Chapter 516

Wang Feiyin saw she was silent, so he turned and asked Seeing Miao Zhen: "Miao Zhen, what about you? Among your fellow disciples, you're the only one who hasn't mastered a dish yet—why not learn to make pastries?"

Seeing Miao Zhen put down the half-eaten osmanthus cake and said seriously: "I don't like pastries."

Seeing Miaohé looked from one to the other, then raised her hand voluntarily: "Master Great-uncle, I'll learn!"

Wang Feiyin slapped her hand away: "You've learned enough already. Girls shouldn't learn too many household chores—just pick one dish you love most and learn that."

Pan Yun finally looked up: "Brother, I like stir-fried Shan Zhu Yu with pork—I'll learn that dish."

Wang Feiyin frowned: "Just one? Learn how to make red date cake and osmanthus cake too—they keep well, and you'll need them when you go into seclusion."

Pan Yun nodded reluctantly: "Fine, but if I make them taste awful, don't scold me."

Wang Feiyin waved dismissively: "As long as you can eat them yourself, I won't scold you."

Zhang Ziming, who had been silent all along, chuckled: "Why are you so insistent they learn cooking?"

Wang Feiyin stroked his beard and smiled: "I don't expect them to become chefs, but they must know how to cook at least one dish they love."

"Many hardships in this world can be eased by food—I hope that when they face sorrow in the future, they can cook something they love, eat it, and feel better."

Zhang Ziming raised an eyebrow, lowered his eyes, and fell into thought.

Wang Feiyin handed the food box to Seeing Miao Zhen to distribute the cakes, then bowed to Zhang Ziming and Li Wenying: "Thank you both for protecting us on this journey—I owe you my gratitude."

Zhang Ziming and Li Wenying returned the bow and smiled: "The journey was calm—we merely tagged along. Besides, subduing demons and eliminating evils is our duty, and we acted under orders."

Wang Feiyin: "The journey was calm not because there were no demons, but because they feared your strength and Long Hushan's reputation."

Although Pan Yun had suppressed her aura and gained better control over her merit, golden light of merit continued to flow toward her from all directions.

Even a trace of her aura leaking out was enough to attract both humans and demons.

From Jingcheng to Yunnan, then from Yunnan to Jiangnan, this leg of the journey was relatively calm because Pan Yun, Zhang Ziming, and Li Wenying were not to be trifled with;

And before that, Zhang Zijin had already driven back a fourth-rank bird demon into the grasslands, delivering a powerful warning—every demon and human considering action had to weigh the risk.

Though Wang Feiyin lived in seclusion in Shenshan, he wasn't ignorant—he knew this debt must be repaid to the Zhang family and Long Hushan.

Zhang Ziming's gaze settled on Pan Yun and he smiled: "Even if she weren't our academy's student, protecting the younger generation and preserving the Dao is our duty—Master Wang, you're being too formal."

Li Wenying lifted her teacup, took a sip, and chuckled: "Too bad she didn't pass."

Pan Yun beamed confidently: "My nephew passed—I'll pass next year for sure."

Wang Feiyin patted her: "How many times have I told you? Even if you're powerful, never be arrogant, never overpromise."

He said: "Do your best. The rest, leave to fate."

Pan Yun: "Oh."

Seeing she was quiet, Wang Feiyin beamed and praised Seeing Miao Zhen: "Well done. Since you're no good at cooking, you'll learn to boil porridge instead."

He said: "If you can make good porridge, your life will never go badly."

Seeing Miao Zhen's face lit up and she nodded immediately: "Yes, Master Great-uncle."

After praising Seeing Miao Zhen, Wang Feiyin turned to Tao Yanbai and nodded with a smile: "You've done well too. Though you didn't pass this time, you've gained much experience on this journey. Go back to Long Hushan for two more years—I've calculated it, you'll likely pass your degree exam before you turn twenty."

Wang Feiyin turned to Li Wenying: "Li Daofriend, my boy excels in medicine—when he reaches your academy, please look after him."

Li Wenying: "I'm not a Mr. at the academy…"

"Ah, you weren't before, but you might be soon—you're a High Priest of Long Hushan and a disciple of True Person Zhang. Looking after one little disciple is just a word from you…"

Wang Feiyin went on and on, detailing everything—so much so that even An Chen couldn't sit still anymore; each found an excuse to leave.

Now only the Mount Sanqing people remained.

Wang Feiyin's smile vanished. He pinched Pan Yun's ear with one hand, reached out with the other to catch the jumping fox and cat, and glared at the three wide-eyed disciples: "Follow me!"

