Chapter 111: Water-avoiding bead, blessings are not perfect

The Daoist in front of him was somewhat putting on an act. Baishakou was only one or two miles away from here, but this Daoist was good; he had been walking with square steps for such a long time.

When the water-worker Daoist saw Xu Qing, a faint smile still hung on the corners of his mouth.

The water monkey he raised would occasionally capture living people for fun; this was not strange.

The only thing that made him dissatisfied was that the water monkey did not follow his instructions to hunt and kill all the annoying government officials on the boat, and even left such a survivor thrown on the river beach.

"The Daoist is truly extraordinary; you still have the elegance to stroll by the river in the middle of the night..." Xu Qing smiled even more brilliantly than the water-worker Daoist; it was the smile that a fisherman would only have when he saw a big fish take the bait.

"Speaking of which, it's a coincidence; it must be that the Daoist and I are fated. If the Daoist had walked any slower and arrived a step later, perhaps I would have left; wouldn't that be a pity."

Hearing Xu Qing's emotional words, the water-worker Daoist always felt that something was wrong.

Why did the other party's tone have such a relaxed feeling of a trip being worthwhile and the goal being achieved?

Who exactly is the hunter, and where did you, a constable, borrow the confidence from?

The water-worker Daoist put away his smile, his gaze unkind: "Disaster is imminent, and you don't even know it."

"Water Child!" Beside the Daoist, the water monkey that had originally entered the water returned to the shore. Hearing the instruction, the water monkey hesitated and didn't move forward, looking up at the Daoist expectantly from time to time.

The water-worker Daoist immediately sensed something was wrong.

What could make the water monkey hesitate would definitely not be an ordinary constable.

"You are not a government official? Could it be a running dog of the Demon-Hunting Division?"

What could make the water monkey feel fear would definitely be someone in cultivation, and those who could ride on the same boat as government officials were only those who walked for the Demon-Hunting Division.

Xu Qing did not respond. He held the precious sword confiscated from Bai Luo, pinched the *Sinan Sword Technique*, and his gaze had already locked onto the evil Daoist of Tianwu Temple.

"How much salary can the imperial court give you, Daoist friend, that it's worth you working so hard!"

"We people in cultivation have long transcended the mundane. Why does the Daoist friend need to lower yourself to work for some ordinary people? It would be better to stop here, and this poor Daoist is also willing to make friends with the Daoist friend..."

While saying he wanted to make friends, the water-worker Daoist took out a pitch-black sea bowl and placed it on the water monkey's head.

Wisps of black energy surged from the sea bowl on the water monkey's head, and thick water vapor gathered from all directions.

Moss-like patches spread on the sea bowl. Seeing this, Xu Qing suddenly realized: "The Water-Filtering Bowl that can collect ten miles of water vapor; so this water monkey is the carrier you use to control water..."

The water-worker Daoist narrowed his eyes: "You know quite a lot."

Xu Qing thought to himself, of course. When he saved Old Lady Cao of the Salt Gang, he not only saw the scene of the water-worker Daoist using the Water-Filtering Bowl to perform magic in the other party's revolving lantern, but also knew that the water-worker Daoist was entrusted by the Jinmen Gang, and that the Water-Filtering Bowl was given by the person behind the Jinmen Gang.

Combining the memories of all kinds of people he had saved in the past, Xu Qing knew even more clearly than the water-worker Daoist about the filth inside.

Behind the Jinmen Gang was the Tianxin Sect; killing Old Lady Cao's entire family was to intervene in the salt business; the water-worker Daoist was just a tool person playing a role in it.

"The Water-Filtering Bowl can at most exert three-tenths of its effect in other people's hands, but in my hands, it can exert twelve-tenths. Are you not afraid, Daoist friend?" the water-worker Daoist asked to probe.

"Not afraid means not afraid." Xu Qing smiled and said: "You have the water monkey you raised to help you fight the enemy, and I also have the little ghost I raised to protect me."

"Who doesn't have a beast pet these days?"

