An average of lower second grade

The next day.

An Weiyan rose early and handed the rice to Uncle Fu, leaving him to arrange the next three meals. He himself returned to the main world, ready to head to the Taoist temple.

An Weiyan's father saw him off at the station.

Neither of his parents knew what An Weiyan was going to do. They simply assumed he had found work elsewhere and was getting ready to start.

There was little said at their parting. An Weiyan's father merely watched him go through security.

After boarding the train, An Weiyan looked at the extra three thousand yuan in his pocket and sighed inwardly.

Something had happened at home a while back, all but draining the family's savings. His parents had probably scraped together this three thousand yuan with great difficulty.

An Weiyan had already borrowed some money from Su Qingyun and had not wanted to take this money, but his father had insisted on pressing it into his hands.

Putting the money away, An Weiyan planned his route.

The area around Frost Crimson Peak was a scenic attraction, and there were buses running directly there from his destination's high-speed rail station. He could simply take one when he arrived.

After planning the route and making sure there were no mistakes, An Weiyan closed his eyes.

Three hours later, the high-speed train arrived at the station, and An Weiyan got off with his luggage.

He then boarded a bus bound for Frost Crimson Peak.

The ride took over forty minutes. Fortunately, the transport connections were quite convenient.

But as An Weiyan looked around at the other passengers, he suddenly noticed something was off.

When he had looked at his parents earlier, the color above their heads had been medium cyan. Yet the essence, Qi, and spirit above the heads of the people on this bus showed up as dark cyan.

For a few of them, there was even a faint trace of blue within that dark cyan.

"Huh..."

An Weiyan's eyes flickered at the sight.

Even if essence, Qi, and spirit reflect this country's national strength, does some of it actually depend on an individual's family circumstances?

Seeing this, An Weiyan formed a guess.

That made sense.

Some people possessed wealth unrivaled under heaven, while others occupied lofty positions. Their essence, Qi, and spirit would naturally differ from everyone else's.

At that thought, An Weiyan could not help looking carefully out of the bus. Most of the pedestrians outside in this city were upper third grade, and quite a few were at the level of lower second grade.

And this city was very close to being a first-tier city.

An Weiyan made a rough estimate. At most, the average level of the people of Huaxia should be around lower second grade.

If he had enough divine power in the future and gained supernatural abilities, perhaps he could raise Huaxia's average level a little further.

He had no idea what effect raising these grades to the very top would have, but if he had the chance, there would be no harm in trying.

An Weiyan's thoughts wandered before he finally drew his gaze back.

Over forty minutes later, An Weiyan got off the bus, checked the route, and headed down a small path.

At first, a few people were still walking alongside An Weiyan, heading up the mountain with him.

But after a while, the people beside him gradually disappeared.

An Weiyan looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he hurriedly stored the bags he was carrying in the yamen, then returned to the main world.

Climbing the mountain was exhausting. With so many things to carry as well, it really was a little more than An Weiyan's constitution could bear.

Fortunately, he had another world where he could store things.

Without the bags, An Weiyan immediately felt much lighter and headed straight up the mountain.

Su Qingyun had said that his name and ID card had already been registered here, so he could simply go up.

An Weiyan labored up the mountain, finally reaching the summit an hour later.

Beside the summit, a Taoist temple appeared before him.

"Cloud-Stilling Temple..."

An Weiyan looked at the characters above him, then walked forward. Although no one had lived in the temple for some time, he saw no weeds.

What surprised An Weiyan somewhat was that he did not find the place eerie at all, either.

It was summer, and beneath the blazing sun overhead, everything around him seemed exceptionally bright.

By now, An Weiyan was drenched in sweat.

He made a circuit of the temple. It was not particularly large, but it had all its vital organs.

An Weiyan brought over clean water and cleaned the room he would be staying in, then gave the main hall a light cleaning as well.

By the time he had more or less cleaned everything inside and out, the sun was gradually setting.

An Weiyan returned to the other world and brought over a set of bedding from the yamen, finally making the temple look inhabited.

Once he had finished, An Weiyan remembered that he had barely spent any time in Linbei County that day and hurried back to check on it.

At that moment, the people of Linbei County had already gathered together, waiting for the food to be ready.

Seeing An Weiyan emerge from the yamen, everyone present respectfully greeted him as "Your Lordship."

An Weiyan nodded to them. "I was engaged in secluded cultivation earlier. Has all been well in the county?"

"All has been well."

At his question, everyone hurriedly shook their heads.

An Weiyan sighed in relief at their answer, then nodded.

Good, as long as nothing happened.

Seeing how reserved the people were around him, An Weiyan had no intention of lingering and instead wandered around the area.

Looking back from a distance, he saw a wisp of cooking smoke rising within the town. It came from the fire in front of the yamen.

"Your Lordship, if possible, please obtain incense offerings as soon as you can. This humble god shared some divine power with you, and now I have much less left. I fear I may be unable to protect you."

As An Weiyan inspected the town, the Earth God's voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

An Weiyan froze briefly at those words, then nodded. "I understand. I will certainly obtain incense offerings as soon as possible."

After saying that, An Weiyan suddenly felt rather pressured.

There was food for the people, incense offerings for the Earth God, and the money he still owed Su Qingyun.

There was also that female ghost outside keeping her eyes on him.

Just thinking about it all felt terribly thorny.

Night fell. After throwing together something to fill his stomach, An Weiyan lit a candle, lowered his head, and began reading the poetry collection in his hands.

Whatever else could be said, reading it really did help. Besides, when An Weiyan had read this collection before, he had found it quite addictive.

He always felt left wanting more.

Unlike the previous time, however, once An Weiyan finished a poetry collection this time, he felt a little sleepy and went to bed.

The next day.

An Weiyan woke in the Taoist temple, washed up, and opened the main gates.

Today, An Weiyan had even put on a Taoist robe. He had wanted to see whether anyone would visit the temple, but an entire morning passed without him seeing anyone come.

This left An Weiyan somewhat discouraged. Judging by the situation, getting the temple's name out there would still be rather difficult.

There were still some incense sticks and candles in the temple. An Weiyan lit the candles and offered a stick of incense. Leaving the temple so cold and deserted really would not do.