The three disciples trudged after him, heads drooping.

Wang Feiyin led them out of the city, stopped at a quiet grassy spot by the river, and finally released Pan Yun's ear.

Pan Yun didn't dare cry out, only rubbed her ear. Seeing Wang Feiyin had set down Sister Hong Yan and Pan Xiaohei and was staring at her, she spoke first: "I didn't provoke anything—it was all self-defense!"

Wang Feiyin: "I'm not asking about your father's rehabilitation. I'm asking—what's this treasure map about? How did you get involved with the Japanese?"

Pan Yun froze: "How do you know?"

"You think you can hide things from me!" Wang Feiyin snorted. "The whole city's buzzing—do you think I'm deaf and blind?"

Pan Yun mumbled: "It's not my fault—it was passive. The treasure in the map was looted from Great Ming's people. The map was shoved right in front of me—could I pretend not to see it?"

She muttered: "Heaven offers it, don't take it, and you'll suffer the consequence—I took it."

Wang Feiyin snapped: "Then why didn't you tell me when you came home for the New Year?"

Pan Yun: "I thought Third Brother and Fourth Sister told you, so I didn't bring it up again."

Wang Feiyin snorted coldly: "Your excuses are identical—Third and Fourth also said they thought you'd told me, so they didn't mention it."

Pan Yun grinned and flattered him: "Big Brother, this is just a misunderstanding from poor communication! Hey, blame it on us Han people being too reserved—we don't talk enough. I've learned my lesson—I'll never do it again."

"Is that so?" Wang Feiyin asked. "Besides this, what else are you hiding from me?"

Pan Yun covered her head and thought seriously: "Let me think."

After a careful mental review, she cautiously looked up at him: "Uh… what about Hu Jing being with Big Nephew? Is that important?"

Wang Feiyin snorted: "Anything else?"

Pan Yun swallowed hard and began counting on her fingers: "I killed two Japanese bandits and buried them in an abandoned temple; I met Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu and threatened them; I…" She peeked up at Wang Feiyin, her voice dropping eight octaves: "I taught the Mu family of Yunnan a spirit-cultivation technique."

Wang Feiyin's smile vanished instantly; his face turned as dark as a soot-blackened pot.

Pan Yun rushed on: "It's not from this world—it's from my past life. It only cultivates the spirit, aids internal energy training—absolutely no cultivation of primordial energy!"

Wang Feiyin said: "Do you know that early cultivation focused on spirit refinement, with body cultivation as secondary?"

Pan Yun blinked: "Huh? I didn't know that?"

Wang Feiyin tapped her head: "In the primordial age, humans had immensely strong bodies—only spirit refinement and severing the Three Corpses were needed to become gods. But later, human bodies grew weaker, the path to godhood was severed. As humans, it's nearly impossible to perfect the spirit within a mere hundred years and make the soul independent of the body—so cultivators shifted to prioritizing body cultivation."

Not just Pan Yun—even Seeing Miao Zhen and the others didn't know this; all stared wide-eyed, listening.

Wang Feiyin stroked his beard and sighed: "It's my fault—I focused only on teaching you cultivation and forgot to teach you history."

Wang Feiyin pressed his hand down, gesturing for them to find grassy spots and sit; he himself chose a clump of grass and sat cross-legged: "Since the Tang Dynasty, no mortal has ascended to godhood."

Pan Yun and the others sat before Wang Feiyin, listening intently.

Wang Feiyin: "Neither demons, nor monsters, nor ghosts have become gods or immortals. The celestial rules have changed, which is why the Medicine King Sun Simiao meticulously divided cultivation levels, shifting practitioners from focusing on refining the spirit to refining the body."

Not a single error in content, not one!

"The Medicine King established the Five Periods and Seven Stages, and created body-refining arts; though they cannot grant ascension to godhood, they allow cultivators to live decades, even a century longer…"

Pan Yun interjected: "A thousand years?"

Wang Feiyin shot her an irritated glance: "The Medicine King himself hasn't lived a thousand years. Of those I know still alive today, the longest-lived is over one hundred and sixty. Of course, the world is vast—there may be recluses even older and more cultivated—but if they don't emerge, I cannot know of them."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up with curiosity; she shuffled her buttocks across the grassy slope until she was beside Wang Feiyin's feet, whispering low: "Senior Brother, who is this one-hundred-sixty-year-old? What realm is he in?"

Wang Feiyin glanced at her, silent.

Pan Yun nudged him: "Come on, tell me! For this entrance exam, three questions were about how many elders are in the Celestial Master's Mansion, what official posts they once held in the imperial court, and what contributions they made to the court and the Daoist orthodoxy—I just guessed all of them."

