Qin Chuan accepted the Rain Token and Rain Writ that Old Huo handed him, and his heart could not help but tremble—these two items actually both contained Dharma essence!
【Item: Rain Token】
【A standard-issue ritual artifact used by Nongling Temple for rainfall. When the token is issued, winds rise and clouds descend. After passing through the hands of Daoists for decades and being imbued with their Dharma-nature, it contains one portion of the “Minor Cloud-Rain Art” spell. It may be extracted, or reforged into “50 Dharma Essence.”】
【Item: Rain Writ】
【A rainfall decree issued by the Eastern Victory Heavenly Court, recording the quota of spiritual rain. Used together with the Rain Token, it can summon sweet rain. It contains one portion of the “Minor Cloud-Rain Art” spell. It may be extracted, or reforged into “50 Dharma Essence.”】
Qin Chuan took a deep breath and cried inwardly, “I’ve struck it rich!”
Originally, he had only hoped that his application for spiritual rain would be approved. Who would have thought that the token and writ issued to him would actually hide such abundant Dharma essence?
The Rain Token was a ritual artifact, so it was not strange for it to contain Dharma essence;
but the Rain Writ was merely a paper document, yet it also contained Dharma essence—this made him think of the first time the Heavenly Accumulation Furnace had reacted, which had been when he touched the admission notice and the fire-worker talismanic writ.
It seemed that any document issued through the Heavenly Court’s formal procedures carried a trace of Dharma essence steeped in the heavenly statutes.
“Many thanks, Old Huo.” Qin Chuan accepted the two treasures and gave a solemn bow of thanks.
“I didn’t do anything. I only submitted it according to procedure. Whether it was approved or not was up to the county temple and the Wind and Rain Office.” Old Huo waved his hand. He truly had not exerted much effort; they belonged to different departments, and there was no way for him to interfere even if he wanted to.
“If not for Old Huo’s guidance, this disciple would not have dared submit the application. And the ‘Azure Wood Vitality Art’ you passed on has been of tremendous help to me,” Qin Chuan said sincerely.
Only then did Old Huo nod slightly. He looked Qin Chuan up and down, and a trace of surprise flashed through his cloudy eyes.
“Your cultivation progress is indeed astonishingly fast.”
Although Qin Chuan had not revealed his cultivation, with Old Huo’s eyesight as a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could already see that the spiritual light within Qin Chuan’s body was solid and vigorous. Not only was it stable, it had accumulated nearly halfway.
He asked gravely, “At this rate, I’m afraid that within half a year, you’ll be able to reach the fourth layer of Qi Refining?”
Reaching the fourth layer of Qi Refining in half a year—Nongling Temple had produced such talents before. If Qin Chuan could truly do it, then an exceptional promotion and early formal appointment would be quite possible.
“If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to…”
Qin Chuan heard that trace of expectation in Old Huo’s words. This was precisely what he wanted to strive for—to reach the fourth layer of Qi Refining as soon as possible and fight for a formal appointment and transfer, so he could shake off the hot potato that was the spiritual orange field.
Old Huo took a puff from his dry pipe, his gaze distant. “Cultivate well. When the time comes, I’ll try to put in a few words for you. For now, write up an ‘ordination petition’ first. If you can be ordained, your chances of becoming formal will increase by another margin.”
Qin Chuan was overjoyed. “Yes, this disciple will write it as soon as I return!”
The Heavenly Court ruled the world with Daoist teachings. Although there were immortal officials and functionaries who had not been ordained, only after entering the Dao could one truly be considered “one of their own.”
“Go handle your work first.” Old Huo said no more.
Watching Qin Chuan’s back as he walked toward the spiritual fields, Old Huo thought to himself, “I wonder how much chance there is…”
The matter of ordination required several people on Nongling Temple’s “Longevity Tablet” to nod in agreement. Although he occupied one seat among them, one man’s words carried little weight in the end, and it was difficult to change the greater situation—especially when those two temple heads and the other longevity seats had a tacit understanding regarding the spiritual field matter.
“In any case, I’ll try first. Such a fine sapling—if I had to watch him snap before my eyes, it would truly be too much of a pity.”
……
When he arrived at the spiritual field, Qin Chuan steadied his mind and carefully examined the Rain Token and Rain Writ.
“The spells contained in the two items are the same, and the amount of Dharma essence is the same as well. That means I can extract one and reforge the other.”
After thinking for a moment, he first performed the rainfall.
Qin Chuan placed the Rain Writ atop the Rain Token, waved the token toward the sky, and declared loudly:
“This humble Daoist, Qin Chuan, fire-worker Daoist of Nongling Temple, has received the decree of the Wind and Rain Office of Jiuchuan County Temple under Eastern Victory Heaven. I hereby proclaim to heaven and earth—wind, come!”
As his voice fell, a sudden wind rose above the spiritual field.
With a second wave of the token, he called, “Clouds, arise!”
With a third wave, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed over the two mu of land.
With a fourth wave, he called, “Rain, descend!”
In an instant, a torrential spiritual rain, mixed with dense mist, poured down.
For a time, the gazes of all the fire-worker Daoists in the observation fields were drawn over.
“Good heavens, he really invited spiritual rain!” someone exclaimed.
“Spiritual rain… I’ve been here for more than two years, and I’ve only seen special spiritual plants receive spiritual rain a few times. Those were all personally presided over by temple experts, and at the very least, they had to be official Heavenly Register Daoists. This newly arrived fire-worker has only been here a month, yet he can actually obtain spiritual rain?”
