Chapter 347

Tao Yanbai: "My father and mother both favor my younger brother; even my own sister, born of the same mother, suffers neglect..."

"Did they do wrong?" Tao Ji asked: "I'm asking you—did they do wrong?"

After a pause, Tao Yanbai nodded. "They did."

"If they did wrong, why didn't you point it out?" Tao Ji tapped his forehead. "If you don't question or correct your parents' mistakes, is that filial piety?"

"Since they did wrong, you must help them correct it. Do you understand? Do you understand?"

Tao Yanbai opened his mouth wide, speechless for a long while.

Tao Ji was furious at his lack of potential.

Seeing Tao Ji's intent to return to Tao Family Village, Tao Yanbai hurriedly said: "Uncle, I—I don't want to go home anymore. Next year I'm going to the Academy to study arts; I—I'm going to cultivate."

Tao Ji halted his steps, turned back to look at him. "Are you certain?"

Tao Yanbai blushed and nodded, nervously adding: "But this will make you break your word to someone."

"Isn't the key just that you're doing well?" Tao Ji said. "Who cares about a little reputation?"

Seeing Tao Yanbai looked deeply worried, Tao Ji said: "Leave this to me. Since you've decided to cultivate, you can't just learn medicine. Starting tomorrow, you must learn Wu Gong, spells—everything you need to learn."

Tao Yanbai quickly agreed. "Before you returned, I'd already begun cultivation."

Tao Ji nodded and turned to leave.

Tao Yanbai called out to stop him, pointing to the knife in his hand. "Uncle, the kitchen knife."

Tao Ji frowned and handed the knife back to him.

He stormed off to find Wang Feiyin. "Big Brother, I'm going back to Tao Family Village."

Wang Feiyin sat meditating on the cliff edge. At these words, he opened his eyes, as if expecting it. "Tao Family Village isn't going anywhere. You just returned from outside—rest a few days before you go."

Tao Family Village won't run away.

Tao Ji reluctantly agreed.

Wang Feiyin gently advised: "Don't be too harsh. Yanbai's talent is average; he still has a long way to go before entering the Dao. You must leave him an escape route. When you scold him, be gentler. Don't drive him to despair—he won't be able to return home if he dies from it."

Tao Ji grumbled his agreement.

Wang Feiyin waved his hand and said softly: "Go rest."

Tao Ji: "When should I go? The day after tomorrow?"

"Rest a few more days."

Tao Ji: "There must be a deadline."

Wang Feiyin glared at him. "You've been polishing this temper of yours for years and still haven't improved. Still so impulsive. I told you to rest a few more days."

Master Xuanmiao appeared out of nowhere, expressionless. "Big Brother says wait until Cong'er returns before you leave."

Tao Ji: "Why?"

Master Xuanmiao: "Because of the money."

Wang Feiyin nodded. "Miao Zhen and Miao He are too young, and Fourth Sister's luck has been poor. If you don't take all this money with you, and leave it at the monastery, do you think Little Sister and I will survive?"

He added: "I don't mind, but Little Sister is in seclusion, consolidating her recent gains. If something goes wrong, it'll be qi deviation."

Both Tao Ji and Master Xuanmiao simultaneously recalled how Wang Feiyin had suffered qi deviation years ago, startled by a sudden mountain tremor.

Master Xuanmiao immediately turned to Tao Ji. "Wait for Cong'er to return before you go. Tao Family Village won't run away anyway."

Tao Ji nodded. "Fine."

Wang Feiyin waved his hand. "Go. Be careful with your words. Don't say again whose money it is—it's yours, because you earned it."

Tao Ji muttered inwardly: That's not my money—it was all earned by Master Xuanmiao. I'm just holding it.

Pan Yun had no idea she was at risk of qi deviation. Right now, she squatted on the ground, lighting a fire to boil porridge in a pot over a stove.

Pan Yun sighed. "It feels like being locked in a small room on Long Hushan, except there's no cat—and a little more freedom."

The cave was empty. No one answered Pan Yun's words.

Mount Sanqing is a range of granite peaks, with countless formations, dominated by three largest summits.

Because it was so vast, even after living here so long, Pan Yun had not explored the entire mountain.

Here, she had only wandered the summit and had no idea a path existed here.

No—this wasn't a complete path.

Just now, Wang Feiyin had carried her down by flight. That meant there was no path between the top and the middle ledge—without martial skill, one could not ascend or descend.

Pan Yun glanced at the items Miao Zhen and the others had brought.

It was impressive they brought so much. Miao Zhen and Miao He were understandable, but it seemed Tao Yanbai's lightness skill was decent too.

The water in the three canteens had been used up. Pan Yun peered at the roaring fire, then picked up the wooden bucket and stepped outside to find water. Outside the cave was a path over two meters wide, then a bottomless cliff. Pan Yun glanced once and walked along the left rock wall, keeping well away from the cliff edge.

Pan Yun opened her Heavenly Eye, scanning the mountain for moisture distribution, then followed the direction of the heaviest water vapor.

As she walked, the path grew narrower. The cliff on her right drew closer to her feet, while the left rock wall grew larger and smoother.

When Pan Yun faintly heard the sound of water, the path beneath her had shrunk to half a meter wide—just enough for one person to pass.

She pressed one hand against the rock wall and cautiously glanced right at the cliff. Hmm—not so terrifying. Below were trees. Even if I fell, I'd land on branches, right?

