"It's raining, it's raining! Put the Lycoris Radiata away, hurry and bring the flowers in! Oh, you little brat, did you go wild playing outside? I told you to watch them at home, and now they're all soaked! There won't be any sun tomorrow, so they won't dry. I'll hand you over to the village chief!"
"What heavy rain!"
"The Blood River's rising so fast! It's flooded so many fields. Why is the water so high this year?"
"River God, bless us..."
The villagers stood beneath their eaves, looking up at the sky. The damp, fine drizzle vanished, and at last the torrential rain came pouring down. Thunderfire streaked through the night sky, shattering the pent-up clouds.
Boots splashed through the water as Xi Ziyu clutched his head and darted into the house.
Rainwater gathered into streams as thick as fingers, snaking across the square and lashing the ground like whips.
Thunder, laughter, children's cries—above and below, the two currents of sound converged, mingling with the curtain-like roar of rain, like a venomous snake suddenly shooting out from the grass.
"Scheming in vain, laboring in vain; when snow melts, spring waters leave nothing behind..." Liang Qu lowered his head and fixed his gaze on the silhouettes, his eyes dark. "Countless heroes and countless factions across the world fought until blood flowed and heads broke over a single Water Lord Fruit of Position, stirring everything into a pot of porridge, never knowing that Golden Core Immortals stood above the nine heavens."
Wu Lingxu looked him up and down, his narrow phoenix eyes narrowing.
"River God Sect Master, are you not angered?"
Fei Taiyu stroked his beard. "After cultivating bitterly for an entire lifetime, only to lose one's life over a Great Fruit of Position that never existed—yet you are neither angry