Chapter 917: Will Not Marry or Have Children

Although the students remained in the academy, they could no longer move about as before, so the entire academy looked as quiet as a chicken, not a soul in sight.

But the qi was chaotic; if one calmed their mind and listened, it was clear every classroom was packed with people.

The battle at the Heavenly Master's Mansion below the mountain had not drawn them in.

Even Zhang family disciples were detained within the academy, forbidden to step beyond its gates.

Pan Yun carried two buckets of water down the mountain, just as she was about to cross the main path toward Phoenix Perch Courtyard, when she saw a head pop out and retract, then quietly pop out again moments later.

Pan Yun pretended not to see him and walked straight ahead.

But he recognized her and immediately let out a series of soft, chuckling greetings.

Seeing Pan Yun ignore him, he glanced nervously left and right, confirmed no one was around, then rushed out to block her path: "Pan Yun, are you back to help seize control of the Heavenly Master's Mansion?"

Pan Yun: "You even know about the Heavenly Master's Mansion power grab?"

Zhang Weiliang's face flushed red, defiant: "How could I not know? I'm a Zhang!"

Pan Yun studied him from head to toe before asking: "Didn't you graduate? Why are you still here?"

Zhang Weiliang lowered his head: "My father locked me here, ordered me to train with my junior brothers, forbade me from going down the mountain. I know—True Person has passed, Senior Brother has prestige, but his Upper Dantian is shattered and he can't command respect; the Second Branch's Laozu wants Zhang Liuyuan to replace him. Aside from Second Uncle and my father and a few others, everyone else supports the Second Branch, especially the collateral lines—their strength far surpasses Senior Brother's…"

Zhang Weiliang gazed hopefully at Pan Yun: "Pan Yun, you're here to help Senior Brother, right?"

Pan Yun hummed, then said: "This matter has stirred your Zhang family's Laozu. The situation has settled. Senior Brother is now the patriarch."

Zhang Weiliang looked utterly incredulous: "How is that possible? Senior Brother's Upper Dantian is shattered—how could the Laozu agree to make him patriarch?"

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow, smirking: "If you doubt Zhang Liuyuan so much, why does your family still support him? Afraid of being dragged to death with him?"

Zhang Weiliang: "Second Uncle is stubborn, my parents had no choice…"

Zhang Weiliang realized something and immediately clamped his mouth shut.

Pan Yun murmured: "No wonder—your own family is divided…"

No wonder her senior brother and sisters had to exhaust themselves—rushing to Kunlun Mountain for him, delivering the giant bird, then racing back with all their might.

Pan Yun snorted and told Zhang Weiliang: "Senior Brother's Upper Dantian has been healed."

Zhang Weiliang's mouth dropped open.

The healing of Zhang Liuyuan's Upper Dantian was the most crucial reason he could now succeed as patriarch.

Even if he had once been a genius with prestige, if his Upper Dantian was shattered, unable to commune with Heaven and Earth, unable to intimidate other Dao sects, the Heavenly Master's Mansion would never recognize him as Heavenly Master.

In fact, in Pan Yun's past life's timeline, Zhang Liuyuan never became Heavenly Master—he died even before Zhang Maocheng.

His infant son succeeded him.

Now, he didn't even have a son, let alone a wife.

This year, Zhang Maocheng had already planned to arrange a marriage for him, but he still refused.

Pan Yun didn't think it was because of her; she always felt the changes in this timeline weren't solely due to her.

And for a separate timeline to exist, it must have diverged from her past world—there must be differences.

That night, as Zhang Liuyuan slowly entered under an oiled paper umbrella amid spring rain, Pan Yun stared at him without blinking.

Zhang Liuyuan felt embarrassed under her gaze and touched his face: "Still have bloodstains I haven't washed off?"

Pan Yun shook her head: "Cleaned." Zhang Liuyuan closed his umbrella, pulled over a small stool, sat beside her on the veranda watching the rain, and asked: "Then why are you staring at me?"

Pan Yun: "I wanted to read your face, but I find I can't."

Zhang Liuyuan smiled faintly: "Not being able to see is correct. Though I haven't been formally invested, I've gained Zhang family recognition. Now my half-life's fortune is entangled with the nation's fate—you naturally can't see it."

Pan Yun nodded, curiously asking: "Senior Brother, I have a question I'm very curious about—may I ask?"

"You shouldn't."

"Now that you say that, I want to ask even more," Pan Yun interrupted before he could refuse: "Why won't you marry?"

Zhang Liuyuan raised an eyebrow: "So that's what you wanted to ask? I thought it was something else."

He spoke calmly: "I have no interest in it."

"So you'll never marry?"

Zhang Liuyuan nodded with a smile.

Pan Yun: "Then who will be the next Heavenly Master?"

Zhang Liuyuan: "Adopt one. The Heavenly Master needs status, not bloodline."

Pan Yun pondered—so his monstrous killer son, who vanished before reincarnation?

Zhang Liuyuan studied her expression, gently smiling: "You're worried I'll give birth to a world-devouring demon?"

Pan Yun widened her eyes: "You know?"

Zhang Liuyuan adjusted his sleeve, lips curved in a gentle smile: "Like you, I'm a natural Dao body. Your uniqueness lies in your divine power—your Linglong Heart can speak with all things in the world; Xue Shao was born able to perceive qi, close to Heaven and Earth's laws."

Pan Yun stared intently at him, showing no embarrassment at having her secrets exposed, only eager: "What about you, Senior Brother?"

"Me?" Zhang Liuyuan lowered his gaze, meeting her eyes directly. He smiled faintly, voice barely audible: "I can see past and future."

Pan Yun's mouth dropped open.

Zhang Liuyuan lowered his eyes, gazing at his fingers, voice tinged with confusion: "But the world I see is very different—even the same event, viewed at different times, always has subtle changes, as if one grain of sand holds a world, and I'm seeing within that grain another grain's future—no, it's not just one grain's world."

Pan Yun's lips curled slightly: "Time is irreversible. The future you see is either an illusory calculation—or another world that has already happened."

Zhang Liuyuan nodded: "After years of self-reflection on the Penitence Cliff, I reached the same conclusion."

Zhang Liuyuan raised his eyes: "So when I saw myself suffering heavily, trapped by my family in the inner quarters, dragging my sick body into marriage, my child dying before birth from depleted essence and blood—that child…"

Zhang Liuyuan's expression was complex: "He suffered terribly. When his father passed, he was only six. The Second Branch looted all wealth, tried to kill him in the inner quarters—failed to kill him, so my mother fled with him. Along the way, they were hunted and blocked. The household retainers, hidden guards, servants who followed him died one by one. By the time they reached Jingcheng, fifty-six had become six. They protected him to the outskirts, to the Zhenwu Temple—barely escaped death at the Second Branch's hands. Only the arrival of Dao Record Office officials saved them."

But the Second Branch's uncle-ancestor was merely punished to sweep the ancestral temple courtyards at Chaotian Palace.

"Sounds terrible, doesn't it?" Zhang Liuyuan turned to Pan Yun, sneering: "But when he grew up, he violated laws and customs, kidnapped virtuous women, raped wives and daughters, set up private prisons—forty-one lives!"

Zhang Liuyuan's gaze slowly settled on the wutong tree below, speaking softly: "Everything Xiao Hong endured, he will do."

Pan Yun fell silent.

"I don't know whether he was terrified during that great slaughter, or whether he was born wicked, but either way, since I know, I naturally won't let this cursed child come into the world."

Therefore, he never once considered taking a wife and having children.