Several days later the rain had indeed been delayed and reduced in quantity. Wei Zheng, the records officer of the Tang Court, was disturbed by the unusual rain pattern. He conducted an investigation and found that the dragon king had manipulated the weather pattern. Wei had the dragon king put on trial for causing a lot of suffering to the people due to water shortages. The dragon king was sentenced to death, which would be carried out at 3:00 pm three days after sentencing.

That night the dragon king appeared in Emperor Taizong's dream asking for help. He told the emperor about the whole affair and begged him to prevent Wei from carrying out the execution. The emperor promised him that he would stop his official from leaving the palace on the day of execution.

On the fateful day Emperor Taizong summoned Wei to the palace. To keep him there, the emperor proposed a game of chess.

As they happily played chess, just before 3:00 pm, Wei fell asleep on the chess table. Emperor Taizong did not wake him up and waited patiently as he snored away. The emperor was happy because he knew Wei would miss the appointed time for the execution. What he did not know was that Wei dreamt that he had rushed to Jinghe River to behead the dragon king.

That night, the headless ghost of the dragon king came to the emperor's chambers demanding the emperor return him his life. The ghost accused the emperor of breaking his promise. But the emperor told the ghost that he did not let Wei leave the palace that afternoon and that it was not possible that Wei had executed him. But the ghost insisted that he was executed at 3:00 pm as planned. The emperor then realized that Wei had probably executed the dragon king in his dream. But it was too late, and the dragon king was already dead.

Night after night the dragon king's ghost came to haunt the emperor, which made it impossible for the emperor to fall asleep. (Strangely, no one could hear the howling except Emperor Taizong.) Unable to stand the nightly disturbances, the emperor became very ill and not a single physician in the Court could cure him.

Upon hearing of the emperor's illness, two generals, Qin Shubao and Wei Chi Jingde, came to see him one night wearing full military uniforms. They told the emperor that they would stand on guard at the palace doors for him during the night.

That night the emperor did not hear any howling and assumed that the ghost feared the generals. Night after night the generals stood at the chamber doors and the ghost did not reappear. But since the emperor could not allow his generals to stay on guard every night, he ordered an artist to paint their portraits on his chamber doors. Eventually, the ghost disappeared and the emperor was cured.

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