Chapter 7: The Carp Demon (2)

  I hadn't even reacted yet, and I was already pushed out two or three meters and fell directly into the river. Fortunately, I learned how to swim in the summer. The icy river water made me instantly awake, and when I floated up to the surface and looked at the roadside, there was no sign of the little girl anywhere. I immediately realized that I had been deceived.

  Luckily, it was less than a meter away from the riverbank, and I stretched out my hand to grab the small grass on the shore, preparing to climb up and escape. At this moment, who cares about Zhang Shenniang's orders? I've already peed in fear!

  As soon as I crawled ashore and my legs left the water's surface, my heels were caught by something. I turned around in terror to see a pair of hands grasping my heels.

  The owner of these hands is the girl who was crying loudly by the roadside. At this moment, the lower half of this little girl's body was submerged in the water, while her upper body poked out of the water and grasped my foot.

  I was so scared, my legs were caught and I kicked them wildly, trying to crawl up the riverbank. The little girl held on too tightly, and I dragged her all the way to the shore without letting go. I don't know where I found a rock bigger than my fist, but I didn't care if she was human or ghost, I just slammed it onto the little girl's head with all my might.

  One, two, three times, the little girl's head was smashed by me until it was bloody and blurry, and a sharp cry came from her throat. I don't know how many times I hit her, but the little girl still didn't let go. Suddenly she opened her mouth wide, that big mouth split open to both ears, and bit down on my leg. As soon as the little girl bit me, I felt numb all over, even dropping the stone to the ground, while the little girl took advantage of the opportunity to drag me towards the river.

  It's all over, I'm extremely anxious and desperate in my heart, but I don't have any strength at all.

  At this moment, I thought of my sister in Hunan, who has been separated from me for seven years. Will I never see her again? I also resent Zhang Shenniang for letting me come here alone to catch the big fish.

  As soon as I think of Zhang Shenniang, I think of the needle she gave me, which is wrapped in paper and placed in my trouser pocket. I use all my strength to reach into the pocket and take out the needle, but I don't have the energy to prick the little girl.

  With a splash, I was pulled to the riverbank and fell into the water. Was this the end? Perhaps it was my survival instinct, but one of my hands suddenly grasped a small branch on the shore tightly, but my strength wasn't enough, and I couldn't hold on for more than two seconds. The force from below pulled me towards the deep water area, and I held my breath, preparing to hold on for just a few more seconds.

  Just as I was about to give up in despair, the dagger that Xianren gave me fell out of my pocket. The small knife emitted a bright light that illuminated the entire area around me, and at the same time, the force that was dragging my feet weakened greatly, while the numbness in my body suddenly disappeared.

  Taking advantage of the light, I took a close look and found that what was dragging my feet was not a little girl, but a big red carp biting my foot and swimming towards the deep water area. This carp is really big! Bigger than what Xiao Fu said, like a small water buffalo.

  I don't care how big it is, the needle in my right hand just pokes into its head. Logically speaking, the skull of such a large carp should be very hard, and even an iron hammer and nails would be laborious, let alone a pencil-sized needle. But the needle given to me by Zhang Shengnu must be extraordinary, so it easily pierced through.

  The big fish was stabbed, and immediately opened its mouth, swam away without looking back, and the small knife also sank to the bottom of the river and stopped shining. After the fish demon escaped, I relaxed my whole body, swam hard to the riverbank and got ashore, didn't stop for a moment and ran to find Zhang Shenniang.

  I hadn't even run to the big longan tree when I met Zhang Shenniang holding a flashlight on the way. She looked at me, drenched and disheveled, and said directly that she had miscalculated, forgetting that tonight was already the first day of the lunar month.

  The 15th of the first lunar month is exactly the two days when mountain spirits and ghosts are most active and powerful. Zhang Shenpo actually forgot that tonight was the 15th, almost costing me my life, it's really too dangerous.

  Zhang the fortune teller blamed herself for a while, and when she saw that I had returned safely, she let out a sigh of relief. She said that I had escaped the great calamity destined for me, and that from now on, I would definitely be a person of wealth and nobility. I also told her about the whole process earlier, which shocked her into constantly opening her mouth wide in surprise.

  Zhang Shenpo was deep in thought and finally came to a conclusion that the fish demon was not just a water ghost attached to a fish's body, but it was likely that someone had deliberately raised it in the Xijiang River.

  "It's man-made!"

  As soon as I heard Zhang Shenniang come up with this conclusion, I couldn't believe it. What kind of person has such great abilities?

  Zhang Shennu said that there are many people under the sky who practice the great way, let alone raise a small fish demon. This is a more advanced method of raising ghosts, called "living nourishment". Using this method to raise ghosts results in minimal harm to yin energy, but few people know how to do it. I've heard that in Sichuan's Nanchong area, there are still people who raise jiangshi (zombies), and also among the Yao ethnic group in Guangxi's great mountains and the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou's great mountains, there are still people who raise gu.

