Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

Chen Ping squatted on the shore, carefully observing his surroundings.

"Splash—"

Just then, a loud splashing sound suddenly came from the reeds not far away.

That was the sound of someone struggling to climb out of the water.

Chen Ping's eyes sharpened, and he slowly stood up, his right hand casually resting on the dagger at his waist. His body arched, like a taut bow.

"Cough cough... What a damn bad luck..."

With a low curse, a lean man pushed aside the reeds and emerged.

He was soaking wet, his gray shorts clung tightly to his body, and his trouser legs were covered in foul-smelling mud.

There were several bright red scratches on his left arm, the skin and flesh were rolled up and bleeding, clearly indicating that he had just been in a fierce fight.

The two locked eyes.

The man paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and his face lit up with surprise:

"Chen Tou?!"

He wiped the mud off his face and strode over, his voice excited: "You're here too? That's great! I thought it was just a bunch of unlucky guys like us in this godforsaken place!"

Chen Ping narrowed his eyes, remaining vigilant as his gaze swept over the man's bleeding arm.

"Who are you?"

The man immediately stopped and bowed to Chen Ping, the movement pulling at his wound and causing him to grimace in pain.

"I'm Zhao Si, one of Master Huang Ya's men. I even served you tea when we got our monthly pay last time."

Chen Ping remained unmoved: "What are you doing here? You've gotten yourself into this mess."

"Hey, don't even mention it."

Zhao Si gave a wry smile, reached into his robes, and pulled out a wet cloth bag. He opened the bag in front of Chen Ping and poured the contents into his palm.

"Click".

Several sharp fangs collided with each other, producing a dull sound.

The tooth was two inches long, curved like a hook, with black blood streaks at the root, and emitted a strong, fishy stench.

The water ghost's teeth.

"I'm cleaning up the water ghosts here."

Zhao Si showed his teeth to Chen Ping, his eyes filled with greed and helplessness.

"Master Huangya said that the ashwater pit has been in big trouble lately, and several brothers have died. He said that the sooner this matter is resolved, the better. To encourage everyone, Master Huangya has set up a reward: anyone who cleans up a water ghost can exchange their teeth for 10 taels of silver!"

"Ten taels?" Chen Ping raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! If it weren't for the money, who would be willing to risk their life in this godforsaken place?"

Zhao Si spat on the ground and pointed to his still-bleeding arm:

"Master Huangya felt that one person was not enough and was afraid that you would be too busy, so he sent a few more brothers like me to scout ahead first."

"And then..." Zhao Si glanced at the water behind him with lingering fear, "There were so many water ghosts down there! They were practically nesting together!"

"I was lucky just now and killed a lone one. I was about to get it pulled when the other two dragged me down. If I hadn't run fast, there wouldn't even be any bone fragments left."

At this point, Zhao Si's eyes darted around, and he leaned closer to Chen Ping with a fawning expression.

"Chen, everyone knows you're very capable."

"How about... you take care of the younger one?"

Zhao Si pointed to a place in the distance.

"I've already scouted it out. There's a large entrance to a water ghost's lair over there, but I'm too scared to go down alone. How about we go together? You can eat the meat, just leave me some soup. With you here, this whole nest is free money!"

Chen Ping looked at Zhao Si's greedy yet fearless appearance, and then at the blood-stained fangs in his hand.

The injury is real.

The teeth are real too.

The reward of 10 taels of silver per animal is indeed in line with Huang Ya's style of doing things by promising a great reward that will surely attract brave men.

"lead the way."

Chen Ping spoke succinctly, releasing his grip on the dagger.

Zhao Si was overjoyed upon hearing this and nodded and bowed repeatedly: "Alright! Chen, this way please, it's not far ahead."

The two walked one after the other through the dense reeds, wading through ankle-deep mud, their steps uneven.

The further you go, the stronger the stench in the air becomes.

Zhao Si stopped in front of a hidden entrance that was obscured by rotten wood and duckweed.

A stream of murky, foul-smelling sewage was slowly flowing out of it, and the surrounding temperature seemed to be several degrees lower than elsewhere.

"This is it."

Zhao Si pointed to the dark cave entrance: "Chief Chen, I'll go down with you, so we can look out for each other on the way."

Chen Ping glanced at him.

"Okay, you can go first."

Without saying a word, Zhao Si took off his coat, took a deep breath, and jumped into the water.

Chen Ping also took off his coat, bit the dagger tightly in his mouth, and jumped in.

The waterway was narrow and cramped, allowing only a narrow passage by turning sideways.

The icy, bone-chilling water instantly enveloped my entire body, leaving a sticky, slippery sensation.

With each foot you swim forward, the piercing, chilling aura intensifies, penetrating straight into your pores.

"Splash... splash..."

The sound of Zhao Si moving quickly and steadily came from ahead.

Chen Ping felt a slight sense of unease.

The man swam so smoothly, as if he knew this hidden waterway like the back of his hand.

He didn't say anything, but just followed closely behind.

After swimming for an unknown amount of time, a faint, ethereal light suddenly appeared ahead.

Zhao Si, who was in front, pushed off with both legs and shot upwards.

"Splash—"

Water splashed everywhere.

Zhao Si surfaced, greedily inhaled a large breath of the foul-smelling air, wiped the black water from his face, and then turned around and shouted.

"arrive!"

Chen Ping followed closely behind, bracing himself against the rocks on the shore, and leaped out of the water like a raccoon, landing steadily.

Before us lies a huge underground natural cave.

The dome hangs more than ten feet high, with countless sharp stalactites hanging upside down, like swords hanging overhead.

A thin layer of black water covered the ground, and the moss on the rock walls emitted a ghostly green phosphorescence, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps.

However, what surprised Chen Ping even more was the pile of bones on the ground.

On the shallow beach at the entrance, more than a dozen corpses were piled up haphazardly.

Some had rotted into a pool of black, rotting flesh, emitting a nauseating stench; others were reduced to bare white bones, their skeletons covered with fine teeth marks; and several others were clearly recently dead, their flesh rolled up, ribs protruding, their chest cavities emptied, and their internal organs spilling out onto the ground.

Chen Ping's gaze turned towards the depths of the cave.

In the distant crevices of the rock face, one can vaguely see a patch of grayish-white Ganoderma lucidum growing.

It is about the size of a palm, with a jade-like texture and a faint blue halo around its edges.

Before he could see clearly, his gaze was fixed on something by the pool.

It was a thick, black iron chain.

One end is deeply embedded in the hard rock wall, while the other end is submerged in the bottomless, dark pool.

The chains were taut, as if some heavy, enormous object was tethered underwater.

Chen Ping looked around, his gaze cold.

An empty cave, eerie chains, and bones scattered all over the ground.

There was no one else at all.

In an instant, he realized.

This is all a setup!