Chapter 824
Chapter 824
Chapter 824
The examiner said calmly, "Eight people tied for first place with you, but this year Guangxin Prefecture will only select seven."
Pan Yun stiffened, silently lowered her hands from her hips, and humbly asked, "Then may I ask, what is the method for selecting seven out of eight people?"
"Draw lots," the chief examiner said. "All examiners will draw lots from a pile of papers until they have drawn the names of seven people."
"That's all." Pan Jun turned and left.
The examiner called out loudly behind her, "After we caught seven people, we continued catching them until we finally found your name when there was only one piece of paper left in the jar. Fellow Daoist Pan, luck is also a kind of cultivation..."
Pan Yun quickened her pace and left.
But the examiner's voice still lingered, almost splitting into two: "There are sixty-four blank sheets of paper inside!"
As they walked out of the alley, Xue Hua and the others looked at her with pity.
Pan Yun paused slightly and turned to leave, but they quickly stepped forward to stop her: "Junior sister, we've finished our exams too, shall we go back to the academy together?"
Pan Yun first clasped his hands in congratulations to them for passing the exam, then said expressionlessly, "Take your expressions off. This temple keeper doesn't need your sympathy."
Xue Hua felt even more sympathetic and said, "Junior sister, if you don't pass the ordination exam soon, I'm afraid the position of temple priest will be..."
Zhang Weiyi: "Temple keepers are still possible, but the mountain god temple might have to be removed from the public temples and not included in the Celestial Master's Mansion's list of temples. In that case, incense offerings will be made..."
Pan Yun was startled, her eyes widening: "No, the Celestial Master's Mansion already included the Sanqing Mountain God Temple in the register, how could it be deleted now?"
Zhang Weiyi: "But the temple keeper doesn't have an ordination certificate, junior sister. Think about how many years you've been a temple keeper. Back then, Longhu Mountain allowed three of you from your family to enroll, and you didn't even take up a spot from Sanqing Mountain. Wasn't it all so that you could get your ordination certificate as soon as possible?"
Pan Yun immediately turned to Miao Zhen and said seriously, "Miao Zhen, from today onwards, you will study hard. Ask me about any talismans and spells you don't understand. Don't spend too much time figuring things out on your own anymore. Tell me, and I'll ask people for you. You must successfully obtain your ordination certificate in the capital examination next year!"
Miao Zhen looked puzzled: "Junior Uncle, why didn't you drag yourself into this, but instead dragged me into it?"
Pan Yun said sadly, "Good nephew, for the sake of your grandmaster and junior uncle, you must pass the ordination exam next year. I will pass the position of temple keeper of the mountain god temple to you then!"
Miaohe raised her hand high: "Junior Uncle! Both Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother have ordination certificates!"
Pan Yun: "Your eldest brother is currently obsessed with business. How could he have time to be a temple keeper for me? As for your second brother, he already has an official position. Would it be a waste for him to come back and be a temple keeper for a small mountain god temple like this?"
Pan Yun took Miao Zhen's hand: "Only you are just starting out, so this position is perfect for you."
Miaozhen calculated the time and looked at her with sympathy. Her junior uncle hadn't passed the exam this year, and if he was unlucky enough to fail again next year, he wouldn't be able to participate in the ordination exam in the capital in June. If she wanted to take the ordination exam again, it would be three years later.
Miaozhen agreed.
Pan Yun's worries were half gone. The remaining half, she thought, "At worst, I'll just register the mountain god temple under Wang Cong's name. Anyway, I will never allow the mountain god temple to become a private temple instead of a public one."
She and her mountain god master had just begun to have a better life.
Hmph, trying to trap her? There's no way she can escape. She has many escape routes, and at worst, she still has her senior brother.
Pan Yun grumbled and complained, but upon returning to the academy, she immediately took the gifts to the Celestial Master's Mansion to inquire about the matter and make arrangements in advance.
She rarely went to the Celestial Master's Mansion, after all, the Celestial Master's Mansion and the Academy were two separate departments.
