Early the next morning, as Zhang Kui just pushed open the door, he saw Captain Chen waiting outside.

"Taoist, good morning."

This black-faced man no longer showed the arrogance of the previous day, his face now full of ingratiation.

"Yesterday was a misunderstanding. I found out that Prefect Liu Qingshan was colluding with unscrupulous merchants, using the corpse plague for personal gain, falsely accusing you, Taoist. I have already filed a report to the authorities."

"What about the things I asked for?"

Zhang Kui was noncommittal; this world's filth was abundant, and he had no interest in meddling with its entanglements. His main goal was still to clear out the source of the corpse plague.

"It's... it's here..."

Captain Chen hurriedly produced a large stack of records, with documents and maps, clearly having put in considerable effort.

"The first incident occurred at the beginning of the month, in a household in South City, where an old woman's corpse transformed and killed her entire family of four..."

"The second incident happened two streets away at a pawnshop, where the old shopkeeper's corpse transformed and killed the assistant..."

"Afterwards, incidents happened frequently, all over the city, starting with the elderly, then children and women..."

As Captain Chen spoke, Zhang Kui browsed through the information, his brows gradually furrowing.

These incidents occurred all over the city, with hardly any commonality, as if bursting out randomly, no wonder the cause had not been discovered for so long.

"Hmm... what do these lines mean?"

As he flipped through, Zhang Kui suddenly noticed a map with several lines drawn on it, neatly connecting all the densely outbreak points.

"This is... the underground well map of Lu City!"

Captain Chen was also taken aback, "How did I not think of that? No, I'm being wronged, I have truly never seen this thing, if I had known earlier..."

Zhang Kui's eyes narrowed slightly,

"You said, this thing appeared suddenly today?"

"Yes... I..."

Captain Chen also realized the crux of it, his face immediately full of anger, "I'll go back and conduct a strict investigation right away!"

"No rush."

Zhang Kui looked thoughtful, "The problem is with the water source, all residents along this line should be infected with corpse poison, but in small amounts, only affecting the weak."

As he spoke, he pulled out a large stack of Disease-removal Talismans from his pocket, "Immediately seal all wells, burn the talisman paper and put it in a large pot, anyone with blackness beneath their eyes must drink a bowl."

"Taoist, but what about the spy..."

"No rush."

Zhang Kui took a sip of tea, "First check along this line and see what they want us to see..."

...

Captain Chen acted quickly, immediately mobilizing the City Defense Army and government officials to assist, sealing all wells along the line, and distributing talismanic water on the streets.

Upon learning that the water was problematic, the people were understandably frightened, many seemingly healthy individuals vomited several mouthfuls of yellow water immediately after drinking the talismanic water.

The city was in chaos, and after Zhang Kui had breakfast and waited for things to calm down, he brought Ye Fei along to go investigate.

"Taoist Zhang..."

Captain Chen respectfully led the way while explaining. "The city has its back to the Reed River and is not short of water."

"Residents near the city outskirts drink from the river and are mostly fine, but to facilitate residents within the city, many wells were dug, but they all draw from underground water and are unconnected. I have already sent people down to investigate..."

They arrived at a well, just as an Astronomical Bureau soldier, drenched, climbed out.

He first took a sip of talismanic water, vomited several mouthfuls of yellow liquid, and clasped his hands in salute, "Sir, a deep hole has appeared at the bottom of the well, leading who knows where. After exploring over ten meters, I couldn't see the end and had to come back up."

Captain Chen's face showed uncertainty,

"Check the other wells!"

The soldiers moved quickly, inspecting each well one by one, finding that almost all problematic wells had deep holes, but they were too deep and dark to explore fully.

"These deep holes should be connected..."

Captain Chen looked troubled, "But we don't know what kind of strangeness lies within. In my view, it's best to fill all the wells to end it."

"That won't eliminate the root cause."

Zhang Kui shook his head, a hint of evil intent in his eyes,

"You guard the place, I'll go down and see what's causing the mischief!"

As he spoke, he had already reached the well, leapt, and plunged into the water with a splash.

