Guai Dao Hu Zong Ren

  The water ghost finds a substitute, this is a saying that has been around since ancient times. It originated from Buddhism, because in many Buddhist households, especially those who catch ghosts, they believe that water is the most special substance in the world. It can be both tangible and intangible, calm and turbulent, its nature is gentle but it can destroy anything in this world. Life comes from water, and also dies from the loss of water, so in the eyes of Buddhists, water is something that can trap death. At the same time, Buddhism believes in reincarnation, if a deceased soul is trapped by water and wants to be reborn, the only way is to find the next person who has died and make them its substitute.

  Although this is a long-standing saying, the fact proves that all of this has a traceable origin. As for why, whether the water ghost harms people because it wants to reincarnate or what, and why it can become one of the few dead objects with a physical body, these are all because the time is too long ago, so no one can say the reason in between now. Hu Zongren said that in their Taoist culture, the so-called water ghost finding a substitute is derived from another tradition.

  In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor inherited the Taiping Jing from Fuxi and established the "Taoist" teachings of that time, using its techniques and virtues to diligently govern the country. When it came to the Yellow Emperor's great-grandson, also known as Da Yu, a severe flood suddenly broke out across the nation. Da Yu was ordered by Emperor Shun to control the floodwaters. The most severely affected area was the Yellow River basin, where an immortal told him that if he wanted to permanently cure the Yellow River, he needed three things: the Mountain-Opening Axe, the Water-Avoiding Sword, and the River Chart. He had obtained the first two items but lacked the River Chart, which Fuxi had derived from the markings on a qilin's body in his earlier years. After Fuxi died and became an immortal, he handed over the River Chart to the Heavenly God, who later gave it to a filial son named Fengyi, who drowned while crossing a river but was appointed as the River God by the Heavenly Emperor.

  Hu Zongren said that Da Yu got the River Map from the hands of the river god. Then he laughed and said that there was a river god in every water area, but later on, many people who had the same experience as Feng Yi - being drowned in the water - did not have the good fortune of Feng Yi, so they began to pretend to be river gods, causing trouble for the world. This is how the legend of "River God Snatching Bride" came about, which has been uninterrupted for thousands of years.

  I asked Hu Zongren, so the "Dragon King's recruitment of a son-in-law" in the mouths of these old people, is it equivalent to the river god's elopement in your Taoist culture? Hu Zongren nodded and said yes, but he also told Wu Village Chief and Wu Big Sister that in fact, it has always been a myth passed down for thousands of years. The river god, from its original positive image, gradually became something that made people afraid. Starting from the Han Dynasty, the image of the river god was relatively fixed among the people, saying that it had a short stature, with a turtle shell on its back, and a depression on top of its head, which contained water. When the water was full, it would be invincible, but when the water spilled out, it would lose power and die. I asked Hu Zongren, do you still remember that we watched a children's TV series when we were young, called "Little Dragon Man"?

  Hu Zongren said, "Of course I remember that song, it's still being sung today!" and then he started singing. "I'm a little green dragon, little green dragon, I have many little mimi...". Then he probably realized how shameless he was being and stopped singing. I gave him a white eye and said, "My master told me about the water ghost back in the day, but also mentioned the river god, which is called 'water tiger' and looks similar to what you described. At that time, I asked my master if the old turtle who stole food from the little dragon people was the river god, and he said yes." My master also told me that during the Han and Tang dynasties, our country was very powerful, so many surrounding countries learned from our culture. Japan was one of the most aggressive learners, and many of their ghost stories and legends about spirits and monsters came from Chinese mythology, but were given a Japanese twist.

  I told Hu Zongren, my master said that the river god in China is actually the Kappa in Japan. To put it bluntly, this is what people commonly refer to as a water ghost or water monkey. After listening, Hu Zongren nodded his head with satisfaction and said to the village elder, "See? This is the real water ghost. When it's making trouble, there will never be more than two deaths at a time, definitely one after another." He turned to Wu Dajie and said, "That night when you were on your way home, the cry for help you heard was one of the most common methods used by water ghosts to lure people closer to the water's edge. They will imitate the sound of children drowning to attract attention. As for the man and woman who died after you, I bet that they must have heard the cry for help in the water that day, and that cry for help was 99% likely to be the voice of their closest loved ones. Because water ghosts can also mimic voices, learning the voices of those you care about most, so that when you lose your wits and haven't reacted yet, it's already too late."

  Hu Zongren continued to say to Wu Dajie, "Sister, you're really something else. You actually used a flashlight to drive away the water ghost and succeeded! I really admire you." I looked at Hu Zongren's expression, which was already somewhat lewd, and then at Wu Dajie, who had a satisfied look on her face from Hu Zongren's praise. I rolled my eyes inwardly and said to Village Chief Wu, "Village Chief Wu, it's getting late and will be dark soon. Can you please ask someone to notify the villagers not to go out tonight? We'll finish dinner and then head to the scene to think of a way to deal with this thing as soon as possible."

