Right after midnight, a massive rumble shook the underground water pipes beneath Iron-Gate Border Market City.
BOOM-SPLASH!
The twenty-foot stone manhole cover of the central plaza well popped open, and a giant, gleaming blue-gold dragon head—wearing a bright red embroidered bib around his neck—poked up out of the steam!
It was Ao Ming, the ancient Flood Dragon who had lived under Dry-Well Village’s well for three thousand years and now served as Chief Plumbing & Heating Director of the entire Dry-Well Empire!
“Brrrr! Why is the rock so cold down here in the south?!” Ao Ming complained loudly, blowing a puff of warm golden dragon-fire out of his nostrils while holding a half-eaten leg of spicy roasted lamb in his front claw. “Little Pei! I followed the new underground water main all the way down from the capital like you asked, and the mountain bedrock here is frozen solid! My scales nearly got goosebumps!”
Around the plaza, thousands of newly arrived Wolf-Kin, Boar-Kin, Rock-Turtles, and Rabbit-Folk dropped their noodle bowls and fell flat on their stomachs in terror when they saw a real Rank 6 Peak (Half-Step Rank 7) Flood Dragon pop out of a sewer hole!
“A-a Divine Dragon?!” Wolf-Chief Cang Ya trembled so hard his green patrol cap nearly fell off his ears. “Sovereign Pei even has an ancient Flood Dragon working in his underground water pipes?!”
