Inside Longyou City, the scorching sun hung high overhead. The open ground in front of the Dragon God Temple was packed with a dense, black mass of kneeling people. Their backs glistened with sweat from the heat, yet not a single soul dared to move.
The commoners had pinned their final hopes on this rain prayer ritual, which had completely drained their family savings.
The old shamaness was invited to the center of the ritual altar.
Her face was lined with deep wrinkles, her hair was silver-white, and her withered, skeletal frame was swallowed by a faded ceremonial robe that hung loosely on her.
Trembling, she raised the incense sticks in her hands high and began to dance a rain prayer dance she had never performed before.
The bronze bells at her waist jingled softly, and her hoarse voice was filled with dread and unease. “O Great Dragon God, please open your eyes...”
This rain prayer ritual was not of her own choosing.
When the Governor of Longyou had visited her home to request that she pray for rain, she had explained that she did not know how to do so. Her medical skills and her ability to read the weather were merely learned from books passed down through generations of her family. It was only because of the people's high regard that they called her a shamaness and a living immortal; it was not to be taken seriously.
However, the Governor of Longyou mistook her honesty for an excuse and went so far as to use her young granddaughter's life to force her onto the altar to pray for rain.
As early as a month ago, as the sun grew fiercer by the day, she had observed the celestial patterns and deduced that the heavens would not yield another drop of rain.
Today, she would most likely fail to summon even a single drop.
Having lived for over sixty years, with one foot already in the grave, she had long since grown indifferent to life and death, so she did not fear dying.
But she feared implicating her family.
Her son and daughter-in-law had gone to another region, leaving her five-year-old granddaughter behind to live with her. If she dragged her granddaughter into suffering alongside her, she would never be able to face them.
The rain prayer dance ended, yet the scorching sun still hung relentlessly in the sky.
“Why hasn't it rained yet?”
The commoners kneeling on the ground stood up, glaring at the old shamaness on the altar and accusing her with righteous indignation.
“We went through so much hardship to organize this rain prayer ritual, and you, a self-proclaimed living immortal, can't even summon a single drop of rain! You are nothing but a deceitful fraud!”
“You ungrateful wretch! How can you speak like that? Granny Yu cured your son's illness just last year!”
“Exactly! Whether it rains or not is up to the heavens. How can you blame Granny Yu?!”
Quite a few people stood up to speak for Granny Yu, but they were quickly drowned out by other voices.
“If you ask me, she must have offended the Dragon God! Why don't we just burn her to death to appease him?”
“Yes! She's the reason why it hasn't rained in Longyou! We mustn't let her off. And her mute granddaughter, who has looked strange since she was a baby—she's clearly an ill omen!”
At this very moment, these commoners completely forgot how the old shamaness had climbed the mountains to gather herbs and cure their illnesses. They forgot how she had used her weather-reading skills to help them choose the best days to harvest and dry their grain, saving them countless efforts and troubles. They only cared that she could not bring rain, and therefore, she deserved to die!
Seeing the crowd's rising fury, the Governor of Longyou, who stood to the side, showed absolutely no intention of stepping in to calm them.
He had never expected the old shamaness to actually summon rain; he simply wanted to find a scapegoat to deflect the blame.
After all, if not for this old shamaness's failure to pray for rain, the target of the people's hatred right now would be him, the Governor.
Seeing her young granddaughter being pushed to the ground, the old shamaness felt a sharp pang in her heart. She hurriedly pulled the child into her arms.
“I still have one more method! It will surely bring rain!”
She had run out of options.
Now, she could only pin her hopes on her ancestral method actually working. Otherwise, both she and her granddaughter would likely lose their lives.
With this thought, she picked up the dagger on the offering table, steeled her heart, and slashed her own wrist.
Blood seeped out, dripping onto the earthen platform.
The crowd's eyes widened in astonishment.
No one knew what the old shamaness was trying to do.
The little girl anxiously tried to cover the old shamaness's wound, but she was stopped, leaving her to only emit frantic, wordless cries.
The old shamaness let her blood drip into a clay urn beside her.
Then, she raised the clay urn high with both hands, enduring the burning pain in her eyes from the glaring sun as she looked up at the sky.
“I beg the heavens for mercy!”
“I am willing to exchange my life for rain!”
She fell to her knees, her knees slamming onto the scorching earth. She cried out again and again, her voice growing increasingly hoarse.
Yet the sun overhead continued to bake the earth mercilessly.
Despair welled up from her chest, clogging her throat so tightly that she could not even cry out.
Just as she was about to resign herself to fate, the ground suddenly began to vibrate slightly, as if thousands of horses and soldiers were galloping toward them.
The crowd's attention was forced away from the sky and toward the city gates.
They saw the city gates swing wide open as a burst of golden light erupted.
Once the crowd finally adjusted to the brilliant light at the gates, they saw a dark-gold carriage slowly rolling out. Eight black stallions, their hooves trailing mist and their manes swirling like ink-colored flames, pulled the carriage.
On both sides of the carriage, golden-armored heavenly soldiers marched in perfect unison.
Holding weapons in their hands and wearing identical golden masks, they exuded an aura of mystery and overwhelming pressure.
The wheels rolled slowly over the bluestone pavement of the street, heading straight toward the ritual altar surrounded by the crowd.
The crowd was thoroughly terrified by such a grand spectacle, instinctively parting to clear a path, not daring to approach the dark-gold carriage.
“Is a noble from the capital inside that carriage?”
“How could it be a noble from the capital? Who would want to come to a desolate, bitter-cold place like our Longyou?”
“Could they be here to save us?”
Seeing this, the Governor of Longyou frowned deeply. “Who dares to be so bold as to lead troops into the city without permission!”
Inside the dark-gold carriage, Yun Shu's lips curved slightly.
Before entering the city, she had already had the system monitor Longyou City. She knew exactly what kind of trash this Governor of Longyou was.
Just as well. She had been worrying about how to establish her authority, and he had delivered himself right to her doorstep. It was truly a marvelous twist of fate.
She opened the system interface.
The golden-armored heavenly soldiers possessed no consciousness of their own; they were essentially robotic accessories to the dark-gold carriage. To make them take action, she had to input commands.
As she issued the command, the golden-armored heavenly soldier standing on the left side of the carriage holding a bow spoke, its voice devoid of any warmth.
“Offending the Divine Lady merits death.”
Before the words even finished echoing, the golden-armored heavenly soldier had already drawn its bow and nocked an arrow.
The moment the bowstring was drawn to a full moon, a long arrow condensed out of thin air, its tip gleaming with a golden light like a cold star.
The face of the Governor of Longyou paled instantly.
Just as he tried to dodge, the arrow flew from the string.
The arrow of light pierced through the crowd and struck him square in the chest.
There was no blood. Only a burst of golden light exploded, and the Governor of Longyou's body was instantly reduced to ashes.
The golden-armored heavenly soldier lowered its bow coldly.
【Granny Yu Shock Value +100】
【Yu Xiaocao Shock Value +100】
【Zhang San Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 12,508,000】
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Yun Shu closed the system interface used to control the golden-armored heavenly soldiers.
When she first entered this world, her Shock Value and her system wardrobe were cleaner than her face. To solidify her persona as the Divine Lady, she had no choice but to bicker with those wicked people.
Now that her wings had fully grown, she had no need to waste her breath on those who harmed the commoners; she had her own enforcers to speak on her behalf.
Seeing the dead silence all around and that no one dared to utter another word, she knew that this move of hers had completely awed everyone.
Rate on N.U.
