After a moment, I sorted out Mr. Gong's arrangement intentions.
The meaning of borrowing a body and returning it to life is that he is using my body, which I brought out from the water.
"Where is the gentleman's body? Do you know?" I immediately asked old Gong.
Old Gong shook his head and told me that he would figure it out while I was underwater.
Looking at the river surface again, I sighed softly.
On the shore, things were sorted out, but the water was not so simple.
The depth of the water is still unknown, and oxygen supply is a problem.
Once I get into the water, I don't know if the corpses will cause trouble, but I can only adapt on the spot.
And to find out one of the villagers who is related to Mr. Gong from so many villagers, I have no clue at all. This is another headache.
"It's getting light, and it won't be easy anymore, sir, get in the water," Old Gong urged me again.
I took off the package and placed it on the ground.
I hesitated slightly, took off the backpack as well, opened it to check and take out items.
The bronze pestle was inside the backpack; I only had two items on me: a half-length duster at my waist, and a half-foot-long copper sword in my hand.
It was difficult for me to get out of the water earlier, as the bronze pestle is heavy.
I will need to reduce my burden as I have to bring up a body from the water later.
The backpack was well-sealed, and the two books inside were dry; Mo Xing had put a lot of effort into making this thing.
"All the capital is here, sir, you are very generous."
"It's not that I'm generous, but you need to keep a close eye on it and not let anything go wrong," I said solemnly.
"Oh..." Old Gong replied dejectedly.
...
Back into the water, this section of the river still has a faint warmth.
Actually, the river water on the other side was also warm.
In normal circumstances, the river water in such a mountain gorge is very cold, and people may experience stress due to the sudden change in temperature when they go in.
Or is it due to the reason that caused the anger here?
As I slowly submerged into the water, I moved my limbs, familiarizing myself with the movements underwater.
The absence of a Yin Life only means that some techniques cannot be used. This kind of memory ingrained in the bones will not disappear, and muscle intuition will never fade away.
Shortly after, I had fully adapted and swam with great ease, feeling like a fish in water.
Taking a deep breath, holding my breath, I slowly descended further into the water.
As the water becomes deeper and the buoyancy increases, I can feel it growing bigger around me. Underwater, my vision is poor; there is little light, and there are many pebbles, making everything very blurry.
My ears suddenly began to bleed, indicating that the water pressure had reached a new level, and my body had completely adapted.
I swam underwater for about two minutes before quickly ascending to the surface.
Upon reaching the surface, I took deep breaths to switch gases.
The calm river water shimmered under the moonlight.
I was about forty meters from the shore, and another twenty to thirty meters downstream was the area of Niu Ti Village.
After switching gases, I plunged into the water with a strong thrust, but did not sink back to the riverbed. Instead, I maintained a depth of around one meter while swimming.
I had been holding my breath for a bit longer, about three to four minutes.
Peeking out of the water, I kept my movements very subtle, afraid of being spotted by the Yin-Yang master.
My breathing was very slow. Looking around, I thought this was the mid-section of Niu Ti Village, with densely packed houses on the slope. I did not see the Yin-Yang master's figure.
I dived back into the water and emerged again, this time seeing the shore of Niu Ti Village's entrance.
It was here that Old Gong had made me see the neatly standing figure in the water.
After switching gases, I plunged into the water and swam towards the bottom.
The ability to see the riverbed from the shore before was largely due to Old Gong's guidance.
I sank about five or six meters before barely seeing some shuffling figures...
They seemed less stable in the water, as if they could be easily washed away by the current.
When I sank further, about seven or eight meters down, I touched the "crowd"!
When they appeared at the shore and in front of the temple gate, their smiles were serene and warm.
Up close, their rigid faces, with particularly stiff expressions, looked like there was an invisible hand pulling them, making them seem like they're trying to laugh.
The bodies formed a large area at the bottom of the river, continuous and wobbly, colliding with each other.
I only observed four of them before I couldn't hold my breath anymore; I had to swim upstream quickly.
It went on like this, and when I went down for the fourth time, I felt like my head was getting stiff, and the faces of those villagers in front of me became extremely blurry. They kept overlapping and shaking.
Judging by the range and intuition, there were at least hundreds of corpses at the bottom of the river. This would take too long to find, especially with dawn approaching…
However, at this point, it can't be stopped anymore...
The sky is getting darker and darker, and my visibility is becoming increasingly poor. I even saw five people from the Ghost Tablet and Tian Shou Dao, at the side of the Jiu Guang Miao Temple.
They stood firmly at the bottom of the river, with no smiles on their faces. They looked fierce and miserable, while the hands of those villagers clung to them tightly, as if they were afraid they would escape.
The people are definitely dead, but they haven't been fully assimilated by the anger, without any restraints. They won't want to be ghosts here.
I came up to the shore again, and faintly heard the sound of a cock crowing.
It's dawn!
When I dived back into the water, a bizarre scene unfolded…
All the bodies had vanished, not even a shadow remained.
This thing isn't strange at all. There are many graves in the wilderness that can be found day or night, except for those fixed at a specific location.
You can even see a grave in front of your eyes, and when dawn breaks, the grave disappears, which is not unusual.
I still haven't completed Old Gong's plan in time.
However, now that dawn has come, it's safer.
My hands and feet felt weak, and a wave of hunger rolled through my stomach. After returning to the surface, I kept smelling a sweet fragrance.
Isn't that the scent of the meat soup I smelled earlier?
It seems that the deaths of the five people from Tian Shou Dao and the Ghost Tablet did not deter the Yin-Yang master from stopping.
He must have cooked another pot of soup while it was dark.
A sudden thought occurred to me; he must be using this method to protect Niu Ti Village, eliminating all external threats.
Of course, I didn't approach the shore.
I was too hungry, fearing I might give in and drink the pot of soup at the temple.
Returning along the water route, I did not sink back into the water but swam on the surface.
After about ten or so minutes, I returned to the section where I had previously dived.
Dragging my exhausted body back to the shore, I saw that the bag where I had left Old Gong's night jar was no longer there. The sun shone directly on it, and the grass leaves were gilded with a golden edge.
I immediately walked to a more concealed tree on the side, assuming that Old Gong would come to the backpack before dawn.
My head suddenly buzzed, and my face changed dramatically.
The backpack…had disappeared…
There was nothing under the tree!
My heart suddenly felt lighter, like jumping off the Thunder God Cliff.
How could this be possible?
Old Gong was there, watching. The things were gone, and so was Old Gong!?
Except for those five people, did anyone else follow me into the village?
A mantis hunting cicadas, with a golden oriole behind it, observing from the shadows. Are there hunters in the dark?
