"Rain, heavy rain!"
Mu Bai shouted and clapped his hands sharply. A bolt of Yang Thunder and a bolt of Yin Thunder shot like lightning into the Ink Clouds. Thunder and lightning instantly rumbled together, and bean-sized raindrops charged toward the earth like a vast army. As though water had hit boiling oil, deafening roars erupted among the beasts.
"You truly have put out the fire at my brows! On behalf of my beastfolk, this old brother thanks you!"
Murmuring, the enormous Jiang Yu actually dropped to his knees with a thud. He tilted his head up into the rain and opened his huge mouthparts wide. No one could tell whether what streamed down his face was rain or tears.
"Brother Jiang, what are you doing? Get up! Shouldn't you maintain a lord's dignity before your beastfolk?"
Hu Meier hurried to help Jiang Yu up, but he waved her away, chuckling.
"What dignity? Without rain, the million beastfolk on my land would struggle to survive. What use would dignity be to me? If it would keep the winds and rains favorable here, I, Jiang Yu, would gladly turn into a stone statue and kneel here for all eternity."
He truly was a man of genuine feeling, and Hu Meier no longer tried to stop him. To be born in this barren desert was these beasts' and birds' misfortune. Yet they were fortunate to have a lord who cared for and loved his people.
Meanwhile, in the night sky, Mu Bai held the Jade Dragon River Marrow and kept drawing forth its water-vapor essence. Wherever he passed, the Ink Clouds rolled, thunder and lightning roared, and heavy rain cascaded like waterfalls.
"Not enough! More!"
If it was going to rain, he would make it rain to its heart's content; if it