Spring, the 431st year of Ming.
It was the third pentad of the Rain Water solar term, when plants began to sprout.
Spring rain nourished the earth, and all things vied to flourish, brimming with vitality.
Five Palaces Mountain.
Shi Tongxuan had already built a hut here.
Shi Tongxuan and Cheng Xinzhan sat cross-legged inside. The little thatched shelter could not keep out the fine, lingering spring rain, and threads of rain drifted onto their faces with the wind, cool and refreshing.
Shi Tongxuan looked at the fruit sapling nearby. It seemed this divine plant had settled comfortably enough to put down roots here. The green shoot at its top was already an inch tall, and the spring rain gathered into dewdrops upon it, a sight that brought delight.
"Hmm?"
Shi Tongxuan turned to look at Cheng Xinzhan beside him. He sensed a vast surge of vitality emanating from the boy.
Shi Tongxuan had built this little shelter with felled timber for pillars and cut reeds for its roof. As abundant vitality poured out of Cheng Xinzhan, those wooden pillars actually put down roots, grew bark, and sprouted green buds!
It seemed he had opened his Wood Palace.
Opening his Wood Palace in less than half a year-how fast that was.
Still, he had visualized the Wood Duke and cultivated beside the divine tree, and now it was the Rain Water season. The timing, location, and human circumstances had all aligned, so it was within expectations.
Yet Cheng Xinzhan did not open his eyes. Even more wondrous changes were taking place within his little Inner Landscape world.
Inside the Bright Palace in his Heart Mansion, the Hairy Head Lodge Star Official opened his eyes. A wisp of yang fire shot from them, becoming a surging river of crimson-gold flame that