I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 107: Mid-gate confrontation
Under the river, there were shadowy corpses piled up. On top of the corpses, a wild child was holding a bunch of water grass tightly and pulling it downwards with all his strength.

Xu Qing was greedy for more, but when he saw the pile of bones and wild children under his feet, he suddenly felt that the corpse in his hand was no longer attractive.

After putting the upside-down corpse into the box, Xu Qing stroked his chin and looked carefully at the naked three-year-old child.

Although he is said to be a three-year-old child, he does not look like an ordinary child. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call him a water monster.

This monster has a small horn on its head, scales on its body like a carp, a tiger tail, knees like tiger paws, and most importantly, a human face like a child.

"This appearance is somewhat similar to the water tiger mentioned in the rumors."

Linhe is a place with developed water transportation, and there are many rumors about water monsters, the most famous of which are the water tiger and water monkey.

Both are water-loving spirits, and there are many records of them in ancient books such as Xiangmianji, Shui Jing Zhu, Qin Jing, and Shi Dao Zhi.

The Xiangmian Chronicle states: "There is a creature in the water called a water tiger. It looks like a three-year-old child, with knees shaped like tiger paws. Its claws are always submerged in the water, but they stick out from its knees to show people. If children who don't know about it try to play with it, it will devour them. If someone catches it alive, they can pick its claws and play with it small. It is called a water tiger."
Water tigers are born with good hearing and have a pair of universal ears that can understand the language of fish, birds and people.

The water tiger has no teeth in its mouth, but it has sharp teeth in its stomach that can chew and digest the food it swallows.

In addition, the water tiger who is good at water has another ability, which is the magical power that can make the body invisible and disappear in the water.

If you encounter this kind of monster in the water, it is extremely difficult to deal with it, but it is not without weaknesses.

It is said that if you encounter a water tiger, you can pick its Gaoyan to command it.

However, some ancient books, such as Compendium of Materia Medica, interpret "Gao Yan" as "nose", saying that if a person has a water tiger, he can pick its nose and use it slightly.

But in Yanlu's poem "Huanxisha·Erotic Love", there is a poem saying: Seven-xiang brocade quilt and eight-silk cotton, Gao Yan dragged it carefully on the mat, Nuo Long secretly stored it in front of the embroidered collar, the jade man was so beautiful that the jade girl loved him.

The Gaoyan here definitely does not refer to the nose.

As for whether pinching the nose or grabbing the crotch is better for subduing the water tiger,
Xu Qing took out his brass knuckles and grinned.

It takes skill to beat your own children, but does it also take skill to beat wild children?

Xu Qing's body suddenly relaxed, allowing the water plants to drag him to the bottom of the water.

The kid's lower lip was purple, and he was pulling hard when he felt the end of the water grass loosen, just like a big fish escaped the hook.

It was caught off guard and fell heavily on its butt into the corpses and mud. Under the influence of inertia, the water tiger rolled several times before it could find its footing.

The already dark riverbed suddenly became turbid. The water tiger had a strong desire to hunt. As soon as it landed firmly on its feet, it pushed off the ground with its webbed feet and rushed towards the surface of the water like an arrow, crossing the current.

At the same time, Xu Qing, who had just entered the water, was also sinking to the bottom of the water due to the inertia of the rope.

Zombies don't need to breathe, so the pig bladder that stores air is useless to Xu Qing. In addition, he has the ability to walk on water, so he didn't feel any discomfort after entering the water.

The place where the water tiger was located was a deep pit about four or five feet deep. The pit was surrounded by gathered riverbed sand and stones. The reeds surrounded the deep pit and grew outward in a large area.

In a hidden nest like this, it is generally difficult to find the water tiger's trace.

Xu Qingqian fell into the water, and in a moment, he saw the water tiger rushing out of the muddy whirlpool and heading towards him.

Shui Hu had never expected that the person on the surface would dare to go into the water and even take the initiative to swim towards him.

The water tiger was caught off guard, and by the time it came to its senses, it had already collided with the other party.

A dull sound was heard underwater.

Xu Qing only felt a shock all over his body, but there was nothing unusual about his body.

On the contrary, the water tiger had many scales rubbed off after being hit.

The river was filled with blood mist, and Shuihu, who had been knocked unconscious, was a little dazed.

What did it pull back?
Seeing the unknown evil spirit swimming towards it, the water tiger's scales almost exploded.

It knew that it had encountered a tough opponent and did not dare to face the enemy head-on. In a hurry, the surface of the water tiger's body surged like ripples on the water. When Xu Qing arrived, the water tiger in front of him had already merged with the water and disappeared.

Xu Qing used the Qi-gazing technique and looked around. The surroundings were filled with a strong evil aura and bad luck. There was no trace of the water tiger.

The bottom of the water, which was turbulent with mud and water just now, gradually became calm.

The water surface above was rippling, and the reeds around the deep pit refracted light, forming reflected ripples on the water surface.

