The old woman was speechless and just nodded desperately.
"Oh, right." Before sending the grandmother and grandson away, he asked, "Is there a lake somewhere in the suburbs of the city?"
"Yes, it's less than a mile outside the north gate, called Duan Lake," the old woman pointed ahead.
He nodded and reached out to push the boat's side, "Be careful on your way!"
As if being pulled by something, the boat avoided all obstacles along the way and steadily and quickly sailed towards the outskirts of the city.
I looked up at the sky, where dark clouds from all directions had gathered and now converged overhead, pouring down heavy rain on the city even more unscrupulously.
"Let's go to Duan Lake."
Before I could respond, he firmly took my hand, and we flew into the air. My body immediately felt weightless, and my heart trembled in my throat.
I'm really not used to flying through the clouds, at least not yet.
"Don't be afraid, this time you don't need to ride the clouds."
When he said this, the two of us were already flying forward at a very fast speed less than three feet above the ground. Wherever we passed, the water parted on its own, respectfully giving way to a smooth road for us.
I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. I could manage this height.
The invisible protective barrier he produced blocked all the strong air currents caused by flying against the wind, allowing me to steadily follow him with eyes wide open to experience the feeling of flying without having to worry about being blown over by the strong wind.
It turned out that moving without using my feet was so interesting. Like a puff of smoke, I was led and blown by unseen forces. I could easily move towards my destination without having to exert any effort myself. It was incredibly satisfying.
I won't deny that even now, after seeing all kinds of things in Daizhou City, my "going on a scenic tour" attitude had not diminished in the slightest. I still looked at everything around me with novelty and joy, even if it was a "dead" city that had lost its vitality.
I withdrew my gaze from the surroundings and focused on him.
Long black hair that reached below his waist swayed slightly in front of my eyes, blocking any angle from which I could see his face.
Why was he angry just now? I wondered to myself.
The time I spent with him wasn't short, and during that time, I had made many mistakes that gave him headaches. But no matter how serious my faults were, the lenient smile on his face always prevailed over any other expression. Over time, I came to think of him as an immortal who would never get angry, so tolerant that he could unconditionally forgive everything.
However, after coming to Daizhou City, he surprised me a little.
Before I could even guess a clue, we had already flown out of the north city gate.
The further north we went, the heavier the rain became.
By the time we stopped in front of this vast lake, the rain had become so dense that it obscured our vision.
Standing a few feet away from the lake shore, he stared intently at the vague and hazy scenery around us, his eyes like a torch, as if they could penetrate all mysteries.
With nothing to do beside him, I also widened my eyes and looked around fiercely, imitating his actions.
Unfortunately, apart from the intertwining shades of gray, black, white, and green, I couldn't see anything suspicious.
"Shaluo," he called me, "stand behind me."
"Oh."
His serious expression made me immediately step from his side to behind him, and then I poked out half my head uneasily and asked nervously, "Um... is something wrong?"
He reached back and pressed my head back: "Don't step even half a step away from behind me!"
It seems very serious.
I dared not speak further, obediently hiding behind him.
Long, unfamiliar incantations flowed from his mouth, deep and compact.
What followed was a stream of air sharper than a blade which brushed past from both sides. It didn't touch me, but I easily felt its razer-like keenness.
His arms stretched out to the sides, and the source of the airflow was his flat palms.
I quietly raised my eyes to look, then gaped, and couldn't help gasping in surprise—
The rainwater that had originally been scattered in all directions was gathered together, swirled at lightning speed like twisted strands of rope, falling accurately into his palms from the left and right sides of the sky.
Even the clouds in the sky seemed affected, continuously gathering above us, moving in a circle like a vortex; the never-ending hurricane came from all four directions of the world and was getting worse.
The so-called "rising winds, scudding clouds[1]" probably referred to the current situation, which was truly spectacular.
I was so mesmerized that I forgot to close my mouth.
The scene lasted for about half an hour.
When the two "rain ropes" in his hands transformed from "ropes" to "threads," and then from "threads" to nothing, the thick dark clouds disappeared without a trace at some point, and the sky which had been dark and gloomy for a long time gradually brightened.
The rain stopped.
In an instant, the world was calm.
He let out a soft sigh and withdrew his palms.
"Can I come out now?" I asked him, sticking my head out.
"Hehe." He glanced back with a smile, "Yes, you can."
With permission granted, I immediately jumped out from behind him.
I had been too nervous just now, and my entire body involuntarily tensed up. I felt all my limbs were sore now.
Taking a few steps forward, I stretched my arms, kicked my legs, and moved my body.
Without the interference of rain and with the bright light, I finally saw clearly the body of water in front of me named Duan Lake.
The lake was extremely vast, thousands or even tens of thousands of times larger than the lotus pond at Fulong Mountain. The lake was filled with serene deep green water, smooth as a mirror, without a single ripple. It was so quiet that one might mistake it for a lake of green ice frozen for years.
Strange!
I rubbed my eyes.
Even the small lotus pond on Fulong Mountain would ripple in circles, so why was the water here so still?
Unable to understand, I didn't bother to think about it.
