Chapter 55: Lightning Summoning and Ice Rain

"Old Chen definitely did it on purpose!"

"He's a Military Agricultural Officer—how could he fail to control his spell?" Zhao Xing rubbed his somewhat sore shoulder; a patch of frost was melting into a wet stain.

"It must be that my spell affected him, gave him a nightmare, and he doesn't want to admit it. Or maybe he heard me call him Old Chen?"

Zhao Xing had only seen Chen Shijie's face contorted in agony a moment ago, not knowing what had happened, and in his urgency blurted out "Old Chen."

Dreams are no trivial matter in this world—he was worried something had happened to Chen Shijie.

"Sooner or later I'll surpass Old Chen, and when that day comes, Little Chen…" A faint smile tugged at Zhao Xing's lips. He patted his shoulder and strolled away.

Daytime wasn't suitable for practicing the 【Yin Wind】 spell, so Zhao Xing moved it to the evening.

Grasping the fluctuations of the earth's veins and capturing the Yin Wind from underground—this was extremely difficult.

But even before reaching First Revolution, its power was already considerable.

This spell was one Zhao Xing had to master, and master well.

"The Yin Wind spell can harm people, but it's also an essential condition for cultivating certain 【Rare Treasures】."

"Take Soul-Returning Grass—without Yin Wind it grows with great difficulty, but with it, it matures much faster."

As for the morning, he would 【cultivate】 the young Sky Pear trees, making them 【grow strong and sturdy】.

After going out, Zhao Xing headed to the Agricultural Supervisorate to learn Lightning Summoning from Xue Wenzhong in his back courtyard.

The old Agricultural Officer was indeed very strong in lightning arts; in terms of precise control, Chen Shijie might not necessarily surpass Xue Wenzhong.

"Between Lightning Summoning and Thunder Striking, there's only one step—and that is controlling the direction in which Lei Ting's power disperses."

"Actually, the Thunder Striking spell already generates considerable Lei Ting power, but it cannot break free from the clouds' binding. Even if it does break free, it cannot move according to the caster's will."

"To summon lightning, you must strengthen your control over the clouds, so that the Lei Ting power pours out at a fixed angle." Xue Wenzhong taught with great patience.

"So the key to Lightning Summoning isn't Thunder Striking, but rather the clouds?" Zhao Xing looked at the cloud layer in Xue Wenzhong's palm and couldn't help but nod.

The old Agricultural Officer's teaching method was indeed unique; steeped in the art for decades, he had developed his own understanding of spells.

A three-foot heavenly thunder, clouds in the palm—this single technique was enough for others to study for a lifetime.

To shrink the clouds to such a degree while the Lei Ting power's might not only held but increased—it was already somewhat like the "Palm Thunder" Zhao Xing had seen in the Revival version!

This was the effect of delving deep into a single spell, constantly pushing past its limits.

How many revolutions had the old Agricultural Officer's cloud manipulation and Lightning Summoning reached? Probably not even the old Agricultural Officer himself could say.

The Divine Movement straw men were extremely fast and nimble.

The straw men made from Origin Rice kept running around the courtyard, as if dodging something.

The cloud layer overhead covered the entire back courtyard, occasionally sending down a bolt of lightning.

"Boom-crack!"

Lei Ting struck a straw man; in an instant, after a flash of light, flames erupted on the straw man's body and it collapsed to the ground.

More than one lay burning on the ground, but even more were still bouncing about, darting here and there.

The straw men weren't made by Zhao Xing, but by Xue Wenzhong.

Hitting them was far more troublesome.

They moved too fast—by the time Zhao Xing controlled his aim, the straw man had already run to the next position.

"Unless I just blast away indiscriminately and increase the coverage area, my hit rate is too low—only thirty percent." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

But the old Agricultural Officer wouldn't let him do that, because the straw men were also confined within the thunder cloud's range—the whole point was to train his proficiency.

Anyone can blast away indiscriminately—what would be the point of practicing that?

