Fire at the Reed Marsh

Fire at the Reed Marsh

Fire at the Reed Marsh

Everyone's hearts leapt into their throats. Some gripped kitchen knives, while others clenched fish spears.

In that instant, even the sound of breathing seemed to vanish. Only the dripping and dragging footsteps of the water ghosts remained. When several water ghosts drew close, the villagers finally saw these horrifying things clearly.

Their skin was bluish-gray like bronze, and their gaunt bodies resembled skeletons left to dry atop someone's roof. Their features were wrinkled into a knot, with only their mouthparts and rodent-like fangs distinguishable.

As Lin Mo watched them step through the reed marsh one by one, he knew the Barricade Spears set in the shallows would be of little use.

Seeing that the faster few were only several meters from the earthen slope, Lin Mo struggled to control his breathing. Yet the stench in the air, like rancid fish, still struck his nostrils. He began counting silently.

Three, two, one!

Whoosh~

The bamboo whistle let out a crisp, winding note. Figures immediately sprang out from all directions, pulling the ropes with every ounce of strength they had.

Swish, swish, swish!

The ropes silently rose from the mud, instantly tripping many water ghosts that had been slowly walking behind. Quite a few crashed into a heap at once, their howls and the whistle blending together in the night.

"Light it! Brothers, charge!"

At Lin Changshun's shout, he lit the fire oil on the ropes. A spark shot up in an instant, turning into a fierce tongue of flame in the blink of an eye.

Tongues of fire spread along the ropes in every direction, tearing through the thick night and thin mist in a flash. Heat waves rolled, and billowing black smoke soared into the sky.

Within a few breaths, the flames had swallowed more than half the water ghosts, while sheets of mist steamed up from the reed marsh.

Sizzle, sizzle.

Whether it was the water ghosts' bodies burning or fire oil splashing into the reeds, the pungent stench surged into their nostrils with the wind.

Once the blaze had taken shape, Lin Mo was delighted. Seeing two scattered water corpses ahead, he took the initiative to attack, lest they suddenly rise and harm someone.

Lin Mo tapped off with his toes, using his forward momentum to twist his waist and turn. With power gathered in his right fist, he unleashed a White Ape Cannon Fist straight into the water ghost's chest.

With a dull clang!

That heavy, powerful blow truly felt as though it had struck an iron plate. Though the water ghost's body was gaunt, it staggered back several steps, its chest only caving in halfway.

In the next instant, it lunged at him again. Its uneven yellow teeth were like rodent fangs, and the nauseating sour stench grew even stronger.

"Still not dead? It really acts just like a zombie?"

Lin Mo hardened his heart. Thinking of the fishermen struggling bitterly to survive under the water ghost calamity, a surge of fury rose from within him. "Then I'll smash your head and wrench off your neck. Let's see how you keep doing evil!"

He planted his stance. As his left arm thrust forward, his entire bearing abruptly changed. He bent his legs and leapt, twisting his right hand into a claw.

His left arm smashed aside the water corpse before him. His body soared several meters through the air, his fingertips howling through the wind like sharp metal and stone as they viciously pierced its neck.

Half his fingers sank in. The water corpse still tried to move, but Lin Mo twisted and yanked with his backhand, tearing out its windpipe along with it.

Splash, splash...

Black blood spurted forth. Almost bathing in the water ghost's blood, he stepped on the corpse and pounced at another water ghost.

His flickering body leapt into the air. His hands came together as though plucking a peach, and as he passed over its head, another water ghost had its head plucked off and died.

[Water ghost slain, Fate Fortune gathered +5]

[Water ghost slain, Fate Fortune gathered +5]

In the span of several breaths, under everyone's horrified gazes, Lin Mo was like a crazed ape as he tore off the heads of two water ghosts.

The Jade Talisman in his mind chimed from time to time. He had never expected a single water ghost to be worth five points of Fate Fortune.

Lin Mo licked his dry lips. Amid the ferocity in his gaze, another measure of delight appeared. Like a mad ape moving through the firelight, he searched everywhere for scattered water ghosts.

There were quite a few scattered water ghosts. By his rough estimate, there were more than ten.

Although the villagers formed groups of three to five and used fish spears and other farming tools to drive back the water ghosts, they still could not inflict any effective damage and could only remain helplessly deadlocked.

From the corner of his eye, Lin Hai caught sight of Lin Mo tearing apart water ghosts with his bare hands. He suddenly understood and hurriedly reminded those around him, "Watch their heads! Aim for their heads!"

Easy to say, hard to do!

Holding a fish spear, he exerted all his strength until veins bulged across both arms, yet when the fish spear stabbed into the water ghost's head, it could not penetrate in the slightest.

At most, it scraped away some scalp and drew a little harmless blood.

"Why is it so hard?!"

Lin Hai gritted his teeth and growled, his eyes reddening as he tried to stab again. But the water ghost turned, and his fish spear struck empty air.

As he staggered from overexertion, he actually fell toward the water ghost. The vile stench was right before his face, and he reflexively shut his eyes.

My life is over!

The thought had barely arisen when an even faster figure swept past. Lin Hai only felt the gale by his ears slice painfully against him.

Thud!

When he opened his eyes again, he was already sprawled atop a headless water ghost corpse, his hands soaked in blood.

Lin Hai rose to his feet and stared in disbelief at the figure rushing off into the distance once more. That clean, decisive, yet frenzied figure was branded firmly into his mind. He swallowed hard.

"Brother Mo, he's already a martial master? He's truly beyond ordinary men..."

One corpse, two corpses, three corpses...

Only after nearly slaughtering all the scattered water corpses did Lin Mo finally stand where he was, still not fully satisfied, watching the blaze together with everyone else.

After the frenzied rush of surging blood and qi passed, he finally felt a piercing pain in his fingers. Surprised, he raised his hand to look.

To his shock, not a single fingernail on either hand remained intact. They were either peeled back or mostly torn off, leaving bloody nail beds exposed.

"Luckily, the gains were good..."

Lin Mo focused his mind and inspected the Jade Talisman. His Fate Fortune had already surged to sixty.

When the fire died out, the Jade Talisman trembled once more.

His Fate Fortune suddenly leapt by a large amount.

[Gathering the strength of all, water ghosts slain, Fate Fortune gathered +20]

[Fate Fortune: 86]

With so much Fate Fortune on hand, and since [Observe Qi and People] had not yet improved, Lin Mo simply raised it twice in one go, pushing this white Fate to the edge of becoming a green Fate.

[Fate Fortune breaks the limit, consumed *20, Observe Qi and People—Insightful Eye]

As it improved all at once, he felt a wave suddenly rise from his dantian, while his eyes turned numb and itchy. He endured the discomfort and finished examining the water ghost corpses before returning to sit cross-legged beneath the tree roots.

At first, only his eyes felt numb and itchy. He tried circulating his blood and qi to drive the wave in his dantian, but with one careless move, it surged straight into his meridians, even breaking through his blood and qi bottleneck in passing.

"I've reached great mastery in a single training session?"

Before Lin Mo could even rejoice, that wave rushed toward his eyes. The needle-like pain made him suck in a sharp breath, and tears spilled involuntarily from his eyes.

If anyone looked closely, they would discover that among those seemingly clear yet murky tears were several streaks of filth flowing down like lines of ink.

When he opened his eyes again, everything before him seemed suddenly clear.

"What exactly is this [Insightful Eye] for?"