The time progressed to the final years of the Ming Dynasty, where the yang waned and the yin grew, each year colder than the last. In the winter, even the Jiangnan region saw snowfall, and Tai Lake began to freeze over.

The "Water and Fire in Balance" project, initiated by Shi Feiyang, kicked into operation.

Ling Hun and Cui Wugu personally carried the True Sun Fire to various places to replenish the warmth, a process so subtle that people couldn't perceive it, for any greater force could bring disaster.

Disciples from the Snow Mountain Sect Daoist Temples cooperated, continually pushing back the ice line. Where to stop, neither Ling Hun nor Cui Wugu had any idea. Every hundred li they moved could influence the survival of countless beings. The karmic responsibility was great, so they dare not decide on their own and had to consult with Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang told them flat out, "Push the ice line past the Yellow River!"

The two were shocked, "If the Yellow River doesn't freeze over in the winter, it would have serious consequences!"

"In the times of the Three Emperors, the Central Plains were filled with towering trees, and elephants and rhinoceroses roamed everywhere. Now we are simply restoring the grandeur of those days. What's the problem with that?"

Ling Hun said, "This involves too many beings' lives and deaths. Although you can save many lives, you can also end many..."

Shi Feiyang smiled and said, "During the rule of the Three Emperors, things were not measured so finely. There's no need to calculate these things, idly talk about karma, or meticulously weigh gains and losses. This is the way of becoming one with the Heavenly Dao. Heaven and earth are not benevolent, they treat all creatures as straw dogs. Just do as you must, act with virtue, and slowly you will come to understand the nature of the Dao."

Ling Hun harbored doubts, and together with Cui Wugu, after much thought, they went ahead with the plan but decided to slow the pace. They did not push the ice line past the Yellow River in that year but planned to do it gradually over ten years.

After stabilizing the temperature, the next step was rainfall. Jiang Shu personally led several disciples to cast spells for rain, showering the lands with benevolent moisture, focusing on the Northwest Region where the rain was diminishing year by year. They even brought more rain than the region used to receive.

However, too much rain also posed a problem. On the Yellow Earth Plateau, more water and soil erosion occurred, with larger amounts of loess being washed away.

Shi Feiyang sent a message to the Three Brothers Mo Zhui from the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain and the Ganoderma Immortal, asking them to select plant seeds suitable for Central Earth's climate to be shipped over on the Jade Dragon, which sailed every three years.

On the day of their arrival, Shi Feiyang personally went to the port to receive them. When Mo Zhui saw Shi Feiyang, he threw himself into his arms. It had been several years since they'd last met, and he missed Shi Feiyang deeply.

Shi Feiyang held Mo Zhui, Mo Ying in his arms, with Mo Xiang sitting on his left shoulder and the Ganoderma Immortal on his right, all walking back while chatting and laughing.

The bystanders were dumbfounded: they had never heard of the State Preceptor having a wife, yet there he was with four sons, each of a very peculiar appearance—one pitch black, another deep purple, one bright green, and one pale as a ghost. They were definitely not born of the same mother, there had to be at least four mothers, with all sorts of skin colors.

Some knowledgeable Sword Immortals could tell that these four were transformed Spiritual Medicines!

Two of them already had a Dao Level of ten thousand years. If one could capture and consume them, it might add hundreds of years to one's Dao Level!

Shi Feiyang paid no mind to this. He had brought them over this time to help with tree planting.

The ship was loaded with one hundred thousand tree saplings, one million flower and grass sprouts, and one million catties of various seeds.

He then took the four young ones to meet Emperor Taichang in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was amazed and full of praise when he saw them and wanted to give a welcoming gift, only to realize there was nothing suitable for them even though he was the Emperor.

With the Emperor's support, Shi Feiyang assembled disciples from the Snow Mountain and Qingcheng sects, along with the Jinyi Guard, conscripted laborers from the local government, and soldiers from local guardhouses, to begin planting the flora.

Starting from the eastern foothills of Yin Mountain, they progressed westward along the mountain range, stretching all the way to Heaven Mountain. In the regions south of this line, they first drenched the ground with a thorough rain before planting, then followed up with more rain to nurture the growth.

These plants originated from Outer Heaven Divine Mountain—some were originally outsiders, later transplanted there, while others were exotic species from the Spiritual Space Immortal Realm, imbued with rich Spiritual Energy and vigorous vitality. The four young ones chose those that preferred shade and cool climate, which although destined to degrade in the coming years, had a growth rate swift enough initially.

In the tree-planting areas where there used to be few inhabitants, Shi Feiyang instructed the Snow Mountain Sect to provide a bit more True Sun Fire to promote growth.

With adequate water and heat, these plants took root quickly, shooting up several meters tall in a single summer.

Meanwhile, Shi Feiyang was also implementing his plan to fill the Tarim Basin with water, a task that Ling Hun and the others dared not undertake, so Shi Feiyang did it himself. In the first year, he used one vial of True Heaven Water, three in the second year, nine in the third year, and by the fourth year, he stopped using the True Heaven Water.

True Heaven Water was not easily obtained, being drawn and refined from the seawater in a tedious process—each drop of True Heaven Water was precious and cherished.

Shi Feiyang evoked vast amounts of water vapor from the South Sea, then cast spells to create warm, moist air currents, sending them directly north for over a hundred thousand li to the skies above the Tarim Basin, turning it into torrential rainfall.

Once a month he performed the spell, and the annual rainfall in the basin gradually increased until the ninth year when it entered a stable phase, with a fixed yearly amount of water vapor delivered.

In the great desert, a vast quantity of water vapor evaporated every year. It was later proposed to divert water from the Yellow River into the desert, but in reality, the Yellow River's flow was insufficient to counteract the evaporation in the Tarim Basin. If the Yellow River's water were to be diverted there, it would simply dry up as it ran.

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