That water demon obviously knew he was no match for me, so after I injured him, he immediately used his water escape technique. When it escaped, I became a little anxious because I had finally managed to injure it. If we didn't catch it now, we might have to wait forever.
What's frustrating is that Lu Dakun and I had planned for me to injure the water demon and then wait for it to fall into the water before they would use their strength together to pull up the net and capture it. But now, Lu Dakun and his men were all confused and couldn't even pull up the net. If I don't take action soon, that water demon will really get away.
Seeing this situation made me anxious. So without thinking much about it, I grabbed a bundle of rope and jumped into the water hoping to chase after that water demon.
But once in the water, despite my martial arts skills on land being strong enough; in the water they were useless as my swimming speed wasn't any faster than a frog's! To make matters worse when I got close to where the large fishing net was located; one of its hooks scratched me!
This really annoyed me at that time as I didn't know what else could be done.
Fortunately YunQingYue reminded me: "That girl has also run away!"
Yes! There was still that girl - there's no way she can swim as fast as that Water Demon right?
Grandma's house! That little girl isn't just some puppet controlled by Water Demon? Following her should lead us straight back towards finding Water Demon!
Thinking quickly at this point; I swam towards where she disappeared into deeper waters with determination not wanting lose sight of her or let her slip away from our grasp.
I followed her all the way, intentionally not catching her, with the purpose of letting her lead me to find that water demon.
Unknowingly, we entered a clear stream in the middle of a dense forest. The little girl's corpse followed the stream upstream and it seemed like she was going back to the water demon's lair.
Seeing this situation, I quickly followed a few steps behind and soon saw a mountain peak blocking our path ahead. There was a cave entrance under the mountain peak where the stream flowed out from. The little girl's corpse went straight into the cave without hesitation.
In complete darkness inside the cave, I dared not take out my glow-in-the-dark stone because I knew that producing light in such an environment would not make me safer but rather put me in danger.
At this point, I could only rely on my own energy to explore my surroundings. Upon investigation, I found that it was purely a rocky cave with damp walls covered by fishnet-like roots crawling with many soft-bodied and hard-shelled insects which looked disgusting.
The water inside wasn't very deep and somewhat warm indicating there might be springs within the cave system. Although solid underneath, rocks were covered with moss making it easy to slip or accidentally step on some fleshy fish or shrimp at any time.
The little girl's corpse stood up straight here and walked deeper into the cave while I closely followed behind until we reached an underground cavern after walking for some time where space suddenly became spacious.
I felt that my energy might not be able to detect everything around so I took out my glow-in-the-dark stone and shook it vigorously illuminating everything around us instantly revealing an incredibly magnificent yet eerie cavern filled with jagged rocks scattered across its floor while hot steam rose from between them along with transparent crystal stones reflecting dazzling light under illumination.
Ignoring those crystals though, I kept staring at the little girl's corpse as she continued walking ahead and I followed closely behind.
Shortly after, the little girl's corpse left the stream and began to walk towards the depths of the stone forest. I also walked out of the water and prepared to follow her. However, after taking only a few steps, I noticed some bloodstains on the gravel under my feet.
The bloodstains were fresh and most likely left by that water demon.
Finally found it!
At that moment, seeing this situation, I couldn't help but feel excited. I quickly put away the chicken egg night light stone and then held a rope in one hand and a folding knife in another. Crouching down slowly, I moved forward step by step.
Soon enough, the little girl's corpse arrived at an open flat area of stones with its back against a rock wall. The gravel on the ground was obviously artificially cleared away; it was clearly a nest.
And indeed it was because at this time that water demon was curled up on that piece of ground humming while secretly tending to its wounds.
"Don't hide anymore! I saw you long ago!"
Before I could even make any moves, the voice of that water demon rang out.
Hearing this, I frowned but didn't hide anymore. Instead, I took out my night light stone to illuminate everything before walking towards that water demon.
"You're not a monster; you're human! You deliberately pretended to be a monster scaring those villagers right?"
I guessed its identity as a human disguised as a monster trying to scare people from nearby villages
"Hehehe...you got half of it right!"
Upon hearing my words,the water demon tore off his green fur coat revealing pale skin.
He is indeed a human, but when I approached and saw his appearance clearly, I was still so shocked that I couldn't speak for a long time.
He was a man with a slender figure, fair skin, sharp features, and eyes with a faint blue color in the night. At first glance, he looked like a handsome vampire.
He wasn't very old, at most seventeen or eighteen years old. At this moment he was only wearing tight underwear and there was more than three inches of blood on his thigh which obviously came from me.
He covered the wound with one hand while holding some herbs in the other hand to treat himself.
However, all these normal phenomena on him did not catch my attention at this time. My gaze was fixed tightly on his neck - no wait - it's actually on his cheeks.
Because I found that his cheeks were slightly larger than those of normal people and behind them there seemed to be a crack that moved lightly as if breathing through gills like fish.
What's going on? Is he really just a person or some kind of monster?