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The old man placed the firewood down, lit a dry cigarette, and said, "In the past, many people came here to fish, and there were plenty of fish. You could catch a lot just by casting your line."
Ye Mingshang frowned and replied, "Plenty of fish? I've been fishing all day today and haven't caught anything, not even a bite."
The old man finished his cigarette in a few puffs and was about to pack another one when Ye Mingshang offered him a stick of his own Zhonghua Cigarettes.
After taking a puff, the old man said, "You should consider yourself lucky for not catching any fish today; at least you weren't eaten."
"What do you mean?" Ye Mingshang frowned again.
"Didn't you notice that you're the only one fishing today?" the old man asked.
"I did notice that, but what does it matter?"
"If it were in the past, this place would be packed right now. But ever since several anglers died recently, fewer and fewer people have come."
Ye Mingshang frowned again. "Died? Was it drowning?"
The old man shook his head and scoffed. "It's not that simple. They were all eaten by water ghosts."
Ye Mingshang remained silent, waiting for the old man to continue. The old man took another puff of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "A few days ago, someone was net fishing and pulled out a monster. It was green and looked like a child—very ugly and covered in green fur. The kid who saw it got scared and killed the monster. But after it died, it left nothing behind—just a pile of dirty water. When the kid looked inside, he almost went insane from fright."
"What was it? Was it human remains?" Ye Mingshang asked.
The old man chuckled. "You guessed right. The water ghost was dead in the net, right next to a human head. And that wasn't even the scariest part; that head belonged to one of the fishermen who died a few days ago, and it was smiling at the kid."
"In the following days, that kid acted like he had gone mad, living in constant fear. Within a few days, he died too. When we saw him, we were shocked; his body was covered in holes as if something had bitten him all over, and his head was gone—it was terrifying."
As the old man recounted this, he looked visibly shaken. Ye Mingshang offered him another cigarette. After taking a puff, the old man said, "Later on, we reported it to the police. After their investigation, they didn't find much but told us not to go near the reservoir or fish anymore. So that's why you didn't see anyone fishing today; it's because of what happened here that scared everyone away."
After finishing his story, the old man brushed off some dirt from his clothes, picked up his firewood, and as he left said, "Young man, you're lucky you didn't encounter any water ghosts; it's best if you leave now and don't come back."
Knowing the old man had walked away, Ye Mingshang turned back to look at the calm surface of the lake. In the spot where he had been fishing earlier, it seemed like a dark shadow flickered for a moment. Ye Mingshang shook his head, thinking it must have been his imagination.
Driving along the mountain road, he pondered.
When he had visited that place before, he hadn’t seen a single person. So where had his fishing rod and equipment gone? Speaking of which, there had been a patch of water there; now that he thought about it, it looked somewhat like something had crawled up and left a mark. Could there really be a water ghost?
Suddenly, Ye Mingshang stopped the car and turned around. If there really was a water ghost, as an Exorcist, he couldn't just ignore it.
Ten minutes later, he returned to the spot where he had set up. The patch of water was still there but had already soaked into the ground. The shape was radiating outward, with the edges covered and an irregular semicircle extending outward.
“Did it really crawl out of the water?”
As he thought this, he observed the marks left by his fishing rod holder. The soil near the edge was turned up and pressed down inward. This shape was clearly different from what we would pull up from the shore; it looked more like something being pulled down from the river.
The impressions in the chair also led toward the water, extending right into it.
Ye Mingshang reached down to touch some of the muddy water stains and rubbed them near his nose.
Sniff sniff.
There was a faint fishy smell, but he didn’t detect any signs of supernatural energy or anything similar; however, he still felt an eerie sensation.
Furrowing his brow, Ye Mingshang wondered why lately he couldn’t sense any ghostly or demonic energy from the spirits he encountered. Instead, this strange feeling always lingered. Although he didn’t know why, he understood that something was wrong here; something was definitely present. Whenever he felt that way, it was certain that something bad would happen.
“According to what the old man said, anglers suddenly disappear—could they have been dragged into the water by a water ghost?” Thinking this over, Ye Mingshang broke off a branch and found some rope in his car to tie it together. Nearby were some thorns; he snapped off a piece to attach to the front as a hook and dug up a few worms to hang on it.
He intended to use this to lure the water ghost to pull him in. If he hadn’t left earlier, it was very likely that he would have been caught by the water ghost and dragged into the water along with his fishing rod.
Though simple, sometimes such makeshift tools could be more effective than professional equipment; he had previously caught five-pound fish using this very method.
Sitting cross-legged by the water, my simple fishing rod hung down, creating a rather poetic scene.
Time passed second by second, ten minutes, twenty minutes. Soon, an hour had gone by, and just when Ye Mingshang was about to lose patience, bubbles suddenly appeared in the water, and the light fishing rod in his hand felt a strong tug.
"It's here!"
Ye Mingshang's spirit surged as he stood up, pulling hard to reel it in.
Given his strength, he should have been able to pull a water ghost without much effort. However, while he was fine, the rod couldn't take it; it bent under the strain and snapped with a crack.
Half of the rod was dragged into the water. Ye Mingshang immediately discarded the broken half and jumped into the water with a splash.
Five minutes later, he swam back and sat on the shore, wringing out the water from his clothes.
From his expression, it was clear he hadn’t caught anything. That creature moved too quickly in the water and had great strength. If it wanted to fight, Ye Mingshang wouldn’t be afraid; even an elephant couldn’t match him in strength, let alone a mere water ghost. But it seemed to know that Ye Mingshang was not easy to deal with; it just ran away instead of fighting.
Although Ye Mingshang was a good swimmer, he still couldn’t match a water ghost. In its domain, if it wanted to escape, there was nothing he could do.
Back at the car, he dried himself off with a towel while feeling speechless. Who would have thought that he, a dignified immortal and one of the top figures of the Taoist Sect, couldn't catch a mere water ghost? It was embarrassing to even think about saying it out loud.
"It seems I need to lure them onto land," Ye Mingshang thought, already determined in his mind that he needed some bait. (To be continued.)
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