Chapter 328: The Shameless Man

Under the shroud of a foggy night, a girl in green gracefully danced across the turbulent river, her toes barely touching the surface as she leapt and twirled, slicing through the stormy winds towards the distant horizon.

Amidst this scene, Du Sixian’s voice reached Lu Yibei.

“Hero, you must be Senior Lu’s…”

Lu Yibei had always believed in one thing: if you reveal your secrets fast enough, there will be no secrets left to uncover. So, before Du Sixian could piece together her secret, she decided to reveal it herself.

As for the truth of what she was about to reveal, did it really matter?

“You’re absolutely right! Lu Yibei is my…”

Lu Yibei intended to use the same story she had told Qing Ji, drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” crafting a tale of profound love and hatred between a haunting and an operator from The Midnight Watchers Society.

However, just as she had her convincing lines ready, Du Sixian didn’t give her the chance to perform.

“A distant relative, right?!” Du Sixian exclaimed with excitement, her nostrils flaring slightly.

“From what I’ve observed, although Hero and Senior Lu don’t look particularly alike, there’s something about you two that’s strikingly similar, especially in your eyes and demeanor.”

Lu Yibei was baffled, “???”

Something’s off! Really off!

Normally, one would guess relationships like mentor and student, lovers, or master and servant-intimate connections. How did she jump to relatives, such an odd tangent?

As Lu Yibei pondered, Du Sixian’s eyes lit up, “Wait, maybe not a distant relative!”

“Hero seems like a haunting! And hauntings can’t be judged by appearance. Hero, could you be Senior Lu’s…”

“You really are sharp. Yes, I am Lu Yibei’s sister,” Lu Yibei said with a straight face.

She couldn’t let this girl continue guessing wildly.

With her imagination, if she kept guessing, it felt like the story would veer into some bizarre territory like “I’m my own mother,” Lu Yibei thought.

“Really? I knew it!” Du Sixian’s eyes widened, as if she had uncovered a monumental secret, her excitement almost making her jump. But then she frowned.

“However, there’s something odd. Senior Lu is a psychic, and Hero is a haunting. How can you be siblings? Could it be…”

Please don’t “could it be”… Lu Yibei thought, quickly interrupting before Du Sixian could lead the story astray, “That’s a matter of our parents, not for outsiders to know.”

She paused slightly, her tone turning serious, “Sixian, today’s events are known only to the heavens, the earth, you, and me. Don’t let a third party know.”

“My brother is currently working at The Midnight Watchers Society. If people find out about our relationship, I’m worried it could cause irreparable harm to him.”

“Of course, of course!” Du Sixian nodded repeatedly, “I’ve been in The Midnight Watchers Society for so long, but I’ve never told anyone about my initial encounter with you!”

“Between friends, we must keep each other’s secrets!”

After joining The Midnight Watchers Society, Du Sixian meticulously recalled all her encounters with the Hero.

From Lu Yibei’s various behaviors, she had already deduced that the Hero was a terrifyingly powerful haunting.

Even the fact that she had become a psychic potential bearer and occasionally entered those wonderful Dreams, was greatly related to the Hero.

However, after reaching this conclusion, her first thought wasn’t to report the Hero but to protect the secret between them.

Lu Yibei frowned slightly, her lips parting, “That being said, I do consider you a friend, but…”

“If the Hero doesn’t trust me, I can make a written promise!” Du Sixian said earnestly.

“Oh?” Lu Yibei squinted at Du Sixian, thoughtful.

This was a good opportunity, perhaps a chance to propose taking her as one of the familiars, then smoothly eliminate the risks this mess could bring. Lu Yibei thought.

Seeing that Lu Yibei hadn’t spoken for a long time, Du Sixian’s cheeks reddened slightly, and she muttered, “If it really doesn’t work out, I could even try dating Senior Lu, if he agrees.”

Ever since the last “one-person hide-and-seek” haunting attack incident, after working on a mission with Lu Yibei, Du Sixian had developed a subtle admiration for him.

It was all because Lu Yibei had once said, “I’ve dreamt of you, always dreaming.”

Being teenagers, such feelings of admiration, stirred by strange things, could easily evolve into something more.

Now with his sister here, why not take this opportunity to get to know him better? Du Sixian thought.

Lu Yibei, “???”

I thought of you as a familiar, as a friend, and you want to date me?

And you look so reluctant, that’s definitely not going to work!

“Sorry, but my younger brother is already spoken for, that’s going to be difficult…”

“I understand, I understand!” Du Sixian nodded, showing some self-awareness.

Lu Yibei, “…”

What exactly do you understand?

With such wild ideas, why don’t you write novels? You’d be more successful than my old man.

“Senior Lu likes Operator Jiang, right? I’ve noticed it long ago.” Du Sixian quickly shifted from the bashful girl to a gossipmonger.

“You’re definitely mistaken…” Lu Yibei muttered inwardly, it’s just pure eye contact between us.

Lu Yibei had always thought Li Xuan was the gossip king of Hua City’s Midnight Watchers Society, but now it seemed Du Sixian was set to take his place.

