The Performance Begins

Hearing Yin Yunze's words, most of the villagers began to waver again.

After all, anyone with sense knew that water was more important than gold.

They had all gone to the county seat to sell grain. How could they not know that times were growing worse by the day?

Two taels of gold could still buy some grain now, but by the autumn harvest a few months later, that gold certainly wouldn't be worth as much as the grain from a single mu of land!

And if the crops really withered and died now, never mind two taels-even twenty taels couldn't bring them back.

"Lord Fox Immortal, wait!" Just as everyone was caught in indecision, another voice rang out from the crowd. "Lord Fox Immortal, we don't have that much gold, and we can't put it together in such a short time. But the crops are about to die of thirst! Could you make it rain first and let us witness the Fox Immortal's grace? Then we'll offer the gold up with both hands."

Hearing this reasonable proposal, which also meant they wouldn't have to pay for the time being, everyone's eyes lit up, and they chimed in.

"Yes, Lord Fox Immortal, please be accommodating!"

"Time is short. Please save the crops first, Lord Fox Immortal!"

"Lord Fox Immortal, we definitely won't default! Please take pity on us!"

As soon as they heard they could pay later, most of the villagers felt that two taels of gold were no big deal.

How could Yin Yunze not know what they were thinking? After all, he was the one who had arranged for Sun Qin to find someone to suggest paying later at the right moment.

In fact, even this group had been brought together from the start by Sun Qin, who had arranged for his paternal and maternal cousins to join in.

Pretending to ponder for a moment, Yin Yunze said softly, "Very well. Since you are all my believers, I shall go and petition the Dragon Lord once more on your behalf! But let me make this clear beforehand: the Dragon Lord is not nearly as easy to talk to as I am. If you break your word and anger the Dragon Lord, even I won't be able to save you!"

"We won't! We won't!"

"Rest assured, Lord Fox Immortal!"

"As long as it rains, we'll definitely offer up the gold!"

Yin Yunze merely curled his lip at their promises. Finally, he gave an order.

"Tomorrow, all of you must follow Sun Qin's instructions. If anything goes wrong, the full responsibility will be yours!"

With that, Yin Yunze dispersed the phantom of the nine-tailed white fox and returned to the present world.

Back in the real world, Yin Yunze took out his phone and opened the weather forecast.

The forecast showed that, aside from rain beginning tomorrow evening, the next half month would be sunny.

In other words, if Yin Yunze missed tomorrow's opportunity, he wouldn't be able to make it rain even if he wanted to.

Dark clouds filled the sky, casting the land into darkness early.

Yet in the dim, deserted mountain forest, a figure wearing a raincoat and carrying a flashlight trudged along a damp mountain path.

The concrete mountain path was not particularly rugged, but walking it at night was far harder than during the day.

A gust of mountain wind swept past, and the figure bundled up against the cold couldn't help shivering. After looking at the pitch-black forest, he finally chose to walk a few more steps and stop beside a pavilion halfway up the mountain.

"This should be far enough, right?"

Shining his flashlight around, Yin Yunze couldn't help muttering, "It's gotten this cold already, so I shouldn't run into any snakes, right? Tsk, coming all the way out here in the middle of the night—this really is hard-earned money!"

As he prattled on about this and that, Yin Yunze found that it didn't seem to do much to distract him.

Although Yin Yunze was a fox immortal feared by an entire village in the other world, in reality, he was still an ordinary person afraid that a ghost might suddenly leap out of the darkness.

The gloomy surroundings left Yin Yunze unable to feel the slightest sense of security, so he simply turned his attention to the other world.

Entering the Fox Immortal Temple, which was likewise shrouded in darkness, once more, Yin Yunze quickly found his target using the radar map.

Unlike Yin Yunze, who stood all alone in the pitch-black mountain forest, Clear Creek Village, where night had also fallen, was as lively as if it were celebrating the New Year.

Although there were no firecrackers or fireworks to add to the atmosphere, the sight of several hundred people gathered together, each carrying a lantern, was still fairly spectacular.

