"A-Zhang!" Chen Anyue cried in horror, but Liu Sumeng's strong arms held her where she stood, preventing her from doing anything foolish.
"Anyue," he said in a low voice, "don't do anything rash. If I can't come up myself I will need you to pull me up."
She blinked at him, confused, "What…?"
"Your Golden Rope."
"Oh!" Her eyes went wide as she pulled something out from her interspatial ring. "This thing?"
Chen Anyue's Golden Rope was actually a powerful magical tool, refined by the Young Master Yuan himself. It was sturdy to the point of nigh indestructibility and would lessen the amount of strength Chen Anyue needed to pull whatever was tied to the opposite end. Perhaps it was a little strange that Liu Sumeng even knew about this tool, but she didn't question him, understanding that there were more dire things at stake.
After tying a loop around Liu Sumeng's wrist he nodded at her before diving into dark waters.
For such a small body of water, it was frightfully deep. A bone-chilling cold gnawed at him and the dark water made visibility poor. Not to mention, the resentful energy was thick and suffocating.
But he kept diving, deeper and deeper. Until finally, he made out Yuan Xuelan's form in the depths where he was holding onto a thrashing girl, her breath escaping her with large bubbles. Yuan Xuelan was trying to haul her up but there was something stopping him. Upon closer inspection, there was something black tangled around his ankle.
Liu Sumeng drew Mingshui and slashed at the black thing, freeing Yuan Xuelan from its grasps. Yuan Xuelan, seeing his chance, dragged A-Ling back to the surface.
Before Liu Sumeng could follow, the black thing turned its attention onto him instead, lashing out and gripping his limbs. He scowled and fought against it, slicing away at those dark tentacle-like appendages. Actually, it looked and felt more like hair than anything else.
Dammit! If he was the same general that stood by Emperor Taixu's side then he could obliterate this creature with a single slash. But Liu Sumeng had forgotten that he wasn't yet as powerful and his cultivation not yet as strong so he could only struggle against whatever devil that festered beneath this lake.
"A-Zhang!" Yuan Xuelan heard as he broke the water's surface.
In his arms, A-Ling was slumped and no longer fighting, which was an even bigger cause of alarm than before. He dragged her onto shore, where he met with his Shijie. Dusk had fallen, leaving the soft glow of twilight lingering as the moon took its place in the sky.
"She swallowed too much water," he said as he immediately began to press down on her chest. After a few tries, just when he was contemplating giving her mouth-to-mouth, she began coughing up a spew of water.
But the moment he was about to exhale a breath of relief, she shot up with crazed eyes glaring at the water. Luckily, Yuan Xuelan's reflexes were quick. "Just go to sleep!" he growled, taking out a talisman and sticking it onto her face.
A-Ling instantly fell like a puppet with strings cut. The talisman he used on her was weak to the point it only worked on mortals with little to no spiritual energy, but for cases like this, it was quite useful.
"What happened? Chen Anyue asked with a pale face, "Where is Liu-ge?"
Yuan Xuelan narrowed his eyes at the Golden Rope clasped in her hands, "I'm not really sure but there was something evil down there. He's probably fighting it right now…" He thought of that idiot Second Young Master Liu who helped him in the depths of that murky pond without hesitation.
Of course, he would have done the same as well! But for some reason, there was a pang of guilt that struck at his heart. "Why don't you pull him up?"
"R-right!" Chen Anyue suddenly remembered that she still held the Golden Rope. With all her strength she grabbed onto it and pulled and pulled until the string went taut and the water rippled and bubbled.
Yuan Xuelan took this time to take the unconscious A-Ling and put her down in a safer place, away from the sinister lake. When he turned back, Chen Anyue was clenching her teeth and still hauling her Golden Rope.
There was no way that Liu Sumeng himself could weigh so much that Anyue needed that much force to pull on her Golden Rope. The rope was enchanted in a way that allowed her to pull the weight of a fully grown elephant with ease, which could only mean there was something extremely heavy or extremely powerful at the other end.
Though she was struggling, Chen Anyue was slowly, but surely shortening the length of her rope. The bubbling on the water's surface became more plentiful and violent until…Pop! "Kya!" Chen Anyue squeaked, falling backward as her rope suddenly became slack after one final tug, two figures burst out of the pond. Liu Sumeng, who was at the other end of the Golden Rope almost barreled into Chen Anyue, landing next to her.
"Liu-ge! Are you ok?"
Yuan Xuelan might have been a tiny bit worried as well, but only because Liu Sumeng had been the one that helped him in the bottom of the pond earlier. But he didn't want to show his concern so he only swept his eyes across the Ivory Sword Saint's body. Like himself, he was soaked from head to toe, small tears could be seen in his robes and his skin looked a little pale.
But there was fire in the Ivory Sword Saint's eyes and he was quick to stand up, brushing off long strands of black hair that were curled around his limbs and body. "I'm fine."
