Spring Breeze and Gentle Rain

Nanzhao, on Golden Ao Mountain, north of Cibi Lake.

Nuoli, clad in gray light, took out a small azure urn and handed it to Changlu beside him. In a grave voice, he said:

"Sorry for the trouble, fellow Daoist."

Changlu accepted it reluctantly. After briefly sensing it, he felt a surge of fondness and could not help stroking it with both hands. Then he looked at Nuoli and said:

"Fellow Daoist, this treasure of yours is wonderful."

Nuoli smiled without committing himself.

Seeing the greed and covetousness in Changlu's eyes, he said with a smile:

"Though this object is fine, it does not belong to us."

At that, bewilderment appeared in Changlu's greedy eyes. He asked tentatively:

"If not from an immortal mountain like Zhongnan, where else could such a treasure from ancient times be found?"

Nuoli shook his head.

"Though my Dao has been passed down since ancient times, we have never cultivated the virtue of water. It was only thanks to a senior that I was able to serve the True Lord on Mount Zhongnan and enter Zhongnan's lineage."

He paused.

"This treasure was borrowed from the Mystic Rain Palace with True Lord Chizheng's token."

Changlu shivered all over when he heard that and thought to himself:

These immortal lineages with ancient inheritances really are different. I've gone to the Mystic Rain Palace many times to seek the Dao, but I couldn't even get through its gates.

Yet all he needs is a token to borrow an ancient spirit treasure like this.

Spirit treasures refined nowadays cannot compare to those left behind from ancient times. After all, today's spirit materials cannot be mentioned in the same breath as those of old.

As he pondered, Nuoli's voice reached him:

"The surrounding mountains have now been fully repaired, and the formation on this mountain has also been removed. Sorry for the trouble, fellow Daoist, but please use this Clear Rain Healing and Life Urn to restore the surrounding area to its original state."

Changlu nodded and stepped forward, but then stopped and turned back.

"Though Gui Water has its clear and turbid aspects, it cannot heal as well as Subterranean Water, nor can it nurture all things as well as the Fu Water you cultivate, fellow Daoist. Why must we use Gui Water, which represents overturning and overthrowing?"

Nuoli shook his head.

"Though Gui Water is overturning and overthrowing, it is the renewal of the virtue of water and the cleansing of defilement from the Human Dao."

Then he paused.

"But Gui Water also has its clear and turbid aspects. Rain, dew, and springs are clear; pools, ponds, and wells are turbid. This treasure, however, draws only on the clarity of Gui Water, washing all things clean and making them new! It removes turbidity and preserves purity."

"Subterranean Water is good at healing, but it does great harm to the earth veins. Fu Water is good at nurturing, but not at removing. That is why I made a special trip to fetch this treasure."

Changlu nodded at that and hesitated no longer.

He shot up from the ground, transforming into a streak of azure rain that soared straight into the ninth heaven.

Amid the clouds and mist, his figure appeared. He held the Clear Rain Healing and Life Urn in one hand and formed Hand Seals with the other, his Law Power surging into the urn like a tide. The azure urn trembled slightly, and watery light flickered within its mouth.

He closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment, then opened them, the Method Formula flowing naturally from his lips:

"Gui Water's clarity, become a pouring rain

Wash away dust and turbidity, turn the withered green again;

Moisten the earth veins once more, bring forth the buds of life

Sweet dew within the urn, descend on all and become spirit."

When the Method Formula ended, the urn tipped over, and a curtain of rain, clear as a bolt of silk, poured from its mouth.

The rain fell in fine, dense threads, without a trace of cold Sha. Wherever it touched, scorched earth shed its blackness, shoots broke through the soil, and withered branches sprouted green.

The wounded earth veins for a hundred li around drank as though from a sweet spring, faintly pulsing with life.

Changlu gazed at the mountains and rivers gradually awakening beneath his feet. His lingering reluctance dispersed with the rain, leaving only a soft sigh:

"So this is what Gui Water looks like when it is purely clear."

He had cultivated Gui Water for a thousand years, yet this was the first time he had seen it display such wondrous power. It was not that he did not cultivate it, but that he could not.

