What Was Sought

"Sigh, summon the wind and rain, summon the wind and rain. How am I supposed to do that?"

Watching the sun sink in the west, Yin Yunze realized the day had slipped by just like that, and he couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

After turning Sun Qin into a believer as well, Yin Yunze had learned a little about that world from her.

The place where Sun Qin and her daughter lived was a small village in Great Wei called Clear Creek Village.

This Wei was neither the Wei of the Spring and Autumn period nor the Wei of the Three Kingdoms. It was simply a country that happened to be called Wei.

Of course, that didn't matter to Yin Yunze.

The most important thing before Yin Yunze now was to fulfill the promise he had made so casually to the villagers yesterday: summoning the wind and rain!

Yesterday, he had thought it was a dream, so he had said whatever came to mind.

Today, Yin Yunze had learned that while bragging might be tax-free, it could cost him his life!

From Sun Qin, Yin Yunze had learned another hard fact.

Before the villagers of Clear Creek Village came looking for him, the fox immortal, they had already done away with more than a dozen assorted wild gods, including two Dragon Kings!

If Yin Yunze had simply said yesterday that he couldn't do it, that would have been one thing. But he had already agreed, and had even accepted Sun Qin and her daughter Zhao Wan as sacrifices.

Having already agreed, Yin Yunze probably wouldn't come to a good end even if he returned the sacrifices.

The villagers, driven frantic by desperation, clearly wouldn't care what a wild fox immortal thought.

In front of Sun Qin, Yin Yunze had claimed to be a nine-tailed fox from Qingqiu and to have connections with the Dragon Lord. Others might not know better, but how could Yin Yunze himself not know those were still lies?

Never mind that Yin Yunze currently had only two believers providing him with faith incense offerings. Even if he had plenty of incense power, he would still be sitting on a mountain of treasure without knowing how to use it.

Yin Yunze had no Divine Abilities beyond receiving sacrifices and bestowing items!

If those basic interactions with believers could even be counted as Divine Abilities.

So, after realizing just how dire his situation was, Yin Yunze had spent the entire day looking for a way to summon the wind and rain.

As it turned out, Yin Yunze had been overthinking things.

Summoning the wind and rain sounded like nothing special, as though any immortal could do it.

And yes, any immortal really could summon the wind and rain.

But the problem was, what if he wasn't an immortal?

For humans or demons who weren't immortals, summoning the wind and rain could be considered a Divine Ability of the highest order.

Any half-immortal who could actually do it would have no trouble becoming an imperial preceptor in a small or medium-sized country, ranking below one person and above ten thousand. Even in one of the great unified dynasties of ancient times, any emperor with a clear head would welcome them as an honored guest.

Even in modern society, summoning the wind and rain was still impossible. The most people could do was induce artificial rain.

That meant making rain fall early where rain clouds already existed. It still couldn't conjure a rain cloud out of thin air beneath a cloudless sky.

After learning how difficult summoning the wind and rain was, Yin Yunze thought it over and realized that, of the thirty-six stratagems, retreat seemed to be his best option.

Rather than dwell on summoning the wind and rain, which he couldn't do at all, Yin Yunze figured he might as well find an excuse, hoodwink his only two believers, and have them carry the fox immortal temple away overnight.

But when he thought about Sun Qin's sickly body and Zhao Wan's young one, Yin Yunze felt that moving didn't seem very reliable either...

Finding himself seemingly trapped at both ends, Yin Yunze sighed, gave up thinking about it, and got up to cook.

After he had busied himself for quite a while, the three dishes and soup were ready, and the sky had already grown dark.

He packed half of each dish into the disposable containers he had prepared. After a moment's thought, he fetched a few apples and washed them too.

Once everything was ready, Yin Yunze sent his mind into the other world.

In the dim, dilapidated temple, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan were sitting together, talking quietly about something.

Seeing how dark it was, Yin Yunze returned to reality for the moment.

He rummaged out a candle he hadn't used in a long time and lit it on the table before returning to the dilapidated temple.

This time, he dispensed with pleasantries and said directly:

"You two, pray."

"Lord Fox Immortal, there's no need, is there?" Sun Qin's expression turned a little strange at his words. "Wan'er and I will be going to sleep soon!"

They had indeed agreed that Sun Qin would worship him devoutly, and Yin Yunze would ensure that she and her daughter never lacked food or clothing.

But nobody had said this was what never lacking food or clothing meant!

What ordinary person ate three meals a day?