Just as Lu Yibei was about to seriously discuss her relationship with Jiang Li and Du Sixian was considering discussing dowries with the Hero.

Suddenly, loud laughter came from the riverbank.

“Ha ha ha-! From that description, I thought you were the heir to the River Deity’s power, turns out you’re just a fake?!”

Lu Yibei tilted her head, “…” A fake? What does that mean?

“How despicable! To think that you are members of The Midnight Watchers Society, such shameful villains, sending someone secretly on board to attack!” the River God roared.

Lu Yibei frowned. “…” From the sound of it, the fire I started on the ship seems to have negatively affected the River God somehow?

“Today, I shall… ah-!”

Before the River God could finish its threat, Lu Yibei silently detonated a portion of the marks she had left on the large ship. The River God’s agonized scream echoed through the skies above Baiyan Village.

Oh, this has nothing to do with me. I was just testing… Lu Yibei thought to herself, shrinking her neck a little as she held Du Sixian tighter and sped off into the distance.

I’ll find a safe place for Du Sixian first, then come back to help. Lu Yibei decided.

Moments earlier, on the riverbank.

After the River God recited a passage from “Nine Songs: The River Deity,” describing the ancient myth of the Yellow River Deity’s procession, the waves behind it surged to a terrifying degree.

Thick streams of water rose from the small river, intertwining and spiraling in the air behind it.

Dressed in red robes and a white cloak, the River God stood proudly in mid-air, its garments fluttering, eyes looking down with disdain, exuding a certain divine aura.

Faced with the River God in this state, Xing Yuan felt immense pressure, sending a retreat signal to Lu Yibei in advance and pondering internally.

If this River God truly inherited some of the Yellow River Deity’s power, its psychic energy fluctuation level could definitely reach catastrophe-class.

The Yellow River bursting its banks, leaving corpses floating for miles, is no joke.

As an Inspector of The Midnight Watchers Society, Xing Yuan had personally witnessed the terrifying power of a catastrophe-class psychic with a mythical type Spirit Pattern.

By comparison, if a catastrophe-class haunting were to unleash its full power, the two of them, as Class A Psychics, would find it difficult to confront it head-on, let alone suppress it.

However.

What puzzled Xing Yuan was whether the Yellow River Deity’s power could exert such strong control over the water veins of the Yangtze tributaries.

It felt like using a neighboring country’s imperial sword to cut down one’s own officials.

Yet.

Before Xing Yuan could make sense of it, the River God waved its arms, and two thick, murky water columns, laden with suffocating moisture, came roaring in.

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the two water columns, like rolling dragons, unfurled in the sky, casting down countless spinning high-speed streams, slicing the ground like the sharpest blades.

Xing Yuan and Bai Kai swung their weapons to fend off the relentless water streams, realizing that without using psychic energy to resist, the long, river-like aftershocks would send a tearing pain through their wrists.

However, even as they exerted all their strength to break through the dense water blades and approach the River God, they were shocked to find that their weapons could not inflict any real damage.

It was like striking the surface of water.

Seeing the two resist desperately, the River God couldn’t help but scoff, “Heh, I told you, the river is formless. How could such weak attacks defeat it?”

Hearing this, Xing Yuan and Bai Kai frowned almost simultaneously, a hint of doubt creeping into their hearts.

If they were truly facing a catastrophe-class haunting, the odds of victory were indeed slim.

Retreat was possible, but Lu Yibei was still on the River God’s great ship, and they couldn’t just leave.

Perceiving a slight wavering in their gaze, a cold smile appeared on the River God’s eerie face, ready to pursue the advantage when suddenly a loud explosion erupted from behind on the great ship.

“Boom-!”

The roaring burst forth, a blaze of crimson fire rising from the deck of the ship like a serpent flicking its tongue, spreading along the hull.

Screams from the woman in red echoed from the ship.

Beneath the fragments of the blasted ship, clumps of swollen, rotting brownish-red flesh emerged, emitting high-pitched squeals beyond human hearing under the searing flames, writhing and retreating into the depths of the ship’s cabin.

Simultaneously, the River God’s face turned pale green, and his skin rippled as if water was churning beneath it.

Noticing the anomaly on the River God, Xing Yuan continued to dodge the increasingly fierce water blades while narrowing her eyes, thoughtfully scanning between Him and the great ship.

She felt something rising quietly in her mind, almost within reach.

Then, another explosion sounded, resonating powerfully.

Even more fierce explosions erupted from within the ship, and intense flames rose from the belly of the ship, constructed like a sleeping chamber, breaking through the colorful glass dome and rising into the sky with dense smoke, forming clouds that spewed fire.

The River God’s body shook again in the sky, nearly falling from the sky, and a lump of flesh suddenly swelled on his back; with a “splash!” it burst open like a water bubble, scattering a spray of muddy sludge.

Seeing this, Xing Yuan’s pupils contracted slightly, and she quickly turned to Bai Kai to warn him, but found Bai Kai looking at her at the same moment, nodding slightly, “It’s clear now, that ship is His real entity, He was just bluffing before.”