Since Gui Water had been transformed by the Human Dao, its clear and turbid aspects had no longer been separate. Even using his Divine Ability, Heaven and Earth Overturned, to harmonize it, he could not produce Gui Water this clear.

Only once before, long ago, had he seen a Gui Water spirit water with a clearer aspect, at a True Lord's place.

He also harbored resentment. To attain his own Dao, the previous Gui Water True Lord had altered part of what Gui Water represented, causing the clear springs within Gui Water to become turbid springs.

As he pondered, Nuoli appeared beside him, an azure flag materializing in his hand.

Changlu, still casting his spell, looked over and could not help feeling envious. It was another treasure passed down from ancient times.

Nuoli unfurled the azure flag in his hand. Its surface was like newly opened willow leaves, soft light flowing across it.

He waved it into the wind and chanted:

"Xun Wind sweeps the wilds, thawing frost and dispelling cold.

Blow life and green into the withered, bring warmth and turn the tide.

Azure Qi winds about, the earth veins rejoice.

Moisten all with the rain, bring peace to all things."

Then, as the flag fluttered, a gentle, warm spring breeze poured from its surface and spread slowly along the ground.

Where the spring breeze passed, the grasses and trees swayed gracefully, their new buds bursting into green. Threads of warmth in the wind intertwined with the clear rain falling from the sky.

The rain moistened their roots, and the wind eased their leaves.

Together, the two made the tender shoots that had just broken through the soil livelier still. Golden Ao Mountain and several nearby peaks seemed to shed their desolation and don new garments in the space of a breath.

Changlu glanced at the azure flag and sighed inwardly:

The way of the spring breeze belongs to Xun Wind. Using it to assist the clarity of Gui Water brings out the best in both.

He put the distraction aside and focused on driving the Clear Rain Healing and Life Urn, letting this revival, with wind and rain in the same boat, spread across a hundred li of mountains and rivers.

On the southern shore of Cibi Lake, in Langqiong Zhao, one of Nanzhao's six zhao, the townspeople saw the divine miracle. All were overjoyed, and the streets filled with a noisy throng.

At the county yamen, more than a month had passed since the white chi dragon appeared. The people in the town, including the heads of several nearby factions, had all remained here.

Listening to the cheers outside the county yamen,

the people inside wore varying expressions.

For a long time, no one spoke. Then several people rose and left, one after another.

The county magistrate Li Changyuan, seated at the head, and the local tusi inspector Yin Yanshan and native chief clerk Wang Wenxiang, seated at the head on either side, watched the departing figures, their anger plain on their faces.

At last, Magistrate Li Changyuan waved his hand.

"You may all leave. I will write to the commandery governor and the ruler and see how they wish to handle this."

As his words fell, everyone answered and withdrew.

In their hearts, they prayed fervently that the commandery governor would not act too rashly. As for the ruler of Nanzhao, if Great Qing had not wanted to win over the nearby witch kingdoms, he would have gone to Jiankang to live in comfort long ago.

Thus, everything depended on the commandery governor's decision. They could only hope they would not be caught in a predicament between two mighty dragons.

On the surface, only someone from Qixia Temple had come. But if it were only Qixia Temple, why would the court have such a deep hatred for the visitor from Qixia Temple, apart from that demon dragon?

After all, most of the court's attention was currently focused on the north. How many people it could send here as reinforcements remained unknown.

Inside the yamen, Li Changyuan sighed repeatedly after everyone left. He came from an official Aristocratic Clan in Jiangnan, and though he was only a member of a branch family, the Li family was, at least, a distinguished and influential house.

His family was also related to Prince Mu's Manor by marriage, and he had thought he could rest easy.

He had thought the post he had obtained in Nanzhao would be easy, even though the court's focus was now on the north.

But he had not expected those immortal sects to act. The peaceful days he once enjoyed were gone for good.

Over the past two months, he had lost count of how many letters he had written to his clan and Prince Mu's Manor seeking some guidance, but every reply had said the same thing:

"Seek a transfer as soon as possible."

Now he only hoped that his transfer could be arranged quickly, before anything happened.

That way, he could leave this place where the immortal sects and the court were contending.