Folklore: The dragon splits into two bodies, and the village worships the dragon as a deity in its p

Chapter 2 Tracing the Ancestral Home: The Stone Toad King!

Shixi Village.

North end.

The mountains stretch endlessly.

Vast stretches of wild forest.

At the foot of the mountain, among a few trees, there was a thatched shed.

Sunlight shines through during the day and moonlight shines through at night.

It can't block the wind or shelter from the rain.

The sky was just beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Lin Shi sat on a rock and stuffed a piece of dry firewood into the stove. The bright red flames were roasting a ceramic pot containing water—pure water, nothing else.

What kind of world is this?

do not know!

Primitive society?

No way!

Productivity far exceeds!

Tribe?! Clan?!

It looks a bit like it!

But that's not entirely true.

For example, now is the lean season, and food is distributed in a centralized manner, with each person receiving two wheat cakes a day, which is somewhat similar to the "common ownership" system of tribal clans.

However, during the autumn harvest, half of the produce had to be handed over to the village head, while the rest belonged to the individual. If the crops were poorly grown, the food was bad, and the individual would go hungry. Conversely, those who grew the crops well would have more left over, eat better, and sell their produce to make money, thus possessing private property. This was a characteristic unique to feudal society.

Lin Shi shook his head.

What kind of world it is doesn't really concern me for now; there's something more important right now.

Lin Shi spread out his right hand, revealing a thin, light red line in the middle.

At first glance, these are scars left from an injury. When touched, they don't hurt at all. In fact, they are marks left by the rebellious scales that have become ingrained in the bones and blood.

During the day, he was still the same person who worried about making a living and was secretly mocked by the villagers as a "fool." The work in the fields still made his back ache, and the occasional glance from the village head, Zhao Fugui, as if he were being appraised as livestock, felt like a thorn in his back.

Every night, lying in the drafty thatched hut, my consciousness sinks into another world—cold, heavy, and imprisoned, yet containing an indescribable, immense power.

The senses extend into the darkness, allowing one to "hear" the low murmur of water pressure, "smell" the decaying yet vibrant scent of water deep within the silt, and vaguely sense that at the village entrance on the shore, there exists a source of faint resonance, constantly reminding one that the experience beneath the emerald pool is not a nightmare, but a bizarre reality.

What will the next fishing trip in Tanyu be like?

Will they drown?

Or perhaps it will be swallowed by that dragon?

The people who died while fishing in the village's ponds certainly didn't just drown accidentally!

It must be the same thing that happened to me; some strange force dragged me down, and I was just lucky or maybe I was a consciousness that transmigrated to this world and is a little different from this world, which is why I escaped with my life.

But will he be so lucky next time?

Lin Shi frowned. He was torn between the pressure of survival and the fear of death, which gnawed at him like a venomous snake, keeping him on edge and unable to find peace for even a moment.

This might be my only chance to defy fate in this world, and I must figure it out.

Lin Shi drank a cup of freshly boiled water, pretending his stomach had already eaten breakfast, then shouldered his hoe and headed towards the fields at the east end of the village.

It's almost time to get to work. Let's get to work first, and then go find the clan chief, Sun Ming, tonight. He's the oldest person in the village, and maybe we can get some information from him.

Night falls.

Lin Shi dragged his tired body, carrying a hoe, and slowly made his way back to the thatched hut. He plopped down on a rock, took a few breaths, lit a fire, and boiled water. Once it was boiling, he took out two wheat cakes from his pocket, glanced at them, and reluctantly placed one aside. He broke the other one into finger-sized pieces and threw them into the boiling water. These things were dry, hard, and coarse, and he couldn't eat them on their own. He boiled them again, took them out, and waited for them to cool and turn into a paste. He pinched his nose and swallowed them mouthful by mouthful.

Lin Shi burped, rubbed his stomach, barely managing to fill his stomach with water, looked up at the sky, where a half-moon peeked through the clouds, stood up, picked up the remaining wheat cake, left the thatched hut, and walked towards the center of the village.

"Chieftain!"

"I am Lin Shi!"

Lin Shizhan sat down in front of the low courtyard and called out, "This is the ancestral home of the entire Shixi Village. It is the oldest building in the village and is where the clan chief lives and manages it."

Lin Shi waited for a while, and then the wooden door opened. An old man with a completely white beard and a hunched back walked out. It was Sun Ming, the clan chief of Shixi Village.

"It's Lin Shi! Come in! Are you feeling better?"