At that moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the makeshift wooden platform before them. Atop it sat two figures, one large and one small, dressed in red-and-white shrine maiden robes and wearing fox masks.

Under the bright moonlight, the two figures seemed both uncanny and sacred.

"Mother, how much longer do we have to wait? We've been sitting here for almost one whole shichen!"

The scene might have looked sacred, but the people in it were having a much harder time.

Zhao Wan was at an age when children were full of restless energy. Even though she was an obedient and sensible child, sitting here without moving for more than a shichen had left her somewhat weary.

Right now, Zhao Wan felt that even farmwork would be better than sitting here doing nothing!

"Quiet!" Sun Qin scolded softly, then comforted her in a low voice. "Wan'er, bear with it a little longer. It'll be over soon! This is the task Lord Yi Yun gave us! We have to do it well! You don't want to mess it up and make Lord Yi Yun dislike you, do you?"

"Mm, Wan'er will do her best! I definitely won't disappoint Lord Yi Yun! But how much longer will it be?"

Zhao Wan quietly cheered herself on, but at the end, her true thoughts still slipped out.

Though she was clearly feeling uncomfortable, Zhao Wan was sensible enough not to say anything more after that.

Seeing that Sun Qin and Zhao Wan were already growing restless, Yin Yunze could only sigh apologetically.

As a human, Yin Yunze hated this kind of utterly pointless show for appearances' sake.

But as an immortal, Yin Yunze could only say that this time-wasting sense of ceremony was even more important than whatever you actually did.

At least after a day of fussing that had actually been of no use at all, most of the villagers were looking forward to this rain far more than ever before.

Yin Yunze even saw that the faith of quite a few villagers had grown much more solid than before.

And as everyone, Yin Yunze included, waited with craned necks,

a cold drop of rain finally landed on his face, drawing Yin Yunze's attention back to reality.

This also meant that the ceremony meant to fool the people of that world was about to enter its final act.

Lowering his head in reality to keep the rain off his face, Yin Yunze walked toward the pavilion for shelter while giving Sun Qin an order on the other side.

"Sun Qin, you can begin."

Hearing Yin Yunze's order, Sun Qin's flagging spirits immediately lifted, and she gave Zhao Wan an instruction in turn.

"Wan'er, get ready to turn on the light!"

"It's finally starting! I don't have to sit here anymore!"

After cheering quietly, Zhao Wan crept away toward the back.

As Zhao Wan left, Sun Qin pressed a button on an object.

The next moment, music unlike anything the crowd had ever heard suddenly sounded beside Sun Qin.

This naturally caught the attention of the crowd, who were already watching Sun Qin.

"What's that?"

"Look, something's happening over by the immortal maiden!"

"This music is so beautiful!"

With everyone's eyes on her, Sun Qin was somewhat nervous.

Fortunately, it was nighttime, so at least she couldn't be seen as clearly as she would have been during the day, which relieved much of her pressure.

Besides, this was an order from Lord Fox Immortal himself, Yin Yunze. Sun Qin began to strike the poses she had practiced for some time, though her movements were stiff.

As Sun Qin began her movements, Zhao Wan aimed the solar-powered lamp in her direction and flipped the switch.

The next moment, a beam of light that seemed like the sun to the crowd shone from behind Sun Qin, casting an enormous shadow of her.

At the same time, under the brilliant light, Sun Qin seemed to be cloaked in a kasaya called holiness.

"What's that? It's so bright!"

"What's going on? Where did that light come from?"

"Is that the sun? Did Immortal Maiden Sun pluck the sun down?!"

In the crowd's eyes, after Sun Qin assumed the pose for praying for rain, heaven and earth sent down sacred music and holy light. With heaven and earth joining in celebration, Sun Qin began an exquisitely graceful dance to entertain and please the gods.

Of course, from Yin Yunze's perspective,

the whole scene was simply Sun Qin beginning a dance with movements that were still somewhat stiff, accompanied by a speaker and a solar-powered lamp.