"Old Chen must have done it on purpose!"
"How could a military Agricultural Affairs Bureau official not control his spells?" Zhao Xing rubbed his sore shoulders, a puddle of frost melting into water stains.
"It must have been influenced by my spell, causing him to have a nightmare, and he doesn't want to admit it. Or perhaps he heard me call him Old Chen?"
Zhao Xing had just seen Chen Shijie’s face twisted in agony, not knowing what had happened, and in a moment of panic, he had called out Old Chen.
Dreams are not an ordinary occurrence in this world; he was genuinely worried that something had happened to Chen Shijie.
"One day, I will surpass Old Chen. By then, Little Chen..." A smile flickered at the corner of Zhao Xing's mouth as he patted his shoulder and leisurely left.
Daytime was not suitable for practicing the Yin Wind spell, so Zhao Xing moved it to the night.
Grasping the fluctuations of the earth's veins and capturing the Yin Wind from beneath the ground was quite challenging.
But even without reaching the first transformation, its power was still considerable.
This spell was a required course for Zhao Xing, and he needed to master it.
"The Yin Wind spell can not only harm others but is also a necessary condition for nurturing certain rare treasures."
"For example, the Soul Returning Grass, which is extremely difficult to grow without Yin Wind, but can mature faster with it."
As for the morning, he focused on nurturing the Tian Li saplings to ensure their robust growth.
After leaving, he went to the Agricultural Affairs Bureau, where he practiced Summoning Thunder in Xue Wenzhong's backyard.
Old Xue was quite strong in thunder techniques; in terms of manipulation, Chen Shijie might not even surpass Xue Wenzhong.
"Summoning Thunder is just a step away from striking thunder, and that is controlling the direction in which the thunder's power dissipates."
"In fact, the thunder spell already generates a considerable amount of thunder power; it just cannot break free from the constraints of the clouds. Even if it does, it cannot act according to the caster's will."
"If you want to summon thunder, you need to enhance your control over the clouds, allowing the thunder's power to pour out at a fixed angle." Xue Wenzhong patiently taught.
"So the key to summoning thunder is not striking thunder, but rather controlling the clouds?" Zhao Xing looked at the layers of clouds in Xue Wenzhong's palm and nodded.
Old Xue's teaching methods were indeed unique; after decades of immersion, he had developed his own understanding of spells.
Three feet of heavenly thunder, clouds in the palm—this skill could take a lifetime to learn.
To be able to condense the clouds to this extent, the power of thunder not only remained unchanged but even increased, resembling the 'Palm Thunder' Zhao Xing had seen in the revival version!
This is the effect of researching a spell and continuously breaking through limits.
How many transformations had Old Xue's cloud manipulation and thunder summoning undergone? Perhaps even Old Xue himself could not clarify.
The Spirit Grass Man moved swiftly, agile and nimble.
The grass man made from Yuan Rice was running around the courtyard, seemingly dodging something.
The clouds overhead covered the entire backyard, occasionally dropping bolts of lightning.
"Boom!"
Thunder struck the grass man, and in an instant of brilliance, flames ignited on the grass man, collapsing to the ground.
There was not just one burning on the ground, but many more were still lively and jumping around, hiding.
The grass man was not made by Zhao Xing but by Xue Wenzhong.
Hitting them was quite troublesome.
Their movement speed was too fast; by the time Zhao Xing aimed to control, the grass man had already run to the next position.
"Unless I unleash a chaotic barrage to increase the coverage, my hit rate is too low, only about thirty percent," Zhao Xing thought to himself.
But Old Xue did not allow him to do that, as the grass men were also limited to the thundercloud range, meant to train his proficiency.
Anyone could unleash a chaotic barrage; what would be the point of practicing then?
"If you can destroy seventy percent of the grass men before noon, your Summoning Thunder technique will have reached a new level," Xue Wenzhong said.
He had a general grasp of Zhao Xing's aptitude and comprehension, so the grass men he released were all incredibly fast and agile.
Zhao Xing was not discouraged; he slowly found his rhythm. The control experience from his previous life as a player was quite different from controlling spells now, but through gradual adaptation, he regained some of his feel.
[You have cast the Summoning Thunder spell, spell proficiency +20]
[You have cast the Summoning Thunder spell, spell proficiency +30]
[You have cast the Summoning Thunder spell, spell proficiency +45]
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Fully immersed, Zhao Xing's hit rate gradually improved.
When the time on the calendar showed noon, all the grass men in the backyard had turned to ashes.
"Ha~"
Zhao Xing glanced at his panel.
[Summoning Thunder: Intermediate Spell]
[Proficiency: 1025/9999]
[Effect: Summon thunder into the ground, strike enemies]
"I have reached the seventh transformation in striking thunder, and the clouds are at the ninth transformation. The prerequisite spells are already so proficient; it only took a morning to reach the first transformation. Although the proficiency cap hasn't changed, the difficulty of improvement is vastly different from the initial stage," Zhao Xing thought.
He felt it was a bit slow, but Xue Wenzhong was quite satisfied and directly gave Zhao Xing the afternoon off to arrange his own schedule.
The afternoon's itinerary was the Chen residence.
At a quarter past noon, Shen Zhui was punctually waiting at the training ground of the Chen residence.
"Brother Zhao, please."
"Brother Shen, please."
The two stood twenty meters apart and then began their chase game again.
This was their third sparring session.
The start was no different from the previous two times.
Zhao Xing still unleashed clouds, thunder, rain, and wind simultaneously.
Shen Zhui was already familiar with his routine and immediately pursued after ten breaths.
However, after the rain began, Shen Zhui felt something unusual.
"This rain, why is it so cold?"
After running just a few steps in the rain, Shen Zhui sensed something was off.
He looked up, and water droplets dripped from his straw hat onto his brow.
"Hiss~"
Shen Zhui couldn't help but shiver.
Cold, too cold.
It felt as if this was not summer rain but winter rain.
Shen Zhui even had the urge to put on an extra layer of clothing.
"What kind of rain is this? It's completely different from the previous two times."
"I must use vital Qi to resist the cold's encroachment, or it will greatly affect my mobility." Although each raindrop's impact was minimal, it accumulated gradually.
Shen Zhui knew he had to act quickly.
On the other side, hiding, Zhao Xing was tying up grass men while calculating.
"Against Shen Zhui, I can't use the Yin Wind; after all, he is not Chen Shijie, who can easily withstand it. That leaves only Ice Rain and Summoning Thunder spells."
"First, reduce his mobility, then strike him with thunder."
Yin Wind harms the soul, Ice Rain harms the body.
"The Ice Rain spell also utilizes Yin attribute power, but it is much easier than Yin Wind. Water is inherently Yin; I just need to guide it with vital Qi, eliminating the Yang attribute power in the clouds to form Ice Rain."
Old Xue taught Summoning Thunder, pointing out that the key to entry lies in controlling the clouds. Zhao Xing followed this line of thought to cast the Ice Rain spell and indeed found it easy to grasp.
"Pat~" A raindrop fell on his hand, and Zhao Xing experienced the coldness.
Although he had just entered the basics, his proficiency was far from the first transformation, but as long as he dragged it out long enough, it would greatly deplete Shen Zhui's vital Qi and reduce his mobility.
Chase game? Here, Zhao Xing would not just run without attacking!
Previously, he had no attack spells, but now that he did, he certainly wouldn't wait to be caught!
(End of Chapter)