"The situation is turning grim," one said.
"Hasn't it always been like this?" came the reply.
...
Eagles soar through the sky, fish dart in the shallow waters,...
Yang Qinglan gently shook her head: "Each of these four forces is almost identical to mine."
"So many experts." Li Changzhou couldn't help but ponder.
These people are probably all here to compete for the qualification to become immortals. There are four of them at once, and there are many more who haven't made a move yet.
"What is your mission? I am 'transcending tribulation to become an immortal'," Li Changzhou briefly explained his mission.
“Me too. Let’s not talk about that now. Didn’t you say it was going to snow?” Yang Qinglan cared more about Li Changzhou’s affairs than Li Changzhou himself.
At that moment, Shao Yuanjie's voice urging for snow to fall came from below the clouds.
"Didn't you say you couldn't get down? Let's run quickly." It's just that he didn't have any luggage, otherwise Li Changzhou would have already packed his belongings.
Ruyi tapped him on the head, and Yang Qinglan said, "I can't do it alone, but there are two of us. Yin and Yang are united, and with my understanding of nature and 'Fairy Ruyi,' we can wrest control of the water vapor from those four people."
"Oh, you mean—"
Before Li Changzhou could finish speaking, Yang Qinglan, without Ruyi's right hand, grabbed his collar and pulled him over.
Within a burst of multicolored light, the two merged into one.
The clouds, which had been rumbling with muffled thunder, suddenly burst forth with dozens of lightning bolts, like cracks in the sky or fireworks.
The lightning disappeared, and the world darkened. Even though everyone was mentally prepared, they were still shocked by the ensuing loud thunder and explosion.
But they all insisted on looking up and gazing.
"The clouds have turned black! Black!"
The deep white clouds gradually turned black.
On the Chongyu Altar, no, in the entire capital, every ordinary person who knew a little about the weather knew that this was a sign that it was going to snow.
Taoist priests like Shao Yuanjie, as well as practitioners both overt and covert, sensed the immense amount of water vapor associated with the five elements within the darkening clouds.
Has the Dragon King permitted the rain?
Is that kid one of the Dragon King's men?
As the thunder subsided, everyone held their breath and waited quietly. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, white snowflakes, like feathers, gently and gracefully drifted down from the sky.
"It's snowing! Your Majesty, it's snowing!" the eunuch shouted first.
"It's snowing! It's snowing!" More people cheered in a cathartic manner.
"Heaven has sent auspicious snow to our Great Ming Dynasty!"
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and in the blink of an eye, the world was covered in a vast expanse of white.
This snow should have fallen long ago, but the four great dragon kings held it back for who knows how long. Now it has suddenly fallen, and in the blink of an eye, it has turned people's hair white.
"Your Majesty, it's snowing." The eunuch said in a low voice with a congratulatory tone, while draping a cloak that he had somehow gotten his hands on over Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing stretched out his hand, and snowflakes fell on it, each snowflake carrying a slightly cool sensation.
"well!"
At this moment, all the civil and military officials, concubines, wives and daughters, Taoist priests, imperial guards, eunuchs and palace maids under the altar knelt down in a dense mass.
"Your Majesty, we, your humble servants, offer our congratulations!"
The sound shook the surrounding area.
Above the clouds, the chaotic serpent collapsed and shrank, and Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan stood side by side, their robes fluttering, like a pair of immortals.
Looking at the crowd below worshipping the Jiajing Emperor, even a great master like Shao Yuanjie had to kneel in obeisance, Li Changzhou sighed, "Only by absorbing such a grandeur can one become an immortal."
He suddenly remembered something else: "How do foreigners become immortals?"
“I don’t know,” Yang Qinglan replied. “But I do know that the world’s population at that time was about 400 million, and about a quarter of them were under the rule of Jiajing. Even if foreigners could become immortals, their chances would not be higher than ours.”
Li Changzhou laughed and said, "Perhaps foreigners will come to the Ming Dynasty to try and become immortals."
"Like Persian beauties?" Yang Qinglan looked at him.
"Perhaps there are also Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England, France, and Germany. Oh, and the Japanese should be the most numerous, since Zheng Chenggong's mother was Japanese."