Chapter 38: Water Ghost Removal (Part 1)

June 15, 2023Ai Hrist

After receiving Xun Yiqing’s exact answer, knowing that her younger brother was entangled by the water ghost to save herself, Xiao Xi blamed herself even more.

Xiao Cheng patted her head and comforted her: “Sister, why are you crying? I’m fine. We’ve come to participate in the show, there are so many masters here, so I’m sure we can solve that evil spirit!”

After calming down a bit, Xiao Xi said:

“My brother and I haven’t returned to our hometown for many years, so we don’t know many people in the village. Before we went to the river, we didn’t hear anything, so we didn’t expect to encounter such a thing. How could we know that the river in the village has taboo?”

It turned out that after they left their hometown, someone in the village did drown in this river.

It was s a middle-aged man.

That man was a well-known bum in the village. He was good at drinking, gambling, and ignorant. He often beat his wife and children when he drank too much or made jokes about some women in the village, which was very annoying.

One night, despite the dissuasion of his family members, he ran to the house of another friend in the next village to drink. After getting drunk, he took a shortcut and walked from the highland by the river to the village.

It started to rain halfway, the mud on the bank became slippery and sticky, and the surroundings were dark. As a result, he slipped and tripped over a stone that was half exposed in the soil, and fell directly from the bank.

His head hit the sharp stone directly.

In the middle of the night, it rained heavily, and the water level of the river rose, which rushed the drunk man’s body into the middle of the river. No one knew when he died.

Because he often hangs out outside, drinks and plays cards, and sometimes goes to the city in the county to have fun, his family was used to him disappearing for three or four days.

His family didn’t dare to take care of him. Because they would only be beaten and scolded if they took care of it, so no one went to find him at all.

It wasn’t until five or six days after his disappearance that his family felt a little strange, and only after calling his friends did they find out that the alcoholic hadn’t been with them these days and had gone home a few days ago.

Only then did the family mobilize the people in the village to look for him, and finally found his body on the other side of the river where there was no village.

His body, which had been soaked for almost a week, was floating in the shallow water on the shore. It already looked like a giant, swollen and rotted beyond recognition.

The exposed body part was full of snakes and insects, while the underwater part has been eaten up by swimming fish and other animals.

Seeing this horrific situation, the surrounding villagers didn’t dare to go into the water to salvage it. In the end, the family of the drunkard hired a brave villager for 1,000 yuan to go down and fish him.

After the brave villager fished out the drunkard’s body, he began to get sick and unlucky not long after.

It cost him eight hundred to see a doctor and invite a female shaman. He regretted it so much that his intestines were green.

Later, when the children in the village were playing by the water, they saw some balls and toys floating in the depths of the river, and sometimes slipped and fell inexplicably when catching loaches. Someone played tricks in the water and harm people!

For a while, the color of the water in the village changed, and every household dared not let their children go into the water.

In the end, it was the shaman in the village who came out to resolve the matter.

She said: “That man was a fierce and aggressive person when he was alive. He died in the water with a lot of resentment and has no affection for the villagers in the village, so he wanted to lure a villager to replace him! Weak children are the most likely to be killed. After you go into the water, you must wear a life lock rope on your feet.”

The so-called “life-locking rope” was a red rope, which was a way to prevent water ghosts from hooking their lives.

Tieing a red string around your hands, feet, or waist, can prevent the water ghosts from approaching.

After the villagers followed suit, no child choked on the water anymore, so every household wore a red string that could not be removed. When a child in the village was born, the family would also put a red string on the child.

Although the children in the village have heard that there were ghosts in the water, they were young and courageous.

Instead of running away when encountering a ‘water ghost’, they would scold and spit on the water ghost on the bank.

Hearing this, Xun Yiqing said: “According to what you said, the water ghost did evil things when it was still alive, and after death, it becomes a resentful ghost. In addition, it didn’t successfully lure the villagers since it died, rather was ridiculed by the villagers. Naturally, its resentment in the heart will be stronger. Suddenly, it finally met a girl who didn’t know the dangers in the water, but you disturbed it, so how could it not hate you?”

“Are you often sleepless at night, sweat easily and feel weak?”

Xiao Cheng nodded again and again: “Yes, since I left the village, I have had nightmares every night and have cold sweats, and I feel very sticky all over my body. And I always feel that something is watching me in my dreams…”

Xun Yiqing nodded: “That’s right, you touch the ‘Water Ghost Scale’, and it left a mark on your body—that is, the handprint on your ankle, it can crawl out of the water and follow you.”

“The water ghost isn’t by your side right now, it probably knew you were going to find someone to deal with it, so it ran away temporarily.”

Xiao Xi hurriedly asked: “Then what should we do, Master Xun? Do we have to make amends with it and burn the paper to reduce the disaster?”

Xun Yiqing snorted coldly: “Of course, there is no need for that. It is against the law to harm people. I will cut off the connection between you and that evil spirit, you will not be troubled by it again in the future.”

“If it still dares to pester the two of you, or cause harm to others in the countryside, I will take action to get rid of it!”

As he spoke, he pulled out his saber with his backhand, took out two talisman papers from his sleeve, and began to recite the “Mantra of Slaying Evil”:

“Disasters and guilty should be eliminated, disasters and misfortunes should be wiped out. Catch those fierce evils and ghosts. Those who follow the good live, and those who go against the good die…”

As his voice became louder, he threw the two yellow talismans in his hand, turned the saber in his hand, and pierced the yellow talisman with the tip of the sword, pointing directly at Xiao Cheng’s face.