At night, the moon is dim and the stars are sparse.
By the peaceful 'Goddess Lake', a young woman in an ankle-length cloth skirt was walking from the fine sandy land towards the lake.
As she paced, she threw the distinct black and white chess pieces behind her and at her sides. Looking down from above, a mysterious circular pattern appeared.
The young man sitting in the car in the distance, looking out of the window, tried to open his eyes wide:
"Boss, do you think there are really 'spiritual creatures' in 'Goddess Lake'?"
Ge Liaochan in the back row said, "Since Sangsang said there is, then there must be."
Suddenly, several members of the branch looked excited and yearning. "Oh, if it weren't for Coach Gu saying that the 'spiritual creature' has been secluded from the world for many years and too many people would probably offend it, I really wanted to go over and watch."
"Who says it's not true? I have never seen an animal spirit that can transform into a spirit in my life, let alone a 'spiritual creature'..."
Just as several members of the spirit group were chatting idly, a loud noise suddenly erupted from the lake in the distance, immediately attracting everyone's attention.
The originally calm "Goddess Lake" was like a grenade was thrown into it, the waves surged and blew the skirt of the slender woman on the shore into flying.
"What the hell?! Is the 'spiritual creature' born?"
"Where is it? Why can't I see anything?!"
According to the information collected by Ge Liaochan and other local spiritual group members, fishermen who have witnessed the "River God" in the water all said that the "River God" was very large.
Some say it is a giant fish-shaped creature that can ride the wind and waves;
Some also say that the 'River God' is a giant snake more than 20 meters long, which is about to cultivate and become a dragon.
In short, it is very mysterious.
Although Gu Zhisang was skeptical about these exaggerated folk rumors, she still set up a trick on the lake before performing the ritual.
Under the cover of the sleight of hand, no matter what happened on the "Goddess Lake" or how big the commotion was, the people on the shore and in the tall buildings in the distance could not notice it.
I just set it up casually, but I didn't expect it to come in handy.
At this time, Gu Zhisang stood in the center of the formation with a strange look on his face. He looked with a little surprise at the "spiritual creature" that was summoned from the water and caused such a big noise.
Silver-blue scales wrapped around its curved body shimmered like water waves in the moonlight.
With a short jade and a long tail, and twin pupils, the "spiritual creature" at first sight is indeed full of mystery and holiness——
The premise is that you have to ignore it, it is only a short distance above Gu Zhisang's knees.
Because it is so short and small, its amazing series of golden double pupils and gorgeous tail fin are not as eye-catching as its slightly short and round body.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas once recorded the auspicious beast in the water, the manta ray, which had a voice like a nightingale and colorful fins.
The spiritual creature in front of him, summoned by Gu Zhisang, looks a bit like the auspicious beast, the manta ray.
After being summoned, the 'spirit' raised its head and made clear chirping sounds.
The formation set up by Gu Zhisang was recorded during the ancient Xuanmen period.
In that era when immortals still existed and all living things flourished, formation masters took into account the differences in species when creating summoning formations, and built-in semantic conversions were very considerate.
However, as the way of heaven declined and the Xuanmen sect fell into decline, the "spiritual beings" between heaven and earth disappeared.
Firstly, there is no need for this, and secondly, the ancient formations are really too difficult, so modern formation masters have modified the summoning spell again and again, making it simpler and simpler.
The summoning arrays currently circulating in the metaphysical world can only summon ghosts and spirits.
The 'spiritual creature' in the formation raised its pupils and said: "Who are you? How dare a mere mortal disturb me?"
Gu Zhisang raised his eyebrows slightly.
It's very elegant and a little antique 'spiritual object'.
Little did they know that it was this 'spiritual creature' that felt the surging energy of the summoning array, and at the same time, felt the residual aura of the afternoon thunder lingering on the body of the person who set up the array;
It couldn't help but feel a little curious, how could there be such a mysterious master with such extraordinary means in the world today.
If not for this, it would never show up due to its proud spirit.