Wang Feiyin: "Such simple questions—didn't the Academy's rules, given to you upon enrollment, list the answers on the last two pages?"

Pan Yun stiffened, turning her neck mechanically toward Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He: "Aren't those last few pages just useless warnings?"

Miao He shook her head: "I didn't read them."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "…I assumed everyone else had."

"But why put elders' biographies alongside things like 'When you catch a cold, immediately circulate Qi to warm yourself, then take leave and avoid crowds; if you can't heal yourself, see a Physician'—and place them at the very end?"

Wang Feiyin smiled, raising his hand: "Go ask Zhang Ziming at the inn. Next question."

"Fine," Pan Yun pulled the topic back: "So is this one-hundred-sixty-year-old surnamed Zhang?"

Wang Feiyin grunted, didn't say who—but Pan Yun already knew: it was Zhang.

Pan Yun rubbed her chin: "No wonder the Zhang family is so powerful—noble title, official posts, even imperial court attendants…"

Wang Feiyin tapped her head again: "Do you think serving as an imperial court attendant is what they truly desire?"

He said: "Fool. It's something they're forced into. Dao cultivators cherish freedom—being bound is no blessing."

Pan Yun immediately sat up straight: "Senior Brother, please continue."

Wang Feiyin: "The change in celestial law affects not just humans, but demons too."

He said: "Before the Tang, demons who attained sentience became spirit clans; once they transformed into human form, they gained the spiritual power to ascend to immortality and receive worship from mortals across the land."

"Our master, Pan Gong, was originally a crane—human head, crane body. In the age of wilderness, merely achieving human form earned him the title of Mountain God of Mount Sanqing, with the worship of the entire mountain," Wang Feiyin said: "Thus he could feed on incense offerings and cultivate through them. But now…"

He pointed at Hong Yan: "She too can now take human form—though she still retains her tail. Yet her spiritual power is so great, even you can't defeat her. That's the change in celestial law."

"Thus, demon cultivation was later divided into nine ranks: at the third rank, they begin to transform; this equals a human cultivator's First Stage. The combat power of the fourth rank matches the Second Stage, and so on."

Pan Yun quickly asked: "Even before I crossed Tribulation, I could beat Hong Yan to the ground. Fourth Sister could too."

Wang Feiyin glanced at Hong Yan: "That's because she's weak. If you'd fought a third-rank eagle demon before ascending to the First Stage, the outcome would've been just like your fight in Jingcheng."

Pan Yun fell silent: "Oh~~"

"So remember: these ranks are only for reference. Beyond you are others; beyond demons are other demons. Don't underestimate an opponent because their rank seems lower. Don't fear one because their rank seems higher."

Wang Feiyin said: "Cultivation level does not equal combat power. Your fourth sister's cultivation is weak, yet she can kill a First Stage—and even challenge a Second Stage. Can you?"

Pan Yun remained silent.

"By the way, speaking of your fourth sister," Wang Feiyin paused, then paused again.

Pan Yun looked up. Seeing Miao Zhen looked up. Miao He looked up. Tao Yanbai asked, voice trembling: "What happened to Fourth Aunt?"

Wang Feiyin said solemnly: "She caused trouble~~"

Pan Yun clutched her chest, suppressing her excitement—finally, she wasn't the worst.

Her eyes gleaming, she whispered: "What trouble did Fourth Sister cause?"

Wang Feiyin glared fiercely at her: "Your fourth sister took your third brother from the central lands to the coast, slaughtering Japanese pirates all the way, then stole their ship and sailed out to sea. Now… she's probably in Japan."

Tears glistened in Wang Feiyin's eyes.

Pan Yun's mouth dropped open: "Wait—wasn't Fourth Sister taking Third Brother to the grasslands to seek revenge? I was even planning to find her there during the Academy's training."

Wang Feiyin's face was expressionless: "Yes, originally they were headed to the grasslands. But she first fought at Wugu Sect, and when she emerged, she encountered some foolish Japanese pirates who touched her inappropriately, threatening her to hand over a treasure map. So she killed them."

"As she kept killing, rumors spread that the treasure map was with Hu Jing, and that Hu Jing was in Jingcheng, already captured by Japanese pirates. So she turned south, killing one pirate after another, interrogating them for information, fighting her way back to Quanzhou, finally wiping out their main base, seizing their ships, and sailing straight for the dragon's lair."

Wang Feiyin remembered and glared at Pan Yun again: "She took your third brother with her on this voyage!" (End of Chapter)