Chapter 42: Day 42 of Retirement, You son of a bitch, come out and die! ...
The water at the bottom of the reservoir became particularly turbid. Drifting water plants, plankton, and gravel flowed along the water and hit Sang Qiqi's face. Dozens of fish wrapped in pure black resentment opened their mouths, revealing their sharp teeth, and surrounded Sang Qiqi, trying to eat her flesh.
Sang Qiqi didn't even blink, raised her hand, grabbed the fish that was close to her face and squeezed it hard.
Phew.
The fish's body exploded like a balloon filled with air, and the resentful evil spirit hidden within it was dispersed in an instant.
The other fish weren't deterred by this truly brutal sight. Instead, they frantically swung their tails closer to Sang Qiqi. Sang Qiqi looked at the fishy smell on her fingers with disgust. She scooped up a handful of floating waterweed and rubbed them vigorously, briefly wiping off the red and white flesh. With a flick of her finger, a ghostly aura, even richer and purer than the fish itself, emanated. It transformed into an ugly yet enormous shark, opening its maw and swallowing all the surrounding fish in one gulp.
Without the obstacle, Sang Qiqi immediately quickened her pace in chasing the ghost energy in front of her.
The water ghost sensed the aura behind him, and turning back to see the classic scene of the big fish devouring the smaller one, he shuddered with fear and ran even faster. He gritted his teeth, filled with regret. If he had known earlier, he shouldn't have attacked the corpse retriever, or he wouldn't have provoked the woman behind him.
But he really couldn't swallow that breath.
After he dragged the child named Zhang Lin into the water, he deliberately revealed his true form before Zhang Lin. Though still a teenager, he understood what he needed to know, and of course, he guessed that the eerie, black shadow before him was no good. He struggled with terror, hoping to rely on his superb swimming skills to swim upwards. The water ghost, seeing through his intentions, maliciously bound his legs tightly and returned to him. He watched his anger and fear turn to weakness, watched the waving hand gradually cease, his face flushing red, and finally, unable to hold it back, the murky lake water poured in, mouthful by mouthful, until he was filled to the brim and died.
The water ghost has done this kind of thing many times. What he loves most is the despair of a drowning person struggling but realizing that he is powerless and can only wait to die.
This would make him burst out with extreme joy, the pleasure would surge and spread from every part of his body, and he would want to scream to vent.
But this joy was completely dashed when the body retriever fished Zhang Lin out while he was away and discovered several more human bones nearby. Children from nearby villages, warned by their teachers and parents, dared not approach the reservoir. Even if they had access, they would stay a hundred meters away from the shore.
The water ghost lay on the duckweed on the water for nearly half a month, but he couldn't pull anyone into the water again. He was irritated and his rationality began to fade away with his anger. Finally, when he saw Yanyan leading a group of friends to the mountain to pick mushrooms, he could no longer bear it.
He waited quietly, and when he saw Yanyan approaching, he climbed out of the water to the shore without hesitation, and coaxed Yanyan to get closer to the shore little by little.
Ten-year-olds like these were simple-minded and naive. To bewitch them, perhaps all it took was a lollipop and a few sweet words. Even using the demon's own resentment wouldn't take much effort. In the blink of an eye, Yanyan, like a soulless doll, stiffened and walked towards him.
When Yanyan approached the river bank, the water ghost's evil spirit came into play. He urged Yanyan to look back and showed a weird smile.
It scared a bunch of kids.
Afterwards, Yanyan jumped into the water and he had one more toy.
To be honest, this toy is far less interesting than Zhang Lin. Zhang Lin can swim, and his struggle when he realized he was drowning was much more intense than Yan Yan, who can't swim. His facial expressions also changed more, making him more interesting to watch.
But it has been pulled down, so even if it is boring, I have to endure it.
After watching Yanyan's death, the water ghost slowly lay beside the rescuers' boat, watching them confidently jump into the water like dumplings, only to return empty-handed. Later, he heard the rescuers whispering about asking Cheng Heyi to come back.
He recognized Cheng Heyi.
Cheng Heyi is the corpse retriever.
