Chapter 93: The presence of the underwater

Because the lunch took so long, we didn’t get back to the boat until the afternoon. Of course, we didn’t forget to ask the locals which village the young man had come from. Since we were already here, we would definitely go and take a look.

Back on the boat, Johnny told Singh to set sail, following the route the locals had pointed out, and go down the river to the village. After all, there were many tributaries to the Ganges, and even if you followed the main river, you might not be able to find the village nearby.

Standing on the deck, Johnny’s eyes were deep in thought. I stood next to Johnny, unable to speak.

“In fact, you can say what you think.” Perhaps sensing my emotions, Johnny said.

“Uncle Johnny, do you think we need to go to that village? Based on our conversation just now, we can actually draw an important conclusion.” Johnny likes to be straightforward, so I also speak very directly.

“What kind of conclusion? Let’s see if you and I think the same way.” Johnny’s expression didn’t change, but instead encouraged me to continue.

“The biggest clue is the local people’s uncertain, hearsay rumors! You said that the thing you and my master sealed was moving, right? In fact, I think that nothing like that has happened in this place because that thing moved. Pay attention, it moved downstream… I mean, the thing that was sealed is no longer here. In fact, we can use the rumors as clues to locate it. We don’t need to waste time here. The facts prove that it has left here.” I told Johnny what I was thinking.

I didn’t want to waste any more time because I wanted to return to China. After all, Johnny had revealed many secrets to us, and we were destined to return to China, no matter how dangerous it was. I missed my hometown… and I was looking forward to meeting my master on the road to Penglai.

Facing my words, a hint of sadness flashed in Johnny’s eyes. After a long pause, he turned to me and said, “Chengyi, in fact, I share your judgment. But I must go and see. Li once told me that because he could not personally deal with it, that existence could only be sealed, but the seal could not completely seal it, and its breath would pollute the underwater creatures! Of course, it would take a certain amount of time for this mutation to occur… Do you know? I’m afraid.”

I frowned. At first, I couldn’t understand why Uncle Johnny had to repeat what he had said, but when I thought about it, it suddenly made sense. Coupled with his last sentence, that he was afraid, I suddenly understood Uncle Johnny a little.

I was silent for a moment, and then said, “Let’s go and see. I hope it’s not too terrible! If such a thing exists in the river where I grew up, I won’t be at ease either.”

Jonny patted my shoulder and said with a look of emotion in his eyes, “I’m sorry, it was selfish of me to ask you to go with me on a meaningless adventure, but I had to check it out. This has always been my nightmare, because Li said that everything was uncertain, which means that he couldn’t be sure of anything either, so I’ve been uneasy. Do you know why I believe in Li so much that I’ve given up my own beliefs and followed Li’s beliefs?

Uncle Johnny suddenly changed the subject and talked about this, which he had not mentioned in our previous conversations.

“Because the year Li appeared, there was a great mysterious disaster on the Ganges. Of course, at that time, information was not well developed, so I don’t know if you have heard of that disaster… Anyway, this should be a matter for the circle of cultivators to solve, but we were at a loss! Until Li appeared.” At this point, Johnny was silent, and he took out a pipe from his jacket pocket and began to fill it with tobacco.

“Did my master solve this disaster?” I didn’t ask what the disaster was, but from Johnny’s expression, it must have been very tragic.

“Yes, it was Li! And that disaster was just the beginning of a long story. The final outcome was that many years later, Li and I sealed it together. Li’s ability convinced me, but what really conquered me and made me a Taoist was Li’s state of mind! An indescribable righteousness, a unique elegance of Taoists, a kind of vicissitudes of life that penetrates the world, but also a sincerity that can sacrifice for the world that has been penetrated. This is a very complex personality charm. What kind of belief is it that has no great constraints, but actually brings a person’s soul to such a high level? So, I became a Taoist. ” Johnny slowly told the story, lit his pipe, and took a deep breath.

When the smoke was gone, Johnny turned back to me and said, “Of course, I have no regrets!”

This sentence of “no regrets” suddenly warmed my heart. Looking into the distance, everything was said without words.

After all, it was a nearby village. After the boat had slowly traveled for more than an hour, it finally approached the place. However, the river where the village was located was a short tributary that branched off from the main river. It was equivalent to bypassing a riverbank and returning to the mainstream. Our boat could not go directly to that river because of the water flow and terrain there.

So we could only moor here and decided to rest for the night and walk into the village early in the morning.

The early spring night was still a bit chilly, and because we decided to go on an adventure the next day, we were all wide awake, sitting on the deck wrapped in blankets, trying to calm our minds with conversation and the sound of the Ganges flowing quietly.

Everyone had more or less worries. Those who have experienced adventures do not become more courageous as the story goes, but rather more cautious.

Only Wal-Mart changed into a pair of Garfield pajamas, and he was obviously excited. He was so happy that he didn’t know what was going on.

Uncle Johnny kept repeating to us that our master could not judge what was happening, and that was his biggest worry. It seems that his trust in the master was actually a fixation that he could not get rid of, making him a straightforward person who became wordy.

We didn’t know how to comfort him, so we just let him talk over and over again to vent his emotions. But the more he did that, the more excited Walma became…

Finally, in the middle of the night, we all went to sleep. As usual, it was a quiet night, accompanied by the gentle swaying of the water. I had a rare night without dreams.

