Chapter 32: Reading the Bars

According to their contract, Pan Yun gave one-fiftieth of her cultivated Qi to the Spirit Realm each time she trained; during this period, she trained diligently, day and night without pause, yet the Spirit Realm showed no change at all from consuming this Qi.

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 space capable of storing physical objects slightly further.

Merit… saving lives?

Pan Yun pondered thoughtfully.

The Spirit Realm gazed at her expectantly; seeing her return to awareness, it ventured tentatively, "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 don't have time to 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 deeds? Or does doing good deeds 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 go do good deeds—your merit goes directly to you, isn't that better than me gaining it first and then splitting it with you?"

As Pan Yun spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly, "Come to think of it, the merit I gain from saving lives isn't within the scope of Qi—why can the Spirit Realm absorb it directly?"

The Spirit Realm: "... I don't know."

Pan Yun stared at it silently.

The Spirit Realm exclaimed loudly, "I truly don't know! If I did, would the merit-golden light Zhou Wang gave you still be floating around like a cloud?"

Pan Yun gazed at the tiny golden cloud inside her dantian, lost in thought: "Let's study it."

The Spirit Realm was only too eager—it had lost much of its memory after being sealed, and its understanding of itself might be less than Pan Yun's.

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

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

She and the Spirit Realm split up, searching bit by bit inside the Spirit Realm; just as she was about to lose her spiritual focus, she suddenly recalled that the Institute had once placed a formation on the Spirit Realm specifically to track the amount of Qi invested and the progress of its seal-breaking.

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 Qi statistics and progress tracking, no one had the confidence to keep investing.

Otherwise, by the time the Spirit Realm's seals remained unbroken, the Institute's researchers might already have collapsed from suspicion and infighting.

With this formation, researchers could easily track the relationship between Qi input and seal-breaking 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—who knows if you're telling the truth?

Pan Yun's spiritual awareness instantly appeared atop the Three Jade Spirit Realm; the miniature figure formed by her awareness performed a hand seal, channeling her body's Qi into the dantian, where it danced along her fingertips. When the seal was complete, a streak of light shot into the Spirit Realm.

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

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

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

It was precisely this situation that led some researchers to oppose further investment in the Spirit Realm—they believed the seal's energy cost was too high, and input bore no proportional return;

while others became even more determined to continue investing—think of how many treasures and Qi were needed just to break the seal; clearly, the Spirit Realm's capabilities must be immense.

The current world's pain point lies in lost heritage and cultural gaps—could they access so much knowledge stored within the Spirit Realm because ancient people once did the same?

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

Merely imagining this made them feel every sacrifice worthwhile.

Pan Yun's teacher belonged to neither the first group nor the second—he formed his own sect, commonly known as the Third Faction.

He chose the technical path: breaking formations, unsealing.

Pan Yun was one of his most accomplished disciples; naturally, she supported her teacher.

So, on some day in some month of some year, while researching formation-breaking, her teacher unknowingly triggered something—the laboratory exploded in a massive blast…

Thus, the technical path isn't so easy to walk.

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

The Spirit Realm also emerged, gazing at the formation alongside her with equal complexity: "You noticed?"

Pan Yun: "My senior brother earned his doctorate using this formation. But now it seems 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. All these years, it's still been working. I was tormented—I tried destroying it several times but couldn't find a way." Pan Yun: "You're telling me you've been anxious these past eight years?"

The Spirit Realm fell silent.

Pan Yun activated her technique, channeling more Qi 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 as she pointed at the Spirit Realm—the merit-golden 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: "Very effective, very effective."

Pan Yun was about to speak when a sound came from outside; she withdrew her spiritual awareness and opened her eyes.

The Spirit Realm also flew out from her forehead, merging into the body of the cat breathing faintly; both woman and cat turned toward the door.

In the next instant, a knock sounded.

Pan Yun said, "Come in."

Tao Ji pushed the door open, saw her money still lying on the table, and frowned slightly: "Why haven't you packed yet? Won't you follow Zhou Wang when he emerges?"

