The water demon’s primary power source had been the soul energy of the dead it held captive. Once the souls it had seized broke free of its control, the foundation of its power was gone, and the ten-thousand-soul death art it had worked toward began to crumble. Its original form had been destroyed besides — the ghost domain it had built could no longer exist.

When the ghost domain vanished and reality reasserted itself, those who had been pulled into the ghost domain suddenly found themselves plunging back to the riverbank. The most unfortunate was Lang Jiuchuan — the moment she hit the water, the undercurrent beneath the surface immediately caught her and dragged her in.

The undercurrent was like a spiraling water tornado, ceaselessly rotating. Inside it, she was spun about until her very soul felt unsteady. Submerged rocks, sand, and branches tore through her clothing — and a shard of stone scraped directly across her cheek, drawing blood.

Damn it all!

“Water Spirit — if you keep playing dead I will send you packing for good!” Lang Jiuchuan formed a hand seal, steadying herself as she rotated along with the swirling water. At the same time, she cursed the Water Spirit without mercy.

The Water Spirit emerged with great reluctance. It genuinely despised the filth in this river — too foul, too unlucky, with the yin energy pressing down so heavily.

But Lang Jiuchuan’s own ferocity pressed down even heavier.

The Water Spirit enveloped Lang Jiuchuan entirely, carrying her clear of the water vortex and surging up to the surface — then immediately retreated back into the bone bell to play dead once more.

Lang Jiuchuan was so exasperated she could only roll her eyes. If she hadn’t already expended so much vital energy driving the Dizhong Bell and chanting the Great Compassion Mantra, she would have picked a proper fight with it right then and there.

She had just raised her hand to paddle toward the bank when a chill suddenly shot down her spine. A sinister, cold force struck from behind. She twisted aside in alarm, but it still caught her at the shoulder — a glancing blow that sent her vital blood churning violently, and she spat out a mouthful of dark blood.

Before she could react, something seized her by the ankles and yanked her back underwater, dragging her toward the water vortex.

Lang Jiuchuan’s heart went cold. She steadied herself, quickly formed a hand seal, and a flash of golden light flickered through her eyes — and her vision cleared entirely.

This time the Water Spirit didn’t wait for her call. It emerged of its own accord, enveloping her so that she could move freely underwater and breathe without difficulty.

Lang Jiuchuan produced the coin-string sword at her waist and sent it shooting toward the creature.

The thing reacted with terrifying speed. It flicked its tail, deflecting the coin-string sword aside — and its true form came into full view before Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes.

A human head. A serpent’s body.

It was a half-demon hybrid, covered from head to tail in green-blue scales. Its pupils were vertical, sharp as a blade. Its upper body had the form of a young man; its lower half was a serpentine tail at least one zhang in length. The scales along that tail were each as keen as a blade’s edge, and especially at the very tip, where a cluster of long, spike-like blades protruded, emanating a faint and ghostly cold light.

To be struck by those spines — it would surely be more lethal than any yin poisonous venom.

Something like this could only be one thing: a half-demon.

Lang Jiuchuan looked at the young man. His features were twisted and grotesque, suffused with a savage, brutal coldness. And coiling around his entire body — layers upon layers of karmic sin.

This was…

Lang Jiuchuan closed her fingers around the bone bell. A bold conjecture rose in her mind.

The young man stared at her with those slit pupils, watching her every move. When he saw the motion of her hand, his ferocity surged. That sinuous serpent tail thrashed with violent force — and even underwater, it produced a faint rasping hiss, sending wave after wave of ripples shuddering outward through the surrounding water.

It stared fixedly at the bone bell hanging at her waist. A low, ragged snarl tore from its throat, and two long, sharp fangs were bared.

Lang Jiuchuan’s heart grew cold and heavy. So it truly was the half-demon child born to the willow spirit and that elder from the Bai Family — and it had actually survived. More than that: its karmic sin ran deep and heavy. Looking at those bloodshot eyes, she could see there was nothing human left — only a demon’s nature. The killing it had done over the years had long since erased whatever humanity it once possessed.

All these years, who had been keeping it — training it into a weapon? Now, appearing suddenly here, and striking against her specifically — this was a precision attack.

