Chapter 159: Black Fish Demon

Listening to what these water ghosts had to say, Li Xintian was overwhelmed with a myriad of emotions.

After the villagers of Great Lake Village died and transformed into water ghosts, they preferred never to be reincarnated rather than harm living souls.

For this reason alone, they were infinitely superior to countless human beings.

"Take heart, all of you. This water demon will not remain unpunished much longer. I will surely eradicate this creature for the villagers of Great Lake Village and restore justice and freedom to you all."

Not knowing how to comfort these wronged souls who had met such unjust deaths, Li Xintian could only offer his utmost guarantee to exterminate the water demon, ensuring that such tragic scenes would no longer be enacted.

Though the water ghosts did not know whether Li Xintian's words were true or false, they still knelt and bowed in deep gratitude before slowly retreating into the lake waters and vanishing from sight.

To be honest, as he watched the water ghosts withdraw, he felt a considerable lack of confidence within his own heart.

Exterminating demons was not difficult for Li Xintian; the real challenge lay in the fact that this particular demon was a water creature.

Hiding within the depths of this great lake, how could it be eliminated if it refused to show itself? Even if it did appear, water demons were naturally adept in the aquatic realm, whereas he was ultimately made of flesh and blood. Even with his endowment of righteous energy, should he happen to fall into the lake, he feared he would inevitably end up as food for the water demon.

Li Xintian himself did not even know how to swim.

"Among all the demons, spirits, and ghosts in the world, the ones I must guard against the most are demons. And among demons, the Five Poisons and water demons pose the greatest threat to me, while all others are not worth fearing."

Gazing at the vast lake before him, Li Xintian furrowed his brows slightly, his mind racing to devise a way to slay the demon for the villagers of Great Lake Village.

He walked slowly along the shoreline, lost in thought.

Suddenly, a childish yet solemn little girl's voice drifted over on the breeze from the lake's surface.

"Beat the monster, beat the monster, beat this bad monster to death."

A four-year-old girl with two horn-like braids, wearing tattered clothes and possessing a remarkably thin body, was standing at the water's edge holding a small bamboo pole and striking the surface of the water.

The little girl's complexion was pale, her entire body soaked through, and her round eyes possessed a certain innocent cuteness.

Yet at this moment, her small face was etched only with anger as she continuously lashed the water with her bamboo pole, as if she intended to beat the water demon beneath the waves to death with the frail stick in her hands.

"It's Little Pole's younger sister."

Seeing this, Li Xintian suddenly recalled the words spoken earlier by the beggar boy—how his four-year-old sister, upon hearing that their mother had been devoured by a water demon, had angrily taken a bamboo pole to the lakeside to beat the monster.

And in the end, she had gone and never returned...

Li Xintian noticed that the feet of Little Pole's younger sister remained forever planted in the lake water, never once stepping ashore.

Clearly, the little girl had died and had also transformed into a water ghost.

"Young Master, the night is deep. Let us return and rest." Seeing Li Xintian standing motionless in place for a long time, Tie Shan nearby finally spoke up to remind him.

"No, I want to stay here," Li Xintian murmured.

His gaze remained fixed entirely upon the four-year-old little girl in the lake water.

Tie Shan followed Li Xintian's gaze, but saw only a green, tender water reed swaying in the wind, continuously brushing across the surface of the water and stirring up ripples.

Aside from that, there was nothing at all.

"Beat the monster, beat this bad monster to death..."

The girl's voice still echoed across the lake. Wielding her bamboo pole, which was no thicker than a single finger, she exerted every ounce of her strength to thrash the water, several times nearly tumbling into the lake herself due to overexertion.

Yet what she did not know was that she would never be able to beat the monster to death, nor would she ever be able to return to the shore.

He did not know how long he stood at the lakeside.

In the end, Li Xintian watched as the little girl thrashed the water for an entire night, fighting the monster the whole night through, until she finally stumbled and fell into the lake. With a few ripples spreading outward, she never appeared again.

Roosters crowed, and the horizon gradually grew bright.

A whole night had passed.

Li Xintian had stood by the lake for an entire night. Because of the heavy lakeside moisture, his hair and eyebrows were coated with dew, yet he remained completely unaware of it.

Tie Shan, ever loyal, had kept watch by his side without moving a single step. However, finding it exceedingly tedious, he had leaned against a tree near the lake and dozed off.

"Splash!"

Suddenly, from the center of the great lake, beneath the crystal-clear water, a massive dark shadow swam out from below. A pitch-black fish tail twitched and broke the surface of the water, easily reaching the size of a small cabin. With a single flick of that tail, the lake instantly churned up a massive wave. The force of this surge far exceeded imagination, generating a towering tide all around.

At the same time, a fierce gale laden with the fishy stench of lake water raged across the surface.

Rousing wind and waves!

Roused abruptly from his thoughts at the sight, Li Xintian found this exact phrase flashing through his mind.

"As expected of a water demon with genuine cultivation; it is no simple creature."

Li Xintian's gaze narrowed slightly.

