Chapter Three: Discovered
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Pan Yun: “Since you can’t help me, don’t expect to draw any spiritual energy from me from now on. I will cultivate on my own, and I can save others by myself.”
The Spirit Realm was puzzled: “You were reborn with memories, so why do you still treat them as your family? Don’t you want to return to find your family from your past life? I can take you back.”
Pan Yun: “Eight years—anyone raising a dog would have feelings by then, let alone people. I am weak and sickly; as a baby robbed of spiritual energy by you, to grow this big, how much effort did they put in? Even if it’s not about affection, even if only to repay the debt of life and nurture, I cannot stand by and do nothing.”
Moreover, in her past life, she had no family left; the only thing she owed was to her country.
Spirit Realm: “If you want to repay their kindness, then start by repaying mine. When the laboratory exploded, I wrapped your soul and escaped with you. Without me, your soul would have been shattered like theirs.”
Pan Yun sneered coldly: “If I weren’t considerate of that kindness, do you think you could have stayed in my dantian palace for eight whole years? Don’t paint yourself as so noble. The reason you wrapped my soul and fled was simply because you needed a vessel, and I was the closest to you. You saved me, and I saved you; we owe each other nothing now. If we really count, these eight years are your debt to me.”
The Spirit Realm fell silent but flickered, suddenly attempting to burst out of her dantian palace. Yet the moment it surged outward, it was caught in a net, then bound tightly by threads that appeared out of nowhere.
Spirit Realm, alarmed: “First you refine essence into qi, then qi into spirit; how can you refine spirit first?”
Pan Yun, grinning with bared teeth inside the dantian palace: “Guess.”
The roles had reversed; Pan Yun was now in control.
The Spirit Realm, bending but not breaking, changed its tone: “Since you are one of the researchers, you should understand that I am sealed, many abilities are inaccessible. Wait until I break the seal; then I can help you…”
“Too long,” Pan Yun interrupted. “Your country poured so many resources into you last life, and after ten years, you only partially broke the seal—but only enough to record information. Who knows how long it will take to fully break it? I don’t believe you have no other way. Return half the spiritual energy you’ve taken from me all these years; let me strengthen my cultivation and find someone to save my family.”
“I have refined it all; there’s none left,” the Spirit Realm said.
Pan Yun sneered: “Do you take me for a three-year-old? If you have no stored spiritual energy, how do you maintain your own spatial operation?”
Spirit Realm: “...Just enough to maintain that space. Everything inside belongs to you.”
Pan Yun: “Give it back. Give me the spiritual energy.”
Spirit Realm: “You might as well wait. When I break more of the seal—as a Realm Spirit who once ascended to deity—once I break the seal…”
Pan Yun laughed coldly: “A god can’t cultivate on its own…”
Spirit Realm: “When I break that part of the seal, I can…”
Pan Yun continued: “A god still has to consume the spiritual energy I cultivate.”
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Spirit Realm: “Once I ascend to god again…”
Pan Yun: “You’ve been eating for eight years.”
Spirit Realm, furious: “Once I ascend to god again…”
Pan Yun: “Eight years without a word.”
Spirit Realm, weak: “Once I ascend to god again, I will compensate you…”
Pan Yun: “Eight years—my father and brothers were wronged and exiled just because I had no cultivation and couldn’t help.”
The Spirit Realm yielded: “I can give you some spiritual energy, but half is impossible. Most I have refined; I must keep some to maintain the spatial operation.”
It said: “You should appreciate how useful space is. If I hadn’t opened the space just now to hide your belongings, could your family have escaped the previous catastrophe?”
Pan Yun was silent. The space was indeed very useful and had saved her family’s lives just now.
Today from the moment she woke, everything went wrong: choking on water, falling while getting out of bed, even the sturdy copper handle of a cup broke.
Cultivators don’t usually suffer such misfortune; when it happens, it must be a warning from heaven. Using her limited knowledge, she cast a divination for the Pan family.
Great misfortune!
Her father and two brothers were sentenced to exile in Datong. She had limited the divination to her grandmother and uncle’s family—how could there be such great misfortune?
The Pan family’s only leverage now was herself.
As the daughter of Pan Hong, she should also be exiled to Datong, but her father pitied her frail health. After she nearly died last spring, no one outside knew she was still alive. Pan Hong simply hid her away.
Harboring criminals is a grave crime.
So after seeing the great misfortune, she immediately planned to burn the place down and run.
No choice; the house was full of traces of her life. People might escape, but things could not.
She wasn’t even sure if the fire would erase all traces. Just then, a voice suddenly appeared in her mind.
Without time to inquire, upon learning that it had space, she hurriedly stored all her daily items inside it, then went to the storage room to find more things to scatter in the room, masking the remaining traces of her life. Only then did she hastily meet with her grandmother and uncle once before fleeing.
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No sooner had she stepped outside than the Jin Yi Wei (Embroidered Uniform Guard) arrived. She narrowly escaped. The Spirit Realm was right—it saved her and the Pan family today.
Pan Yun finally relented; the two reached a temporary consensus.
The Spirit Realm gave her some spiritual energy.
This energy was originally hers. Once released, she could use it directly, but she still sat cross-legged, guiding it through a small circulation and finally storing it in her dantian.
After she finished, the Spirit Realm asked, “Where shall we go next?”
Pan Yun lowered her gaze, pondering briefly before saying, “There’s no going back to the Pan family. The Jin Yi Wei will be watching. I want to go to Datong to find my father and brothers. Come, take me there swiftly.”
Moments later, Pan Yun stood outside an alley in silence—deep, endless silence.
“This is your swift journey?” she mocked. “A wall, half an alley?”
The Spirit Realm, feeling guilty: “I’ve used all my refined spiritual energy to break the seal, mainly to open space and the cultivation method. I gave you so much spiritual energy just now…”
Pan Yun emphasized, “It’s my cultivated spiritual energy! And what you gave wasn’t much—only a little.”
Forget it. A sealed Spirit Realm couldn’t be expected to do much. Pan Yun sighed, about to discuss how to get to Datong when she suddenly sensed an uncomfortable gaze. She frowned lightly and looked up.
Their eyes met with Wang Yong’s.
He sat on horseback, scrutinizing her with an unsettling look.
Why was he here?
Pan Yun swept her eyes across and screamed inside, “Damn it, useless Spirit Realm! Your swift journey only takes me through an alley and onto the main street, where I just bumped into Wang Yong, who had just left the Pan family.”
She showed no expression, her gaze sliding smoothly over his face as if she didn’t recognize him. Scanning the bustling street, she spotted a broad figure and broke into a run after it.
“Father…”