Chapter 286: The Bald Little Daoist Priest

In the end, Pan Yun was dragged back by Wang Feiyin.

The people in the Daoist temple also benefited from a round of cultivation; they had just finished their practice and were startled to see Wang Feiyin carrying back a pitch-black figure, rushing forward immediately.

Seeing Pan Yun's drooping brows and eyes, her face blackened into four deep creases, motionless, Miao He burst into tears, "Great Master, our Little Master Aunt has been charred—could she be dead?"

Miao Zhen's eyes also instantly reddened.

Pan Yun lifted her eyelids and said, "Not charred. Not dead."

Wang Feiyin dropped her roughly and grumbled, "She wasn't killed by the lightning—I nearly died of anger."

No one paid him any mind; everyone gathered around Pan Yun, relieved to see her standing upright, Miao Zhen and Miao He wept with joy, and Wang Cong exhaled in relief.

But seeing her entirely blackened, his heart trembled, "Little Master Aunt, is this… your appearance permanent?"

Pan Yun didn't know she looked as black as night, so she asked, "What do I look like?"

Master Xuanmiao stepped forward and reached out, grabbing a handful of her head. Everyone's eyes widened instantly.

Master Xuanmiao held up her hand, showing Pan Yun the individual strands of hair in her palm.

Pan Yun looked down and saw Master Xuanmiao rub her fingers together—each strand shattered like charred peanuts, crumbling to ash and falling from her fingertips.

Pan Yun stared, dumbfounded, at Master Xuanmiao, then slowly reached up to touch her head.

The moment her fingers brushed the hard, rod-like objects, they collapsed into her palm, snapped under her gentle squeeze, fell away, and turned to ash.

Pan Yun's lips trembled slightly, her face filled with disbelief, "I—I'm bald?"

How could this be? How could this be?!

She'd been struck by lightning before—her past life, her hair was perfectly fine; no one ever told her being struck by lightning could turn you bald!

Tao Ji couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, "Pfft!"

Pan Yun glared furiously at him, "What are you laughing at? You'll have this happen to you too!"

Tao Ji shook his head, "I won't. You're the second person I've seen lose all their hair during Tribulation Crossing."

Pan Yun clenched her fists, "Who was the first?"

Tao Ji looked toward Wang Feiyin behind her.

Pan Yun turned to look at Wang Feiyin, her gaze landing on his head, and she asked anxiously, "Big Brother, those aren't a wig, are they?"

Wang Feiyin's face darkened with lines of exasperation, "No!"

Pan Yun sighed in relief, instantly snapping out of her sorrow, brushing away the remaining charred strands from her scalp, "As long as it grows back, I'm still young—by next year, I'll be a Daoist Priest with hair again."

Master Xuanmiao, seeing her genuine nonchalance, smiled faintly, "Go wash up. Everyone's exhausted these past two days—tomorrow, you all rest."

The three let out a quiet cheer.

Miao Zhen invited Hong Yan, "Our guest rooms aren't ready yet—why not sleep with me tonight?"

Miao He immediately piped up, "Sleep with me! Sleep with me!"

Hong Yan chose Miao Zhen, since she had invited first.

Miao He decided she'd sleep with Miao Zhen tonight—fox tails are truly wonderful to touch.

But first, they had to peel off Little Master Aunt's skin.

The three, the fox, and the ghost huddled together, curiously peeling off blackened patches from Pan Yun's skin, "So being struck by lightning means you shed your skin?"

Hong Yan: "Feels just like a snake demon."

Pan Yun: "... I think the lightning in this world is special—maybe it's just its way. In my past life, being struck by lightning didn't require shedding skin—it only hardened my flesh, tendons, and bones."

Miao Zhen: "Little Master Aunt, you've been struck by lightning before?"

Pan Yun grunted, "In my past life."

Miao He: "Little Master Aunt, you're lying again. You told Big Master you were ordinary in your past life—a commoner—how could you have been struck by lightning?"

Pan Yun opened her mouth and said, "Ordinary enough, but not entirely ordinary."

Miao Zhen and Miao He ignored her entirely—Little Master Aunt, are you even listening to yourself?

Regarding Pan Yun's "past life" claims, Miao Zhen and Miao He assumed it was just her embellishment to impress the Mountain God when seeking initiation—something the Three Pure Ones Temple did often.

From Wang Feiyin down to… Little Master Aunt, Miao Zhen and Miao He had recently been thinking of adding some embellishments of their own, to make earning money easier when traveling.

Neither pressed for details, but Xiao Hong was deeply interested, leaning close to Pan Yun and asking, "Daoist Priest, you remember your past life—how did you manage to carry those memories into rebirth?"

"If I could be reborn with memories, I'd do it—I'd still be Xiao Hong, I'd remember everything, I'd know so much from birth."

Pan Yun asked her, "What would you know?"

Xiao Hong thought hard, then tears welled up, sorrowfully saying, "I—I seem to know nothing."

So even if she was reborn with memories, she still knew nothing—her life was wasted.

Hong Yan immediately said, "You can cook. Your food is delicious."

Xiao Hong remained sorrowful, "Who in the world can't cook? With rice and vegetables, anyone can cook."

Pan Yun immediately adopted a serious expression, "That's not true—many people in the world can't cook at all. And isn't it admirable to master something most people can do? A cook can serve common laborers or become an imperial chef, head chef of a grand restaurant—wealthy, powerful, respected. What's wrong with cooking?"

