Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

The girl, a demon, was afraid of Ling Ziling's identity as a Taoist priest, but what she said at this moment was even more intriguing. Following her meaningful gaze, she looked at the water, where a dark shadow was watching her intently.

Judging from the other party's reaction, Ling Ziling judged that she did not know the water ghost in the water, but after the surprise, she understood. She clearly did not know the water ghost that was following her, but she seemed to know the reason why she was being followed.

In short, it was very interesting.

"I was so busy running yesterday that I bumped into you. I'm so sorry..."

Ling Ziling held the other person's hand tightly and used yesterday's events as an excuse to pull them away. When the two girls returned to the edge of the boat, Ling Ziling clearly saw the dark shadow in the water sink.

Seeing that the girl being pulled was still a little nervous, Ling Ziling quickly comforted her.

"I'm just an ordinary cultivator passing by. I don't have much prejudice against demons, so don't worry, I won't do anything. Besides, this is on the river, which is your home turf, so there's no need to be so afraid."

The reassurance was effective. Seeing that Ling Zi Ling had no intention of arresting her under the guise of "exorcising demons," the girl in front of her gradually relaxed and revealed her name: Bai Qiulian.

Bai Qiulian's original form was probably some kind of fish in the river. She said that she lived with her mother and had no intention of harming anyone, but the water ghost that was watching her might not be so. To ease the atmosphere, Ling Ziling tentatively asked her if she knew why the water ghost was following her.

Upon hearing this, Bai Qiulian hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the room where Mu Changong recited poetry not far away. Just as Ling Ziling had said, she was only going to the boat to take a look, but the water ghosts in the water might be different.

What if that guy suddenly decides to capture a few mortals? After thinking it over, Bai Qiulian decided to voice her suspicions about the water ghost's stalking.

"They probably... want to capture me and offer me to the Dragon King of the River to ask for a reward."

Another unexpected answer.

"The Dragon King of this river is lustful. Some people, in order to please the Dragon King, stare at pretty girls and force them to come and offer themselves to him. My magic power is weak, but my mother's cultivation is quite good, so no one dares to touch me. Only these past few days have I come out on my own. That water ghost is probably trying to take advantage of the situation."

Bai Qiulian has the identity of a river singer. Occasionally, she and her mother would appear on the water in a small boat. However, as monsters in the river, the mother and daughter mainly lived underwater. The two of them usually appeared together. Those with ill intentions were afraid of Bai's mother's magic and dared not make a move against Bai Qiulian.

But these past few days, she has been running away alone to listen to Mu Changong recite poems, without her mother by her side. That water ghost probably wants to follow her and ambush her.

With this connection, Ling Ziling immediately understood that yesterday's "car accident" was not entirely an accident. The water ghost was swimming around the boat and looking for Bai Qiulian who had boarded the boat. However, Ling Ziling happened to see this action and eventually chased after the water ghost to find Bai Qiulian listening to poetry outside the window of Mu Chan Palace.

"I just dealt with someone who tried to harm my cousin, and now I've run into someone trying to abduct a woman. Why is the world of you monsters so unsettling... Oh, no, given my living environment, I probably have no right to comment."

Ling Ziling rested her chin on her hand and couldn't help but sigh, saying that when it comes to the turmoil of the world, Ku Jing is no less so, and perhaps even more turbulent.

But then again, why are all the people she encounters morally corrupt? She did say she wanted to slay demons and uphold justice, but she didn't have to be so cooperative. She's willing to watch some common, formulaic stories occasionally.

After sighing, Ling Ziling stretched out a hand to calculate, and sure enough, the water ghost was still there.

"Miss Bai, you should stay on the boat. It's flooding now and we might get ambushed."

According to Bai Qiulian, she overheard Mu Changong reciting poetry by accident in the water. She didn't tell her mother for several days afterward, because if there really was an ambush in the water, Bai Qiulian alone would be in big trouble.

It's not that the spirit can't be dealt with, but it's daytime now, the water ghost won't come ashore, and there's more than just the Mu family's merchant ship here. If she uses her magic in the water, it will definitely cause waves and affect the progress of surrounding ships.

That being said, if she throws lightning into the river to kill water ghosts, wouldn't that be considered electrofishing?

In short, for the safety of both those on and under the water, Ling Ziling planned to have Bai Qiulian stay on the boat until the boat stopped for the night, when the water ghosts would come up and be caught easily.

Bai Qiulian was very obedient to this, or rather, she was happy to stay on the boat and continue to listen to him recite poetry from outside the window of Mu Chan Palace.

This appearance actually makes her seem more fond of poetry than of people, but Bai Qiulian's expression and eyes clearly show her affection for the people in the room. Ling Ziling, who was watching the water from the side, turned around and saw Bai Qiulian like this, and suddenly remembered a question.

