Shen Dachuan, a woodcutter, discovers a white dragon that has been chained for three years by nine black iron chains in Crouching Dragon Pool on White Stone Mountain. The dragon is Ao Yunsheng, the second son of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. His own elder brother, Ao Yunhai, a black dragon, chained him there after years of resentment over their father’s favoritism. Every seven days, Ao Yunhai comes to take his blood and weaken him. To save the white dragon, Shen Dachuan walks twelve li of mountain paths overnight to find his family’s heirloom iron-cutting blade. He falls and injures himself and loses his firewood along the way. Then he carries a bellows and charcoal to the pool, builds a shelter, lights a fire, and burns through all nine chains.