Dragonkeeper

Ping and Danzi quickly leave Chang’an, and Ping is relieved to return to the countryside. She asks Danzi why anyone would want to hunt a dragon when there are so few left in the world. He explains that killing dragons is highly profitable and creates a craving for killing more dragons, so people are willing to wait years between kills just for the rush of the kill itself. He refuses to talk about his friendship with Wang, so Ping focuses on the beauty of the countryside and contemplates her latest lesson on the nature of good and evil: that in the city, some people get too hungry to be good.

Four days after leaving the city, the duo reaches the remote but beautiful village of Fengjing, and the villagers welcome them enthusiastically. Ping is excited at first but soon feels dread and suggests to Danzi that they leave, but he refuses to listen. When they enter a farmer’s home, they behold Diao, who immediately accuses Ping of being a sorceress. His declaration turns the village against her, and he promises to “protect” the village from these “demons” if they bind Danzi and Ping with iron restraints. The villagers eagerly comply, putting them in the pigsty under heavy guard.

Danzi, who is weakened by the iron, explains that Diao will want to keep him alive and then kill him in a city and sell his body parts while they are still fresh. He tells Ping that she must find a way to escape on her own. Ping struggles to produce a plan but eventually decides to pick the locks on Danzi’s chains with a bone. She manipulates a village boy into leaving a lantern close to the gate, then uses her pendant to unlatch the door. She sets up melon rinds filled with Wang’s explosive powder and manages to light it on fire. During the chaos, the villagers panic and beg her for forgiveness, and she and Danzi escape. However, Ping realizes that Diao has stolen the dragon’s stone.

Ping rushes away from the village, terrified of being caught, and Danzi blames her for the stone’s loss, insisting that they must return to retrieve it, since it is more valuable than anything else. Ping refuses, pointing out that Diao wants him more than the stone and will hunt them both regardless. As they camp, Danzi announces that his wing will heal in seven days, at which point they can fly to the ocean—as long as they recover the stone first.

Soon, they see two men approaching. Ping hides, and Danzi turns himself into a hoe. Two of the villagers find their camp and nearly touch Danzi, which would ruin his disguise, but they grow distracted by Ping’s footprints and run off into the woods. After this near-disaster, Danzi agrees that they must keep traveling, stone or no stone, so the two press on, keeping away from the main path.

Some days later, they pass by a group of villagers who are throwing iron implements into a lake. Danzi explains that they believe a dragon lives in the lake; they are trying to force him out to bring rain to relieve the drought. That night, Danzi asks for tea, and when Ping goes to fetch water at the lake, she sees the villagers about to throw a young girl into the water as a sacrifice for the dragon. The villagers catch Ping, and because she is a stranger, they decide to sacrifice her instead. They tie her up and toss her into the water, and she accepts her death, knowing that Danzi can’t hear her cries for help. As she drowns, she sees a dragon looming closer. When she regains consciousness, she finds Danzi pressing the water out of her lungs. He explains that he could see her at a great distance, even if he couldn’t hear her. She promises to listen to his advice more often.

Danzi makes tea and presents Ping with a cicada that he caught for Hua, but to Ping’s despair, the rat is nowhere to be found. Danzi reassures her that Hua will return, but Ping solemnly insists that the rat would be happier with other animals, not with someone who always puts him in danger. The next day, Ping remarks that the villagers will keep worshiping the lake and making sacrifices, but Danzi says that if he makes it rain for them, they will continue to sacrifice girls to ensure favorable weather in the future. While Danzi is not a water dragon, he still has the capability to control the weather if he flies high enough and spits on the cloud.

Ping goes to the villagers and tells them the dragon is angry with them for the sacrifices and wants them to plant their harvest, but they insist that there is no use in this plan without rain. This frustrates Ping, since the rain cannot help anything if the seeds are not planted. She convinces them that if they plant their fields, the rain will come, and she orders them to only sacrifice a roasted swallow to the dragon in the future. When she returns to Danzi, he is unsure whether his wing can sustain him long enough to fly up to the sky. He climbs up the nearby mountain, takes off at a run, and begins to ascend, but it takes him 30 minutes to disappear into the clouds. When the rain doesn’t come immediately, the angry villagers grab Ping to sacrifice her, but when the rain finally comes, they celebrate. Ping runs after Danzi, who descends from the sky. Unable to control his fall, he plunges into the lake. Ping waits by the lakeside for a while, contemplating her own loneliness, then goes back to their camp, where she stumbles over a damp, unconscious Danzi.

Ping manages to drag Danzi back to the cave and makes an herbal brew. She forces it down his throat, then takes meat and oranges from the shrine by the lake, reasoning that it was meant for Danzi anyway. He shows no sign of recovering, and Ping falls asleep.

When Ping wakes up, Danzi is faintly awake, and he praises her for her actions. Hua has also returned, delighting her. Less positively, however, Danzi’s wing is once more in tatters, and he refuses to let Ping use the ointment on him. He tells her to sew up his wing, which she does, and they sit back and enjoy the sight of the rain from their dry cave.

When they set out again, they go in the wrong direction, and Danzi explains that they now must take a boat on the Yellow River to reach the ocean by the end of summer. Ping, who was not aware of the time limit, is confused but accepts this, reasoning that taking a boat will be better than walking.

When they reach the port town, Ping is overwhelmed by how large and powerful the river is. Danzi sends her to find a boatman who will let them travel far eastward and will let Danzi have his quarters so that Danzi doesn’t have to stay in human form for the entire journey. She leaves Danzi hiding behind grain sacks, where a one-eyed orange cat joins him. Despite Ping’s efforts, none of the merchants listen, insisting she go to the passenger boats instead. Ping goes to the last remaining boat and finds that it is unburdened by cargo because the boatman is a woman dressed like the men. She quickly makes a deal with the woman, who offers to make them food for a bit of extra pay. They all set off over the water. Ping also discovers that the orange cat belongs to the woman and rides the boat with her.

Ping is afraid of sailing at first because she is terrified of falling into the water. As they sail, the boatwoman asks Ping to choose between three channels: the Gate of Men, the Gate of the Gods, and the Dragon Gate. Ping chooses the dragon gate, which the woman says is an excellent choice. She introduces herself as Jiang Bing. Her cat is fascinated by Ping, which Ping attributes to Hua’s presence within her clothes.

As the journey continues, Ping grows closer to Jiang Bing, who shares that she became a boatwoman after escaping service to her in-laws in the wake of her husband’s death. Jiang Bing does not make much money but is happier in her current situation. Despite Danzi’s earlier order never to tell anyone they are headed to the ocean, Ping tells Jiang Bing a half-truth, saying that her grandfather wants to see the ocean before he dies. Jiang Bing assures her that the river flows there, and Ping relaxes.