Bai Qiulian only addressed Mu Changong as "Young Master," a term she used when Ling Ziling asked her why she was there. Moreover, she was merely standing guard outside the window; the two had never formally met, and yesterday's incident could only be considered a brief encounter.

"Miss Bai, do you know what Young Master Mu's name is?"

Bai Qiulian was initially bewildered, as if she didn't understand. Ling Ziling remained silent and pointed to Mu Chan Palace, which was separated from them by a window. Then, Bai Qiulian finally realized that the "Young Master Mu" she was referring to was the person she loved inside, and honestly shook her head.

Ling Ziling: Wait a minute, you don't even know his last name? I called him yesterday.

Feeling that the situation was worse than she had imagined, Ling Ziling's expression turned serious, and she continued to ask questions.

"So what do you think of Young Master Mu's personality?"

Bai Qiulian shook her head.

"You've never seen this before, right?"

Bai Qiulian nodded.

"You are in love with Young Master Mu?"

Bai Qiulian nodded again, her eyes shining brightly.

But Ling Ziling's eyes couldn't light up anymore. After pressing her for details, she finally understood that Bai Qiulian had heard Mu Changong reciting poems and articles underwater, and thus fell in love with Mu Changong. She didn't know his identity, name, or personality.

"..."

Sister, are you awake?

Ling Ziling didn't understand, and she was deeply shocked. She felt that there was a reason why Bai Qiulian's mother always kept her daughter by her side, such as the fact that this girl seemed very likely to follow someone.

"...You continue, I'll go take a look elsewhere."

No, I can't stay by this window any longer. Anyway, Mu Chan Gong's character is alright, and the water ghost has run underwater. Letting Bai Qiu Lian stay here won't cause any problems. In fact, Ling Zi Ling feels like she's about to have a problem.

Even though the man and woman hadn't officially met yet, and were currently one inside and the other outside, just looking at Bai Qiulian's expression, she felt that she was even brighter than the innate masters when they appeared.

Feeling that if the lights kept getting any brighter, she would have to save on special effects in the future, Lingziling decided to move to another location to check out other places and clear out any possible tricks the water ghosts might be up to.

Water ghosts are mostly the souls of those who drowned or jumped into their own bodies. As long as they pull a living person down to be their substitute, they can be reincarnated. Although the water ghost in the water is currently focused on Bai Qiulian, what if it suddenly gets a whim and decides that it's better to be reincarnated than to grab a beautiful woman to ask the Dragon King for a reward? It would be troublesome if it randomly harmed someone to be its substitute.

"By the way, what kind of fish was Miss Bai originally in?"

After leaving, Ling Ziling thought of this matter again. Bai Qiulian only said that she was a fish that had transformed from water, without going into details about her origins. Ling Ziling also only conducted a simple investigation without digging deeper.

But she always felt that Bai Qiulian's aura was somewhat different from that of a simple fish demon. To be precise, it had a watery smell but no fishy smell. However, she could not rule out the possibility that the other party's transformation skills were high.

Thinking that such a classic combination should make the original story easy to find, Ling Ziling took out the cheat book that had previously looked up Huang Jiulang's story. Just as she was about to search, she heard the workers on the boat exclaim that there were many fishing nets on the water.

"How strange, where did all these fishing nets come from?"

"There are no fishermen nearby, so who threw this net out? And why is there seaweed in it?"

There were no fishermen nearby. The fishing nets, tangled with aquatic plants, looked very old, some even tattered, as if they had been carelessly torn away and thrown onto the water.

It's quite a strange sight to see so many fishing nets floating around tangled with various seaweed instead of being used for catching fish. Mu Changong's father heard the noise and came out to look at the water.

"Sir, there seems to be something in the net."

"Find someone to fish it out and take a look."

"Don't try to retrieve it!"

Ling Ziling quickly came over to stop them. The old and tattered fishing net did not look like it belonged to the fishermen nearby. It was tangled with the water plants in the deep water. It was clearly a broken net that had been abandoned in the water long ago and had been pulled out of the water plants and silt by someone with good intentions.

"Master Mu, there are water ghosts in the water. Don't let anyone get close to the surface."

She was entrusted by the Mu family to protect the ship and cargo, so she couldn't let anything happen to them under her nose. Only someone who lives in the water could pull out a fishing net that had been lying dormant for many years.

Upon hearing Ling Ziling's words, Master Mu was first shocked. He had witnessed Ling Ziling's abilities before, and it was he who had invited her. Now that she said there were water ghosts causing trouble in the water, he quickly recalled everyone who wanted to go down to retrieve the nets.

"Even if you see gold in the net, don't go down. The water ghosts have a lot of strength to pull people out of the water, and you won't be able to break free."

