The suburban reservoir, also known as "Black Dragon Pool."
The heavy rain seemed intent on collapsing the barrier between heaven and earth. The water level in the reservoir had already surged, with muddy waves battering the dam's embankment, emitting a dull roar like a giant beast growling low in its throat.
The police car and the battered Jetta were parked on open ground ten meters from the dam. Doors opened, and Su Qing, braving the wind and rain, was the first to rush out. The SWAT team members behind her were fully armed; though gripping their guns, every face was etched with tension. After all, the enemy they faced wasn't a knife-wielding thug, but a monster that had nearly claimed a life on the autopsy table earlier.
Chen Mo followed leisurely behind. He fished a black canvas bag from the trunk, slung it over his shoulder, and then pulled a handful of something that looked like salt or sand from his pocket, casually scattering it into the mud at his feet.
"What's this? Traction for your shoes?" A young SWAT officer couldn't help but ask, his tone carrying a hint of teasing as he tried to alleviate the suffocating oppression.
"Bigu Salt. It repels ghosts, not people." Chen Mo replied indifferently, pulling his hood up. His gaze traveled past the police headlights, staring straight at the pitch-black surface of the water.
Su Qing ran back at that moment, the beam of her flashlight appearing feeble in the curtain of rain. She wiped the rain from her face and shouted, "Chen Mo, something's wrong! I just got off the phone with the patrol team on the opposite bank. They said a thick fog has risen over the reservoir, but it's raining heavily—where did this fog come from?"
Hearing this, Chen Mo's brow twitched violently. He reached up to remove his sunglasses, and his originally pitch-black pupils instantly turned a deep, golden color.
In his vision, the world transformed instantly. The sky above the reservoir wasn't empty; it was shrouded in a thick, tar-like, viscous black aura. This aura wasn't still; it was rotating slowly, like a giant funnel, continuously drawing something up from the bottom.
And deep beneath the water, countless clusters of red light were bobbing up and down. Those were... vengeful spirits.
"Fall back! Everyone get behind the cars!" Chen Mo suddenly roared, his voice carrying undeniable authority.
Though Su Qing didn't understand why, out of trust in Chen Mo, she immediately turned and waved her arm. "All units retreat! Fall back behind the headlights!"
Just as the SWAT team members evacuated to a safe position, the surface of the reservoir suddenly boiled.
Blub, blub—
Giant bubbles surged up from the bottom, accompanied by a teeth-grating sound of grinding bone. Immediately after, a massive column of water shot into the sky, three or four meters high, before crashing heavily onto the rocks on the shore.
By the strong light of the car headlights, everyone finally saw what it was.
It wasn't water. It was clumps of tangled waterweeds and rotting flesh. And amidst that rotting flesh were squeezed a dozen pale, bloated human faces! Some were missing eyes, others lacked jaws, but without exception, they all had wide-open mouths, emitting sharp, ear-piercing shrieks.
"It's a group of Water Ghosts! How can there be so many Water Ghosts in this reservoir?!" Su Qing gasped, instinctively raising her gun. Bang, bang, bang! She fired three shots.
The bullets hit the monsters, but it was like shooting into mud; they only splashed a few black flowers of water, causing no substantial damage.
"Guns are useless! That's a 'Yin-Gathering Fiend'—physical attacks don't work on it!" Chen Mo shouted, grabbing a handful of glutinous rice from his bag and flinging it violently into the air.
"Heaven is Round, Earth is Square. The Laws hold nine chapters. I cast my hand now; ten thousand ghosts shall hide! By the Imperial Order: Scatter!"
As the incantation left his lips, the glutinous rice in the air seemed to ignite, turning into a rain of golden light that smashed ruthlessly down onto the squirming mound of meat.
Ssssss—
It was like water droplets hitting hot oil. The cluster of monsters let out a shriek of utter misery. The water ghosts touched by the rice instantly emitted green smoke, their tangled bodies beginning to fester and disintegrate.
But this wasn't the end.
In the center of the reservoir, the giant black vortex suddenly stopped rotating. Immediately after, a terrifying, suffocating pressure rose from the depths.
Chen Mo's face instantly turned pale as he felt his blood freezing in his veins. This level of Yin energy couldn't be produced by an ordinary reservoir, unless... something was suppressed beneath it, and that something was about to come out.
"Su Qing, turn off the high beams! Turn off all the lights!" Chen Mo roared.
"Why?"
"Don't argue! Just kill the lights!"
Gritting her teeth, Su Qing waved at her subordinates. "Kill the lights!"
In an instant, surroundings plunged into complete darkness, with only the occasional lightning streaking across the sky providing a glimmer of light.
In the darkness, the water's surface slowly parted. A massive, green-scaled hand emerged from the water. The palm was incredibly large; just one finger was thicker than a grown man's thigh. The fingertips bore long, pitch-black claws that gleamed with a cold, eerie light under the lightning.
It didn't attack immediately. Instead, it gently rested on a massive rock by the shore. That two-ton piece of granite, under its "gentle caress," was crushed like tofu, sending gravel flying.
"What... what is that?" A SWAT officer's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped his gun.
Chen Mo stared dead at the giant hand, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. He pulled the rusty peach wood sword from his bosom, bit the tip of his tongue, and sprayed a mouthful of essence blood onto the blade.
The originally dull sword instantly erupted with a blood-red glow. The rust on the blade fell away, revealing densely packed runes beneath.
"Everyone get down! No matter what happens, don't look up!" Chen Mo stood in front of the crowd, holding the sword with both hands, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground, his body trembling slightly.