And had meat at every meal, too!

Yin Yunze had no idea what a shock three meals a day, with meat at every one, was to Sun Qin, a poor woman from ancient times.

As far as Sun Qin was concerned, two meals a day, with two large white steamed buns and a few side dishes at each meal, would already have been a very high standard.

With meat at all three meals, Sun Qin was beginning to worry that Yin Yunze intended to raise her as a deathsworn.

Sometimes, being treated too well could make people uneasy all the same.

After all, ordinary people generally felt that one should not accept a reward without having earned it.

"Cut the nonsense. Do as I say!"

Yin Yunze had no idea how much Sun Qin had already imagined.

Naturally, he couldn't agree to her refusal.

He had already made the food. If Sun Qin and her daughter didn't eat it, wouldn't it become leftovers?

Yin Yunze didn't like eating leftovers.

With Yin Yunze saying that, Sun Qin naturally found it hard to say anything more. She drew Zhao Wan down to her knees and began to pray.

Feeling the faith incense offerings wash over him, Yin Yunze nodded in satisfaction and sent the prepared meal to the mother and daughter.

"Thank you, Lord Fox Immortal, for bestowing food upon us..."

After offering her thanks, Sun Qin found the space before her suddenly brightening. When she saw the food clearly by candlelight, she couldn't help staring in surprise.

"Wow, what's that? It's much brighter than an oil lamp!" Zhao Wan, meanwhile, said whatever came to mind. "Huh, what's this? Fruit?"

Compared with the meat dishes they had already seen twice, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan seemed more excited by the rather ordinary-looking apples.

In early spring, there wasn't much proper fruit for them to eat.

It wasn't necessarily that they thought apples were better than meat. Fruit was simply very scarce at this time of year.

Watching Zhao Wan stroke the apple, unable to put it down, Yin Yunze wanted to remind her that it was food, not a toy.

Soon, after thanking Yin Yunze once more, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan tucked into the food.

Seeing the mother and daughter eat with such relish, Yin Yunze felt his own appetite grow.

After dinner, Yin Yunze began considering arrangements for the mother and daughter.

Today was his day off, so he had been able to do some cooking.

Tomorrow he had to go to work, so naturally he wouldn't have the time.

As for ordering takeout, that wasn't a long-term solution. His wallet couldn't withstand ordering it all the time.

After thinking it over, Yin Yunze decided he should provide ingredients such as rice and flour directly.

He could give them a larger supply of grain, cooking oil, and other things that kept for a long time. Then, whenever he bought vegetables each day, he could buy a little extra for Sun Qin to cook and eat that same day, so there would be no fear of spoilage.

Having made a preliminary plan for Sun Qin and Zhao Wan's meals from then on, Yin Yunze prepared to take a bath.

But when he reached the bathroom and saw the water heater, he couldn't help thinking of the mother and daughter's dusty, grimy appearance.

After a moment's thought, he turned around, went downstairs to the two-yuan shop, and bought the largest footbath basin they had, a bar of soap, and two towels.

After filling the basin to the brim with hot water, Yin Yunze entered the dilapidated temple once more.

Although it was already dark, Sun Qin and Zhao Wan hadn't gone to sleep soon afterward as Sun Qin had said. Instead, wrapped together in a somewhat worn cotton quilt, they were watching with great interest as the candle burned, a third of it already gone.

"You two, pray."

Yin Yunze's voice rang out without warning, startling the mother and daughter, but neither dared say anything.

Although puzzled, Sun Qin still drew Zhao Wan into praying with her.

The next moment, a footbath basin full of hot water appeared before Sun Qin and Zhao Wan.

"You probably haven't bathed in a long time, have you? These are the towels and hot water I prepared for you. As for how to use the soap over there..."

"Lord Fox Immortal, is this water?" Sun Qin's reaction, however, was a little strange. "You want us to bathe in water?"

"Of course it's water! If you don't bathe in water, what do you use..."

Yin Yunze answered instinctively, but halfway through, he too sensed that something was amiss. For the moment, though, he couldn't figure out what it was.

Zhao Wan, meanwhile, rushed straight to the basin, scooped up a handful of water, and brought it to her mouth.

"Mother! It really is water!"

"It's only water..."

At first, Yin Yunze still didn't quite understand, but then he finally realized why the mother and daughter were reacting this way.

Because, in the end, the villagers' request to summon the wind and rain was only what they had asked for on the surface.

What they truly needed was water!

And water didn't have to come from the sky as rain!