Sowing

Sitting on the edge of the bed, keeping watch over Zhou Xiaoxian as she sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, Xia Yi recalled something from his past.

When he first transmigrated, after figuring out the principles behind comprehending Realized Saint Souls on the Saint Soul Continent, he had made countless attempts that seemed utterly baffling to others, trying to comprehend Realized Saint Souls on his own.

But just as writing "Turtle Lives Long" had only worked after he grew old and white-haired, and writing "Though miles apart, we share the moon's beauty" could not simply serve as a teleportation Saint Soul, the Saint Souls he successfully comprehended were not all that numerous, though there were still quite a few.

Chisel the Wall to Steal Light had been one of the first.

Later, his young third brother fell for the legitimate daughter of another noble house, the Song Family, but their eldest mother refused to pay his betrothal gifts. Xia Yi had therefore given him Chisel the Wall to Steal Light to offer as a betrothal gift when he went to propose.

In other words, the Song Family in Lieyang City might well have ties to his Xia Family. Several dozen generations back, they might have been related by marriage.

Of course, that was not certain. After all, anything could have happened over several hundred years.

And his third sister-in-law's Song Family had not been the only ones to receive the Chisel the Wall to Steal Light Saint Soul back then.

Selling books had merely been a way to test the waters.

If it yielded something, all the better. If not, so be it.

"Cast a wide net, and let whoever's willing take the bait." Recalling his long talk with Zhou Feng last night, Xia Yi murmured softly.

"Mmm..."

Just then, a soft sound came from beside him.

Her dark eyes seemed to hold stars within them.

Zhou Xiaoxian blinked her large eyes, taking in a world different from before.

Everything had become clearer than before: the grain of the table and chairs several meters away, the moth fluttering beneath the light outside the window, the wrinkles on Xia Yi's face beside her...

"How does it feel, our pretty little Zhou Xiaoxian, newly advanced to Two-Star Celestial Pivot?" Xia Yi asked with a smile.

Zhou Xiaoxian's expression froze. Teacher, that sounds so strange and frivolous... yet unexpectedly amusing. Her face slowly brightened into a smile.

"It feels wonderful. Thank you, Teacher!"

"Every Three Souls Gather Stars is an elevation of the soul. Over the next few days, your physique and Saint Soul power will improve rapidly... the Holy Academy must have covered all this, right?"

Zhou Xiaoxian nodded. "They did!"

"Good. Then did the teachers at the Holy Academy plan out how you should use your soul apertures?"

Zhou Xiaoxian shook her head. "No. The Holy Academy only provides methods for learning common Saint Souls and advises us to imprint low-star Saint Souls early on. After that, it depends on what opportunities we find."

Xia Yi laughed. "Then it seems I'm your opportunity. From now on, I'll plan how you use your soul apertures. Of course, if you have any particular targets in mind, remember to tell me."

"Yes! Speaking of which, why do you know Chisel the Wall to Steal Light? And how did you teach it directly to me?"

Zhou Xiaoxian asked curiously.

"Chisel the Wall to Steal Light isn't some exclusive creation of the Song Family. Why shouldn't I know it?" Xia Yi replied. "As for how I taught it directly to you, that involves advanced applications of Saint Souls."

"Cultivators are ranked from one star to seven stars, and mastery of Saint Souls is likewise divided into one through seven stars.

"Five-star Saint Soul mastery is called Empowerment. It lets you summon a Saint Soul Phantom, greatly enhancing its effects. Six-star mastery is called Sowing. It makes passing it on easy, and also allows you to... strike from afar!"

"Six-star mastery? Six stars?!"

Zhou Xiaoxian sprang to her feet. Unaccustomed to her increased strength after her recent advancement, she made the bed give a piercing creak. Delighted, she asked, "It's extremely difficult for Saint Soul mastery to exceed one's own cultivation. Teacher, are you a Six-Star Kaiyang expert? Really?"

"Shh~ keep it quiet, keep it quiet. Perhaps in a little while, you'll discover I'm actually a seven-star king." Xia Yi raised his index finger to his lips, then seemed to sense something and turned toward the window.

