In midair, the stone pillar shattered. Shi Hou lost his foothold, and his body plummeted.
He reached back, grabbed Kang, the black pig on his shoulder, and pulled him into his arms.
Kang opened his mouth wide in fright, all four short legs clinging tightly to Shi Hou's arm.
Gale-force winds roared into his ears and whipped his beast-hide clothes into a frenzy.
Shi Hou willed it.
The Black Pot slipped off his back and swiftly expanded to ten feet across.
Shi Hou bent his knees slightly and planted both feet firmly inside the bottom of the pot.
The Black Pot faced downward, meeting the fiercely rising airflow.
Its bottom scraped through the air, generating such intense heat that the surrounding air warped.
Man and pot slammed toward the forest of the Great Wilderness below.
Boom!
A deafening crash erupted, sending earth shooting into the sky.
The blast snapped the surrounding ancient, sky-high trees in half. They toppled outward, their branches and leaves pulverized.
An enormous crater dozens of yards across and fifty feet deep formed in an instant.
Only after a dozen or so breaths did the dust at the bottom gradually disperse.
Shi Hou released his grip, straightened up at the bottom of the crater, and raised his arms to brush dirt and debris off his legs and arms.
He looked down into his embrace.
Kang lay with all four feet in the air, his two front hooves still kicking aimlessly. His eyes had turned into spirals, with stars dancing before them.
His tongue lolled out, and his body twitched uncontrollably.
The fall from high altitude followed by a hard landing had knocked this height-fearing auspicious beast clean unconscious.
Shi Hou pinched a pig ear and tossed Kang into the Black Pot.
With a powerful push of his