Chapter Forty-One: Assimilation

A single phrase made Tao Ji think of the master’s nephew and fall silent.

Xuan Miao was the quickest to respond, nodding at Pan Yun. “Junior Sister.”

Pan Yun smiled sweetly and clasped her fists in greeting. “Fourth Senior Sister.”

Then, beaming, she shook her fists that were clasped together at Tao Ji. “Third Senior Brother.”

Tao Ji’s face flushed red, but he still managed to say, “Fifth Junior Sister.”

Since the teachers had acknowledged the order, the remaining three juniors had no say and stepped forward again to salute Pan Yun.

Miao He looked the most disappointed. “I thought I was going to be the senior sister.”

She had been so happy last night.

Pan Yun, who was the same height as her, reached out and patted her head. “Don’t be downhearted. With your little senior uncle watching over you, isn’t that better than being a senior sister?”

Miao He asked, “Will the little senior uncle attend classes with us from now on?”

Pan Yun turned to Wang Fei Yin.

Wang Fei Yin responded with a grunt and said, “You’re still young. Learn as much as you can and see what you like. Later, you can choose one specialty to focus on. Although you must specialize, you can’t be completely clueless in others, understand?”

Pan Yun and the others nodded in agreement.

“All right, let’s have breakfast. After you eat, go wait in the main hall. I will check your coursework soon.”

“Your third senior uncle and the others only just returned last night. Today you have a day off. After I finish checking your work, you may go play. Tomorrow, those who should attend class will attend, and those who need to leave the mountain will leave.”

Everyone acknowledged this.

Pan Yun filled a bowl with porridge and took a steamed bun, sitting down with Miao He and Miao Zhen. “Who wants to leave the mountain?”

“I do,” Tao Yanbai spoke up, sitting next to Miao Zhen with a sigh. “I really don’t want to leave the mountain.”

Miao He ate her porridge while saying, “My master also wants to leave the mountain. Third senior brother, you don’t want to go, but I do. However, master won’t let me.”

Pan Yun brought the topic back. “What will third senior brother do after leaving the mountain?”

Miao He said, “Take third senior brother to practice medicine.”

Tao Yanbai explained, “I have no talent for cultivation, and I still have parents and family. The court has decreed that children or servants who voluntarily become monks or Taoists must have their parents serve the state and farm the land.”

Pan Yun, like a frog at the bottom of a well, knew nothing of this. “Then why are you here?”

“I’m here under the pretense of learning skills,” Tao Yanbai said energetically. “Still, I must study hard. When I turn twenty, I will take the degree examination. If I pass, even with poor talent, I can stay in the monastery with my senior brothers and sisters.”

Pan Yun said, “Keep it up!”

“Keep it up? Isn’t that like saying the fire burns too fiercely, the wick consumed too quickly? Too much is as bad as too little,” Tao Yanbai remarked.

Pan Yun, ever adaptable, amended, “Makes sense. Work hard!”

Tao Yanbai nodded firmly.

Seeing this, Miao He finished her bun with a loud chomp and stood up. “I’m going to submit my coursework now.”

With that, she dashed toward the main hall.

The three sat watching her run off. Once she was out of sight, Tao Yanbai asked Miao Zhen, “Has she finished her coursework?”

Miao Zhen replied, “Yes.”

“How well did she do?”

Miao Zhen thought for a moment. “That depends on how our grand uncle is feeling today.”

If he’s in a good mood, maybe he’ll just wave it off.

Tao Yanbai understood and relaxed; he too stood. “I’ll go submit mine.”

Compared to Miao He, his situation shouldn’t be too bad.

Pan Yun silently lowered her head to eat. The eldest senior brother might be in a delicate mood today, at least not very happy.

Indeed, Wang Fei Yin was displeased and only praised Miao Zhen, who had done well, while punishing the careless Miao He and the earnest but insufficient Tao Yanbai.

Pan Yun watched for a bit then went to explore the monastery.

She visited every corner—the vegetable garden behind the monastery that followed the mountain’s slope, the large jars by the garden...

But she didn’t see a well.

Pan Yun thought back to this morning when Wang Fei Yin took her to the mountaintop and then down a bit; there was a large clear water pool there. The water looked good. Could that be where they fetched water?

Returning to the main hall, Miao He and Tao Yanbai had finished their punishments and were cheerful again, inviting Pan Yun to share some items.

These were things Tao Ji had brought back from the foot of the mountain.

Food, clothes, and various medicinal herbs. Tao Ji even bought two pretty hairbands for the two young girls to freely choose and match.

Even the usually reserved Miao Zhen couldn’t help but smile and happily share with Pan Yun.

Pan Yun was also pressed to take two hairbands.

They were all young with short, sparse hair, so they couldn’t use wooden hairpins and instead tied their hair with bands.

Cultivators had fewer restrictions and could choose freely, so Tao Ji had prepared hairbands in various colors for them to pick as they pleased.

There was also fabric. Pan Yun learned that their Taoist robes were all handmade. “Before, senior uncle, master, and senior uncle helped sew them, but now we’ve grown up and must learn to do it ourselves. Little senior uncle, can you sew?”

Pan Yun had spent the past eight years either cultivating or taking medicine. If she had the energy and leisure to even reach the front gate, her father would be moved to tears. Naturally, she never learned any needlework.