Hearing this, the water-worker Daoist was stunned and couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Young man, you don't know what you're talking about! You think you've obtained the true method just by raising a little ghost; how can you know the power of my Water Child."

"Then you better watch carefully."

Xu Qing took out a *Chang* flag and pinched the *Chang Soldier Incantation*. The next instant, the river sand surged, and a pair of dark red bull horns broke through the ground on the river beach. Thick yin-evil energy lingered. After the black mist dissipated, a demon with deep red skin and a body as large as a pavilion cover appeared.

Bull-hoofed, demon-headed, bone-palmed, the "little ghost" over a zhang tall in Xu Qing's mouth was now staring with copper-bell-sized eyes, panting with thick evil energy, looking down at the water monkey only three feet tall not far away.

"..."

You tell me this is a little ghost?

The water-worker Daoist cursed secretly.

Knowing that a battle was inevitable, he struck first.

The river water backflowed, and the shallow beach was instantly submerged by ten miles of water. The water monkey urged its water-controlling ability, and in a short moment, countless waterweeds and river sand rushed toward the *Chang* general.

River water soaking into the lungs, exempted.

River sand backflow, exempted.

Water-Filtering Bowl collecting body moisture from the air, exempted.

The water-worker Daoist looked at the unharmed *Chang* general, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Good means; no wonder you aren't afraid of me. It turns out you have such a ghost that doesn't fear water methods to protect your body."

The water-worker Daoist gave a cold laugh and decided to capture the thief by capturing the king first.

The ghost doesn't fear water methods, but Xu Qing, who controls the ghost, is a mortal in his eyes. He can't kill the ghost, but can't he kill the person who controls the ghost?

The water-worker Daoist activated the water method, risking the water monkey being injured by the *Chang* general, and was determined to kill Xu Qing, who summoned the *Chang* general, one step ahead.

*Water-Ordering Incantation*, *Water-Driving Method*, *Water-Covering Decision*, *Water-Returning Incantation*.

A set of water methods with more tricks than the water monkey was used. Xu Qing was just poured with water, and there were a few small fish and shrimp jumping around on his head, but there were no other adverse reactions.

There was only the messiness in his image.

Xu Qing finally understood; this water method is powerful because its range of influence is extremely wide, and it is difficult to keep a single drop of water from touching the body.

"Wait, Daoist friend, wait to take action!"

Seeing Xu Qing walking over calmly just like he had done before, the water-worker Daoist was completely panicked.

While retreating, he quickly pinched the incantation, and sparks were almost pinched out of his fingertips.

The incantations that had been invincible in the past had no effect at all today.

At this time, the water-worker Daoist suddenly realized that he had encountered a nemesis who was his natural enemy!

Cold sweat poured out uncontrollably, and the Daoist's desire to survive was abnormally strong.

"I know you are a walker of the Demon-Hunting Division. My skills are not enough; I admit defeat. I only ask the Daoist friend to be lenient once!"

Xu Qing remained unmoved. He held the long sword, pinched the *Sinan Sword Technique*, and the sword fell with his hand.

"Clang—"

The sound of metal clashing rang out, and the water-worker Daoist struggled to draw his gold-coin magic sword to block this blow.

A terrifying force struck, and the gold-coin magic sword scattered like beads on a string, and the water-worker Daoist dodged in a panic.

"If you kill me, even if I die, I will turn into a yin demon and evil ghost to block your path!"

Facing the Daoist's curse, Xu Qing didn't care at all.

He was most unafraid of dead people. If he let the other party go because of a mere curse, causing him to lose this corpse, that would truly be blocking his path.

The sword fell with his hand, and the *Sinan Sword Technique* instantly pierced into the evil Daoist's chest.

Taking advantage of the fact that the evil Daoist still had a breath of hot air, Xu Qing reached out his palm and grabbed the top of the other party's head.

Under the blessing of the *Seizing Qi Returning Origin Technique*, the gurgling true qi was transformed into pure energy and surged into Xu Qing's body.

In front of him, the water-worker Daoist's face twisted and jumped. He opened his eyes wide, and a hoarse sound came from his throat.