  I meant that it was time for a meal. The village seemed to understand my intention and, accompanied by several village officials, found a large restaurant in the village market square, where we were warmly entertained. Qijiang's Beidu fish is famous throughout the land, and that meal was truly satisfying.

  After dinner, Hu Zongren and I let Wu Cunzhang take us to the edge of the big pond, and then prepared two flashlights for us. We left all the things that couldn't get wet, such as our phones and wallets, in the car, and only brought the essentials with us. I didn't even bring my compass, just a rope and some soil, in case I was suddenly attacked and had no way to defend myself. The reason I didn't bring my compass is that the water ghost is underwater, so my compass wouldn't be able to detect it anyway. Secondly, even if the water ghost came ashore, its presence would be very weak, and searching for a weak reaction in such a large area would be a waste of time. Moreover, there must be a fixed location on the shore where the water ghost's paw prints can be found, so what's the point of using a compass?

  We were searching with flashlights along the shore, in places that people rarely visit. After a long search, Hu Zongren found some traces near a bush. I walked over to take a look and saw that it was a small patch of exposed soil, which looked like someone had been there before. In fact, behind us was a thicket of bushes, and from the path along the shore, it was impossible to walk directly here, but in this place close to the water, there were bare spots where not even grass grew, indicating that the Water Ghost had been here.

  I bent down to take a closer look with my flashlight, and on the roots of two shrubs less than a meter apart, I found several paw prints that were roughly the size of my palm, covered in mud. There were also some marks on the ground, as if someone had crawled out of the water onto the shore, having to dig their hands into the mud for support. And our location, relative to this irregularly-shaped pond, was relatively close to the center of the water. Hu Zongren said that this also fit the activity patterns of a water ghost.

  The water ghost, in my and Hu Zongren's view, is a relatively low-level ghost. Because it suffered itself and wanted to get rid of this situation by finding a substitute for death. Not to mention what kind of ghost would not be destroyed by heaven and earth, just this behavior alone has determined that it must be burned away.

  There are many folk methods for dealing with water ghosts, some of which are quite profound and can directly cast spells into the water to defeat them. However, such masters usually don't bother with trivial matters like water ghosts. Hu Zongren had caught a water ghost before, and his method was almost identical to mine. We used a fishing-like approach to lure out the water ghost. The principle is similar to fishing, where bait is placed on the hook to entice fish to bite. Although there's no specific bait for water ghosts, the underlying principle is the same. I found a stone roughly the size of my palm and carved a soul-capturing spell onto it as "bait". Then, I tied the stone to a rope and connected all the ropes on my body together, with one end about two meters away from the stone tied to a larger wooden block. This was to ensure that when we caught the water ghost, the wood would float on the surface of the water like a bobber. Finally, I handed one end of the rope to Hu Zongren, simply because he had more brute strength.

  I drew a well character on the ground with mud, then circled around many times to form a maze. The effect of this symbol is that after we catch it, we have to think of ways to bring it into this symbol and make it lose its way so that it can't get out. This way, we can slowly collect it.

  I asked Hu Zongren if he was ready, and he said yes. I picked up the stone bait with the spell carved on it and threw it as far away as possible. Then I stood beside Hu Zongren, quietly waiting. After a while without any movement, I started to break off a branch of shrub and splash water at the edge of the river, making the sound of playing in the water. Just like that for a while, Hu Zongren suddenly blew a very soft whistle towards me, I knew he had caught something.

  So I stood back beside him, and he started winding my rope around his palm. Under the light of the flashlight, I saw that the wooden float on the water surface had sunk a few times, then it seemed to be pulled by something and swayed back and forth. Then Hu Zongren appeared, being dragged into the water by something. After several pulls, he shouted at me, "Damn, this thing is so powerful!" So I quickly went to help him. We held the rope tightly, but didn't pull it in. Everything was just like fishing. When the thing in the water struggled until it was exhausted, we pulled it up.

  It was a stalemate for nearly twenty minutes, and the water surface was stirred up by the wooden float drifting back and forth, creating many ripples. Hu Zongren and I were not weak, but this made us a bit exhausted. Just at this moment, the float suddenly stopped moving, and the water surface returned to calmness.

  Originally, both Hu Zongren and I were a bit exhausted, but then we suddenly stopped, neither of us knew why. Just as the two of us looked at each other, a huge force suddenly came from the rope in our hands. Hu Zongren and I had wrapped the rope around our palms, and before we could let go, both of us were pulled out.

  With a loud splash, we fell into the water. Because I was unprepared, I swallowed several mouthfuls of water. Hu Zongren and I are both decent swimmers, so we knew to float to the surface as soon as possible after being submerged. After surfacing, I quickly looked around for Hu Zongren and found him not far away. I asked him, "Are you okay? What the hell just happened?"

  He said I didn't know... Before he could finish his sentence, Hu Zongren was pulled underwater by something with great force.