The immense Xuanwu stone statue hung suspended in mid-air, secured by several hemp ropes. Workers on a small boat below manipulated them to control its position.
Master Huang, after calculating the auspicious timing, shouted to the crane operator:
"The auspicious hour has arrived, lower the Xuanwu stone statue!"
The crane operator, a cigarette dangling from his lips, slowly lowered the statue.
But then, an unforeseen disaster struck!
The ropes holding the Xuanwu stone statue snapped suddenly, and the multi-ton statue plunged straight into the water!
The sound of the Xuanwu stone statue hitting the water was like the wail of a ghost, its impact creating waves that surged outwards, capsizing several small wooden boats!
The workers on the boats were all swept into the water. Many who couldn't swim struggled for a few moments before vanishing, leaving behind countless bubbles churned into a chaotic mess by the whirlpool.
"Help me! Save me! I don't want to die!!"
Heart-wrenching cries for help erupted from all sides. Viewed from the shore, the turbulent river appeared like a boiling oil pot. The drowning workers screamed, desperately trying to climb out, but it seemed as if some force was dragging them back!
"Master Huang, wh-what is happening?!" Zhang Guodong was so terrified he could barely stand.
Huang Hai's face turned ashen. He took two steps back, "It shouldn't... it shouldn't be like this!"
This was clearly the fire element malevolence. A Xuanwu stone statue should have been sufficient to suppress it, but in reality, the statue couldn't hold back the malevolent energy in the river. Instead, they were harmed, and a great disaster ensued!
"What are you waiting for? Save them!"
At this moment, Yan Shouyi appeared behind them, seemingly out of nowhere.
Zhang Guodong snapped back to reality and quickly organized everyone to go into the water to save people.
Huang Hai turned to look at Yan Shouyi, suddenly recalling Yan Shouyi's warning from earlier that day.
The problem wasn't the fire element malevolence, it was this bridge pier...
"What do you know?" Huang Hai couldn't help but ask.
Yan Shouyi stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on the river surface, not even looking at Huang Hai directly.
Huang Hai immediately realized his impertinence and quickly bowed to Yan Shouyi, speaking in a humble tone, "It is I who was ignorant and offended you, young sir. But lives are at stake now, please offer some guidance."
"As you sow, so shall you reap. Some are destined to perish here, and even immortals cannot save them," Yan Shouyi said calmly. "When I appeared this afternoon, if you had listened to me, these people would naturally not have died. Ultimately, this is the trouble you've caused."
Huang Hai's breath hitched, and he couldn't help but say, "With such power, why didn't you insist then?"
"If I had forcefully intervened, this debt would have been calculated against me. At best, a serious illness; at worst, my lifespan would be forfeit. Do you not understand this principle?" Yan Shouyi chuckled derisively.
This time, Huang Hai was speechless. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, not from the heat, but from fear.
Tonight's events were not only a deadly trial for the workers but also a great calamity for Huang Hai himself!
Because of his misguided cleverness, he had brought about this hellish scene. The good deeds and karma he had accumulated in the first half of his life were now all ruined.
He might not only lose his merit but also damage his karmic fortune, making everything difficult in the future and leading to an unpleasant end, suffering and punishment after death!
While the Lüshan Sect might not be comparable to Longhu Mountain or Maoshan, they were all of the same lineage, part of Taoism, and many of Taoism's rules were interconnected.
There's a saying among the common folk, "Kind words don't persuade a doomed ghost," and "If the King of Hell wants you dead by the third watch, who dares keep you till the fifth." It all boils down to the same principle: destiny!
Anyone who alters destiny is going against the will of heaven and will surely face divine retribution.
Recalling the situation, Yan Shouyi's words earlier had even hinted at a desire to help him overcome this trial.
Unfortunately, Huang Hai only understood now, and it was too late.
Huang Hai abruptly knelt before Yan Shouyi, kowtowing and pleading, "Young sir, all the mistakes are mine. I am willing to bear any consequences, but those workers are innocent! Please, you must save them!"
Yan Shouyi glanced at Huang Hai.
While Huang Hai was a bit arrogant, he wasn't a bad person. It was just a pity that this calamity befell him.
Yan Shouyi sighed, "I will deal with the entity in the river. Whether others can survive depends on their own fortune. Due to special circumstances, I cannot help them too much."
Huang Hai was overwhelmed with gratitude and offered all his magical artifacts, telling Yan Shouyi to use them as he pleased.
However, Yan Shouyi wouldn't deign to use Huang Hai's assorted, second-rate artifacts.
Just then, Wu Yuchun returned with Wu Yulin's body. Seeing many workers had fallen into the water, Wu Yuchun also frantically rowed over to rescue them.
However, the workers he managed to pull onto the boat, upon seeing a bloated corpse also on board, were so terrified that they jumped back into the water, preferring to drown rather than get on.
Wu Yuchun was speechless, unsure whether to continue the rescue.
He then heard Yan Shouyi calling his name from the shore and waving at him, so Wu Yuchun rowed his boat to the bank.
"Take me to the third bridge pier," Yan Shouyi said as he stepped onto the boat.
