Chapter 296: Kai Zhi Dan

Pan Yun turned her head and saw him, swept the burlap roll on the other side into the room with a final flick, then waved to him. "Xiaojing, you're back?"

Wang Xiaojing came back to himself, his eyes sparkling as he ran over. "Little Xiao Shishu, was that magic just now?"

Pan Yun nodded and said, "I suppose you'd call it Object-Control Art. Of course, you don't need it—internal force or yuan force works too. Moving things is just force acting on an object."

Wang Xiaojing: "I don't get it. Can I learn it?"

Pan Yun: "How's your practice of the martial arts manual I gave you coming along?"

Wang Xiaojing's body stiffened.

Pan Yun understood, let out a meaningful "Oh~~," then said, "This move, you can't learn it right now."

Wang Xiaojing scratched his cheek. "I do want to learn martial arts, I just don't have the time. Every day the moment I open my eyes I have to fire the kiln, and right up until I go to sleep I'm thinking about all kinds of jars and pots."

Firing a kiln isn't just a matter of knowing how to fire one—you also have to learn to paint, learn to select clay, learn to cure clay...

That's right, clay has to be cured too. In any case, there's plenty to learn.

Pan Yun: "You haven't trained hard-style kung fu, but have you trained internal kung fu?"

Wang Xiaojing's face went red.

Pan Yun didn't get angry though. She reached out and patted his shoulder, saying, "The fact that you haven't trained it means your master's family has treated you pretty well. That's not a bad thing either. Just learn your craft well—at the very least, master one skill."

Wang Xiaojing let out a breath and said at once, "I'll start practicing internal kung fu tonight. From now on, I'll practice one shi—no, half a shi-cheng of internal kung fu before bed."

Pan Yun: "Then when you wake up in the morning, practice half a shi-cheng before getting up too. Since you're starting, you need a plan, and you need to stick with it."

Wang Xiaojing nodded hard.

He held out the porcelain vase he'd been carrying in his arms and passed it to Pan Yun. "This is one I fired. It doesn't look great, but it's very practical. It's for you all."

Pan Yun looked at the big-bellied bottle and asked, "What are we supposed to use it for?"

Wang Xiaojing: "You can put flowers in it, or use it to hold wasted pills, or wasted water. Don't you guys always mess up batches when you refine pills?"

Pan Yun: "Miaohe told you that, right? Fine, I'll take it up and give it to Miaohe."

Wang Xiaojing gave an embarrassed smile. "It doesn't look good. Tell Miaohe not to turn her nose up at it. Once my craft improves a bit more, I'll make each of you a big porcelain vase. Then you can put whatever you want in them. Even if you don't use them, just having them on display won't be embarrassing."

Miaohe didn't mind at all. Seeing the big porcelain vase Pan Yun brought up, her first words were, "Little Xiao Shishu, where did you get such an ugly porcelain vase? Is it for me to hold waste dregs and wasted pills?"

Pan Yun: "You're so clever—got it in one guess."

Miaohe said happily, "Such an ugly bottle couldn't possibly be used for flowers, and it definitely couldn't be put on display for looks. Wouldn't it just have to be used to hold junk?"

Even Master Xuanmiao asked curiously, "Where did you get such an ugly bottle?"

Seeing Miao Zhen seemed to think for a moment, "It wasn't brought back by Xiaojing, was it?"

Pan Yun gave her a thumbs-up. "Miao Zhen's still the sharp one. This is from Xiaojing, a gift for us."

Pan Yun shoved the bottle into Miaohe's hands, turned around, and a stunningly beautiful Miss with fox ears blocked her path. A furry hand reached out in front of her eyes. "Where's my Kai Zhi Dan?"

Pan Yun turned her head and shouted toward the inside of the Daoist temple, "Senior Brother—"

Wang Feiyin sat in a rocking chair in the back courtyard, watching the mountain, watching the clouds, and said languidly, "Didn't you say you were going to have Miaohe refine it for you?"

