In truth, forget the county magistrate—for the average peasant living at the bottom of society in this era, even a lowly yamen runner could bring fear enough to crush them.

These were people who had spent their whole lives with their backs to the earth and their faces to the sun. So long as there was even the faintest hope of survival, they wouldn’t dare resist even the slightest authority.

Let alone now—when not just the usual loud, arrogant Yamen runners had arrived, but even the county magistrate of Xiangyang himself had come!

There were even rumors that some great official from the Xiangzhou Prefectural Office had come too. But these poor common folk didn’t even know what a »Prefect» was. Many of them had never even seen a magistrate before—just that alone was enough to scare them into silence.

«Uncle, what kind of official is a Prefect?»
«You brat, don’t ask things you shouldn’t! That’s a very big official!»
«Is he more powerful than the county magistrate?»
«Didn’t you see our county magistrate bending over in front of him? Of course he’s higher up! Heard he came all the way from Chang’an!»

In Li Family Village, families packed up whatever valuables and portable belongings they could carry and left their homes, following the directions of Yamen runners to head up the nearby hills.

Every household also had to provide one able-bodied man to help patrol and reinforce the river embankment, led by local elders.

At first, the villagers were pale with fear, thinking the officials were here once again to squeeze them dry. But not long after, rumors started spreading—the Prefect was kind-hearted and had foreseen a disaster coming to Li Family Village in a few days, and was now urging them to evacuate in advance.

The moment they heard this, people panicked even more.

Only the presence of Yamen runners—armed with cudgels and long knives—maintaining order kept things from spiraling into chaos.

For a time, the hillside was filled with the shouts of men, the wails of women, and the cries of children, all blending into one chaotic din.

Up on the hill, Pei Xiu stood with hands behind his back, brows furrowed as he watched the scene of villagers evacuating below.

Temporary straw shelters had already been set up on the hillside—this would be the place where the villagers would stay for the coming days.

Though the mysterious young immortal had only given a simple warning—»The earth dragon will stir, the embankment will collapse»—Pei Xiu didn’t dare treat it lightly.

Seeing that Li Family Village sat right at the foot of the mountain, he couldn’t help but recall the mountain collapse he had witnessed on the road to his appointment after being stopped by Xuan Yuan  .

If, by any chance, the earth dragon’s movement led to a landslide, and the villagers didn’t evacuate in time—the crashing rocks alone would kill them, whether or not their houses collapsed. There would be no survivors.

Noticing the tension among the people, Pei Xiu asked:

«How is the congee distribution preparation going?»

«The county granary’s grain is already en route. The relief kitchen should open by evening.»

One of his attendants stepped forward and reported. Pei Xiu nodded in satisfaction.

By sunset, the grain from the government storehouse in the city finally arrived at Li Family Village. When the villagers saw that even porridge kitchens were being set up, their long-held fear began to ease.

Soon, the women busied themselves cooking porridge while the men climbed the embankment to help fortify it.

The idea that the Prefect could predict natural disasters still sounded like a rumor to most, but since the official orders had been given, no one dared argue.

After all, free porridge was still free porridge—even if there wasn’t a flood, this alone was worth it.

From the day Pei Xiu took office, heavy snow had fallen. But for several days after, the weather had remained clear.

That was, until the very day Xuan Yuan had foretold.

On that day, the skies darkened—and rain began to fall.

It started with black clouds pressing low over the city. Then came a few scattered raindrops. Then, all at once—a torrential downpour.

Pei Xiu had visited Li Family Village every day for the past few days. He said little, but his consistent presence made sure that the lower officials didn’t dare slack off. Whatever complaints they might’ve had, they swallowed them and kept working.

As for bullying the villagers—that didn’t happen.

Li Family Village was one of the largest around Xiangyang City. And the Prefect’s own registrar was a native son of the village. The yamen runners didn’t have the guts to make trouble here—many of them even had relatives in the village.

«This rain is intense… too strange.»

Standing on the slope, Pei Xiu let his subordinates hold an umbrella for him as he looked up at the misty veil of rain that now seemed to stretch across the whole world.

An elder from the village shook his head and sighed:

«In past winters, we’d get heavy snow but barely a drop of rain. These years though—rain and snow keep taking turns.»

The rain grew heavier and heavier. Outside of the temporary shelters—where torches still burned—everything else was swallowed in pitch-black darkness.

This era had no street lamps. With the rain blotting out the moonlight, nightfall brought complete darkness.

It felt as though everyone could sense something approaching. In the straw shelters, the hundreds of villagers sat huddled, their faces filled with dread.

Then, at exactly the sixth ke of the Xu hour (around 8:30 PM)…

The ground began to tremble.

«The earth dragon is stirring! The earth dragon is stirring!»

No one knew who screamed it first, but soon, children’s cries and adults’ shouts mixed into a chaotic storm of panic.

Some collapsed to the ground, trembling violently. Others clung to the earth and dared not move.

The silent earth came alive—twisting, heaving, crushing pressure pressing on everyone’s chest, making it hard to breathe.

Pei Xiu’s face turned pale in an instant. His pupils trembled. Clutching his goatee, he whispered in disbelief:

«It’s really… happening…!»

«Lord Prefect, look out!»

«Protect the Prefect!»

«Out of the way!!»

Shoving aside the Yamen runners trying to shield him, Pei Xiu stepped forward, forcing himself to stand firm through the shaking.

Eyes wide, he stared toward the embankment beside Li Family Village.

In the days prior, he had already gathered able-bodied villagers to reinforce the vulnerable sections. Though the darkness now made visibility poor, he could still hear the relentless pounding of river water against the embankment.

Then—

Woooo… Wooooooo…!

RUMMMMMMMBLEEEEEEE—!!!

A strange, unsettling sound broke through the rain.

«What is that noise!?»

«A monster! A monster!»

«Look! Look!! It’s a zǒu jiāo! It’s a mud dragon!»

Someone happened to glance down toward the village from the hillside—and saw it.

From the mountain behind the village, something massive was roaring, tumbling, and surging downward.

In this era, landslides were called »zǒu shān» (mountain-walkers).
But»zǒu jiāo« (dragon-walkers)… that referred to mudslides.

The torrential rain had been a brewing danger since noon. Now, combined with the earth dragon’s movement, it triggered a catastrophic mudslide.

Mud, melting snow, trees, boulders—all of it fused into a deadly, roaring torrent, crashing down the mountain.

In the horrified eyes of the Li Family villagers, it took barely a moment to swallow several entire homes.

A woman suddenly collapsed into tears, her voice filled with grief and despair:

«My home! AHHHHHHH—!!»