Honest Han Yuan

Du Yuanhe thought it over from every angle and felt that he had indeed been too hasty. He rode his sword light above Cangming Cave Mansion and knocked on the barrier surrounding it.

Han Yuan had already been waiting. The moment he saw Du Yuanhe, he immediately opened the formation barrier.

"Master?" Han Yuan asked carefully.

Du Yuanhe drew a deep breath and asked, "I heard someone say that you only comprehended the Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art to Great Mastery through a fortunate coincidence. Is that true?"

Just then, Ancestor Ziyun's voice sounded beside Han Yuan's ear. "Just pretend your comprehension is poor."

Han Yuan blinked, then said to Du Yuanhe with utmost sincerity, "I really did comprehend it through a fortunate coincidence. At the time, I was in my room, and I seemed to resonate with the Apricot Tree outside. Before I knew it, my cultivation art had broken through!"

Du Yuanhe's eyelid twitched. He continued, "I remember you've cultivated the Spirit Rain Technique for over a year now. What realm have you reached?"

Han Yuan scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "I'm still at the Entry Level."

"How is that possible? With your comprehension, how could a mere Yellow Grade Low-Rank Spell still be at the Entry Level after a year?"

"Master, my Spirit Rain Technique truly is at the Entry Level. I don't know what level my own comprehension is, either," Han Yuan said.

"Didn't your Blood Spirit Rice have a bumper harvest? How could an Entry Level Spirit Rain Technique be enough?" Du Yuanhe could not understand it.

Han Yuan asked in confusion, "Master, my Blood Spirit Rice did indeed have a bumper harvest. If the Spirit Rain Technique wasn't enough, I could just carry spirit water over to irrigate it. Was that wrong?"

Du Yuanhe was at a loss. Could it be that this kid's comprehension truly was not as high as he had imagined?

"Show me!" Du Yuanhe still refused to believe it.

Han Yuan plainly cast the Spirit Rain Technique. His movements were practiced and his expression serious. The surrounding water vapor gathered into a Spirit Cloud that covered a full mu of land.

A fine drizzle drifted down.

When Du Yuanhe saw its area of coverage, his heart sank halfway. When his hand touched the faint spiritual energy contained in the spirit rain, his expression completely collapsed.

"Master..." Han Yuan said cautiously.

Du Yuanhe glared at Han Yuan. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Tell you what?" Han Yuan looked bewildered.

Du Yuanhe's expression froze at those words.

Thinking back over the entire process, Han Yuan seemed not to have said anything from beginning to end. Nor had he asked Han Yuan anything. Every decision had been his own.

Calling it arrogance would not be an exaggeration. This time, he had truly misjudged him and acted too hastily.

"Forget it. Cultivate well. With your Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art at Great Mastery, you still have great hope of breaking through to Foundation Establishment!"

Du Yuanhe was utterly dispirited. Shaking his head, he rode away on his flying sword in deep disappointment.

The disciple he wanted to recruit needed to have Golden Core potential. If one could only reach Foundation Establishment, then so long as resources were poured into them, who could not become a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

"Alas!"

Watching Du Yuanhe's departing figure vanish, Han Yuan sighed inwardly as well.

He had not lied!

He had seen the disappointment in Du Yuanhe's eyes after discovering that his comprehension was lacking.

But he had no choice. If he lied, Du Yuanhe would definitely see through him. And something like comprehension was truly hard to fake. He simply could not deceive a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection expert like Du Yuanhe. He was helpless too, all right?

Meanwhile, in the shadows—

Ancestor Ziyun had also witnessed Han Yuan's performance.

"This kid... his act was simply flawless. It didn't look like a disguise at all."

Ancestor Ziyun began to feel uncertain. With all his years of experience, he had failed to spot even the slightest trace of Han Yuan lying. Even the effect of the Spirit Rain Technique was exactly what it should look like at the Entry Level. Those practiced yet slightly awkward movements were indistinguishable from those of ordinary Outer Sect Disciples—identical in every way.

One had to know that if someone had truly comprehended a spell to a profound level, they might not necessarily be able to fake the Entry Level. Those cultivators with genuinely ordinary comprehension always made small mistakes in strange places, yet because they had practiced for so long, they could somehow make the wrong thing work, allowing the spell to be cast as usual. That clumsy feeling was not necessarily something a genius with outstanding comprehension could imitate.

