Chapter 187
Chapter 187
As Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu marveled over the revelation, I could still see a trace of fear on their faces.
I found it amusing, but I understood perfectly well.
It was an enormous toad weighing over a hundred pounds, after all!
The mere thought would probably make any ordinary person’s scalp crawl and goose bumps rise across their skin.
Especially after I said the toad monster had attained a fairly high level of cultivation…
“Chief Ma, Uncle Lu, don’t worry. I’m here, and it’s broad daylight. That enormous toad won’t be able to stir up any trouble.”
I offered them a few more words of reassurance.
By then, I already had a rough plan for dealing with the toad monster.
I walked slowly along the ridge bordering the pond, carefully studying the surface of the water as I went.
Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu naturally followed close behind me, treading with extreme caution and not daring to fall too far back. They seemed terrified that the toad monster might suddenly leap out and swallow them whole!
“Uncle Lu, which part of this fishpond did you dig deepest?”
I asked the question
because the toad monster was enormous. It would surely be uncomfortable in shallow water, which meant it would almost certainly stay in the pond’s deep-water zone.
Sixth Lu hurriedly pointed toward the northeastern corner.
“Over there, Young Mr. Wu! I planned it out when I first had the pond dug. That section in the northeast corner is a square roughly a hundred and sixty feet on each side, and the water is at least sixteen to twenty feet deep throughout.”
Good heavens!
He really had dug this pond deep.
Sixteen to twenty feet…
It appeared Sixth Lu was determined to raise giant fish and sell them at high prices to wealthy people in nearby Yangtong and the somewhat more distant Lianghe Town!
“Let’s go take a look over there. Uncle Lu, you and Chief Ma bring a fishing net along. Use the strongest one you have. I’ll need you to do me a small favor in a moment.”
“Of course, Young Mr. Wu. No problem.”
Both men agreed immediately.
But Ma Dayue hurriedly added a question.
“Young Mr. Wu, um… our lives won’t be in danger, will they?”
“Certainly not. Don’t worry, Chief Ma. Oh, and bring a bucket with several large eels in it.”
After saying that, we returned to the thatched hut where Sixth Lu usually kept watch and found an old plastic bucket. Then we located several eel burrows in the nearby ridges, dug out a few mature eels, and put them inside.
I carried the bucket in front while they followed with the fishing net. Together, we reached the ridge beside the deep-water section of the pond.
Standing there and gazing at the murky water, I sniffed the air hard.
Sure enough!
A faint but unusual fishy stench hung nearby.
It smelled nothing like an ordinary fishpond.
An ordinary person–and perhaps even an average cultivator–would not have detected it. But because I was born with an extremely light bazi, I was far more sensitive than ordinary people to sinister yin entities.
Especially after I began following Master. As my cultivation in the arcane arts improved, so did this sensitivity.
I pointed at this stretch of water and told the two men,
“The toad monster is most likely hiding deep in the mud beneath this part of the pond!”
“It’s still daytime, so its demonic energy is suppressed and it can’t use most of its strength.”
“That’s why I’ve decided to lure it out from the bottom right now and finish the fight as quickly as possible.”
“Otherwise, as the sun sinks westward and evening approaches, it will grow stronger and stronger the closer we get to night!”
Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu nodded vigorously, indicating that they would do whatever I told them.
Their complete cooperation left me very satisfied.
I had also discovered a useful routine…
Whenever I went to help someone resolve an evil haunting, I could perform a small trick before the real work began–displaying some method that was not particularly powerful but looked extremely strange.
That would most likely win the “client’s” respect!
Better yet, I could use the “client” as a helper. I had done the same thing at Xia Family Hamlet before.
I directed Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu to spread the sturdy fishing net flat across the ridge, extending it out to both sides.
They stood at opposite ends, clutching the net tightly.
Meanwhile, I positioned myself inside the middle of the net and prepared to begin… fishing for a toad!
Fishing for toads was actually a common pastime for children in the countryside.
First, you found a slender bamboo pole about three to five feet long. You tied a thin nylon line to one end and attached an iron hook at the other, then baited the hook with an earthworm or a piece of shelled snail meat.
Then you could go fish for toads in the rice paddies. It was essentially the same as fishing, only much easier.