“Wasn’t he supposed to be an unlucky wretch who’d end up taking the blame sooner or later?”
Zhong Ziheng sneered from the side. “The spiritual orange plan is an important task personally decided by County God Sun. If an application for spiritual rain nourishment wasn’t approved, it might instead draw the County God’s attention. Don’t just look at how glorious he seems now. The backlash later will be what’s truly severe.”
After thinking it over carefully, several fire-worker Daoists felt that this made sense.
Yet after Zhong Ziheng finished speaking, he sat down cross-legged on his own and began absorbing the spiritual qi within the spiritual rain.
Seeing this, the others belatedly began secretly circulating their arts as well—this was an unspoken rule. Whenever spiritual rain fell, the spiritual qi in the fields was far richer than usual. Although most of it nourished the spiritual plants, the scattered remnants were enough for Daoists to refine, and it surpassed several days of bitter cultivation.
Qin Chuan was in the very center of the rainfall, so naturally he would not let this opportunity pass. He allowed the heavy rain to soak his Daoist robe, not only circulating the Origin-Nurturing Art, but also casting the fifth layer formula of the Azure Wood Vitality Art. His body transformed into azure wood, absorbing spiritual qi as efficiently as a spiritual plant.
One hour later, Qin Chuan waved the token for the fifth time.
“Rain cease, clouds disperse!”
The Daoists outside the field rose reluctantly—this one hour of spiritual rain was comparable to three days of bitter cultivation.
And Qin Chuan’s gains were even greater, equivalent to fifteen days of bitter cultivation.
That was five times what others obtained, saving him half a month of hard practice.
For three days in a row, Qin Chuan made it rain for one hour each day.
After three days, he had actually saved himself a month and a half of cultivation effort.
Looking inward at the spiritual light within his body, which had gradually begun to form a vortex, he sighed inwardly:
“Cultivation truly depends most on resources. A mere three hours of rainfall is actually equal to a month and a half of bitter cultivation. If I had the chance to cultivate in one of the ‘high-grade cave dwellings’ Third Uncle mentioned, what kind of scene would that be?”
At this speed, after some more time, he would be able to attempt breaking through to the third layer of Qi Refining.
Looking again into his sea of consciousness:
【The Furnace Master has reforged and obtained 50 points of Dharma Essence.】
【Current Dharma Essence: 55 points.】
……
【The Furnace Master has extracted one portion of cultivation in the spell “Minor Cloud-Rain Art.”】
As it turned out, during these three days, Qin Chuan had kept the Rain Token and Rain Writ close day and night, and had long since absorbed all the spells and Dharma essence within them.
In an instant, a silk scroll appeared in his mind, its characters swimming like tadpoles:
【Minor Cloud-Rain Art, Third Layer】
It was actually the third layer of the Minor Cloud-Rain Art! No wonder it was worth 50 Dharma Essence.
“Hm? The Minor Cloud-Rain Art requires the fourth layer of Qi Refining and the refinement of spiritual power before its full might can be unleashed?”
He felt slightly disappointed, but it also made sense—without a ritual artifact in hand, permission under the rules, and the correct procedure, there was no way he could command the water vapor of heaven and earth over such a large area.
However, thinking of his experience with the White Ray Silver Bristle Needle and the Azure Wood Vitality Art, Qin Chuan still took advantage of the fact that no one was around and slipped to a secluded spot to try it in secret.
A thread of spiritual light circulated, and three inches above his palm, a one-inch tiny cloud actually condensed, sprinkling down a fine mist like a little cotton candy.
For a moment, he was speechless.
This was far too miniature…
Shaking his head, he withdrew the spell, clenched his fist, and returned to the field.
As soon as he returned to the edge of the field, he saw a Daoist walk forward and give him a solemn bow.
Qin Chuan hurriedly turned sideways to avoid it. “Fellow Daoist Hong Zhu, what is this for?”
That day, when the fire-workers had wanted Qin Chuan to take over their work, Hong Zhu had been one of the few unwilling to go along with them.
At this moment, he said sincerely:
“Many thanks to Fellow Daoist Qin for this spiritual rain. I absorbed spiritual qi from afar and saved myself ten days of bitter cultivation. Now I can attempt to break through the bottleneck to the third layer of Qi Refining. I came specifically to offer my thanks.”
“Fellow Daoist Hong is too serious. We are all working for the public office. If it happened to benefit you as well, then that is all the better,” Qin Chuan replied flawlessly.
Hong Zhu said no more, only, “If there is anything in the field you need help with in the future, just say the word. If I am free, I will certainly come assist.”
Seeing Hong Zhu act this way, the other fire-worker Daoists also exchanged glances. In the end, several of them took a deep breath, stepped forward, and likewise bowed in thanks.
Only Zhong Ziheng gave a cold snort and flicked his sleeves before leaving—he had not expected that a single spiritual rain would actually allow this newcomer to win quite a bit of goodwill among his colleagues.
So what? In the end, he was still an unlucky wretch meant to take the blame.
Qin Chuan saw Zhong Ziheng’s reaction and paid it no mind.
Looking at these colleagues who had benefited from him, he smiled faintly.
Though it had not been deliberate, as the old saying went, “Make many, many friends, and make few, few enemies.” No matter which world’s officialdom or Daoist path one was on, it was the ultimate truth.
One spiritual rain had reduced his enemies, increased his friends, and even gained him Dharma essence and a spell for free—he had made an absolute killing.