Chapter 193
Chapter 193
Amid the downpour,
Yao Nan’s family car stopped outside the coffin shop.
After saying goodbye to the family, I opened the door, stepped out, and hurried straight inside the shop.
Old Cao and Wang Hu were chatting.
The moment they saw me return, Old Cao smiled and said,
“See, Little Hu? I told you there was no need to worry about Xiao Wu. Someone was bound to bring him home. Looks like it was his little sweetheart, too.”
Wang Hu nodded repeatedly.
“You really do see things clearly, Boss. I was worried Young Mr. Wu would walk home through the downpour and get soaked.”
I glared at Old Cao and pretended to be angry.
“Honestly, Old Cao, you’re far too old to behave this way. I’m only fourteen. That would count as dating too young, and the teachers at school would lecture me! Besides, Yao Nan and I are only good friends.”
“Fourteen?”
Old Cao chuckled lewdly.
He drew on his long-stemmed pipe, then exhaled a smoke ring.
“In the old society before Liberation, plenty of people already had children by fourteen. Times really have changed. What a difference.”
Wang Hu nodded as well.
“The boss is right. That was indeed how things were.”
Me: “…”
“I can’t be bothered talking to either of you! Two old men with no dignity. Instead of bringing me an umbrella in a downpour, all you can think of is teasing me?”
I shrugged helplessly.
Truthfully, I really did not have romantic feelings for Yao Nan.
Although she was genuinely beautiful, and I certainly appreciated that beauty!
I carried over a small wooden stool, sat down, and began chatting casually with Old Cao and Wang Hu…
Outside, the night was black as ink, and the storm roared.
We sat together listening to the rain and talking freely about bizarre supernatural matters.
It had a unique charm.
Especially since an actual ghost was present!
I said jokingly,
“Old Cao, in that ancient legend about Fallen Flood Dragon Slope that’s been passed down in Lianghe Town, the python flood dragon that failed its ascension made the attempt during weather like this, didn’t it?”
Old Cao had been the one to tell me the story, so naturally he knew it well.
“That’s right! But even my Master couldn’t determine whether the story of Fallen Flood Dragon Slope was true. They say my grandmaster practically turned the whole slope upside down when he was young, yet found nothing.”
Old Cao’s voice carried a note of reminiscence.
Within his lineage, masters adopted orphans and raised them as both disciples and sons.
So Old Cao’s Master was also effectively his adoptive father. The relationship between Old Cao’s grandmaster and Master had been the same.
Logically, if the story of Fallen Flood Dragon Slope were true, then even if the imperial court removed the corpse of the enormous python monster after its failed transformation and ordered the townspeople to remain silent,
some scales or fragments of bone should still have remained, shouldn’t they?
Not a single trace had been found. The fact that even a coffin bearer as capable as Old Cao’s grandmaster could discover nothing was truly strange!
I looked at the thick curtain of rain outside and continued,
“This storm must be a once-in-a-century event too, right? At least around Lianghe Town, it seems even heavier than the rain a little over two years ago.”
By a little over two years ago, I meant 1998.
That summer, exceptionally heavy rain fell across most of the country for a prolonged period.
Catastrophic floods swept nearly the entire drainage basins of the Yangtze River, Songhua River, Nen River, and many others…
Even the small river outside Wujia Village became a raging torrent. Its usual width of forty-some feet expanded to three or even six hundred feet, bringing the water almost to the village entrance.
At the time, the old village chief organized the able-bodied adults and young men. They carried sandbags to the riverbank and built barriers to keep the river from flooding the rice paddies.
In the end, however, they failed…
The flood destroyed the paddies and cost many families their harvests. That year was extremely difficult for the villagers.
That was why the event remained so vivid in my memory.
Old Cao sighed.
“I agree. In terms of rainfall over the immediate area, this half day may already have surpassed 1998. It seems many people will suffer another disaster.”
I thought for a moment, then continued,
“Old Cao, suppose the story of Fallen Flood Dragon Slope is true. Now we’re experiencing a once-in-a-century storm. Is it possible… that another enormous python monster with centuries of cultivation is preparing to seize this opportunity for flood-dragon ascension?”
The moment I said it, Old Cao’s expression shifted slightly. Then he laughed and scolded me.
