Chapter 558

"But how do you know you're surnamed Li? Were you really from the same family as Master Li five hundred years ago? Maybe we were from the same family back then."

Li Wenying watched her in silence.

Pan Yun blinked at him: "Then... shall I change the subject?"

Li Wenying brushed the dirt off his clothes and turned away: "Come find me in five days."

Pan Yun hurried after him: "I don't even know where to find you—where are you staying now?"

"I'm staying at Chongqing Academy."

"Isn't that where classes and cultivation take place?"

Li Wenying pointed at himself: "I've already taught you three classes at Chongqing Academy—do you still not know I'm on duty there?"

If he weren't employed as a teacher at the Imperial Academy, would he have a curfew?

"Oh." Pan Yun stopped walking and waved: "Good night!"

Li Wenying felt uneasy.

But five days later, at dusk, the two still met outside the gates of Chongqing Academy.

Pan Yun told him: "I've already filed my notice—I'll be in seclusion for the next two days, and tomorrow is a day off. Three days should be enough to handle things."

Li Wenying: "What if we finish early?"

"I'll be cultivating in seclusion—I really do want to seclude myself," Pan Yun said. "I'm about to travel outside; I need to solidify my cultivation and gain the strength to protect myself..."

"Alright, alright, let's go."

Pan Yun pointed to the sky: "It's not even dark yet."

Li Wenying was about to frown when he suddenly said: "Wait—that doesn't make sense. You're a student; you can't leave campus on non-holiday days. I'm not."

He was the teacher—he only had a curfew at night.

The two exchanged glances. Li Wenying smiled, turned, and walked off: "I'll wait for you below the mountain."

Pan Yun:...

Li Wenying strode out the main gate with complete confidence.

Pan Yun could only wait until nightfall, when no one was paying attention, then climb over the wall and slip out.

"Why is there a mountain behind the Imperial Academy? If there were just a back wall, I wouldn't have to wait until night."

They met outside the village at the foot of the mountain. The sky was dim, lit only by a faint moon.

Pan Yun took out the Three Treasures Cauldron, expanded it, and flew inside.

Li Wenying followed her in, glancing curiously left and right. When the cauldron lifted, he gripped the rim and looked out—the formation had canceled the wind, so his hair only fluttered slightly.

"You turned your flight artifact into this shape just to spin around inside a pot?"

"For the view," Pan Yun said, sending a thread of consciousness to control the Three Treasures Cauldron. She spun it once and waved her hand: "Three-hundred-sixty-degree view—tell me, Brother Li, does your sword-artifact have this function?"

Li Wenying remained skeptical: "Really? That's way too complicated—and it's so slow..."

The Three Treasures Cauldron suddenly accelerated. Li Wenying lurched sideways, nearly falling to the bottom.

The Three Treasures Cauldron shot through the night like a flash. An hour later, it arrived at the outskirts of Ji'an County, at Great Li Village.

The two jumped out one after the other and immediately surveyed the large village.

Pan Yun: "The feng shui here isn't bad, but I thought rich people preferred living in the city."

Li Wenying said: "What's so good about living in the city? Too many people, too much chaos, inconvenient."

They found the Li family estate without any trouble.

It was too easy—the largest house in the village was theirs.

Pan Yun placed Pan Xiaohei on her shoulder and stepped forward to knock.

The door flew open. Young Master Li stood there, disheveled, eyes swollen and red, his expression pitiful. Pan Yun stepped back half a step: "Y-you—you didn't do anything to me, did you? I haven't bullied you!"

Young Master Li saw her and burst into loud sobs, grabbing her hand and dragging her inside: "Father! Father! Come see! I didn't lie—you see, I really paid a hundred taels as a deposit to summon a master!"

Pan Yun lowered her voice: "You inflated the price way too much—doubled it!"

Young Master Li's face flickered with guilt. He whispered: "You look so young—if you showed up suddenly, my father wouldn't believe you. Help me now, and I'll help you later!"

"Alright, mutual assistance!"

Li Wenying, strolling slowly behind them:...

Old Master Li was soaking his feet, just finished beating his son and preparing to sleep, when the courtyard erupted again with his son's ear-splitting scream.

Old Master Li didn't even dry his feet—he slipped on his wooden clogs, grabbed the chicken feather duster hanging nearby, and stormed out.

His concubine, startled, snatched up her skirt and chased after him: "Master, Master, calm down—you only have one son!" She tried to block him while ordering servants: "Quick, go call the mistress—Master is going to beat the young master again!"

Old Master Li was so furious his head smoked: "If I didn't have only this one son, I'd have killed him long ago! How did I give birth to such a fool? He gets cheated out of money and still counts it for them!"

Young Master Li dragged Pan Yun to the courtyard gate and shouted back through it: "Father, I was not cheated! Look—Master Pan and Master Li arrived on time! You're just too impatient—it's barely dark and you're already beating me. The day isn't even over!"

"And it's not me who's foolish. I told you long ago that Yang Ji is immoral and of poor character—even with a father who's Chief Minister, he won't last. I begged you to avoid him, but you insisted on groveling to him—and that's what caused all this trouble!"