She always thought of herself as an introverted homebody, truly suited to a life where clothes came to her hand and food to her mouth, focusing solely on cultivation and ignoring the outside world.

In her previous life, forced by life and studies, she had to be outgoing, not only studying and researching but occasionally hunting monsters and demons. By comparison, staying home drawing talismans for extra income was a blissful life.

In this life, if her father hadn’t suddenly been exiled, she could have relied on him and her brothers to live the life she dreamed of in her past life.

Her second brother had already promised her: if she couldn’t marry, he would support her; if he failed the imperial exams, he would take her back to their hometown in Changzhou Prefecture. She had decided that if she couldn’t marry when grown, she would accept it.

Though Pan Yun didn’t intend to live wastefully, she planned that once she made some progress in cultivation, she could resume her old trade, selling talismans to support herself, relying on her family to focus on cultivation. Perhaps when they grew old, she might cultivate successfully enough to find a way back to another world.

Clutching the fabric pressed into her arms, tears glistened in Pan Yun’s eyes. All past dreams seemed like bubbles of illusion; her life had to be replanned.

Seeing her on the verge of tears, Miao He hurriedly asked, “Junior Sister Pan Yun, what’s wrong?”

Miao Zhen nudged her. “Call him little senior uncle.”

Pan Yun shook her head, signaling it didn’t bother her. “I’m just touched. In all my life, this is the first time I’ve received fabric as a gift.”

Hearing this, Miao He immediately said, “Little senior uncle, you’ll receive gifts often. Whenever my master comes back from the foot of the mountain, he brings us gifts. And eldest senior brother brings the most. I really miss eldest senior brother.”

Miao Zhen nodded quietly. “I miss eldest senior brother too.”

Suppressing thoughts of her father and brothers, wiping away tears, Pan Yun asked curiously, “Where is eldest senior brother now?”

Miao He sighed and shook her head. “Don’t know. Eldest senior brother went into business. He travels to different places every day. Now, no one knows where he is.”

“When does eldest senior brother usually come back?”

Miao He said, “It’s uncertain. Sometimes business is good, and he returns in September or October. Sometimes, when business is bad, he only comes back at the New Year.”

It sounded so pitiful.

But Miao He and Miao Zhen were used to such separations from childhood and felt nothing unusual about it.

They soon immersed themselves in the joy of sharing gifts. Tao Yanbai washed a basin of apricots and brought them over, sharing while eating.

Among the items Tao Ji chose to bring back, besides precious herbs and fabric, most were candies and pastries.

The three hid them in various corners. Pan Yun learned the storage places for food inside the monastery.

Some were placed in the kitchen cabinets, some in the rice jars, and each person secretly hid a pack of their favorite snacks in their rooms. The rest were opened and offered before the stone statues of Sanqing, Elder Ge, and Minister Li.

They lit incense, inviting the ancestors to partake, but by noon, several pieces of the pastries had been eaten—distributed evenly, with one piece taken from each altar.

Miao He took a piece, bowed, and bit into it. Seeing Pan Yun watching, she took another piece, bowed, and handed it to Pan Yun, pulling her to sit together on the meditation cushion to eat.

“The ancestors have eaten. Now it’s our turn,” she said. “Senior uncle said that when the ancestors see us happy eating, they’re happy too. As long as offerings are made sincerely, we may eat them.”

Pan Yun held her pastry, sitting side by side with her, “The ancestors are so kind.”

Miao He nodded firmly. “The ancestors really are kind. They’re my favorite.”

The two, heads bowed nibbling pastries, did not see the flicker of light passing through the eyes of the three heavenly lords.

Pan Yun had successfully integrated into the Sanqing Monastery family. It wasn’t until afternoon that she found time to take out the half-volume of the fragmented manual to study the cultivation technique.

Pan Xiao Hei read alongside her. As a spiritual entity with countless spells in its memory, it was more capable than Pan Yun in judging the quality of a technique.

Just a glance, and it said, “Congratulations.”

Pan Yun said, “It’s a pity it’s only half.”

Pan Xiao Hei confidently said, “I definitely have the full volume recorded.”

Pan Yun's spirits lifted. “Where? Find it!”

“That part hasn’t been unsealed yet. Wait for me to unlock more.”

Pan Yun:...

Seeing her disbelief, Pan Xiao Hei quickly added, “Really. I hold a massive collection of techniques. You didn’t even ask where I come from or why I was created. Once you break my seals, not only this simple half-volume but even more advanced techniques will be yours.”

Pan Yun lowered her gaze in thought, then said, “Fine, I’ll trust you for now. Tonight, let’s try practicing formation techniques.”

Pan Xiao Hei happily obeyed, flipping a somersault on the spot like a true black cat.

Pan Yun spread out the cultivation manual.

Human memory can be corrected quickly, but bodily memory is much harder.

The greatest difficulty in modifying the Kun Yuan Gong technique was to change the body’s ingrained memory.

The two sets of techniques were too similar—or rather, they came from the same original technique but with differences. Now, she had to erase the bodily memory already deeply embedded.

It was like pedal exercises. For the first eight years, she raised both hands when stepping up, but now she had to raise them when stepping down. Bodily memory is difficult to change, but Pan Yun felt she could manage it.