Chapter 462: Eavesdropping

"Well said!" Mu Yan strode over, looking at Pan Yun with approval: "Among the people there are law-abiding citizens and lawless ones; among ministers there are loyal, good, and treacherous ones — it all depends on the choices one makes. As a person, one must look upward, learn from above, preserve the heavenly principle, and extinguish human desire. To let human desire run rampant, to indulge the heart that clings to power and wealth — that is not a person, but a beast."

Pan Yun's eyes shone bright, and she gazed at Mu Yan with deep feeling: "Although I don't entirely agree with what you, Lord Qian, said about preserving the heavenly principle and extinguishing human desire, I do agree with the latter half — to cultivate the self one must cultivate the heart, to perfect one's character through self-reflection, to make word and deed one. That is what it means to be a person."

Pan Yun's gaze flicked sideways to Wang Zhen: "Unlike some people, who shout loyalty to the Emperor with their mouths, yet pry at the Emperor's corners and keep digging pits beneath his feet."

Wang Zhen's complexion had already returned to normal. He straightened his robe, stood up, and looked at Lord Qian with a half-smile: "Why has Lord Mu come again? Have the talismans you just requested stopped working?"

Pan Yun, hearing this, immediately played the good child: "Have you run out of yellow talismans? Sigh, although fasting has left my body weak, the Mu family guards the southwest for Great Ming and for His Majesty — even if it costs me all my primordial energy and my very lifespan, I will still draw the talismans, to ensure Lord Mu the Second's temporary peace."

Mu Yan was deeply moved, and hurriedly ordered the jailer to open the cell door. He stepped in and helped Pan Yun up, his face full of worry: "Why must Daoist Priest Pan fast? Was the food I had sent not to your taste? Whatever Daoist Priest Pan wishes to eat, just say the word — I will send people to gather it."

Pan Yun sighed: "It is not a matter of the food. The foul air in this prison is so heavy that only by fasting can I keep my body and mind pure, so that the talismans I draw will be more effective. Therefore, for every day I spend in this prison, I will fast for a day."

Mu Yan heard this and lowered his eyes thoughtfully.

Pan Yun asked with concern: "Lord Qian, has a letter come from Yunnan? Is Lord Mu the Second all right?"

Mu Yan came back to himself and hurriedly said: "The letter from Yunnan just arrived. The talismans you drew, Daoist Priest Pan, are very effective. After my brother Xi changed to the new talismans, he felt much better — the corpse worms within him have gone dormant, and his condition has not worsened."

Therefore, Mu Yan wanted all the more to send Pan Yun to Yunnan.

If her talismans could make the corpse worms dormant, could she also find a way to draw all the corpse worms out of Mu Xi's body and let him recover?

The more Mu Yan thought about it, the brighter his eyes grew. He gripped Pan Yun's hand and said: "Wait here, Daoist Priest Pan — I am going into the palace right now to beg for an edict. I will definitely get you out of here!"

With that, he turned and ran outside.

Wang Zhen watched him run off, then immediately dropped his disguise and returned to his true nature. He cast a sidelong glance at Pan Yun: "You two have quite the scheme, don't you? You enter prison, restraining me here as well; and now you want to leave prison — are you not afraid that once I'm out, I'll come after you?"

Pan Yun turned her head and beamed at him: "Guess?"

There was no need to guess. The moment Lord Qian left, his trusted aide slipped in right behind him to deliver a message: "Eunuch, the Three Judicial Offices have obtained new evidence — the complete case files of the Yue clan wife-killing case and the He clan wife-killing case from that year. His Majesty has already approved these files, and is now convening the Three Judicial Offices for a joint trial. The families of both cases and all related persons have been summoned to the Censorate for a new hearing."

Wang Zhen's face changed, and he glared sharply at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun was taking her daily sip of water. Seeing this, she looked up and gave him a slight smile, then drained the cup in one go.

Wang Zhen gritted his teeth and looked away, suppressing his fury as he asked: "Weren't most of the case files destroyed, with only the favorable confessions kept? How can there still be more?"

