The sky suddenly darkened as though black clouds were pressing down on the land. The wind gradually died away, leaving behind an oppressive silence, as if a mighty pressure had enveloped the entire county.
Thunderclouds gathered over Changling County, and the rumbling was utterly earth-shaking!
Inside the county magistrate's residence.
A middle-aged man set down his brush and hurried out of the study. Gazing at the roiling, surging thunderclouds on the horizon, he could not help revealing a look of alarm.
"What happened?!"
This strange celestial phenomenon had come far too suddenly, and was utterly bizarre—something he had never heard of before!
"County Magistrate Tang! It seems a rare torrential rain is coming!" An elderly man dressed in an official's robe hurried over.
"Quickly order people to take flood-control measures, so that nearby homes won't be swept away by floodwater from the storm."
County Magistrate Tang's expression darkened. He immediately flicked his sleeve and ordered, "Have everyone in the county return indoors at once. No wandering about outside!"
One subordinate after another came forward with questions. People rushed back and forth, and for a time, the entire county magistrate's residence was thrown into utter chaos.
But his gaze kept drifting toward the horizon. Seeing the frightening thunderclouds, where arcs of lightning leaped about from time to time, he wore an expression of uncertainty and alarm.
Was it an illusion?
These thunderclouds...
Why had they remained gathered for so long without falling, as though they were deliberately storing up their power?
The thunder roiling within the black clouds seemed to be changing from azure to violet. After the flashes of lightning, the faint image of a dragon appeared to coil within them—
In that instant, County Magistrate Tang felt fear rise in his heart. His expression turned horrified as he shouted loudly:
"Send the yamen runners out! Quickly evacuate the residents beneath that stretch of thunderclouds!"
A catastrophe that would blot out the sky was about to descend upon Changling!
The tavern was packed with people, all of them there to avoid the rain.
Discussions buzzed all around, everyone complaining that the thunderstorm had come far too suddenly. From time to time, drunken shouts and hollers mingled with the noise.
In a corner by the window, a tall, straight figure sat silently. He wore a straw rain cape, and his dignified brows gave him the bearing of a reclusive master.
Yet this man was currently staring fixedly at the flashing thunderclouds overhead, his fingers constantly forming divination signs.
"An anomaly in the heavens, imposing pressure upon all living things. Azure thunder and violet lightning—the might of Heaven is vast. These thunderclouds were certainly not formed naturally. They resemble a calamity sent down by the heavens... Could it be that an unparalleled demon is entrenched within Changling County, its cultivation so terrifying that the laws of Heaven must suppress it?!"
"I heard quite a few rumors and wild tales as soon as I arrived in the county. Apparently, many evil spirits have been causing trouble, and lives have been lost one after another. Could these thunderclouds—"
"Wait!"
He hurriedly took out a palm-sized compass, but it trembled so violently that he could barely hold it.
"Why is the Scattered Stars Eight Trigrams Disk shaking so violently? And why is the soul-seeking needle... spinning so fast?!"
This object had an extraordinary origin. It could investigate the traces of evil spirits' true forms, sense changes in wind and clouds, and usually helped him find quite a few ghosts.
But now...
The compass spun wildly as if it had gone mad!
His complexion gradually paled, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
"How can this be? How can this be?! The Eight Trigrams compass has never been wrong. Even evil spirits and strange ghosts can be located accurately, but now... Could Changling County truly be a demonic lair in the mortal world, with every terrifying demon and monster beneath Heaven hiding here?!"
His heart trembled. When he looked up again, he saw the compass's needle sweep over tavern patrons, farmers, servants...
A tavern servant happened to pass by carrying a wine jug. He turned back with a puzzled expression and glanced at him.
The straw-caped man immediately broke into a cold sweat, as though sitting on a bed of needles!
"This is bad! Could I have wandered into a demonic lair... Is this the great calamity foretold for me?!"
He secretly swallowed, then braced himself against the wooden table and managed to stand. His legs felt weak.
Faint cracking sounds rang out.
His expression changed. He hurriedly lowered his head to inspect the Eight Trigrams Disk in his arms, only to discover in horror that cracks had spread all over the compass!
An indescribable terror surged into his heart. He no longer hesitated in the slightest.
"This place... Changling County is truly terrifying! I absolutely cannot stay!!"
Inside the inn across the street.
