Chapter 46: Accidents, All Accidents

“You said today that you would spread the glory of the Mountain God of Mount Sanqing across the four seas—then from now on, you shall walk the world as My embodiment.”

Pan Yun straightened up, purely out of curiosity. “Master, if I walk the world as Your embodiment, can I use Your powers, just as if I were truly Mount Sanqing?”

If so, she would gladly accept.

She was willing to attribute every good deed and every achievement she would ever accomplish to the name of Mount Sanqing.

This was a matter of becoming a god with a single thought—names were merely labels.

Hey, friend, would you like to become a mountain god’s embodiment? To live eternally like a mountain god, wielding the mountain god’s powers—yes, a mountain god! From then on, every plant and animal in the mountains would serve her. Not only would she never lack food or drink, she could even perform miracles to frighten the emperor and the chief eunuch in the palace.

In just a moment, her thoughts had leapt ahead to herself, as mountain god, dominating the land, forcing the emperor to pardon her father and brother, and respectfully inviting them back to the capital to be honored.

Her thoughts were too scattered, and this was a dream—some ideas became manifest. Pan Gong watched the tiny figure performing a miniature film beside her, and took a deep breath. “It’s an embodiment! You are merely the mountain god’s embodiment—not the mountain god’s true self!”

“So does an embodiment have the true self’s powers?”

Partial powers, but—

The mountain god looked at her excited face and changed his mind at once. “Forget it. I won’t make you an embodiment. Take this virtue stone instead. You must make a pact with Me: half of your future achievements’ virtue shall belong to Me.”

Pan Yun: “Master, what if I commit evil deeds? Of course, I’m not saying I’m a bad person who will surely do evil—but you know, when you walk the world, you’re often forced by circumstances. What if I do commit a grave sin?”

The mountain god looked down at the earnest little figure and suddenly felt regret. Why had He chosen her? Why had He seen her extraordinary talent and believed she would eventually attain the Dao?

Those with extraordinary talent can become gods—or demons.

The mountain god no longer wanted any benefit. He only wished to say one thing: after you leave, don’t tell anyone you’re My disciple.

After all, the virtue stone meant little to Him—it was merely a stone that had changed after being touched by virtue recognized by Heaven.

Virtue isn’t stored inside it.

Every deity’s rightful incense and virtue automatically return to them—they don’t linger in the virtue stone.

But virtue always passes through this stone. Heaven filters and weighs gains and losses here. After centuries of exposure, it slowly changed, gaining the ability to automatically recognize and measure virtue.

And because it had been steeped in virtue for so long, it gained the properties of calming the spirit and attracting affection.

To humans, it was a treasure. To deities, it was truly useless.

Yet such things were rare—after all, not every stone touched by virtue underwent such transformation.

Just as not every stone could give birth to a stone monkey.

The mountain god suddenly understood: this virtue stone appearing on Mount Sanqing wasn’t Heaven’s gift to Him—it was meant for this child.

He turned and walked away.

Pan Yun threw herself to the ground and clutched His leg. “Master, don’t leave! I’m not unwilling—I’m afraid I can’t suppress my nature and one day bring disaster upon You!”

She looked up at Him with pleading eyes. “Master, I’m naturally good, I hate evil, I can’t tolerate even a speck of dirt. When I go out into the world…”

“You don’t need to be My embodiment. I don’t want your virtue. From today on, take the virtue stone and leave the mountain. Never tell anyone you’re My disciple.”

He turned to leave, but his leg was tightly gripped by Pan Yun.

Pan Yun: “Master, are you abandoning me now? How can I accept so much from You without repaying anything? Besides the two things I mentioned earlier, whatever You ask me to do—climb mountains of knives, walk through seas of fire—I’ll do it without hesitation.”

These words were too familiar—she’d just heard them.

Pan Gong realized it too. He looked down at her, then said after a long pause: “You’re more shameless and thicker-skinned than your eldest brother. If he’d had your disposition back then, he wouldn’t have been trapped on this mountain for so many years.”

Pan Yun’s heart jumped, but she dared not press further. She simply put on a look of innocent confusion, staring at Pan Gong as if she didn’t understand.

Pan Gong thought again. Pan Yun was unpredictable. If He bound the virtue stone too deeply to her, fortune and misfortune would be unpredictable. Better to ask for something that wouldn’t harm Him too much.

He said: “You promised to rebuild My temple. Start with that. In your spare time, do good deeds below the mountain and spread the glory of the Mountain God of Mount Sanqing. Once you’re more than a hundred li from Mount Sanqing, never say again that you’re My disciple—or mention My name.”

Pan Yun: “Why?”

Pan Gong smiled faintly. “I fear My glory won’t spread before My sins arrive.”

Pan Yun felt a little embarrassed.

Pan Gong shifted his leg. “Let go.”

