Chen Jin walked slowly through the valley, carefully sensing this so-called "aura of the four seasons."
It gave him an unprecedentedly vivid understanding of the Nongjia School's guiding principle: "Follow the heavens and the seasons; let things sprout in spring and grow in summer."
The bottleneck in his Shennong Technique proficiency, stalled at 69%, had begun to loosen.
He found a spot where the flow of energy was especially calm, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, preparing to break through in one decisive push.
"Hey."
A clear voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
Chen Jin whipped around and looked toward the voice. In the cliff face beside him was a hole about the size of a palm, and an eye peered through it at him.
Chen Jin: "..."
There was someone in this godforsaken place?
The next moment, he heard the person whisper, "There's actually someone else in this godforsaken place? Were you the one who broke the formation outside?"
Chen Jin secretly used Glance of the Startled Swan to observe them, but all he saw was a string of question marks.
He didn't even recognize Ren Tu...
So Chen Jin decided to ask directly.
"Who are you?" Chen Jin asked, secretly circulating his power and preparing for a fight.
"Me?" The voice behind the hole chuckled. "You came to Langya Terrace and don't even know who I am?"
"I am the Lord of the Four Seasons, the deity who governs the changing seasons: spring's sprouting, summer's growth, autumn's harvest, and winter's storing."
[Lord of the Four Seasons]
One of the Eight Divine Lords of Qi Territory, who governs the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
Langya Terrace is the main site where he is worshipped. His followers pray for favorable weather and Bountiful Harvest.
"The Eight Divine Lords: first, the Lord of Heaven, worshipped at Tianqi; second, the Lord of Earth, worshipped at Mount Tai and Liangfu; third, the Lord of War, worshipped at Chiyou; fourth, the Lord of Yin, worshipped at the Three Mountains; fifth, the Lord of Yang, worshipped at Zhifu; sixth, the Lord of Moon, worshipped at Laishan; seventh, the Lord of Sun, worshipped at Chengshan; eighth, the Lord of the Four Seasons, worshipped at Langya." — Records of the Grand Historian: Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices
When Jiang Taigong enfeoffed Qi, he appointed the Eight Divine Lords at the God-Conferring Terrace and established the Lord of the Four Seasons atop Langya Mountain.
"Lord of the Four Seasons?" Chen Jin furrowed his brow. He had naturally heard of the Eight Divine Lords of Qi Territory, but... "Why has the revered deity been trapped here?"
"Hmph!" The voice behind the hole mocked himself. "Ever since humanity rose to prominence and imperial power flourished, us ancient gods who depended on faith and incense to survive have steadily declined.
How many of us have been suppressed in the wilderness or imprisoned in secret realms? I'm hardly the only one.
Compared with them, I'm lucky to be able to glimpse the outside world through this hole."
Sun Wukong had been crushed beneath the Five Elements Mountain, and the Third Holy Mother beneath Mount Hua... Chen Jin immediately thought of countless legends and felt a little more at ease. It seemed that gods being suppressed was practically routine. What mattered most now was improving his strength.
He asked no more questions. Closing his eyes, he drew upon the vast, pure aura of the four seasons surrounding him and focused all his strength on breaking through the Shennong Technique's bottleneck.
Chen Jin had only intended to use the aura of the four seasons to break through the 70% bottleneck.
But when he truly began guiding the immense "aura of the four seasons" around him into his understanding of the Nongjia School's Way, everything instantly spiraled out of control.
It was like digging a small opening in a dry riverbed, only to accidentally unleash a surging underground river.
The aura held within it the vitality of spring, the blazing vigor of summer, the abundance of autumn, and the reserves of winter. It seemed to have found a vessel perfectly suited to it, and poured into his sea of consciousness with unprecedented eagerness.
The 70% bottleneck shattered, but the surging power showed no sign of stopping.
75%, 80%... His Shennong Technique proficiency skyrocketed at an unprecedented pace.
He was no longer cultivating of his own accord. The true meaning of the seasons, accumulated by this land over who knew how many years, was being forcibly poured into him, broadening his foundations.
The obscure passages he had encountered while reading Nongjia texts suddenly became clear. His understanding of plants flourishing and withering, and of all things growing, reached an unprecedentedly microscopic level.
At last, the torrent of improvement gradually eased, finally stabilizing at an astonishing figure.
[Shennong Technique Proficiency: 96%]
This was now the highest proficiency among all his abilities.
Chen Jin emerged from that wondrous state of enlightenment. His mind brimmed with vast knowledge of farming, soil, the solar terms, and the growth cycles of all things, yet his expression was complicated.
"This..." He unconsciously flexed his fingers, but didn't feel the slightest increase in strength, speed, or defense.
His proficiency had gone up, but it didn't seem useful in battle.
Let's see what skills he could learn from the Shennong Classic.
He immediately took the recorded scroll of the Shennong Classic from his Personal Mark, preparing to contemplate it.
His mind sank into the scroll, and in his sea of consciousness, Chen Jin witnessed countless scenes of his ancestors practicing slash-and-burn farming, planting and harvesting.
In the faint light of dawn, they chopped down trees with crude stone knives and burned the wasteland. Sweat rolled down their dark backs as they buried the first seeds in fertile soil;
He saw generations of farmers follow the rhythm of the solar terms: transplanting rice seedlings in the spring rain, weeding beneath the summer sun, swinging sickles in the autumn wind, and planning for the coming year around the stove amid winter snow.
His understanding of agrarian civilization deepened.
[Skill Learned: Bountiful Harvest] Effect: Slightly increases the growth rate and vitality of crops in a designated area. Consumes the user's vital energy.
Chen Jin: "..."
Chen Jin felt he'd been taken for a ride by Ren Tu. If he'd spent all that effort improving something like Taoist arts or yin-yang techniques, he'd probably have at least a few powerful offensive skills by now, right?
"Well, well. I never thought there'd still be a young fool willing to study the Nongjia School these days," the voice spoke again.
Chen Jin was in a bad mood, so he retorted, "What's wrong with the Nongjia School? Are you looking down on farmers? Whether the people of the world can eat their fill depends on farmers.
Without farmers working the land, even emperors, nobles, immortals, and sorcerers would go hungry."
"It's not that I look down on them." The voice changed its tune, its tone less dismissive. "If you're truly serious about learning the Nongjia School's teachings, I can help. There isn't much I can do, but this happens to be something I can lend a hand with."
Before he'd even finished speaking, a tender shoot broke through the earth beside Chen Jin's feet without warning.
Its pale tip pushed through the dirt, and its green leaves unfurled at a visible pace. A pale pink bud burst open in the space of a breath, its layered petals spreading out. In the blink of an eye, it bore a deep red fruit, so plump that its juice showed through. The next second, the petals began to wither, the fruit rapidly shriveled, and at last it crumbled into a pinch of dust that scattered in the breeze.
Only a seed remained.
[Flick of the Finger, Beauty Withers] Category: Yanfu Secret Cache At the edge of the sea, at the end of the sky, grows a wondrous flower. In the space of a single finger snap, it breaks through the soil, sprouts, flourishes, blossoms, blooms, bears fruit, ripens, and finally withers. Can strengthen inherited skills. The inheritance must be one of the following 364 options. Example: ... Your Flesh of Vision meets the requirements for inheritance enhancement. Enhancement will cost the Walker 1,000 Yanfu Points. ...
"What are the conditions?" Chen Jin asked.
"There are no conditions, only one requirement: leave this place as soon as possible. Trouble will break out here before long. If you get caught up in it, you'll have no chance of survival."