Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 225: Water Energy Dispersing Wildly

The people in the city were a little panicked when they heard the roar from the distant horizon just now, and then saw the dark clouds rolling in, lightning and thunder flashing in an instant. The crowd in front of the City God Temple was also discussing it.

“What’s going on? The sky was so clear just now…”

“Hey, did you hear that sound in the distance just now? The one that wasn’t thunder!”

“I heard it, it sounded so creepy!”

“It was like the howling of an old bull, so scary!”

“Yeah, I got goosebumps!”

“Did you see that cloud just now?”

“Yeah, it looked like something fell from the sky.”

“Could it be a dragon?”

“Boom…”

Amidst the chatter, lightning and thunder suddenly exploded overhead, startling everyone.

“It’s going to rain, let’s go back quickly.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Let’s go, I’m going home too.”

……

The people in the city visibly quickened their pace. Some simply hid in teahouses and restaurants because the weather was changing too quickly.

“Wooooo… whooooooosh…”

Ji Yuan and the City God of Lishun Prefecture had merely been staring into the distance for a short while, but there were already gusts of dark wind whipping around them, and the tourists that had originally been playing by the river outside the temple had all run away.

Ji Yuan looked down at the creek not too far away and saw a paper kite lying beside the willow tree. It had obviously been dropped here by someone who had left in a hurry, and was now tossing and turning in the gusts of northern wind.

The City God of Lishun Prefecture kept looking at the sky, staring in the direction of Guangdong Lake to the north. It had been some time since he had stopped hearing the dragon’s roars.

“There is a vast expanse of water energy dispersing wildly, causing storm clouds and thunder to gather. Mr. Ji, shall we go to Guangdong Lake to investigate?”

City God Li, who had been silent for a while in apprehension, was the first to speak, making this suggestion to Ji Yuan.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!”

Ji Yuan just happened to return his gaze to the horizon at this moment. With his supernatural eyes wide open, he could see the water energy in the distance rising up like a dam that had just been opened.

The reason why the falling silhouette of the dragon appeared more like a cloud was because of the water energy wildly leaking, causing the haze to wrap around the dragon’s body. Similarly, this was also the reason for the quick pace at which the dark clouds were spreading.

Although Ji Yuan was also very curious about what the City God of Lishun Prefecture had commented just previously, he had his priorities in order; the most urgent task was naturally to go to Guangdong Lake.

“Let’s go!”

Ji Yuan leapt into the sky, riding on a nearby gale. City God Li in a black robe turned into a ray of rainbow light and flew beside Ji Yuan.

Even at this time, they did not travel as fast as possible, the man and the ghost flew through the air while using their energy to observe carefully. They constantly watched the direction in the sky where the dragon’s silhouette fell.

At the very beginning, it seemed have been descending from the sky, but later it finally lost its stability, and the dragon fell from the heavens with a roar.

“Boom…”

The dark clouds in the sky were sinking lower and lower, and lightning flashed among the clouds. Ji Yuan and the City God seemed to be flying with the dark clouds right above their heads, as if they could be struck by thunder at any time.

Guangdong Lake had naturally been mentioned in the book “Reflections on the Governance of the Hundred Prefectures” that Ji Yuan had read. It was one of the four major lakes in Dazhen. The vast Guangdong Lake connected to many large rivers, and there was no exact record of the depths of its waters. It was also known as the Hundred-Li Guangdong Lake.¹

In fact, Guangdong Lake did not only belong to Lishun Prefecture, but shared a border with three prefectures. However, Lishun Prefecture claimed the largest area of the lake, so although the people in the bordering areas would still be under the jurisdiction of their respective prefectures, Guangdong Lake nominally belonged to Lishun Prefecture.

There were no major counties on the other side of the lake. Once it had been confirmed that the incident had been caused by some kind of monster or spirit, the City God of Lishun Prefecture was duty-bound to investigate. It was not appropriate to send over a daytime patrol group in this situation. With Mr. Ji, the great virtuous immortal, by his side, his heart felt a lot more at ease.

Ji Yuan’s brows furrowed as he rode the wind. Most of the dragons and flood dragons were not small-time monsters, particularly in Dazhen; they were well-known, powerful figures among the aquatic creatures. And all the various dragons in Dazhen were strictly well-behaved because of the moderating and restraining existence of the True Dragon Ying Hong. This matter was very serious. However, there was a City God coming to investigate it together with him; whether in terms of experience or confidence, Ji Yuan felt more at ease.

At the back of the government building of Lishun Prefecture, Yin Zhaoxian strode through the garden and down the corridors, hurriedly making his way to the guest house, followed by a servant of the guest wing and another servant of the main mansion.

His voice already rang out in the air before he had even arrived at the guest house.

“Mr. Ji… Mr. Ji… I have something to ask you! Mr. Ji…”

The three of them arrived outside the guest house one after another, but found that the door was closed.

“Knock knock knock…”

“Mr. Ji, I have something to ask please!”

“Knock knock knock…”

“Mr. Ji, are you resting? Yin Zhaoxian needs to speak with you!”

“Knock knock… creeeak…”

Yin Zhaoxian knocked on the door harder, but the door was directly knocked open. It turned out that it had not been latched from the inside.

He looked into the room. There was no clutter on the tables, chairs, or other surfaces. The bedding was neat and intact. There was no sign of Ji Yuan.

Yin Zhaoxian turned around and frowned at the servant in charge of the guest house.

“Didn’t you say that Mr. Ji was in the guest house? Why is he gone? When did he leave?”

The servant was also looking inside. Hearing Yin Zhaoxian’s words, he was very puzzled and scratched his head in confusion.