A black-haired girl of about twelve or thirteen stood by the window. Her features were delicate and adorable, her braids hanging to her chest. She wore a gauzy Daoist robe and skirt with an otherworldly air, and faint traces of Spiritual Energy surrounded her.
Yet the expression she now revealed was far too solemn for her age.
Her gaze swept outward, and she happened to see the straw-caped man fleeing through the rain. His back was harried to the extreme.
"Daoist Hu Sang is quite renowned, with extraordinary martial skills and a talent for feng shui and communicating with spirits. Yet even he fled in panic, not daring to linger for an instant despite the torrential rain."
"Great-grandfather specially sent me a letter telling me to come here for a visit. Could he have wanted me to undergo training here?"
She raised her head again and looked toward the thunder roiling within the black clouds...
Her face had already gone deathly pale.
Even though she was the most gifted prodigy in several generations of her clan, having achieved extraordinary cultivation at a young age, when she looked upon that resplendent heavenly might, she still felt as tiny as an ant. It seemed that with a single thought, she would turn to ash and vanish between Heaven and Earth.
"This place for training... I-isn't it a little too dangerous?"
The girl hugged her shoulders with both hands, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.
She...
She wanted to flee this place just like Daoist Hu Sang.
But all four limbs and bones had long since frozen stiff. She could not even take a step.
She could only gaze out at the endless lightning in icy terror. Each peal of thunder shook her heart, nearly driving her mind to collapse, while her originally lively, starry eyes gradually lost their light.
With the limited experience of her short life, she was even less able to understand what the scene before her meant or what exactly was happening.
At the same time—
Lin Tianlu hurried to the rear courtyard and took down the clothes from the drying rack one by one.
"Why did this rain start the moment it felt like it? There wasn't even the slightest warning!"
He could not help complaining a couple of times. Gathering all the clothes into his arms, he hurried back inside through the drizzle.
Yet with a sidelong glance, he was astonished to see Madam Mao leaning against a chair, her face pale and every step difficult.
"Madam Mao?!"
He hurriedly dropped the clothes and went over to support her. "Is there something wrong with you again?"
"I don't know either... I just feel terribly flustered and uneasy, and I can't breathe properly. It's as though danger is about to arrive." Mao Ruoyu shook her head weakly.
Lin Tianlu furrowed his brows slightly. He simply scooped her up in his arms, too busy to care about the softness he felt, and hurried toward the door.
"Sir?"
"We'd better go see a physician early. If you force yourself to endure it, even a minor illness can become serious."
But when they reached the door, he saw that torrential rain had already begun falling outside.
"What a nuisance!"
Lin Tianlu's gaze turned cold as he swept it across the gloomy sky outside.
Those peals of thunder were especially irritating and obstructive at that moment.
He simply removed his outer robe and used it to shield Mao Ruoyu in his arms. Then he activated the Soaring Dragon Phantom Step he had just learned and prepared to hurry toward the county clinic.
At that exact moment, the circling thunder overhead had condensed into a violet-black mass. The faint image of a thunder dragon emerging could be seen, resembling a world-ending heavenly disaster. Even the slightest trace of its aura sent the entire Changling County abruptly into deathly silence. The rumbling thunder grew even more—
"What the hell are you yelling about?!"
Lin Tianlu suddenly shouted a curse.
Seeing the woman in his arms repeatedly frown because of the thunder, even nearly fainting, anger surged through his heart. He clicked his tongue and berated it furiously, "Why the hell are you striking lightning?! You couldn't do it earlier or later, but you just had to pick on a patient and disturb everyone's peace! Go find a tree for this old man to strike, then get the hell back!"
"..."
The heaven-shaking thunder seemed to pause for an instant.
Lin Tianlu viciously exhaled a breath of stale air and focused only on charging forward. On the silent, deserted streets, he flashed out a string of afterimages.
The black clouds surged like monstrous waves. A streak of violet-black radiance seemed to have found its target's aura. It immediately pierced through the clouds, its world-ending might threatening to split the firmament—
It struck straight down toward the top of Lin Tianlu's head!
Yet at the instant the thunder dragon descended, that earth-shaking might suddenly froze. The thunder that should have crashed down abruptly changed direction, following its momentum and blasting into Lin Tianlu's residence instead, making the earth quake without end.
At the same time, a Sword Qi that soared into the heavens was born from it. With a clear, ringing cry, it shot straight into the sky and silently scattered the sun-obscuring black clouds covering the heavens. The thunderstorm gradually subsided.
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