Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Ye family held their breath as they watched me, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Ye Wenxuan, in particular, looked utterly stunned. The blank expression on his face made it clear his entire worldview had just taken a massive hit.

I pulled Father Ye and Mother Ye over and told them to blow hard at the paper crane.

“Whoosh-”

The instant they finished blowing, the paper crane in the bowl flapped its wings and nimbly flew up.

“Don’t just stand there. Follow it!”

The paper crane led us around in circles and down winding paths until we reached the riverside.

Staring at the endless stretch of river before me, I swallowed.

No way. Was Ye Xiaolei’s body at the bottom of the river?

Song Feifei also drew in a deep breath. “This river is really deep, at least ten meters or so. If he’s at the bottom, there must be rocks or something tied to him, right?”

I looked around, walked down a small path to the riverbank, then took a talisman from inside my clothes and tossed it onto the water.

Soon, the talisman gave off a faint blue glow in the darkness. A moment later, a carp weighing three or four pounds leaped up onto the bank.

I stuffed the paper crane, still flapping its wings in midair, into the fish’s belly. Before long, the black carp began to emit a faint red glow.

I turned to Ye Wenxuan. “Can you swim?”

Ye Wenxuan nodded without hesitation. I took off my jacket, strapped a flashlight to my arm, and tossed the fish into the river.

The carp swished its head and tail in the dark river water, signaling for us to follow.

Ye Wenxuan and I jumped into the water one after the other. The river was cold at night, and the moment I entered, a shiver ran through me.

The carp flicked its tail cheerfully. The midnight river was pitch-black and seemingly bottomless. The flashlight could only illuminate a small patch ahead, as if all the light farther out had been swallowed by the darkness.

Anyone with claustrophobia or a fear of the deep sea would probably be scared to death on the spot down here.

Holding my breath, I followed the red-glowing carp downstream. Before long, we reached the riverbed.

There, lying among the dense waterweed, was a huge burlap sack. I cut it open with my dagger, and sure enough, it was filled with stones.

I shoved the stones aside with all my strength, and a swollen, pale corpse came into view.

The moment Ye Wenxuan saw it, he choked on the water. He struggled for quite a while before finally recovering.

I was just about to pull the body out when, from the corner of my eye, I caught sight of an incredibly fast figure darting toward Ye Wenxuan from the distance.

I kicked Ye Wenxuan aside, and the thing grabbed at nothing.

Holy shit! A kappa!

My heart sank. Ships passed through this river every day, so how could something like that be here?

Ye Wenxuan was obviously badly frightened, and we had already been underwater for a long time. He was about to run out of air.

A kappa was formed from the yin energy at the bottom of the water. In the water, it possessed tremendous strength and was extremely difficult to deal with.

After its first claw swipe missed, it turned around and lunged at Ye Wenxuan again.