"If you can destroy seventy percent of the straw men before noon, your Lightning Summoning will have reached a new level." So said Xue Wenzhong.

He already had a rough grasp of Zhao Xing's aptitude and comprehension, so the straw men he released all ran ridiculously fast with ridiculously slippery footwork.

Zhao Xing wasn't discouraged either. Slowly finding his feel—he realized that his control experience as a player in his past life differed greatly from controlling spells now, but as he gradually adjusted, he was regaining some of his touch.

【You have cast Lightning Summoning, spell proficiency 20】

【You have cast Lightning Summoning, spell proficiency 30】

【You have cast Lightning Summoning, spell proficiency 45】

"Boom-crack!" "Boom-crack!"

Fully focused, Zhao Xing's hit rate gradually rose.

When the hour on the almanac showed high noon, every straw man in the back courtyard had already turned to ash.

"Hoo~"

Zhao Xing glanced at his panel.

【Lightning Summoning: Beginner Spell】

【Proficiency: 1025/9999】

【Effect: Summon lightning into the ground to blast enemies】

"My Thunder Striking is at seven revolutions, cloud manipulation at nine revolutions—my prerequisite spells are already this proficient, yet after a whole morning I've only reached one revolution. Although the proficiency cap hasn't changed, the difficulty of improvement is already vastly different from when it was beginner-level." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

He felt it was a bit slow, but Xue Wenzhong was quite satisfied, and in the afternoon directly gave Zhao Xing the day off, letting him arrange his own schedule.

The afternoon's itinerary was Chen Residence.

At the third quarter past noon, Shen Zhui waited punctually at Chen Residence's training ground.

"Brother Zhao, please."

"Brother Shen, please."

The two stood twenty meters apart, then once again began their chase game.

This was the third sparring session between them.

The opening was no different from the previous two.

Zhao Xing once again unleashed cloud manipulation, Thunder Striking, Rain Setting, and Wind Raising all at once.

Shen Zhui was already familiar with his tricks, so he gave chase immediately after ten breaths.

But after the rain started, Shen Zhui sensed something unusual.

"Why is this rain so cold?"

Shen Zhui had only run a few steps in the rain before he felt something was off.

He looked up; droplets slid down his palm-leaf hat onto his brow.

"Hiss—"

Shen Zhui couldn't help a shiver.

Cold—far too cold.

It felt less like a summer rain and more like a winter one.

Shen Zhui actually felt the urge to put on another layer of clothing.

"What kind of rain is this? It's completely different from the last two times."

"I must channel my vital energy to fight off the cold's erosion, otherwise it will greatly affect my mobility." Although each raindrop's effect was slight, it accumulated continuously.

Shen Zhui knew he had to act quickly.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xing, who was hiding on the other side, was tying a straw figure while calculating.

"Against Shen Zhui, I can't really use Yin Wind—after all, he's not Chen Shijie, who can easily withstand it. So that leaves Ice Rain and Lightning-Drawing as options."

"First lower his mobility, then strike him with lightning."

Yin Wind harms the soul; Ice Rain harms the body.

"The Ice Rain spell also draws on Yin-attribute power, but it's much easier than Yin Wind. Water is inherently Yin—you only need to guide it with vital energy, expelling the Yang-attribute force within the moving clouds, and the Ice Rain will take shape."

The old Agronomist had taught him Lightning-Drawing, pointing out that the key to entry lay in controlling the moving clouds. Zhao Xing applied the same line of thinking to cast the Ice Rain spell, and sure enough, he picked it up easily.

"Plip—" A raindrop landed on his hand; Zhao Xing gauged the degree of cold.

Although he had only just begun learning it, and his proficiency was still far from the first turn, as long as he dragged things out long enough, it would greatly drain Shen Zhui's vital energy and reduce his mobility.

A chase game? On Zhao Xing's side, there was no running without fighting!

Before, he simply had no offensive spells; now that he did, he certainly wasn't going to sit and wait to be caught!