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The groups of cultivators began heading to where the water ghouls has escaped to as Lan XiChen lead the group.

The houses of CaiYi Town eventually faded away as they kept paddling until they rowed between two cliffs.

However, since the three female disciples abruptly joined in the mission, they didn't rent any extra boats. Therefore, Wei WuHui ended up sharing the boat with her brother while Lan ChunTao shares with Lan XiChen.

"Young Master Lan, has CaiYi Town been haunted by water ghouls before?" Wei WuXian asked.

Lan XiChen shook his head. "Never. They only appeared recently. I had formations and nets set up around Biling Lake, and caught a dozen water ghouls in a row. Most of the corpses were not recognised by the locals." Lan XiChen explained.

Wei WuHui perked in confusion. "That's strange. Water ghouls are picky about their area, they usually stay at their drowning spot. Very few ever leave." She stated.

"Also," Lan ChunTao added. "I think what we encountered just now was no merely a water ghoul."

Lan XiChen nodded in agreement. "Even the combined efforts of you, Wei WuHui, Wei WuXian and WangJi failed to catch it. The creature was truly vicious."

Wei WuXian bend down to put his hand in the water and managed to snag a few strands of hair. "So catching it with nets is unlikely. If only there is a device that can point out its position like a compass..." He hummed in thoughts when a splash of water hit in front of him. Snapping him out of it as he looked up to Jiang Cheng.

"Look into the water and focus on finding it. Don't let your imagination run wild again." Jiang Cheng scolded.

Wei WuHui went over to her brother's side and stood next to him. "Cultivation and flying swords used to be wild ideas, too," She stated as she stared at the strands of hair. "A compass would be beneficial in this type of situation."

Her twin smirked before turning the boat so it moved beside Jiang Cheng's. "Moreover, Biling Lake is overflowing with resentful energy, thus it attracts water ghouls. Instead of treating the symptoms by catching water ghouls, why not harness the resentful energy to eliminate the root cause."

This caused Jiang Cheng to scowl and kicked the boat away. "Copying the "Righteousness" 10 times wasn't enough?"

That caused Wei WuXian to gasped and covered his mouth.

Wei WuHui rolled her eyes jokingly before turning her head around to see that their boat are moving toward Lan WangJi's. Her silverly grey eyes stared at the Second Jade and her eyes trailed down, spotting something off at the lower part of the boat.

She reached over and tug on Wei WuXian's sleeve, who looked at where she's looking and narrowed as he raised a brow before nodding to his sister.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei WuXian called putting as he suddenly began to jump up and down on the boat, causing it to rock side by side as Wei WuHui let out a startled yelp and tried to balanced herself from her brother's sudden action. "Look at me! Look at me!"

At the other side, Jiang Cheng made a sour look and facepalmed. "Wei WuXian, can you stop fooling around for a change?" He shouted as the Wei Twins' boat started moving closer to Lan WangJi's boat.

Lan WangJi was still on a sharp lookout when he looked to the side, only to see Wei WuXian swinging the paddle on the surface of the water, causing splashes of water to fly up.

The droplets of water were about to hit Lan WangJi when he quickly pulled his clothes close and leapt off of the boat to land beside his sister on Lan XiChen's boat. He glared. "You!"

However, he stopped in his tracks when Wei WuHui used the paddle to leveraged herself as she backflipped from Lan WangJi's boat to land on top of her's and with surprisingly strength, she swung the paddle to flipped the entire boat over.

Everyone else stared in awe while her brother grinned. "Way to go, Meimei!"

Jiang Cheng watched with a knowing smirk. "Show-off."

On the bottom of the boat, there were ghouls clinging on it. "Water Ghouls!"

Lan WangJi immediately exorcised the ghouls as Lan XiChen bowed to the twins. "Young Master Wei and Maiden Wei, how did you know they were under WangJi's boat?"

Wei WuHui jumped down from the top as she straightened herself before turning to the older boy. "That's simple, ZeWu-Jun. The draft was wrong. Second Master Lan was the only one on board, but its draft was deeper than a boat with two people. Therefore, something must have clang onto the bottom."

Wei WuXian then wrapped arms around his sister's neck. "Meimei was the one who spot them first!" He grinned. "Isn't she the best?"

Wei WuHui scowls, flustered. "Please be quiet, Gege."

"You two are experienced indeed." Lan XiChen chuckled.

Wei WuXian then rowed the boat so it would come close to the Lan siblings' boat. "Lan Zhan, I didn't mean to splash water on you. Water Ghoul are clever. If I said it out loud, they would've heard it and gotten away." He explained but the latter ignored him which made Wei WuXian pout. "Don't ignore me, Second Master Lan! Lan-."

"Shush, Gege." Suddenly, Wei WuHui cut in as she shushed her twin brother. Her eyes now narrowed with caution as she observed the water.

Wei WuXian stiffened tensely before turning to the same direction as a black foggy mass began to covered the water and its size continued to expand.

Then, the water began to shake roughly as waves clashed together.

Wei WuXian grinned excitedly as he threw away the paddle. "Incoming!"

A huge tidal wave suddenly appeared as it headed toward the cultivators and ghostly water hands started reaching out.

Wei WuHui quickly unsheathed her sword, WúJí, and slashed at the hands, severing them off as water sprinkled on her, framing her beautiful features.

"Fine blade. What is its name?" Lan WangJi asked as he glanced at the Wei WuXian and his blade.

"Whatever." Wei WuXian answered as he send his spirit sword flying.

Lan WangJi frowned with displeasure. "It has spirituality. Calling it causally is disrespectful." Before sending his sword too.