"The second fish has taken the bait too. I wonder whether the real culprit coveting Zhou Xiaoxian and the Xia Family's legacy is among them!"

At Zhou Family Village, Ding Shan, who had successfully caught the last Railway Carriage, entered the village in the dark.

It was completely dark, and no villagers remained out on the roads. Ding Shan wandered partway around the village without finding anyone suitable to speak to, but he did spot a collapsed house. After observing it for a moment, he looked slightly surprised.

"These marks... and there's freshly dried blood on the ground? What happened?" He bent down and sifted through the collapsed house's bricks and tiles.

Woof! Woof, woof!!

Just then, fierce barking suddenly rang out. A short distance away, Zhou Yi came running, holding a torch in one hand and a dog's leash in the other.

"Don't move! A thief?!"

Ding Shan froze, then hurriedly dropped the brick in his hand and stood with his hands raised. "No, I'm just passing through. I saw a collapsed house here, so I stopped to look. Was this your house, sir?"

Taking a closer look, he noticed bloodstained gauze wrapped around the other man's forehead. "Sir, did you hurt your head because of it too?"

"Passing through?" Zhou Yi held up the torch to illuminate him and asked warily, "Where are you going this late?"

Ding Shan had already done his homework.

"To Lu Family Village next door."

"Oh... then get going. Don't mess around with my house," Zhou Yi said.

"Don't be so quick to send me off, sir. Could I trouble you for some water? Speaking of which, this really is your house? How did it end up like this?"

"A mad bull knocked it down." Zhou Yi still looked somewhat pained when he spoke of it. Seeing the other man looking curiously at his forehead, he shook his head again.

"Not my head. This was..."

As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, paused, and his eyes went blank. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees with a thud!

"Sir, what are you doing?" Ding Shan looked utterly bewildered. Why was he suddenly offering such a grand gesture?

"I'm not kneeling to you! Look at the sky. Those layers of curling clouds faintly form the shape of a great dragon. It's the Hushu Weather Phenomenon, a sight rarely seen even once in a hundred years! Kneel with me and kowtow a hundred times to this dragon-shaped cloud. Father God will surely bless us, letting everything go smoothly for us from now on, free from all illness and calamity!"

Are you mad? The sky's pitch-black. Where are these layers of curling clouds and this great dragon you're talking about?

Ding Shan gaped and looked up at the sky in bewilderment. Suddenly, his mind went blank, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.

Early the following morning.

Lieyang City, the great general's residence.

Feng Mo calmed his mind and steadied his breathing, his fists and feet moving like the wind as they struck the wooden post before him with repeated thuds. Only when he was drenched in sweat did he slowly draw back his fists, exhale a stale breath, and take the towel a maid handed him.

"Young master, Ding Shan is back, and he's been injured," the beautiful maid took the opportunity to say.

"Injured?" Feng Mo paused, then said with some displeasure, "Have him come here."

A few seconds later, Ding Shan approached Feng Mo with bloodstains all over his forehead and said respectfully, "I found out, young master. That old man suddenly appeared in Zhou Family Village yesterday, but..."

"Never mind that for now." Feng Mo waved a hand. "What happened to your head?"

Ding Shan paused. "Thank you for your concern, young master. My head was..."

As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, paused, and his eyes went blank. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees with a thud!

Feng Mo said, "Hmm? What did you do wrong?"

"I haven't done anything wrong, and I'm not kneeling to you! Young master, look at those layers of curling clouds in the sky. They faintly form the shape of a great dragon. It's the Hushu Weather Phenomenon, a sight rarely seen even once in a hundred years! Kneel with me and kowtow a hundred times to this dragon-shaped cloud. Father God will surely bless us, letting everything go smoothly for us from now on, free from all illness and calamity!"

Feng Mo stared blankly for a moment, then looked up at the sky.

Thud! He, too, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the sky alongside Ding Shan, every knock ringing out!

The beautiful maid paled and moved to help him up and stop him, only to hear Feng Mo say, "Xiaoyu, look at the sky, those layers of curling clouds..."