Chapter 215: Overawing

Master Huang frowned tightly when he saw the items on the list. "Why so many things? There's even rhinoceros horn…"

Pan Yun said, "These are for altering fate, meant to gather merit for you and your son."

"You reduced the tenant farmers' land rent and burdens—that is merit. With a little merit, plus the reduction of sin, fortune can slowly be altered, and thus fate can be changed. So these items are very important."

Pan Yun grinned at him and said, "Master Huang, you must buy good ones, otherwise all the merit you've paid out won't be gathered—wouldn't that be wasted?"

She added, "Heaven's workings can be obscured for a time, but not forever. So you'd best commit fewer sins. I don't want to go to so much trouble for your household, only for the time you repay me to be so short."

Master Huang was very worried, and asked with a troubled face, "Immortal Master, what merit do you receive from my household?"

He was afraid Pan Yun would steal his family's fortune.

Pan Yun glanced at him with a half-smile and said, "It's the fortune of Long Hushan that your household snatched from the Azure Dragon qi vein. Of course, I take only the share that's rightfully mine—I won't take the excess. After all, the heavens are watching."

Master Huang was stunned, both relieved and pained.

Relieved that Pan Yun hadn't stolen the Huang family's fortune, but pained because the things she mentioned sounded very good, yet he had no idea how to use them.

At that moment, Master Huang suddenly had a thought: he couldn't place all his hopes on Pan Yun—he had to try other Daoist priests.

Pan Yun didn't love money, didn't court power, saw things too clearly, and only wanted to cultivate and gather merit—far too uncontrollable.

Huang Shijian secretly made a decision, planning to later quietly send people to find an accomplished master, secretly keep and provide for them. Not only could this verify whether Pan Yun's words were true or false, in the future it could also replace Pan Yun.

Pan Yun might be formidable, but her words were too harsh to hear—even the county magistrate had to be polite to her. He didn't want to keep pressing his warm face against her cold backside.

Huang Shijian secretly made his decision, and could only take the list and go buy the things.

However, after searching through the whole town and the county, he found that some things still couldn't be bought.

Upon hearing they couldn't be bought, Pan Yun held out her hand and said, "Give me the silver."

Huang Shijian was slightly stunned, and hurriedly pulled out a handful of banknotes and handed them to her. "I've asked around about the prices. The remaining items should cost about a hundred and fifty taels or so. Things in Fucheng might be pricier—take these two hundred taels, Immortal Master…"

He assumed Pan Yun was going to Fucheng to buy them herself.

Her cultivation was high, so her speed should be very fast, right?

He also wanted to see how quickly she could reach Fucheng, and how quickly she could return.

Who knew that Pan Yun wouldn't even glance at them, directly tucking the banknotes into her Ling Realm space, then began pulling out boxes. "This is Xuan Iron Sand, this is Yellow Crystal Jade, this is Earth-Storage Flower…"

The more boxes she pulled out, the wider Huang Shijian's eyes grew.

He stared fixedly at Pan Yun's empty sleeves, confirming that they absolutely couldn't hold so many things.

He swallowed hard and asked nervously, "I-Immortal Master, where did all these things… come from?"

Pan Yun: "I've cultivated for many years—surely I have some savings."

She said, "I'm busy; I don't have time to wait for you to slowly gather everything, so I'll make up the rest."

Huang Shijian: "No, I mean, th-this sleeve…"

Pan Yun lowered her gaze to glance at her own sleeve and said, "It's just a Sleeve Universe. Anyone who has cultivated to a certain level can open one. What's so strange about that?"

Huang Shijian's heart was full of astonishment. In the end, he left behind the pile of things he had bought and departed in a daze.

At this moment, he was a little worried—could he really find outside a Daoist priest more formidable than Pan Yun, or one evenly matched with her?

Even if he couldn't find either, could he find a Daoist priest who could see through the feng shui formation she had set up?

Huang Shijian thought for a long time, then finally went to the storeroom in agony, opened a large chest, sat before it and rubbed it for a while, before carefully lifting out ten gold bars, placing them carefully on a tray, and carrying them back to his own room.

Pan Yun knew nothing of this. She was currently tallying the things Huang Shijian had brought together with Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He.

Miao He exclaimed, "The Huang family really is rich—several hundred taels' worth of things, bought just like that."

Pan Yun said, "It's for an heir, after all. Mine guarantees a birth—wouldn't that cost less than him randomly seeking doctors and asking the Dao? This is precision service, precision treatment—it saves him from taking so many detours."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "Little Xiao Shishu, are you really going to set up a merit-gathering formation for him?"

Pan Yun: "Are you silly? That thing requires merit stones—do you know how precious a single merit stone is? We came here to avenge the tenant farmers and争取 some benefits for them, not to truly work for the Huang family for ten thousand generations."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He humbly asked for guidance, "Then what formation does Little Xiao Shishu plan to set up?"

"Two. One is a formation that reduces calamity and can make their bodies a bit healthier; the second is a formation that calms their hearts and clears their qi." Pan Yun said, "Haven't you noticed? Their family—perhaps by nature, or perhaps out of excessive pride—their dispositions are restless and quick to anger."

Miao He was unconvinced and muttered, "They're bad people—why do we still have to help them like this?"

Pan Yun said, "What bad people, what good people? People in this world act in one of two ways: one is without purpose, acting only as the heart moves; the other has a purpose, and acts toward that purpose."

