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The Taoist priest made a hand gesture and uttered a low shout.

The three copper coins were dropped into the water, but instead of sinking, they hovered in the shallow water, trembling slightly and emitting a low hum.

Three extremely fine, yet needle-sharp, golden rays of light appeared on the water's surface, instantly wrapping around the white-clad woman's neck and wrists, binding the ice sculpture like a red-hot iron!

The woman's figure suddenly stiffened, and for the first time, a terrifying expression, somewhere between pain and rage, contorted into her features.

The previous endless sobbing was choked off, leaving only intermittent hoarse sounds, dry and grating.

She struggled fiercely, and the golden light flickered erratically, making a soft creaking sound as if a rope was about to snap.

But the Taoist priest paid a heavy price; his face drained of all color in an instant.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his tattered Taoist robe.

He struggled to maintain that strange hand gesture, the veins on his arms bulging, his teeth clenched so tightly they cracked, and he could barely move, let alone speak.

"Quick! Now! Peach wood sword!" the Taoist priest forced out the command through gritted teeth.

The two men exchanged a glance. Although they were afraid, they gritted their teeth when they thought of the value of the package of "red goods".

"Let's give it our all!"

"Scum, die!"

The thin man picked up the dark red peach wood sword that the Taoist priest had stuck in the ground while performing a spell.

With his other hand tightly gripping the torch that provided limited light, he waded into the murky, icy shallow water, his steps uneven.

Raising his wooden sword high, he charged toward the temporarily bound white-clad water demon with a ferocious expression, the tip of his sword aimed straight at his heart!

Three steps, two steps...

The distance has been shortened!

The Water Demon seemed to sense a fatal threat, and its struggle suddenly intensified, causing the three golden lights binding it to emit a piercing scream as if it could not bear the strain.

The Taoist priest shuddered, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, yet he still roared with bloodshot eyes, managing to subdue the Taoist priest for a moment with sheer ferocity!

That's why the water demon didn't break free.

They were less than three steps away from the female ghost.

"call!"

Without warning, a black figure suddenly darted out from the reeds behind them, taking advantage of the darkness to arrive in the blink of an eye.

With a swift movement, a dark blade flashed, accompanied by a chilling whistling sound.

"Who?"

The Taoist priest was, after all, a seasoned veteran of the martial world. Although he was unable to move, the chilling aura he felt sent shivers down his spine.

He sensed the blade was coming towards him, and the killing intent was behind him!

A long-planned strike!

In a life-or-death situation, there's no time to maintain one's Taoist arts; preserving one's life is the top priority.

He abruptly withdrew his stance, forcibly severing the connection between his energy and the water elemental energy, and rolled to the side in a very disheveled state.

"call!"

A jet-black wood-chopping knife whistled through the air.

but!

It wasn't aimed at him at all; the blade was pointed directly at the short man holding the torch behind him!

Upon hearing the Taoist priest's exclamation, the short man instinctively turned around and thrust the torch in his hand forward.

A figure in black robes wearing a fox mask looked down from above. In the bright moonlight, the eerie fox face seemed to come alive, exuding a chilling aura.

"Pfft!"

That was the dull thud of a sharp blade piercing flesh.

With long-awaited killing intent, the machete precisely cleaved open his neck.

Blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining Chen Qian's black robe red.

The burning torch head was also severed with a single stroke, spinning and falling into the nearby puddle with sparks before being extinguished with a hiss.

The man didn't even have time to scream before his body slumped to the ground.

He died without ever knowing what happened.

The change happened so fast that no one had time to react.

But as the Taoist priest withdrew his spell, the white-robed water demon instantly broke free!

Before the skinny man at the front could even thrust out his peach wood sword, he saw the woman in front of him, who had been keeping her head down, suddenly raise her face, which was swollen and rotting from being soaked in water.

The sinister claws, carrying a foul stench, tore apart the face of the skinny man!

"Ah! Help! Taoist priest, save me..."

The piercing screams stopped abruptly as soon as they began.

A pale hand suddenly grabbed his ankle from the water.

A sharp tug!

The water was clearly only ankle-deep, not even reaching the calves.

But the man seemed to have stepped into a bottomless abyss, his body instantly lost its balance, and he fell to the ground with a "plop".

Not even a large splash was made.

A living person was dragged into that shallow puddle of water and disappeared without a trace, leaving only a few strings of desperate bubbles bubbling up.

The last stable light source went out.

The surroundings were plunged into complete darkness.

"hiss"

The Taoist priest, who had already rolled to the edge of the beach, gasped in shock.

Without the torch, he was enveloped in boundless darkness, and could only vaguely make out outlines, like a blind man.

But he could sense that a pair of eyes were watching him from the darkness.

"My friend!"

The Taoist priest clutched his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth; clearly, the backlash from the spell was severe.

"Impressive skills! I concede defeat! We have no past grudges or present animosity, but it's all for the sake of making money!"

As he moved backward by instinct, he shouted urgently in the direction where Chen Qian might be.

