Chapter 7: Escaped and Caught Again

The young woman had already figured it out; as soon as Pan Yun was handed over, she began circling the empty ground beside the plum tree, soon tracing a perfect circle—the very one where Wang Yong was buried.

Pan Yun saw it, her eyebrows twitched; she was held aloft by the young man, staring eye to eye with the black cat in his arms.

She wanted to speak, but found she could not make a sound, so she widened her eyes further and prodded the Three Jade Spirit Realm in her mind: 【Bite him.】

The black cat stared at her with wide eyes, unmoving.

Pan Yun spoke softly and gently: "If I die, before I do, I will destroy my Upper Palace of Clarity."

The black cat's eyes widened further, its chest heaving; the young man holding it couldn't help but look down at it, deeply worried. "What's wrong with you?"

He wanted to look at the cat, but dared not put Pan Yun down; after weighing both sides, his head throbbed with pain.

Then the black cat made the choice for him—its paw lashed out sharply at his eye, then bit down hard on his Hukou.

The young man let out a loud "Ow!"—to their surprise, he did not fling the cat off; instead, he dropped Pan Yun and reached for the cat, as if willing to endure the pain to soothe it.

But the black cat clearly had no gratitude; seizing the moment his hand loosened, it mustered all its strength and leapt far away…

Pan Yun rolled on the ground after being thrown, and as she passed the black cat, she snatched it into her arms and sprinted deep into the forest…

She was a woman of her word; they could fight privately later, but for now, they were temporary allies.

Even the young man, though foolish, realized now—the cat and this child were in cahoots!

He took off running after her.

The young woman turned her head for a glance, then ignored them entirely; she had already identified the area, and now moved skillfully to fetch a spade and hoe from a nearby wall corner, and began digging with practiced ease.

The young man sprinted after Pan Yun; as she ran, she tried to gather her Qi again, but discovered her meridians were completely blocked—her hand seals had no effect.

She cursed inwardly, clutched the black cat tighter, dodged past the plum tree ahead, and dashed toward the back gate of the temple.

The young man shot past her head with a sharp whistle, utterly ignoring the obstacles she'd set with her movement and the plum trees, landing lightly before her.

Pan Yun nearly couldn't stop herself and crashed into him.

The young man grabbed the back of her collar and lifted her again. "Run, keep running—your meridians are sealed, how can you possibly escape? Have I spent all these years for nothing?"

Held in his grip, Pan Yun kicked at him furiously; he swatted each kick away with his hand, his strength considerable—Pan Yun hissed in pain.

The young man dragged her back, tapped several points on her body, then tossed her to the ground; now, not only could she not use any technique, she couldn't even move—she lay exactly as she fell.

The young woman had already dug up the grave again and now crouched beside it, examining the corpse.

The young man stepped forward, saw the pit filled with crimson blood, and frowned. "Sister, report this to the authorities."

The young woman nodded. "Go find the government office Runners. I'll stay here and watch."

Pan Yun, unable to move, grew anxious inside—should the outside officials be summoned, not only she but the Pan family would be implicated.

Pan Yun lowered her gaze, entered meditation, and directed her internal essence to relentlessly strike her meridians.

The so-called acupoint strike was merely the opponent injecting a thread of Qi into her meridian acupoints, blocking their function.

After some time, the point-sealing effect fades because that thread of Qi gradually dissipates; the more profound the cultivator's power, the more Qi they inject, and the longer it lasts. Aside from waiting for it to vanish naturally, one can also use one's own Qi and force to strike the acupoints and meridians.

But those who perform point-sealing rarely strike only one point, so mobilizing Qi from the Upper Dantian requires striking each one individually—yet they forget that the meridians of the limbs and torso also contain essence.

Seeing the young man already walking away, Pan Yun had no time to mobilize the weak Qi in her Upper Dantian; she compressed the nearby essence in her body and blasted open one acupoint.

The sudden surge of pain made her cry out involuntarily; a trickle of blood seeped from her lips as she gasped: "The body in the pit is from the Brocade Uniform Guard!"

The young man halted, turned back in shock; the young woman also lifted her head from the pit and looked at Pan Yun.

After catching her breath, Pan Yun said: "His name is Wang Yong. He is the nephew of the Grand Eunuch Wang Zhen. You two must have heard of the wrongful case of Xue Shaoqing, the former Minister of Justice, two months ago?"

These two had clear, handsome features and an air of righteousness—they clearly were good people.

Pan Yun changed her tone, appearing weak and pitiful, gazing at them with tear-filled eyes: "My father, Pan Hong, is the Censor who was implicated."

The young man's brow furrowed deeper. "Pan Hong? Wasn't he exiled with his entire family?"

Pan Yun, both delighted and anxious to hear he knew her father, studied their expressions carefully: "Yes. Before my father was wrongfully exiled, I was seriously ill and untreatable. He couldn't bear the thought of me suffering exile with him, so he hid me away and took only my two older brothers to Datong."

Today, the Brocade Uniform Guard received a secret report and came to search our home. To avoid implicating my elderly grandmother and innocent aunts and uncles, I fled."

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Pan Yun's eyes welled with tears: "But on the road, I met Wang Yong. He didn't recognize me, but seeing me alone and resembling my father, he tried to capture me to frame him. In the struggle, I accidentally stabbed him in the neck with my scissors—he—he died…"

The young man, as expected, softened, his expression pained. "Then come with me. I'll take you to the magistrate's office to surrender. I'll plead for you—you're young, the court shouldn't punish you very heavy."

Pan Yun: …

The previously cold young woman instead said: "I believe you. Go."

The young man was stunned. "Sister!"

The young woman circled Pan Yun once, intrigued. "You may not be good, but he was certainly evil. Killing evil is stopping evil—it's doing good."

Pan Yun stared at her in surprise.

The black cat couldn't help lifting its head and meowing, then spoke in Pan Yun's mind: 【This person seems to have decent talent.】

So fear me? I'm not absolutely dependent on you.

Pan Yun: 【Then leave quickly.】

The black cat fell silent. Though decent, it still paled beside Pan Yun—so it was willing to risk staying.

The young woman unsealed Pan Yun's acupoints, tilted her chin. "Go."

Pan Yun cautiously stood and took two steps forward; seeing she truly made no move to stop her, she picked up the cat and turned to leave—only to be blocked by the grim-faced young man, who snatched her back again.

"Sister, even if this Brocade Uniform Guard was evil, he shouldn't have been killed by a child. She's so young and already so ruthless—just now she tried to kill her own cat. Her character is clear."

The young woman: "Wang Zhen will one day bring chaos to the nation. Every one of his cronies who dies saves more people."

Pan Yun's eyes sparkled as she stared at the young woman, nodding vigorously—yes, though she knew little of ancient history, she knew Wang Zhen's name and his chaos. This woman had vision—no wonder she could see Pan Yun was good.

(End of Chapter)