Outside, the rain grew even fiercer.
Thunder roared and lightning flashed in all directions as lead-heavy clouds pressed down ominously over the wilderness.
Nan Zhi had never seen such violent rain or such a suffocating sky.
It felt as if reaching out a hand would touch the cloud cover.
The booming thunder resonated with overwhelming pressure.
Truly, any evil demon hearing it would have their courage shattered, and any ghost or devil encountering it would be torn apart inside.
Anyone with a guilty conscience hearing it would tremble in fear, scared out of their wits, never daring to commit misdeeds again.
“Crack!”
Another bolt of white light split the sky as a deafening thunderclap erupted, illuminating the dim hall of the foot-shop in blinding white.
“Good Heavens! I often heard elders say that when it rains and thunders, Grandfather Thunder and Grandmother Lightning are up there slaying demons and exorcising evil!”
The pear seller shuddered, using a sweat cloth to wipe off whatever moisture—sweat or stray raindrops—hung on his face:
“I live around Chang Village. In the past, whenever it rained and thundered in the mountains, wild boars or wild foxes that had gained spiritual awareness would get struck by lightning.
A few years back, there was a water well in our village that every household used to draw drinking water from.
Later, miasma began to breed inside that well. The water drawn up became rank and foul-smelling—unfit for drinking, cooking, or even watering fields and cattle.
Then came a day of thunder. That night around the third watch, wind howled and rain poured. And the next day, guess what?”
The pear seller gave a chuckling laugh, teasing everyone's curiosity before declaring proudly:
“A massive black catfish floated up in that well, struck dead by lightning! Its head was as big as a young child's, and its body was a whole zhang long!
Everyone in the village said that big catfish had turned into a spirit and commandeered the well water, hoping to hide from heavenly lightning. But its cover blew, and Grandfather Thunder struck it dead square!”
“Today's thunder must be the heavenly immortals slaying some monsters as well!”
The father and son team of traveling performers listened attentively. The son, looking quite young, couldn't help but chime in:
“No wonder the thunder is so loud—it feels like it's detonating right beside our ears!
With thunder this huge, if it hit a person, it could probably split their bones wide open. That's why folks in this world had better avoid doing evil deeds.”
Saying this, the young fellow darted a glance in Nan Zhi's direction.
Nan Zhi: “...”
If you want to talk, just talk—why look at her?
Seeing him still staring, she didn't bother confronting him. She simply pulled out a bowl of stinky tofu and listened to the story with relish.
In the corner, the nun suddenly cast a glance over.
“That might not necessarily be the case. Rain and thunder from heaven aren't entirely controlled by Grandfather Thunder and Grandmother Lightning.
Take today's eerie thunder, for instance—eight times out of ten, some monster is stirring up trouble!”
The old man nearby, who had been focused on sharpening scissors, shook his head and let out a cough:
“Have you folks ever heard of a ‘Snake’s Crossing into a Jiao’?
When a snake lives for a hundred years, it becomes a python. When a python lives for a hundred years, it becomes a boa.
When a boa lives for another hundred years and eventually grows two bulges on its head, it transforms into a great Jiao.
At that point, if the Jiao can ride a flood or heavy rainstorm to swim down rivers and lakes into the sea, those two bulges on its head will sprout dragon horns.
So a Jiao is essentially a lesser dragon. When it takes to the sky, it inevitably brings winds and torrential rain—a truly uncanny force.
If the Jiao's journey goes smoothly, it enters the sea and becomes a true dragon. But if things go wrong and it runs into trouble, bad luck follows!
Look, this rain has been falling since yesterday without stopping. Eight times out of ten, there's a Jiao trapped right here in Shouzhou, unable to break free and make its crossing!”
This old man had an extremely low presence. Clad in dusty, coarse cloth garments, he had been sitting in the corner sharpening scissors ever since Nan Zhi walked in.
Now that he had spoken such a lengthy speech, he naturally drew everyone's attention.
“Really? So dragons come from snakes? No wonder some folks call snakes 'clawless dragons'!”
“With rain this heavy, even if a dragon were flying through the sky, we couldn't see it clearly anyway!”
“This rain has fallen all night, and thunder has roared all night too. It really is a bit uncanny; at least I've never seen rain this severe before.”
Such fascinating lore sparked everyone's interest. Looking up at the cloud cover again, whether due to psychological trickery or not, it almost seemed as if dark shadows were rolling within the clouds.
“...”
Nan Zhi also glanced up a few times, but besides the lightning dancing like golden snakes, she saw nothing.
“Look at you, telling a tale as if it were real!”
The worker was wiping down a table, and upon hearing this, he couldn't help laughing:
“Old master, you make it sound so grand and mysterious, almost like you witnessed it with your own eyes. Since the rain is so heavy, why don't you tell us a couple more stories to help pass the time?
Don't worry, you won't be doing it for free. I'll throw in a dish of fried peanuts for you to enjoy with your wine while you talk!”
“This... well, alright then. To meet is fate, and this rain won't stop anytime soon anyway.
If my humble stories can help relieve your boredom, then so be it.”
The old sharpener hesitated briefly, his gaze flicking quickly past the nun and lingering on Nan Zhi for a moment before he responded with a smile:
“When I was six years old, my hometown suffered a massive flood. It just so happened that a Jiao wanted to ride the floodwaters down the river to the sea and leap into dragonhood...”
As it turned out, the old man's father had been an herb gatherer. When the flood struck, he was leading his young son to harvest herbs in the mountains, which saved them both from being swept away.
Hugging his son, the father hid on a bare mountaintop for two or three days until they were lightheaded with hunger.
Just as he reached despair, he suddenly saw a long piece of withered wood floating down from upstream, bobbing up and down along the waves.
The father steeled his heart, picked up his son, and climbed onto the log, letting the floodwaters carry them downstream.
Strangely enough, as if divine aid protected them, father and son drifted downstream safely without so much as a single bump, clinging to the dry wood all the way to the lower reaches.
Reaching the vicinity of a shallow beach, the father carried his son ashore, completely unharmed.
Just as the two were preparing to kowtow in gratitude to the gods and Buddhas for their protection, they turned around only to find that the length of 'withered wood' suddenly shifted, rolling over in the water:
It was actually a massive green serpent, several zhang long and as thick as a millstone!
Young and ignorant, the old man as a boy pointed at the creature and shouted that there was a snake—a huge, enormous snake!
Yet who could have expected that no sooner had his words left his mouth than the Jiao-dragon let out a furious roar, its eyes flashing with hatred, as it struggled and sank into the depths of the water, disappearing without a trace.
“Why was that?”
Nan Zhi was listening intently. Seeing the old man stop abruptly at this point, she couldn't help asking:
“What happened to the Jiao afterward? Did it manage to turn into a dragon and reach the sea?”
“Sigh...”
The old man let out a sigh, the wrinkles on his face bunching together to reveal layers of heavy melancholy:
“Back then, I was young and foolish, ignorant of the rules governing a ‘Crossing Jiao.’
For a Crossing Jiao to succeed, it requires the right season, the right place, and the blessing of the people—not a single one can be lacking.
The Jiao-dragon was at the critical juncture of transforming into a dragon when its true identity was suddenly called out. That breath of spiritual energy collapsed, leaving it naturally unable to complete the transformation.
This was a tribulation that a Jiao must undergo to become a dragon. If I had called it a dragon back then instead of a snake, that Jiao would likely have followed the river out to sea and become a true dragon long ago. Why else would it be trapped here in Shouzhou, unable to leave for all this time?”
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