"Those two's belongings are yours! And the magical artifacts I possess are yours too! I only ask that you spare our lives! If we delay any longer, and that thing finishes digesting, none of us will escape!"

Chen Qian didn't answer at all.

Standing in the darkness, his Night Vision ability allowed him to see the Taoist priest's panicked state clearly.

Take advantage of his illness and kill him!

He didn't pause for a moment, and the machete in his hand was still dripping blood.

Even if I kill you, the things will still be mine.

Let the tiger return to the mountain?

This idiom has never been in my dictionary.

Under his keen observation, the resentment in the Taoist's eyes was as clear as day in his eyes.

"If you insist on killing me, then you won't get away with it either!"

There was no response from the darkness, only an increasingly approaching yet extremely dangerous sense of oppression.

He was both shocked and furious, knowing there was no room for maneuver, and prepared for a final, desperate fight.

He frantically tried to pinpoint Chen Qian's location in the darkness, but could only hear his own heavy breathing and heartbeat.

If he hadn't been injured by the water demon, Chen Qian might have been hesitant to confront him head-on. But now, no matter how many moves he made, they were all useless in front of Chen Qian.

With favorable timing, geographical advantage, and popular support, everything is within my grasp.

Chen Qian's approach was extremely simple: taking advantage of his movement skills and night vision, he swung his wood-chopping axe straight down!

"puff!"

The glint of the blade flashed and disappeared in the near-total darkness.

The Taoist priest only saw the fox mask so close to him by the faint moonlight when the blade was right in front of him, but it was too late!

Already severely injured, he was now in a state of shock and unable to dodge in time.

He was slashed across the waist with a machete, leaving a long, bloody gash, and fell to the ground screaming in agony.

"Ah!" The Taoist priest let out a mournful howl.

Unable to hold on any longer, he fell heavily into the cold, muddy water, splashing up a cloud of filth.

"Spare me! I have plenty of silver, take it all, take it all. Please let me go."

He struggled futilely in the mud, his face contorted with pain.

Just then.

"Gurgle..."

The water, so close yet so far, broke open silently.

The intense smell of blood thoroughly aroused the Water Demon.

The swollen, pale, and black-fingered ghost hand silently shot out once again from the dark water.

This time, its target was no longer singular; its venomous aura simultaneously locked onto the dying Taoist priest on the shore and Chen Qian, who stood with a knife in his hand!

It wanted to drag both of them down with it!

Although the Taoist priest couldn't see it, the sudden approach of that icy, bone-chilling yin energy made him instantly understand what was happening.

After despair comes utter madness.

Chen Qian reacted swiftly, giving him no chance to catch his breath, and slashed down with his sword again.

In a split second between life and death, the Taoist instinctively shifted slightly to the side, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.

The knife landed on his shoulder.

"You bastard! You'll come down here and be buried with me, Daoist Master!"

Despite the excruciating pain, the Taoist priest was instead provoked to unleash his final ferocity.

He lunged forward and grabbed Chen Qian's leg tightly, using his last bit of strength to drag him to the water's edge and perish together!

Caught off guard, I was pulled and stumbled.

Almost simultaneously, the cold, slippery ghost hand had already grabbed the Taoist's ankle.

A tremendous pulling force was applied!

The Taoist priest's body was half submerged in the water in an instant, but his fingers were still firmly gripping Chen Qian's calf, his nails almost breaking off, yet he refused to let go.

He saw another pale hand reaching towards his leg near the water.

A ruthless glint flashed in Chen Qian's eyes.

He gripped the knife in his backhand and, without any hesitation, slashed down hard at the Taoist's arm that was holding his calf!

"Snap!"

He chopped three times in quick succession!

Broken bones and torn tendons!

Warm liquid splashed onto his hands and legs in the darkness.

At the same time, a pale hand reached out to grab Chen Qian, its fingertips already touching his trouser leg.

hum!

On Chen Qian's chest, the candle-shaped mark flickered like a flame.

The once greedy ghost hand, upon touching Chen Qian's aura, seemed to have encountered something extremely filthy and disgusting.

It suddenly shrank back!

"Ah, no! I don't want to die."

"I don't want to die!"

"I"

Having lost his last tether, the Taoist priest with his severed hand let out a desperate howl.

"Thump."

He was instantly dragged into the ankle-deep water.

The water churned violently a few times, surging up large clumps of murky blood, before quickly returning to a near-dead calm, with only ripples spreading out slowly.

Chen Qian slumped onto the bank, leaning closer to the water, panting heavily.

Two severed hands, tightly embedded in the flesh, were still hanging from his calves.

In the middle of the river, the blurry head slowly emerged, its gray-white dead fish eyes staring at Chen Qian on the bank for a moment.

His eyes seemed to hold a hint of resentment at not having finished eating, as well as a deep sense of apprehension and disgust.

Finally, it slowly sank into the water and disappeared.

The surroundings returned to deathly silence.