Chapter 345: Go into Seclusion

Pan Yun paced in circles inside the temple, then comforted herself, "Still atoning, but my magic power is recovering..."

She tapped her chin in delight, "So that means your old magic power was extremely high and formidable? Did you ever pass down any powerful cultivation techniques to your disciple?"

The statue remained silent; the entire mountain god temple was quiet, with nothing acknowledging Pan Yun.

Pan Yun grumbled as she stepped outside, "Fine, ignore me then—I've got plenty powerful techniques of my own..."

No one came today, but Pan Yun no longer closed the door.

Since the number of devotees at the mountain god temple grew, some came from afar and sometimes arrived at midnight, forced to wait by the roadside until she opened up.

Such freezing weather...

Pan Yun instituted a new rule: from now on, the mountain god temple would never close—its doors would remain wide open, allowing anyone to come and burn incense anytime.

Indeed, once the doors stayed open, even if Pan Yun and the others never went down the mountain, the fruit, flowers, and water before the statue were regularly replaced.

Sometimes it was devotees who came to worship; after bowing, they'd replace the water with fresh, clean water and leave behind fresh fruit.

Most often, villagers from Fen Shui Village came voluntarily to replace them.

The terrain around Mount Sanqing was rugged, with hills and gullies; places unsuitable for growing grain were perfect for mulberry and fruit trees.

Thus, every household in Fen Shui Village planted several fruit trees, and with abundant wild fruits both on and off the mountain, swapping fruit and water posed no difficulty.

Children would also pick flowers from the fields to replace the withered ones in the temple.

In winter, when flowers were scarce, dogtail grass paired with white wild chrysanthemums made a fine offering.

Pan Yun didn't know whether her master liked it, but she herself loved it, and she'd never seen the Master object.

Pan Yun left the door open and placed a plate of pastries on the altar table, ready to feed hungry travelers or those seeking shelter, then strode off toward the mountain with her hands behind her back.

Just as she reached the crossroad, her foot still not touching the mountain path, she saw Tao Ji wearing a straw hat and carrying a large pack, with Master Xuanmiao walking beside him, sword in hand.

Pan Yun's eyes instantly lit up as she dashed toward them, "Third Master! Fourth Sister!"

Master Xuanmiao, seeing her charge like a mad calf, immediately drew her sword and blocked the two in front.

Pan Yun skidded to a halt just before touching the scabbard, "Third Master! Fourth Sister! You're finally back! We've missed you so much!"

Tao Ji beamed and nodded repeatedly, "Little sister, we've missed you too..."

Master Xuanmiao had already passed her and headed up the mountain, saying, "We'll talk once we're back on the mountain."

Pan Yun turned to watch her sister's back, then hurried to Tao Ji's side and reached for his heavy pack, "Third Master, why is Fourth Sister so icy? Did I upset her?"

"Not at all, but our trip yielded a great deal."

Pan Yun's eyes sparkled, "How much money did you make?"

Tao Ji: "It's not about money—it's about gathering a lot of information."

He paused, then added, "Though we did acquire quite a bit of money too."

Once they reached the mountain, Tao Ji pulled out a cloth sack from his robe; when opened, it was filled entirely with silver notes—and all of them were high-denomination.

Four little heads huddled together, bursting into a thunderous "Whoa!"—so startling that Pan Xiaohei couldn't help slipping beneath them, clawing at the table to look up.

Wang Feiyin shoved their heads aside and slapped away their hands reaching for the silver notes, "Go, go, go—just look, don't touch! Can you even handle this money?"

Wang Feiyin didn't reach for it either; he stayed far from the table, extending only one arm.

After shooing away Miao Zhen, Miao, and Tao Yanbai, he grabbed Pan Yun's ear and yanked her close, "What are you staring at? You're the one who absolutely cannot touch money."

Pan Yun tilted her head, gripping his hand and her own ear, crying out, "Ow, ow, ow! Easy, easy! I'm just looking—I'm not going to take it..."

Master Xuanmiao said, "Most of this money was earned by Little Sister."

Pan Yun pointed at her own nose in astonishment, "Me?"

Master Xuanmiao nodded, "You earned five thousand taels from the array plate for Old Liu of Quanzhou."

Pan Yun waved her hand, "Pfft, I negotiated that deal, but you built the array plate—it's your money."

Master Xuanmiao: "But you taught me how to build it."

Pan Yun sighed deeply, "Alas, my fortune with money is too shallow—I can't handle this much. You keep it, Fourth Sister."

Master Xuanmiao asked, "How much private wealth can you possess without misfortune?"

Pan Yun proudly held up two fingers, "Eight hundred taels!"

Master Xuanmiao nodded, then said to Wang Feiyin, "Then keep it all in the sect's public account—the children need medicinal herbs for cultivation, and someday we'll need money to forge magical artifacts."

Wang Feiyin nodded, "We'll need a lot of money. Good—now we've got the payment for her flying artifact."

Master Xuanmiao: "Another ten thousand taels—also earned by Little Sister."

Pan Yun swallowed hard, "How come I didn't know I was this powerful?"

Master Xuanmiao glanced at her, "I sold your information to the Qianxi Pavilion."

Wang Feiyin:...

Tao Ji nervously glanced at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun's eyes blazed with wonder, clutching her chest in delight and shock, "Me? My information is worth that much? Fourth Sister, what information did you sell? Where? Can I go to a Qianxi Pavilion branch and sell it again? Or sell other unsold information too?"

