Chapter 337: To See Is to Have an Opportunity

Miaohe's eyes lit up and she cried out, "Little Master Shu! It must be Little Master Shu and the others returning!"

Pan Yun and the other two, dripping wet, came over from the herb room; Wang Feiyin scanned them up and down, his face expressionless as he asked, "How is my medicine cauldron?"

Pan Yun awkwardly rubbed her nose and smiled sweetly, "Fine, very fine, Big Brother, we just washed it twenty times—every corner and edge was scrubbed clean."

Wang Feiyin felt a sudden unease, "What did you use my medicine cauldron to store that you'd wash it twenty times?!"

Last time they sat on it, he made them wash it three times, and Pan Yun had grumbled about him being overly fussy.

Pan Yun opened her mouth and whispered, "I stored two strangers inside."

Wang Feiyin's eyebrows shot up, "Are you mad? I told you never to let ordinary mortals see it—and you put people inside?!"

Pan Yun immediately said, "They were unconscious—they knew nothing."

Wang Feiyin pondered, "You're certain they remained fully unconscious the whole time?"

"I'm certain!" Pan Yun swore, "They were barely clinging to life—no chance they woke up at all."

Wang Feiyin began scanning the area, searching for something.

Seeing this, Pan Yun stepped back three paces, "B-Big Brother, what are you looking for?"

"Where's my stick? The stick I always keep here—where did it go?"

Tao Yanbai whispered, "Last time Little Master Shu brought it to me as a firewood stick—it's in the kitchen, I think it got burned as firewood."

Pan Yun turned and sprinted down the mountain; Pan Xiaohei cursed under his breath and leapt after her, wondering when this stupid restriction—never being allowed to stray too far from her—would ever end—

Seeing this, Wang Feiyin abandoned his search for the stick and yanked off his shoe, hurling it straight at the back of her head, "You unruly disciple, stop right there!"

Wang Feiyin flashed forward, caught the shoe before it hit the ground, grabbed a handful of pebbles, and charged after her, pelting her with stones while shouting, "You used my medicine cauldron to store someone on the brink of death—why not just store a corpse outright—"

Wang Cong and his three younger siblings shrank back; Tao Ji and Master Xuanmiao were absent, so no one could stop them. Wang Feiyin chased Pan Yun down the mountain, then chased her back up again—the entire mountain echoed with his curses.

Occasionally, Pan Yun's voice rose in protest: "I was saving lives! They were about to die—they needed a coroner, no, a physician! Even Buddhists say saving one life surpasses building seven tiers of pagodas—our Daoist path can't be worse than them on this point…"

Wang Cong decided he couldn't intervene, so he chose to watch from the sidelines. He told his junior disciples, "Don't learn from Little Master Shu—but when elders are scolded, we should still keep our distance. Let's go cook."

Miaohe also retracted her toes from the ledge and asked, "Big Brother, what are we eating tonight?"

Wang Cong: "We came back in a rush—we bought nothing…"

"I bought some with Little Master Shu," Miao Zhen pulled items out of her jade tablet's space, "Mutton, lamb ribs, lamb spine, pork and pork ribs, and a roasted chicken…"

She added, "We bought them all this morning after collecting our reward from the magistrate's office on the main street."

Miaohe, seeing all these delicacies, already had a recipe planned in her head; Wang Cong took only the mutton and lamb spine, "We'll eat just these two tonight—the rest we'll pickle for tomorrow and the day after."

Miaohe's gaze shifted to the mutton and lamb spine, "I'll go pull some radishes—it's cold now, lamb soup is perfect."

Tao Yanbai: "I'll steam the rice."

Wang Cong hadn't eaten home-cooked meals in days and missed them terribly; he hurriedly added, "Steam plenty."

Wang Cong and Miao Zhen went to change clothes first, then headed to the kitchen to help.

The sun had just set; the four moved quickly, and the mutton and lamb spine were soon simmering.

Tao Yanbai added plenty of spices to the pot, and the rice slowly steamed in the stove—no need to watch constantly, just check the fire now and then.

The four sat in a row on the cliff's edge, ears straining for sounds from the mountain; besides bird calls, only the mournful wind could be heard. The three siblings turned their heads together toward Wang Cong.

Wang Cong mused, "From the noise, it sounds like the fight's over."

Miao Zhen: "Then I'll go boil water for a bath."

Wang Cong waved his hand, "Go ahead."

On another peak, Pan Yun hobbled over to a large rock, clutching her buttocks, looking up at the man removing his shoe to shake out pebbles, "Big Brother, my butt hurts too much—I can't use spiritual flight. You have to carry me back."

"You deserve it. Who told you to go poking everywhere? If I hadn't been quick, you wouldn't just be sitting on your butt—you'd be broken."

Pan Yun muttered, "Who told you to hit my butt…"

Wang Feiyin slipped his shoe back on, looked up, paused, then turned and waved at Pan Yun, "Come up."

Wang Feiyin sat atop a large rock—the highest point nearby, about three or four meters tall. Pan Yun stood beneath it, her head barely reaching a third of its height.

On the other side of the rock lay an endless abyss, so Pan Yun dared lean against it, sprawl on it—but she shook her head at Wang Feiyin's invitation, "Why climb up? We need to go back—Cong'er and the others are almost done cooking, aren't they?"

Wang Feiyin patiently waved again, "Come up—I'll hold you. You won't fall."

Pan Yun fell silent, then scrambled up the rock with hands and feet.

A flicker of amusement passed through Wang Feiyin's eyes; he reached out, seized her hand, and pulled her up beside him to sit.

