Chapter 491: The Thunder-Making Cloud

The glow also dimmed bit by bit.

He did not know how many lights this mountain village would have in thousands of years, but now there was not a single lamp here. However, it was not pitch black, nor was it without any decoration. The brilliant and dazzling galaxy rotated above the mountain, reflected in the terraced fields, and the backs of the person and the fox on the mountain could still be seen.

They did not find that dark cloud, nor did they know what it was.

Lin Jue waited for a long time before closing his eyes to cultivate.

A few peals of thunder in the middle of the night shattered the fox's dream, and a chill at dawn wetted the Daoist's clothes.

As mentioned yesterday, today was a rainy and foggy day.

When Lin Jue opened his eyes, everything in front of him was full of fog, and he could only see fine beads of water moving in the wind. The terraced fields that looked like mirrors in the past and the sunrise that changed from purple to red had all disappeared.

The sky light gradually brightened, and the world was also a vast expanse.

Lin Jue sat in the thatched hut.

He did not expect that the rain and fog would have a unique flavor.

Sunny days and dark clouds competed in the sky, and mountain fog and rain also competed on the ground. The fog was like the tide. Once the rain stopped, it would quickly surge up from the bottom of the valley. Once the rain became heavy, in the sound of rain piercing the forest and hitting the leaves, the mountain fog was suppressed instead, sinking into the bottom of the valley, and the terraced fields were thus exposed in the rain.

At this time, Lin Jue lowered his head—

He could see a white fox jumping around in the terraced fields not far below, sometimes catching fish and digging loaches, sometimes chasing ducks from some family, carefree and happy.

At this time, there were no crops in the terraced fields, and they were still in the stage of filling the fields with water. There were many big and small fish and loaches in the fields. It was not the first day it had played in the fields, and it seemed like it would never play enough, which made Lin Jue eat quite a few fish and loaches it roasted with the sun's spiritual fire.

The mountain fog rose and fell, sometimes drowning and covering it, sometimes presenting it to Lin Jue's eyes again.

An immortal could watch such a scene for half a day.

"Come down and play!"

The fox's voice suddenly came from below.

"..."

"Play!"

The clear breeze blew, and with a whoosh, the Daoist in the wooden branch thatched hut was blown away without a trace, arriving on the ridge of the field below.

The Daoist looked down at the fox, and the fox looked up at the Daoist.

"Look!"

The fox jumped high from the water, drew an arc in the air, planted itself down, and immediately bit a small fish in its mouth, only the size of a finger.

"Hmm..."

"You come play too!"

"I won't play."

"Come play!"

"I'll watch you play."

The Daoist had less childlike innocence, but also more patience.

"Go!" The fox swallowed the fish in one gulp and looked at the lower slope of the terraced fields, deep in the clouds and mist, "Let's go to that village made of mushrooms over there and play, see if we can still buy food to eat!"

"That's not paying to eat? That's someone's funeral."

"Pay money! Eat food!"

The fox's tone was serious, not so easy to persuade.

"You..."

"Go!" The fox jumped from the field to the ridge, shook its body slightly, and the mud and water on half of its legs were clean, not stained with a speck of dust, "Anyway, we can't find a cloud today, the fox will take you to see the flowers blooming on the fruit trees!"

Although Lin Jue did not approve, he did not oppose it.

He himself had the intention to take a trip.

It was just right to see if his own fox had caused any trouble with its actions yesterday, if it had affected others, and if it had caused a bad influence, he would go to solve it for them.

So a beautiful and divine little white fox walked in front, along the ridge of the terraced fields, taking small, nimble steps, walking and stopping, looking left and right, sometimes looking back to see if the Daoist behind had kept up. The narrow ridge and the wet mud soaked by the rain could not trouble it at all. Behind it, a Daoist followed unhurriedly, not troubled by the narrowness and mud of the ridge. Two figures were in the fog, and also in the water of the terraced fields.

This mountain was very high. They walked from the top of the mountain to the valley, and the mountain fog was just accumulating below. The person and the fox walked unhurriedly, and almost every time they went down a layer, the mountain fog retreated another layer.

As time grew later, the mountain rain changed from having a burst from time to time to having a burst after a while, and the fields below gradually changed from quiet to active.

An old man with a hunched back, wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat, with his hands behind his back, walked slowly upward, leading a water buffalo, walking along the path of the terraced fields from the mountain fog. The fog behind him rose and fell, as if he were leading bursts of fog toward the person and the fox above.

There were also women barefoot in the fields, wielding hoes to dig the soil.

There were also men walking in groups of two or three to the fields, checking the gaps for water and the water level and weeds in the fields, sometimes discussing heatedly.

Encountering this person and fox, they all looked sideways.

"It's time for spring plowing..."

"Why are they all looking at me?"

"Don't know if the situation in the mortal world below the mountain has been decided..."

"I'll turn into a dog!"

The fox took a step forward and turned into a white dog, turning its head to look left and right, and then turned back to say to the Daoist: "Ahead is the village where I paid to buy food and encountered the blooming flowers!"

The wind blew and the fog moved, vaguely revealing a village.

