Chapter 234: Moving Mountains and Creating Lakes

In the “kong kong kong” sound of bamboo clappers, all the villagers gathered toward Bai Family Fortress.

At this time, Bai Family Fortress wasn’t exactly safe, as Huanglong Mountain beside it was occupied by the Yichuan bandits led by Wang Zuogua; however, Wang Zuogua had encountered setbacks at Bai Family Fortress before, so he didn’t dare attack again for a while.

But nobody knew if he would come or when he would arrive.

Therefore, Bai Family Fortress had always been in a “state of war readiness.” Long ago, Bai Yuan had agreed with the villagers that once an emergency arose, they would sound bamboo clappers to alert nearby villages, and upon hearing the clappers, those villages would sound theirs too; then everyone would gather toward Bai Family Fortress and rely on its fortress wall to defend against sudden troubles.

Now that the clappers were sounding, the villagers assumed something was wrong, so they quickly grabbed their prepared valuables, brought their children and families, and all rushed over to Bai Family Fortress.

In short order, the little Bai Family Fortress had gathered hundreds of people.

The civilian militia even pulled out weapons, actively climbed onto the fortress wall, and someone even yanked off the black oilcloth covering the Giant Crossbow Vehicle, preparing to load the bolts.

Seeing this, Bai Yuan quickly shouted loudly, “Bandits are not here, sheathe your weapons! The Deity wants everyone to assemble.”

“The Deity?”

The servants of Bai Family Fortress had witnessed the Deity manifesting before, so they instantly felt overjoyed.

But more villagers had never seen the Deity perform miracles firsthand; they only knew that Lord Bai often said how good the Deity was, how wonderful, how merciful, how kind, that the Deity was a fine deity, and the food they ate was bestowed by the Deity.

Beyond that, they didn’t know much.

Bai Yuan understood the Deity well; seeing the villagers all confused and bewildered, he shouted loudly, “Stop yelling wildly and guessing blindly! Stand still, widen your eyes, and prepare to witness the Deity manifest.”

The villagers quickly complied.

Hundreds of people stood solemnly with hands at their sides, a scene that looked rather impressive.

Li Daoxuan saw everyone was present, so he readied to act; since Gao Yiye wasn’t here to relay messages, he didn’t bother with words and got straight to business.

He shifted his viewpoint slightly south of Bai Family Fortress, aimed at the center of the small lake, then struggled to lift a large bucket, rested its rim on the edge of a box, carefully tilted the bucket, and poured water inside…

Back in Bai Family Fortress, everyone had their eyes wide open watching closely.

They saw that the low cloud in the sky suddenly drifted southward and finally hovered stationary at a distant southern point.

Bai Yuan focused his gaze and realized that directly beneath that low cloud was none other than “Horseshoe Lake,” the water source for Bai Family Fortress and several surrounding villages?

Horseshoe Lake had nurtured Bai Family Fortress and several surrounding villages; it was the spiritual anchor for all the villagers in this area, but at the end of the drought’s second year, Horseshoe Lake dried up, making the villagers feel as if they had lost their souls.

And now, what exactly was the Deity doing, floating above Horseshoe Lake?

Could it be…

Suddenly, Bai Yuan understood and couldn’t help but roar loudly, “The Deity plans to help us restore Horseshoe Lake! Heavens! I guessed it! The Deity must be casting a spell to bring heavenly springs to fill Horseshoe Lake!”

The villagers were shocked.

In the next moment, they saw a colossal torrent surge out of the sky.

The enormity of that torrent could be called an inverted heavenly river!

It crashed down fiercely and powerfully, completely unmatched in scale to the water that had filled the small pond in Gaojia Village.

Even with some mental preparation, Bai Yuan was frightened by that terrifying torrent.

The servants of Bai Family Fortress and all the surrounding villagers all stared dumbfounded like idiots.

The horrifying torrent roared down from the heavens, rushing into the dried-up bed of Horseshoe Lake; in the blink of an eye, water began pooling at the bottom, and then the skyward flow continued surging onward, pouring endlessly into the lake.

The water level in the lake kept rising higher and higher.

Everyone in the Bai Family Fortress lost their ability to speak, just staring dumbfoundedly.

After a short while, the water stopped flowing…

The lakebed had already accumulated deep water, but it was still some distance from the lake shore. After waiting for a few dozen blinks of the eyes, a massive torrent of water gushed out from the sky with a splash once more, continuing to pour into the lake.

The villagers remained stunned.

Not enough yet?

Splash! It happened again.

Li Daoxuan poured several large buckets of water into the box one after another. Finally, the small lake was filled up. The mighty Deity flopped down by the box, sticking out his tongue like a dog, panting, unwilling to move.

While he was exhausted, the servants inside the Bai Family Fortress cheered joyfully as they jumped up: “The Horseshoe Lake is full again!”

“Our Horseshoe Lake has come back to life!”

“Hahaha, wonderful!”

The dumbfounded villagers also snapped out of their shock: “So… this… this is the Deity’s power? Moving mountains and creating lakes… capable of anything…”

“With the Horseshoe Lake, I can grow crops even if the heavens don’t grant rain.”

“We can finally… wuwu…”

At that moment, the irrigation ditches along the lake’s edge, dug years ago, began filling with water. The lake water flowed along the ditches to all the surrounding farmlands, as if hope was spreading throughout the whole area.

“This winter, I won’t have to live in fear anymore. As soon as next spring comes, I’ll start planting crops right away.”

“The Deity is benevolent!”

“The Deity blesses us!”

“Long life and great blessings!”

Li Daoxuan lay by the box, sticking out his tongue: You all are happy, but I had to move so many buckets of water by hand, lifting heavy buckets to pour them into the box, and carefully not spill it outside the lake. Tired out, ah, raising pets sure isn’t a job for humans.

The villagers rushed out from the Bai Family Fortress, happily crouching by the lake, playfully splashing the water. Some dashed home to push out little wooden boats, then a second family, a third…

Turns out, many villagers kept boats at home. Before, when the water dried up, they feared the boats might sink to the lakebed as the water level dropped, so they dragged them back. Now that the lake had water again, of course, they brought the boats out.

“Though there are no fish in the lake yet, Fish and Shrimp will probably appear soon…”

“Wherever there’s water, fish mysteriously show up.”

“It won’t take long before we can fish for a living again.”

Ecstatic fishermen rowed with double oars over Horseshoe Lake, even racing to see who was faster. Though still poor, they had become optimistic.

“Hahaha, I won!”

“After over a year without rowing, my skills are rusty.”

“Haha, mine too, it was luck, pure luck that I beat you.”

Bai Yuan ran out from the Bai Family Fortress, stood by the lake, crouched down, scooped up water with his hands, and splashed it forward. Suddenly, his face lit up with a smile: “Good! Let’s have a boat race. I’ll put up two taels of silver as a prize for the fastest family.”

The fishermen were delighted: “Haha, great! Thank you, Lord Bai.”

“Coming, coming, time for a boat race.”

Seeing them so jubilant, Li Daoxuan suddenly realized his own mood had improved too. The earlier hard work seemed worthwhile.

Indeed, isn’t raising pets meant to heal oneself?