Sun Ming lifted his relaxed eyelids, saw that it was Lin Shi, and a hint of surprise flashed across his face before he slowly nodded.

"Thanks to you! I feel much better!"

"Last time we fell into the water, we were so lucky to have everyone here! We didn't have anything good to eat! Today, everyone got two wheat cakes for working. Here, have one for you so you can have something to eat if you get hungry tonight."

Lin Shi walked into the courtyard and placed the last uneaten wheat cake on the smooth stone mill in the middle of the courtyard. His movements were a little hesitant, and his suppressed voice carried a deliberate respect and timidity.

"You're quite the polite child! It's a stroke of luck that you survived such a disaster. Be more careful in the future."

Sun Ming glanced at the wheat cake with his cloudy eyes, his withered lips moved, he waved the pipe in his hand, pointed to a tree stump next to him, and called for Lin Shi to sit down.

"Chieftain."

"To be honest, I'm still quite flustered."

"That day I fell in, it was pitch black, and I think I glimpsed a huge black shadow at the bottom of the water, with scales bigger than a millstone."

"Isn't our Green Wave Pool a bit dirty?"

Lin Shi responded and squatted down on the tree stump, rubbing his knees with his hands, feeling a bit awkward. He couldn't ask directly to get information, lest he arouse suspicion. He would throw out a lead and see what happened.

Sun Ming paused in his hand as he packed the cigarettes, his dim yellow eyes darted around in their deep sockets, and then he suddenly looked up and stared at Lin Shi.

Lin Shi's heart skipped a beat. He wondered if he had said something wrong, but at this moment he could only grit his teeth and force a look of fear and confusion onto his face.

Sun Ming lowered his head, took out some tobacco, pinched off a bit, put it into the pipe, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"The Azure Pool!"

"The water's deep!"

"Those were turbulent years. It was all thanks to that person that things were kept calm!"

When Chen Ming opened his mouth, thick white smoke swirled around his deeply lined face, and his voice was hoarse.

"That one?"

Lin Shi's heart tightened slightly, and he asked again.

"At the village entrance! There's that stone toad."

"King Stone Toad."

Sun Ming pointed vaguely towards the village entrance with his pipe, his tone carrying a hint of awe.

"King Stone Toad?!"

Lin Shi was stunned for a moment. The direction Sun Ming pointed to was exactly where he had been vaguely feeling the resonance every night these past few days.

"When the stone toad opens its mouth, rain will come frequently!"

"Let the stone toad close its mouth and dry the riverbed!"

"With the offering of three sacrificial animals, the house will be overflowing with grain!"

"Sincerity moves mountains, and all misfortune will vanish!"

Sun Ming was reminded of distant memories. He squinted, looked up at the void, his dry lips moved, and he hummed softly. His voice was as old as a candle flickering in the wind, and although the tune was a little off-key, the rhythm was unique and ancient, carrying a certain magic. The space and time in the courtyard instantly became long and mysterious.

Lin Shi held his breath, not just listening, but also trying his best to sense. He vaguely sensed that when the song started, the reverse scale on the palm of his right hand seemed to tremble slightly, and the dragon's body at the bottom of the pool and the source at the village entrance vibrated together, as if there was an invisible bond connecting them.

This folk song!

This is absolutely not a baseless rumor!

"It's worked!"

"In the early days when the incense was burning brightly, our Shixi Village was a blessed place that was envied by people from all around."

"Later, the world fell into chaos, people's hearts sank, and the offerings ceased!"

After humming his song, Sun Ming let out a long sigh, the smoke making the wrinkles on his face appear even deeper.

"However, there is one rule passed down from our ancestors that you must remember: no matter when, especially on the night of the new moon, you must never touch the statue with unclean hands! If you break this taboo, the Stone Toad King will be silenced for three years, which will result in a severe drought where the land is barren and there is no harvest!"

"People are going to die!"

Sun Ming changed the subject, leaning forward slightly and lowering his voice to an even more serious tone.

Lin Shi's right palm suddenly twitched, and a sudden, instinctive tremor ran through the dragon's body at the bottom of the pool, causing a sharp pain to suddenly appear on the back of his head.

On a night of the darkest moon!

Unclean hands!

Lin Shi was caught off guard and almost shouted it out. He gritted his teeth and held it back for a while, making sure to remember those two words. They were clearly taboo. Just mentioning them caused such a strong reaction. If he really encountered them, he didn't know what kind of upheaval would occur.

