"Ohhhh!"
Having heard about the arrival of the cultivators, just about every villager had gathered around by now.
And as the emblem of light appeared on the ground, all of them could not help but exclaim in unison.
However, they did not perceive this as the activation of an array.
In their eyes, Zhao Yunxiao had successfully invoked a response from the gods of the heavens and earth!
Zhao Yunxiao did not stop there, either.
He started waving around the horsetail whisk in his hand, even jumping around in some sort of elaborate ceremonial dance routine that he had made up himself.
"For the sake of the masses, I hereby ask for your divine mercy! By the ancient oaths, I hereby beseech your magnanimous selves to deliver the masses from their sufferings!"
Nie Hanchang: "..."
The cringe-worthy words were one thing, but the dance itself looked horrible as well.
This Zhao Yunxiao truly had no talent for dancing!
Nevertheless, Nie Hanchang knew that this was not the time to just stand by and watch.
"For the sake of the masses, I hereby ask for your divine mercy! By the ancient oaths, I hereby beseech your magnanimous selves to deliver the masses from their sufferings!"
Nie Hanchang repeated Zhao Yunxiao's statement word-for-word.
At the same time, he picked up two unused array flags and started waving them in the air while spinning around in circles.
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
What a plain and low-level dance...
This Nie Hanchang might be hardworking, but he really needed to start working on his artistic side!
At this point, Zhao Yunxiao regretted telling Nie Hanchang to just do whatever he wanted.
Thankfully, Kindness Village was a place removed from the larger towns and cities, so the villagers were generally still rather clueless about the world.
Otherwise, such basic actions from Nie Hanchang would only end up drawing their suspicions!
Indeed, the villagers did not see anything wrong with the duo's awkward dances.
On the other hand, most of them clenched their fists tightly, anxiously awaiting what was to come.
That was all they could do – to patiently watch in silence as Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang kept chanting the same few words.
"For the sake of the masses, I hereby ask for your divine mercy! By the ancient oaths, I hereby beseech your magnanimous selves to deliver the masses from their sufferings!"
"For the sake of the masses, I hereby ask for your divine mercy! By the ancient oaths, I hereby beseech your magnanimous selves to deliver the masses from their sufferings!"
...
This continued on for a painfully long time, at least from the perspective of the villagers.
"Look! The sky!" a young villager eventually pointed upwards, instantly drawing everyone's attention to the sky.
Without them realising it, the clear blue sky above their heads had been largely taken over by patches of white clouds.
It was a sight they had not seen in months!
"Hush! Don't disturb the esteemed cultivator sirs!" Shan Shou hurriedly hushed him, albeit sharing the same excitement as the youth.
However, the last thing he wanted would be for the cultivators' efforts to go to waste because of their own lack of restraint.
That would truly be shooting themselves in the feet!
Hearing Shan Shou's reminder, the youth quickly fell silent, understanding just as well that he should not interrupt further.
Just like that, the villagers watched in silence as the clouds grew thicker and thicker, eventually forming together into a huge nimbostratus.
A huge shadow fell upon them as the sun finally disappeared from view.
"Gods of the heavens and earth, I call upon your gracious salvation in the form of rain!" Zhao Yunxiao finally switched up his lines upon seeing that the time is ripe.
"For the sak- Gods of the heavens and earth, I call upon your gracious salvation in the form of rain!" Nie Hanchang slipped up a little, not expecting the sudden change.
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
He stole a quick glance at the villagers, specifically Shan Shou and the other elders.
Thankfully, the villagers did not seem to have noticed this slight error.
Right now, all they could hear was the loud thumping of their own hearts – hearts that were filled with longing and anticipation.
And they were not left waiting for long.
Drip-!
The first drop of rain hit the head of a young toddler, who only winched slightly in surprise. He was far too young to fully appreciate what he just experienced, but the other villagers were far more attentive.
Drip-! Drip-!
As the villagers felt and saw droplets of rain fall from the sky, they involuntarily entered a stunned silence that lasted almost a full minute.
They reached out with an open palm, feeling the small droplets of water that were hitting their skin.
It had been so long since the last time this happened... to the extent that this familiar experience actually caused goosebumps to appear on their skins.
"It's rain! Rain is falling!"
The cheers of a teenager broke everyone out of their daze.
That's right, it's rain.
It worked!
The rain dance really worked!
Some of them had their doubts initially, but any such suspicions had been dispelled altogether by now.
As the rain grew heavier and heavier, the smiles on the faces of the villagers similarly grew wider and wider.
The fresh rain fell upon the villagers, fell upon the wilted grass, fell upon the dried up stream, fell upon the trees in the nearby forest...
It was just a light drizzle, far from being comparable to a heavy downpour. However, the fine but consistent raindrops were more than sufficient to nourish the lands and heal the villagers' hearts.
There were many who closed their eyes, relishing in the moment.
Who knew that something as simple as rain – something that they had come to take for granted, even finding it frustrating at times – could make for such an intoxicating experience?
Zhao Yunxiao exchanged glances with Nie Hanchang, both of them having stopped with the chants.
Witnessing the live reactions of the villagers, a smile naturally appeared on the duo's faces as well.
Sometimes, it was easy to forget that something easily doable for them could actually have a huge impact on others' lives.
They possessed great power as cultivators, but who knew?
Perhaps these were powers that had been bestowed upon them to serve the masses?
"Collect the array flags, our job here is done," Zhao Yunxiao said.
"Mm," Nie Hanchang nodded.
