Rain Falls, and the True Dragon Emerges

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At this moment

It was early summer of the Zhaoyang 38th Year.

Across all of Zhaoyang Country, especially the Great Wasteland region, the drought had already lasted three years.

Over those three years, countless rivers had run dry. Across the Great Wasteland's three hundred and twenty cities and thousands of villages, lack of water and food was about to bring ruin upon them all. The people had been displaced, corpses of the starved lay across a thousand miles, and life had become unbearable.

In times of great drought, monsters were bound to breed in swarms.

First, in the spring of the thirty-sixth year, an evil thing from Beyond Heaven descended upon the northwest of the Great Wasteland. It resembled an eyeball and caused dozens of cities to collapse into chaos.

Then came hordes of Giant Rats, stealing people's grain and even feeding on human flesh, leaving every major city and town in misery.

Throughout the entire thirty-seventh year, the drought worsened, and countless crops withered away. Locusts ravaged the land as well. For the whole year, the Great Wasteland region had nearly no harvest at all.

It was now early summer of the thirty-eighth year.

Spring had just passed, and the scorching summer was about to arrive, yet there was still not the slightest sign of rain in the Great Wasteland. From the imperial court above to the common people below, all of Zhaoyang Country had grown anxious.

A hundred li from Dragon-Raising Temple stood Chiyang City, the largest city in Zhaoyang Country's Great Wasteland.

At this time

Chiyang City

Inside the Dragon King Temple in the city's northwest

The governor of Chiyang City was leading numerous officials and the city's people in a rain prayer ceremony. There were no fewer than ten thousand people, inside and out.

Praying to the Dragon King for rain had been a traditional rite in Zhaoyang Country since ancient times. The people of Zhaoyang Country's Great Wasteland, in particular, had always believed that True Dragons existed between Heaven and Earth.

This was even more so in Chiyang City.

Backed by the unfathomable Dragon-Raising Temple, this place also often saw great snakes appearing in the wilderness. From childhood, its people had thus worshipped the Dragon King.

Although no one had ever seen a True Dragon appear at Dragon-Raising Temple, and the temple had even come forward to refute the rumors, claiming that it contained only Spiritual Serpents and no True Dragon, no one was willing to believe it.

Even the imperial court stood somewhere between belief and disbelief. After all, whether Dragon-Raising Temple had True Dragons had been disputed since ancient times.

Now that the great drought had persisted for three years, with signs that another prolonged drought might come this year, even the imperial court could no longer sit still.

For seven consecutive days, Fang Wenshan, the city governor, had led Chiyang City's many citizens in daily worship at the Dragon King Temple. Fruits, vegetables, three kinds of livestock, and five kinds of fowl were offered without cease.

All to pray to the Dragon King for a rainstorm.

"Will this really work, my lord? Does your Dragon King Temple even have a Dragon King?"

Watching Fang Wenshan sincerely knock his head against the ground several times again, the Li Clan Head of Chiyang City sighed and asked.

The Temple Attendant beside him shook his head and said calmly, "Whether the Dragon King Temple has a True Dragon or not, wouldn't the imperial court know better than this humble Temple Attendant?"

After saying this, the Temple Attendant seemed to feel that his tone had been too harsh. He sighed, then added, "If a True Dragon truly exists, surely it would not stand by and watch the people suffer beneath this scorching poison."

It was no wonder his tone was so sharp. Fang Wenshan's grand worship of the Dragon King Temple was hardly done with good intentions.

He was placing the entire Dragon King Temple over a fire.

After all, he had already put on a show for the common people. If the drought continued, he could simply shift the blame to the Dragon King, claiming it had nothing to do with Fang Wenshan.

After all, I have worshipped so fervently, but the Dragon King is endlessly greedy, still unsatisfied, and refuses to send rain. What can I do?

And for Fang Wenshan, whether it rained afterward or not, he would benefit. If it did not rain, he could take the chance to shatter the Great Wasteland people's faith in the Dragon King and strengthen the imperial court's rule.

If it rained, that would be even better. He could claim the credit with a clear conscience, saying that his seven days of worship had moved the Dragon King himself.

It was simply killing several birds with one stone.