"Xue Xuan had long made preparations. Before he himself was imprisoned, he sent the case files out through the official relay stations — they were never opened in three years."

Wang Zhen laughed through his anger: "Worthy of Xue Jingxuan — I miscalculated by one move."

Wang Zhen lowered his eyes in thought, then beckoned his trusted aide over.

The trusted aide immediately leaned in. Wang Zhen whispered: "Has Guo Jing said anything? What is His Majesty thinking?"

The trusted aide also lowered his voice: "Eunuch Guo asks the Director of Ceremonies to set his mind at ease. His Majesty's intent is not on you, but on the silver mines of Jiangnan."

Wang Zhen breathed a slight sigh of relief, but did not dare let his guard down completely: "The war at Luchuan emptied the treasury, and the northern raiders are stirring. His Majesty must be thinking of striking the north. But Si Renfa and Si Jifa are still alive and have not been subdued — to wage war, silver is indispensable. Yet Jiangnan's tax revenue grows smaller year by year. The silver mines have clearly been reopened, yet where the silver has gone, no one knows…"

Wang Zhen sneered: "They still think His Majesty means to deal with me. They don't know that His Majesty refuses to let either side off the hook."

He looked down at his clenched fist: "But as long as I am still useful, I will not die — and they will not get what they want!"

Fire blazed in Wang Zhen's eyes. He seized his trusted aide's hand and whispered: "Summon Wang Wen back! Find the treasure map! If the treasure map cannot be found, have him hand over all those account books from the Jiangnan coastal regions!" He gritted his teeth: "If you won't let me live, then no one gets to live!"

Pan Yun's eyelids snapped open. Her hand tightened around the teacup — crack! — and the cup in her grasp was crushed apart.

Pan Yun lowered her eyes for a glance, silently set the cup down, and the moment it touched the table, it tilted and split into three pieces.

Wang Zhen paid her no attention. He spoke in an extremely low voice, his mouth almost pressed against his trusted aide's ear.

Living together with Pan Yun was troublesome — one had to take special precautions.

Yet though he could decide many things within the Imperial Prison, he could not decide his own cell's location.

At the time, Wang Zhen knew this was the Emperor's demand.

It was also from that moment that Wang Zhen understood why Pan Yun, locked in this Imperial Prison, had never been brought to trial.

This was to make the two of them check each other.

But he was the Grand Eunuch of the Brush — what right did a little Daoist priest like Pan Yun have to check him?

Wang Zhen was both indignant and terrified, suspecting the power of those yellow talismans in the Emperor's hands.

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Wasn't the only thing Pan Yun could offer those talismans of hers?

Talismans that the Emperor deemed capable of checking him…

Wang Zhen felt both contempt and fear toward Pan Yun.

He looked down on Pan Yun — so young, a girl, not clever…

Yet he also feared her, because what she knew was unknown to him.

Wang Zhen thought: the first thing to do after getting out of prison is to keep a Daoist priest on hand.

He might not know Daoist arts himself, but he could not remain ignorant of his enemy's abilities.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

Wang Zhen, full of ambition, finished muttering out his short-term strategic arrangements in a low voice before letting his trusted aide leave.

Pan Yun was also muttering away — though only in her heart.

Ever since Wang Zhen entered the prison, Pan Yun's connection with Pan Xiaohei had been separated by a wall — they communicated through the mind.

Fortunately, the Spirit Realm's main body was in her Upper Dantian, so the one person and one spirit could communicate without obstruction.

Pan Xiaohei got the message from her, then ran back to Yin Zhai and resignedly flipped through books on Yin Song's desk, using its cat paws to shorten Pan Yun's words bit by bit before relaying them.

Fortunately, it was the Spirit Realm, with a vast sea of stored knowledge. After learning, shortening Pan Yun's pile of nonsense and extracting the main content was still relatively simple.

But no matter how simple, relaying Wang Zhen's daily strategic arrangements still exhausted its cat paws.

Sigh, why couldn't any of them understand Meow-speak? Wasn't it easy to understand?

Pan Yun could even understand what mice were saying — why couldn't her senior brothers and nephews just study properly?

(End of Chapter)