So, all their attacks had indeed landed on the water.

And the attacks had hit only the water-formed avatar of the entity, how could they cause any real damage?

Xing Yuan nodded, turning to look at the River God in the sky, and burst into laughter.

The River God roared in anger, his eerie eyes suddenly filled with a cold fury.

Then…

The ship exploded again.

“Boom-!”

Between the thunderous roars, as if the earth itself was splitting, dazzling cracks spread across the huge ship’s body, tearing it apart like bamboo, spitting out flames, and amidst the intense high-pitched wails, the charred flesh was exposed to view.

The ship’s body trembled violently, large clumps of brownish-red flesh rolling, numerous blurred faces and twisted limbs wrapped as if in mud, emerged beneath the flesh, quickly sinking back into the depths of the mud.

The River God, once commanding the wind and rain mid-air, had now fallen, seemingly grievously injured, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

Witnessing this scene, Xing Yuan and Bai Kai became even more convinced that the entity had hardly inherited any power of the Yellow River Water God, and perhaps even the description they had just heard was nothing but misleading gibberish to confuse the enemy.

Given this, the River God could not possibly be a catastrophe-class haunting, which meant they could fight and prevail!

Their resolve to battle was unprecedented. After exchanging a glance, they charged forward together.

“Xiao Bai, I suddenly remembered the time we hunted the Jiangshi King,” Xing Yuan whispered.

Bai Kai nodded, speaking softly, “Yes, back then, we also fought side by side against our foes.”

“How I miss those days!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to team up in the future.”

The River God, “….”

At this moment, knowing that his true form had been exposed and that he was in dire straits, he gritted his teeth, no longer bothering to condemn these two who seized every opportunity to show off. He furiously mobilized his psychic energy to control the water flow and intercept them while turning to dash towards the fiery blaze engulfing the large ship behind him.

As long as he could reintegrate his separated consciousness back into his entity, he still held full confidence. What truly daunted him was the person who had set the ship on fire.

The crimson flames, which did not extinguish upon meeting water, required a significant amount of psychic energy to be wrapped around the water streams to control the blaze, adding a sense of eeriness to the whole situation…

Before long, upon reaching the riverbank, the River God leapt towards the river surface.

Instantly, the recently calmed river surface stirred again, creating tumultuous waves that seemed to welcome the River God, enveloping him and slowly sinking him into the river.

Following that, a sudden geyser erupted from beneath the ship, rising like a reverse waterfall, engulfing the ship.

As the ship was hoisted into the air by the raging river, looking like a massive crystal globe, the River God, with his upper body emerging from the undulating brown-red flesh, spread his arms towards the water, infusing it with psychic energy.

Accompanied by a slight “hiss,” the flames on the ship were completely extinguished.

Then.

Along with the resounding horn blasts from the Water Ogre warriors aboard, tentacles formed from the brown-red flesh burst through the ship’s hull, vigorously thrashing about.

The river trembled, the storm intensified.

Dazzling lightning emerged from the void, weaving into spears that flung themselves in all directions.

Having just ensured Du Sixian’s safety and returned, Lu Yibei, hiding in the distant mountains, saw this scene from afar and disdainfully curled her lip.

“After all that trouble, it turns out to be just this? When I left my handprint on the ship earlier, was I actually caressing its body?”

“Ugh-! Just the thought of it feels uncomfortable!”

Disgusting man!

Amidst the clashing thunder and torrential rain, the River God, commanding his massive form, soared towards Bai Kai and Xing Yuan, casting a vast shadow over the land.

“You had the opportunity to surrender, needing only to serve aboard the ship for thirty years before I would grant you freedom. Now, only your deaths can quench my wrath.”

“No! Only by flooding the cities can I fully vent my fury!”

Hearing this, Xing Yuan and Bai Kai tensed up. Although they were confident in hunting the River God after confirming he was not a genuine catastrophe-class haunting, his potential to cause destruction by unleashing floods was beyond their control.

As they pondered their next move, a defiant shout came from the entrance of Baiyan Village. Looking towards the source, they saw a girl dressed in green-clothed attire, slowly approaching with a Broken Sword in tow.

“Hold on a minute! I heard there’s a haunting here planning to flood Hua City?” the girl called out to the colossal figure in the sky, “Did you ask me?”

The River God furrowed his brows slightly, tilting his head as he scrutinized the girl below, his gaze seeming to ask, “And you are…?”

“I am…”

Lu Yibei was still gathering her thoughts when Xing Yuan, raising an eyebrow, preempted her introduction.

“You’re done for. This is a dear ally of The Midnight Watchers Society, the King of Hauntings in Hua City, the Witch who Dominates the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, the slayer of the Plague Taisui, a deity of fire and drought, the Calamity herself!”

After speaking, she gave Lu Yibei a suggestive eyebrow raise, her gaze saying, “No need to thank me!”

Lu Yibei, “….”

Damn! Suddenly, I feel like I’ll never get to announce my own well-thought-out title in my lifetime.