"Who's there?"

The other Qingyi Gang members heard Hu Ma's shout and were also taken aback. They quickly nocked arrows and fired.

Hu Ma heard the "whoosh" of arrows cutting through the air and felt a pang of alarm. They were only three or four zhang from the shore, where arrows were most effective.

Although he had learned some of the Shou Suiren's skills, he wasn't as powerful as the people on TV in his previous life, able to sweep away all the arrows with a flick of his sleeve. Honestly, to the naked eye, these arrows flew so fast they were almost like bullets.

He quickly raised his arms to protect his head and face. As long as his body and head weren't injured, he could withstand the attack.

But before he could protect his face, Xiao Hongtang, seeing the danger, suddenly began to spin around Hu Ma. Her short legs kicked and darted, creating a strong gust of yin wind that blew away all the arrows.

Hu Ma was pleasantly surprised. "Xiao Hongtang, you have this ability?"

On the other side, Yang Gong from the Water God Temple and the Hongxiang disciple also heard Hu Ma's shout. When they peeked out, they saw Hu Ma had steered a boat to the window to rescue them.

This was completely unexpected. "Are we just going to row straight through?"

"Won't the Qingyi Gang catch up immediately?"

"..."

At this critical moment, Yang Gong gritted his teeth and shouted, "Brother Hu is our only savior. Who else can we trust?"

"He's not reckless. He must have a plan."

"..."

With that, he steeled his heart and leaped, smashing open the window and jumping down.

After all, the jar containing the Blood Tai Sui was still tied to Yang Gong's body. Seeing this, the other Hongxiang disciple had no time to hesitate and jumped down as well.

Both were skilled and landed directly on the boat. The two-zhang height didn't capsize the boat, but it did rock it. Hu Ma didn't even have time to greet them before grabbing the oars and quickly rowing towards the center of the river.

"Damn it, they're getting away..."

The Qingyi Gang disciples on the shore, seeing that the arrows didn't hurt Hu Ma, stopped shooting and shouted in frustration and anger.

Some, impatient, rushed to the shore, ready to board a boat.

But the Young Incense Master, seeing this, was also anxious and angry, but he stopped them and shouted:

"Don't go into the water yet! The River God is about to be sacrificed! They're asking for death if they cross the river now!"

"..."

At the same moment, Qian Lao, who had rowed his small boat to the center of the river, had a Qingyi Gang disciple, unconscious and injured, tied to it. There was also a yellow-haired girl, her hands and feet bound and her mouth gagged, staring with terrified eyes.

He noticed the commotion on the shore, but couldn't pay attention to it.

Closing his eyes, he quickly chanted, then suddenly opened them. He raised his head and threw both people off the boat into the water.

"Splash... glug glug..."

The unconscious Qingyi Gang disciple didn't even struggle, sinking straight into the water.

The yellow-haired girl was terrified and struggled desperately, but with her hands tied, she couldn't move.

Qian Lao on the boat didn't even look at them, staring intently at the surface of the river around them.

His eyes were filled with anxious anticipation, but after watching for a few breaths, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart, and his hair stood on end:

"The river water isn't swirling... This... this..."

When the River God accepted a sacrifice, the surface of the water would suddenly swirl, pulling the offering into the river.

But now, the two people had fallen into the water and were only struggling and floating, as if the River God wasn't accepting the sacrifice at all...

Everything had been arranged, so why didn't it work?

Just then, the Qingyi Gang members, seeing that Hu Ma and the others were getting further and further from the shore, became impatient. They also saw Qian Lao seemingly push the sacrifices into the river. They hurriedly pushed their boats into the river, jumped on board, and desperately chased after them.

Unexpectedly, before they had gone three zhang into the river, the smooth, mirror-like surface of the water suddenly became turbulent, as if a strong wind had risen out of nowhere.

Their boats spun in place, unable to move forward, while others capsized directly.

Those on board fell into the river, and regardless of whether they could swim, they sank to the bottom with a "thump," as if something was pulling them underwater.

"Wooo..."

Amidst the panic, a chilling yin wind blew in their ears.

Someone looked up and saw that the river was filled with gloomy energy, and waves several feet high were everywhere.

Even more bizarrely, white spots appeared on the surface of the river, revealing skeletons, as if all the people who had drowned in the river over the years had risen to the surface.

"How could this be?"

The Young Incense Master of the Qingyi Gang scrambled back to the shore, his face pale as he looked back.

The fishermen on both banks, suddenly seeing the sky darken and a chilling ghost aura emanating from the river, and hearing the sounds of wailing and crashing waves, were terrified. They took out paper money and incense from their houses and kowtowed and prayed towards the river.

"The River God is angry..."

Usually, the river water here was calm, but once waves arose, it was unknown how long it would last.

Often, cattle and sheep had to be thrown in to appease the river's anger.

Otherwise, not catching fish during this time was a minor matter. Often, boats would capsize and several people would die!

"We're finished..."

