stairs.

He pushed open the door and saw Pan Yun happily hugging the black cat, vigorously petting it—completely devoid of the gloom and disappointment they'd expected.

Zhang Liuzhen paused slightly, then smiled and stepped forward: "Congratulations, Sister Pan. Your cultivation has advanced further."

Pan Yun set the cat down, rose, and bowed: "Thank you, Brother Zhang, for your reminder and help. Had you not activated the array, the walls would now be lined with onlookers."

Li Wenying said: "Sister should be grateful she meditated in Fuxi Courtyard—otherwise, even with the array, someone would've come looking."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow and thanked Zhang Liuzhen again.

The array concealed much; outsiders couldn't see the spiritual energy anomalies here, but they could surely sense the flow of spiritual energy around them.

Those with high cultivation had ways to trace the direction of spiritual energy flow; those with ill intent could follow that flow step by step until they found the source. So while the array concealed much, it didn't fully conceal anything.

This is one reason why cultivators prefer to break through in deep mountains and ancient forests.

Mountains are open, spacious, rich in spiritual energy—when breaking through, the massive influx of energy won't draw attention.

Zhang Liuzhen smiled: "Sisters, stay for dinner today, and leave a bit later."

The later you leave, the less certain outsiders will be about who stirred the spiritual energy.

Pan Yun accepted gratefully.

Li Wenying said: "How about some grilled meat?"

Pan Yun and the other two immediately turned to stare at him.

Li Wenying said, "Cool autumn air, what a fine season for roasting meat — don't you want some?"

The three immediately nodded, then turned to look at Zhang Liuzhen in unison.

Zhang Liuzhen laughed and said, "Then let's roast meat. I'll have Sidao go prepare it."

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Li Wenying immediately rolled up her sleeves to help.

Neither of them asked Pan Yun about her cultivation.

Pan Yun felt quite comfortable. For her, cultivation was still a very private matter — she could discuss it with her senior brothers and junior brothers and nephews on Mount Sanqing, but she didn't want to talk about it with outsiders.

Li Wenying sidestepped the topic of cultivation and asked Pan Yun directly, "The holiday is almost here. Are you leaving that day, or picking another time?"

"That day."

Li Wenying: "I'll see you off."

Hearing this, Pan Yun turned her head to look at him. "See us off?"

"It's only two days' journey. I'll escort you to Mount Sanqing."

Pan Yun: "No need. We're not going back to Mount Sanqing — we're going on a study tour."

Li Wenying frowned. "Aren't you going back to break through?"

Pan Yun: "Are you afraid we'll be killed on the road? But besides you people, no one knows I'm about to break through. Everyone's rushing to do their study tour before New Year — if only I went home, wouldn't they guess something's up with me?"

"A cultivator of high cultivation flies on a sword far faster than a horse. If, as you imagine, some lofty expert can't bear to see a genius like me and wants to kill me — could I outrun them, and could you block them?"

Li Wenying frowned. "Then call your senior brother to come fetch you."

Pan Yun waved her hand and said, "I just divined on the second floor — as long as we head south, we'll be safe and sound. We're going to Fuzhou for our study tour."

Miao He looked at Miao Zhen. "You divine too."

Clearly, she didn't trust her little martial uncle's hex-reading.

Pan Yun: …

She pressed a hand to her chest and gazed at Miao He in wounded hurt. "You actually don't trust me!"

Miao Zhen took three copper coins from her sleeve, closed her eyes briefly in prayer, then cast them. After six back-and-forth tosses, she laid out the six lines, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. "Little Xiao Shishu's reading wasn't bad — we really should head south, not north."

Mount Sanqing lies to the northeast of Long Hushan, while Fuzhou lies to the southeast; once out of Long Hushan, one must take the road southward.

Pan Yun lifted her chin and swept a proud glance over the crowd — well? She hadn't divined wrong, had she?

If it were any other reason, Li Wenying would certainly not agree — but a divination, now…

He believed it at once, nodding. "Fine, then head south. But why Fuzhou specifically for the study tour?"

Pan Yun: "My third senior brother and fourth senior sister are there."

After Xuanmiao and Tao Ji took on the burden of supporting the family, they'd been traveling abroad earning money ever since. By now they'd worked their way from Changzhou all the way to Fuzhou. But in their last letter they said the patients in Changzhou weren't yet wrapped up, and they'd have to go back for one more trip.

Fuzhou isn't very far from Long Hushan. Pan Yun decided to go to Fuzhou to meet up with them, then have them take her on a study tour through Changzhou, and visit her Uncle Pan's family along the way.

The moment Li Wenying heard Zhang Li was in Fuzhou, he worried even less. "Her, is it? Then off you go."

Pan Yun looked at him, curious.

Li Wenying grinned at her. "Although your fourth senior sister's cultivation is far beneath your senior brother's, for Long Hushan her killing power far surpasses his."

Seeing their faces full of confusion, Zhang Liuzhen briefly explained, "The Zhang family precepts forbid clan disciples from killing one another."

Pan Yun: "You're all fighting like this and it's not mutual slaughter?"

Zhang Liuzhen smiled lightly. "None of it has ever come out into the open. Aunt Li is the first person in a hundred years to gravely wound a Zhang clan disciple without a ruling first — but she had right on her side, and hard evidence, so they're in the wrong and don't dare do anything to her."

"No matter how high one's cultivation, if they were to attack you in front of Aunt Li, she'd fight to the death. They don't dare let Aunt Li catch wind of it, let alone kill her."

So Xuanmiao effectively carries a talisman of immunity from death.

The Zhangs can kill Xuanmiao but don't dare to, and outside the Zhangs, no one has the ability to kill Xuanmiao.

So, six years on, she's still the tyrant of Long Hushan — every time she comes back, she makes everyone's heart pound with dread.

Pan Yun's heart surged with emotion. "I miss Fourth Senior Sister so much."

Miao Zhen and Miao He nodded. "We miss Fourth Martial Aunt so much too."

Zhang Liuzhen and Li Wenying: …

Tonight's ping-pong was really thrilling.

(End of chapter)