Lin Shi chatted with Sun Ming for a while, mostly reminiscing about the past, and carefully echoed his sentiments. Seeing that the time was right, he pointed to the house and offered to help tidy up the ancestral home where clutter was stored.

"OK!"

"I'm getting old!"

"I have no energy!"

"This ancestral home hasn't been cleaned in years!"

"It's so great that you can help!"

Sun Ming patted his knees with both hands and nodded with a smile.

Lin Shi stood up, pushed open the low, dark, creaking wooden door, and was hit by a whiff of dust mixed with mildew. He waited a moment before stepping inside.

Sun Ming stared at Lin Shi for a while, then looked away. A smile flashed across his wrinkled old face. He picked up a wheat cake from the stone mill and ate it bit by bit.

Using the oil lamp hanging on the wall, Lin Shi quickly swept the floor, found a cloth, and began wiping the table. His eyes, like the most sensitive probes, scanned every corner from time to time, and it took him a while to spot a wooden box in one corner.

Lin Shi was overjoyed. Relying on his years of experience studying folk customs before his transmigration, he immediately recognized that what was inside was most likely the genealogy of Shixi Village:

They came to see Sun Ming for two reasons: one was to inquire about Bibo Pool, and the other was to see the village's family genealogy or something similar.

Lin Shi turned his head to look at Sun Ming in the yard. Sun Ming had his back to him, holding a pipe in one hand and a wheat cake in the other, taking a puff and a bite, ignoring him.

This is a rare opportunity!

Lin Shi walked quickly to the corner of the wall, wiped the dust off the box, gently opened it, and carefully took out two thread-bound books with yellowed paper and curled edges. One was a family genealogy book, and the other was a collection of miscellaneous notes.

Lin Shi breathed a sigh of relief. The characters in this world were exactly the same as the Chinese characters he was familiar with. Suppressing his excitement, he brushed away the dust from the cover and began to read page by page by the dim light of the oil lamp.

"The depths of Bibo Pool are unfathomable, and legend has it that a vicious dragon dwells there, stirring up storms and waves."

……

"Our ancestors selected a piece of blue stone, carved it into the shape of a toad, and placed it above the water's eye on the bank of the pool to calm the waves and protect our hometown."

……

The genealogy is filled with densely packed names and dates, which is extremely dry and not very useful. However, although the handwriting in the miscellaneous notes is messy and the sentences are disjointed, the notes clearly point to the ancient and close connection between the stone toad and the dragon at the bottom of the pool.

Lin Shi became increasingly engrossed in his reading, his right hand fingers unconsciously tracing the words on the notebook that seemed to be written with cinnabar. The reverse scale in his palm grew hotter and hotter. Unconsciously, the cold and dormant consciousness of the dragon clone in the deep pool slowly began to ripple clearly. The invisible perception spread towards the shore like water plants, accurately capturing the stone statue of "Stone Toad King" at the entrance of the village.

Huh?

It's cracked?

Or what?

Lin Shi was stunned for a moment.

Through the feeling of a dragon at the bottom of a deep pool, one can clearly see a crack inside the stone statue, as if it were an ancient riverbed that had long since dried up, shriveled, and covered with cracks.

Before the stone statue stood an incense burner with three sticks of incense burning inside. With wisps of smoke, something so faint it was almost imperceptible, carrying the devout power of prayer, slowly flowed in along a mysterious path. At the same time, deep within the dragon's soul, a hidden pain from a distant era's lightning tribulation, in a corresponding location, was soothed and repaired as if nourished by a clear spring.

Could it be that the stone statue is imbued with the devout faith of the incense burner?

The stone toad statue can gather spiritual energy and even transform it into the power to heal the dragon's wounds?!

Lin Shi was stunned for a moment.

In the world before I transmigrated, I was an expert in the study of rituals. I knew very well that faith power referred to the power of belief, but it was just a concept or a saying. I had never seen it before. At this moment, it suddenly became concrete and I saw it alive.

Lin Shi gently closed the genealogy and notes in his hand, put them back in the box, closed it gently, stood up, walked to the only broken window of the ancestral house, his gaze pierced through the darkness, looking towards the direction of the stone niche at the village entrance. A cold and profound light, belonging to the deep pool dragon, quietly flowed, silently meeting the gaze of the distant stone statue.

At the bottom of the pool, the chains rattled softly. The indifferent vertical pupils opened fully in the darkness, intently guiding the trickling power of faith, flowing through the riverbed within the stone statue, nourishing the interconnected stone body and dragon soul.

Lin Shi clenched his fists tightly, and a corner of the mist dissipated.