The water ghost's eyes lit up little by little.
Cheng Heyi fished out all the toys he had saved and brought them back to shore. He had to teach Cheng Heyi a lesson. Even if no one approached the reservoir after Cheng Heyi's incident, it didn't matter. The bank was long anyway, and villagers had to walk near the reservoir to enter the mountains. At worst, he could just put in a little more effort and trick people down.
Thinking of this, he couldn't wait for Cheng Heyi's arrival.
The next morning, Cheng Heyi finally arrived.
He used Yanyan's corpse to trick Cheng Heyi, and without hesitation, he dragged Cheng Heyi to the bottom of the water.
He wanted to see Cheng Heyi's body explode bit by bit due to the water pressure, just like fireworks!
However, what the water ghost didn't expect was that his wish was not fulfilled. Just when Cheng Heyi was about to fall into a coma, the woman who looked even easier to bully than Cheng Heyi appeared!
The water ghost recalled the excitement of capturing Cheng Heyi yesterday and the terror of seeing Sang Qiqi. He gritted his teeth and fled even faster. But Sang Qiqi's speed was not to be underestimated, and she held him tightly. With a ruthless heart, the water ghost suddenly transformed into black energy and slipped into the body of a water snake in front of him, squeezing through the narrow crevice of the rocks.
Of course Sang Qiqi couldn't squeeze through, so she kicked the two stones and they broke into pieces.
Water ghost: “…”
The water ghost gritted his teeth and continued running, possessing certain aquatic creatures in the reservoir time and time again. Every time he broke free from the creature's body, the fish and snakes would instantly lose their breath and sway with the current to the bottom of the water.
Sang Qiqi looked at the dark shadow in front of her, turned her head to glance behind her, and slowly narrowed her eyes.
Who knows how many years this water ghost had been dead in the water? His speed was so outrageous it could have been set in the underworld and applied for a Guinness World Record for a 10,000-meter swimming record for evil spirits. She was so focused on chasing him that she didn't notice she was probably 180,000 meters away from the shore.
This ghost...did he deliberately lure her here?
Isn't a normal escape route supposed to be S-shaped? Run towards the fork in the road? What sane ghost would run straight? Even if he possessed a large fish and then a snake, he was only creating distance between them. It was still a clear message to her: I'm here, come and catch me!
After this puzzling thought arose in her mind, Sang Qiqi became more cautious, but her speed did not slow down at all.
More than ten minutes later.
The water ghost looked at the exposed island in the middle of the lake in front of him, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
This island, nestled in the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir near Xizhao Gorge, has a strange appearance. From the outside, it resembles a giant crab lying sideways, but the crab's body is hollow. Only eight legs extend to the bottom of the lake, like pillars connecting the island to the lakebed. A more imaginative person might think it's less an island and more like an underwater prison.
Sang Qiqi has such a strange idea at the moment.
And when she saw the water ghost dive under the island in the middle of the lake at an extremely tricky angle, the strange feeling in her heart became even deeper.
There are obviously so many large gaps under the island in the middle of the lake, but why did the water ghost insist on squeezing into the gap between the third and fourth pillars and the small stone in the lower right corner?
Is there any explanation?
Sang Qiqi calmly approached the crevice in the stone. As soon as she arrived, an extremely terrifying aura came out and hit her face directly like a strong wind in a rainstorm, and knocked her body over.
After rolling in the water twice, Sang Qiqi had question marks in her head.
Strange, why is there such strong resentment here?
While he was hesitating, the water ghost that had already crawled in actually crawled out half of its body without fear of death.
He revealed his true face in front of Sang Qiqi. His face had been gnawed like a sesame seed cake, and his eyes were filled with malice. Seeing Sang Qiqi being overturned, he knew that she would definitely not be able to approach the island to capture him. He decisively and arrogantly taunted: "Don't you want to catch me? Come if you have the guts. You can't catch me today, and you can't catch me tomorrow either. Unless you stay here every moment, otherwise, the moment you leave, I will drag the nearby villagers into the water!"
He wasn't just swearing, he really meant it.