It wasn't fear; it was the sword thirsting for blood. This "Soul Suppressing Sword" was a heirloom of the Chen family, a fierce weapon sealing the soul of an ancient demonic dragon. Encountering an evil of this level, it had actually resonated.
"Roar—!!!"
A deafening roar came from beneath the water. Immediately after, the colossus revealed its true form.
It was a snake, but certainly not an ordinary one. Its body was as thick as a water bucket, covered in hard skin resembling a crocodile's. On its forehead grew a single horn, with a few strands of rotting waterweeds and old fishing nets hanging beside it. Its eyes were two green lanterns in the dark, locking onto Chen Mo.
"A single-horned Jiao... no, it's a 'Transformed Snake' that failed its flood dragon migration!" Chen Mo was horrified.
Legend says a snake cultivates for five hundred years to become a Jiao, and a Jiao cultivates for a thousand years to become a Dragon. If the "Walking Jiao"—the migration to the sea—succeeds, it can ascend as a dragon. But if it fails, it is struck down by the Heavenly Lightning Tribulation. If its resentment doesn't dissipate, it degenerates into the demonic "Transformed Snake." Once this thing comes ashore, all living things within ten miles will be doomed, and a great flood will surely follow.
"Su Qing, take the men and go! I can't hold this thing off for long!" Chen Mo shouted without looking back.
"I won't go! If we die, we die together!" Su Qing had somehow drawn her dagger and stood behind Chen Mo.
"Idiot!" Chen Mo cursed, but his heart warmed.
Just then, the Transformed Snake opened its massive bloody maw, and a column of black water sprayed out like a high-pressure water cannon, straight for Chen Mo!
Chen Mo raised the peach wood sword high with both hands, the red light on the blade blazing as he met the attack head-on.
"Break!"
Boom!
The water column collided with the peach wood sword, exploding with a massive shockwave. Chen Mo felt a gigantic force hit him; his body flew backward like a kite with a cut string, crashing heavily onto the hood of the Jetta and denting it deeply.
Cough, cough... Chen Mo spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling as if his chest was about to split open.
The Transformed Snake, having missed its strike, grew even more frenzied. Its massive tail lashed out, trying to sweep all these "ants" on the shore into death.
At this critical moment, a blinding pair of headlights suddenly shot from the other side of the reservoir.
Immediately followed by the roar of an engine. A heavily modified off-roader, like an angry bull, charged down the muddy mountain road. With a beautiful drift, it stopped steadily beside Chen Mo's car.
The off-roader's window lowered, and a tattooed, bare-chested fat head poked out. In his hand, he held a homemade firelock blunderbuss!
"Mo-zi! Sorry to keep you waiting! Grandpa Fatty is here to help!"
It was Wang Pangzi.
Before Chen Mo could react, Wang Pangzi had already pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A loud boom rang out as the blunderbuss sprayed a cloud of iron sand and black powder smoke. The gun wasn't loaded with ordinary bullets, but with Chen Mo's specially made "Black Dog Blood Shells" and "Bane-Breaking Beads."
This shot hit the Transformed Snake exactly at its weak point—seven inches below the head.
Aooo—!
The snake howled in pain, thrashing madly. Its tail, originally preparing to sweep, deviated from its course and smashed heavily into the empty ground nearby, creating a deep pit.
"Now!" Chen Mo rolled up from the car hood, a ruthless gleam in his eyes.
He bit his finger and drew a blood talisman in the air at lightning speed.
"Lord Lao Tzu taught me to kill ghosts, gave me the divine method. Thunder bring lightning, electricity bring laser beams... Suppress!"
Chen Mo flung the blood talisman in his hand viciously at the snake's brow. The talisman turned into a red bolt of lightning in mid-air, accurately sticking onto the single horn.
The Transformed Snake let out one last, unwilling shriek. Its massive body began to tremble violently, then, as if losing its support, it crashed heavily back into the water.
Huge waves splashed ten meters high, nearly washing away the cars on the shore.
The water churned for a long time before slowly calming down. The terrifying single horn and massive body sank back into the dark abyss.
The rain seemed to have lessened slightly.
Chen Mo, exhausted, slumped to the ground, panting heavily. Wang Pangzi came trotting over, still holding the smoking blunderbuss, his face fawning. "Mo-zi, how was that? Grandpa Fatty's backup was timely, right? This is the 'Bane-Breaking God Cannon' I spent a fortune modifying!"
Chen Mo rolled his eyes at him and said grumpily, "If you had been one minute later, you would have been here to collect my corpse."
Su Qing walked over at this moment, looking at the water that had returned to calm, still terrified. "Is it... dead?"
"No." Chen Mo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression grave. "It's just injured and retreated. And furthermore..."
He extended a hand covered in mud and water, pointing to the center of the reservoir.
There, where the vortex had been, something was slowly floating up.
It was a coffin.
A pitch-black coffin, covered all over with yellow talismans, floating quietly on the water, bobbing with the waves.
"That is..." Su Qing's eyes widened.
"That is the source of all this." Chen Mo struggled to stand up, his eyes cold. "Someone was raising a corpse under the reservoir. That Transformed Snake was just a guard dog for this coffin. Now that the guard dog has been beaten away, the master inside is ready to receive guests."
Just then, the black coffin floating on the water suddenly let out a soft click.
The coffin lid slowly slid open a crack.
A visible red baleful energy overflowed from the gap, instantly dyeing the surrounding water a blood-red.
Chen Mo gripped his peach wood sword tightly and whispered to Su Qing and Wang Pangzi, "Prepare for battle. Tonight, it's going to be a long night."