As the tide rolled in, various fish and shrimp beneath the lake's surface floated belly-up to the top. Then, a gigantic black fish surged out, its wide-open mouth swallowing all the floating fish and shrimp in a single gulp.

Li Xintian saw that this black fish was unlike ordinary black fish. Aside from its colossal size, its body was covered in fierce, hideous scales, and its pair of emerald-green eyes radiated an evil, ferocious light.

As the black fish fed, it seemed to notice Li Xintian standing on the shore. Suddenly abandoning its meal of fish and shrimp, it made a sharp turn and rapidly swam straight toward Li Xintian.

"You beast, do you dare to come ashore?" Li Xintian stared at it coldly, showing not a shred of fear.

In the depths of the great lake, a hundred Li Xintians would not be a match for this water demon; once dragged into the water, even his righteous energy would amount to nothing more than feeding the creature.

Yet here on land, Li Xintian was capable of battling fierce tigers, let alone a black fish that had ventured ashore. Since Li Xintian even dared to confront the Flying Tiger King, a mere black fish was nothing.

The black fish swam swiftly forward, but upon seeing Li Xintian standing unmoving at the water's edge, it still dared not cross beyond the water.

All the magical powers of a water demon had to be utilized within water to be fully exerted; coming ashore would result in a severe reduction of its strength.

Seeming somewhat wary of Li Xintian as well, the black fish stopped at a distance of about three zhang away. Its ugly black head emerged from the water, and its two barbels, resembling the arms of an adult human, stirred the nearby water weeds while its emerald-green eyes stared at him with greed.

"Want to eat me?" Li Xintian asked aloud.

The black fish appeared to understand Li Xintian's words, opening its massive fish mouth to reveal a row of terrifying, sharp teeth.

Could a fish grow teeth?

Things that had attained sentience could truly not be judged by ordinary logic.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, the black fish opened its mouth and spat, sending a column of condensed lake water hurtling toward Li Xintian like an arrow.

"Bang!"

The shot seemed slightly off target, striking a boulder on the shore. The massive rock was instantly blasted into powder by the impact of the lake water; had that struck a human body, survival would have been impossible.

Seeing this, Li Xintian's gaze narrowed slightly. "This beast actually possesses such cultivation."

"Whoosh!"

Immediately afterward, realizing that attacking on land differed from attacking underwater and unaccustomed to the change, the black fish adjusted its aim. Opening its mouth once more, it spat another column of water directly at Li Xintian.

This time it did not miss, heading straight for him head-on.

Had he been hit, Li Xintian's head would have been blasted to smithereens.

"Young Master, watch out!" Awakened just in time, Tie Shan cried out in absolute horror at the sight.

Yet Li Xintian did not dodge or evade at all, merely staring coldly at the black fish demon.

An unbelievable scene unfolded: the column of water, powerful enough to shatter solid rock, seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier the moment it reached him. Instantly losing all its force, it plummeted straight down from mid-air, merely splashing and wetting his shoes.

The black fish stared at Li Xintian with emerald-green eyes filled with human-like astonishment.

"Tie Shan, fetch the Golden Wild Goose Bow," Li Xintian suddenly commanded.

Li Xintian no longer possessed his Righteous Brush, and his internal righteous energy could no longer be manipulated as freely as before, though he did not regret giving the Righteous Brush to Zhao Longjie.

He simply needed to utilize a medium to channel his righteous energy.

Sensing that something was amiss, or perceiving that LiXintian was no ordinary villager and not easy prey, the black fish immediately prepared to turn and leave.

Fortunately, when setting out last night, Tie Shan had exercised extra caution by bringing along a waist saber and the Golden Wild Goose Bow to have some weapons for self-defense.

Seeing that Li Xintian was unharmed, Tie Shan first breathed a sigh of relief, then hurriedly unslung the Golden Wild Goose Bow from his back and handed both the bow and arrows over.

Receiving the bow and arrow, Li Xintian drew the three-stone-tension bow to a full moon without a moment's hesitation, the bowstring covered by a faint layer of azure righteous energy.

"Whoosh!"

With a release of his fingers, the arrow instantly shot forward, plunging straight into the lake water.

Although the black fish demon had realized something was wrong and turned to flee, the water near the shore was somewhat shallow, preventing it from instantly diving deep; it had to swim toward the deeper area of the lake before it could submerge completely.

"Splat!"

Splashes erupted from the water's surface as the wolf-tooth arrow accurately pierced one of the black fish's eyes.

Instantly, crimson blood gushed from the water, staining a large patch of the lake red and sending up a reddish mist that drifted toward the sky.

Afflicted with pain, the black fish demon fled frantically away from the shore, plunging deep into the heart of the great lake.

Li Xintian loosed two more arrows, but unfortunately, the black fish had already escaped too far, and the remaining two arrows failed to inflict any further damage upon the demon.

Li Xintian then violently thrust his right palm toward the lake surface, sending out a bolt of pale blue lightning, but this too failed to cause any harm to the black fish demon; it merely left flashes of lightning rippling across the water's surface.

In the end, Li Xintian could only watch helplessly as the black fish demon escaped into the vast lake, vanishing from his sight entirely.