As for the turmoil such revenge might spark, it wasn't his concern. He only knew that Sang Qiqi was one of the most powerful figures he'd encountered in recent years. The Taoist priests who occasionally appeared near the reservoir didn't give him the same level of oppression as Sang Qiqi, but so what? Wasn't even that powerful Sang Qiqi trapped outside the island in the middle of the lake, unable to do anything to him?
Seeing that he was so excited that his ghostly aura was floating all over his body, Sang Qiqi pursed her lips and said, "Are you provoking me?"
Good, very good.
If she doesn’t kill you, you bastard, she won’t be called Sang Qiqi.
Sang Qiqi looked at him deeply and smiled sweetly: "You wait."
She threw down these words, turned around and headed towards the lake.
The water ghost, who had initially thought Sang Qiqi was capable of something, flinched subconsciously when she saw her seemingly crazy smile and threats. But the next second, he saw Sang Qiqi leave the lake without hesitation and head towards the top of his head, and he immediately snorted with laughter.
I really thought she was capable of something! But she just ran away.
The water ghost's eyes scanned the area on the left and then the area on the right like a radar. Although he didn't see Sang Qiqi's figure again, just in case, he finally decided to retract his head and hide under the island in the middle of the lake, which was like a prison.
On the other side, Sang Qiqi quickly emerged from the water.
Uncle Jiang, Xiao Hou, and the other members of the rescue team watched helplessly as Sang Qiqi and Cheng Heyi entered the water together. After Cheng Heyi's catastrophic accident yesterday, everyone felt incredibly uneasy as they entered the water, fearing a repeat of the previous incident. But just as everyone's hearts were pounding, pacing back and forth, unable to calm down, Cheng Heyi emerged first.
She took off her diving goggles, looked at the location of the ship, and waved to them from a distance.
The rescue team members on the boat immediately rushed over.
As they approached, the rescue team leader couldn't wait to ask, "How's it going, Miss Cheng? Did you find it?"
Cheng Heyi nodded: "I got it, please give me a hand."
The tense mood of the rescue team members finally relaxed a bit. After exhaling a breath, they put on gloves and carefully reached out to carry Cheng Heyi's body onto the boat. Although Yanyan's body was swollen and eaten by fish, it was no longer human and looked particularly horrible, but the rescue team members were not afraid at all. They just pursed their lips and sighed, "Finally, we can go home."
After climbing onto the boat, Cheng Heyi found a white cloth placed aside and covered Yanyan's body. When he heard the words of the rescue team members, he didn't say anything, but only responded in a low voice.
A few minutes later, the boat returned to shore.
Yanyan's parents rushed over impatiently. When they lifted the white cloth and saw their daughter's body, their long-suppressed emotions erupted. A middle-aged woman, whose hair had turned white overnight, lay on top of Yanyan, crying until her tears dried up, begging her to wake up quickly. Her husband, eyes filled with regret and tears streaming silently, stood by her side.
This scene was so tragic that Uncle Jiang and the others only took a quick look before looking away, turning their heads and taking a deep breath.
It was unknown how long it took, but the wailing gradually subsided. Yanyan's father hugged his wife who was almost fainted and stood up. He asked relatives to help support him, while he propped up his stiff knees, bent down, and grabbed the white cloth with trembling fingers to wrap his daughter's body. He staggered towards home, one step deep and one step shallow.
Uncle Jiang and Xiao Hou were standing at the side. He tilted his head to look at Xiao Hou, whose eyes were red from being infected by the atmosphere. He patted his shoulder firmly and said in a hoarse voice, "Let's go."
Xiao Hou hummed, and just as he took a step, he suddenly froze.
He turned his head, his gaze darting back and forth among the rescue team behind him. After three full circles, he finally couldn't help but let out a startled, almost screaming, "Where's Miss Sang?!"
After these words were spoken, the rescue team members and Uncle Jiang who were packing up their belongings and preparing to leave were stunned. They looked left and right and gasped.
Finally, the focus was on Cheng Heyi.
Right! Where's Sang Qiqi?!
They saw Sang Qiqi and Cheng Heyi go into the water together, so why did only Cheng Heyi come out?!