"Y-you—disobedient son! How dare you defy me!" Old Master Li pointed at him, screaming: "If I hadn't submitted to him, you'd be dead already, and our Li family would have vanished long ago—do you even understand the meaning of 'adapt to circumstances and become a hero'? I—"

Pan Yun listened to their quarrel with great interest, but when she saw Old Master Li's face turn dark red and his breathing grow ragged, she knew she had to stop them.

She quickly pulled Young Master Li behind her and rushed toward Old Master Li, grabbing his wrist. Between her fingers she held a needle, and with a quick prick, stabbed it into his fingertip.

Old Master Li didn't feel pain—only that a stranger had seized his hand. He instinctively looked down and saw a thick, black drop of blood oozing from his fingertip.

He instinctively said: "I—I've been poisoned?"

Pan Yun nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes—heart-fire poison."

Pan Yun moved swiftly—prick, prick, prick—stabbed several more fingertips until three drops of thick black blood had been squeezed from each.

Not a single mistake in technique or intent!

Pan Yun smiled sweetly at Young Master Li: "Go on—anger him again. Say two more words and he'll die."

Young Master Li jumped, then cautiously stepped forward to support Old Master Li: "Father? Father?"

He said in a panic, "I didn't do it on purpose…"

Master Li found that he actually couldn't bring himself to get angry anymore. He couldn't help lowering his head to look at his pricked fingertip, lost in thought: "Letting blood can dispel anger? I'm actually not angry anymore."

Pan Yun said in a soft voice, "Yes, and if you let too much, you'll die too—die of weakness."

Master Li immediately snuffed out the thought that had just risen.

The Li family's main wife only then hurried over.

The moment she arrived, she checked on her son first. Seeing no new wounds added to the old ones, she went to scold her husband: "Day after day, never a moment's peace. Why did you hit him? Aren't all the troubles at home right now your fault?

"The mistakes you made yourself—stop taking it out on my son! He's not just your son alone, he's mine too!"

Master Li listened in silence.

Young Master Li, afraid his father would get angry again, hurriedly tugged at his mother's sleeve and coaxed in a small voice: "Mother, Father knows he was wrong. The Daoist master I invited has arrived too."

Madam Li's sharp gaze swept past Pan Yun and landed directly on Li Wenying. Dissatisfied, she said: "A Daoist master visiting is a guest, but one should still pay attention to the hour of arrival. You said you'd come today, yet only arrived after dark—by this hour the host family has long been in bed.

"You take people's money to dispel their disasters. You took our money, yet even coming to the door you stall and make excuses…"

Li Wenying: "…"

He pointed at Pan Yun expressionlessly, cutting off Madam Li's tirade: "The one you invited is her, not me!"

Pan Yun also raised her hand to speak: "Madam Li, I snuck out of the palace, that's why I'm late. My apologies, my apologies."

Facing the smiling young girl, all of Madam Li's grievances were extinguished. Staring at her smiling face, she simply couldn't bring herself to scold.

But she reacted quickly, frowning: "Snuck out?"

Pan Yun explained: "This Daoist is still a student—merely the top student of my year, and my cultivation is also first in the Academy. So rest assured, the two of you—if the Li family's matter is something I can't resolve, then no student in the entire Academy can."

Madam Li was half-convinced, half-doubting, sizing her up and down: "You—you're so young, yet so capable?"

Pan Yun said confidently: "Nothing much, just a bit smarter than my classmates, a bit more self-disciplined, a bit more diligent."

Madam Li immediately turned her head to look at Li Wenying: "Then who is he?"

Pan Yun: "Oh, he's a teacher at our Long Hushan Academy's Chongqing Academy."

A teacher~~

Countless guesses flashed through Madam Li's mind in an instant.

Master Li was the same. The husband and wife exchanged a glance, immediately reined in their emotions, and politely said to the two: "Daoist masters have come from afar; we've failed to welcome you properly. Steward, quickly escort the Daoist masters to the front hall to be seated, and serve the good tea!"

The moment Pan Yun and Li Wenying were led away, Young Master Li was immediately grabbed by his parents—one on each side—who interrogated him sternly: "Speak, how did you manage to invite this person?"

Young Master Li had long anticipated this moment. He finally had the chance to deliver the lines he'd long prepared, and he vividly recounted his two encounters with Pan Yun, exaggerated tenfold.

"Father, that plain, unremarkable Peace Talisman I brought back last time—you said it worked, didn't you? That was a gift from her when we first met. I think that time you walked at night and it spontaneously combusted—it must have blocked a disaster for you!"

Madam Li nodded repeatedly: "Right, right. I see she's young, but very confident. Even when sneaking out, she has a teacher accompanying her—her family background must be deep. How could you fear she'd swindle our son's money? It'd be plenty if our son didn't swindle hers."

Master Li was silent, thinking.

Young Master Li opened his mouth, hesitating to speak.

Madam Li was still immersed in her own deductions, whispering: "I'm afraid our family doesn't even compare to one little finger of the master's household…"

Master Li frowned and asked: "Then how much is the appropriate fee?"

Young Master Li propped up his head and said nothing, feeling a bit of regret—had he exaggerated just now?

Although the money is paid by his father, ultimately, that's his money too! (End of Chapter)