Whoever Wants to Be the Celestial Master Can Have the Job

In the first year after Gu Qing was adopted, his foster parents took him back to their hometown.

An old man said he wasn't their own child, so he didn't count as one of the family, and told him to go find somewhere cool to stay. Gu Qing went to the coolest place in the village.

It was where people used to drown adulterers in pig cages. No one knew how many lovesick men and women had sunk there. It was called Emerald Pool.

Gu Qing didn't think much of it. He picked up a stick and fished for little fish near the shore.

As he fished, he absentmindedly glanced up.

-- In the deep water in the distance, he could just make out a huge, coiled body, something like a snake.

That night, heavy rain fell over the village, and thunder bellowed like an ox. The old people in the family looked grim as they hid in their rooms, chanting the Buddha's name.

The next day, the villagers said the mud by Emerald Pool was covered in long marks. It looked like a dragon was about to ascend, so they needed to throw pigs and sheep into the pool.

Gu Qing thought they were all crazy. There was a snake that big in the pool beside the village. Were they blind? How had they not noticed it all these years?

But an adopted child had no say in the matter, so Gu Qing could only go with his parents to the "dragon sacrifice."

That day, he stood at the back of the crowd, bored as he watched everyone sing and dance, throwing livestock into the pool.

"--It's not a river dragon."

Suddenly, a voice spoke behind him.

Gu Qing turned around and saw an exceptionally tall man standing there. When he noticed Gu Qing looking at him, he gave him a sinister smile.

"There's a dragon locked in that pool."

"Probably about a hundred years ago, some meddling Daoist cut off all four of a dragon's claws, then pinned him to the bottom of the pool with nine soul-suppressing nails and forced him to ensure good weather and abundant harvests here."

"As time passed, the nails grew loose, and the dragon's tail occasionally lashed onto the shore. The old people who knew the truth were afraid of being punished, so they established this 'dragon sacrifice' custom."

When he finished, he stared ominously at Gu Qing, as if waiting for his reaction.

Gu Qing: ...

He must be the village entrance's crazy fool Grandma Liu said had been insane for twenty years.

How pitiful.

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