The people on both banks were terrified, and the group on the boat was even more frightened.

Yang Gong and the Hongxiang disciple were trembling with fear in this ghostly atmosphere, unsure when the boat would capsize.

And once they fell into the river, their skills would be useless. "You row!"

But at this moment, Hu Ma ordered in a deep voice, handing the oars to them, while he stood up at the bow of the boat.

He picked up the incense stick that was stuck in the bow and held it in his hand.

The yin wind blowing across the river whipped his robes, bone-chillingly cold, but he held the green incense stick, unmoving.

But somehow, despite the crashing waves, the small boat was completely unaffected.

Yang Gong and the other Hongxiang disciple reacted and quickly took the oars, rowing with all their might, heading quickly towards the opposite shore.

"Glug glug..."

But just as they passed the center of the river, they heard a bubbling sound.

Hu Ma lowered his head and saw someone clinging to the side of the boat. It was the yellow-haired girl he had seen before, who had been thrown into the river as a sacrifice by the Qingyi Gang. But the River God hadn't accepted her, so she hadn't been pulled to the bottom.

But with her hands and feet tied, she was bound to drown. However, she was a good swimmer and had managed to hold on for a while. Perhaps it was heaven's protection that she encountered the passing boat.

Her tied hands swung wildly, and the rope on her hands caught on the hook securing the boat.

Now she was being pulled forward by the boat, but her face was in the water, and she was swallowing water with every breath. If this continued, she would certainly drown.

The situation was critical, and there was no time to think.

Saving her would only require reaching out and pulling her up, and kicking her away would only take a single foot.

Hu Ma didn't have time to think and reached out and grabbed her hands, pulling her directly onto the boat.

"Huff!"

But Hu Ma didn't expect this girl, who was pale and thin, to be so heavy.

As he pulled her up, he noticed a pale hand reaching out from under her feet, accompanied by a shrill scream, trying to pull her back down.

"Is it a water ghost from the river?"

Hu Ma was shocked and understood.

The river was wide and many things had happened here over the years. There was more in it than just the old turtle.

The Qingyi Gang's sacrifice had been thrown in, and the old turtle hadn't accepted it, but the water ghost in the river had its eye on her, wanting to pull her down to be its replacement.

If he hadn't reached out, it would have been fine, but since he had, could he throw her back in?

Without time to think, he took a deep breath and shot a mouthful of true yang qi towards the water ghost that had emerged from the river.

"Sizzle..."

The water ghost hissed as if it were being burned by flames and retreated back into the water.

But as the water ghost submerged, they heard the sound of something tapping against the hull of the boat.

Yang Gong peeked over the side and was shocked, exclaiming, "Where did all these dead people come from?"

Unbeknownst to them, the boat was surrounded by corpses that were bloated and rotting. Even the Qingyi Gang disciple who had just drowned was floating by the boat, his eyes staring blankly.

His pale hands gripped the edge of the boat, seemingly not wanting them to leave.

The dead were unreasonable. This Qingyi Gang disciple had been injured in the line of duty but was thrown into the river and drowned. His resentment was extreme, but instead of seeking revenge on the Young Incense Master who had caused his death, he was pulling on the passing boat, wanting the people on board to come down and keep him company.

"Something's not right..."

Seeing that the boat was moving slowly, Hu Ma suddenly realized a problem.

He had already made a deal with the thing in the river, so why wasn't it helping him drive away these evil spirits?

As he was thinking, the surrounding waves surged violently.

A gloomy, ancient voice suddenly echoed in his ears, the same one he had heard when he was performing the ritual on the shore. In the misty air above the river, he could see a huge shadow slowly rippling the water, moving towards the small boat.

The yin wind howled in his ears, vaguely mixed with a voice: "The one on the boat, are you the young master of the fire basin?"

"Why not stay a while and visit my water palace?"

"..."

"Visit your granddaddy..."

Hu Ma was also shocked. He hadn't expected this.

But thinking of the words "strict laws" in the Town Guardian Scroll, he didn't dare to show any fear. Instead, he straightened his expression, grabbed the incense stick, turned around, and muttered in a deep voice: "My words are law, my commands are law!"

"The time for the incense hasn't arrived, how dare you stop me?"

"..."

"Huh?"

Yang Gong and the others couldn't hear what Hu Ma was saying, nor did they know who he was turning to look at, but they saw his expression at this moment was stern and majestic. Looking at him, even the waves around the boat subsided a bit.

Without asking questions, the two of them hurriedly grabbed the oars and rowed with all their might, darting forward like an arrow.

"The thing in the river is still afraid..."

Hu Ma tightly gripped the incense stick in his hand. It was just an ordinary incense stick, something that people traveling the martial world always carried with them, but now it seemed to possess some kind of magical power that could repel the thing in the river.

Regardless of whether the thing in the river was suspicious, as long as the incense stick hadn't burned out, it couldn't directly attack him...

But before the thought could finish, the surrounding river water surged, trying to pull the small boat back.