Looking at the increasing number of fishing nets on the water, there are currently only water plants and river mud inside, and nothing else has appeared yet. However, there are rumors that this place used to be a battlefield, and many souls have died in the water. Therefore, there are many water ghosts and monsters, and there must have been a lot of wealth that sank to the bottom of the water.

The numerous fishing nets hindered the boat's progress. If anyone went down out of curiosity, the living person would be dragged away by the water ghost. Bai Qiulian would have difficulty swimming in the water with the fishing nets, and might even be entangled by someone using the nets. This water ghost was clever enough not to suffer losses on either side.

"Is that dragon king in the river useless? Does he really not care at all?"

No, this is ultimately the fault of the Dragon King of the River. Because of his lust, a lot of people tried to please him with beautiful women, and even staged this arrest.

Wasn't there supposed to be a giant turtle in the river? The water ghost is causing this mess down there, and the turtle doesn't seem to mind? With this fishing net, the first to suffer are those swimming in the water.

The Mu family's merchant ship, seemingly possessed by spirits, warned that no one should go down to touch the fishing nets. However, the people on the other ships, unaware of the presence of water ghosts, had some brave swimmers tie ropes to themselves, intending to go down and try.

Ling Ziling saw it and was about to go over and stop the person. She could reach the distance of those ships in a few jumps without much effort, but it would cause some commotion. For example, she might be mistaken for a monster first.

However, she was stopped by a monk before she could jump. It seemed that he had been invited to protect the boat and cargo because of rumors about the river.

Seeing that someone had made a move, Ling Ziling stood back. She saw the monk glance in the direction of the Mu family's boat after stopping the people, and then go back to advise the others to stay away from the edge of the boat.

She's quite capable. In that case, there's no need to worry about the safety of the other ships. We can just focus on waiting for the water ghost to appear at night. With these fishing nets floating in the water, Bai Qiulian has changed her mind and can't leave even if she wants to.

Ling Ziling discussed with Master Mu how to deal with the water ghost that night. Ling Ziling was the main one to do the work, while Master Mu was responsible for making sure the people on the boat stayed hidden and didn't come out unnecessarily. The rest was just waiting for news.

Bai Qiulian also noticed something was wrong on the water's surface, and some fish had already gotten tangled in the net. Water ghosts were people who had died in the river and generally didn't have much affection for anything in the river. Naturally, they hadn't considered whether getting these fishing nets would harm the river's inhabitants.

"This can't go on. There's a giant turtle in the river. It's ferocious. If we disturb it, the waves it creates will capsize the boat."

Seeing the situation in the water, Bai Qiulian was also anxious. She was already thinking about how to inform her mother.

"So it was a soft-shelled turtle, not a common turtle... uh, wait, it could be considered a turtle too..."

Ling Ziling's focus wasn't on that. It was getting dark, and the boats were trying to dock as close to shore as possible. They would soon be able to wait for the water ghost to come up, and Ling Ziling assured him that he would definitely get what's coming to him.

What she was more concerned about now was the monk who had appeared on another merchant ship earlier. Not only did the monk know that it was water ghosts causing trouble, but upon closer inspection, he didn't seem to be human either. The non-human content on this river was quite high.

"Master, my father said..."

Mu Changong, ordered by his father, came to find Ling Ziling. He then saw Bai Qiulian, whom he had met yesterday, and momentarily forgot what he wanted to say. As soon as Bai Qiulian saw Mu Changong come out, she ran away again. Fortunately, the boat was big enough that she could temporarily avoid the water.

"Master, do you know that girl?"

"We just met today, what brings you here, Young Master Mu?"

Ling Ziling glanced in the direction Bai Qiulian ran off to, not knowing what to say. She had clearly climbed over the window, so why was she suddenly shy?

"Someone saw a dark shadow in the water. Do you think it might be a water ghost?"

"……I gonna go see."

Ling Ziling asked for directions and left. Mu Changong didn't follow. Instead, he looked in the direction Bai Qiulian had run off in. These past few days, when he was reciting poetry, he had felt someone lingering outside the window. It must be that young girl.

At this moment, Bai Qiulian emerged from her hiding place and came into Mu Changong's view. This time, the two officially met.

Ling easily found the place where she had seen the dark figure, because there was a group of people shouting there, making it hard not to notice them.

Several young people screamed in fear, while several experienced seniors lectured them. Ling Ziling bypassed the noise and carefully examined the surface of the water.

Now that it's dark, there's not much to see underwater. There's a bunch of fishing nets tangled in water plants, and fish that might be caught in them. With all sorts of distractions, ordinary people could easily mistake these things for water ghosts.

But there was indeed the aura of a water ghost around. Ling Ziling seemed to sense something and looked to the other side, where she saw a boy poking his head out of the water and waving at Ling Ziling on the boat.

"?"