Heavy Snow

Over the next ten days, Chong Li was busy lifting the seal, while Zhao Siqi and Old Zhao received the first batch of food supplies, along with the old Spirit Planter Master. They began searching for a suitable area, preparing to attempt their first planting once the Spiritual Eye was opened.

Ming Shu, meanwhile, hid away and busied himself with fortune-telling practice. As he practiced, he also obtained more notes and annotations from the Life Book, gradually chewing over them until he began to grasp a little of its essence.

It seemed that his self in some previous life had been a fortune-telling hedge mage?

Although some Daoists were skilled at fortune-telling, ever since the Sky-Toppling Observatory had risen to power, the fortune-telling trade had essentially been monopolized by them.

The Sky-Toppling Observatory was a new identity. They had originally been called the [Star Cult]. In truth, they had drawn on parts of the inheritances of several other major sects and created an entirely new system of power.

It was not just fortune-telling. Spirit planting, alchemy, artifact forging, formations, and so on—all of them had surpassed their predecessors, allowing them to defeat the incomparably powerful Dao Sect a thousand years ago.

Mages specialized in their own fields! There were not only mages who specialized in combat, but also mages devoted to other areas.

That night, Ming Shu flipped through the Life Book and gazed up at the starry sky, calculating the positions and paths of the stars. Since he did not yet have any specialized instruments, he could only refer to the star charts drawn in the book and make a rough estimate.

This mysterious and abstruse method had a very low threshold for entry, but luck played too great a role. Ming Shu had been calculating for several days already, yet he had gained nothing.

Fortunately, he possessed the mindset cultivated through nine years of education. He tried shifting his attention elsewhere, starting with natural phenomena such as wind direction and cloud cover.

He would predict the weather first.

He calculated changes in the weather using the Life Book, tried drawing a conclusion, and then waited until the next day or the day after to verify it.

Just as Ming Shu was preparing to return and rest after cultivating, the Life Book finally reacted.

Heavy snow!

A disaster of bloodshed!

Two prompts appeared in the Life Book at the same time!

The two things had originally seemed unrelated, but this was a fantasy world. Perhaps extraordinary powers could influence the weather. The pirates might borrow those powers and use the opportunity to attack him.

Ming Shu immediately went out and summoned Old Zhao, Zhao Dun, and Little Zhao. The group discussed matters throughout the night and laid out their tactics. Before dawn, he had Little Zhao secretly slip away to find the butcher and the others.

He told them to prepare for battle in the valley to the north.

After the seal on the Spiritual Eye was lifted, Ming Shu officially began cultivating as a second-stage mage, the [Spirit Awakening Realm].

At the same time, he had someone build an arrow tower in the courtyard. It was a simple structure made of bamboo and wood, allowing someone to stand atop it and keep watch.

But if anyone else climbed up, it would not be of much use. Only Ming Shu, by relying on the special function of the Life Book, could detect the bleeding demonic-spirit power within his field of vision and use it as an early warning.

The underground Spiritual Eye had accumulated power for many years, and its Spiritual Energy was dense enough that even Zhao Siqi could not help retreating to her room to cultivate.

She had never said what her strength was, but Ming Shu felt that the Zhao Family could not possibly marry off a cultivation genius at such a young age.

Even if she could cultivate, she was probably just a rookie around his level.

So he had not paid much attention.

Chong Li, meanwhile, remained stationed in the cellar, observing the changes.

Ren Yuan helped arrange traps and sharpen and repair weapons. The main fighting force was still the several guards Zhao Siqi had brought. The other farmers could only lend a hand; they had no ability to kill enemies.

Another day passed, and sure enough, a northern wind rose. The cold cut to the bone, while the clouds at the edge of the sky gradually thickened.

The Spirit Planting fields also had to stop being cultivated. Everyone returned to the estate, where they had to prepare against both the cold and the enemy.

Ming Shu climbed up onto the arrow tower as well. Having reached the second-stage [Spirit Awakening Realm], he had already gathered enough Spiritual Energy within his body to transform it into the unique spiritual power of his own body.

When combined with the hand seals, incantations, objects, and other tools used exclusively by mages, he could initially guide and use these powers.

Of course, the most useful things were the specialized external objects refined by mages. The small azure Stone Pagoda in Ming Shu's hand, for instance, was used to contain a demonic spirit.

The spiritual power within his body could now freely enter and leave it, and his connection with it grew increasingly close.

His influence over and control of the demonic spirit inside it would also gradually deepen.

Sensing the demonic spirit within, whose condition had recovered to its peak, Ming Shu felt increasingly confident about the battle ahead.

Zhao Siqi was still in seclusion, while Chong Li had already come out. She told Ming Shu that Zhao Siqi was probably a second-stage Daoist cultivator, which meant she was in the [Aperture Opening Realm]. She was likely forcing a breakthrough to the third stage, the [Foundation Establishment Realm].

Judging by the situation, she had probably taken a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Ming Shu guessed that this pill was also part of her dowry. It was only after discovering that he was not a Dao Sect cultivator and that he had the support of the Sky-Toppling Observatory behind him that she had decided to attempt the breakthrough herself.

If she had truly intended to use the Foundation Establishment Pill herself, she could have simply kept it when she left the Zhao Family.

Look at the people the Zhao Family had sent here—they obeyed her every word. It was clear how great an influence she and her parents held over them.

Old Zhao had heard Zhao Dun mention that once things were initially stabilized here, they would all go fetch their families. Zhao Wuxu had probably made arrangements long ago.

Although Old Zhao had once been part of the Zhao Family, he had entered the palace as a child and did not know Zhao Dun and the others. Besides, the Zhao Family of today felt unfamiliar to him as well.

The person who had brought him in had died long ago. The people who took over afterward had no ties to him at all, so severing those connections had been easy.

It was just that neither side had made anything explicit. Maintaining their current tacit understanding was beneficial to everyone.

Snow stretched endlessly across the land. Every quarter hour, Ming Shu opened his eyes and swept his gaze around. He did not look closely; a rough sense of the surroundings was enough.

In such a short period, the pirates—none of whom possessed strength beyond the fifth stage—could not approach quickly.

In this frozen world of snow and ice, he also worried that his eyes might suffer.

Having prepared in advance, he had set up simple measures against the cold atop the arrow tower. He had built them from several kinds of animal hide, and their resistance to wind and cold was fairly good.

Combined with Ming Shu's own strength, it was just enough to keep him going.

With someone watching from above the entire time, they could also intimidate the enemy to a certain extent.

It was not only the heavy snow that blocked the roads; even the nearby waterways had frozen solid long ago. Even if water still flowed beneath the riverbeds, after the pirates of Qunwa Island infiltrated by following the current, they would still need time to break through the ice.

The disturbance would be neither small nor brief. It would give Ming Shu enough time to spot them calmly and arrange the battle.

He continued calculating with the new counting rods in his hand. Chong Li had made them from wooden strips. They looked like they were meant to be disposable.

Fortune-telling was actually the calculation of probabilities. That was what the Sky-Toppling Observatory taught, and Chong Li had learned the same way in the past. It was just that her talent in this area was limited.

She had been unable to travel the martial world using fortune-telling skills, and could only rely on her fists, feet, blades, and swords.