Chapter 268 - 263: A Public Display of Divinity, See Who Reigns Supreme

This was the first time Song Ciwan had performed Call Wind and Rain in front of others.

As a Celestial Spirit Daoist Skill, Call Wind and Rain was of an inherently high grade. Song Ciwan had now cultivated it to the point of Masterful Skill. The moment the thought crossed her mind, the heavens and the earth changed color. A fierce gale howled, and the ordinary people by the shore were lifted into the air, flying backward.

Cries of alarm erupted from the crowd, but Song Ciwan, of course, had no intention of harming them.

As the hurricane roared to life, hundreds, even thousands of people were lifted by the fierce winds. They flew backward, soaring over the dense forest and high hills. In a mere instant, they had escaped the chaotic battlefield by the water and, still carried by the gale, landed on the main road not far from Pinglan City!

The hurricane, for all its terrifying power, seemed wild and unrestrained, yet when the people landed, the worst any of them did was stumble a few times before finding their footing.

Crying out in alarm, people discovered that they hadn’t been slammed to the ground and scattered as they’d feared. On the contrary, the violent wind had carried them gently. In the end, everyone landed safely, having cheated death.

Within the deathly wind was the gentleness of life.

The panicked crowd landed safely. A moment later, someone was the first to realize what had happened, weeping with joy. "I’m alive? I’m actually alive? Oh, Celestial Lord, you have finally shown us mercy!"

"It was the Fairy! That Fairy saved us!"

"Merciful Fairy! May you be rewarded for your kindness! May your immortal blessings last forever..."

Weeping and laughing, the people were overcome. Some cried out to the heavens, while others fell to their knees, kowtowing and praying toward the distant forest and water, in the direction of Song Ciwan.

By the water, Song Ciwan hovered in mid-air, a hurricane swirling at her side. The gale continued its ceaseless roar. After sweeping away the first group of people, it quickly began to gather up the second.

The Heaven and Earth Scale materialized beside her. Instantly, dense clusters of Wish Power shot toward her from afar. These intangible energies, shimmering with a faint golden light, were voraciously devoured by the Scale.

[Wish Power: Mortals’ prayers and blessings. Value: two taels and three maces. Barterable.]

[Wish Power: Mortals’ piety and gratitude. Value: one tael and five maces. Barterable.]

[Wish Power: Mortals’ prayers and chants. Value: two taels and seven maces. Barterable.]

...

Cluster after cluster of Wish Power came swarming in, jostling against each other.

Although the weight of each individual cluster was light, their sheer numbers made up for it.

For Song Ciwan, this was an unexpected but welcome bonus.

Wish Power, compared to ordinary human desires, was actually quite rare. It wasn’t as if Song Ciwan had never done good deeds before, but she had seldom received Wish Power in return. Usually, obtaining even a few clusters of human desires was considered a good haul.

This time, however, by unleashing Call Wind and Rain, a single gust of wind swept away a thousand mortals.

Not every one of these mortals, now blown far from danger, was pious enough to offer Song Ciwan their Wish Power, but... there were just so many of them.

With such a large population, even if only a tenth of them provided Wish Power, it would still amount to hundreds of clusters.

Moreover, Song Ciwan wasn’t finished with this one wave. She had, in fact, only performed the first half of the Daoist Skill: Call Wind!

The gale howled, and soon a second group of people was swept away.

This group also numbered over a thousand. The people shouted and screamed as they flew through the air. Add to that the chaotic battle between humans and demons by the water, the stone pillars that pierced the heavens in the distance, the gushing waterfalls, and the roaring waves...

At this very moment, the scene was so grand it felt as if a myth from a storyteller’s tale had come to life.

For the first time, Song Ciwan had the strange feeling that she herself had become part of a legend. As she trod upon the void, summoning the wind and rain, she suddenly realized something. ’Compared to the timid Little Cultivator I used to be, hiding in a corner... I think I’m finally stepping out into the world.’

’Something... is different now.’

Amidst the roar of the waves, just as Song Ciwan was about to cast her spell again and send away a third group of people, a streak of sword-light suddenly shot from the direction of Pinglan City, tearing through the starlight and the night’s curtain.

The sword-light was as fast as a shooting star, like a rainbow streaking across the heavens. It arrived in an instant.

A clear, crisp female voice, tinged with a smile, spoke softly. "How curious. Since when did Pinglan City have such an expert? Fellow Daoist, does that technique of yours have a name?"

Though the voice was soft, it somehow resounded clearly in everyone’s ears.

Before Song Ciwan could answer the question, the sword-light flickered, and a figure emerged from it, appearing in mid-air beside the water.

The young woman stood upon the sword-light, cloaked in starlight. Her robes billowed like those of an immortal, and with a flick of her sleeve, a gray cloth bag dropped out.

The gray bag grew as it met the wind, its mouth opening to an indescribable size in an instant. With a great WHOOSH, it sucked all the remaining people by the water into its depths.

The young woman raised her hand, forming a seal with her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, she barked, "Go!"

The bag immediately shot off on the wind, streaking like lightning toward Pinglan City.

The young woman lowered her hand and turned to Song Ciwan with a beaming smile. "Fellow Daoist, my name is Ji Qingfeng. That Qiankun Yuanqi Bag was a gift from my Master. With it, we can transport all these people back to the city in an instant. From there, the Government Office can take over and administer disaster relief."

’So this is Ji Qingfeng, Ye Lingguan’s only female disciple.’

Song Ciwan had actually seen her once before.

Right now, however, Song Ciwan’s attention wasn’t on Ji Qingfeng’s identity. It was on what was happening behind her. The very instant Ji Qingfeng had used the Qiankun Yuanqi Bag to whisk away the remaining people—

From among the towering stone pillars in the water, countless invisible orbs of light had streamed out, fluttering into the space behind Ji Qingfeng.

In moments, an innumerable, dense collection of white lights appeared behind Ji Qingfeng.

Of course, these white lights were invisible to the naked eye.

Song Ciwan could only see them because the Cyan Wood Eye was fused with her left eye.

There was no doubt about it. Here, by the water, saving people stained one’s aura with white light, while killing demons stained it with green.

Saving one person meant one streak of white light. Saving ten meant ten streaks. Saving a thousand meant a thousand streaks of white light.

And had Ji Qingfeng not just saved far more than a thousand people with that single action?

As a result, the white lights behind her were so dense they were impossible to count.

It was the same for Song Ciwan, though she had relied on her own Magic to save people. She had sent away two groups, and now had nearly three thousand streaks of white light behind her.

As for the green lights, Song Ciwan had some as well, but only a few—just over a dozen streaks.

Song Ciwan looked at Ji Qingfeng, about to answer her question, when she saw a streak of fiery light suddenly approaching from the distance.

In a flash, a figure appeared, flying through the air on their own power. They held a long spear, moving like a shooting spark, with the momentum of a charging mountain.

The person didn’t even need to get close before Ji Qingfeng turned her head and whispered urgently, "Du Xingheng!"

Du Xingheng had arrived.