Chapter 322
Chapter 322
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 322
>Chapter Title: Water Son
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Chapter 322: Water Son
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> “Swim in?” Li Huowang immediately rejected that option. He wouldn’t be able to maneuver at all in the water, and going in like that would be like delivering meat right to someone’s mouth.
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> Li Huowang mentally reviewed each of his current abilities one by one, but he didn’t find any that could help in a situation like this.
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> “Go back and have Magistrate Lou send a boat over?”
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> Just as Li Huowang was reluctantly considering this idea, his sharp hearing picked up the sound of some extremely piercing instrument. “Suona?”
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> Li Huowang hid his figure in the bushes and looked toward the source of the sound.
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> Before long, he spotted a troupe of musicians playing and singing.
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> Behind the blaring suona, gongs, and drums was a small wooden boat being carried by dozens of people. An old woman sat on the boat. Though her hair was completely white and her teeth all gone, she was full of vigor.
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> The smiling elder gazed at the lively scene around her. Red and white cloths wrapped the small boat like a flower.
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> This bizarre group left Li Huowang utterly puzzled about what they were up to.
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> They didn’t pass in front of Li Huowang but stopped right there.
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> Amid the sounds of gongs and drums, they gently placed the small boat carrying the old woman by the riverbank, letting it drift with the current toward the cave.
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> The people on the shore still wore joyful expressions, cupping their hands toward the old woman on the boat in congratulations.
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> “Lady Liu, you’re so fortunate, truly blessed. I could never have luck like yours.”
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> “Indeed, Lady Liu, you’re so fortunate. Though you have no children, your water son will care for you in your old age and see you off in death.”
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> “Auntie Liu, safe travels. I’ll often bring things to visit you.”
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> Watching this harmonious scene, Li Huowang on the sidelines felt a chill run through his body.
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> No matter how nicely they spoke, it couldn’t hide their filthy intent to devour a childless household.
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> What nonsense water son—it was just a way to send off an elderly person with no support and divide up her property.
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> As Li Huowang watched the small boat gradually drift away from the riverbank, something suddenly clicked, and his eyes widened slightly. He rushed forward, kicked off the ground in a few strides, and leaped directly onto the old woman’s wooden boat.
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> Li Huowang’s movement rocked the boat, but when the old woman at the bow turned to look behind her, she saw nothing. She gripped her cane tightly and continued bidding farewell to her neighbors on the shore.
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> Hidden and invisible at the stern, Li Huowang stared at the cave mouth growing larger in the distance, thinking to himself: “Water son, huh? Let’s see just what you really are!”
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> Gradually, the music from the shore faded away, and both people on the boat turned their gazes toward the distant cave.
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> As the wooden boat entered the cave, silence descended all around. Aside from the faint lapping of waves against the hull, there were no other sounds.
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> And as the light from outside dimmed, the cave grew extremely dark.
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> The old woman surnamed Liu at the bow was clearly frightened, but she gripped her cane, psyching herself up.
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> “It’s fine, it’s fine. That sister wouldn’t lie to me. The water son will come fetch me soon. The water son will care for me in my old age and see me off—he’s made me a mother after all.”
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> Li Huowang glanced at her hunched back and felt a momentary pang of pity. Clearly, the old woman had grown thoroughly senile, taking others’ fabrications as gospel truth.
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> “Hoo~!” A tiny point of light suddenly appeared on the distant water surface, startling Li Huowang.
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> Narrowing his eyes for a better look, Li Huowang realized it was a white candle.
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> “Water son? Is that you, water son? Your mother here is surnamed Liu. Your late father was surnamed Hu. From now on, you’ll take his surname.”
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> The old woman chattered toward the distant white candle, trying to show goodwill without seeming overly eager.
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> The candle in the distance showed no reaction, but the boat beneath Li Huowang began to change course. It no longer drifted aimlessly but slowly floated toward the candle.
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> Staring at that candle, Li Huowang unconsciously gripped the hilt of the sword behind him, his muscles tensing.
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> Whatever this water son was, since they stole infants for pill-refining, they were surely no good.
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> As the small boat drew nearer, the white candle slowly retreated. Before long, it suddenly stopped.
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> In the next instant, Li Huowang stumbled forward. When he steadied himself, he realized the boat had run aground.
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> Before him was uneven ground—it seemed they had reached shore.
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> Glancing at the old woman who had toppled to the ground and hadn’t gotten up yet, Li Huowang stepped over her and approached the distant candle.
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> Thirty feet, twenty feet, ten feet! Li Huowang finally got a clear look at the thing holding the candle.
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> It was a creature with malformed limbs. Viewed as a whole, it barely resembled a human.
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> But this “human” had terrifyingly long hair draped over its back like a turtle shell, and nails longer than fingers twisted into filthy, waxy yellow spirals.
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> Its mouth held teeth growing in wild disarray—Li Huowang could scarcely imagine seeing both overbite and underbite on the same face.
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> Moreover, Li Huowang saw strands of green hair falling from its head and growing into its eye sockets. The thing had no eyes—it was blind.
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> “Li Huowang, be careful. That’s a man-sprite.” Red Zhong, who hadn’t spoken in a long while, suddenly piped up.
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> After Li Huowang shot him a questioning glance, Red Zhong continued his explanation: “When a person has terrible luck and clings to life without dying in old age, their white hair turns green, teeth sprout from their mouth, they lose the ability to speak human words and only babble ghost talk, eventually turning into a half-human, half-ghost abomination.”
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> At that moment, the man-sprite holding the white candle aloft with its nails began to move, gently swaying the candle to lure the old woman deeper into the darkness.
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> Li Huowang, his expression grave, instinctively moved to pursue but suddenly halted. He stood in place, watching the candle vanish, then lowered his voice to question Red Zhong: “Is this real, or are you making it up?”
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> A hint of disdain crossed Red Zhong’s face. “What, you think that’s all I’m capable of? That I’d lie just to mess with you? I’m one of the Great Three Primes—Red Zhong, no less. If I really wanted to deceive you, you’d die without a burial!”
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> “Sigh, whatever. I only said it that way. If you don’t believe me, then I won’t bother explaining the man-sprite’s peculiarities.”
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> Li Huowang stood still, scrutinizing the Red Zhong before him.
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> Seeing his unusual behavior, Red Zhong was puzzled. “Did I grow a flower on my face? What are you staring at? They’re gone, and you’re not chasing? Did you come to this haunted place for a picnic?”
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> Li Huowang shook his head slightly, brows furrowed. “I just find this suspicious. If you’re a hallucination, how do you know things I don’t?”
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> He then turned to the other four remaining figures. “If you’re not hallucinations, then what are you?”
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> Red Zhong looked back at Li Huowang, eyeing him from head to toe. A mocking smile crept across his skinless face.
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> “How should I know? You’d have to ask yourself that.”
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> (End of chapter)