According to those soldiers, the water hole was quite deep. Although Zhang Kui's Qi veins were long, battle usually required adjusting his breathing, so before entering the well, he secretly opened the interface.

In the Earth Demon 72 Techniques, there was no shortage of Water Avoidance Skills, generally speaking, two options were available:

Five Elements Skill and Qi Prohibition Skill.

The Five Elements Skill was, needless to say, part of the Qimen Dunjia Art, avoiding three disasters and five calamities, with several methods for Water Avoidance.

Water Entry Skill: Also known as Water Escape, allowing entry into great rivers and oceans without drowning.

Water Walking Skill: Technique for walking on water surfaces.

Flow-breaking Skill: Can sever rivers to reveal underwater pathways.

The Qi Prohibition Skill was another path entirely.

In previous lives, some local villagers practiced a technique for dealing with poisonous insect bites, where the local shamans or witches would grab and chant "Take it!"

This was the essence of the Qi Prohibition Skill, just that outsiders didn't know the practice and thus imitated it to deceive others.

The Taoist scriptures say: To control all spirits and understand the truth, it is indispensable to utilize the essence of the five elements, inhale and exhale the primordial Qi, grasp and manage literary rites, open the source of the mechanism, choose according to one's will, all is up to one's own hands, mastering heaven and earth.

Simply put, the Qi Prohibition Skill involves using one's entire True Qi and Magical Power to directly influence all phenomena, granting various incredible abilities.

In conclusion, the Five Elements Skill aims at summoning wind and rain, transforming oneself into the five elements, while the Qi Prohibition Skill focuses on the mystical manipulation of True Qi itself.

Once mastering the Qi Prohibition Skill, one can learn the Forbidden Water Skill to navigate poisonous waters, increase strength with the Great Strength Skill, carry hills with Sun Wukong's Mountain Carrying Skill, summon animals with the Beast Gathering and Taming Skill...

Currently, the Qi Prohibition Skill is more practical and has two advantages.

Firstly, it does not require upgrading, its power is related to the robustness of one's own True Qi.

Secondly, with the Forbidden Water Skill, one need not fear waterborne toxins.

So Zhang Kui first unlocked the Qi Prohibition Skill and then selected the Forbidden Water Skill. As for subsequent techniques, they require mastery of the Grain Avoidance Realm.

Qi Prohibition Skill: Active Skill.

Skill Description: Use Qi as incantation, restrain all things. Can halt bleeding from wounds, stop fires, inhibit spirits, and even render blades harmless. Power increases as True Qi and Magical Power rise.

Forbidden Water Skill: Passive Skill.

Skill Description: Navigate impassable or toxic waters effortlessly, moving freely while consuming minimal True Qi.

...

The sound of rushing water surrounded him.

Zhang Kui felt his breathing smooth, his vision clear, and he twisted around, quickly diving toward the underwater depths.

Like most wells, the bottom was covered in a thick layer of silt, along with water buckets and other objects that had accidentally fallen in.

To the side, a massive, deep underwater hole slanted downward, destination unknown.

Zhang Kui dove in without hesitation, simultaneously activating the Cave Abyss Skill, rendering the interior fully visible.

The water tunnel was indeed very deep. As Zhang Kui descended further, his apprehension grew; this seemed to be something forcibly excavated, with evident claw marks visible.

What kind of creature could it be?

After descending over three hundred meters, the tunnel abruptly veered upward in a "V" shape, revealing a large underground lake before him.

Whoosh~

A ghastly white face suddenly appeared before him.

Zhang Kui frowned and pushed it aside. It turned out to be a human head, nearly swollen like a balloon from the water.

Immediately after, a strong Evil Qi glinted in Zhang Kui's eyes.

This underground lake was filled with skeletons and scattered corpses, with resentful ghosts shrieking and roaming about, dozens of massive chains binding the corpse of a giant crocodile.

The crocodile was clearly a demon, about ten meters long with six legs, its body rotting, wounds continuously oozing yellow water.

Suddenly, the crocodile's body opened its eyes, blood-red, filled with ferocity...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.