Although summer was nearly over, the sun still rose early.
Yesterday’s exercise had been too intense, and the curtains weren’t fully drawn, so sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, shining on both their faces.
Lin Wan opened her eyes and saw Lu Zheng looking at her.
“Good-looking?”
“Very!”
Lin Wan pecked Lu Zheng on the lips, then got up to wash.
“Are you going out today?” Lin Wan asked, poking her head out while brushing her teeth.
Lu Zheng shook his head, “Not going out.”
“That’s perfect, let’s go shopping!” Lin Wan’s eyes lit up as she smiled.
Lu Zheng, “…”
…
Actually, taking Lin Wan shopping was quite the spectacle, with her fair skin, long legs, curvaceous figure, and flower-like beauty.
Along the way, Lu Zheng noticed many young people stealing glances at Lin Wan with their peripheral vision, only to be promptly spotted by their partners, who probably wouldn’t have a good evening ahead.
As for Lu Zheng’s evening…
Was it the Wonder Woman? Or the black-stockinged Spider-Man?
…
[According to this station, Sichuan Province is facing the worst drought in twenty years.]
[Due to monsoon influences, this year both Sichuan and Guizhou provinces have experienced abnormal seasons, with less summer rainfall than usual, and the government has initiated water diversion projects to ensure the harvest.]
On the television, footage played of the scorching summer sun and the wilted crops drooping dispiritedly in the fields.
Lu Zheng watched the TV while scrolling on his phone, “Current artificial rainfall technology still has limitations, it can’t produce rain unconditionally.”
“Isn’t that right, without clouds, even a skilled cook can’t make a meal without rice,” Lin Wan nodded.
“Huh?” Lu Zheng looked at Lin Wan, “Why aren’t you encouraging me to help out?”
Lin Wan looked utterly baffled, “Spells have to follow scientific principles too, right? Your rainfall spell is basically just like artificial rainfall, without clouds, how would you make it rain? Conjure it out of thin air?”
“Yes, conjure it out of thin air,” Lu Zheng nodded solemnly.
Lin Wan curled her lips, “Nonsense, I don’t believe you for a second.”
Lu Zheng curled his lips too, “Since you said it follows objective laws, don’t you know the air is full of water molecules?”
“I…” Lin Wan’s eyes widened, and she was instantly shocked, “You can directly condense water molecules from the air into water and make it rain down?”
After all, artificial rainfall still requires clouds with sufficient density, and the cloud layer has to be low enough to form rain.
So not every drought-stricken area can undergo artificial rainfall, some places are so dry that it’s impossible even then.
But Lu Zheng was different.
If he could directly condense water molecules from the air, then rain could fall anywhere.
Even in the world’s driest place, the Sahara Desert, there are still water molecules filling the air at altitudes of thousands or tens of thousands of metres.
More importantly, Lu Zheng could fly!
“You’re a modern-day Dragon King!” Lin Wan exclaimed in shock.
Lu Zheng grinned mischievously, “Am I? But the Dragon King spits water, and I don’t!”
Lin Wan, “…”
“I’ll beat you to death, believe it or not!” Lin Wan lunged forward and bit him.
Lu Zheng laughed heartily, then held Lin Wan’s hands, “Want to go to Sichuan for a stroll, mainly to eat hotpot, then see the giant pandas, and by the way, act like immortals bringing down some rain?”
“How? Fly there?” Lin Wan’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Of course!” Lu Zheng nodded.
…
Haicheng Airport, waiting lounge.
Lin Wan looked utterly baffled, “This is what you meant by flying there?”
Lu Zheng nodded, “Yes! Did you think I’d step on a seven-coloured auspicious cloud and whisk you off to Sichuan?”
“Hee hee!”
Beside them was a young couple who overheard the conversation and couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“This big sister is so funny, is there really another way to fly there?”
“Shh! Keep it down, maybe that guy was bragging about taking a private plane?”