"You... you are the evil person..."

The water-worker Daoist used his last bit of strength to say a sentence, then collapsed to the ground like a skeleton falling apart, and died.

Putting the water-worker Daoist's corpse into the Box Court for the time being, Xu Qing turned to look at the duel between the water monkey and the *Chang* general.

The water monkey's figure was agile and swift. Although it couldn't restrain the *Chang* general with water methods, it could engage in close-quarters tearing and grappling.

It nimbly climbed onto the *Chang* general's shoulder, tearing and scratching. When the *Chang* general raised its eerie bone claws to slap, it immediately jumped back and continued to wander.

The *Chang* general could make mistakes countless times, but the water monkey could only make one mistake.

At one point, the water monkey, which was fighting fiercely, caught a glimpse of Xu Qing, who had just finished the battle.

It felt panicked and searched around, but couldn't find the water-worker Daoist's figure.

It was precisely this moment of distraction that the *Chang* general, holding the sickle-shaped *Soul-Losing Knife*, hooked the water monkey not far away to its front.

The *Chang* general stretched out its palm, which was as large as a jar, and tightly clamped the water monkey's body. Seeing this, Xu Qing on the shore decisively performed the *Water-Walking Technique* and arrived in front of the *Chang* general to prevent the water monkey from breaking free and escaping.

A moment later, the water monkey, which had suffered a mixed beating, was also collected into the Box Court by Xu Qing.

The water-worker Daoist increased his cultivation by seven or eight years, the water monkey by about five years. Plus the contribution made by the water tiger corpse and Lu Ping and others during the day, in just one day and one night, his cultivation had become more than twenty percent thicker!

The higher the cultivation, the longer the endurance when fighting with others. If the realm is the length, then cultivation is his diameter.

After such a toss, the *Chang* general's evil energy had diminished quite a bit. Fortunately, the *Chang* flag had the ability to absorb yin-evil energy to replenish itself. If the recovery speed was slow, the *Chang* flag could also be placed in a place with rich yin-evil energy, such as a mass grave or an ancient tomb, which were all excellent places to gather evil and nourish yin.

Remembering that he had promised Hu Baosong to go to the Ancient Path of the Yinhe to find the Ancient Tomb of Hu Yang, Xu Qing suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

The Ancient Path of the Yinhe was full of yin-evil energy. If he refined more *Chang* generals and brought them in, he would surely be like a fish in water. Even if the *Chang* generals were damaged, they could quickly replenish themselves.

Putting the *Chang* flag into the *Mountain and River Map*, Xu Qing looked at the black sea bowl in his hand again.

The texture of the bowl was neither stone, nor jade, nor porcelain. Xu Qing reached out to brush away the moss that had grown on it. The water-spiritual energy in the bowl was abnormally rich, as if it were truly filled with ten miles of river water.

Xu Qing remembered the water-worker Daoist's evaluation of the Water-Filtering Bowl. The other party said that this bowl could only exert its full effect in his own hands, and others would get it for nothing.

Xu Qing didn't believe this evil. When he had time to save the water-worker Daoist's corpse, watch the revolving lantern, the origin and usage of this bowl would naturally surface.

In Xu Qing's eyes, since the water-worker Daoist cherished the Water-Filtering Bowl so much, his related memories would be even deeper.

My corpse, my teacher.

Xu Qing had always regarded corpses as his teachers; Liu Youdao was like this, and other corpses were the same.

Baisha Riverbank.

Xu Qing returned along the road to find Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew, whom he had hidden in a sand pit.

This uncle and nephew were stunned by his yin energy. If no one intervened, they would have to wait until dawn, after being stimulated by the yang energy of heaven and earth, to wake up.

Xu Qing walked along the riverbank, and just as he was about to reach the sand pit, he suddenly stopped.

He saw that within his field of vision, on the riverbank two miles away, a figure the size of a black dot was lying on the river beach.

Xu Qing's eyesight was extraordinary, and he was also particularly sensitive to objects in the shape of corpses.

"Is my luck with corpses turning around today?"