It came for me.

Lang Jiuchuan’s expression turned cold. It didn’t matter who had kept it. But she was certain — it could not have been unconnected to the Rong Family. If the Rong Family had harbored it… how exactly did they intend to explain that to the world? Privately rearing a half-demon for their own use.

She also thought of the unease she had sensed earlier — that feeling of being watched. So that was where it had been coming from.

If this demon truly had been sent by the Rong Family, then they had laid an excellent trap. This was meant to eliminate her here at the Qongshui riverbank, openly and covertly together — to make her food for the water demon.

Lang Jiuchuan swept a glance around. She detected no other auras — she didn’t know where the one controlling this demon was hiding. But wherever they were concealing themselves, now that they had gone to such elaborate lengths, there would be no walking away cleanly.

The half-demon seemed to sense her killing intent — or perhaps it was being controlled from a distance. It suddenly let out a roar and lunged at Lang Jiuchuan with a lightning burst of speed.

Fast.

It was a creature born of human and serpent, possessed of a serpent’s lower half — in water it moved as though in its natural domain, with extraordinary speed. And after the unknown number of lives it had taken over the years, the energy of killing had grown thick and ferocious within it, driving its demonic nature to full awakening long ago.

The coin-string sword was back in Lang Jiuchuan’s grip, and she sent it thrusting toward the creature — only for it to be batted aside by a claw, the blade ringing with a vibrating keen.

“What terrifying demonic power.” Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes darkened, her heart genuinely alarmed. This thing’s strength — it was more ferocious than even the water demon had been.

The water demon had lost the souls it used as a power source and immediately fell to pieces. But what was this half-demon’s source of power?

Lang Jiuchuan stayed on her guard.

The clash between them stirred the currents around them, and the water vortex grew larger and larger — a massive funnel-shaped whirlpool, as though intent on swallowing everything it could reach.

On the riverbank above, those who had fallen into the water and crawled back to shore, shivering, stood up and looked back — and their faces drained of color at the sight of the enormous vortex.

It was so massive. And black energy was surging inside it. Could the water demon still have strength left? Or did it have a confederate?

Ding-ling.

Somewhere, a bell chimed. The half-demon’s eyes grew colder and more savage — especially when it caught sight of the swaying bone bell at her waist. It let out a piercing, mournful wail, its demonic energy exploding outward, and its serpent tail crashed down with bone-breaking force.

A water arrow came shooting directly at Lang Jiuchuan.

She drove her vital energy and barely evaded it, stumbling as she went. Her wrist turned, and the jade-bone talisman brush responded to her intent — transforming into a long spear, which she drove toward the half-demon.

The talisman brush carried its own divine authority. The half-demon’s eyes showed a flash of wariness. Its serpent tail swept horizontally, trying to knock the spear aside — but the golden divine power wreathing the spear scorched it anyway, drawing a pained howl.

Hit, and furious, the creature spun its body. The serpent tail swept at Lang Jiuchuan in a horizontal arc — savage and frantic, not caring in the least whether it sustained injury in the process. It feared nothing. It was simply attacking without method, without restraint.

This was a demon that had been stripped of all humanity and then trained purely for killing.

The so-called “wild blows that beat a master” — facing this utterly chaotic assault, Lang Jiuchuan, already drained of vital energy, found herself stretched in every direction. Her injuries mounted, and her strength began to fall short.

Then, abruptly, the half-demon’s long tail swung out and seized the opening — it coiled around her. Those hard, razor-edged scales ground through her clothing and bit into her skin, drawing blood, as the creature burst upward out of the water. The tip of its tail reared upward, those long, spike-like poison spines rising high.

By now, the sky had begun to show the faintest gray of approaching dawn. Those who had climbed back to shore heard the commotion and looked up in alarm: “What is that?”

Is that — is that a snake?

Was this the water demon’s true form? And that person being coiled by the serpent tail—

No — it’s Fellow Daoist Lang!

Everyone watched, frozen with dread, as those gleaming, cold-lit spines plunged downward with lethal intent straight at Lang Jiuchuan — and shut their eyes.

It’s over.