"When Uncle Jiang bestowed this sword to me, he let me name it. I wasn't satisfied with any of my namings, and wanted him to help me name it, so I said 'Whatever.' After the sword was forged, it's really named 'Whatever'." Wei WuXian explained while his's and Lan WangJi's swords battled the ghost hands in a harmonic flash of blue and red streaks before flying back to its sheath.

Wei WuXian then presented his sword to Lan WangJi. "See, I didn't lie." Showing the written characters on it.

Lan WangJi huffed. "Absurd."

Lan XiChen then turned toward female cultivator. "And what is your sword's name, Wei-Gū Niang?"

"I named it WúJí." Wei WuHui answered back.

Lan XiChen smiled. "Oh, to have no limits? What an strong name."

Wei WuHui's face flushed in embarrassment before sheepishly looked aside. "T-Thank, I guess."

The latter missing the amusement in the First Jade's eyes.

Meanwhile, a bunch of black tendrils slowly emerged from the water as it head toward Jiang Cheng, who were looking out for water ghouls when he sensed something behind him. He swiped his sword at it but the tendrils quickly disappeared back into the water. "Be careful! Something's in the water!" The moment he said that, something rocked his boat strongly before the other boats was rocked too.

"What's this?" Jin ZiXuan exclaimed.

Lan XiChen commands his sword to dived underwater as a mini explosion erupted and water splashed in front of Lan WangJi, showing a mass of hair. "This is...?" He began.

Noticing the same thing, the Wei twins, Lan WangJi, Lan ChunTao, Jiang Cheng and Jin ZiXuan all summoned their swords and command them to dived into the water like Lan XiChen has done as mini explosions all erupted in different parts of the river, water raining down on the cultivators.

Eventually, the boats slowly stopped rocking like nothing had happened as the Lan disciples sighed in relief.

One of the disciples looked at the water. "It stopped?" He questioned.

Another disciple, an older one bowed in gratitude. "Thank you masters for saving us."

"Pull up the nets." Lan ChunTao ordered.

The disciples did what she has ordered and pulled up the net, only to find nothing but hairs clinging on the net.

Lan XiChen stared with conflicted expression. "There should have been water ghouls...Why...?"

The cultivators looked uneasy as clouds moved in to cover the sun above them, darkening the mood and increasing the tension even more.

"Lan Zhan, it seems odd." Wei WuXian commented.

Suddenly, tendrils of water shot out from below as black energy mixed within it as the boats began to rock.

"This is bad. It's the Waterborne Abyss." Lan XiChen stated.

The Waterborne Abyss began to spin like a water tornado as it suck in the wrecked boats and some unfortunate Lan Disciples. But, multiple coloured streaks strikes at the Abyss. Freeing the disciples from its grasp and falling down into the water below.

Lan brothers and the other cultivators float above on their swords. "It's extremely vicious, beyond our capabilities. Our priority is saving lives. Master Jiang, please pair up with Master Wei. Wei-Gū Niang and Master Jin group up with me. ChunTao and WangJi, you're together. Act separately."

Everyone nodded. "Understood."

Wei WuHui swerved around the water twisters as she descended down to the bottom where she noticed the lone Lan disciple holding onto the boat.

However, she also noticed that she was being chased by multiple black strands as she grunted, back-flipping on her sword just as the strands missed hitting her face.

"Wei WuHui!" Lan XiChen called out worriedly as he and Jin ZiXuan also dodged the strands.

Wei WuHui sped downward until she slammed into the water with the strands following before she flew out of the water.

"These things are persistent as hell!" Wei WuHui gritted through her teeth before surfing along the water surface, occasionally back-flipping, as she raced toward the unconscious Lan disciple and hastily grabbed him by the collar.

Narrowly, getting out of the way in time just as the strands destroyed the boat.

She continued to flew right and left, dodging them, yet Wei WuHui felt her grasp on the disciple losing.

"Meimei, here!"

Wei WuHui looked up, seeing her brother and Jiang Cheng racing toward her.

Relieved, Wei WuHui heads up and reached out her free hand to her brother.

Suddenly, the black strands shot up from the water and wrapped around her legs.

"Meimei!" Wei WuXian cried out as he watched his sister was dragged down with his hand still reaching out for her.

"Gege!"

Then, everything went dark.

'It's cold' that went through her head as the cold water of the lake hits her skin. She felt something wrapping around her body as they slowly tightened around her limbs, she opened her eyes and shifted it to her right. Glancing at the fading figure of the Lan disciple as she tried to reach her hand out to him but it was useless as she too was pulled into the whirling dark water.

Wei WuHui suddenly felt the ominous feeling surrounded her.

Voices began to echo around her.

Spiritual energy is energy.

Resentful energy is also energy.

Why can't we resentful energy be used as well?

If we can cultivate it, then the spots brimming with it wouldn't be forbidden areas.

'This is...Gege's voice...' Wei WuHui thought as she opened her eyes, staring at the endless abyss as she reached out her hand. 'I remember this conversation...resentful energy

The dark energy began to deep into her skin as her consciousness starts to fade out.

"Wei WuHui!"

"Wei WuHui!"

Then, a glimpse of white ribbon appeared in her view as arms wrapped around her waist before she felt herself being pulled upward.

The last thing she saw was a pair of concerned brown-gold eyes and heard a faint whisper in her ears before everything went dark.

"Wei Yang."

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(Please correct my translation if I'm wrong and the GIFs and pictures used in this chapter does not belong to me, but their rightful owners)