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Pan Yun asked without expression, "Are you going?"

"We'll see him off," Tao Ji said. "We'll set out for Mount Sanqing early tomorrow. We've been away too long."

Pan Yun nodded in agreement. "Fine."

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

Pan Yun shut the door, collected all the money she'd received these days into the Spirit Realm space, then went to see off the Zhou Wang.

Among the Zhou lands, the Zhou Wang was known for caring for the people; compared to his uncles and brothers who delighted in eating human brains and livers, snatching women and men from the populace, and tying civilians up to beat them like punching bags, his only known hobby was writing and staging zaju plays.

His father, the former Zhou Wang, had left him a substantial medical legacy—such as herbal estates, pharmacies, and physicians.

As a member of the imperial clan, he could not engage in commerce or compete with the people for profit; the pharmacies were operated semi-publicly through the local government, and the physicians under his name were dispatched wherever large-scale illnesses broke out.

Thus, the Zhou Wang was deeply beloved by the people.

As soon as the Zhou Wang's coffin was carried out, the streets filled with citizens come to mourn, while local gentry and officials had set up memorial pavilions along the roadside.

Those who had received the Zhou Wang's kindness followed the funeral procession all the way out of the city, only turning back after being persuaded by Zhou Wangfu attendants.

Though the imperial edict appointing Zhu Zijin as the new Zhou Wang had not yet been issued, as the heir he was already the new master of Zhou Wangfu; the household remained calm, with no chaos arising.

Zhu Zijin led Zhu Tongqie, dressed in mourning robes, to see Pan Yun and the others off, then pleaded once more, "Truly, won't the three Daoists stay a little longer? My mother greatly admired Master Xuanmiao, my son is fond of Daoist Pan, and Daoist Tao's medical skill is superb—I would dearly like to invite all three of you as household guests."

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

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

Unlike his father, Zhu Tongqie showed no sorrow; he broke free of his father's hand, 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 looked toward Tao Ji and grinned.

Tao Ji smiled back at him, then quickly suppressed it after a glance from Master Xuanmiao, muttering under his breath, "This child has my talent for Alchemy…"

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

He held his son's hand tightly, soothing him: "First learn to read characters. Wait until you're older to visit Mount Sanqing—otherwise, if you go out again and can't even recognize the roads, what if you get lost like last time and can't find your way home?"

The great gate closed behind them; from today on, Zhou Wangfu officially entered mourning, and the gate would not be opened lightly.

Pan Yun turned back to look at the tightly shut gate; purple qi rose continuously from the entire Zhou Wangfu, unbroken—clear proof that the next Zhou Wang would also be sustained by the people's qi.

Master Xuanmiao also turned back for a glance, then sat down in the carriage and said, "Let's go."

Pan Yun hugged the black cat and leapt into the carriage.

The Zhou Wang's heir had generously gifted them a mule cart; he had originally wanted to give them a covered wagon, but Tao Ji refused—covered wagons held too little.

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 why—because they're cheaper here.

At first, Pan Yun and the black cat could half-recline in the cart, watching clouds, enjoying the wind, and quietly studying the reading arrays within the Spirit Realm.

She wanted to add a new line for merit readings.

She and Pan Xiaohei had already discovered why it could directly absorb merit: during the time the Spirit Spirit had left its body, she had nourished it with her Qi, and the Spirit Realm, deprived of its Spirit Spirit, now seemed to regard her as the Spirit Spirit itself.

Added to the fact that it was already spiritually linked to her and bound by a pact, now it was truly one with her—meaning, if she ever died, the Spirit Realm would very likely be destroyed along with her, or else 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 array 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 wind, or study arrays—she had to work hard just to avoid being thrown off.

The lucky number for this chapter remains any number ending in 5—screenshot as proof. Join the group "Jian Zou Pian Feng Da Ming," find Mo Yan, and claim her tenfold love.

(End of Chapter)