The academy was an institution under the jurisdiction of the Celestial Master's Mansion, but students rarely came to the Celestial Master's Mansion.
The Celestial Master's Mansion is divided into two courtyards, front and back. The Zhang family lived in the back courtyard, while the Taoist priests with official positions in the Celestial Master's Mansion were in the front courtyard, managing the Taoist traditions throughout the land. Newly built temples and monasteries in various places, not to mention privately run ones, all required a document from the Celestial Master's Mansion to apply for public temple status.
All gods in the world must be officially recognized by the Celestial Master's Mansion; otherwise, they are considered wild gods.
Private worship in the community would also violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, which was a very dangerous thing.
To put it simply, the Celestial Master's Mansion is an intermediary between the gods and the human world, and the gods all need to eat offerings from the human world.
The imperial court appointed the Celestial Master's Mansion to manage the Taoist traditions throughout the land. If the immortals wanted to openly accept offerings from the people and enjoy incense, they had to accept the management of the Celestial Master's Mansion.
As soon as she entered, Pan Yun smiled slightly at the Taoist priest who was sitting cross-legged in a chair.
He closed his eyes and snored very softly, so softly that Pan Jun could only hear him when he walked right up to him.
She stopped smiling, stood in front of him for a moment, and when he didn't react, she said quietly, "Senior brother, you're drooling."
The snoring stopped abruptly. He wiped his mouth with his hand, which was resting on his knee, but apparently didn't find any saliva. Only then did he slowly open his eyes.
He first noticed the Taoist robe Pan Yun was wearing, then looked up at her face and said softly, "It's you~~"
Pan Yun's eyes lit up: "Senior brother, do you know me?"
He said slowly, "I'm afraid there's no one in the entire Longhu Mountain who doesn't know you, right?"
He paused for a moment and then said, "Yes, there are some, such as the new students who enrolled this year."
Pan Yun coughed lightly, picked up the gift in his hand and placed it on the table: "I didn't expect I to be so famous, hehehe. May I ask how I should address you, senior brother?"
He stared at Pan Yun for a moment, then looked away, glanced at the gifts on the table, and asked instead of answering, "What is this?"
“Our specialties from Sanqing Mountain,” Pan Jun said, “are tea, ginseng, and uncaria.”
"...Aren't the best specialties of Sanqing Mountain Ganoderma lucidum and Polygonatum sibiricum? What, you're reluctant to give them to me?"
Pan Yun immediately said, "So Senior Brother likes these two things. Alas, although these things are precious, as long as Senior Brother likes them, I will do my best to get them. Wait a moment, I will contact my eldest senior brother."
He reached out and stopped the gift that Pan Jun was about to take away, and said, "My name is Deng Jin."
"Huh?" Pan Jun looked puzzled.
Deng Jin said expressionlessly, "Just tell me what you want to do."
Pan Yun did not sense any malice from him; the other person's aura was very faint, giving people a sense of peace.
Her eyes flickered, a golden light flashing across them, and she became even more certain that she rarely sensed such a calm aura from anyone.
Master Zhang is one, her senior brother is another, and the one in the palace—his aura felt ethereal to her.
Seriously? Are all the Taoist priests guarding the Celestial Master's Mansion this powerful?
Pan Yun swallowed hard and said respectfully, "Senior brother, I'm unfortunate this year; I failed the ordination exam again. The Sanqing Mountain God Temple..."
"Oh, you're the temple keeper of the mountain god temple, right?" Before she could finish speaking, he knew what she wanted to ask. He reached into his desk, pulled out a booklet, flipped to a page, and wrote: "According to the Celestial Master's Mansion's custom, temples built for righteous gods can be established as public temples after obtaining permission from the local government. The temple keeper must obtain the Celestial Master's Mansion's approval and have a certificate of ordination. If not immediately, they can be given three years to take the exam. I'm extending it to six years for you now?"
(End of this chapter)