The array helped with gathering the moisture in the surroundings to create rain clouds.
Now that the rain was already coming down, there was no longer a need for the array to remain in activation.
If they were to overdo things, they might just end up creating different problems altogether, such as either causing a flood here or depriving nearby areas of their deserved rain.
The golden emblem of light quickly dissipated as the duo deactivated the array, proceeding to sweep up the array flags and any spirit stones that had yet to be depleted.
With Nie Hanchang in tow, Zhao Yunxiao walked over to Shan Shou.
Just like the other villagers, Shan Shou had been preoccupied with feeling emotional about the rain. But he could not help but notice the duo as they got near.
"Shan Shou thanks the two esteemed cultivator sirs for the saving grace!" Shan Shou quickly prostrated.
The other villagers saw this and immediately followed suit.
"Thank you for the saving grace, esteemed cultivator sirs!" the villagers repeated.
"Rise," Zhao Yunxiao replied. "I understand how you feel, but try not to get carried away and stay out in the rain for too long. You might just end up catching a cold."
"Haha, thank you for your concern, esteemed cultivator sir," Shan Shou laughed as he got back to his feet. "We will make sure not to get carried away."
"Still, what we did is just a temporary measure to help ease things a little," Zhao Yunxiao continued. "If the drought continues after this, you might want to consider moving away altogether for everyone's sake."
"...I understand," Shan Shou let out a wry smile. "For now, I'd like to believe that things will soon go back to the way they were in the past. But you are right. If the situation doesn't get any better, I will consider moving the villagers away."
No matter how reluctant he was to leave his home, it was not feasible to continue staying here if the rain refused to fall in the future as well.
That would be akin to delivering a slow death to both the villagers and himself.
"It's good that you are able to think this way," Zhao Yunxiao nodded in approval before pulling out a scroll. "Now then, I'd need your thumbprint as acknowledgement that we are done here."
"Of course, of course," Shan Shou agreed without hesitation.
With Zhao Yunxiao shielding them from the rain with a layer of essence energy, the two easily completed the process.
Now, all that was left was bringing the acknowledgement back to the Outer Disciples Hall, and this mission would be regarded as complete!
"Since our job here is done, we will be taking our leave now," Zhao Yunxiao said. "I wish you the best of luck moving forward."
"I understand," Shan Shou nodded. "Our Kindness Village owes you a debt for this. Please do not hesitate to ask anything of us in the future. We will definitely go to all lengths to accomplish it for you as long as it is something within our means!"
While he would love to ask Zhao Yunxiao to stay and have a meal, it was unfortunate that their village was currently severely lacking in terms of both food and water.
The villagers were currently surviving on the bare minimum like plant roots, but how could they offer something like that to the esteemed cultivators?
In a way, he was actually relieved that the cultivators were not asking to stay!
"In that case, you mentioned earlier that there used to be bandit activity in the area. Why don't you tell me more about these bandits?" Zhao Yunxiao asked. "If possible, I would like to hear every last bit of information on them."
"The bandits?" Shan Shou revealed a look of surprise. "That's no problem at all, but why?"
"I naturally have my reasons," Zhao Yunxiao replied with a smile.
"It seems I have overstepped my boundaries. Please forgive me, esteemed cultivator sir," Shan Shou quickly bowed in apology. "As for the bandits..."
As the village head, he would receive reports on every encounter that the villagers had with the bandits. At times, the rare visitors to their village would also mention their own experiences.
Because of that, there was no doubt that he was the most knowledgeable person here when it came to the bandit activity in the area.
Despite not knowing the reason, Shan Shou held nothing back and told Zhao Yunxiao everything he knew about the bandits.
"And that's all," Shan Shou finally concluded.
"Thank you for the valuable information. I appreciate it," Zhao Yunxiao answered. "We will be taking our leave, then. Farewell."
"Farewell," Shan Shou nodded.
"Let's go, Senior Martial Brother Nie."
With that, the duo promptly left the village, leaving behind a long-lasting drizzle as their parting gift.
Behind them, the villagers prostrated once again, seeing them off with a silent show of both gratitude and respect, only getting up long after the two had completely disappeared from view.
They had only arrived at Kindness Village at around noon, but were already leaving before the sun had set.
It was a short stay, though it still had a greater impact on the villagers' hearts than any other visitors in the past.
Even if only temporarily so, they had eased the villagers worries, healing them of the despondence that was slowly beginning to overwhelm them.
As for Zhao Yunxiao, he was filled with satisfaction as he left the village with lighthearted steps.
This was the kind of mission that Zhao Yunxiao liked the most – one that was easy, free from danger, and did not take too much time to complete!
"So, Ghost Fog Valley next?" Nie Hanchang asked.
"Before that, let's check out this area for a bit," Zhao Yunxiao replied.
"Check out this area? Are you trying to investigate the reason for the drought?" Nie Hanchang immediately understood his intentions.
"We'll just perform a cursory check," Zhao Yunxiao admitted. "If we don't find anything special after a day or two, we will just move on instead of lingering around."
They had already completed the mission, so there was absolutely nothing wrong with them leaving just like that.
Furthermore, even the villagers themselves had accepted the fact that they would only be here to summon the rain once, just to help tide them over for the time being.
However, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel uneasy about leaving things at just that.
It was one thing if they were unable to find the cause of the drought, or if the solution was something beyond their means.
But as far as possible, Zhao Yunxiao would like to try solving the problem at its roots, so that the villagers would not have to continue suffering after they leave!