Wang Feiyin didn't let her look down; instead, he pointed to the horizon, "Look." Pan Yun raised her head and saw the western sky flooded with radiant clouds.

The sun had shrunk into a tangerine-red disc, no larger than a household plate, surrounded by a sea of glowing light.

The glow faded in gradient hues—from fiery red, to tangerine, to orange-yellow, to golden yellow…

Today, the western clouds were numerous yet light, shifting with the wind into ever-changing shapes under their gaze…

Pan Yun was spellbound.

In the 26th century, after spiritual energy revived, the environment improved greatly—but still couldn't match Great Ming's beauty.

Such scenery could only be seen in certain regions, at specific times—and even then, rarely this exquisite.

Since arriving in this world, Pan Yun had often seen beautiful sunsets.

Whether in Jingcheng or Mount Sanqing, as long as the sky was clear, she could see them daily.

Especially since coming to Mount Sanqing, sitting with Miao Zhen and Miaohe on rocks to watch sunrises, sea of clouds, and sunsets had become routine—a sight always within reach.

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But this magnificent sunset glow—she had never seen it before.

Pan Yun's restless heart quieted, softened into joy, wonder, then settled into calm, a quiet, slow tide of happiness flowing through her, barely perceptible.

When the sun on the horizon shrank to the size of a dinner bowl, its color deepened, nearly touching the mountain's peak, the two siblings slowly returned to themselves.

Wang Feiyin stroked his beard and said, "Sunset glows are common—but occasionally, an extraordinarily beautiful one appears, rare and unrepeatable. When it does, not everyone looks up—and even fewer pause to truly savor it."

"Life is fleeting, opportunities are fleeting—when one comes, seize it. Don't let it slip away."

Pan Yun lowered her eyes in thought, and after a moment released Wang Feiyin's hand, which she had been gripping tightly the whole time. She braced both hands on the rock and slowly shuffled forward on all fours.

She wasn't very close to the edge; the rim of the rock was still more than half a metre from her feet.

But it was enough for her to lower her gaze and look down.

The moment her line of sight dropped, a light, floating weightlessness came over her. Her hands went a little weak, her feet seemed to find no solid purchase, and the small of her back felt hollow. But fortunately, she was sitting, so she simply froze in place without moving, lowered her eyes, and pulled her gaze away from the sheer cliff to stare only at her own toes.

After a long while, she gently raised her eyes a little. When she looked at the cliff again, she didn't feel quite so hollow.

But she knew that next time she started over, she would still feel the same way.

In her past life, to overcome this problem, she had thought of many methods, and had even gone to see a psychologist.

They all said it was because she had grown up in an orphanage from a young age, without a sense of security, and so had developed a psychological barrier.

Otherwise, why would she be fine as long as there were railings around her?

But when she seriously recalled her childhood, she had truly been very busy as a child — busy studying, busy eating, busy cultivating — she didn't even have time to make friends, so where would a sense of insecurity have come from?

She had always known that the State would raise her to adulthood and arrange a fine future for her.

Even if she had no talent, she was still the child of a martyr; moreover, her talent was so high, and everyone was very friendly to her, wasn't that so?

Pan Yun stared fixedly ahead. She had indeed missed many better opportunities because of her fear of heights — both in her studies and in cultivation resources.

Especially when it came to going for cultivation resources, whether it was the school or classmates forming private teams, as long as the task was an aerial one, she would be excluded.

Just as she was lost in thought, a hand gently stroked her head — probably pricked by her bristly hair — and quickly moved away again.

Oh, because of crawling through tree forks and stone crevices, Pan Yun's hat had long since fallen off; she had grabbed it and stuffed it into her spirit-realm space. At this moment, only bristly hair was left on her head, even a little shorter than a crew cut.

Pan Yun came back to herself, and only then realised that she had only felt herself zone out for a moment, yet half of the sun had already been hidden by the mountain, and the sky had grown overcast.

Pan Yun looked at that half-sun on the horizon, swallowed, and said: "Like a poached egg yolk with a bite taken out of it. Senior Brother, I want to eat boiled poached eggs."

Wang Feiyin: "……I'll have Wang Cong cook them for you."

Pan Yun nodded and reached her hand out to him. "Senior Brother, pull me up. My legs feel a bit weak."

Wang Feiyin glanced at her, then reached to pull her up. But Pan Yun sat there stubbornly. "Don't — I won't stand up. Just drag me backwards."

Wang Feiyin: ……

So he dragged her back a few steps, further from the cliff's edge. Pan Yun revived at full health, crawled on all fours to the side of the rock on her own, and slid down. As she crawled she chattered away: "Senior Brother, I hadn't originally meant to say anything, but you were right — this kind of thing you can encounter but not seek. Seeing it is a kind of fate; anyone with a heart would want to seize the chance."

"So I have to tell you: this time when I went out I ran into Qu Le. He saw me fly and insisted on taking me as his master. I refused him. Of course, I didn't refuse him for any profound reason — I just suddenly realised that if I took him on, not only would his lifespan be shortened, but his family would also be dragged down by my bad luck. And as it happens, his temperament isn't really suited to our Mount Sanqing, and not even really suited to cultivating the Dao."

"But I think what you said tonight also makes sense. When a person sees a sunset like this, they stop and look at it carefully. I can't just not give him any chance at all — just throw a black cloth over it, or beat him back and not let him see……"

Wang Feiyin, annoyed at how slowly she was crawling, simply picked her up and set her down in one motion. After putting her on the ground he asked, "Just say straight out what you want to do?"

Pan Yun lowered her voice and said: "How about we recommend him to Long Hushan?"

(End of chapter)