The voices were quiet, but Lu Zheng and Lin Wan heard every word clearly.
Lin Wan’s face flushed red, then she shot Lu Zheng a glare, huffed, took a sip of her yoghurt, and licked her lips to draw back a bit that had lingered at the corner.
Lu Zheng chuckled, then leaned down to whisper in Lin Wan’s ear, “If we go over there, we have to eat hotpot or spicy rabbit heads, right? We have to see the giant pandas, don’t we? Without any travel records, just whoosh and we’re there, it doesn’t feel right, does it?”
Lin Wan nodded, a bit embarrassed too, she hadn’t forgotten, it was just that she really wanted to fly herself, it felt way more thrilling than taking a plane.
No helping it, first-time experience, and she was still in the thrill phase, addicted.
…
Upon arriving in Chengdu for the first time, what should one do first?
The answer was obviously eat hotpot, after all, it was midday now, and only with a full belly could one have the energy to work, right?
So Lu Zheng and Lin Wan came to the city centre, found an authentic old Chengdu hotpot restaurant, and ordered a portion of spicy butter hotpot.
They ate to their heart’s content!
Lu Zheng noticed that the shop had both locals and out-of-towners, and several streamers were even live-broadcasting.
Business was booming!
After eating their fill and settling the bill, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan went to a park and slipped into a secluded grove with no people or cameras.
He pinched the invisibility incantation, cast the cloud-riding spell.
The two vanished from sight, then floated gently atop an auspicious cloud, ascending into the sky.
“This drought is mainly in southern Sichuan and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau,” Lin Wan said.
Lu Zheng nodded, then urged the white cloud beneath their feet southward.
“As expected…”
Lu Zheng didn’t fly too high, mainly to confirm their position and observe the environment and drought conditions below.
Sure enough, as they flew further south, the clouds in the sky grew fewer, higher, and sparser in density.
Naturally, the water molecules in the air grew scarcer too.
And when they reached the city mentioned in the news where the drought was occurring, there were almost no clouds left in the sky.
Lin Wan looked at Lu Zheng, “What now?”
Lu Zheng blinked, “Build a rain-prayer altar, erect the eight trigrams banners, burn tall incense, write a sacrificial text, petition the Heavenly Emperor, and beseech the Dragon King for rain!”
Lin Wan, “…”
As the words fell, Lu Zheng carried Lin Wan straight up into the heavens, to an altitude of nearly ten thousand metres.
“Supreme Ultimate, summon clouds and gather qi, haste!”
Lu Zheng pinched the most basic cloud-gathering incantation from the White Cloud Temple, the method for condensing water vapour into cloud qi.
Since it was just summoning ordinary cloud qi, without needing to infuse true qi for specific control, as long as the cloud qi could form, the magical power Lu Zheng allocated was extremely minimal, yet it could extend along the cloud qi to vast distances.
Coupled with Lu Zheng’s profound cultivation exceeding five hundred years now.
He hadn’t tried it before, but upon trying, it was a shock!
Once the spell was cast, water vapour within nearly a hundred li radius began to slowly converge, compressing from high to low, gradually forming a thick cloud layer over twenty li in diameter.
Lu Zheng and Lin Wan stood atop this cloud layer, and at a glance, its edges stretched beyond sight.
Lin Wan stared in shock at Lu Zheng, utterly entranced, “And you still say you’re not an immortal?”
Lu Zheng swallowed hard, “I didn’t expect this either, but this is just ordinary cloud layer, for a proper fight, I still can’t reach ten thousand metres.”
“But we’re not fighting now, are we?”
“Right!” Lu Zheng nodded, then looked downward, “So let’s make it rain.”
“Yes, yes!”
Lu Zheng waved his hand, unleashing the “Wind and Rain Immortal Flight”, and then a pattering drizzle sprinkled down upon the earth below.
…
Little did they know, Lu Zheng’s casual rain-making here had caused an uproar at the Meteorological Bureau.