“That mouth of yours is a jinx, Xiao Wu. Don’t say things like that! If some enormous python monster really is preparing for flood-dragon ascension in weather like this, it would be terrible news…”
I scratched my head.
“True. Lianghe Town is nothing like it was centuries ago. The population is dense, and villages stretch continuously beyond the town. Even uninhabited land is filled with vegetable greenhouses, orchards, and farms.”
“The storm alone is frightening enough. If an enormous python truly attempted flood-dragon ascension, the losses would become even greater.”
The instant the words left my mouth, my entire body suddenly jolted!
The qi in my dantian began surging and boiling on its own, completely beyond my control.
Not only that, but the great acupoint of the Jiangyuan Palace near my heart suddenly trembled. The faint wisp of turbid qi stored inside seemed to reach through my body and form some kind of connection with the earth beneath my feet.
“Oh no!”
I exclaimed and hurriedly sat cross-legged in meditation, with the five centers of my body facing the sky.
I forcibly suppressed the disturbance inside me while sealing my acupoints as completely as possible, withdrawing my aura and severing the connection with the earth-vein qi.
In the nearly six months since I drew turbid qi into my body on New Year’s Eve, I had gradually experienced the enormous benefits it brought.
My talisman arts, household familiar, spirit paper techniques, martial arts–every aspect had improved greatly.
As for the drawback of possibly being mistaken for a mountain or river and connected to by the earth-vein qi, I had barely encountered it…
Even somewhere as remote as Wujia Village did not possess particularly intense earth-vein qi.
But never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that the earth-vein qi would suddenly erupt into chaos here in Lianghe Town tonight!
Its strength had multiplied several times over. As a result, even in my normal state, that power deep within the earth had locked onto me.
In scientific terms from physics or geography, perhaps the geomagnetic field had suddenly undergone a violent change!
Fortunately, I reacted quickly enough to seal my meridians and acupoints, suppress the qi within me, and enter meditation with the five centers of my body facing the sky. Only then did I avoid being dragged abruptly underground.
At that moment, I was effectively an ordinary person. I could not circulate qi or use arcane techniques carelessly!
Of course, my martial arts remained unaffected.
So it would not be entirely accurate to say I was exactly like an “ordinary person.”
Everything happened so suddenly that neither Old Cao nor Wang Hu had time to react.
“Xiao Wu, what happened? You…”
Old Cao looked at me with concern.
I shook my head and explained,
“Something strange happened. The earth-vein qi nearby suddenly surged to an extremely high level. And it’s very irregular. It feels extremely, extremely…”
I thought for a moment before finding the right word–frenzied!
“That’s it. The earth-vein qi suddenly became frenzied. It connected directly to the wisp of turbid qi in my body, mistook me for a mountain peak, and tried to lock onto me. It nearly pulled me underground.”
“Fortunately, I reacted quickly. Otherwise, there’s no telling what trouble I might have faced.”
Although the incident had been dangerous, my tone remained fairly calm as I described it.
I had already told Old Cao how Master taught me to capture the pure and turbid qi released between heaven and earth on New Year’s Eve, at the moment the old year gave way to the new.
He knew about my condition.
Old Cao’s expression therefore grew grave, and his tone became serious.
“Earth-vein qi is a power of the earth itself. It exists in every layer of soil and rock throughout the world and is one of nature’s most stable forces. Unless extremely unusual circumstances arise or something draws it out, it will not change.”
“More importantly, torrential rain has fallen continuously since this afternoon, filling heaven and earth with dense water-aspected spiritual energy. As one force rises, the other should fall. The earth-vein qi ought to be suppressed and even more stable.”
“Unless…”
His expression turned unnatural.
“Unless some extremely powerful creature has grown stronger because of the high concentration of water-aspected spiritual energy filling the surroundings. Its own power might then trigger an eruption of the earth-vein qi underground and drive it into a frenzy.”
“As far as I know, only a kind of flood dragon transformed from a great mountain serpent should possess that ability! In other words, Xiao Wu, I’m afraid your jinx of a mouth has unfortunately predicted the truth.”
“There’s a very strong possibility that somewhere within dozens of miles of Lianghe Town… an enormous python monster really is hiding and preparing for flood-dragon ascension.”