Xu Qing skipped the sand pit and went straight to the black dot.

The attraction of Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew to him was clearly not as great as the corpse in the distance.

Arriving in front of the suspected stranded corpse, Xu Qing took a look and saw that the other party was wearing soap-colored clothes and boots, lying face down on the wet sandy ground.

Xu Qing turned the corpse over, and when he saw the corpse's face, he was stunned for a moment.

The corpse in front of him had some impression; it was exactly one of the constables who had gone on the boat tonight.

Xu Qing thought that the water monkey didn't have the time to harm this constable, so why did he die?

Zombies are abnormally sensitive to the breath of living people. Xu Qing didn't need to reach out to test his breath to know that this person couldn't be saved.

Touching the body, it had long been soaked cold by the river water.

Being a constable was also a high-risk profession...

Xu Qing shook his head slightly and started to save him along the way.

If the water-worker Daoist's corpse was fine grain that needed to be carefully savored after returning to the shop, then the constable in front of him was coarse grain; he didn't need to savor it carefully, just finish it off hastily.

After all, an ordinary constable, he imagined, didn't have any extraordinary life experiences.

Xu Qing held the attitude of looking at flowers while riding a horse and began to read the other party's life.

The corpse was originally named Shi Quan. Because a fortune-teller calculated his eight characters and said that he lacked water in his life, his parents gave him the name Shi Quan.

When he was a child, Shi Quan suffered many disasters; he lost his father at three, his mother at seven, and at twelve, he followed his grandfather to sell pulp and water. His grandfather said that little Shi Quan lacked water in his life, so he had to sell pulp and water, so that he could make up for what Shi Quan lacked in his life, and his days would get better in the future.

From childhood, Shi Quan was instilled with the concept that "if you have water, your fate will change for the better."

So much so that even though he couldn't swim and was afraid of water, he still had to stand by the river to watch his peers playing in the water.

But whenever someone lured him down, he would turn and run away.

At the age of sixteen, his grandfather, who sold pulp for Shi Quan, died of no illness. When he collected his grandfather's belongings, he found the belt where his grandfather stored money after selling pulp and water.

That belt was wrapped in three layers of cloth strips, showing how much the owner cherished this belt during his lifetime.

Shi Quan unwrapped the cloth strips and saw the red paper with the eight characters written by the fortune-teller for him, as well as some scattered silver and countless copper coins.

Shi Quan remembered what his grandfather had said to him when he was a child. His grandfather said that he had to work hard to sell pulp to save money for Shi Quan to find a wife.

Later, Shi Quan inherited his grandfather's mantle—selling pulp and water.

One day, Shi Quan, who was out selling pulp, accidentally met his benefactor who promoted him, Linhe Head Constable Zhao Zhonghe.

Zhao Zhonghe saw that his footwork was steady, he did things neatly, and he was outgoing, so he took care of him many times and found him a job as a constable.

Shi Quan did things meticulously and soon became a constable beside Zhao Zhonghe. Compared to other constables who muddled through their days and were cunning, Shi Quan was clearly a clear stream.

Time passed quickly. One day, Shi Quan was patrolling the street as usual. When passing by the vegetable market, he met a fortune-teller.

That gentleman claimed to calculate heaven and earth without omission, and to know the present and the past without not knowing.

Shi Quan remembered the red paper with the eight characters kept by his grandfather and thought about letting that gentleman calculate his fate according to the eight characters.

The gentleman looked and said that he lacked water in his life and was countered by water; he should neither have water in his name nor go to places with water and lakes.

Shi Quan was puzzled when he heard this and said that there is water in his name now, which was given by his parents when they were alive. Does he have to change his name?

The fortune-teller asked him casually, what is your name?

Shi Quan told his name, saying it was Baishuiquan, the "Shi" of stone, the spring water coming out of the stone, and it was also the name of "Ten Perfection," and the neighbors in the street all said it was good when they heard it.

But when the fortune-teller heard it, he shook his head repeatedly.