Pan Yun: "I bought five portions of Kai Zhi Dan medicinal ingredients. Miaohe has already ruined three furnaces, and there are two left. If she can't refine it successfully, all the money I earned from Master Qian will be sunk into it. Senior Brother, please help me out."

Wang Feiyin saw her tugging at his hand and shaking it, gave an involuntary shudder, and slapped her hand away. "Don't go copying Miaohe."

Pan Yun let go of his hand, crouched beside his rocking chair, and said, "Senior Brother, if you help me refine the Kai Zhi Dan, I can promise I'll go get the ordination register from Long Hushan next year."

Wang Feiyin: "Getting your ordination register is your big matter, not mine. You're using your big matter to bargain with me?"

"Senior Brother, think about it. Which family has a Daoist Priest ordained at such a young age? When the time comes, won't our Three Pure Ones Temple's reputation soar?"

"The temple is your family. You ought to be working to bring honor to the temple—how can you use that as a bargaining chip?"

Pan Yun: "Just say it straight—what conditions do you want?"

Wang Feiyin said, "Whether or not you get the ordination register next year, whenever you go out, you must take Miao Zhen and Miaohe with you."

Pan Yun: "I'm going out to train because I've learned enough. If they come with me, won't they fall behind on their own learning?"

Wang Feiyin smacked her on the head and said, "They travel with you, and you teach them. Pick out the things in your head that they can learn, and teach them."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer. "Senior Brother, you finally believe I have memories of a past life?"

Wang Feiyin sighed and said, "You really are different from ordinary people. Your Senior Sister Xuanmiao is already a genius, but even she hadn't broken through to the First Marquis at your age."

Pan Yun lifted her chin and said, "Of course. I started cultivating the moment I left the womb. I have memories of a past life, techniques from a past life. Actually, I suspect my life before my last life was an immortal, and my last life was descending to the mortal world to undergo a tribulation. Something went wrong, I didn't succeed in the tribulation, so I was reborn. The Heavenly Dao loves me, so it specially let me keep my memories when I reincarnated, so that I could..."

With a sharp crack, thunder rolled in a clear sky, cutting Pan Yun off mid-sentence.

Pan Yun glanced up at the sky and said loudly, "See, Senior Brother? I'm not lying to you, am I? It's because I leaked a heavenly secret that it thundered."

Wang Feiyin finally couldn't stand it any longer. He called out toward the kitchen, "Cong'er, the stick!"

Tao Ji, who had long been unable to hold back, directly threw the fire-poker in his hand out.

Pan Yun saw it and turned to run. Wang Feiyin reached out, caught it, and chased after her, whacking her as he ran. "You think I'm a three-year-old? Thunder from leaking a heavenly secret? That's clearly Old Heaven himself unable to stand you talking nonsense. If you keep blabbering, in a bit the thunder will strike you, and I'll add a kick on top of it..."

Wang Feiyin chased Pan Yun all over the mountaintop, only stopping after landing three solid hits on her.

The people of the temple were used to it, calmly watching an old and a young running all over the mountain, kicking up a tremendous ruckus.

In the end, Wang Feiyin still went and refined the Kai Zhi Dan for her.

One furnace and it succeeded, so he directly refined two furnaces.

One furnace, six pills, all perfect, spinning round and round, black-red in color. Sniffing them, there was a sweet-and-sour scent. They actually looked quite tasty.

Pan Yun handed a bottle to Hong Yan. "We're even—goods paid for, deal done."

Hong Yan took it, pulled out the stopper, and took a deep breath. Her eyes lit up. "Not bad. My inherited memories tell me this is exactly the flavor."

Pan Yun: "Feels like your inherited memories are even more impressive than my past-life memories. If only I could turn my memories into inherited memories too. Hong Yan, how does your fox clan manage it?"

