This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

Zhang Chen's voice carried a deep sense of powerlessness.

A-Yue didn't turn around, and coldly said, "Going into the water is suicide."

A deathly silence fell once again.

In the suffocating silence, Wang Xiaoer, who had been staring at the water, suddenly spoke.

"We can't go down..."

His calm voice broke the deadlock.

Zhang Chen and A Yue both looked at him.

Wang Xiaoer's gaze remained fixed on the water's surface, but a strange smile curved his lips.

"Then... let it come up."

Zhang Chen and A Yue were both stunned, thinking they had misheard.

"Make it come ashore?" Zhang Chen frowned, almost blurting out, "Are you dreaming? The Water Fiend's strength will be greatly reduced when it leaves the water. It's not stupid; why would it willingly give up its greatest advantage to come ashore?"

Even a novice Taoist priest understands this principle.

Wang Xiaoer turned his head and grinned.

Whether it's stupid or not depends on how tempting the bait is.

Looking at the two bewildered individuals, he continued, "To me, this water ghost is a terrifying and filthy thing, but conversely, to it, my luck is probably a great tonic, isn't it?"

A crazy and audacious plan took clear shape in his mind.

He's going to be the bait himself!

He refused to believe that a vicious creature trapped in this dark and sunless water for hundreds of years could resist the temptation of Tang Sanzang's flesh being offered to him.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Zhang Chen objected immediately without even thinking.

"That's too risky! You're putting yourself on the line! What if something happens to you..."

Wang Xiaoer patted him on the shoulder, interrupting him.

"Relax, I'm so lucky, how could anything go wrong?"

His smile carried an inexplicable confidence, yet his eyes were as sharp as a knife.

"Besides, what other options do we have now? Either we slink away and wait until tomorrow morning to see the search and rescue team continue their search, and then tell that aunt who cried until she went blind that we did our best."

"Or...?"

Wang Xiaoer's gaze swept over Zhang Chen, then looked at A Yue.

"Let's take a gamble."

Zhang Chen's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Yes, are there any other ways?

A-Yue remained silent, simply observing Wang Xiao-er with a strange light flickering in her beautiful eyes.

After a while, she suddenly spoke, her voice clear and crisp.

"I agree."

She licked her lips and added, "If the bait is fragrant enough, the fish won't take the bait. It's been underwater for hundreds of years, it's probably starving, and it might not even have any sense of reason left."

"Ah Yue!" Zhang Chen cried out anxiously.

"All I know is that my darlings are furious," Ah Yue's voice turned cold. "That thing must die."

Her water bugs were instantly wiped out; this was a provocation against her.

Wang Xiaoer looked at Zhang Chen and said earnestly, "Brother Chen, trust me this once."

Looking at Wang Xiaoer's determined eyes and then at A Yue's eager expression, Zhang Chen finally let out a long sigh.

He knew he couldn't persuade these two lunatics.

"Fine!" Zhang Chen gritted his teeth, his eyes turning fierce. "If we're going to play, let's play big! I'll bring out all my trump cards and we'll set a trap right here on this shore!"

The plan was thus finalized.

The three of them immediately sprang into action.

Zhang Chen took out a thick stack of yellow paper talismans from his cloth bag, his expression extremely solemn.

Without the slightest hesitation, he directly pulled out five talismans with intricate lightning patterns.

"Five Thunder Talisman!"

These five talismans were given to him by his master when he descended the mountain. Each one contained a trace of true heavenly lightning power, making them extremely powerful and serving as his trump card for survival.

He carefully walked to the shore and buried the five talismans in the soil according to the "Five Elements Locking Evil" directions, leaving only a barely visible corner of the yellow paper exposed.

He muttered incantations and rapidly formed hand seals.

At the spot where the five talismans were buried, a faint flash of lightning appeared and then disappeared, before everything returned to calm.

After doing all this, Zhang Chen's face paled even more.

Setting up these five talismans alone had already taken a lot of his time and energy.

He then took out several more talismans that were entirely black with blood-red runes.

"Spirit-Locking Talisman!"

This is a talisman specifically designed to imprison the soul and lock away evil energy. Once activated, it can make the movements of evil spirits extremely sluggish.

He pasted these talismans behind several inconspicuous trees on the shore, echoing the formation of the Five Thunder Talismans to form an inner and outer killing array.

"Waiter, remember, when you lure it up here, make sure it gets past these trees as soon as possible."

Zhang Chen solemnly warned, "As soon as it steps into this circle, I'm confident I can make it suffer a huge loss instantly!"

While Zhang Chen was setting up the formation, A Yue also found a position she liked.

It was a dense patch of grass near the water's edge.

She crouched down and gently poured out a few things from a small leather pouch deep inside her waist.

Those weren't the ordinary Gu worms from before.

Instead, it was a spider that was entirely green, like a jade carving, a centipede with golden stripes on its back, and a lump that looked like black mud, but was wriggling slightly.

As soon as these Gu worms appeared, the surrounding air seemed to become sweet and cloying.

These are A-Yue's most prized possessions, each containing a potent poison capable of instantly killing an elephant.

"Go on, my little darlings."

Ah Yue's voice was so gentle, as if she were talking to her lover.

"Find a good place to hide, and when that big guy comes ashore, give it a warm welcome."

As if understanding her words, the venomous creatures silently burrowed into the grass and soil, blending into their surroundings and leaving no trace.

Half an hour later, everything was in place.

The entire shoreline looked exactly the same as before, but a chilling atmosphere permeated the air.

Zhang Chen and A Yue hid behind a huge rock, holding their breath and only showing their eyes, staring intently at the water's edge.

All preparations have been completed.

Now, only the last, and most crucial, step remains.

The bait is brought in.

Wang Xiaoer took a deep breath, and the tension in his chest was replaced by a strange excitement.

He glanced in the direction where Zhang Chen and A Yue were hiding and gave them a reassuring look.

Then, he bent down and took off his shoes.

Barefoot, he slowly walked step by step toward the dark waters.

The soft earth, carrying the coolness of the night, came from the soles of his feet.

The water on the shore was icy cold.

The moment his feet were fully submerged in the pool, a chilling aura crept up his ankles, as if countless icy hands were gripping him from underwater.

Wang Xiaoer, however, didn't care at all.

He stood in knee-deep water and even took two steps forward.

He could feel the immense malice emanating from underwater, which instantly locked onto him.

It's the feeling of being targeted by a top predator—cold, greedy, and devoid of any emotion.

"Not enough."

Wang Xiaoer muttered to himself.

He slowly raised his right hand, then raised his left index and middle fingers, and forcefully drew a line across the tip of his right index finger.

A gash opened, and blood gushed out.

His blood is different from that of ordinary people.

In the pitch-black night, the drop of blood about to fall shimmered with a faint, almost imperceptible golden glow.

That was the essence of his pure Yang energy and boundless fortune.

A crazed smile crept onto Wang Xiaoer's lips.

"Dinner is ready."

He flicked his finger.

The drop of golden blood, imbued with pure yang energy, detached from his fingertip, traced a tiny arc, and fell into the dark pool in front of him.

The blood did not spread when it entered the water.

The instant it touched the water's surface, it felt like a drop of boiling oil falling into a pot of boiling water.

"boom--!!!"

Centered on the spot where the drop of blood fell, the water in the entire pool instantly boiled!

The violently churning water shot skyward with a deafening roar, and countless white water vapors rose wildly. At this moment, the entire Moon Bay seemed to have turned into a giant boiling cauldron!