“Uh… Master, Mr. Ji was indeed here before. This servant was in the outer garden this whole time, and I didn’t see Mr. Ji go out…”

On Yin Zhaoxian’s other side, the servant in official uniform looked at the guest house attendant seriously.

“Did you doze off and fall asleep, or did you simply neglect your duties and lie to your superiors?”

“Oh, hey, this is the first time the master has let someone stay in his house for such a long period of time. Everyone is talking about how amazing Mr. Ji is. How could I dare neglect him? Besides, the people who cleaned the yard with me didn’t see Mr. Ji leave either, sir!”

Yin Zhaoxian looked at the rolling thunderclouds thoughtfully and waved his hand.

“Okay, let’s leave it at that. Let me know when Mr. Ji comes back.”

Yin Zhaoxian had actually come here at this time to ask Ji Yuan about what had just happened. His righteous aura made him much more sensitive to the sounds and the silhouette of the dragon in the sky than ordinary people. He also had prior experience with supernatural things, so the first thing he thought of was to ask his good friend about it.

But now, it seemed that Mr. Ji must have left to check the moment he heard the sound.

As for why the servants didn’t see him, how could they possibly notice when an immortal being wanted to leave?

“Boom… boom… boom…”

Lighting flashed and illuminated the earth.

“Crash, splash…shhh shhh…”

Rain began to pour in an instant. Within the span of a few breaths, the ground had gone from dry and dusty to frothing as if it were covered in white beads. This was the first time this kind of heavy rain had been seen since the beginning of spring this year.

About a quarter of an hour ago, in Shuanggongqiao Village, thirty miles south of Guangdong Lake, the villagers were still busy with their work.

“Boom…”

Suddenly, the sound of thunder exploded in the sky overhead.

“Oh my goodness!”

“That scared me…”

“Was there a sudden clap of thunder on a sunny day?”

“Hey, the sky is getting dark!”

“Look, look, the clouds in the sky…”

“Hooh…”

The clap of thunder frightened almost everyone in the village, both old and young. It was just too sudden. But when they looked up, they found that the storm clouds seemed to be growing out of the sky like magic…

“Roooar…”

“Boom…”

The dragon’s roar echoed far and wide. Although it mingled with the sound of thunder, it was unique and strange, causing many people to look at each other in surprise.

“ROOOO…ROOOO…ROOOOOAR…”

The dragon beast’s roars and painful cries continued to echo across the sky. The villagers were gradually so frightened that they got goosebumps.

“What are you standing there for? Go grab your things!”

“Yes, yes…”

Seeing that the rain clouds were getting bigger and lower, all the villagers from every household hurriedly put away their belongings that were hung up to dry outside. The large grain field at the entrance to the village was in chaos, with large bamboo sieves, silkworm beds, crops, clothes, and all other items in complete disarray, all needing to be put away.

“The sky! Look at the sky!”

Someone in the village shouted in a voice that sounded more like a scream. Then the people around them also began shouting, “look at the sky, look at the sky,” making many of the villagers raise their heads again.

At this very moment, there was a “long cloud” among the other clouds in the sky, as if it had torn through the cloud layer and was falling down from the heavens. As it fell, there seemed to be an endless trail of smoke-like vapor that trailed out of it continuously. This long “cloud shadow” fell from the sky, trailing a stream of mist along its path, and getting closer and closer to the ground.

“Hey, hey, why does that cloud look so much like a dragon?”

“It does look a bit like that…”

“Oh, it’s getting lower and lower!”

“It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall!”

“Run… something is about to fall!”

“Don’t worry about the things on the ground, just run–“

“Run!”

“Aaaaah…”

……

The villagers in the grain field at the entrance to the village fled in a panic, instinctively running towards their own homes.

“Whoooosh… whoooo… whoooo…”

As the “cloud shadow” fell, a strong wind tore through the air and launched water droplets at the ground. The faint cry of an old cow could vaguely be heard.

Many villagers subconsciously looked up to the sky while running. Then, at last… the dragon-shaped silhouette touched the ground.

“Boom…”

It was as if an earth dragon rolled over; the ground shook unceasingly. Many villagers who couldn’t run far enough were knocked to the ground by the violent earthquake. Many others felt their feet shaking, and could not stand steadily.

Then a stronger gust of wind swept in.

Whoo… whooo… whooo… Swish…

Many people who had originally remained standing were knocked off their feet by the shock wave of the airflow. The roofs of many of the houses near the grain fields were blown so intensely that they rattled as if they were about to be carried away.

In this crazy gale, most people could only squat down with their heads in their arms. Fortunately, it came and went quickly.

In the aftermath, the valley at the entrance of Shuanggongqiao Village seemed to have been engulfed in a dull fire. Billowing clouds of vapor burst out madly like thick smoke from a fire, rushing towards the sky and spreading throughout the village and its surroundings.

The sunlight above had been completely blocked. Endless dark clouds, accompanied by the rumbling thunder, quickly filled the sky above Lishun Prefecture.

The villagers of Shuanggongqiao Village seemed be surrounded by a deep fog in that moment. They could barely even see their hands in front of them. After stumbling around in a panic, they could only stare at the ground and move carefully towards the nearest houses. Only after reaching shelter could they breathe a sigh of relief.

“Boom… Boom, boom… Crack… Boom…”

The sound of thunder and the terrifying atmosphere at the moment made people in the village tremble with fear.

“Clatter, crash, shhhh…”

Amidst the terror and darkness, the heavy rain finally arrived; however, it made the villagers feel inexplicably relieved.

1. i.e. hundreds of li in depth