Yet a woman dressed as a Daoist nun seemed to have guessed everyone's thoughts. She shook her head, studied the sky outside, and said, "You are all mistaken. Do you truly think Lord Fang has made such a grand spectacle of worship merely to cast off the blame for the drought?"

The Temple Attendant frowned and asked in confusion, "What insight does Daoist Chuchen have?"

He knew the Daoist nun before him. Her surname was Li, her given name Chenshuang, and her Daoist name was Chuchen.

It was said that she was the head of a certain Daoist lineage. After Fang Wenshan took office as Chiyang City's governor, she had come to join him. For the past several years, she had protected him at his side.

She could be called Fang Wenshan's closest confidante.

Hearing this, Chuchen did not answer directly. Instead, she asked, "Have you heard of the recent marvel at Dragon-Raising Temple?"

The people around her nodded.

Dragon-Raising Temple had recently seen rain fall one after another—one hundred and eight showers in all, large and small. The key was that every other place was suffering drought, while only this tiny region saw rain.

The matter was so strange that it had drawn the interest of all Zhaoyang Country.

"I heard Dragon-Raising Temple is now surrounded by worshippers day and night, constantly praying for the temple's True Dragon to send Spiritual Rain far and wide, rather than caring for only this one region."

"A few days ago, I went there to witness the wondrous sight of the Spiritual Rain. It truly was miraculous. Not only did it exorcise evil and bring blessings, it even seemed to restore some of my exhausted spirit."

"It is just a pity that I did not manage to meet Dragon-Raising Temple's abbot. After all, it is a place of cultivation and scarcely receives outsiders."

The Li Clan Head gestured as he spoke.

The Temple Attendant frowned, looked at the Daoist nun, then at Fang Wenshan, who was still worshipping, and said, "The marvel of the Spiritual Rain... Could it be that Lord Fang truly believes Dragon-Raising Temple has a True Dragon capable of summoning clouds and spreading rain?"

"These seven days of worship were not meant to make things difficult for our Dragon King Temple, but to test Dragon-Raising Temple?"

"A test?" Chuchen neither confirmed nor denied it. Shaking her head, she said, "Whether Dragon-Raising Temple has a True Dragon or not, the fact remains that it is indeed raining there."

"For this reason, Lord Fang has already visited Dragon-Raising Temple eighteen times, asking the eminent monks within to save all living beings and spread the Spiritual Rain far and wide."

This...

Everyone present looked at one another. They had not expected Fang Wenshan to have secretly done so much already.

He had even become convinced that the Miraculous Rain was created by Dragon-Raising Temple.

"And what was the result?" the Dragon King Temple's Temple Attendant could not help asking.

Even knowing that the result was likely unfavorable, he still wanted to ask.

Chuchen raised her head again and looked toward Dragon-Raising Temple. After a moment of silence, she said meaningfully, "The result is that Lord Fang has led all the city's people in worshipping the Dragon King for seven straight days, even declaring that the Dragon King is Dragon-Raising Temple's True Dragon."

"We have already given what should be given, and done what should be done. As for what comes next... that depends on the performance of those compassionate eminent monks at Dragon-Raising Temple."

"Perhaps..."

Chuchen's voice suddenly stopped. Her expression changed sharply, and her keen eyes locked onto the direction of Dragon-Raising Temple.

At that moment, Fang Wenshan rose to his feet. Together with all the officials who had been worshipping, he too looked toward Dragon-Raising Temple.

Then came the Temple Attendant, the attendants, and all the common people of the city.

"Perhaps... Dragon-Raising Temple truly is raising a dragon!"

Fang Wenshan walked to the front of the crowd and finished what Chuchen had left unsaid. At last, he let out a sound that could have been a sigh, relief, or fear.

Far off on the horizon, in the direction of Dragon-Raising Temple, a vast mass of dark clouds came sweeping over, blotting out the sky and sun.

At this moment

The wind rose.

Thunder followed close behind.

Wind and thunder converged, Water Vapor gathered, and a torrential rain was about to arrive.

Early summer of the Zhaoyang 38th Year.

Chiyang City prayed for rain.

Rain Falls, and a True Dragon was suspected to have appeared.