Walking back to him, I asked, "Did you make all the rain disappear?"
"No," he smiled and shook his head, "I just took back something that shouldn't have appeared in the first place."
Oh right, it suddenly dawned on me.
He was the Water God of the heavenly realm, so anything related to water should naturally be under his control.
"So that means Daizhou City is completely safe now?!" I asked again.
With the rain stopped and the wind calmed, the main culprit of the disaster had been subdued, so this unfortunate city had naturally escaped the abyss of suffering.
"I treated the symptoms but not the root cause."
With that remark, he bent down, picked up a small piece of wet mud from the ground and spread it on the palm of his hand. Then he plucked a hair from my head, embedding it into the wet mud.
"Come on, blow on it," he held the clump of mud in front of me.
I scratched my head, unable to make head or tail of it. Nevertheless, I followed his instructions and blew hard on this blackish thing in front of me.
As soon as I closed my mouth, I found a miraculous change in that unremarkable lump of mud — a small sapling broke through the "soil," steadily and full of vitality. Despite its small size, it was lush with branches and leaves. The tender green leaves were shimmering with specks of light, and closer inspection revealed they were actually drops of sparkling and translucent dew.
"What... what is this??" I carefully moved the tips of my fingernails back and forth over this immature "same kind," endlessly amazed.
He didn't answer, but instead cupped the little thing in his hands and walked to the lakeside. He muttered to himself, then threw it into the air and commanded, "Go!"
I immediately followed to see what was going on.
I saw this thing drawing circles in mid-air, quickly transforming into an oval-shaped halo, emitting a faint green light that grew brighter as it rose higher and higher. With each foot it rose, the halo expanded outward by ten feet until it formed a huge ring of light capable of encompassing the entire lake.
In the blink of an eye, the halo descended rapidly from the sky, precisely landing on the entire lake shore, creating a row of dazzling light pillars that soared straight into the sky, seamlessly surrounding Duan Lake.
This magnificent scene lasted for about fifteen minutes, and then the light pillars gradually disappeared. In their place, countless tall and luxuriant trees sprang up from the ground, stationed strongly and powerfully along the lake shore in an unbroken line.
I stared fixedly at this unprecedented spectacle, afraid of missing any moment, and wanting to scream with excitement. How did he do it?! How could he use such unremarkable things like a handful of mud from the ground and a strand of my hair to create such a breathtaking scene?
"How...did so many trees grow?" I stroked my wildly beating heart and looked at him, who was calm as usual.
"The city is flooded, and apart from the torrential rain, most of the trouble came from this Duan Lake where the old embankment has been destroyed. Now, with these trees as a dike, I can guarantee that it won't flood again for a hundred years." He walked forward, looked up at the towering trees that had just sprung up, then turned back to me with a smile. "You've made a tremendous contribution. Without your true energy, I wouldn't have been able to 'plant' so many robust guardian trees around the lake in such a short time. Shaluo, in the future when I manage the waters, I'll definitely need you by my side to assist."
Is he complimenting me?!
I was both surprised and delighted. Surprised because this was the first time in so many years he had praised me so frankly; delighted because of his last words. According to him, he would always take me with him in the future and wouldn't leave me alone on Fulong Mountain again?!
He slapped the tree trunk in front of him three times, as if to test if it was stable enough, then returned to my side and said, "Let's go back."
"Hmm!"
I dare say my smile at that moment outshone even the brightest summer sun.
He held my hand as before, leading me back in silence.
During this time, he turned his head back twice, gazing at the receding Duan Lake.
As for me, I was too absorbed in savoring his praise to notice the vigilance that had never faded away hidden in his eyes.
Glug glug~~ glug glug~~
When we had walked less than fifty steps away, an extremely clear and eerie sound came from behind us. At the same time, the ground beneath our feet, which had been as solid as a rock, began to produce obviously strange changes.
I instinctively turned around and was immediately startled by the strange scene of Duan Lake—
At that moment, Duan Lake reminded me of a hot pot of boiling water. The once calm surface of the lake was now broken by countless large and small bubbles constantly churning, emitting sizzling wisps of steam. It was horrible to see.
"What's happening?" I grabbed his sleeve in panic.
"The true culprit," he pushed me behind him, staring at the lake surface without changing his expression.
"The true culprit..."
Before I could finish my sentence, a deafening roar echoed, and the center of the lake suddenly exploded, sending water splashing half the sky high.
In the chaos, a massive black shadow surged out from the lake, accompanied by a terrifying roar I had never heard before, soaring straight into the sky. Wherever it passed, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, the hard-won good weather instantly turning tumultuous again.
The hand clutching his sleeve was already sweating. Although I wasn't an immortal, I could still sense the danger lurking beneath the sudden change of scenery.
Though frightened, my curiosity to "see the world" tied with my fear of the unknown danger. Poking out less than half of my head from behind him, I only dared to observe the unfolding situation with one eye. I wanted to see how many more shocking scenes I would encounter today.
What happened next was that I was quickly "shocked" and almost fainted from the excitement.
[1] 风起云涌 (Idiom): turbulent times; violent development. English equivalent: A storm is brewing.
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