"Could Han Yuan really not be a comprehension genius? Did I misjudge him too?" Ancestor Ziyun was startled by the thought that had suddenly surfaced. He felt that he was overthinking it; after all, he had personally witnessed those seven Spirit Scripts appearing at once.

Yet he still could not set his mind at ease, so he appeared out of thin air before Han Yuan.

Han Yuan was startled and hurriedly bowed respectfully. "Han Yuan greets Ancestor Ziyun!"

"Mhm! Now, show me the Spirit Rain Technique with your full strength!" Ancestor Ziyun said calmly.

"My full strength?" Han Yuan hesitated.

"That's right. Use every method at your disposal!" Ancestor Ziyun said evenly.

"Understood, Ancestor!"

Han Yuan closed his eyes and focused his consciousness within his Sea of Consciousness.

Eight Spirit Scripts shone brilliantly, illuminating his entire Sea of Consciousness.

This time, Han Yuan focused his consciousness on the Spirit Script of "Water."

Since the ancestor wanted to see the effect of him casting the Spirit Rain Technique at full strength, he naturally had to use the Water Spirit Script.

Come to think of it, this was still his first time using a Spirit Script to cast a spell. He was a little nervous.

Buzz!

When his thought activated the Water Spirit Script, Han Yuan's ability to cast the Spirit Rain Technique abruptly rose by three levels!

The Spirit Rain Technique was merely a Yellow Grade Low-Rank Spell. With the enhancement of the Water Spirit Script at the third-level Proficient stage, the Entry Level Spirit Rain Technique was enough to rise three minor realms, reaching the power of Completion.

At that very moment—

He saw the die appear once more.

A number rapidly surfaced.

Random Buff Multiplier: 8

Water Spirit Script Enhancement Effect ×800%

In an instant, Han Yuan inexplicably realized that he could cast the Spirit Rain Technique with even greater ease. It was a state where he knew that it worked, yet did not know why.

Yet Han Yuan's hands had already inexplicably formed a complicated gesture, faintly drawing upon the water-attributed spiritual energy between heaven and earth. The spiritual power within his body drained rapidly, like a dam bursting apart.

Ancestor Ziyun raised his head to the sky in confusion. Above more than half of Cangming Cave Mansion, a pitch-black storm cloud gradually gathered.

The entire cloud covered more than eight hundred mu!

Ancestor Ziyun stared blankly at the sky, then turned to look at Han Yuan in shock. "This is..."

Yet before he could finish—

Within the storm cloud, a brilliant flash of lightning streaked past.

Immediately afterward, torrential rain crashed down in an instant!

Under the Random Buff enhancement, not only did the Spirit Rain Technique's coverage expand, but the quantity and quality of the spiritual energy within the spirit rain also increased eightfold. Its overall effect was dozens of times stronger, if not more!

A great amount of spirit rain poured down, swift and dense.

Wangcai ran gleefully through the rain, his barking overflowing with delight.

This rain had long since surpassed the scope of the Spirit Rain Technique. Its power was enough to rival a late Foundation Establishment spell!

Han Yuan's face rapidly turned pale. His Spiritual Sense and spiritual power were plummeting off a cliff. In the blink of an eye, the spiritual power within his body had been completely drained, while more than half of his Spiritual Sense had been consumed.

The entire spell came to an abrupt halt and was forcibly interrupted.

Han Yuan dropped onto his backside in the pond, splashing mud and water all over himself. He looked utterly bedraggled.

Ancestor Ziyun looked at him, the corner of his mouth twitching. "I told you to use your full strength. There was no need to go this hard..."

He cast a spell that entered Han Yuan's body.

Han Yuan's spiritual power and Spiritual Sense recovered at an astonishing speed.

"Thank you, Ancestor!"

"Enough. Cultivate in peace, and remember not to be too high-profile in the future!"

After giving that warning, Ancestor Ziyun turned into a streak of violet light and vanished.

Wangcai looked curiously in the direction of the violet light, then shook the water from his body and ran toward Han Yuan.

Before Han Yuan could react, Wangcai pounced on him and knocked him to the ground.

"Don't! You idiot!!"

Han Yuan lay on his back in the pond, wiped his face, and looked up at the sky. Brilliant sunlight pierced through the clouds once more and shone upon his face.