As light and shadow intertwined, Xu Qing suddenly felt a flow of water rushing back from his mouth and nose, as if trying to pour into his lungs.

"."

Xu Qing was silent for a while. He had never heard of zombies that died from choking. What was the difference between this and wanting to drown a pig dragon in water?
But it's not a good thing that the kid always avoids him.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Qing came up with an idea and suddenly started to flutter on the spot.

He clutched his neck with both hands, his eyes rolled back, and his feet kicked back and forth, looking exactly like someone about to drown.

After a while, Xu Qing stopped struggling, his limbs were unable to float, his body was bent, and he sank to the bottom of the water.

In the deep pool, water was floating, and a water plant as wide as a palm swam out from the shadow corner like a snake.

The water plants were close to the mud at the bottom of the river, extending all the way towards the direction where Xu Qing sank to the ground.

When they came to Xu Qing's side, the water plants stretched out their tips and climbed up along his waist and abdomen.

He felt a strange touch on his neck, and the water plants began to wrap around his neck, and then suddenly tightened.

It lasted for about half an incense stick of time before the taut water plants stopped moving.

At the same place, Xu Qing still didn't move at all, as if he was completely dead.

In the dark and deep pit, there was an imperceptible wave of water flow.

The water tiger hiding in the dark corner appeared.

It swam to Xu Qing in a blink of an eye, wagging its tiger tail, keeping its legs together and its body like soft noodles.

Shui Hu, who had a child's face, made a face at Xu Qing.

It thought this guy was so powerful, but it turned out to be a useless guy. Now that he is in its home ground, he has to become its food!
The water tiger stretched out its paw, its sharp claws flashing with cold light. However, just as it was about to cut the bloody food and feast on it, the corpse under it, which should have been dead, suddenly stretched out a hand like a steel clamp.

The big hand was extremely swift, and the moment it reached out, it tightly grasped its Gao Yan.

The water tiger let out a strange cry like a baby crying in the water. Its vital point was hit and its whole body stiffened.

Xu Qing was afraid that the other party would hide and escape again, so he held the small teapot in one hand and hit Shui Hu's nose hard with brass knuckles in the other hand.

Blood gushed out, mixing with the mud and river water.

The water tiger subconsciously hid its body, but no matter how advanced its invisibility skills were, it could not escape the control of the person.

Xu Qinglong used the Elephant Tiger Seal Fist to strike Shuihu repeatedly, and even after knocking Shuihu out of his hiding state, he still did not stop.

He didn't stop attacking until Shuihu was completely exhausted and motionless.

Xu Qing tried to communicate with the Sutra of Humanity, but there was no response. It seemed that the water tiger was just a spirit with a human face, its true form having no connection to humans.

Feeling the rich Yin Qi in Shuihu's body, Xu Qing no longer hesitated. He spread out his five fingers, held Shuihu's head with one hand, and began to practice the Qi-Snatching and Returning-to-Origin Technique.

Under the guidance of Guiyuan Jue, the evil aura in Shuihu's body seemed to have found an outlet and poured into Xu Qing's body.

The water tiger, which should have been dead in the middle of the fight, suddenly struggled again. Fortunately, Xu Qing reacted quickly and freed his hand to control its vital point again, thus preventing it from escaping.

After a while, the water tiger who pretended to be dead stopped struggling.

"Even after absorbing so much Yin Qi, I only gained five or six years of cultivation. The kickbacks I got from Guiyuan Jue are too much."

Xu Qing got a taste of the goodness. He looked at Shuihu's corpse and suddenly something moved his mind.

Earlier, Shuihu pretended to be dead, but he used Guiyuan Jue to see through it. Now Shuihu is dead and cannot be dead again. I don’t know if the Duren Sutra can save him.
Xu Qing touched Shuihu's body and communicated with the Sutra of Salvation again, but there was still no response.

He shook his head helplessly.

The Sutra of Deliverance can only liberate the dead. Ghosts and monsters like these, even if they possess souls, cannot be chosen by the Sutra of Deliverance.

Looking at the skinny corpse of the water tiger, which was obviously hollowed out by him, Xu Qing did not choose to abandon it.

The bodies of these monsters usually have magical uses and may be useful someday.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing had an idea and wanted to take out the box and bury the water tiger's body. However, before taking out the box, he suddenly remembered something.

The box garden is a pocket-sized courtyard. If it is taken out from under the water, the river water will surely flow back, and then his box garden will probably be flooded in an instant.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing turned around and swam upstream. When he reached the surface of the water, he took out the box and placed the water tiger's body in it.

After dealing with the water tiger's body, he returned to the bottom of the water again.

This underwater pit is the water tiger's lair, and it contains a lot of human corpses. These are the real treasures for him!
Diving into the bottom of the pit, Xu Qing looked at the corpses piled up on the mud and sand, and felt his heart surge. He felt like he was back home. The river water in front of him turned into warm amniotic fluid, and those corpses turned into umbilical cords that continuously supplied him with nutrients.