"There is no such thing as perfection in the world; blessings are not perfect, and things are not perfect. Your name is too loud, and you are countered by water in your life. I'm afraid you can't suppress it. It's better to change to another name..."

When Shi Quan heard this, he felt annoyed in his heart.

If he had known that the fortune-teller would say this, he wouldn't have come to calculate it. Now it was good; not only did he spend money, but his heart also felt prickly.

"The name was given by my parents; why should I change it? Besides, who in the ten miles and eight villages didn't say it was good when they heard my name? It became a stinking name when it reached you. I think you, sir, are also a swindler, and there is no accuracy at all!"

Because of this, Shi Quan felt stifled for several days, until Zhao Zhonghe gathered the constables to investigate the case at the wharf, and he found a place to vent.

When Zhao Zhonghe saw Shi Quan, he once said a word to him: "You can't swim, so don't go to the wharf. I and the other brothers will handle this case..."

Shi Quan didn't listen and said that he just liked water; he lacked water in his life, and the more water there was, the more he felt like a fish in water.

Just like that, Shi Quan followed everyone onto the ferry at the wharf and rushed all the way to Baishakou.

Xu Qing hadn't thought too much when he saw this, but when he saw Shi Quan jump into the water, he immediately fell silent.

If calculated according to the fortune-teller's result, if he hadn't followed them to Baishakou today, most of the people on this boat would have died at the hands of the water monkey.

Shi Quan naturally wouldn't have been able to survive.

But now that he was on the boat, Shi Quan still couldn't be spared.

Whose problem was it?

Xu Qing was stunned by this inconspicuous corpse in front of him, which aroused his confusion about cause, effect, and fate.

Finally, he concluded that Shi Quan's death was purely his own doing, not accidental.

Thinking back to when he blocked the water monkey for Zhao Yuan on the boat, Zhao Yuan chose to jump into the water to rescue him, which he could understand.

Zhao Yuan was Head Constable Zhao's own nephew. Seeing his nephew fall into the water, Zhao Zhonghe followed him and jumped into the water, which he could also understand.

But you, a little constable, and a landlubber who can't swim, why did you jump down when you had nothing to do?

Xu Qing's eyebrows were knitted into a "chuan" shape. This was the first time he had saved a corpse and felt his heart go numb.

He fell into a strange circle, that is, he kept repeating and reviewing in his heart, thinking about how he should deal with the water monkey and the water-worker Daoist to save this loyal constable.

Until a certain moment, Xu Qing suddenly realized that spilled water is hard to collect, gold is not perfect, and there is no such thing as perfection in the world.

Thinking through the joints, Xu Qing's mood immediately eased a lot.

Collecting his mind, he looked at the evaluation of the corpse: "Human" grade, upper quality.

The reward was a water-avoiding bead.

In legend, the inner core of a water demon with cultivation or the eye of a dragon fish is a water-avoiding bead.

As for what the water-avoiding bead does...

There are records in the classics that the ancient Great Yu King, in order to subdue the Zhi River, once sought dragon veins, fixed dragon mouths, and cleverly hid water-avoiding beads, so the Zhi River dared not flood and ran southeast in nine curves.

It is also said that there are high and low water-avoiding beads. Weak water-avoiding beads can make people not drown in water, while strong water-avoiding beads have the ability to open the sea. People who get this bead can open a dry path in the surging waves and walk on the water as if walking on flat ground.

In addition, some water-avoiding beads can also make people dive into the deep sea and enter the Dragon Palace...

Regardless of the saying, generally speaking, this water-avoiding bead is actually just a gadget for avoiding water and suppressing water.

Xu Qing's curiosity was aroused, so he took the bead to the riverbank. White halo flowed, and the river water seemed to have encountered a rock standing still, flowing around it.

Jumping into the water, Xu Qing seemed to have become an egg; the water flow was separated by an invisible force within three feet of his body, and even if he dived to the bottom of the water, he could walk freely.

Xu Qing played with the water-avoiding bead. This thing seemed useful to him, and it seemed useless.