Gu Zhisang tactfully described the matter of the body in the water. Before she could finish, the "spirit creature" with silver scales and double pupils angrily slapped the sand with its tail fin and said in a bad tone:
"I know that the corpse is extremely stinking and ferocious. It has caused chaos in my habitat, with evil spirits running around. The food is smelly and rotten and hard to swallow. It is simply too much!"
It looked at Gu Zhisang and asked, "Are you in league with that dead creature?"
"No, please don't misunderstand me."
Gu Zhisang recounted Liu Chunxin's tragic experience and said sincerely:
"It was not its original intention to be trapped in the 'Goddess Lake'. It was murdered by the villains and suffered from the excruciating pain day and night. Now it has realized its mistakes and has taken the initiative to restrain its negative energy and resentment and wants to leave the bottom of the lake."
"I wonder if you could help me get it out of the water?"
After listening to her explanation, and thinking about the fact that the fish and shrimp in the lake water were indeed not so fishy in the past two days, the anger of the "spirit" subsided a little.
But when it heard Gu Zhisang asking it to touch the dirty, smelly corpse at the bottom of the lake, it felt somewhat disgusted and reluctant.
Just as the 'spiritual creature' was hesitating between refusing to touch the corpse and sending the guy who had taken over the nest away as soon as possible, Gu Zhisang suddenly spoke up:
"I see that your tail fin has an old injury, and there is also some rotten air and indigestible filth in your body. Why don't I help you get rid of these things first?"
Without waiting for the 'spirit' to refuse, she squatted down and stroked the 'spirit's' smooth, silvery, and sparkling back with her slender white palm.
The scales of this auspicious beast that has been in existence for nearly a thousand years feel extremely good, and are even smoother, brighter, and more lustrous than the finest gems.
Its already large golden pupils widened, with an angry and unbelievable look, "How dare you, mortals,...?"
After having its fins stroked twice, the auspicious beast narrowed its eyes and its arrogance dropped suddenly.
What kind of horrible method is this?
This person's abilities are truly cosmic and unfathomable!
Just two gentle strokes could actually make the "spiritual creature" inert and unable to resist! ?
Slowly, the auspicious beast with a long and soft body stood up, completely relaxed, its short claws spread out and its thin fleshy flesh opened and closed comfortably, like both a cat and a fish.
It let Gu Zhisang stroke its beautiful and colorful tail fin, and occasionally made a few whimpering sounds.
Gu Zhisang glanced at the auspicious beast that was flattened into a beast pancake, and his eyes fell on its intricate and gorgeous tail fin.
There was a long scar in the flesh there, and vaguely one could see a winding iron wire that had grown together with the tail fin and tail flesh of the auspicious beast.
In just a few minutes, Gu Zhisang had already figured out the details of this lake spirit.
He seems to be very powerful, but apart from being able to bless the "Goddess Lake" with abundant aquatic products, his actual ability is very average.
Its scales may seem hard, but its skin can be easily broken by the iron hooks of fishing boats. It is a fragile "spiritual creature" that cannot even heal itself after being injured by human fishing gear.
Of course, it is also related to the fact that its claws are too short to reach the wound on its tail.
"Hold on."
Gu Zhisang spoke in a calm tone, but his fingertips directly pinched the bulge of the iron net that had grown together with the tail fin. With one force, he pulled out the net thread. The auspicious beast was in so much pain that it almost jumped up on the spot like a fish pressed on a chopping board.
Misty water instantly gathered in its pupils. It looked at the wound on its tail, and then looked at Gu Zhisang with a little more fear in its eyes, as if it was looking at a cold-blooded butcher.
Soon, Gu Zhisang used his soul power to nourish the wound. It felt less painful and instead felt a little grateful.
The wound on the tail was there decades ago.
At that time, the city's main source of income was fishing. Fishermen on the lakeside fished heavily. Several times, it sank to the bottom of the lake and was almost caught by the fishermen's nets and brought to land.
At that time, it was still a "naive" child, and didn't know about fishing nets and baits. When it saw the sweet meat hanging on the sharp fishing hook, it went up to eat it. As a result, its tail was injured and it was stuck in the net.
As it struggled desperately to break through the fishing net, its tail was cut deeply by a broken wire and sank into its flesh, which its claws could not reach.