The customs of the mountain people here were strange. The corners of the houses were relatively round, and they liked to use very thick thatch for the roofs, which were also built relatively round. The houses looked like yellow mushroom houses. It just so happened that they had lived there for a long time, and the humidity in the mountains was far heavier than below the mountain, so a layer of moss would grow on the roof, looking green and ghostly, making them look even more like mushrooms.

The village had stone paths, drainage ditches on both sides, and rainwater poured down with a splash.

However, the village was very lively today.

The fox led Lin Jue, but Lin Jue walked very slowly, and from time to time he could hear the discussions of the local villagers.

"Woof!"

"No rush." Lin Jue said, "Besides, you don't sound like one at all."

"Woof~"

The fox turned its head to lick the wet fur on its body.

Scattered, stopping here for a moment, listening there for a while, Lin Jue knew why the village was lively today.

Two reasons—

One was that someone in the village passed away yesterday. During the funeral, everyone went to pay their respects, but a girl at the end of the village actually went too. This girl had always been poor and had no relatives or connections with that family, but she gave a whole piece of gold as soon as she made a move, and during the whole process, she didn't say a word, didn't sit down to eat, but gave the gift money, took two bowls of meat, and left, which was very strange.

After all, it was a funeral, and all who came were guests, so there was no reason to refuse guests. Although the family felt something was wrong and even suspected the gold was fake, they did not question it in public.

And because they were busy, seeing her take the bowl and leave, they did not stop her.

As a result, they discovered in the evening that the gold was actually real.

That family had always been kind to others and had a high reputation in the village, and their hearts were also good. Early this morning, they took the gold and went to find the girl in the rain, guessing that she did not know the preciousness of the gold, so they wanted to return some to her so that she could live a better life, but they discovered that she had not gone to their place at all that day, but had been working at a rich person's house in the village.

"Oh my, how could such a thing happen..."

"Everyone in the village says that it must be because Grandpa Zhayue did good deeds all his life. At such an old age, he should have enjoyed happiness, but he was accidentally beaten to death by that heaven-damned person. Even the gods couldn't stand it, so they specifically turned into Pumei's appearance to send gold to his family!"

"Really or fake?"

"It must be true! Taking a bowl of fish and a bowl of meat, aren't they all offerings to the gods?"

"Oh my..."

There was often a small courtyard or an open space in front of these mushroom houses, which could be used for drying grain. At this time, the rain stopped for a while, and women were sitting on the open space on small wooden stools chatting. The pear tree beside the house was blooming with snow-white flowers, embellishing the bluestone road and this quiet mountain village.

Lin Jue stood under the tree, seemingly enjoying the flowers.

A white dog stood in the middle of the road in front, turning its head and staring at him with a serious face, as if urging him to hurry up with its gaze, not hearing at all that the women were talking about it.

Or perhaps it heard it, but pretended not to.

Or perhaps it was not interested, so it did not care.

How could a fox's thoughts be the same as a human's? And how could humans understand a fox's thoughts?

After listening for a long time, Lin Jue then took a step.

In addition, there was another matter.

Two unfilial people appeared in the village.

These were two brothers.

Both were addicted to gambling, extremely lazy, and also rogue and combative, stealing chickens and dogs, fighting and brawling all day long, bullying men and women, and being arrogant to their neighbors. The money in their home had been stolen by them, and any object worth a little money, like tables, chairs, and benches, had been taken to be sold. By comparison, when they were young, they had some restraint, but the older they got, the more arrogant they became, making their old father and mother have nothing to eat and go hungry at home. Driving their old father and mother out of the house late at night was a common occurrence. In the current era that emphasizes filial piety, in a mountain village, they undoubtedly became objects of everyone's spurning. There was no one in the ten miles and eight villages who had not heard of them.

After their reputation stank, they did not change, but instead became even worse. Not long after the beginning of this year, their old father and mother were even starved to death at home by them.

The villagers could not stand it, but they did not dare to provoke them.

Finally, they invited an old man who was respected by everyone in the village and could barely be considered their uncle to go and persuade them, but they did not expect that they would accidentally beat him to death.

That was the family Fuyao went to pay respects to yesterday.

By a twist of fate, they gave compensation to a good person.

In short, the matter became even bigger.

Everyone in the village cursed, saying that the two brothers would be struck by lightning.

There was indeed a rumor here—

People who are unfilial and kill their fathers and mothers will be struck by lightning. It is said that there were indeed people who were struck by lightning before.

After the two brothers did such a thing, they were also a bit terrified. It happened that the weather changed last night, so the older brother hid in the cellar. Only the younger brother did not believe it, feeling that the rumor was just made up by people to fool others. As a result, at the fifth watch, the heavens struck five thunderbolts in a row, shattering the roof and beating him to death on the bed.

The two events were connected and both were coincidences.

This morning, in a small village, everyone was talking about these two things, used to warn themselves and also to educate future generations to be filial and kind.

No one knew that the protagonist of one of the events, at this time, had turned into a white dog, standing on the side of the road scratching an itch, hearing their conversation, but acting as if he had not heard it, indifferent.

Those villagers also acted as if they could not see them.

"Was it that cloud from yesterday?"

Lin Jue muttered to himself, not expecting that there would be such an unexpected harvest from coming out.

This cloud was exactly to his liking! ===== CHAPTER 492 =====