Besides, I have lightness skill and can fly with objects. I'll be fine.

Flying with objects—set that aside. Lightness skill is definitely reliable.

If I fall, first I'll gather my Qi. Once the Qi rises from my Upper Dantian, I'll stabilize mid-air, then step on pine trees, press against the cliff wall—eventually, I'll find purchase and fly up...

Pan Yun stood still, gripping the rock wall for a long while, finally convincing herself, then continued forward, carrying the bucket.

She felt the wooden bucket in her right hand was cumbersome. After thinking, she stored it in her Spirit Realm space, then walked forward with one hand gripping the rock wall and the other stretched out for balance.

The path ahead grew narrower, until finally it was only wide enough for a pair of feet.

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Pan Yun muttered to herself: "Is this really twenty centimeters wide? No way—it's less, definitely less..."

She stared straight ahead, muttering to herself, "I get it now. Senior Brother didn't send me here to cultivate in seclusion at all — he just came to toughen my courage. What a joke. Would I be scared…"

Pan Yun walked the narrowest stretch on trembling legs, and ahead the path suddenly opened up.

A row of pines grew along the cliff edge, leaning outward over the precipice, and behind them was a space roughly three or four meters from the rock face, half of the pine roots exposed.

For Pan Yun, this was a half-enclosed safe space. She quickened her pace and stepped inside. The moment she entered, she braced herself against the rock wall and sat down on the pine roots, reaching up to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. "It's way too hot today — I'm drenched in sweat."

Less than five meters from Pan Yun was a stone gully running down from the mountain — also a water channel.

A very thin trickle of water flowed down from above.

But Pan Yun simply sat there without moving. She sat for a long while, until her legs stopped trembling and her heart steadied. Only then did she take out the wooden bucket and step forward to fetch water.

One look and you could tell this water flowed down from the Hanxing Pool on the mountain.

That was the geography of Mount Sanqing — apart from those few pools, which trickled downward, the rest of the mountain's waterways only carried water after it rained.

At other times they were bone dry.

After rain — whether a downpour or a drizzle — the whole mountain rang with the sound of rushing water, and it was especially lovely to hear.

Mm, if a heavy storm hit, there might even be flash floods, because Mount Sanqing was granite and barely held any water.

This gully ran downward and cut across the stone path where she stood, but Pan Yun leaned over to fetch water without the slightest fear. After all, she was facing the rock face, and the two pines behind her blocked the view of the cliff behind — even if she fell, the pines would catch her.

Feeling utterly safe, she stepped out, braced against the rock wall, and her wooden bucket reached over to catch the stream cascading down from the mountain.

Once the bucket was full, Pan Yun glanced up and saw the sky had already turned a sullen grey. In less than a quarter of an hour, she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face.

Pan Yun deliberated briefly and decided a person shouldn't be too hard on themselves — walking the cliff path once a day was plenty.

So, with a clear conscience, she stowed the water-filled wooden bucket into her Spirit Realm space, then fixed her eyes ahead, took two steps back, broke into a run, channeled her lightness art, and nimbly shot between the two pines — skipping the lower path and charging straight up the rock face…

She tapped her way rapidly forward across the wind-creased, pockmarked rock face — thump-thump-thump — and in no time at all she whooshed back onto the two-meter-wide path. But she didn't pause, continuing to bound across the rock until she saw her own cave, then flashed inside in a single whoosh.

The little path outside wasn't worth her precious feet touching it even once.

The moment she landed, Pan Yun declared smugly, "Lightness art is still me walking back, so rounding up, I walked here."

The primal energy swirling around her body gave her an immense sense of security — as long as that breath in her Upper Dantian kept flowing, she wasn't afraid, and she could use her lightness art.

Pan Yun pulled out the wooden bucket and cheerfully went on stoking the fire to cook porridge.

Too lazy to wash and add vegetables, she rummaged through the odds and ends in her Spirit Realm space and finally found the stir-fried pickled vegetables Miao He had given her before.

She ate two bowls of porridge with the pickled vegetables, left the rest for tomorrow, and could keep eating it then.

Pan Yun took out another quilt from her space — one to lie on, two to cover herself — warm and cozy, and her mood gradually lifted.

Meanwhile, up on the mountain, they were also eating.

Tao Yanbai was head chef, with Miao He assisting, and together they made a table full of good food.

Miao He picked up a piece of spare rib and said mournfully, "Little Xiao Shishu loves stir-fried spare ribs too. She can't eat any now — she must be so sad. I'm sad too."

Wang Feiyin: "If you weren't eating it with such obvious relish, I might almost believe you."

Master Xuanmiao: "Senior Brother, we're not ascetic monks — why must we let Little Martial Sister suffer like this?"

Wang Feiyin: "To help her quiet her mind. With fewer desires, she can settle down and think things through."

He said, "You and Seeing Miao Zhen don't need to cultivate this way, but Tao Yanbai and Miao He do."

He told the two martial siblings who were eating with great gusto, "When the time comes for you to break through or consolidate your cultivation, that mountain cave will be your seclusion spot. The life your Little Xiao Shishu is living now is the life you'll be living."

Miao He instantly tightened her grip on her chopsticks and began turning it over in her mind — should she prepare some tasty food and stash it in her space, just in case?

Good night

(End of chapter)