Chapter 4

When I saw this scene, I knew something was wrong. This thing must be the water ghost that my grandfather told me about!

Water ghosts are ghosts transformed from people who died accidentally from drowning. They are extremely resentful and have great power in water. They will lure people into the water and drown them.

I hurriedly took out the feather stone from around my neck, placed it in my palm, and clasped my hands together.

But it was my first time using a feather-hair stone, and I was nervous. The moment I looked into its eyes, I felt its eyes were filled with infinite temptation. I felt like I had lost my soul, and my hands loosened, letting the feather-hair stone fall from my hands.

The mountains on both sides of the reservoir are like the fangs of evil spirits, and the black reservoir in front of me is like a bloody mouth that wants to swallow me.

Facing the reservoir, I completely lost control of my body and walked towards the edge of the dam step by step.

Then jump into the water from the dam.

The deep muddy water drowned me. I couldn't swim to begin with, and I panicked immediately. I waved my arms around and struggled in the water.

The muddy water squeezed every inch of my body from all sides, and the feeling was extremely oppressive. I was almost suffocating and couldn't breathe at all.

At this moment, a purple-blue creature emerged from the water. It was the water ghost I had just seen on the shore. It smiled strangely and swam towards me from below, grabbing my ankle tightly with its bloody hands.

I kicked my legs hard, trying to get rid of it, but it was no use. As I moved vigorously, the feeling of suffocation became more intense, and I felt like I was suffocating to death.

Seeing me struggling, even though I was in the water, I could hear the water ghost's laughter, which was eerie, sharp, piercing, and hissing.

I finally couldn't hold it anymore and opened my mouth to breathe, but the moment I opened my mouth, water poured into my lungs through my nose and mouth. Not only did I not breathe in air, but I choked on the water.

The violent coughing and suffocation made my consciousness gradually blurred.

I'm going to die soon.

Time passed minute by minute, and I saw my grandfather sitting kindly in the yard, smoking his pipe under a tree and telling me stories.

Why is my chest so hot?

I suddenly woke up with a start, and saw a bright white light in front of my eyes. When the white light faded, the scene returned to normal.

Everything that happened just now was an illusion created by it, the purpose of which was to lure me into the water.

I was standing on the edge of the dam at that moment, with one foot in the air. If I stepped down, I would fall into the reservoir.

I was so scared that I quickly stepped back and sat down on the dam, my back covered in sweat. I gasped for air, and the feeling of suffocation in the water gradually disappeared.

Seeing that his plan had failed, the water ghost bared his teeth, roared angrily, and rushed towards me.

I quickly placed the feather stone in the palm of my hand, clasped my hands together, closed my eyes and recited the spell in the "Yin Fu Lu".

At this time, the feather stone flashed out of my hand, hung in the air, and emitted a soft light.

When the water ghost saw the feather stone, it pounced directly on it, but after touching it, it let out a shrill cry and wisps of black air emerged from its body.

The moment it touched the feather stone, I felt my strength diminishing.

Maybe it was because I had just started learning "Yin Fu Lu" and didn't know enough about the Yuhao Stone. I saw the light of the Yuhao Stone gradually dim, and finally returned to my neck, emitting a faint light.

The water ghost floated in the air, looking at me fiercely. Only then did I see its true appearance: it had no hair, its body was blue and purple, its eyes were black with no whites at all, its arms were longer than its legs, and its claws were long and thin, like dry vines. There were obvious bloodstains on its ankles, and blood was dripping.

It opened its mouth, revealing its sharp fangs.

But it should also be afraid of the feather stone on my body, otherwise it would have pounced on me long ago.

At this moment, I heard a burst of hurried footsteps and panicked shouts in the distance. I knew it was Grandpa and his friends coming, and I felt relieved.

The water ghost also heard the sound, looked at me unwillingly, and then jumped into the water. It slowly sank from the surface of the water, but its dark pupils kept staring at me.

I watched it slowly disappear into the water, leaving only ripples on the surface.

When my grandfather came over, I saw him running towards me anxiously, holding me in his arms and patting my back continuously.

I shook my head, but my whole body felt weak and I couldn't muster any strength.

"Hurry up and check on Brother Lei and Zhang Song." I reminded them.

Needless to say, someone was already looking for them. But it was already dark, so they could only use flashlights, which were very weak at the time, and the reservoir was quite large, so they searched the water surface for a long time but couldn't find them.

Their families began to panic, and a few brave ones took off their coats and were about to jump into the reservoir. Finally, a child with us shouted, "Grandpa Zhang, they are here!"

When the crowd heard this, they rushed over, and my grandfather and I followed.

Brother Lei and Zhang Song were lying on the shore at this time. Perhaps they were scared silly. No matter how people around them called out, they didn't respond and just stared straight at the sky.

My grandpa went up and gave each of them a big slap in the face.

Their pupils gradually became focused from being dilated. When they saw that they were surrounded by relatives, they burst into tears, apparently having been awakened by the shock.

Seeing that the man had woken up, everyone carried them back home. With this incident, Uncle Zhang's wedding banquet naturally ended early. Everyone gathered together and asked Brother Lei and Zhang Song what had happened.

They seemed to have not fully recovered yet. They just kept shaking their heads, their faces full of fear, tears streaming down their faces, and they couldn't speak.

Grandpa Gan knew that my grandfather knew about these things, so he said, "Brother, look at these two kids!"

My grandfather said, "It looks like he's been frightened. Get a good night's sleep tonight. Remember, an adult must be by your side, and keep the lights on. He should be able to recover in two or three days."

When everyone saw that they couldn't speak, they asked me what had happened.

I stammered and told him the whole story.

Zhang Song's father, with his full beard and a fierce look, said, "Is it the girl from Xue Meizi's family?"

Everyone turned their eyes to my uncle. He was silent for a moment and said, "Looks like we need to do a ritual. We can't go on like this. The reservoir has been turbulent for the past few years. Don't be impulsive. I'll go talk to her tomorrow. In the end, no matter what, this ritual must be done."

I don't know what they discussed afterwards, because my grandfather saw that it was getting late and the road was difficult to walk on, so he took me home. Along the way, I recounted what had just happened. Strangely, when I told my grandfather about it, I didn't feel as scared as I thought I would.

After this happened, I never went out during the May Day holiday. Maomao, on the other hand, came to play with me every day, and we planned to go to Xiaogangzi Village to watch the fun in a few days.

The annual circus in Xiaogangzi Village is about to begin. There are no entertainment activities in the village at night, so the circus seems very novel to people. Almost everyone in the nearby villages will go to watch it.

After May Day, school had to go back. Zhang Song took a few days off, and when he returned, he stopped teasing his classmates and stopped bullying Maomao.

He always lowered his head when he saw me, until one time, when there was no one in the classroom, he pulled me aside and said thank you to me.

It turned out that night, he saw that I was the one who attracted the water ghost, and he took advantage of that gap to pull Brother Lei ashore.

At that time, I felt that Zhang Song was not a bad person. Maybe he was just trying to attract everyone's attention by being annoying.