  "What's the point of others raising ghosts? What is a walking corpse? What is Gu?" I asked Zhang Shenniang with strong curiosity.

  She told me: "The purpose of raising a ghost is varied, it's hard to say them all, but most are for changing fate, harming people, and seeking wealth. However, I heard from Jin Tian's Zhou Dasao (the Jin Tian Shengmu mentioned earlier) that some people raise ghosts to steal things, search for treasure... As for the walking corpse, she didn't know much about it either, just heard it from Zhou Dasao, usually raised in places with accumulated yin energy and mountain caves.

  I walked with Zhang Shennu to the riverbank, shining my flashlight onto the water's surface. The big carp finally turned over, its belly up. It was in a clump of aquatic plants about 7 or 8 meters from the shore, and many of its black scales had fallen off.

  Zhang the fortune teller asked me if I could swim, and told me to go down and pull the fish back.

  I nodded, and without even taking off my clothes, I jumped into the water. Anyway, we were all wet already. I walked to the big fish's side, with my feet on the riverbed and the water up to my chest. I grabbed the fish's mouth and started pulling it towards the shore. Finally, we tied the dead fish with a bamboo stick and soaked it in shallow water.

  Zhang the immortal retrieved the needle from the fish head, I asked her what this needle was made of and how it was so powerful. She said she didn't know either, it was an immortal who possessed her body and dug it out from the mountain, it had a deadly poison to the demon class, as long as you stabbed once, you would not survive.

  Zhang the fortune teller said that once the fish's body dies, the water ghost will have nowhere to reside and is now very weak. Today I'll capture it. Zhang the fortune teller asked me to guard the fish corpse here while she goes to get something.

  After Zhang Shennu left, I lit another fire and dried my clothes at the same time. The experience just now made me much bolder, just like people who have returned from the underworld, sleeping in a tomb is nothing, and being alone here doesn't feel scary anymore.

  Zhang the shaman returned when the curved moon had just come out, indicating that it was almost dawn. She brought a wooden board full of talismans and threw it directly into the water.

  I asked her what she was doing throwing it away?

  "Zhang the fortune teller told me that it was a specially made pagoda wood sign, used to gather souls. The water ghost had nothing to attach itself to and at this time was very weak, needing to find something to hide in to rest. But it didn't know this was a trap, I can come back three days later to collect it."

  I listened to Zhang Shennu's explanation and had a few more points of admiration for her, and my interest in learning increased.

  Finally, Zhang Shenniang cut open the fish's belly and took out a milky white stone the size of an egg and a fish bladder as thick as a thigh. Zhang Shenniang said that the milky white stone was called a "yao dan" (demon egg), which was formed by absorbing the souls and essence of those who had drowned to death. Such a large yao dan, this fish demon must have caused at least 20 deaths in the 50-li stretch of the Xijiang River, perhaps even her poor son was killed by it.

  This demon egg is used to boil water and drink it away, and no water ghost will dare to approach wherever you go. Just like having the smell of a tiger on your body, wherever you go, animals will be afraid of you. And that big fish bladder was taken back to dry, after which the village women gave birth to children and were no longer afraid of difficult childbirth and bleeding.

  After Zhang Shenpo took out the demon egg, the fish corpse's stench became several times stronger and soon dissolved into a black muddy paste. I cut off the rattan to let the river water wash it away.

  I returned home at 6:30 in the morning. Because I killed the fish demon, Zhang Shenniang said she would cut a half of the demon egg for me. But I was still young, so she kept it first and then gave me a small piece to take back and boil some water to drink. I held the demon egg that Zhang Shenniang had cut off, about the size of a fingernail cover, and touched it, feeling its elasticity like a rubber ball.

  Back at San Gu's house, she didn't mention last night's incident. Zhang Shenpo had also said that for those in this line of work, it's best to just know the general idea and not go around talking about it randomly, lest one's life be shortened by doing so.

  This thumb-sized demon egg boiled three bowls of soup, and after the demon egg dissolved, it turned the water into something like milk. But when I drank it, I couldn't describe the bitterness, and my eyebrows furrowed as I drank. San Gu asked me what this thing was so bitter, and I just said it was ginseng.

  In the 1990s, rural people only knew that ginseng was extremely valuable, but they never knew where to buy it and couldn't afford it. Those who could afford it thought it was fake. They only heard stories from old people about someone going somewhere and catching a child, then the child turned into a thousand-year-old ginseng, and after selling it in the city, they got a lifetime of money that they couldn't spend.

  In short, ginseng is a good thing, and the bitter soup made from it doesn't matter, even if it tastes like feces, I'd still want to drink it every day.

  I drank a bowl of this egg drop soup with San Gu, and left the other bowl for Xue Fei to drink when she came back from school. After finishing it, I took a bath and went to bed because I didn't sleep last night, and I fell asleep immediately, even having a dream.

  I dreamed of that little girl from last night, she was wearing a snow-white skirt and crouching on a rock, shivering with cold and crying very sadly.