Cheng Heyi, who was being stared at by everyone, said: "..."
She had originally thought that everyone's attention was focused on Yanyan's family, and that it was a good thing that no one noticed Sang Qiqi's disappearance. However, things did not go as planned, and Xiao Hou actually noticed Sang Qiqi's disappearance at the last moment.
Cheng Heyi, who had rarely lied since childhood, didn't know what to say for a moment. After holding it in for a while, she was about to speak when she caught a glimpse of a figure surging on the water. She made a quick decision and pointed at the water: "It's over there."
Everyone turned their eyes and saw Sang Qiqi with some water plants in her hair, swimming towards her like a fish.
The rescue team leader said: "...Ms. Sang is a pretty fast swimmer."
Rescue team member: "It seems that holding your breath underwater is also very impressive. When I was waiting for news about Miss Cheng, I kept staring at the surface and didn't see her come up for air."
Cheng Heyi thought, not only that, she was also fighting a water ghost underwater.
Seeing the 'missing' Sang Qiqi's figure, Xiao Hou's tense body relaxed again, and the rescue team also picked up their equipment and left together.
Cheng Heyi stayed where he was, waiting for Sang Qiqi to climb ashore. Seeing her soaking wet, he thoughtfully handed her a towel. Sang Qiqi took the towel, wiped her face twice, then covered her head with it and rubbed it casually.
Her beautiful black hair was rubbed into a mess, and Cheng Heyi felt sorry for her.
Looking away, Cheng Heyi, afraid that he would not be able to help but grab the towel to help, asked, "Is it solved?"
"without."
A somewhat unexpected answer.
Cheng Heyi frowned, thinking of the extraordinary strength of the water ghost Mingxin mentioned, and asked with some concern: "Is that water ghost very powerful? What should we do now?"
Sang Qiqi pulled her hair again and said frankly, "The water ghost isn't very powerful, but he runs pretty fast and has a trump card."
As for this trump card——
"Maybe we should call Taoist Master Mingxin and ask him what his ancestor did here."
-
After Yanyan's incident, everyone except the rescue workers had been banned from approaching the reservoir by all villages. Even if the water ghost wanted to drag people into the water, it would be unable to find them. Therefore, the current situation became less urgent.
Sang Qiqi followed Cheng Heyi back to the hotel in town, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and then contacted Mingxin.
Mingxin was surprised when Cheng Heyi repeated that the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir was actually related to Liuyun Temple a hundred years ago. He said immediately, "When I joined the Taoist temple, my master had already passed away. And this happened a hundred years ago, so I really don't know. But I can ask my master for help, or find someone to look at the documents and records of Liuyun Temple."
Sang Qiqi and Cheng Heyi naturally did not refuse.
Although Mingxin was busy with other things, he was quick and immediately called the Taoist temple. When Taiwei Sanren heard what Mingxin was asking about, he frowned and said in an old voice, "Are you talking about the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir?"
Hearing Taiwei Sanren's tone, Mingxin's mind was as clear as a mirror. He knew that his master must know something. Without hesitation, he hummed and said, "Boss Sang said that there is an island deep in the reservoir. There is a lot of resentment in the island, and there are suspected Taoist formations on the island. I want to confirm whether it is related to our Liuyun Temple."
Taiwei Sanren frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "I've indeed heard of this matter. My master once passed by Wuyan Village and discovered that people in nearby villages were offering living people as sacrifices to the so-called river god. Countless children were thrown into the lake, and their fate was ruined. The resentment almost covered the entire surface of the lake. If he had arrived a little later, the resentment transformed from those children would probably have wiped out several nearby villages."
However, there seems to be a divine will.
The master came to Wuyanzhuang, noticed the huge problems there, and provided some help.
...provided some help?
After hearing this, Mingxin keenly perceived the hidden meaning behind Taiwei Sanren's words.
Providing some help does not completely solve the problem?
Without waiting for him to ask, Taiwei Sanren spoke frankly, "I don't know the specifics. I only know that although the lake in Wuyan Village was later successfully built into a reservoir, your master always went there from time to time. After your master passed away, the work was handed over to your uncle. However, in recent years, your uncle has been in seclusion, so he handed the matter over to Yunsheng."
