Chapter 32: Reading the Progress Bars

According to their contract, Pan Yun gave one-fiftieth of the spiritual energy she cultivated to the Spirit Realm; during this time, she trained diligently day and night, yet the Spirit Realm showed no change at all.

Unexpectedly, today it suddenly unsealed a portion of its bindings, unlocking seven of the Thirteen Daoist True Qi Formulas, the Basic Talisman Manual, and expanding the other storage space for physical objects slightly.

Merit… saving lives?

Pan Yun pondered.

The Spirit Realm gazed at her expectantly; as soon as she returned to herself, it ventured, “Perhaps we should shift to cultivating merit?”

Pan Yun: “Do you have any cultivation techniques?”

The Spirit Realm fell silent.

Pan Yun sneered.

The Spirit Realm said: “Do more good deeds…”

Its voice grew quieter. “It’s bound to help.”

Pan Yun said: “I can’t wait. My father and brother can’t wait either.”

The Spirit Realm still tried to persuade, but Pan Yun grew impatient: “Why can’t I have both? Does cultivation hinder me from doing good? Or does doing good hinder my cultivation?”

The Spirit Realm: …Fine, its thinking was too narrow.

Pan Yun’s thinking could be even broader: “Besides, aren’t you still here? When I’m busy, you do the good deeds—your merit goes straight to you, isn’t that better than me earning it and then splitting it with you?”

As she spoke, Pan Yun’s eyes narrowed slightly: “Come to think of it, the merit I gain from saving lives isn’t within the scope of spiritual energy—why can the Spirit Realm absorb it directly?”

The Spirit Realm: “...I don’t know.”

Pan Yun stared at it silently.

The Spirit Realm shouted: “I really don’t know! If I did, wouldn’t the golden light of merit the Prince of Zhou gave you have already turned into clouds floating around?”

Pan Yun gazed at the tiny golden cloud in her dantian, lost in thought: “Let’s study it.”

The Spirit Realm couldn’t have been more eager—it had lost many memories after being sealed, and it likely understood itself less than Pan Yun did.

The Spirit Realm had dwelled in Pan Yun’s dantian for eight years, familiar with every corner; as its own spiritual body, the Spirit Realm felt right at home.

Though it was her own dantian, Pan Yun had only recently learned inner observation, and her spiritual sense still consumed energy within it.

She and the Spirit Realm split up, searching slowly through the Spirit Realm’s interior; just as she was about to lose her spiritual focus, she suddenly remembered that the Institute had once placed a formation on the Spirit Realm specifically to track the spiritual energy input and the progress of its unsealing.

After all, corruption exists everywhere.

The Spirit Realm was like a bottomless pit—no matter how much resource was poured in, it changed very little.

Without tracking spiritual energy and progress, no one would have the confidence to keep investing.

Otherwise, before the seals were broken, the Institute staff might collapse from suspicion and internal strife.

With this formation, researchers could easily track the relationship between spiritual energy input and unsealing progress, and inspectors could monitor it too.

The public also trusted the concrete numbers displayed by the formation.

Otherwise, you say you fed a high-energy jade stone to the Spirit Realm—but who believes you?

The Spirit Realm can’t speak—how do you know you’re not lying?

Pan Yun’s spiritual sense appeared instantly at the top of the Three Jade Spirit Realm; the miniature figure formed by her spiritual sense chanted a hand seal, drawing her spiritual energy into her dantian, flowing along her fingertips. When the seal was complete, a streak of light shot into the Spirit Realm.

The Spirit Realm shimmered with radiant light; two lines slowly appeared atop it—one red, one blue.

The senior brother who designed this formation had proudly said, “It’s just like playing an old-school online game—doesn’t feeding the Spirit Realm feel like feeding your teammate?”

When feeding treasures, the red bar shot forward rapidly, while the blue bar remained motionless; only after feeding so much that the red bar surged back and forth several times would the blue bar inch forward slowly.

This very situation led some in the Institute to oppose further investment in the Spirit Realm—they believed the cost of unsealing was too high, with returns far outweighed by inputs;

while others became even more determined to continue investing—after all, if so many treasures and spiritual energy were needed to break the seals, the Spirit Realm’s capabilities must be extraordinary.

The current world’s greatest pain point was the loss and rupture of transmission—could they read so much knowledge from the Spirit Realm because past generations had done the same?

By breaking the seals, they might recover the lost treasures of ancient civilizations and reconnect the broken lineage of cultivation.

Merely imagining this made them feel every sacrifice worthwhile.

Pan Yun’s master belonged to neither the first nor the second faction—he formed his own, commonly called the third faction.

He chose the technical route: breaking formations, unsealing.

Pan Yun was one of his most gifted disciples; naturally, she supported her master.

So, on some day in some month and year, while researching how to break the formation, her master accidentally triggered something—the laboratory exploded violently…

Thus, the technical route isn’t so easy to walk.

Pan Yun stood in midair before the progress bars, her emotions complex.

The Spirit Realm also emerged, gazing at the formation alongside her: “You noticed?”

Pan Yun: “My senior brother earned his doctorate using this formation. But now I see—he didn’t perfect it. Humans can’t modify it, but the Spirit Realm can.”

The Spirit Realm looked embarrassed, explaining: “I didn’t modify it—I only blocked you. It’s still been working all these years. I was troubled—I tried destroying it several times but couldn’t find a way.” Pan Yun: “Are you telling me you’ve been anxious these past eight years?”

The Spirit Realm fell silent.

Pan Yun activated her technique, channeling more spiritual energy into her dantian and feeding it to the Spirit Realm—the red bar inched forward slightly, while the blue bar remained motionless.

