NOVEL WEB Chapter 102: The Water Bucket
Chapter 102: The Water Bucket
Xu Lian lay down in his room and closed his eyes, but he wasn’t asleep. Hearing Wang Cuiyun finish tidying up the kitchen and return to her room, he got up and headed to the back garden.
It was time to fulfill his promise and check on the demonic ghost trapped in the old well, to prevent it from going mad and causing trouble.
“Sister, I’m here to see you,” Xu Lian said in a falsetto voice, although it didn’t really matter whether he altered his voice or not. He suspected that the demonic spirit in the well was probably mentally unstable, maybe even a bit “deep-well crazy”.
As soon as it heard his voice, the demonic ghost in the well became excited as if it had been injected with adrenaline, sobbing, “Sister, you’ve finally come to see me again.”
Xu Lian replied, “I told you, as long as you stay quiet in there, I’ll visit you from time to time.”
The voice from the well asked, “Sister, has your injury healed? Have you managed to escape the enemies surrounding you?”
It still remembered… Xu Lian coughed lightly. “The old wounds have not healed and new ones have appeared. The enemies are growing in number, circling around me. I’m at my wit’s end, on the verge of collapse. I am afraid that my time is running out. Do you have any secret healing techniques, or perhaps some elixirs or treasures that could help me overcome this crisis?”
The voice from the well cried out, “I really have nothing, sister! I can’t help you! Please, come into the well to hide from the storm. No one will find you here.”
Always trying to trick me into going into the well. Not a chance. Xu Lian scoffed inwardly, but said out loud, “I have gone through countless hardships to escape from the well. Even if I die, I will do so with honor. I will never return to the well.”
The voice from the well sobbed uncontrollably, sounding like a young girl crying, or perhaps a baby wailing. It was unmistakably the voice of a demonic spirit.
“Sister, I’m going to ask you one last time. Is there really nothing in the well, not even a small treasure that can help me?” Xu Lian said as he turned to leave.
The voice from the well cried out, “Sister, I really have nothing! If I had anything, I would have given it to you. Besides me, there’s only a lock in the well that seals me in. There are also some weeds that have grown into Heavenly Snake Grass after absorbing your aura. That’s all there is.”
Heavenly Snake Grass? Xu Lian paused in his steps and turned back.
Although he didn’t know what Heavenly Snake Grass was, it probably had some value, right? Maybe he could sell it for Spirit Stones.
Wait!
Heavenly Snake Grass?
Some weeds, absorbing the aura of its “sister”, had grown into Heavenly Snake Grass?
This meant that its “sister” must be a snake demon.
Earlier, Xu Lian had asked what it looked like, and it had described itself as black with segmented body parts. This suggested that it might be a centipede spirit.
A snake demon and a centipede spirit sealed in the same well and calling each other sisters, it was quite fitting.
“I didn’t expect those weeds from before to turn into Heavenly Snake Grass after absorbing my aura,” Xu Lian said. “Can you throw the Heavenly Snake Grass up here? I’m seriously injured right now, and my aura is in disarray. Perhaps I can absorb some of the aura from the Heavenly Snake Grass to recover.”
The voice from the well replied, “Sister, there’s a restriction in the well! I can’t throw anything up. But ordinary people can draw water from the well without being affected by the restriction. Sister, you can lower a bucket of water, and I’ll try to pluck some Heavenly Snake Grass and put it inside. Then you can pull it up.”
Xu Lian didn’t act right away. Instead, he pondered whether this might be a trap.
What if the demon spirit needed something to climb up? If he lowered the water bucket, wouldn’t that help the ghost escape?
If that happened, he would be doomed.
Wang Cuiyun would also be finished…
After careful consideration, Xu Lian decided that it probably wasn’t a trap.
Why not?
Because the house originally belonged to the Pei family, who often maintained the property and regularly drew water from the well to irrigate the garden. If the demonic ghost could climb out using the water bucket, it would have done so long ago.
“I will lower the bucket. Sister, try to get some Heavenly Snake Grass,” Xu Lian said, picking up the water bucket by the well and tossing it in, then pulling the rope and stepping back.
One hand held the rope, while the other held the purple jade talisman, ready to call the White Fox Quarry Patrol Inspector for help if anything went wrong.
Of course, if an accident did happen, it might be too late… This was more of a psychological consolation.
” Creak!” The rope suddenly tightened, as if something heavy had been placed in the bucket. Even a full bucket of water shouldn’t be this heavy, right?
Xu Lian’s expression changed. “Sister, what are you doing?”
The innocent sounding voice from the well replied, “I put the Heavenly Snake Grass into the bucket, sister. You can pull it up now.”
Xu Lian asked suspiciously, “Why is it so heavy? How much did you put in?”
The voice from the well explained, “Heavenly Snake Grass is heavier than steel! I only put in one stem. If I put in more, the bucket wouldn’t be able to hold it. Sister, first pull it up and then lower the bucket again.”
Xu Lian hesitated.
Should he trust it?
After thinking it through, he decided to trust his own judgment. If the ghost could climb out using the bucket, it would have done so long ago. There was no need to wait until now.
So Xu Lian began to pull the water bucket up bit by bit, the distance between it and the well’s mouth growing smaller and smaller.
He felt his body tense up, his heart pounding furiously, truly afraid that a ghostly head might suddenly pop out of the bucket, grinning at him with a sinister smile… That would be the end of him.
One inch.
Two inches.
Three inches…
It was coming up.
It was coming up.
Xu Lian heaved a sigh of relief. He could already see the water bucket, and fortunately, there was no ghostly head appearing. This confirmed that his judgment was correct.
With a firm grip on the rope, he pulled the water bucket out completely.
Inside the wooden bucket, a vibrant emerald green grass lay, only about the size of a finger, yet it was incredibly heavy.
Xu Lian stepped forward to pick up the Heavenly Snake Grass.
But just as he took two steps, his body swayed and he felt a sudden blackness before his eyes, causing him to nearly fall to the ground. In an instant, all the flowers and plants in the courtyard withered away!
“Holy crap… It’s highly poisonous!”
Xu Lian quickly gathered the internal energy within his body, expelling the air he had inhaled and holding his breath.
Even so, his entire body rapidly turned a sickly greenish-blue color!
“This is it!”
Xu Lian felt excruciating pain in every inch of his body, as if countless tiny snakes were gnawing at him.
A voice came from the old well, “Sister, lower the water bucket again.”
Lower your mother’s head… Xu Lian cursed inwardly, “Sister has an urgent matter to attend to. Goodbye!”
With that, Xu Lian rushed towards Wang Cuiyun’s room, “Bang!” He kicked open the door, knocked Wang Cuiyun unconscious with a single palm strike, picked her up, and leaped over the wall, fleeing toward the outskirts of town.
If the toxicity of the Heavenly Snake Grass spread and Wang Cuiyun was poisoned to death, he wouldn’t be able to explain it to Xiya.
Just as he reached the woods outside of town, Xu Lian collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. He mustered his last bit of strength to focus his mind on the purple jade talisman. “Quarry Patrol Inspector, save me!”
Now, he had no choice but to believe the words of the “deep-well crazy” demon in the old well!
It really wasn’t boasting. The mere weeds that had absorbed its “sister’s” aura had been transformed into such a terrifyingly toxic substance. This showed that its “sister” was indeed a fearsome snake demon, and it must also be a formidable centipede spirit.
It was all Xu Lian’s fault for being too careless, or rather, for underestimating the huge difference in cultivation levels. Such a terrifying demon could easily poison him just by leaking a bit of its aura.