Chapter 38: Li Xin

"Are you going to keep eating or not? Can you just tell me what's going on?" Liu Jun was feeling completely drained. He was baffled by this girl; she had a tiny appetite and was full after just a few bites, yet she hadn't stopped staring at him since she finished. Though Liu Jun was thick-skinned, he didn't exactly enjoy being watched while he ate.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking about how you're quite different from other Taoist priests," Li Xin said, continuing to gaze at him.

"If you're not going to say what it is, then you can just sit here by yourself. We're leaving." He made a show of standing up to depart.

"Don't, don't! You're really something—most men would be dying to chat with a pretty girl, and here you are complaining. I know a place that's haunted," Li Xin blurted out in a hurry.

Liu Jun fell silent for a moment before sitting back down. "Tell me about it." It wasn't that he was dying to hear a ghost story; he just couldn't bear to leave all the delicious food on the table.

"Have you ever heard of a water ghost? There's a spot where one has already claimed several lives."

A water ghost, in Chinese folklore, is a malevolent spirit of someone who died accidentally in the water or committed suicide in a river, lake, or sea. Unable to reincarnate, the soul lingers at the bottom of the water, lurking in the shadows to drag living people down to drown. By making them a "scapegoat," the ghost can finally move on to reincarnation. They are also known as "water monkeys."

Liu Jun was well aware of what a water ghost was. However, he found it suspicious: if this were a true water ghost, why would it have killed several people? One scapegoat should have been enough. There was definitely something fishy going on.

"Are you sure about this? Can you confirm it's actually a water ghost?" Liu Jun felt a spark of interest. For some reason, he had developed a bit of an addiction to ghost-hunting.

"Are you kidding me? If I could confirm it, would I still be alive to talk to you?" Li Xin rolled her eyes at him.

"Even if I can't confirm it, I can take you there to find out," Liu Jun said, sensing that this had been Li Xin's true goal all along.

"That works. When do we leave?" Liu Jun hesitated for a second before ultimately deciding to go.

"Let's go this afternoon. We can pack up right after we finish eating." Looking at Li Xin’s hurried expression, Liu Jun began to seriously wonder if she had been sent by the water ghost to find a replacement.

This time, Li Xin stopped staring at him. Liu Jun finished his meal, went to the shop with Fatty to grab some extra talismans, brought the little fox along, picked up Li Xin, and drove toward the location she described.

Once in the car, Li Xin revealed the destination, and Liu Jun recognized it. There was a large river there. A section of it had once been leased out for sand mining, leaving behind deep pits at least four or five meters down. After several people died there, the authorities banned further mining.

They drove for two full hours before the river came into view. Li Xin insisted they follow the river further upstream, finally stopping at a mountain village. The place was tucked away between mountains and water, looking like a hidden paradise.

Li Xin led them into the village, stopping in front of an old house, and knocked on the door.

"Grandpa Wang, it's me, Li Xin. Are you home?"

A moment later, an old man opened the door. He looked at Liu Jun and his companions without saying a word.

"Grandpa Wang, my two friends are very curious about the water ghost. Could you tell us about it again?" Li Xin said as she handed over two large banknotes.

Only then did Grandpa Wang step aside, signaling for them to enter. In the courtyard sat a wheelbarrow surrounded by piles of thatch. Inside the house, he gestured for them to sit and began his tale.

The first person to drown in the river was none other than Grandpa Wang's son, Wang Dazhuang. It was said that there had long been rumors of a water ghost in the river, but Dazhuang hadn't believed them.

That summer was particularly scorching, the sun biting and the air so hot it felt like one’s skin would melt. Dazhuang was by the river rinsing out a bucket when he heard cries for help. Looking up, he saw someone drowning in the middle of the river. Being a kind-hearted man and a strong swimmer, he stripped off his clothes and swam toward the person. But when he reached the spot, the drowning person had vanished. Without overthinking it, he dove down, assuming the person had sunk.

