Chapter 78: Blasting Fish in the Styx River Part 1

Wang Ya did not sleep deeply, hovering between half-asleep and half-awake. Her dreams were endless: mountains of corpses, seas of blood, bleached bones, and aggrieved souls. The only companion by her side was Ye Zi, born from the same root. She dreamed of her childhood, when classmates and village children excluded her, mocking her and calling her “Er Zhu.” She had used the pocket money her grandma gave her to buy candy, hoping to make friends with her classmates. They crowded around, smiling as they asked for the candy. She was overjoyed, thinking she had made friends, and shared her candy with them. But they took it and still mocked her, spreading vicious rumors to slander her. “Er Zhu,” “Fox Spirit,” “Pig Head,” “Last place, dragging down the whole class’s average,” “Such poor grades, just drop out,” “Held back,” “Sleeping in class—did your family bury your ancestral grave on Kunlong Mountain or what?”

Wang Ya opened her eyes and woke up. She recalled the chaotic dreams and the people from her childhood: classmates, village kids, school teachers, Wang Chengzhi’s attitude toward her tied to her dad’s intellectual disability, and how all the village kids looked down on her, spreading it to school so her classmates did too. Her grades were always in the bottom three, and the teachers despised her for dragging down the class average, treating her terribly. When her grandma learned of it, she taught her “Refining the Heart,” turning those rumors and malice into whetstones for honing her mind. She learned the skills of Catching Ghosts and Demons, cultivated the Tao, and refined her “heart.” She held firm to her true self, unmoved, unshaken, unswayed by external things. She could not let others’ malice trap her in resentment, repaying evil with evil, thereby becoming evil herself, destroying her Dao Heart, and straying onto the wrong path.

And now?

Wang Ya suddenly realized nothing had changed. The people spreading rumors and slandering her had simply become the more powerful Righteous and Evil Paths. Back then, some classmates envied her beauty, some stepped on her to elevate themselves, some went along for fun, or used mockery and sarcasm to show they belonged to the same circle. Now, her hands still held the “candy” everyone wanted. They used “rumors” and “slander” to make snatching it righteous and justified, or perhaps drew her in with help and alliances to scheme for her “candy.” But today’s her was no longer that silly child who scattered her “candy” freely. Those people would not simply disperse after getting it—they would kill her. Yet she was no longer that silly child who gave away her “candy” and let others bully her.

Wang Ya closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep.

Suddenly, a deafening explosion of dynamite accompanied by a massive splash of water jolted Wang Ya awake from her dream. Then she heard Old Tang’s voice drifting from afar: “Brother Wang, quick, quick, pick up the fish.”

Blasting fish in the Styx River?

Wang Ya’s sleepiness vanished in an instant. She leaped up and rushed straight to the riverbank, where she saw Old Tang and Wang Cheng’an each holding a Strong Flashlight, wading in the dark river not far from shore, water up to their waists. Wang Cheng’an gripped the Strong Flashlight in his left hand, with a nearly one-meter-long big black fish tucked under each armpit. Masses of belly-up black fish floated downstream on the turbulent river surface.

Old Tang scooped up fish one by one and hurled them onto the shore!

Wang Ya shouted, “Dad, get to shore! Now!”

Wang Cheng’an let out an “Ah?” and stared blankly at Wang Ya.

Wang Ya yelled sharply, “To shore now! Immediately!” As she spoke, she circulated her partially recovered Demonic Power, her hands flying as she formed seals and smashed them toward the area around Wang Cheng’an.

The Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Seal Formula sank into the water, demonic light sprinkling over the dark river, turning the surface an eerie dark red, like blood.

Though Old Tang did not understand the situation, Wang Ya’s reaction told him something was gravely wrong. He called out, “Brother Wang, to shore.” Suddenly, he felt a cold, eerie sensation surging from behind him. He turned his head and saw Wang Cheng’an sprinting like mad along the riverbank, while beneath the red demonic light on the river surface behind him, shadows faintly emerged. Old Tang’s hair stood on end; he cursed inwardly, “Fuck,” and scrambled toward the shore.

In Feng Family territory, there was never a moment’s peace— even the caves were nests of ghosts and monsters. Who knew what ghostly things lurked in the river!

Wang Ya kept forming seals and smashing them behind and to the sides of Wang Cheng’an, finally escorting him safely to shore.

Wang Cheng’an scrambled onto the bank and hid behind Wang Ya, his legs shaking like a sieve, his face deathly pale as he cried, “Yaya, ghosts!” He trembled so much he could barely stand, but he clutched the two fat big black fish under his arms tightly.

Wang Ya glared fiercely at Wang Cheng’an in exasperation. Even if starvation forced them to blast fish, did they have to wade in to grab them? No ropes or hooks? Even without hooks, they had daggers— tie them into ropes and stab the fish to drag them up, right?

Old Tang reached the shore too, panting as he stopped beside Wang Ya and asked, “What happened?”

Wang Ya said coldly, “See for yourself!” She turned and headed toward the steps.