Toads were clumsy, stupid, and greedy. They were far easier to catch than fish.
When we were little, groups of three or five children often went fishing for toads in the fields. Once we caught them, we could play with them or take them home and toss them into the chicken or duck pen as feed…
But after I turned ten, I never went fishing for toads in the fields again.
I had assumed I would never get another chance.
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I would try it again today!
Naturally, the tools were completely different this time.
I had Sixth Lu prepare a high-quality fishing rod and reel. The bait for that creature would be the mature eels in the bucket.
I set the bucket on the ridge and reached inside, pulling out a slick, wriggling eel.
Holding a small knife in my other hand, I deftly flicked the blade around.
Slice!
I cut a ring-shaped incision just below the eel’s head.
Then I pressed the knife against its spine and drew it forcefully downward.
I stripped the flesh from the bones, leaving two fillets… both still dripping eel blood.
Eel blood carried an extremely strong fishy smell!
It was very effective at attracting fierce creatures in the water.
I pulled out a sheet of talisman paper, murmured an incantation, and infused it with a wisp of qi.
It ignited with a whoosh, and the talisman ash scattered on the wind–yet an invisible attraction drew every fleck onto the bloody eel meat.
In an instant, the fishy scent of eel blood grew several times stronger!
Even Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu, standing some distance away on either side, caught the smell. The discomfort made them instinctively clamp hands over their noses.
This was the Trait-Amplifying Talisman I had recently learned. Its effect was to greatly magnify and enhance an object’s inherent characteristics!
Although it was not an especially advanced talisman and seemed unlikely to have any direct effect in battles of talisman arts against rogue occultists or other villains, it was quite interesting.
Using it on the eel meat I had prepared as bait increased my chances of success!
That was why the predecessors of the esoteric arts had created such an ever-changing array of talismans with different effects. Every one had a use. Talismans were not valuable only when they could attack, defend, aid in combat, exorcise ghosts, or subdue monsters…
I threaded the bleeding eel meat, whose fishy smell had been intensified by the Trait-Amplifying Talisman, onto the hook. Then I swung the rod hard and cast it forward.
The bait landed in the pond with a splash.
Concentric ripples spread across the surface.
“All right. Now we wait for the toad monster to take the bait.”
I spoke calmly.
Second after second passed.
I stood utterly still and silent, staring without blinking at the float on the water.
Ma Dayue and Sixth Lu remained silent as well, their eyes fixed on the pond.
The surroundings fell deathly quiet, and the atmosphere grew rather oppressive.
Truthfully, I was nowhere near as relaxed inside as I sounded!
For a monster, the greater the difference between its current size and its original animal form, the higher its cultivation.
In ordinary circumstances, a toad was about the size of an adult’s fist.
But according to Sixth Lu, this one had to weigh at least eighty or ninety pounds–perhaps even over a hundred!
It had probably lived for a very long time.
Toads were extremely primitive animals, so compared with beasts such as mammals that awakened their intelligence and cultivated into monsters, a toad would be much weaker at the same level.
But anything that had grown this enormous was undoubtedly powerful!
By my estimate, it could not be much weaker than Bai Su.
If I fought the beast, it might not become a grueling, desperate battle, but it would certainly take considerable effort…
Fortunately, I was a cautious person by nature and had already prepared.
As long as I could reel it in, we could trap it inside the fishing net.
Then it would be far easier to handle!
At last, the sun slowly shifted into the western sky.
As the fierce sunlight began taking on a dim yellow hue, the float on the pond finally moved!
At the same time, an immense force traveled up the fishing rod and into my hands.
It felt as if the entire rod might be pulled until it snapped.
Waves churned across the water.
I could also smell a dense surge of demonic energy spreading from beneath the surface.
“It’s here! The beast finally took the bait. Chief Ma, Uncle Lu, get ready and follow my orders!”
As I shouted, I pulled out a talisman and slapped it onto the fishing rod.
A faint glow instantly burst from the talisman. It flowed like water along the bamboo rod and fishing line, then poured beneath the surface…
I intended to seize the initiative and subdue the enormous toad slightly before it could react. Otherwise, I might not be able to reel it in at all!