Suspicions in Chiyang City

Rumble!

Wind and thunder converged, water vapor condensed.

Heaven and earth suddenly fell silent.

Then, crackling sounds burst forth as raindrops the size of beans plummeted from the high clouds.

Fang Wenshan, the Dragon King Temple's celebrant, the other officials, and the worshipping commoners all remained kneeling.

Stunned.

Overjoyed.

Unable to believe it.

At that moment, it seemed no words could possibly describe their emotions.

Then, after a deathly silence...

The people of all Chiyang City erupted. Cheers, shouts, and heart-wrenching sobs rang without end. Even more people knelt before the Dragon King Temple, praying and worshipping with devout sincerity.

"Four hundred and eighty temples of the Southern Dynasties; how many towers stood amid mist and rain."

Gazing at the temple amid the misty rain, Fang Wenshan let out a sigh.

Then, looking at the cheering people below, he suddenly smiled in relief and said with emotion, "This rain came at just the right time."

For a moment, no one around him could tell whether the ruler of Chiyang City was delighted or burdened by some unspoken complexity.

"Dragon... Heh, a True Dragon!"

Fang Wenshan kept chewing over the word "dragon," repeating it again and again. At last, the expression on his face returned to indifference, and he asked lightly, "What did Dragon-Raising Temple say?"

At his words, Chuchen waved her hand, shutting out those nearby and leaving only Fang Wenshan's attendants and several important officials of Chiyang City. She said, "The scouts we sent out have just reported back. It can be confirmed that this rain did indeed originate from Dragon-Raising Temple. A short while ago, there was first a light rain at Dragon-Raising Temple. Then, two quarters of an hour later, dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead, and torrential rain poured down."

Fang Wenshan frowned instinctively, then raised his head to look at the sky above Chiyang City. "So there were two rains? And this latter rain was no longer limited to the vicinity of Dragon-Raising Temple, but had already covered Chiyang City?"

"Have you determined the range of this rainfall?"

Yet when Chuchen heard Fang Wenshan's question, her expression grew even stranger. "Its coverage is only around Chiyang City!"

Hm?

Everyone present was taken aback.

One civil official in charge of Chiyang City's logistical support even exclaimed in astonishment, "Only Chiyang City? Was Dragon-Raising Temple's power insufficient to expand the rainfall any farther, or was this deliberate because we worshipped at the Dragon King Temple?"

"The range of rainfall can even be controlled?"

"Could Dragon-Raising Temple truly be raising dragons?"

His words voiced the doubts in everyone's hearts.

This rain had come far too coincidentally, and far too strangely. Zhaoyang Country also possessed methods for bringing rain over small areas, but those were taboo techniques involving evil things and could not normally be used.

Yet Dragon-Raising Temple had been making it rain every day, and now it had brought down rain over an even wider area, as though it were responding to Chiyang City's worship of the Dragon King Temple.

Could the True Dragon of legend really exist?

Everyone's hearts pounded like drums.

Fang Wenshan's brows furrowed once more. These days, the matter of Dragon-Raising Temple had already left him exhausted in body and mind. What had happened today made it even harder for him to eat or sleep in peace.

Relatively speaking, he would actually have preferred this strange rain to remain within the bounds of Dragon-Raising Temple.

"Have you found any clues at all?"

Unwilling to give up, Fang Wenshan asked again.

Chuchen shook her head. "No. Our people have practically turned Dragon-Raising Temple inside out, but so far, we have not discovered who caused it."

"This matter has already been reported to the Imperial Inner Court. At first, the Inner Court suspected a Rain Prayer technique, but there were no signs of any accomplished monk setting up an altar and performing rites."

"Moreover, the Zhaoyang Imperial Court has not sensed anyone using evil things to alter the laws of heaven without authorization or defy the heavenly decrees."

At this point, Chuchen hesitated before continuing, "There is one more thing. Even the abbot of Dragon-Raising Temple seems unaware of where this rain came from. They too suspect that one of the temple's accomplished monks has been secretly performing rites."

Fang Wenshan raised his brows. "Do they truly not know, or are they merely pretending?"

But this question was clearly pointless. Even Chuchen could not probe another person's true thoughts.

After a moment of silence.

Chuchen seemed to remember something and continued:

"Oh, right. There is another strange matter. According to the scouts' reports, the East and West Temples of Dragon-Raising Temple seem to be at odds. And recently, an eruption of Evil Qi was detected in Yuanming's room in the East Temple."

"Although Dragon-Raising Temple secretly covered up the matter, the scouts still discovered that Yuanming seemed to have been injured by an evil demon."

Fang Wenshan's face darkened slightly, and he let out a faint sigh. "Evil demons... True Dragons... In a year of great drought, troubles come one after another."

At this moment.

Naturally, the turmoil outside did not draw Su Qingqiu's attention. After all, he had no idea that his Major Rain Accumulation Technique could cover the entirety of Chiyang City.

He had still underestimated the power of his nearly five thousand strands of Spiritual Light. That was equivalent to five thousand years of Daoism cultivation and magical power. While it could not be said to possess the might to change heaven and earth or steal the sun for the moon, it was enough to make the climate of a small region abruptly shift.

After casting the Major Rain Accumulation Technique once and exhausting all the Spiritual Light within his body, Su Qingqiu felt nothing but emptiness inside.

I was practically becoming a Buddha!

"Five thousand years of Daoism cultivation still isn't enough. No matter what, I need ten thousand years, right?"

"It's decided. From now on, I'm taking every Evil Remains Dragon-Raising Temple throws in!"

Once he made up his mind, he acted. Over the following days, Su Qingqiu busied himself bullying the other Spiritual Pythons and devouring Evil Remains.

Most of these Spiritual Pythons guarded a relatively powerful piece of Evil Remains.

Aside from filling their bellies, they could also rely on the Evil Qi on the Evil Remains to temper and condense their own Spiritual Light.

Seeing how hard they struggled against the Evil Qi, and how one careless mistake could cost them their snake lives, Su Qingqiu, the undisputed Serpent King of the first layer, naturally could not stand by and watch his little brothers suffer.

So he reluctantly helped them dispose of all their Evil Remains.

Disposing of Evil Remains was his unshirkable duty.

The other Spiritual Serpents: "..."

Why, thank you so much!

After making a round of inspection and eating and drinking his fill, the richly rewarded Su Qingqiu also came to understand the basic makeup of the first layer of Snake Abyss.

There were seventeen Spiritual Pythons here. Ten had formed complete Spiritual Patterns, and the Spiritual Light within their bodies had also been imprinted into their dragon bones, allowing them to aid the young nuns and bald monks of Dragon-Raising Temple in their cultivation.

The remaining seven were still somewhat lacking.

As for the Small Spiritual Snakes, there were far more of them—probably close to a thousand. Su Qingqiu had not counted them carefully.

Small Spiritual Snakes were consumed and replaced quickly. Many could not withstand the contamination of Evil Remains and died. Yet those gaps were swiftly replenished as Dragon-Raising Temple continuously threw in more Small Spiritual Snakes.

Thus, their total number remained basically stable.

Among the ten Great Spiritual Pythons, Su Qingqiu discovered three with relatively complete intelligence, possessing wisdom comparable to that of children around ten years old.

One was a gray Spiritual Python, one a white Spiritual Python, and one a black Spiritual Python.

He named them Da Sha, Er Sha, and San Sha respectively.

These three boas were his key targets for cultivation. As the Serpent King, he would need a few thugs at his side in the future, wouldn't he?

How humiliating would it be to do everything himself every day?

Most importantly, these Spiritual Pythons were also the key to his entering the Second Layer Serpent Pit Abyss!