The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 379 Something Strange Under the Lake
The air in Langjiuchuan was rather cold. Looking at the dark green lake in front of him, he put his hands behind his back and felt inexplicably irritable.

Qiao Yang kept his distance from her and whispered in A Piao's ear, "Manager Piao, what's wrong with the master? He seems very angry."

It wasn't that he was a coward or afraid of a young girl; it was just that Lang Jiuchuan was now exuding a fierce and unapproachable aura.

Apiao turned to look at Lang Jiuchuan. After entering the Ren residence, her emotions were quite outward, which was indeed a bit off. He then looked at Jiang Che, who was perched on her shoulder pretending to be a quail, and gave him a wink.

Jiang Che shook its head. It had a contract with Lang Jiuchuan, so it could sense that her emotions were not right. Although she was suppressing the murderous aura around her, she would definitely explode as long as there was a breaking point.

I don't know what this mansion did to offend her.

Lang Jiuchuan didn't really understand the origin of this emotion; it was hers, yet it didn't seem like hers.

The Ren family, perhaps due to some karmic connection with her, somehow caused her to become somewhat violent.

The ghost came over and asked her, "Is something wrong? Why are you so unhappy since you came in?"

"Go back and gather information on the Ren family's past and the massacre of their entire clan."

"Oh." The ghost didn't mind her bossy attitude and tried to appease her.

Sure enough, Lang Jiuchuan's expression improved.

Ah Piao shook her head slightly.

No matter how capable someone is, they're still a child, the kind who needs to be coaxed.

The still water suddenly stirred; something seemed to surge up from underwater, rippling outwards in concentric circles. In an instant, the object sprang to the surface and flew towards Langjiu River.

"Ah, I'm dirty, I'm so dirty, so smelly." The water spirit burrowed into the bone bell, desperately absorbing the aura emanating from Lang Jiuchuan.

Although this woman is a dog, her aura is irresistible, like the water in the ancient well where she was born—pure, clean, and full of spirit.

In contrast to the filthy lake before it, it preferred to cling to the bone bell and absorb the essence of Langjiu River.

Ah, quickly baptize its soul!
Lang Jiuchuan plucked the bone bell and asked, "How is it?"

She cast a water purification spell on the water spirit. Although it hadn't said it would follow her, it was still attached to her and was the essence of water, so there would be many uses for it in the future. She didn't mind giving it some vitality and assistance.

She is never stingy with her own people.

The water spirit was surprised by Lang Jiuchuan's generosity. Although it was stunned for a moment, it was pleased that the foul smell in the water had been removed. So it said, "There is a water prison at the bottom of the lake, right under the pavilion in the middle of the lake."

Qiao Yang rushed over, staring at Lang Jiuchuan's waist, and asked urgently, "Have you seen my Yaoyao?"

Why would the bone bell talk? He didn't even ask such a pointless question. He was a Taoist master, like an immortal, so what if he had some powerful magical artifacts?
His actions were somewhat impolite, but understandable, given that it was for his beloved daughter.

The water spirit floated out, hovering in mid-air like a large, clear bubble, and said, "No, that water prison has an array, so I didn't go in. Also, there are many skeletons at the bottom of this lake, ugh, it's filthy."

A chill ran through everyone.

Lang Jiuchuan looked at the dark green lake, which was so calm, yet it was like a sleeping beast, waiting for prey to fall before opening its huge mouth and revealing its sinister fangs.

The ghost frowned and said, "There are bones at the bottom, so the lake should be filled with a lot of malevolent energy, but this..."

He was a real ghost. The malevolent energy on the lake's surface was probably not as strong as when he unleashed it, not to mention that this was a lake, the water was inherently cold, and now there were corpses at the bottom, so it should have been filled with malevolent energy. But it wasn't.

Lang Jiuchuan said calmly, "If there were a lot of resentment here, the monks and Taoists would have discovered it long ago, so they must have set up some kind of formation to suppress it."

So the question is, what is the purpose of this water dungeon, and who went to such lengths to set it up to deceive people?

Were those remains the Ren family's?
Bang.

There was a loud thud of someone falling into the water.

Lang Jiuchuan and Apiao looked over and saw that Qiao Yang had jumped into the lake at some point, splashing a huge spray of water with his heavy and sturdy body.

Lang Jiuchuan was a little dazed: "Is he not quite thinking straight?"

The ghost said calmly, "Maybe all the oil we eat usually just flows into our brains!"

Jiang Che and the Water Spirit: "..."

Human mouths are truly something else; they have the ability to instantly release poison!
Despite the poison, the ghost still pulled Qiao Yang out of the water. It was only March, and the late spring chill hadn't passed yet. The lake bottom had bones, making it inherently cold and damp. Qiao Yang was shivering from the cold after just one fall into the water.

"Master Qiao, what is the reason for this?"

"Yaoyao must be locked up in that water prison. The Soul-Guiding Incense has arrived here, so she must be here. I must bring her back." Qiao Yang looked at the lake with excitement.

The ghost said, "Finding someone isn't something you can do with sheer courage. You can't just jump in and expect to find them. You might not even last three strokes before becoming another skeleton at the bottom of the lake. It won't help you find them; it will only add to your family's grief."

Qiao Yang lowered his head, choking back tears, and said, "I just feel sorry for my son... Achoo."

Lang Jiuchuan also gave him a tip: dry off his wet clothes, otherwise he would get sick from wearing them.

Qiao Yang felt warm all over, but his eyes were still lifeless as he stared blankly at the lake.

"What should we do now?" Apiao asked Lang Jiuchuan.

Lang Jiuchuan said, "The presence of a large number of skeletons at the bottom of this lake is very strange, not to mention the array in the center of the lake. It seems like they're going to great lengths to cover up some shady conspiracy. Normally, reporting it to the authorities would be better, especially since the Surveillance Bureau has been established. It would be only natural to report such a bizarre case to them. But this will inevitably alert the enemy. The people are still alive. If we alert them, they might decide to kill us."

She looked at the pavilion in the middle of the lake and said, "Let's try it out ourselves first."

A Piao glanced at Qiao Yang and whispered, "You just resolved a troublesome matter for the Duke's mansion, which used a lot of spiritual energy. Are you sure you can handle it if you deplete it again now?"

Lang Jiuchuan nodded.

"You stay here," A Piao said to Qiao Yang. "Let's go take a look."

"How can this be done..."

“Master Qiao, you’re not only useless to us, but we’ll also have to take care of you if anything happens. You wait here by the lake…” Lang Jiuchuan looked at the sky and said, “If we haven’t come out before sunset, go to the Censorate and find Gong Qi and Lord Shen. Just say that I asked you to find them.”

Looking at the tranquil garden of the Ren residence, she drew two more amulets for him to carry with him.

Even ghosts wouldn't want to come to this mansion; it's all rather eerie. Just in case, it's better to be safe than sorry.

(End of this chapter)