There was only one way to get the wire out, which was to increase its size and force the iron net to burst with flesh and blood, but it was timid and extremely afraid of pain, so it didn't dare to do so.
Later, the wire grew together with the tail and it could no longer change its shape.
The young master in front of it looked ruthless, but he was actually helping it.
After Gu Zhisang used his energetic palm to rub its resilient belly, the auspicious beast felt the foul air in its stomach surging.
Its stomach contracted twice, and its body, which seemed only as big as a basketball, suddenly "wowed" and vomited out a lot of things that didn't smell very good. The things were many times bigger than its body, like a small garbage mountain.
Soft plastic bottles and bags, tattered clothes that could not be digested, half-rotten slippers, and even several children's toys...
These are all industrial waste abandoned by humans on the lakeside.
A cloud of pitch-black gas evaporated and dissipated into the air.
The auspicious beast was extremely ashamed and angry, feeling that it had lost face.
These were things it thought it could eat when it was swimming in the lake, but it couldn't digest them at all. It felt a bit uncomfortable having them piled up in its stomach for so many years, but it couldn't spit them out.
Anyway, it doesn't have much impact on it, so it just ignores it.
As for the foul air, it is the decayed air produced by the garbage and some of the negative energy and resentment absorbed by it.
After all these filthy things were cleared away, the auspicious beast felt as if it were reborn.
它扭扭捏捏和顾之桑说了声‘谢谢’。
顾之桑又道：“如果您帮忙把刘纯欣的尸体带上来，灵组会为您准备好丰盛的贡品，牛羊等鲜肉。”
听到贡品，瑞兽的重瞳彻底亮了，一摆鳞尾‘勉为其难’地同意了顾之桑的请求，去往水下取尸。
瑞兽重新下水后，顾之桑给仡辽蝉打了个电话，让她准备贡品。
闻言仡辽蝉还愣了一下，而后道：“我马上叫人准备。”
几分钟后，沉寂平静的湖面下似有波澜。
月光照射在湖面上，隐约勾勒出湖面之下的一片巨大暗影。
身长十数米，体宽同样是数米，沉闷而空灵的低吟在水下震开。
顾之桑似有所感，抬起头望了眼湖面。
原来那些目击的老渔民真的没有说谎。
水中真的有巨大生灵，只是几十年前就因为受伤，再也没有现过原形了。
仡辽蝉连夜安排人去附近的养殖场拉了两车刚处理完、准备凌晨投入批发市场的新鲜家畜，把车子停靠在了岸边。
等旁人走远了，岸边的水下才又冒出一颗银色的、圆滚滚的脑袋，眨着重瞳盯着那两辆车，“是予的贡品吗？”
顾之桑点点头。
她没有询问刘纯欣的尸体如何，因为她已经看到了湖心的位置静静飘着的躯体。
低头时她看到瑞兽的两只尖锐璞爪都受了伤。
要知道其水下原型可远没有现在那么袖珍、脆弱，足以说明它刚刚也并不轻松。
它舔了舔爪子，毫不在意地抱着一块鲜肉，张开布满利齿的嘴心满意足啃了起来。
之所以用这些家畜来**它，是顾之桑灵光一现，想到了当时那个同样尸体消失的大娘，是在神婆以牛羊肉投湖献祭后，才飘上来的。