Surrounded by a pile of corpses, Xu Qing happily began to work.

He first placed the intact bodies aside, and the broken bodies in another place. Then, as if he were completing a puzzle, he pieced together the scattered limbs and bones one by one.

That is to say, Xu Qing has rich experience in collecting and burying corpses. If it were someone else, let alone putting all the corpses in their proper places, even if they were asked to put them together randomly, they might not be able to put all the corpses together!
About half an hour later, Xu Qing, who had pieced together the last corpse, swam to his waist in the water.

He floated in the water, looked down at the neatly arranged corpses below, and felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart.

The water tiger's teeth are in its belly, but it has no teeth in its mouth. Because of this, when the water tiger eats, it only chooses to cut and peel off the flesh of its prey, but does not chew the bones of its prey.

Otherwise he wouldn't be able to piece together so many complete corpses.

Look at the rewards you get for liberating the corpse when piecing the corpse together.

Water-controlling technique, fishing technique, water essence pill, breath-holding pill, underwater breathing method
The art of water detection is able to find water and explore caves. It is an essential skill for water diggers when looking for water sources and digging wells.

Fishing, as the name suggests, is the skill that fishermen rely on to survive. Whether it is trawling, lifting the net, casting the net, collecting the net, feeding and trapping, or fishing with a rod, it is all included in the fishing technique.

After Xu Qing learned the fishing experience from the fishermen, he already had master-level fishing skills.

Shuiyuan Pill, a pill that improves a woman's physique, strengthens her Yin Yuan, and enhances her bones.

This pill is useless to Xu Qing. Unless he practices Qingluo's Yin-Yang reversal method of changing men into women and women into men, otherwise it will be a waste.

Xu Qing thought about it and thought that maybe he could take this pill to Yizhen to exchange for something useful to him someday.

The breath-holding pill is also called the fake death pill. It can allow a person to hold his breath for three days and his heart will stop beating without dying.

"."

Xu Qing was speechless. Zombies don't need to breathe, let alone have a heartbeat. To him, this thing is even more useless than the Shuiyuan Pill. It's simply like taking off pants to fart, a waste of time.

Look at the underwater breathing method
Xu Qing was completely silent.

Ten miles away from the reed marsh, Lupin led the team, with two or three fishing boats following behind him.

At this time, a thin mist began to rise. After Lupin's search failed, he planned to row the boat back.

At this moment, a corpse retriever came up in a boat and asked in confusion, "Brother Lu, I remember there were nearly ten boats following us when we came here, but how come half of the people are gone in just a short while?"

Upon hearing this, Lupin turned his head and looked behind him. As the other party said, there were more than ten salvage ships, but only two or three were still following behind.

"Among the corpse retrievers, you and I are the fastest rowers, but even if they are slower, they should have caught up by now."

The corpse retriever frowned and said, "Could it be that they found a corpse along the way and rushed to retrieve it?"

Lupin narrowed his eyes when he heard this, and the scars on his face, which looked like they had been scratched by a tiger or leopard, looked extremely ferocious.

"Old Song, with my eyesight, do you think I would miss the body?"

"This section of the river is very smooth, with no potholes and few undercurrents. Even if there are any errors, they can only be in the reed marsh we passed on the way here."

The corpse retriever, known as Lao Song, shook his head slightly and said, "It's better to be safe than sorry. The person who fell into the water this time was a wealthy merchant. He must have a lot of money on him. If they find him first, he will be in trouble."

"So what if they find out?" Lupin said with a sinister look, "In the corpse recovery team, it's not just about the ability to retrieve the body. If he can retrieve the body, he has to be able to keep it!"

After saying that, Lupin decisively turned the boat around and began to return the way he came.

In the reed marsh, Xu Qing fished out all the bodies from the pit.

These are the fishermen and boat passengers who have been killed by the water tigers in previous years.

There are also many former members of the corpse recovery team among them.

Xu Qing picked and chose, and out of more than forty corpses, only three could be identified.

The pit under the reed marsh was extremely cold and gloomy. The three corpses were preserved quite intact by the water tiger. It seemed that they were used as food reserves.

As for the rest of the bodies, there was no possibility of identification.

Xu Qing had seen their revolving lanterns and could even tell who they were and where they lived when they were alive.

But if these bones are sent to the body recovery team, no one will claim them.

Xu Qing thought about it for a while and made a decision.

These unidentifiable corpses can be stored in the small garden and buried in the Watergate Bridge Villa after returning to improve the feng shui.

As for the three complete bodies
Xu Qing placed the body in a black-covered boat and planned to personally take it to the morgue when returning to the port for its family to claim it.

But delivering the corpse was just a side job. He did this just to find an excuse to enter the morgue of the corpse recovery team.

After finishing all the matters, Xu Qing was about to row the boat away when he suddenly remembered that there was still a corpse in his box that had not been liberated yet.

(End of this chapter)