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Chapter 172 Let's Have Some Fun

The vehicle moved, truly moved.

Ma Tianzheng watched wide-eyed as the sunshade opened wider and wider, and the vehicle picked up speed.

Does it really run faster the brighter the sun shines?

They're lying to me; this must be a trick!

Ma Tianzheng roared, "Pull it shut!"

It was a completely nonsensical command, yet the new drivers, who had often been fiercely ordered by Zheng Daniu to "pull it shut" during their training, had developed a conditioned reflex. The moment they heard "pull it shut," regardless of who yelled it, they swiftly yanked the sunshade closed.

The vehicle's power immediately dwindled, gliding purely on inertia before finally coming to a stop.

The driver controlling the steering wheel looked back. "Hey, what was that about?"

The driver in charge of the sunshade said sheepishly, "This Daoist suddenly shouted to pull it shut. I thought it was Daniu yelling, so I just did it."

All eyes turned to Ma Tianzheng.

Ma Tianzheng, however, still had his head out the window, craning his neck back to gaze at the sunshade on the roof, his face a mask of shock and disbelief. "It's true! When the sunshade is closed, it can't move. It really is like that."

"Outsiders just lack experience," the villagers muttered, shaking their heads.

It used to be that outsiders saw them as ignorant; now, they were the ones who saw outsiders as ignorant.

The driver reopened the sunshade, and the vehicle started moving again, continuing down the cement road.

Before long, Wangjia Village appeared.

The villagers hopped off the vehicle, ready to begin their work. The two drivers waved to them. "We'll be back to pick you up in two hours."

The villagers waved back. "Alright, two hours is plenty!"

The vehicle spun around on a large, circular cement platform, turning back. Ma Tianzheng remained foolishly seated inside.

One of the villagers asked, "Daoist Priest, aren't you getting off?"

Ma Tianzheng pointed at the lush, fertile land outside, the wild grass sprouting everywhere around the village, the trees with tender new leaves, and asked with astonishment, "What is happening with your village? Why is it so vibrantly green?"

The two villagers chuckled. "That's because the Heavenly Lord invited the Dragon King, who brought rain to our village."

"The Dragon King?"

Ma Tianzheng was startled. He hadn't even fully recovered from seeing the Rooster Star Official, and now another Dragon King?

They're lying to me! They must be lying to me!

The two drivers leaned in conspiratorially. "The Saintess said that the Dragon King wasn't really willing to bring rain here, but the Heavenly Lord grabbed the Dragon King by the neck with one hand and brought it to our village to make it rain. The Dragon King didn't dare to resist at all; it was like a small snake in the Heavenly Lord's hand, obediently following orders. Ah, it's a shame none of us can see it, only the Saintess can witness the Heavenly Lord's divine manifestations."

Ma Tianzheng thought: They're lying to me! They must be lying to me!

"Hey, Daoist Priest, if you don't get off, we're heading back to Gao Family Village."

Ma Tianzheng asked, "May this humble Daoist continue to ride your vehicle to Gao Family Village?"

"Of course!" The two new drivers grinned. "Hold on tight, and don't stick your head out the window again. You made us drive so carefully, terrified that a roadside tree would knock your head off."

Ma Tianzheng retracted his head, no longer craning his neck; it was starting to ache quite a bit, and his neck muscles were struggling.

The vehicle completed its turn and headed back towards Gao Family Village.

Ma Tianzheng's mind drifted, unable to focus, filled with chaotic thoughts.

He had studied the Dao since childhood, for over forty years, yet he had never witnessed a divine manifestation. In his youth, his Daoist faith had been firm, but as he aged, he grew increasingly doubtful of the existence of deities. But today...

Today! His Daoist faith! That long-lost faith was being rekindled!

The vehicle quickly approached Gao Family Village. The driver at the wheel chuckled. "Look, Dragon King! Daoist Priest, you're lucky. The Heavenly Lord has captured the Dragon King to bring rain again."

This statement startled Ma Tianzheng, snapping him out of his reverie. He poked his head out the window and looked up at the sky ahead. A low-lying cloud hung directly over Gao Family Village's farmlands, and a massive dragon head emerged from the cloud, opening its gaping maw to spray a continuous mist of rain below...

"There really is a Dragon King!"

Ma Tianzheng roared, "There truly is a Dragon King! This humble Daoist saw it, saw it with my own eyes! Forty years, a full forty years!"

He continued to shout, then burst into tears. "My Daoist heart had begun to waver. This humble Daoist almost stopped believing that deities truly exist. In the quiet of midnight, in my dreams, I often doubted everything I had learned throughout my life, on the verge of becoming a blasphemous secular man. Finally... finally, this humble Daoist has beheld a divine face!"

At that moment, Li Daoxuan was happily slurping a bowl of Hechuan lamb noodle soup. When it rained, his field of view was necessarily fixed on that location, as he couldn't make it rain where he wasn't looking.

Just as he slurped a super-long noodle into his mouth, he saw the solar bus return. Then, a Daoist wearing a Daoist robe, holding a whisk, suddenly jumped out of the vehicle and began to wail, running towards the area where it was raining.

"Huh?"

Li Daoxuan murmured, "Another new arrival, and a Daoist at that."

In truth, many scholars in the Ming Dynasty enjoyed wearing Daoist robes, so someone in such attire wasn't necessarily a Daoist. But this individual was different from a scholar: not only was he wearing a Daoist robe, but also multi-tabbed hemp sandals, his hair was tied in a Daoist topknot, he held a whisk, and on his back was a tattered Eight Trigrams symbol. Oh, and he carried a three-foot long sword with a gleaming blade. This clearly identified him as a Daoist, and a wandering one at that, the kind whose footprints covered every corner of the land.

Normally, when a new arrival appeared, Li Daoxuan wouldn't immediately interact with them. He'd observe first, slowly discerning their character and traits before deciding whether to perform a "divine manifestation."

But with a Daoist, the situation was different.

Heh, this profession!

What happens when a charlatan meets a true deity?

Li Daoxuan's playful spirit immediately surged. He had to have some fun with this one.

Seeing the Daoist about to run directly under the "Dragon King," Li Daoxuan suddenly switched off the medical nebulizer and pulled the dragon head out of the box.

Ma Tianzheng was running when the rain abruptly stopped, and the dragon head instantly withdrew into the clouds, vanishing without a trace.

"Eh?"

Ma Tianzheng froze. Why did the Dragon King leave the moment he arrived?

Li Daoxuan picked up a "Nezha" action figure from his toy shelf and swiftly lowered it into the box, pausing just after it entered, then sweeping it across the air...

Ma Tianzheng exclaimed, "Nezha, the Third Prince! Ahhh, he's flying so fast! So fast!"

Whoosh, Nezha, the Third Prince, flew a circle and disappeared, as Li Daoxuan pulled him out of the box.

Ma Tianzheng stood dumbfounded for a full five seconds, then suddenly had an epiphany. "The Dragon King saw Nezha coming, feared a beating, and so it fled."