"We came to the Huang family with a purpose: to avenge the tenant farmers, and to争取 benefits for them. Let me ask you—when these two purposes conflict, which takes priority?" Miao He: "These two purposes can still conflict?"

Seeing Miao Zhen said, "The second takes priority."

Pan Yun nodded. "In this world there are no purposes that don't conflict at all. To avenge the tenant farmers, on the surface, it would be enough to kill Huang Shijian's whole family."

"But without Huang Shijian, there'd be Qian Shijian, Sun Shijian—killing people doesn't solve the problem. And we've been to Deng Family Village, so we should know even better that many tenant farmers themselves aren't even aware they're being oppressed and bullied."

Pan Yun: "They're just very puzzled—why, despite clearly having already worked so hard, they still can't eat their fill or stay warm, can't make their lives good. They'll blame the heavens, blame themselves, but rarely blame Master Huang pressing down on their heads, the county magistrate, or even the Emperor."

"So killing Master Huang is useless. Revenge is the lowest-tier purpose. Above it is improving the tenant farmers' lives, letting them do better and better," Pan Yun said, "Why do we spend so much effort at the Huang household? It's to make Huang Shijian believe us, willingly lower rents and reduce pressure. Even after we leave, he must keep believing—as long as he doesn't continue committing sins, the Huang family's fortune will keep getting better."

"To make him believe, the Huang family must indeed keep getting better—at least, in the short term."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "What about the long term?"

Pan Yun said mockingly, "A dog can't stop eating shit. Over time, he'll definitely not be able to resist acting again, seizing the money and goods of ordinary folk through other means. When that time comes, the two stone lions at the gate will have their use."

Miao He: "What's wrong with the stone lions?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: "The stone lions violate the regulations, and he thinks he sits upon the Azure Dragon's qi. Little Xiao Shishu, you're amplifying his desires."

! 。Read

Pan Yun said, "He can also choose not to inflate that desire."

She said coldly with a smile, "If he can remember for decades on end to commit fewer sins and do more good to accumulate virtue, then those two stone lions naturally won't explode."

Seeing Miao Zhen thought about Huang Shijian's physiognomy for a moment, then shook her head—that was basically impossible.

Pan Yun divided the items, letting Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He pick first. "Keep these few—they can be used later for making formation disks and Dharma artifacts. These few, keep them for refining pills; they can also be taken when sick."

These were all cultivation resources the three of them could use at their current stage.

After the three divided them up, Pan Yun took out talisman paper and a few pieces of wood, and began drawing talismans and carving formations.

They still had to go to Fuzhou to meet up with Master Xuanmiao and Tao Ji, so she had no intention of staying here long. She had everything prepared in one night, and the next day chose noon to begin setting up the array and performing the rites.

Honestly, although it was Master Huang's first time inviting a Daoist Priest into his home, he had heard plenty from relatives and friends who had. This was still the first time he had ever seen a Daoist Priest so brisk and whirlwind-like.

Said the feng shui needed changing, and the very next day it was changed;

Said an array needed to be set up, and the very next day it was set up.

Master Huang offered a kindly reminder, "Should we perhaps first bathe and change our clothes, and keep a fast for a few days?"

"If your heart is sincere, then keep a fast if you wish to," Pan Yun said. "We won't need to."

Seeing Miao Zhen added from the side, "You still think my little Xiao Shishu is one of those wandering Daoist Priests out there? With shallow cultivation, needing to call upon the gods for help with even a small array. Hmph, a mere minor array is nothing more than a wave of the hand for my little Xiao Shishu."

Pan Yun cast a glance at Miao Zhen and said, "Mind your words. One must hold reverence in heart toward the heavens above, and toward gods and spirits. I do not wish to hear such words a second time."

Miao Zhen and Miao He lowered their heads and said respectfully, "Yes."

Master Huang noted this in his heart as well. After Pan Yun finished the array, he personally carried over a tray, set it before Pan Yun, and carefully opened the silk.

The golden, gleaming gold bars on top dazzled everyone's eyes in an instant.

Pan Yun considered herself a person unmoved by external things or personal woes—unless what she faced was gold bars.

She went dazed for a moment, and only when the black cat crouching in her lap stomped a paw on the back of her hand did she suddenly come back to herself.

Master Huang was carefully lifting the silk, his heart bleeding all the while, so he did not notice anything amiss with Pan Yun.

He looked up, squeezed out an ingratiating smile, and said, "Immortal Master, I know you do not care for such worldly things, but to travel through the mortal world, gold and silver are indispensable. You have gone to great trouble for my Huang family, and I have nothing else to offer the Immortal Master. This tray of vulgar things is the only precious thing I can bring out. I humbly ask the Immortal Master to accept it."

Pan Yun's face remained perfectly calm. She did not decline, simply nodded and said, "If that is so, Miao Zhen, put this away."

Miao Zhen stepped forward expressionlessly and directly picked up the tray.

Pan Yun stared at her fixedly and sent a voice transmission: 【What are you thinking? Intimidate him! Store the gold bars away in your jade tablet space.】

Miao Zhen came back to herself, set the tray down on the table, swept her hand across, and the gold bars on the tray vanished.

Huang Shijian's eyes went wide, and his confidence in finding a new Daoist Priest dropped yet another notch.

Good night

(End of this chapter)