Huang Hai thought for a moment and also followed, holding up his robe, "Young sir, allow me to accompany you. Please tell me if you need any help."
Yan Shouyi had initially intended to refuse, but then he thought of something and smilingly nodded at Huang Hai, "Very well, I am in need of an extra hand."
Huang Hai felt that this young sir had an extraordinary background, and witnessing his ritual would surely be an eye-opener.
But now, after getting on the boat, he noticed Yan Shouyi's strange look towards him, and Huang Hai suddenly felt a pang of regret.
Once on the boat, there was no turning back.
Wu Yuchun rowed the boat with all his might towards the bridge pier, some forty meters from the shore.
Huang Hai then noticed the bloated corpse on the boat. The clever man quickly realized: this corpse must be the worker who died a few days ago.
Huang Hai squatted down and carefully examined the body.
Wu Yulin had been in the water for three days. His entire body had swollen considerably. Parts like his lips and eyelids had been gnawed away by carnivorous fish. His large eyeballs hung on his face, a truly terrifying sight.
As Huang Hai was engrossed in his observation, Wu Yulin's corpse suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a handful of black hair!
This greatly frightened Huang Hai, nearly causing him to jump into the river.
He had traveled extensively for many years and wasn't afraid of corpses, but this was the first time he had witnessed a reanimated corpse!
Fortunately, Wu Yuchun was busy rowing and didn't see this.
Yan Shouyi casually tapped the corpse's crown, causing it to tremble before slumping down.
"Wh-what is happening?" Huang Hai asked, his face pale.
"This clump of hair is where the deceased's final resentment resides," Yan Shouyi said. "The bottom of this bridge is unclean. The Xuanwu stone statue can suppress the fire element malevolence, but it cannot suppress the entity at the bottom of the river!"
As he spoke, the boat was already twenty meters from the shore.
Suddenly, a two-meter-high wave crashed over them. Huang Hai even saw several ferocious human faces within the crest of the wave!
There was indeed something unclean beneath this river, and those entities were trying to obstruct Yan Shouyi and the others!
"Master Huang, it's your turn to act!" Yan Shouyi shouted.
Huang Hai's expression changed, "I only know about geomancy, I don't know how to exorcise ghosts!"
"You don't need to exorcise ghosts."
Yan Shouyi smiled slightly, suddenly produced a talisman, and stuck it onto the back of Huang Hai's head, then pushed Huang Hai headfirst into the river!
Huang Hai struggled frantically, but he couldn't break free. Soon, his lungs ran out of air, and he began to inhale river water involuntarily.
Strangely, it seemed as if the river water wasn't being drawn into his body by himself, but was entering on its own.
Just as Huang Hai was at the peak of his agony, about to breathe his last, Yan Shouyi suddenly pulled him back.
"Spit!" Yan Shouyi commanded.
Huang Hai clutched his chest and vomited for a long time, spitting out even more hair from his mouth and nose than Wu Yulin had!
Later, when he had no strength left to vomit, he began pulling hair from his own stomach with his hands. More and more hair emerged, eventually engulfing half his body!
At this point, Huang Hai was filled with regret. Yan Shouyi had brought him along to act as a shield against disaster!
Although Huang Hai suffered inhuman agony, the giant waves had vanished. The three people on the boat were spared from falling into the water.
Seeing that Huang Hai was still alive, Yan Shouyi didn't focus on him any further. As the boat neared the bridge pier, Yan Shouyi leaped onto it and took out an arm-thick brush from his satchel.
The brush handle was smooth and warm like jade, made of ivory. The brush head was round and full, with even hair, black with a hint of blood-red.
Yan Shouyi then drew the brush tip across his palm. The soft brush head actually cut a bloody gash across his palm!
Dipping it in his own blood, Yan Shouyi wrote five large characters on the bridge pier with bold, swift strokes—
"Taishan Shi Gan Dang!" (A charm to ward off evil)
Instantly—
The river surface, which had been churning like a boiling pot, became calm.
The Xuanwu stone statue slowly sank to the riverbed. Rescue workers pulled survivors onto boats, but several bodies still floated eerily on the river.
"A terrible sin!" Huang Hai, just catching his breath, saw the tragic scene on the river and couldn't help but kneel on the boat and weep bitterly.
It was unclear whether he was crying for the drowned workers or for his own future karmic debt.
Wu Yuchun was also filled with sorrow. Without even identifying them, he knew that among the drowned workers were many he knew. Perhaps they had even shared a meal at noon, discussing which massage parlor had the best service, and now they were separated by life and death.
Yan Shouyi sighed softly and said, "Stop crying, the matter isn't over yet. My writing has only temporarily suppressed the unclean entity. To resolve it, we must wait for daytime. Speaking of which, didn't anyone tell you not to enter forests at night and not to cross rivers? Putting a Xuanwu stone statue on the river at night, did you want to make the entity at the river bottom even fiercer during the day? If your master knew your skills were only half-baked, would he be so angry he'd jump out of his coffin to beat you?"
Hearing this, Huang Hai wept even more profusely.