Xu Chunniang's gaze fell upon the lake, and something stirred within her.
The Dao was formless, yet it could give rise to heaven and earth, govern the sun and moon, nurture all things. It was the source of everything.
Heaven and earth were born together; all things were one. Even wriggling grubs and crawling insects possessed spirituality, let alone birds, beasts, and fish.
Yet to grant these ordinary beasts spiritual intelligence, the aid of spiritual energy was indispensable.
Without low-grade spiritual objects or pills, she could use the Spiritual Rain Technique instead.
The Spiritual Rain Technique was the first minor spell she had learned after entering the Carefree Sect all those years ago.
It required only a small amount of spiritual energy to summon a shower of spiritual rain.
The Spiritual Rain Technique was low-level, and the spiritual energy contained within the rain it produced was exceedingly sparse, but that made it perfectly suited to these ordinary beasts.
With a thought from Xu Chunniang, a few drops of spiritual rain drifted down upon the lake's once-still surface.
The fish in the water seemed to sense something and swam toward where the rain was falling, opening their mouths to catch the spiritual rain. Watching this, she could not help feeling moved. Who would have thought that, after so many years, there would come a day when she would use the Spiritual Rain Technique again?
Just then, the white egret standing amid the waterside reeds and preening its feathers also stopped moving, turning to look at the gathering fish in the lake.
Its two slender legs suddenly kicked backward and straightened. Its snowy wings spread wide, and like an arrow, it flew gracefully yet swiftly toward the center of the lake.
As it passed over the lake's heart, it lowered its head