Chapter 543: Your Master

After seeing off Sister Hong Yan and Xiao Hong, they had no more flaws in the academy, and the four of them plunged fully into their studies.

Studying brings progress; progress brings joy.

Pan Yun and the others were happy every day, so happy their expressions had grown calm.

They had to be calm: from before dawn, they rose to cultivate, then attended classes, read books, cultivated, cultivated, cultivated, and slept.

With such fullness, how could they still have particularly rich expressions?

Pan Yun had promised Zhang True Person that before her trial, she must conceal her tendency to reveal merit.

Question: How can one make oneself look less delicious?

Literally delicious.

Pan Yun had searched through the academy's library, Fanxi Courtyard, and the Spirit Realm for much material but found no solution.

She could only take her books to seek advice from teachers of each courtyard.

Among them, the heads of each courtyard suffered the most.

Previously, Pan Yun would see them turn to leave; now, they saw Pan Yun and turned to hide.

Yet they were teacher and student; Pan Yun could not avoid them, and they could not avoid Pan Yun either.

Xue Tai Xu finally couldn't bear it, and after being cornered again, he asked her directly: "Why do you reveal merit?"

Pan Yun thought seriously, then shook her head: "I don't know."

Buddha statues and deity statues also receive merit; at most, they make people feel they possess Buddhist or divine nature, but no one finds them delicious or wants to eat them.

Pan Yun had long wondered if it was because of the merit stone in the Spirit Realm.

But after checking every source, she found nothing—could it really be the Spirit Realm's fault?

Pan Yun's gaze settled on Pan Xiaohei not far away.

Xue Tai Xu stroked his beard and mused: "Patients often don't know their own illness—that's common."

She scanned Pan Yun from head to toe, studying her face: "You don't seem as unlucky as your senior brother…"

"Hm?" Pan Yun was baffled: "What does this have to do with my senior brother?"

"This is a matter internal to Mount Sanqing—I shouldn't meddle," Xue Tai Xu paused, then said: "Since you've taken the Sanqing Mountain Deity as your master, you must know His fortune is terrible."

Pan Yun's heart leapt; she asked calmly: "What's the reason?"

"The Celestial Master's Mansion may have records—this counts as divine secret; I don't know, but…" Xue Tai Xu hesitated.

Pan Yun knew he loved gossip, so she gazed at him with pure curiosity.

Xue Tai Xu saw her eyes glistening with pleading—sure enough, he was satisfied, stroking his beard: "I only heard it, heard it, mind you—just listen, it may not be true."

Pan Yun nodded eagerly: "Tell me, tell me."

Xue Tai Xu lowered his voice: "Rumor has it the Sanqing Mountain Deity once, in a great battle, disregarded the lives of Mount Sanqing's creatures and shattered the mountain to block a Supreme Deity, causing rivers to change course and floods to drown thirteen lands…"

Seeing Pan Yun's shocked expression, Xue Tai Xu whispered even lower: "They say the Xijiang River once flowed into Poyang Lake as vast marshland; the floods lasted thirty years before receding, and the swamps remained untreatable for a hundred years, with almost no human habitation…"

"Pan Yun, think: a land a thousand li wide, devoid of people for centuries—when humans return, how long will it take to tame the land?"

Pan Yun's heart surged with shock—her master had carried such deep sin?

Xue Tai Xu, seeing she understood, whispered: "Think of the Qin and Han eras—our region was called Baiyue alongside Lingnan; our ancestors spent over a thousand years taming the land to achieve today's prosperity in Jiangnan.

Before the great battle, this land may once have been as flourishing as now—but one battle destroyed it, and the Sanqing Mountain Deity bore the greatest blame: not only the later consequences, but even the lives lost when the mountain collapsed—these are grave karmic sins. Events that have happened don't vanish with time; the resentment of living beings can only be purified, not suppressed—thus the Sanqing Mountain Deity's fortune has always been poor, and few offer worship."

Pan Yun recalled the merit stone she had dug up, and doubted: "If few believers exist, how has my master survived this long?"

Immortals aren't immortal—who doesn't wish to live as long as heaven and earth?

But the truth is, immortals can live long, yet they require faith power—whether from humans, demons, or ghosts.

All living beings in the world can offer faith power.

Divine power is tied to faith power; lifespan is linked to faith power, and among them, human intent is strongest, faith power strongest.

Thus, mortals are so tiny, smaller than ants to an immortal—yet no one dares crush them outright.

If her master truly committed such a terrible act, how had He survived for millennia, still manifesting, and kept Mount Sanqing as splendid as the surrounding peaks?

And how had He even attracted disciples as talented as her and her senior brother?

Aren't these all matters of fortune?

Xue Tai Xu stroked his beard with a smile: "You ask well. No one knows exactly what happened millennia ago—but the mountain's collapse did occur. Thus your master's fortune is poor, and you and your senior brother, inheriting his legacy, must share his sin.

In good deeds, your senior brother has done no less than you—but he still cannot leave Mount Sanqing for long; otherwise, un-purified sin surges forth, harming not only your other senior brothers, sisters, and disciples, but all living beings in the Mount Sanqing region."

Pan Yun was astonished: "So my senior brother is like a mountain-stabilizing stone?"

No error in any word or content!

Xue Tai Xu glanced at her, didn't answer, but asked instead: "You're also the Mountain Deity's disciple—yet your fortune is as ordinary as a mortal's: sometimes worse, sometimes even excellent. I once thought your own fortune was simply strong—but then I realized: no matter how strong your fortune, it couldn't possibly withstand the Deeply sinful burden of the Sanqing Mountain Deity. So something about you must differ from your senior brother."

Pan Yun fell into thought.

"To untie a knot, you must find the knot. To cure your trouble, you must find its cause—then you can apply the remedy."

What differed between her and her senior brother?

The Spirit Realm?

The merit stone?

Pan Yun lowered her eyes, lost in thought.

Xue Tai Xu: "Go back now. If you find the cause but still have questions, come see me again."

Pan Yun bowed respectfully and withdrew.

Xue Tai Xu stroked his beard, watched her vanish into the distance, then immediately seized a letter and approached Wang Feiyin: "... I've gathered three sets of Tongqiao Pill ingredients—Brother Wang, will you help me refine them?"

Pan Yun didn't know Xue Tai Xu had turned right around to beg favors from Wang Feiyin—she was thinking: 【Pan Xiaohei, do you think it's the Spirit Realm's fault, or the merit stone's? Or both?】

Pan Xiaohei had already run ahead; hearing this, he turned his head, tilting it: "You're asking me? Do I look like someone who knows the reason?"

Pan Yun sighed: 【Of course—you're just a spirit artifact, not a person; you have no capacity for thought.】

"Don't you dare look down on me," Pan Xiaohei bristled. "I've existed for several thousand years, and even the master who refined me can't fully explain my functions. Maybe this really is my doing."

【Don't you know what your own functions are?】

"Haven't you heard the saying that a physician cannot heal themselves? I know the vast majority of my own body, but perhaps there's something hidden within that I don't know about?"

Pan Yun murmured, "So the Merit Stone is the more likely explanation."

Pan Xiaohei: …

So basically everything it said was for nothing?

(End of chapter)