Those strands of hair, although severed from their source quivered on the ground and Yuan Xuelan was instantly overcome with a feeling of disgust, "Just what is that?"
Chen Anyue backed up as well, alarmed, "Look!" she called, bringing his attention to the dark figure standing on the water's surface.
The resentful energy that radiated off the thing was thick enough to cut. It was hunched, shoulders raised and growling. Black matted hair covered its face and extended downwards to spread across the water's surface like a million spider legs. Beneath the veil of black were two glowing red orbs. The clothes that hung from its body were dirty and tattered and it was impossible to guess the original colors of the robe, only that now it was black, and appeared to be in the style of a woman's dress. Clawed hands flexed and tensed at its side.
There was something about it that was likened to a savage corpse but there was something else that made it different as well. A black, rotting mouth creaked open and a terrible cry screeched out, piercing their ears before her hair lashed out like angry vines.
Although his cultivation level and strength wasn't as good as his last life, Liu Sumeng at least retained his skills and experience. In a split second, he raised his hand and formed hand seals to erect a barrier around them. Black strands clashed and scratched at its surface, a blue light pulsed and rippled. Yuan Xuelan drew his sword and Chen Anyue held her rope as she would a whip.
When the barrier faltered and was broken through, the three cultivators were ready and cut away the strands of hair striking at them. Yuan Xuelan pulled out some talismans and shot them towards the figure, bursting into flames when they stuck onto its body. But it was futile, for it simply roared and ripped them off, the flames not leaving the barest of marks on its body.
"Pull it onto land," Liu Sumeng said.
"Got it!" He had meant to bait it to come ashore, so he was a little surprised when Chen Anyue formed a lasso with her Golden Rope to capture and drag the corpse forward with brute force. No matter, as long as it worked. It continued to screech and cry, fighting against the bonds with clawed fingers and flailing hair, keeping both Liu Sumeng and Yuan Xuelan busy protecting Chen Anyue as more needle-like strands shot their way.
She only managed to lug the ugly thing to the water's edge before it broke through the bonds, causing Chen Anyue to stumble.
"Shijie!"
"I'm ok!"
Enraged and wailing, the corpse began to run towards them at frightening speeds, claws outstretched. "What out!" Yuan Xuelan called, but Liu Sumeng was faster and stepped in front of them with his sword. In close quarters and on land, he had a much better advantage.
His sword came down in a crescent arc, elegant and smooth. The savage corpse barely managed to roll away in time and Mingshui had cut a slash into her blackened arm.
She growled at him but he did not relent, even as more hair lashed out at him, the Ivory Sword Saint parried them easily and closed the distance. When she tried to reach out and grab him, an upwards slash was all he needed to sever the rotting arm and when she cried in outrage and tried to claw at him with the other arm.
He back stepped without any waste of movement or speed, and his blade curved in a beautiful arc, leaving a glowing ribbon of silver light under the foggy shine of the moon. His attack struck true, black tar-like blood gushed out of the corpse's neck, her head falling to the ground.
It rolled away, but even decapitated, the rotten beast did not back down, hair reaching out like long fingers to bring the severed body parts back together into one piece.
"What the heck…" Yuan Xuelan muttered as he watched in horror. Rotten flesh actually mended back together anew! What was worse was that when it lunged back at Liu Sumeng, it was both faster and stronger than before.
Yuan Xuelan wasn't just going to sit around and watch so he pulled out more talismans and shot them at their foe. While they didn't work on the main body, at least it could burn away some of that pesky hair. Meanwhile, Chen Anyue lashed out her Golden Rope to bind the beast. And though Anyue struggled for control, it was enough to buy Liu Sumeng enough time to cut into its flesh and slice off its limbs.
But each time, the cuts would heal, and each time, the limbs came back together again, and it became stronger and faster until even the Golden Rope could not hold it down, even for a second. Liu Sumeng grit his teeth, barely blocking the sharp fingernails aimed at his head before he kicked her away, giving himself an opening to retreat.
"We need to leave," he said in a harsh tone, "We cannot continue like this."
"Yeah," Yuan Xuelan breathed, "Ok."
"Wait! A-Ling as well…" Chen Anyue reminded them as she ran over to the sleeping girl's form. Although the talisman had locked away her consciousness, she could still be hauled to her feet and made to walk, even run.
Liu Sumeng formed his hand seals again, erecting a barrier when the savage ghost screamed and lunged at them. Yuan Xuelan was quick to reinforce it with a dozen talismans. But when the savage ghost clashed with the barrier, it instantly cracked.
"Go!" Liu Sumeng shouted as he remained rooted, feeding more energy into the barrier to buy more time.
"As if I'm going to let you play the hero here!" Yuan Xuelan shouted, pulling even more talismans out. Chen Anyue clenched her teeth as she protected the sleeping mortal in her care.
"...Just go!" Liu Sumeng cried at his wit's end.
"Not a chance!"
Just before the savage ghost could tear the barrier to shreds, an arrow flew out from the woods, piercing through a red glowing eye.