她看到瑞兽之后有种感觉，之前那次和它有关。
询问之后也的确如此。
瑞兽一边啃一边不屑道：
“予才不食人、也不在水下作祟呢，更不稀罕那些臭哄哄的尸体，都是水鬼所为。予也不知道那些愚钝的凡人为什么时不时要拿同类填湖祭祀，还要把这些罪责加怪于予，简直不知所谓！”
过去湖边的人总有愚昧的想法，觉得一旦遇上什么水灾、旱灾，就是‘河神’生气了。
后来就算风调雨顺的年岁里，也要挑出一两个人来填湖，美曰其名他们是罪人。
实际上那时候‘祭河神’已经成了有些人树立威望、排除异己的手段了。
瑞兽心中不屑，从不接近岸上的人类。
前不久那次它实在是饿了馋了，水底下的生物被刘纯欣的尸体搞得又酸又臭，它根本下不了口。
眼瞧着岸上的人类投下了鲜肉祭品，它因口腹之欲没保持住身为瑞兽的尊严，去和湖底的水鬼大打出手，把那具尸体抢了过来丢上水面了。
它一边吃一边用尾鳍拍打湖面，又看看远处往岸边漂的尸体：“给你捞上来了。”
瑞兽哼了一声：“予向来说到做到。”
——
将刘纯欣的尸体从‘神女湖’边带到灵组时，这段并不算长的路程，却上所有负责运送的组员提心吊胆、手心冒汗。
因为车厢里放置着一具阴煞冲天的鬼尸！
到了灵组部门后，众人小心翼翼将尸体移到了贴满符箓的特殊停尸房，严阵以待。
只见冷冰冰的铁台上，尸体双目紧闭、被泡得有些发胀。
但相比于其他死了数月、保存环境还极端恶劣的尸体来说，它完全算是完整。
要不是尸体残缺、被鱼蟹啃食得坑坑洼洼，说它的血肉质感像活人也是可信的。
它的胸口有一个凹陷的大洞，一根人类小臂长的血红色钉子贯穿尸体萎缩发黑的心脏，那里也是怨气最为肆虐的地方。
在开了灵觉的人眼中，一个魂魄凝实而强大的阴魂，就站在尸体旁边，面色复杂阴气森森。
仡辽蝉和总部赶来的人隔着监控看着，都有些胆怵，尤其新来的玄师。
顾之桑通知他们此处出现了接近‘鬼将’级别的大鬼时，总部许多人是不相信的，觉得她在危言耸听。
他们怎么也没想到顾之桑甚至说得较为谨慎。
这玄师再三确认：“真的不用采取任何措施吗？这可是‘鬼将’，一旦它要是跑出去整个城市都完了！”
仡辽.顾之桑死忠.蝉非常平静：
“桑桑说了刘纯欣没有要为祸人间的念头，它自愿去地府领罚受‘业火’。”
“再说了就算它真有心扰乱人间安宁，咱们在座的除了桑桑谁拦得住它？早在运输的过程人就连人带车被掀了。”
那玄师哑口无言，竟找不到任何反驳的话。
一个小时后，顾之桑面带疲惫，手中拿着三张下笔如龙的符箓走到了停尸房外。
“待会儿我会把那些‘噬魂钉’□□，此物连‘灵物’都能伤到，你们保管时务必小心，沿着三个月前那个玄师查一定能查出些东西。”
没错，那枚血钉根本就不是什么镇压魂魄、让其安息的‘镇魂钉’。
与之相反这是一种用人尸、毒虫、童男女的鲜血等种种养煞养阴之物，炼制而成的尸钉，是中阴损毒辣的害人手段。
寻常‘噬魂钉’钉入逝者尸体后，会使其魂魄在地狱中也能感觉到锥痛。
若是祖宗父辈在地底下都不得安宁了，那祖宅的运势也就破了，子孙后代都会受到种种影响，甚至气运被破。
钉在刘纯欣身体里的‘噬魂钉’更是凶器中的上品，也并不是为了谋害它的亲人后代，单单就是让它无法超脱、怨气越来越重直至变成失去理智的‘鬼将’。
背后的推手所做的一切，就是想在‘神女湖’中养出大凶之物！
'噬魂钉’被顾之桑□□的那一刻，刘纯欣的尸体瞬间从富有弹性、变得愈发干瘪。
尸斑爬上躯体的皮肤，散发出阵阵恶臭。
但在一旁默默旁观的阴魂脸上，却露出了如释负重的神情。
它摸了摸不再剧痛难忍的魂体胸口，朝着顾之桑的方向深深鞠躬，以此致谢。
紧接着它便自愿进入了顾之桑提前准备好的符箓中，等待着被送往地府。
看到阴魂消失后，所有的灵组之人才狠狠松了口气。
总部来的人在顾之桑出来后，满脸激动地和她握了手，“顾指导我真不知道该说什么，您拯救了整个城市的老百姓，要不是您恐怕此处就要遭殃了！”
顾之桑：“没有，我就是尽力而为，能把自己接的委托圆满完成就行。”
总部之人心里想道：这哪里是圆满完成，是超常完成还做了地狱难度的附加题！
“您的委托报酬我们已经打到了卡上。”
顾之桑点点头，表示自己看到了。
比当时小程序上显示的数额还翻了三倍。
而现在小程序上关于“神女湖沉尸案”的委托显示已经完成，变成了可以查看的底案，等级也从“危险”变成了“地狱危险”。
结案没到半个小时，查看人数就超百了。
这些全国各地的灵组成员一开始只是好奇顾之桑这个空降的指导、想从底案中看看她到底有什么厉害的。
结果一点开发现难度等级，好奇心更被提起。
不少组员开始还觉得是总部太夸张了，什么样的案子能达到“地狱”难度？
可当他们看到‘清理全城怨气’、‘超渡鬼将级大鬼’后：？！！
众人先是茫然、怀疑人生。
确定总部不是在开玩笑，底案上都是顾之桑的实绩后，直接炸锅了。
他们不仅把这件事迅速推广、告知自己的同组好友，还开始在小程序下面的评论区发疯，搞起了竞争：
'我承认是我见识短孤陋寡闻，最开始看到顾大佬的实绩时还产生了怀疑，我没别的愿望就想和顾大佬共事，感受一下大佬的气魄也行啊，现在转户籍去容城可以吗？’
'咱就不一样了，顾指导缺徒弟吗？脑袋或许不太灵光但绝对认真的那种。’
'不求徒弟，顾指导缺平时帮忙处理生活小事的助理吗？’
'……’
顾之桑并不知道小程序上展开的新一轮竞选，她将‘噬魂钉’用符箓封好、确保不会泄露阴煞之气后，交给了小心翼翼的总部的人，脑海中还在思索。
