The Water Son

Chapter 322: Water Son

“Swim in?” Li Huowang immediately dismissed the option. In the water, he would have no room to maneuver. Going in that way would be nothing more than throwing himself into the enemy’s jaws.

He ran through his current abilities in his mind, one by one, and found nothing that could help in this situation.

“Go back. Get Magistrate Lou to send a boat over?”

Just as Li Huowang was reluctantly considering this idea, his sharp hearing caught an extremely piercing instrument. “Suona?”

Li Huowang hid his figure among the bushes and looked toward the sound.

Before long, he saw a band of musicians playing and performing.

Behind the suona and the crashing gongs and drums was a small wooden boat being lifted by dozens of people. An old woman sat in the boat. Though her hair was entirely white and her teeth had all fallen out, her spirits were very high.

The smiling elderly woman looked at the lively scene around her. Red and white cloth wrapped the little boat like a flower.

This strange group left Li Huowang completely puzzled as to what was going on.

They did not pass by Li Huowang. Instead, they stopped.

Amid the noise of gongs and drums, they gently set the small boat carrying the old woman onto the river, letting it drift with the current toward the entrance of the cave.

The people on the shore were still beaming, constantly cupping their hands in congratulations toward the old woman on the boat.

“Sister-in-law Liu, you’re so fortunate. You’re truly fortunate. I don’t have such good luck as you.”

“Yes, Sister-in-law Liu, you’re blessed. Though you have no children, the Water Son will support you in your old age and see you to your final rest.”

“Auntie Liu, go well. I’ll often bring things to see you.”

Watching this seemingly warm scene, Li Huowang, hidden on the sidelines, only felt a chill run through him.

No matter how sweet their words, they could not conceal the wretched desire to eat the heirless inheritance.

Water Son, my ass. It was nothing more than sending away an old woman with no one to rely on so they could carve up her property.

Just as Li Huowang watched the small wooden boat gradually leave the shore, something struck him. His eyes widened slightly. He rushed forward, took two or three steps, kicked off the ground, and leaped directly onto the old woman’s boat.

His movement made the boat rock, but the old woman at the bow turned to look behind her and saw nothing. Gripping her walking stick, she continued to bid farewell to the neighbors on the shore.

Standing at the stern, invisible, Li Huowang looked at the cave entrance growing larger in the distance and said to himself, “Water Son, is it? Let’s see just what the hell you really are!”

Gradually, the music from the shore faded into the distance. Both people on the boat fixed their gazes on the distant cave entrance.

When the wooden boat entered the cave, the surroundings instantly fell silent. Apart from the gentle sound of water lapping against the hull, there was no other noise.

And as the light from outside the cave grew fainter, the interior became very dim.

The old woman, surnamed Liu, at the bow, was clearly getting a little scared. But she still clutched her walking stick, trying to bolster her courage.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Sister wouldn’t lie to me. The Water Son will come to pick me up soon. The Water Son will support me in my old age and see me to my final rest. I finally have a son now.”

Li Huowang glanced at her hunched back and felt a pang of reluctance. Clearly, this old woman was already completely senile, taking the lies others told her as the truth.

“Whoosh!” A small point of light suddenly appeared on the water’s surface in the distance, startling Li Huowang.

He squinted, trying to identify it, and found that it was actually a white candle.

“Water Son? Is that you, Water Son? Your mother’s surname is Liu. Your late father’s surname was Hu. You’ll take his surname from now on, understand?”

The old woman rambled toward the distant white candle, her manner a mix of wanting to show kindness and fearing she might be too forward.

The distant candle gave no reaction at all. Instead, the boat beneath Li Huowang changed course. It was no longer drifting with the current but slowly turning toward the candle.

Watching the candle, Li Huowang’s hand unconsciously tightened around the sword hilt at his back, and his muscles began to tense.

Whatever this Water Son was, since they had stolen infants for alchemy, they were certainly not benign.

As the small boat drew closer, the white candle slowly retreated. Before long, the candle suddenly stopped.

The next moment, Li Huowang stumbled forward. When he steadied himself, he realized the boat had run aground.

Before him was an uneven stretch of ground. It seemed they had reached a shore.

Glancing at the old woman, who had fallen forward and hadn’t gotten up for some time, Li Huowang stepped over her and moved toward the distant candle.

Three zhang. Two zhang. One zhang! Li Huowang finally got a clear look at the thing holding the candle.

It was a creature with malformed limbs. Looking at it as a whole, it barely resembled a human.

But this “person’s” hair was terrifyingly long, draped over its back like a tortoise shell. Its fingernails, longer than fingers, curled into filthy, yellow spirals.

The teeth in its mouth grew every which way. Li Huowang found it hard to imagine that both an underbite and an overbite could be seen on the same face.

He also noticed that strands of dark hair fell from its head and had grown into the creature’s eyes. The thing had no eyes. It was blind.

“Li Huowang, be careful. That’s a Renxiao.” Hongzhong, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke.

When Li Huowang shot him a skeptical look, Hongzhong continued to explain. “When a person’s fate is bad and they live on without dying, their white hair turns dark, teeth sprout from their mouth, they lose the ability to speak human words and only speak ghost tongue. In the end, they become a half-human, half-ghost evil being.”

Just then, the Renxiao carrying the white candle on its nail moved. It gently flickered the candle, luring the old woman to follow it deeper into the darkness.

His expression grim, Li Huowang instinctively moved to pursue, but then suddenly stopped. Standing still, he watched the candle disappear. Lowering his voice, he questioned Hongzhong. “Is this real, or did you just make it up?”

Hongzhong’s face showed a trace of disdain. “In your eyes, am I that petty? Do I lie just to amuse you? I’m Hongzhong, one of the Big Three, for crying out loud! If one of the True Three wanted to trick you, I’d make sure you died without a burial place!”

“Fine. Since I’ve said it and you don’t believe me, I can’t be bothered to tell you about the Renxiao’s peculiarities anymore.”

Li Huowang stood still, carefully examining the Hongzhong before him.

Seeing his unusual behavior, Hongzhong was taken aback. “Did I grow something on my face? What are you staring at? That person is already gone. Aren’t you going to chase after her? Did you come to this godforsaken place for a picnic?”

Frowning slightly, Li Huowang shook his head. “I just think this is a bit strange. Since you’re a hallucination, how do you know things I don’t?”

He then looked at the other four. “If you’re not hallucinations, then what are you?”

Hongzhong looked back at Li Huowang, scrutinizing him from head to toe. A smile that wasn’t quite a smile appeared on his skinless face.

“How should I know? You’ll have to ask yourself that.”