He searched underwater for a while but found nothing. Just as he was about to surface for air, he felt something bite his leg. The water suddenly turned unnaturally cold—a chill so deep it felt as if it were gnawing into his bones. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free. And just like that, Wang Dazhuang sank to the riverbed.

Not long after Dazhuang’s death, Zhang Xiaohu, a man from the village known for his love of drink and late-night wandering, met a similar fate. One night, whether drunk or possessed, he stumbled toward the riverbank and fell in. This scene was witnessed by Grandpa Wang, who happened to be burning paper money in memory of his son. The old man rushed over to pull him out, but no matter how hard he tugged, he couldn't move him.

Looking closely, Grandpa Wang saw a dark shadow gripping Zhang Xiaohu’s leg. Terrified, the old man’s grip loosened, and Zhang Xiaohu was dragged into the water and disappeared.

After that, someone from the village went missing every so often, and their remains were later found in the river. The villagers whispered that the water ghost was claiming souls to find its replacements.

Although Grandpa Wang’s story seemed logical, there was an indescribable sense of weirdness to it.

Night fell. Li Xin must have been quite well-connected here, as she had managed to get the village head to join them. When they set out for the river that night, the village head brought men along to help.

As they reached the riverbank, the light of their torches danced on the rippling surface, casting flickering, shivering shadows. Remembering that this river had swallowed several lives, the scene felt less like a beautiful landscape and more like something out of a horror story.

Liu Jun took out some ox tear drops and wiped them on his eyes. After a moment's thought, he had the village head and Grandpa Wang apply them as well. He then pulled out a talisman and threw it out.

"Heavenly thunder and earthly fire, shatter the evil of this world! By the decree of the law, go!" The moment the talisman hit the river, ghostly silhouettes emerged—one, two, three... a total of seven.

"Village head, village head, how many people did we lose in total?" Liu Jun nudged the village head, who was clearly terrified.

"S-seven," the village head stammered. Just then, they saw Grandpa Wang collapse to the ground, crying out, "Don't come over! I didn't mean to kill you!"

Liu Jun looked up and saw that the seven ghosts had reached the bank. Five of them stared at Grandpa Wang with faces full of hatred, while two stood in front of him, blocking the others—they were Wang Dazhuang and Zhang Xiaohu.

Just as the five ghosts prepared to tear Grandpa Wang, his son, and Zhang Xiaohu apart, Liu Jun stepped forward.

"Grandpa Wang, tell us what happened. How did you kill these five people? If you don't confess, your son and Zhang Xiaohu might end up having their souls scattered trying to protect you, and they'll never be able to reincarnate."

It turned out that the day before Zhang Xiaohu’s incident, Grandpa Wang had dreamt of his son. Dazhuang had told him that he had become a drowning ghost and had to find a scapegoat, or he would never be reincarnated.

The next night, the night Zhang Xiaohu drowned, Grandpa Wang went to the river to burn paper money. He happened to see Zhang Xiaohu fall in and saw the shadow when he tried to save him. He became convinced that the shadow was his son.

Three nights after Zhang Xiaohu’s death, Grandpa Wang dreamt of his son again, demanding another scapegoat. So, the old man began going out at night, finding lone victims, knocking them unconscious, and using his wheelbarrow to push them to the river to feed the shadow. In this way, he had murdered five people.

The village head regained his composure and ordered the villagers to tie up Grandpa Wang. Liu Jun looked at the ghosts.

"The one who harmed you will face the judgment of the law. You may now reincarnate in peace. As for Wang Dazhuang and Zhang Xiaohu, the affairs of the living have their own ways of being resolved; you two cannot interfere. Go, be reincarnated." Without waiting for their reaction, Liu Jun used the Order of Good and Evil to send them off. A mechanical voice echoed in his mind: *Seven ordinary ghosts liberated. Points increased by twenty-one.*

The reason Liu Jun had liberated them immediately was that the five ghosts showed signs of turning into vengeful spirits upon seeing Grandpa Wang. If they had transformed, even Liu Jun might not have survived the night.

The drowning ghosts were gone, but the dark shadow Grandpa Wang spoke of—that thing was surely still out there.