The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 437 Ten Thousand Souls Demon

Located on the banks of the Qiongshui River, Qiongshui Town, a hundred miles outside Beijing, is a popular tourist destination. This is due to its convenient location, not far from Beijing, and also because Qiongshui Town was formerly the villa of Princess Qiongyao of the Liang Dynasty. The area is picturesque with clear waters and lush mountains. Because Princess Qiongyao loved pear blossoms, many pear trees were planted in this area, and Qiongshui pears are famous for their sweetness and juiciness.

Over the past two hundred years, the landscape has changed dramatically. The villa has developed into the large Qiongshui Town. In addition to pear trees, many peach and willow trees have been planted. In particular, the banks of the Qiongshui River are lined with willows, providing shade and making it a popular tourist destination for many literati.

It is worth mentioning that Princess Qiongyao's villa has been transformed into Qionglin Garden, which belongs to the royal family. It has been expanded by the water and is exquisite and quiet. This year's Qionglin Banquet for the imperial examination was held in this Qionglin Garden.

Lang Jiuchuan listened to Shen Qinghe and the others talk about the predecessor of Qiongshui Town, and then heard about the Qionglin Banquet, and raised an eyebrow.

What a coincidence.

Ning Zhe's incident occurred at the Qionglin Banquet. Now, it seems there are evil spirits and water demons causing trouble on the banks of the Qiong River. Could it be the fragmented memory she saw in his remnant soul?
That thing can chew up souls!

“From the end of March until now, in less than a month, there have been frequent reports of drownings in the Qiong River. Nearly fifty people have died so far. The village head has consulted Taoist priests and sorcerers, who said there was a demon in the water. They even tried to exorcise the evil, but not only did they fail, they also suffered a backlash and lost their lives. That's when they realized the seriousness of the situation and reported it to our Surveillance Department.” Shen Qinghe said with a stern face, “The Surveillance Department also sent people, but like those people, they went and never returned. We didn’t originally plan to look for you, but Gong Qi said that it would be good to ask you to step forward and exorcise the evil. Whether you can succeed or not, it will at least dispel the rumors that are detrimental to you.”

Lang Jiuchuan looked at Gong Qi and asked, "You didn't recognize what that was either?"

Gong Qi said, "I heard from the townspeople that there are always sounds of babies crying by the river at night, and dark shadows flitting across the river. I have investigated, but the thing is extremely cunning and has never shown its true form. But it sounds like the legendary water demon."

"If it's just a water demon, it shouldn't be too difficult to deal with."

Gong Qi's expression darkened slightly, and he said, "The number of deaths is too frequent and too many. I suspect that thing has become powerful and has even developed consciousness."

Water demons aren't too difficult to deal with, but if they develop consciousness and human-like thinking, it's hard to say what will happen.

Lang Jiuchuan did not refute. Having human thinking means enlightenment and the birth of wisdom. They are clever and cunning, and are indeed difficult to deal with, but they are by no means more difficult to deal with than the century-old zombie, unless there are more difficult problems to handle.

As they spoke, they entered Qiongshui Town. But as soon as they entered the town, they heard someone saying that another person had died. A joyous occasion had turned into a tragedy. The Pan family was truly in a sorry state. The group exchanged glances and hurriedly walked towards the riverbank.

Upon arriving at the riverbank, I saw a crowd of people pointing and whispering, and I could vaguely make out someone lying on the ground on a corpse, crying out in anguish.

Shen Qinghe gave a signal, and the constables beside him stepped forward to drive the crowd away.

Lang Jiuchuan stepped forward and saw that the corpse on the ground was dressed in a wedding dress, which was a woman. The two people lying on her body, crying, were a man and a woman, also dressed in festive clothes. The man was about the same age as the corpse, while the woman was older. It was unclear whether she was the woman's mother or someone else.

"The officials from the Censorate have arrived, make way!" The constables ordered their men to pull the wailing man and woman apart, while other constables and Taoist priests who remained in Qiongshui Town also stepped forward to explain the situation.

The deceased was a member of the Pan family, who were supposed to have a wedding today. The bride on the ground was a daughter of the Pan family. She was supposed to get married today, but when the auspicious time arrived, the bride disappeared without a trace. It wasn't until someone reported seeing her jump into the river that they realized something had happened.

"Is the bride alone?" Shen Qinghe asked, frowning.

"Yes, she was accompanied by her sister-in-law from her maternal family, that's her." The constable pointed to the woman from earlier. The woman, dressed in festive clothes and with a full, round face, said with red eyes, "I was with her, but she went to the outhouse and when she came back, she was gone. Waaah, my Xi'er, I raised her from infancy, she's my sister, but I treated her like my own. She was about to get married, how could this happen... Heavens, what sins has my Pan family committed!"

The bailiff whispered that this Sister Pan was a widow. Her parents-in-law had passed away long ago, and she had raised her sister-in-law all by herself. Her husband had died seven or eight years ago, and she had two young sons.

"Wearing a red wedding dress, so conspicuous, didn't anyone notice her?" Shen Qinghe asked again.

"Yes, the old man said he saw her head straight for the riverbank, then she jumped into the river. Before she could even call for help, she disappeared from sight."

Shen Qinghe sent someone to bring the old man in for questioning.

Lang Jiuchuan half-squatted down, looking at the corpse. Her face was bluish-purple, her eyes wide open, as if she had seen something terrifying and her eyes were filled with fear. Her bright red lips, which had been smeared with rouge, looked particularly red against her bluish-purple face. The corners of her mouth were turned up, as if she had been forcibly forced to smile. Her death looked very strange.

Lang Jiuchuan lifted her wet sleeves and saw that her hands were swollen, and her nails, painted with red nail polish, were stuffed with black, rotten seaweed, as if she had been desperately scratching at something.

Suddenly, Lang Jiuchuan swiftly withdrew his hand, took two quick steps back, and a flash of lightning appeared at his fingertips, striking Pan Xier's hand.

zizi.

It turned out that the water plants under her fingernails had come to life, wriggling like nematodes, trying to crawl out of her fingernails. Now, after being burned by the lightning, they immediately emitted a foul and unpleasant smell that spread far and wide.

vomit……

Someone gagged a few times.

Gong Qi's expression changed slightly, and he asked, "What kind of insect is this?"

“It’s a corpse worm that grows from corpses that have been rotting at the bottom of the water for years. If it were refined into a Gu, it would be extremely malevolent and evil.” Lang Jiuchuan said, “She must have scratched that thing underwater at close range.”

So, a decaying underwater corpse developed consciousness and started harming people?

Lang Jiuchuan exclaimed again, staring intently at Pan Xier. She noticed a faint black line between Pan Xier's eyebrows and asked Gong Qi, "Have the rest of the corpses been disposed of? Did they all have this black line?"

Gong Qi squinted and shook his head: "The corpses are all kept in the mortuary."

Lang Jiuchuan didn't say anything. He pondered for a moment, then took out a piece of yellow paper, bit his fingertip, and drew a complex rune on it. With a flick of his wrist, the talisman spontaneously combusted without fire. The green smoke neither dissipated nor rose, but seemed to be attracted by something, and entered the seven orifices of the corpse.

She clapped her hands, her face somewhat solemn. She stood up, glanced at Pan Xier's corpse, and frowned, saying, "Her soul is trapped in the body and cannot be reborn. This is a bit troublesome. I'm afraid that evil creature underwater is cultivating the Ten Thousand Souls Curse."

(End of this chapter)