Beep… Beep…
“I’m sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later…”
‘Strange, where did those two go…’
Yao Xueyue hung up in confusion.
Through the hotel room window, she looked out at the heavy rain, especially the dark clouds overhead. She subconsciously thought of the Fallen Dragon Incident Xia Xinglian had mentioned to her earlier.
‘It’s raining this hard the day before the Dragon Calling Parade… Could something really be about to appear?’
Isana, also at the window, stroked her chin, pretending to be a master of deduction.
“Could it be… that Miss Qiu Qiqian and Miss Li Meng are right now…”
She deliberately left the guess unfinished, making Yao Xueyue turn around.
“They’re doing what?” Yao Xueyue pressed.
“That.”
“Huh? What? Ha?!”
The instant Yao Xueyue realized Isana was cracking a dirty joke, her fist had already landed on Isana’s head with a clear thump.
“You! Can’t you think of anything besides dirty jokes?!”
Face red, Yao Xueyue scolded angrily.
But Isana didn’t take the pressure—even after being punished, she immediately grabbed her phone to message Li Meng, asking how far they’d gotten.
But again, no reply…
“Hmm… Looks like the battle is pretty intense. But…”
“Intense my ass! Can you just focus on something serious for once?”
Yao Xueyue looped both hands behind Isana’s head and squeezed her cheeks hard, so that Isana could only make vague “wah wah” sounds until Yao Xueyue finally calmed down.
Or maybe she just got tired of pinching…
“Anyway, for now we just wait for the rain to stop. If there’s still time then, we can go ask the village chief about the dragon.”
Yao Xueyue looked out the window again, through the dense curtain of rain.
She didn’t know that the direction she was looking at was exactly where the temple housing the “True Dragon” stood.
***
Inside the main shrine, the thick darkness nearly swallowed all vision.
The old dragon statues surrounding the hall seemed to glow faintly in the gloom, eerily real enough to send chills down one’s spine.
They felt less like stone or wood carvings and more like vessels possessed by countless lonely spirits, staring hollowly into the hall. These totems, which should have symbolized peace and radiance, now only revealed a bone-deep ferocity.
The old man called Lao Hu knelt on the cold cushion, his posture humble and devout, kowtowing again and again before the dragon statue built of flesh and blood.
In the shrine, there was no one else, and no extra sound could be heard.
Only the shrill howl of wind and rain pierced through the broken windows, pouring in and mingling with his murmured chants.
“Congratulations to the Dragon Lord… you will soon regain your body… if you are pleased, please… give me a sign.”
Dong—
A deep, distant bell toll rang out without warning, as if struck by an invisible, overwhelming force. It echoed through the empty hall, reverberating layer after layer, lingering for a long time.
The old man prostrated on the ground trembled violently, then slowly opened his eyes.
In those turbid, aged eyes, there now blazed an almost unbelievable joy.
He stared fixedly at the breathing flesh-and-blood dragon statue before him, the corners of his mouth twitching violently. In the end, he couldn’t control it—his lips curled open into a smile.
“The Dragon Lord is wise! On the day you are reborn, you must purge all filth from the world and return peace to the people!”
“Entrusting such a grand and heavy wish to something like that is hardly a wise choice, Village Chief Hu.”
A young woman’s voice, lazy and teasing, broke the shrine’s atmosphere.
Village Chief Hu instinctively turned around.
At the door’s threshold, a purple-haired woman in sunglasses was leaning against it.
Outside, the wind and rain raged; clouds and rain obscured the sunlight. Yet miraculously, her body bore not a single trace of moisture.
In the dim, gloomy light, the purple eyes behind her sunglasses blazed with shocking brightness.
“You?”
The village chief’s voice turned ice cold instantly.
“I remember you… from a few days ago, you were from the Association, weren’t you? You came asking all those strange questions. I told you everything I could and everything I couldn’t. What more do you want to ask now?”
The old man stood up, straightening his hunched back somewhat, and turned to face Xia Xinglian. His tone was filled with undisguised wariness and coldness.
“Have you really told me everything?”
Xia Xinglian didn’t answer.
Instead, she leaped lightly off the threshold, making a soft sound as she landed, then walked step by step into the shrine—seemingly majestic and grand, but in truth exuding a thick, ominous aura.
She looked up, her gaze sweeping past the old man to the massive flesh-and-blood dragon statue behind him.
There was no awe in her eyes, only undisguised mockery and contempt.
“If something like this could bring good fortune and ward off calamities, then that toad I used to keep, Aqi, could be enshrined as a divine beast. Oh, Aqi was a sixth-rank novel I raised back in the day.”
“Shut up! Cough, cough! How dare a mere mortal like you slander the Dragon Lord!”
Village Chief Hu erupted in rage, cursing loudly.
This fury was too much for his aged bones, and he broke into violent coughing.
After barely suppressing the surging blood and breath, he remembered he was in the “Dragon Lord’s” shrine and forced his anger down. He tried to make his expression calm again, but his eyes remained locked on the frivolous woman before him.
“You’re from the Association, so you know the rules well. Only after confirming the existence of a Guiyi do you have a reason to interfere in local affairs. So… please present your proof that the Dragon Lord is a Guiyi. Otherwise…”
He paused, his gaze sharpening.
“I’ll have to suspect that the Association doesn’t respect our local folk beliefs.”
“Is that so?”
Xia Xinglian raised an eyebrow and let out a light laugh.
“Let me think… Thirteen years ago, on the night of the Dragon Calling Parade, the man whose waist was bitten clean off by the Dragon Lord—would that count as one piece of evidence?”
Village Chief Hu’s pupils contracted sharply. His composure nearly cracked.
‘Could she… have been among the tourists back then?’
“Hah, empty words. How can you prove that the tragedy was caused by the Dragon Lord?”
“Such a clean break, with huge tooth-mark depressions… None of the known beasts on land could have made a wound like that. As I recall, the villagers at the time kept saying… that the man had angered the Dragon Lord, right?”
Village Chief Hu pressed his lips together, offering no rebuttal.
But his bloodshot eyes bored into Xia Xinglian.
“Heh, talk all you want. You just think the Dragon Lord is an omen of misfortune and want an excuse to destroy it, don’t you?”
He took a deep breath, forcing down a surge of murderous intent, and switched to a negotiating posture.
“Tomorrow, after the Dragon Calling Parade is over, I can let you and your companions investigate the village thoroughly. This shrine, this statue—you can inspect them however you like. How about that?”
Xia Xinglian raised an eyebrow and let out a soft hum.
She could tell the old man was stalling for time.
He would definitely make a move during tomorrow’s “Dragon Calling Parade.”
In that case…
“Fine.”
She agreed readily, even wearing a relaxed smile.
“I’ll let you enjoy this Dragon Calling Parade comfortably and splendidly. After that, we’ll come back and investigate thoroughly.”
‘Liar.’
‘If I notice anything wrong during the parade, I’ll tear down that statue first.’
Hearing this, the wariness on Village Chief Hu’s face eased slightly. He seemed satisfied with the proposal, so he shifted from hostility to a friendly, even kindly smile, and even extended his hand toward Xia Xinglian.
“Hehe, I knew the Association wouldn’t be too unreasonable, right?”
Xia Xinglian naturally wouldn’t refuse.
She stepped forward, a polite smile on her face, and reached out to clasp his rough-skinned hand.
“Of course. I’ve always been very reasonable.”