Ranran was caught off guard and swept up by the water stream. Although Senior Brother drew his sword to chop at the water stream, cutting at the water only made it flow more vigorously, and he couldn't intercept Ranran, who was swiftly being swept away.
Just as Ranran was about to be pulled into the water, she pulled out the thick stack of green oiled paper lotus leaves and scattered them on the river surface like a *heavenly maiden scattering flowers. *天女散花
Upon touching the water, the seemingly ordinary green oiled paper, suddenly emitted thousands of streaks of golden light. These lights quickly connected to form a vast net, woven from the numerous pieces of green oiled paper, tightly covering a large area of the river surface.
As the golden light formed a net, a sharp and miserable howl suddenly came from the river. The water stream holding Ranran also suddenly loosened its grip and she was about to fall into the water.
With her life hanging on a thread, the technique she had memorized by heart came into play. Ranran used the Light body technique and landed steadily on the lotus leaves made of oiled paper.
The mysterious power in the water continued to struggle, extending water streams like tentacles. Ranran, who had been trained by Shifu to dodge stones, now agilely leaped back and forth like a little rabbit, dodging very timely.
When she managed to get a moment, Ranran shouted loudly at the three dumbfounded people on the riverbank, "Quick! Form the attack formation!"
The three were stunned by Ranran's extraordinarily agile movements. Usually lazy and always goofing off, she had only been enthusiastic about cooking and eating. But their little junior sister actually possessed such light and nimble skills!
Only when they heard their little junior sister's reminder did they react and hurriedly proceeded to fell into formation.
Unfortunately, they were too slow to react. The power in the river had rallied again, breaking through the golden net to once again envelop Ranran.
At this critical moment, a white cat rushed out from the nearby bushes and transformed into a fierce Gengjin white tiger in an instant, roaring as it pounced toward the strange waves.
Taking advantage of the situation, Ranran somersaulted onto the back of the white tiger. The Geng jin white tiger firmly planted its four paws on the lotus leaves made of oiled paper and fiercely bit towards the foaming area of the river surface.
Under the shining golden light of the lotus leaves, Ranran noticed that the white tiger was biting at the area where the foam was churning vigorously. There was a rending wail, and black water emerged from there.
Ranran understood that this area of foaming bubbles is the vital point of this water demon.
She shouted again for Senior Brother to throw her his sword . This time, Gao cang finally reacted quickly and threw the long sword in his hand to Ranran.
Sword in hand, Xue Ranran rode on the back of the tiger, clasping its waist with her legs and moved back and forth with the white tiger. Whenever she saw a foaming area on the river surface, she fiercely stabbed into it with her sword.
As she had guessed, there was resistance when the sword pierced into the water, and it indeed hit something!
Soon, the disturbance in the water became weaker and weaker. Although the unknown water demon was dodging everywhere in the water, it couldn't match the speed of the white tiger. It was soon covered in wounds from Ranran's sword. It let out a loud splash, and then dived into the river bottom to escape.
When the white tiger carried Ranran back to shore, Qiu Xier rushed to the front, agitatedly hugging Ranran and said, "Junior sister, you're amazing!"
The other two senior brothers also gathered around and praised their junior sister's bravery.
However, Ranran felt a bit embarrassed; she knew her own limitations. If it weren't for the lotus leaves made of oiled paper covering the river surface and the help of the white tiger, she would have fallen into the river long ago.
Unfortunately, although she injured the water demon with the help of the white tiger, it fled so quickly. She didn't know if it would come back and cause chaos again.
Just as the four were still in shock, the water surface suddenly churned again, but this time with even greater momentum, the waves surged straight into the sky.
Obviously, the demon had returned and its power was even more violent now. The oil paper lotus leaves on the river surface were quickly swept away without a trace.
Ranran looked up at the huge waves, feeling a tightness in her chest. She felt that even if the white tiger was powerful, it would not be able to enter the river in such a violent wave.
Just as the giant waves were about to slam down on the river surface, suddenly, as if blown by a violent wind, they were abruptly stopped.
In the sweeping whirlwind, a figure in white robes suddenly appeared.
The youths all looked closely and shouted in unison, "Shifu!"
It turned out that Su Yishui appeared just in time and conjured a whirlwind spell to stop the giant waves. He held a random branch picked from somewhere in his hand, and seemed to casually thrust it into the center of the giant waves, and another earth-shattering wail sounded.
The water on the river surface then retracted, and it seems like the demon intended to escape again. However, Su Yishui held a random fishing net from somewhere. He threw it onto the river surface and pulled it back, actually pulling out a humanoid creature with fish scales and gills from the water. With a twist of his wrist, he slammed it fiercely onto the shore.
With this, the giant waves also fell heavily, crashing back into the water.
Ranran held the sword with both hands, nervously facing the "monster" that Shifu had thrown onto the shore. Upon closer inspection, she found that it looked very human, and it was a woman with a rather beautiful face.
With the exception of "her" face, "it" was covered in scales all over its body, even its fingers were webbed, and there were fish gill-like things on the sides of its cheeks.
There was a gaping hole in its chest, oozing black blood, and its cheeks were also full of scars.