尽管暂时没在这桩案件中发现‘黑雾’的痕迹，但顾之桑可以确定的是：
一定和其有关。
直到“神女湖沉尸案”尘埃落定后，她才又顿悟了些东西。
冥冥中她有种感觉：
那‘黑雾’不仅仅在针对她，而是在着手更大的阴谋。
就在这时，总部来的玄师搓着手、有些不好意思道：“顾指导，此案之后我们才意识到自己的知识储备和玄学能力都太薄弱了，不知道能不能请您给我们开一期座谈会指导一番？您要是不想来回跑，线上也可以。”
顾之桑愣了一下，考虑之后说道：“线上的可以，但明后天不太行，我要去录制新的节目了。”
This afternoon, when she was setting up the summoning formation by the lake, she was bombarded with calls from her assistant Xiao Zhou.
The other person on the other end of the phone was crying, saying that he had been missing for almost a week, which made the other party very worried.
Xiao Zhou said with resentment: "Sister Sangsang, the "Spiritual Matters" program team has sent the script and recording location for the seventh episode. If you don't get the things on hand done, you will miss the program recording!"
The live broadcast of the program will start early the day after tomorrow, so Gu Zhisang directly bought a flight ticket from Hunan Province to the destination tomorrow, and he really has no time to hold any symposium.
The people at the headquarters did not give up. They made an appointment with her for the time after the seventh episode, and then left contentedly with the "Soul-Eating Nail" that was locked in several layers of safes.
Because she was leaving tomorrow, Ge Liaochan felt lost and took her back to the Miao village to hold a farewell party for her.
Gu Zhisang drank some and was relatively clear-headed, but Ge Liaochan was already staggering, holding her arm and crying, saying that he was reluctant to let her go.
In the past, Gu Zhisang would drink a little, but because her physique was too good, she could never get drunk. After coming to this world, in this not-so-strong body, she felt a little drunk for the first time in a long time.
After returning to the B&B, she opened the script for the seventh episode of the show.
After scanning them all, she saw the final list of contestants for the show.
There are only five people.
Gu Zhisang then remembered that she had been busy with the "Shennü Lake" case almost all week and had not paid attention to the news on the Internet.
Another person was eliminated in the last episode.
The top five candidates have been announced, but the one who was eliminated took her by surprise.