Hong Yan: "It just happens naturally. Once we cultivate to a certain level, we can engrave memories into our bloodline. The bloodline continues, and when our descendants' cultivation reaches the right level, the corresponding memories unlock on their own."

This book's latest updates are at ##!! Update!

Pan Yun seemed to think for a moment. "Sounds like the Spirit Realm's seal is a lot like the demon clan's bloodline inheritance. When merit or spiritual power reaches a certain amount, it unseals part of the seal, and then I can see the unsealed techniques and use the unsealed functions..."

Hong Yan tilted her head and looked at her. "What are you saying?"

"I mean, if your inheritance memory says the Kai Zhi Dan is fine, that means the Kai Zhi Dan meant for humans can indeed be eaten by beasts—Pan Xiaohei, come here."

Pan Xiaohei blinked, then elegantly padded over on catlike steps.

Pan Yun couldn't stand its slowness; she grabbed its nape in one hand, yanked it over, dumped a pill into its mouth, and tossed it to the ground, waving dismissively: "Go cultivate."

Pan Xiaohei: "…I'm a Spirit Realm beast! Spirit Realm! Do I need Kai Zhi Dan? In memory, in knowledge, I far surpass you all…"

Pan Yun looked down at it. "Are you eating it or not? If not, spit it out—I'll give it to the chickens in the back courtyard."

Pan Xiaohei swallowed the pill with a gulp.

Only then did Pan Yun drop one pill into her own mouth, and handed one each to Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He: "Though we're already very smart, I think we can be smarter."

Seeing Wang Cong approach, she gave him one too. "One more for Tao Yanbai—by the way, is he coming back to the temple this year?"

Wang Cong, who had often eaten this as a child, tossed it into his mouth and chewed it with a smile. "Of course he's coming back—I've already sent someone to deliver a letter, telling him to return from the Tao family."

Master Xuanmiao frowned. "If he hasn't returned in three days, you'll go yourself and bring him back."

Wang Cong agreed.

Pan Yun's ears perked up. As soon as Master Xuanmiao left, she sidled up to Wang Cong and whispered: "Senior disciple, is there some secret I don't know about?"

Wang Cong glanced around, then lowered his voice: "No."

Pan Yun looked up at him. "If there's nothing, why whisper? Pretending to be mysterious, hmph!"

Pan Yun turned and walked away.

Seeing Miao Zhen swallowed her pill and followed Pan Yun. "Senior brother, Third Master is injured. By right, Third Brother should return to attend to him. I think you should go fetch him tomorrow."

Miao He nodded vigorously. "If you're worried you can't out-shout the Tao family, bring Little Uncle and us along—we've learned a lot of insults these past six months."

Wang Cong: "Is this really a good thing?"

Miao He: "Sort of—at least you won't lose the argument."

Wang Feiyin said: "Why go? You can't even brew a Kai Zhi Dan. Starting tomorrow, you'll brew ten batches of pills every day. Pan Yun's busy training in object manipulation and spells—she has no time."

He frowned at Wang Cong. "You're this old—if you can't even bring back one person, you've wasted all these years."

Wang Cong: "…Yes, I'll leave first thing tomorrow."

"Go quickly and come back soon—the Mountain God Festival still has many tasks waiting for you."

Wang Feiyin walked off, hands behind his back.

Hong Yan had already snatched the pills and run off. She called to Xiao Hong, who was busy in the kitchen: "Bring me two chickens—I'm going into seclusion for two days."

Xiao Hong looked troubled. "Sister Hong Yan, we've run out of chickens."

Hong Yan pointed outside. "Aren't there chickens out there?"

"But they're alive—and I'm a ghost. Fresh chicken blood… it's bad for me."

Hong Yan immediately turned. "I'll go bite them to death—I'll bring them to you soon."

She had barely stepped outside when Wang Cong grabbed her by the nape. "I'll go buy them for you!"

"Those are the chickens that lay eggs here—you can't kill them!"

Good night

(End of Chapter)