“Oh.” Pan Yun quickly released him and pushed herself up—but for some reason, her leg suddenly cramped. Thud! She fell back to her knees, unsteady, flailing her hands. One hand grabbed the base of the sword scabbard Pan Gong held in one hand. Pan Gong’s face changed. He reached out to stop her—but too late. The scabbard, which Pan Yun had thought was a precious sword, was light as paper. She yanked it off. She looked up—and met Pan Gong’s gaze: one hand reaching for the scabbard, the other holding a broken sword, its blade mostly gone, leaving only a stub of hilt.

Pan Yun saw his face instantly flush red with shame and anger. He shoved her away, snatched back the scabbard, closed it around the broken blade, and vanished from her dream with a hiss.

The moment Pan Gong emerged, he saw the black cat standing stiffly on Pan Yun’s knee. He knew it was the cat’s doing. A gust of wind rose from nowhere, flinging the cat off the bed, then he slammed through the door like a whirlwind.

The door slammed against the wall with a loud crack. Pan Yun jolted awake. She sat up sharply—and looked down to meet the dazed, struggling gaze of Pan Xiaohei.

She rubbed her knee and glared at it dangerously. “Did you knock me over?”

Pan Xiaohei protested: “I saw mosquitoes buzzing around you, so I pounced on them—and accidentally bumped your leg. Don’t believe me? Touch your face—you’ve got a huge bump. Without me, you’d have at least three.”

Pan Yun touched her face—and indeed felt a large bump. She fell silent.

Pan Xiaohei crept forward cautiously and asked in her mind: 【What happened? Was your talk with Him not going well?】

Pan Yun sneered: 【It was going perfectly—until that one moment. He was so humiliated he almost killed me to silence me.】

Pan Xiaohei froze, every hair on its body stiff. What had it done? It had just pounced on a mosquito and bumped her leg!

Pan Yun rubbed her forehead and offered no further explanation. She never imagined the mighty mountain god held a sword that was nothing but a prop.

So… was her mountain god master… poor?

The next day, Pan Yun went to see her eldest brother with dark circles under her eyes.

!

Wang Feiyin saw her and couldn’t help worrying. “Didn’t you sleep all night?”

He wanted to ask about the mountain god, but feared she wouldn’t want to speak of it.

But Pan Yun had already brought up their mountain god master. “Elder brother, is our master’s incense and worship thriving?”

“Very much so. Within a hundred li, when people have needs, besides visiting Ge Xian Temple, Fuqing Temple, and Lingji Temple, they come to worship our master.”

Pan Yun: “So there are many temples and shrines around Mount Sanqing?”

Wang Feiyin: “Not too many, really.”

“Then how many households are there within a hundred li?”

Wang Feiyin thought a moment. “About two or three Battalion Commander.”

Could that many people support a deity? And yet there were so many Daoist temples and shrines nearby.

Pan Yun sighed. “Elder brother, if I wanted to give Master a sword, would I just burn a paper sword for Him?”

Wang Feiyin touched her forehead. “Little fifth sister, what are you thinking? A paper sword remains paper in the afterlife—it won’t turn into iron or copper.”

“You don’t need to give Master a lavish gift. Your sincerity is enough. He won’t care about such things.”

Pan Yun stared silently at Wang Feiyin. She was beginning to understand why He refused her elder brother’s plea to rebuild the temple.

Probably because he knew—even with his best efforts—he couldn’t rebuild it well enough.

Better not to bother.

Sigh. If not for yesterday’s incident, she would have been content to follow her elder brother’s example—sincerity was enough.

But she had offended her master and received such a great gift without giving anything back.

If Pan Yun didn’t repay something, her heart would not rest.

She waved her small hand. “I’ve decided—I’ll earn money to build a temple for Master.”

Wang Feiyin gasped. “Little sister, are you so wealthy?”

Pan Yun asked: “How much does it cost to build a temple?”

“Depends on how you build it. The cheapest would still be several hundred taels. The most? There’s no limit—tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of taels can be spent.”

Pan Yun: “Elder brother, look at me—I’m only eight years old.”

Wang Feiyin: “Then build a small one—several hundred taels. To build a temple, you need land. If you build in a bustling area, you need official approval from the government office. But if you build in a village, near the old site, you only need the village’s consent.”

“Bricks, timber, labor, carving the statue—it’ll still cost four or five hundred taels.”

Pan Yun sighed. “If only I could meet another generous man like Old Zhou Wang.”

Mentioning Old Zhou Wang reminded her of her father. She counted on her fingers. “I wonder if my letter has reached Datong yet.”

In Datong, the Minxin Bureau messenger took the letter and headed toward the exile village. He knocked on the door of a thatched hut, slightly ajar, and called out: “Is Master Pan inside?”

The lucky number for this chapter is still any number ending in 6. Screenshot as proof.

(End of Chapter)