Pan Yun reached out toward the golden cloud; it curled around her fingertips. She pointed at the Spirit Realm—the merit gold light flew toward it. The red bar didn’t move, but the blue bar leaped forward one segment. The Spirit Realm was ecstatic: “I felt it—a seal node has loosened!”

Pan Yun stared at the remaining golden cloud, lost in thought: “It really works.”

The Spirit Realm nodded vigorously: “It works, it works!”

Pan Yun was about to speak when noise came from outside. She lowered her spiritual sense and opened her eyes.

The Spirit Realm flew out from her forehead and merged into the body of the black cat, whose breathing was faint. Both human and cat turned toward the door.

The next instant, a knock sounded.

Pan Yun said: “Come in.”

Tao Ji pushed the door open, saw her money still on the table, and frowned slightly: “Why haven’t you packed yet? Won’t you follow the Prince of Zhou’s spirit out?”

!. Read

Pan Yun asked calmly: “Are you going?”

“We’ll see him off. Tomorrow morning we head back to Mount Sanqing,” Tao Ji said. “We’ve been away too long.”

Pan Yun nodded: “Alright.”

Seeing her obedient, Tao Ji couldn’t help glancing back at her repeatedly as he left.

Pan Yun shut the door, gathered all the money she’d received these days into the Spirit Realm’s storage space, then went to see off the Prince of Zhou.

The Prince of Zhou was known in his domain for caring for the people; compared to his uncles and cousins who loved eating human brains and livers, kidnapping women and men, and tying civilians up to beat them like punching bags, his only known hobby was writing and staging zaju plays.

His father, the former Prince of Zhou, left him a vast medical legacy: pharmacies, clinics, and physicians.

As a royal clan member, he couldn’t engage in commerce or compete with the people for profit—the clinics were operated semi-publicly through the government, and his physicians were dispatched wherever large-scale illnesses broke out.

Thus, the Prince of Zhou enjoyed great popular support.

As soon as the Prince’s coffin was carried out, the streets filled with citizens come to escort the spirit; gentry and officials had set up memorial altars along the roadside.

Those who had received the Prince’s kindness followed the funeral procession out of the city, walking far beyond before being persuaded to return by the Prince’s household.

The imperial decree appointing Zhu Zijin as the new Prince of Zhou had not yet been issued, but as the heir, he was already the new master of the Prince’s household—the household remained calm, with no chaos.

Zhu Zijin led Zhu Tongqie, dressed in mourning robes, to see Pan Yun and the others off, and pleaded once more: “Truly, won’t the three Daoists stay a while longer? My mother greatly admired Master Xuanmiao; my son is especially fond of Master Pan; Master Tao’s medical skill is superb—I’d be honored to invite you all as household guests.”

Zhu Zijin had mentioned this before, but all three firmly refused.

Cultivating the Dao was joyful and free—they had no desire to be locked inside a mansion as guests.

Unlike his father, Zhu Tongqie showed no sorrow. He broke free from his father’s grip, stepped forward, and grabbed Pan Yun’s hand: “Sister, go ahead to Mount Sanqing and wait for me. When my mourning period ends, I’ll come find you and become your disciple.”

Pan Yun: “Become my disciple?”

Zhu Tongqie glanced at Tao Ji and grinned.

Tao Ji smiled back, then quickly suppressed it after a look from Xuanmiao, muttering quietly: “This child has my talent for alchemy…”

Zhu Zijin’s forehead broke into sweat; he finally stopped urging them, seeing them off warmly.

He held his son’s hand tightly, soothing him: “First learn to read and write. When you’re older, go to Mount Sanqing to play—otherwise, if you wander off again and can’t find your way home like last time?”

The great gate closed behind them; from today on, the Prince’s household officially entered mourning, and the gate would not open lightly.

Pan Yun turned back to look at the closed gate—the entire Prince’s household radiated purple qi, continuous and unbroken, indicating the next Prince of Zhou would also be sustained by the people’s qi.

Xuanmiao also turned back, then sat in the carriage: “Let’s go.”

Pan Yun hugged the black cat and leapt aboard.

The Prince’s heir had generously gifted them a mule cart; he’d originally wanted to give them a covered carriage, but Tao Ji refused—covered carriages held less cargo.

Heading south, Tao Ji bought cheap goods along the way: herbs, cloth, spices, shoes and socks, ready-made clothing…

He even stockpiled several wooden basins. Don’t ask—ask why? Because they’re cheaper here.

At first, Pan Yun and the black cat could half-recline in the cart, watching clouds, enjoying the breeze, and quietly studying the progress formation inside the Spirit Realm.

She wanted to add a merit progress bar.

She and Pan Xiaohei had discovered why it could absorb merit directly—during the time the Spirit Realm was separated from its body, she had nourished it with spiritual energy; without the Spirit Realm, the Spirit Realm seemed to have mistaken her for the Spirit Realm itself.

Added to the fact that it was already spiritually bonded to her and bound by contract, now it was truly one with her—meaning, if she died, the Spirit Realm would likely be destroyed—or follow her soul into reincarnation.

Unless she died again, she couldn’t be certain—this experiment couldn’t be completed in this lifetime.

But just as the formation began to take shape, the cart filled with more and more goods; eventually, she could only sit on half her buttocks, let alone watch clouds, enjoy the breeze, or study the formation—she had to struggle hard just not to be thrown off.

The lucky number for this chapter remains any number ending in 5—screenshot as proof. Join the group “The Eccentric Ming,” find Moyan, and claim her tenfold love.

(End of Chapter)