Ranran guessed that the bubbles earlier were from the monster's gills, so the two gills should be the ones she had cut, and the fatal wound on its chest should have been inflicted by Shifu.
Seeing that Shifu did not abandon them and leave, but was silently standing guard nearby, Ranran's heart was full, and she looked ardently towards Shifu.
Unfortunately, Shifu did not seem to feel the ardent gaze of his disciple. He came over with a cold face and spoke harshly to her, "In the Ninth Technique of Subduing Demons, it is said that when in danger, one should first protect oneself and not chase after enemies. Why did you risk your life just now, fighting it while riding on the white tiger?"
This… Ranran was a bit at a loss for words on where to begin refute his words. If they started at the beginning, she had been in danger only because Shifu had left them here in the first place!
However, according to the news rules of the XiShan Sect, everything Shifu said is correct. Ranran could only humbly accept the lesson and promised that she would definitely escape when she could, should they fight demons again.
Seeing that his disciple was still receptive to his teaching, Su Yishui finally stopped looking stern and turned his head to look at the injured monster.
"Shifu, what kind of exotic beast is this?" Bai Baishan couldn't recognize it, so he asked.
"She's not a monster, just a woman who practiced Beast Taming Technique and became possessed."
Beast Taming Technique? Ranran had heard about it when Second Uncle Master talked about the Summary of Spells. It was a technique to merge oneself with the body of a beast, aiming to change one's ordinary mortal attributes.
For example, merging with tigers and leopards could give sharp claws and swiftness in movement. This woman had obviously merged with a fish-like aquatic creature, gaining the features of a fish, allowing her to cause trouble in the water.
At this moment, Su Yishui lowered his head with a cold face and asked the strange woman, "Why did you lure soldiers into the river?"
The woman's mouth was already oozing blood, and she reached out in fear as if seeking help, "I… I had no choice, save...save me…"
Xi'er looked at her pitifully. Feeling sorry for her, she took out hemostatic medicine powder, wanting to apply it for her.
But as soon as she squatted down, the woman suddenly revealed a murderous intent. Her webbed fingers suddenly grew sharp thorns and fiercely stabbed towards Xi'er's neck.
Clearly, this woman knew that she did not have long to live, so she wanted to take someone along with her if she could.
Fortunately, Su Yishui extended his long leg and kicked Xi'er aside, narrowly avoiding the attack.
The woman's scheme failed, she only smiled grimly and glared at Ranran. Suddenly, her voice, which had been feminine, became low and terrifying, completely different from her voice before: "Why… aren't you controlled? Who are you really…"
Before she could finish her words, she died. The originally red pupils gradually dissipated, becoming dark and murky.
Just then, as the sky was getting brighter, Qin Xuanjiu rushed over with his men on horses.
Seeing the strange-looking fish-woman, Qin Xuanjiu's brows furrowed, "How could such a monster appear in Wangxiang River?"
Su Yishui pointed to a tattoo of a talisman-like pattern on her neck and said, "Someone was controlling her. Even after being injured, she can come back again. Such reckless fighting also seems a bit involuntary…"
Ranran squatted down carefully, looking at the talisman, which was different from what Shifu usually taught. This was very complicated, and seemed to have some ancient text that was difficult to understand.
Qin Xuanjiu frowned, "Someone is controlling her? For the sake of harming people's lives? What's the benefit?"
Su Yishui looked at Qin Xuanjiu and said mildly, "With your kind of brain, how did you manage to remain an official until now?"
Qin Xuanjiu didn't expect Su Yishui to attack him suddenly with such sarcastic words, which made him so angry that his belly bulged up and down. He was about to retort when Ranran, who was thinking by the side, whispered thoughtfully, "Yeah, what's the benefit? Naturally, it's to destabilize General Qin's position. Wasn't there already an imperial envoy sent to investigate General Qin?"
This silenced Qin Xuanjiu. Because the fact was just that. If he was convicted of mistreatment of his soldiers and causing them to commit suicide, he would definitely be punished and sure to lose his position.
But who would go to such lengths to frame him? After all, being a small city defense general was not a glorious position. Being stationed in such a poor and remote place, many military commanders would want to avoid it!
Su Yishui looked at the endless Wangxiang River and said to Qin Xuanjiu, "Your Master once entrusted you with the task of remaining at Wangxiang Pass, because this is where the Yin and Yang converge, a place of obscurity. If there are any anomalies, they will definitely begin from here. Someone went to great lengths to get rid of you, probably thinking that your presence was hindering them."
Thinking of the instructions from his Master, Mu Qingge, Qin Xuanjiu felt fire in his heart. He clenched his fists, declaring, "I absolutely will not leave Wangxiang Pass!"
Before he finished speaking, Su Yishui suddenly reached out and grabbed Qin Xuanjiu's collar, throwing him into the river.
Qin Xuanjiu struggled to stand up, already becoming completely soaked. He wiped the water off his face and roared furiously, "Su, what are you doing?!"
Su Yishui maintained the demeanor of a Master, calmly saying, "Helping you resolve your current lawsuit."
...