Clouds rising?
Mingxin frowned, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes, but he quickly hid it, but his words were still sarcastic: "I'm afraid Yunsheng didn't take his uncle's instructions seriously."
Taiwei Sanren was silent, then said, "I will ask Yunsheng."
-
Liuyun Temple in Jiashan Prefecture.
Yunsheng, who was fortune-telling with a guest in a Taoist temple, was called away by a young Taoist priest in the temple. When he heard the words "The temple master is looking for you", he was full of suspicion.
Although Taiwei Sanren is the abbot of Liuyun Temple, he has not been in charge of affairs in recent years.
Of his disciples, one was about to take over his management of the temple, another assisted him, and one, Mingxin, whom he disliked the most, had used the excuse of traveling to do some sort of livestreaming and short videos. He acted like an internet celebrity, completely lowering the profile of their temple.
But Taiwei Sanren had no objection to this.
Thinking of this, Yunsheng couldn't help but curl his lips.
Entering the monastery, Yunsheng saw an elderly man sitting on a mat in meditation with his back to him. He bowed and took the initiative to speak, "Master, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Taiwei Sanren asked, "I heard from my junior brother that the matter of the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir was handed over to you."
Wuyanzhuang Reservoir?
As soon as Yunsheng heard these five words, his expression froze.
Why would the abbot mention the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir for no apparent reason? While his master had indeed mentioned the Wuyanzhuang Reservoir to him before his retreat, he'd visited it several times and found nothing amiss. He couldn't understand why the reservoir was so important to watch. Liuyun Temple was at least a six-hour flight from Wuyanzhuang, and the drive to get there required several more hours, which was exhausting.
After going back and forth several times, Yunsheng completely forgot about Wuyanzhuang Reservoir.
Now the Master mentioned...
Yunsheng's eyes flashed, and he tried to answer calmly: "Yes."
Taiwei Sanren: "Tell me everything your master said when he told you this."
Yunsheng astutely sensed that Taiwei Sanren didn't seem to be looking for trouble with him, but was simply interested in Wuyan Village. His slightly tense heart slowly settled, and he repeated what his master had said: "The Wuyan Village reservoir was once filled with resentment. Fortunately, thanks to our master's protection, although an accident prevented his soul from being sent to the underworld for reincarnation, he still set up a formation to protect the peace of the nearby villages."
Wuyanzhuang.
Sang Qiqi sat on the chair, listening to Mingxin's reply, and thought to herself that it was indeed so.
At first, she heard that the master of Liuyun Temple in Jiashan Prefecture had been here and had successfully built a reservoir. She naturally thought that the old Taoist priest had sent all the ghosts to the underworld for reincarnation, but she didn't expect that they were only sealed on the island in the middle of the lake.
No wonder the island looks so much like a prison. There is so much resentment inside that it can blow people away.
...As for the water ghost, it probably only appeared in the past two years.
Mingxin noticed Sang Qiqi's silence and knew she was lost in thought, so he didn't interrupt her. After a long while, he said, "The formations at Liuyun Temple are never passed on to outsiders. If you want to break them safely, you'll need to ask someone from our temple to come over. My master is already on his way to Wuyan Manor and will probably arrive tonight."
"Okay, I'll wait for your master to come."
After hanging up the phone, Sang Qiqi went to the underworld again.
The sun in Wuyanzhuang quickly disappeared into the mountains, and the orange sunset glow was gradually covered by darkness.
Taiwei Sanren, dressed in a black and gold Taoist robe, showed no sign of fatigue as he stood silently in the center of the lake. Sang Qiqi dived into the water again, appearing between the third and fourth pillars of the lake, followed by hundreds of ghost messengers holding pitch-black chains.
At the same time, the water ghost who was still hiding on the island in the middle of the lake was slowly calculating the time, thinking about when he could make another move.
Suddenly, the island in the middle of the lake above my head shook abruptly.
Then, Sang Qiqi's voice exploded in his ears like thunder: "You bastard, get out here and die!"
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