The spirit of the Heavenly Snake enters and apologizes for the trouble that has befallen him. He says that he is a tool spirit and that he has been sealed in the lower part of the snake's hall. He wants to show his gratitude to the snake people by inviting them to the final test of their strength. The thunder cloud valley, he says, is the place where the "clear qi" of the universe went up to heaven and the "turbid qi" went down to earth. It is here that the "81 thunderbolts" that forged the strongest scales and bones of the "heavenly snake" ancestor were forged. The spirit tells the story of how many people looked up to the ancestor and how many of them were burned to ashes. He asks the snake to awaken his body so that he can tell the story.