Master Xuanmiao's face remained expressionless: "The youngest First Marquis in a hundred years—your information is still valuable."

She gave Pan Yun a warning look, "I advise you not to sell information too useful—otherwise, it will become a dagger stuck in your back. There are far more powerful and formidable people in this world; they simply don't appear in the martial world."

Wang Feiyin nodded vigorously, shoving Pan Yun—who was lost in thoughts of money—aside, and asked Master Xuanmiao, "Are there many rumors about Little Sister out there?"

Master Xuanmiao nodded, "Many—yet they all avoid Yushan County, giving us a false sense of calm."

She said, "Now both the Daoist sects and the martial world know that Little Sister goes by the name Sanzhu—the Pan Sanzhu who killed bandits in Quanzhou is her."

She looked at Pan Yun, "But the Pan Sanzhu in Anren County, who claims to be over a hundred years old, hasn't gained wide recognition—only the Qianxi Pavilion knows that person is you."

Pan Yun awkwardly rubbed her nose; Miao Zhen and Miao remembered the lie they told Old Huang, and lowered their heads.

Master Xuanmiao said, "I've investigated. That Huang is a wealthy man with no conscience—you could have beaten him, deceived him, even robbed him. Taking from him and giving to the people is merely returning what's owed; the karmic burden is light. Why did you fabricate such a grand lie involving Long Hushan's feng shui?"

Pan Yun: "I'm a law-abiding citizen—how could I possibly commit robbery?"

Master Xuanmiao: "Is lying the act of a law-abiding citizen?"

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Pan Yun: "That was my poor judgment, my cultivation not yet up to par, I misread the feng shui — how could that count as a scam?"

Master Xuanmiao: "No matter how you put it, you're the one in the right. But you told such a huge lie, one that even involved the feng shui formation of Long Hushan, and you even hinted that he was plotting rebellion. Do you know what would become of you if people found out about this?"

Pan Yun: "No one will find out."

"The Thousand Breath Tower already knows."

Pan Yun: "Do they have proof?"

Master Xuanmiao fell silent.

Seeing Miao Zhen immediately raised her hand and said: "Fourth Uncle-Master, we were all in disguise at the time, especially Little Uncle-Master — she was made up so thoroughly that even her own parents wouldn't have recognized her. Even if the Thousand Breath Tower knows, they only guessed it from our movements; they can't produce solid evidence."

Master Xuanmiao looked at them. "Long Hushan is not a government office — handling matters doesn't require solid evidence. The jianghu is the same. In fact, for certain people, certain factions in the imperial court, solid evidence isn't needed either."

"Once they've decided it's you, that's enough."

Wang Feiyin glared at them too. "You were sent to the Academy to study, and instead you picked up a whole pack of bad habits, growing more and more lawless."

The three of them lowered their heads and admitted their fault. "We know we were wrong. We won't dare do it again."

Wang Feiyin narrowed his eyes, sizing them up. "Do you truly know you were wrong, or are you just pretending?"

Pan Yun immediately raised her hand and swore: "I truly know I was wrong, Senior Brother. At the time I just couldn't stand watching him bully the tenant farmers like that. Besides, the Huang family is so big and established there — there's no way to root them out. What's more, get rid of one surnamed Huang and another surnamed Li or Zhang will pop up. Treating the symptom, not the root. Better to leave the Huangs in place and find an excuse to scare them a little, so the tenant farmers can have an easier time of it."

Wang Feiyin patted her head and said: "With so many excuses, how did you come up with such a rotten one?"

But she and Miao Zhen and Miao He all thought it was brilliant.

The three lowered their heads, and Pan Yun said softly: "I never said it outright — I only hinted. If he read too much into it, what could I do?"

Wang Feiyin glared at her. "And you still think you're in the right?"

Pan Yun immediately lowered her head. "I know I was wrong."

Admitting fault so readily left Wang Feiyin for a moment unsure whether she truly acknowledged it or was only paying lip service.

But that didn't stop him from punishing her. "As punishment, starting today you will face the wall and reflect, all the way until the thirtieth of the year. You are not to step half a step outside."

Pan Yun's eyes went wide. "Our Mount Sanqing actually has a 'face the wall and reflect' thing?"

Wang Feiyin: "Your room — turn around and isn't that facing the wall?"

"Of course, if you don't want to face the wall in your own room, I can also find you a quieter spot."

A little below the mountaintop, there were two giant boulders leaning against each other, with a large gap between them — perhaps ten-odd square meters — dry and deep inside.

To Pan Yun's surprise, inside there was a stone bed that had been polished very smooth.

It was a stone bed, right?

A smooth slab of stone, a little over a meter wide and over two meters deep.

Wang Feiyin tossed her straight in. "You'll do your closed-door cultivation right here."

Pan Yun: "Wait a moment, Senior Brother — I never said I was unwilling to do closed-door cultivation in my room…"

Wang Feiyin: "You didn't answer just now."

Pan Yun: "I was only two breaths slower…"

Wang Feiyin said, heart aching: "I was originally feeling for you, afraid you'd be too cold here. But I feel the Daoist temple is still too noisy — this spot is just right for you. You're already First Marquis now. If you're cold, just circulate your yuan power. Take good care of yourself."

"Having you do closed-door cultivation here — your senior brother is also heartbroken."

Pan Yun: …

Wang Feiyin said: "In a while I'll have Tao Yanbai and the other two bring your clothes and bedding down here, and rice too."

Good night

(End of chapter)