He was not afraid of water and knew the *Water-Walking Technique*. The only useful point of this thing was that it could isolate water vapor, so that his clothes wouldn't get wet after going into the water.

Looking at the round and smooth water-avoiding bead in his hand, Xu Qing suddenly had an idea.

Cats are afraid of water and most avoid getting their fur wet. This thing is round, and you must know that cats have always had no resistance to round things.

It would be just right to take it back for Xuanyu to play with as a toy.

Putting away the water-avoiding bead, Xu Qing returned to the shore. He thought for a moment and didn't take Shi Quan's corpse away, but carried it to the sand pit where Zhao Zhonghe was, and covered it with sand for the time being.

At this moment, Zhao Zhonghe hadn't woken up yet. Xu Qing looked around, and there was no boat on the barren beach, not even a shadow of a person.

He knew from Shi Quan's memory that the boat from the government office had already returned to the wharf.

Speaking of which, that Constable Xue was truly a master of running away. Four of them fell into the water, and the other party didn't hesitate at all. That decisive appearance was like having made some kind of determination.

Xu Qing looked at the two people in the pit. Zhao Zhonghe was thick-skinned and didn't care, but he couldn't ignore Zhao Yuan.

Just the fact that he ignored life and death and was willing to face the water monkey and jump into the water to rescue him won his respect.

But now he was facing a problem, and that was, after waking them up, how would they leave?

On this barren beach, there was no one, and no boat. He couldn't accompany this uncle and nephew to walk back to Linhe, could he?

"Damn Constable Xue..."

Xu Qing cursed secretly.

Looking at Zhao Zhonghe, who was snoring, Xu Qing couldn't help but think of the past grievances between the two.

"If it weren't for seeing that you usually do things for the common people, I would really want to save you."

Gritting his teeth, Xu Qing took a stick of soul-bewitching incense from his bag, inserted it into the sand in front of Zhao Zhonghe, activated the yin fire to light the incense head, and performed the *Dream-Making Technique*.

Today, he would replace the soul of the deceased constable and entrust a dream to this head constable to distinguish between loyalty, treachery, good, and evil.

On this day, Head Constable Zhao had a bizarre dream.

He dreamed that he was sitting alone in the duty room, reading the case files under the lamp.

Around the third watch, an inexplicable gale suddenly blew outside the door.

Zhao Zhonghe heard someone vaguely calling "Head Constable" outside the duty room.

"Head Constable, Head Constable Zhao..." The voice was exceptionally familiar.

He looked up and saw a person standing outside the door, soaking wet from head to toe, tears hanging in his eyes, calling out incessantly.

"Shi Quan!"

At dawn, Head Constable Zhao woke up from his dream with a scream.

He looked around blankly and saw a fair-faced young man beside him smiling and saying: "You're awake?"

Not long after Zhao Zhonghe woke up, Zhao Yuan also woke up one after another.

The few looked at each other. Xu Qing only said that he had fallen into the water not long ago, and the water monkey abandoned him, perhaps feeling that he was unlucky.

In short, he drifted with the current for a long time, and when he woke up, he was on the shore.

He searched for a path along the shore, and that was how he met the two who had fainted.

Zhao Zhonghe didn't doubt it, but he and Zhao Yuan couldn't explain how they had fainted here.

Thinking hard for a moment, Zhao Zhonghe suddenly said to Zhao Yuan: "A-Yuan, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that Shi Quan jumped into the water and drowned to save me. He entrusted a dream to me to tell me his heart, saying that you and I are both loyal and righteous people, while Old Xue is a treacherous villain who abandons his comrades and flees in the face of battle..."

"He also said that Shopkeeper Xu is honest and loyal, and is a rare good person..."

Speaking of this, Zhao Zhonghe shook his head and laughed: "This dream must not be true. That Shi kid is afraid of water by nature and is a landlubber. Even if he were more foolish, he wouldn't jump into the water..."

Zhao Zhonghe stopped abruptly when he said this.

Because Xu Qing slowly got up and fished out a corpse from the soft sand beside him. The corpse covered by the thin white sand was exactly the constable Shi Quan.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 112 =====