Early the next morning, we got up and, as planned, all of us except Singh, who stayed on the boat, walked into the village.

It was not far from the village, and we entered the small village in about half an hour!

It was a real small village, with not many houses, but each family had a large population. Unlike the people in the town, they just looked at us with a numb look and went about their own business.

Perhaps the hardships of life have made them less curious, let alone care about the purpose of a group of outsiders. What is there to care about? When poverty reaches this point, one feels that there is nothing to lose.

Because of this mood, even when Wal-Mart asked them where the riverbank was, they were indifferent to the sensitive area where something had happened. Why did outsiders come to ask? They pointed out the way perfunctorily, and they didn’t even have the interest to ask.

This is good, we can do our work without being disturbed. In fact, I was really worried that something shocking would appear underwater, after all, even my master could not be sure.

Following the route that Wal-Mart asked about, we finally arrived at this section of the river, which is one mile away from the exit of the village.

The place where we are now is on the shore of this stretch of river, a rocky beach with occasional weeds dotted among them. The water flows from top to bottom, and compared to the main river, the water flow here is much more rapid. It is not until it reaches the deep pool at the bend of the river downstream that it slowly becomes gentle.

The river is completely calm after the deep pool.

Uncle Johnny walked along the shore, observing the area along the way. We hurriedly followed behind him, walking for about two miles. Standing on the upstream side of the riverbank, Uncle Johnny said, “There shouldn’t be much value in exploring up here. The water is too fast, and the rocks are exposed. It shouldn’t be a place where something could stay for too long.”

We also took a closer look, and it was indeed the case. The river here was narrow, and every now and then a huge rock was exposed in the river, but it had also been polished smooth by the water. I could hardly imagine what kind of being had once passed through this river and entered the village.

Unfortunately, Uncle Johnny was not interested in the mystery, but instead went down the river again, all the way to the edge of the deep pool.

“In fact, it has already left, but the existence that has been ‘contaminated’ by its breath, if it is still here, should be under this deep pool! After all, when the accident happened, the locals investigated and found that there was no foreign object underwater. They did not have professional equipment, so they naturally could not detect the bottom of this deep pool, but we can. Let’s go and see what kind of guy it is, addicted to eating people.” When Johnny was talking, he was obviously a little angry. According to his love for this land, this anger was only natural.

When Johnny said this, the few of us put down our luggage. There was nothing special about it, just professional diving suits. Since Johnny was rich, the equipment was more advanced and professional than the equipment I used at the Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain.

According to the agreement, it should be me, Uncle Johnny, Xiao Chengqian, Chengzhen, and Wal-Mart who go into the water!

Chengzhen was going to go down to observe the specific feng shui trends here and see if the presence of the elegant had anything to do with this, but Wal-Mart had snatched the spot from Chengxin and was going to see for himself.

Brother Chengxin didn’t care. He had seen so many strange things that this wasn’t a big deal.

Soon, we changed into our diving equipment and then entered the deep pool with Johnny!

The water temperature was very cold, and the deeper we went, the colder it got. Compared to Tianchi, I think it’s not too much to call this a hot spring. And because there was no volcanic ash floating around, the water here also seemed clearer, and the visibility was much better than Tianchi.

However, the deeper we went, the more shocked I was, because this place was even more ‘lonely’ than Tianchi. After all, in Tianchi, you can occasionally see one or two cold-water fish from neighboring countries. In this deep pool, we quickly dived more than ten meters, but we didn’t see any living creatures.

In the pitch-black water, our powerful underwater electric light was so conspicuous that there was no way we would have missed any living creatures.

Obviously, Johnny also found this strange. How could there be no aquatic life in this riverbank where there was almost no human fishing? He gave me a gesture, which meant that we had come to the right place and continued to dive.

Of course, we would have done this without Johnny’s prompting. The strange situation had aroused our curiosity, so we were almost diving at an accelerated rate.

We just didn’t expect the deep pool to be so deep. We had been diving for 20 meters without seeing the bottom. Even if Johnny had given us professional equipment and we were exceptionally strong, we could only dive to a depth of 50 meters. If that wasn’t the end, we would have to use more professional equipment to explore it, and I had reason to believe that Johnny would do that.

With this worry, we continued to dive another 10 meters, and we were already close to the limit. Fortunately, with the light of the powerful underwater flashlight, we were able to barely see the bottom of the pool.

It had become narrow here, and with Johnny and Walma blocking the way, I could not see the bottom very well. I was curious to see what was at the bottom of the pool.

While I was floating here waiting, I saw Walma in front of me. Walma was acting like a frightened rooster, suddenly dancing and waving his arms, and even moving his body in a disorderly manner, desperately swimming towards the surface. Johnny reached out and grabbed his foot, desperately gesturing for me to calm Walma down.

I sensed Johnny’s anxiety and caution, so I swam over and hugged Walma, almost using all my strength to hold him. It took a few seconds for him to calm down.

At this point, Johnny signaled for me to come over. I dived over with curiosity, and then I saw a shocking scene through the flashlight—catfish, very common catfish, at least a dozen at the bottom of the deep pool, but the scary thing is that the smallest one is about 2 meters long.

Seeing this, I, like Volmar, had the urge to immediately rise to the surface!