Xiao Hong blinked, then waved her hands, "No, no, my cooking isn't that good—just simple home dishes..."

Hong Yan: "I've eaten it. Her food is delicious."

Pan Yun immediately said, "We'll find out tomorrow if you're a qualified cook—cook us a meal. Have confidence in yourself."

Xiao Hong:... She never wanted to be a cook—

Why did the topic veer here?

She just wanted to ask, "Daoist Priest, how did you manage to be reborn with memories?"

Pan Yun answered honestly, "I don't know. One moment I died, the next I was being born—I have no memory of the underworld at all."

The human, the fox, and the ghost all expressed skepticism.

But Miao Zhen and Miao He's skepticism was outright disbelief; Hong Yan and Xiao Hong whispered earnestly among themselves, then decided to believe Pan Yun, "Daoist Priest, do you remember who your parents were in your past life? Have you ever gone back to visit them?"

Pan Yun sighed, "In my past life, I was an orphan—I have no parents or family left."

Xiao Hong sighed, "You remember, but I don't remember, yet I always feel that I had parents and family."

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This was the reason she had long refused to be ferried across; she wanted to find her own origins, to find the memories of her life before death.

Xiao Hong cared a great deal about her memory and continued to ask, "Have you gone to look for your old acquaintances from before?"

Pan Yun shook her head and said with a solemn face, "I'm only a little Daoist Priest right now. Wait until I attain the Dao and become an immortal, when I can shatter the void, I will definitely go see them."

Xiao Hong: "..."

Xiao Hong said nothing more, feeling this matter was even less reliable than her own search for memories.

Seeing Miao Zhen glanced at Xiao Hong, then at Pan Yun, frowning as she said, "Little Xiao Shishu, you've been peeled about enough. Let me go fetch water for you to bathe."

Pan Yun looked at her with satisfaction, "Miao Zhen, you're good, but you're tired too. You don't need to fetch water; I'll fetch it myself."

Miao Zhen had already gotten out of bed, "I can put it in the jade tablet's space and bring it over. I'm not tired at all. Miao He, let's wash up too. After we've watched Little Xiao Shishu bathe, we'll go to sleep."

Pan Yun: "... Why do you have to watch me bathe before going to sleep?"

Miao Zhen's gaze slid over her black, yet smooth and bare, head: "Little Xiao Shishu, we want to see what you look like after your breakthrough."

Pan Yun:...

Pan Yun granted their wish. Because her body was dirty, she washed twice. When she came out of the washroom, Miao Zhen and Miao He had long since finished washing and come over to wait, sitting by the bed and dozing off.

The moment Pan Yun came out, Miao Zhen and Miao He perked up, both of them widening their eyes.

Miao Zhen was surprised because, on Pan Yun, she seemed to see a trace of divinity.

Not only Miao Zhen, but Hong Yan and Xiao Hong felt the same; they all gaped together.

Only Miao He scratched her head and said, "Little Xiao Shishu, why do you look like a nun?"

Pan Yun glared at her and said with a straight face, "Go back to sleep!"

Miao Zhen tucked away her surprise, then took a look at Pan Yun's smooth skull, nodded in acknowledgment, and led the person, ghost, and fox back to their room to sleep.

Pan Yun sat on the edge of the bed, finally having the leisure to immerse her consciousness to look at the spirit realm within the mud-pellet palace.

After being tempered by lightning, the spirit realm had been very quiet, but the formation built upon it still operated as usual. After the sound was turned off, it kept refreshing information on the spirit realm's petals with a swish-swish-swish.

This petal was used for storing information. The massive amount of information stored within it — the information collected by the storage display formation — occupied only an extremely, extremely small amount of space for it.

Although the spirit realm was focused on tempering itself, all its functions were still usable. This tempering session caused the red progress bar representing spiritual power value to surge forward a large chunk, already nearly reaching the top.

Pan Yun watched quietly and drew her conclusion: "All the energy in the world will do. As long as the spirit realm can use it, it can take any of it to fight the seal, thereby breaking the seal."

Yet merit value was clearly distinct from other energies; it was unaffected by Lei Jie and continued to advance steadily.

She now received quite a bit of merit value every day, all added together as +1, +2.

Pan Yun knew that this small amount of merit value was similar to her giving a steamed bun to a hungry person.

But it couldn't be stopped because there were so many of them.

Every day, over a hundred people were grateful to her, and occasionally there would be a sudden surge. She didn't know what reason caused them to think of her.

Whenever they thought of her, she would receive a formation prompt: received xxx merit value +1;

Or, received xxx merit value -5;

Mhm, this kind was obviously someone who hated her, and she had truly done something that harmed the other party; otherwise, her merit value wouldn't really be deducted.

Baseless hatred — the Heavenly Dao would not acknowledge it.

But the above were not the key. The key was that, after breaking through to the First Marquis, the previously scattered merit drew in its radiance, gathering it within. Looking at herself in the mirror,

Apart from a layer of hazy halo cast by the lamplight on her bare head, not a single trace of Jin Guang could be seen on her whole body, yet her aura was drawn inward.

Pan Yun touched her own bald head and murmured, "It's not that I'm narcissistic, but I feel like I look like a god right now."

She reached out and poked the black cat lying on the table, "Don't you think so?"

(End of chapter)