Like a wave, the water from the steps flowed out continuously, and indeed, there were fish-like creatures in the water that were about the same size as humans. They were called "fish" because they had fish bodies, but they also had two arms like ordinary people, except that their arms were covered with scales. But under that dark hair on their heads was clearly a human brain!

  The mermaids in Western legends are like this, known for their beauty and kindness. However, what emerged from this ancient Eastern relic of a thousand years was indeed a group of evil spirits!

  These fishmen were all holding bizarrely-shaped bronze weapons in their hands, sticking their heads out of the water and muttering to themselves as they stared at the crowd on the crimson boulder.

  Zha Wenbin was just a Taoist, although he could subdue demons and exorcise evil spirits, but here were all real monsters. In an instant, they lost their mainstay. Among the fish people, several were already jumping up to attack the stone platform. Everyone took out their own weapons to resist. At this moment, Old Wang's Type 54 pistol played a significant role. One of the fish people rushed straight at his face, and was stopped by Old Wang with a gun pressed against its chest. He pulled the trigger, "Bang!" A blood-red rose bloomed instantly on its chest, and after falling into the water, it instantly dyed the surrounding water red. The surrounding fish people cried out in unison, swarmed up, and devoured their heavily injured companion clean. In a short while, only a pile of white bones was left!

  This group of guys has become so brutal that they can even slaughter their own kind, and looking at their bloody appearance, everyone is left with only a mouthful of saliva. If one were to fall down, would they still be alive?

  However, Lao Wang's shot temporarily stunned the group of Di people, they no longer tried to jump up and attack, but instead surrounded the stone platform. But the water level here was constantly rising, at this rate, in less than ten minutes, Cha Wenbin and the others would all be submerged in water.

  Looking at the other side's lineup, it was clear that they were accustomed to being in the water. Once they fell into the water, the outcome was almost certain. Chaozi was already anxiously stomping his feet on the stone platform, having mentally cursed Old Wang ten thousand times. If not for this old ghost secretly orchestrating this scene from behind, they would have long since successfully reached the summit with Cha Wenbin. The rope was still hanging there, but it was more than 20 meters away from them. Who could guarantee that jumping into the water wouldn't result in being taken care of by these guys on the spot?

  Chaozi even made the worst plan, took out the thunder tube and said: "If the water comes up next time, we'll resist for a while. If it's really not possible, I'll just detonate it, die by explosion rather than being caught by these monsters."

  Cha Wenbin glanced at the distance of the rope and indeed had no confidence, but Chaozi was too impulsive. He still made a call beforehand: "Put away that thing, don't take it out to show off, if it really doesn't work later, throw it into the water first, taking advantage of the explosion's residual wave, we can rush out one by one."

  At this time, everyone's attention was completely drawn to the unknown enemy in the water. According to Hua Bai Hu Zi's words, they were Di people, that is, the remnants of the Di state that was merged with Qiang and had fish as their totem! The Qiang people thought they had already exterminated the Di people, but unexpectedly, there were still many hidden here. When these Di people saw ordinary people, they probably regarded them as enemies who had caused their tribe's extinction in the past. Enemies meeting each other, naturally, would be furious!

  No one noticed that the water had undergone another change at this moment. The first to discover this strange phenomenon was Zhuo Xiong, who was still entangled in his own life when he suddenly glanced back at the water and found that five stone rhinoceroses had stood up, clearly carved by human hands, distributed in the east, south, west, north, and middle of the five directions! At the first moment, Zhuo Xiong shouted: "Look quickly, there are rhinoceroses in the water!"

  Everyone took a look and indeed, there was no such thing when they first came in. Could it be that it also emerged just now? The water level had already risen to less than half a meter away from them, those fish people stared at the stone platform with red eyes, as if they were going to tear them apart soon.

  "There are five stone rhinoceroses, used to suppress the water spirits!" Zhang Wenbin exclaimed as he looked at the stone rhinoceroses. "I understand now! No wonder there were so many white bones here earlier. This place was originally a sacrificial altar! The position we're standing in is the center of the altar, and they were praying for the water god! When people die, they are buried in the water, but the water is not calm, it's full of spirits and ghosts. The soul's fate in the water is unpredictable, so they built five stone rhinoceroses to suppress the evil spirits in the water! That's why I couldn't smell even a hint of ghostly energy here. It must be because of these stone rhinoceroses! But for water worship, three kinds of livestock are needed, that's why there are so many animal bones left behind. So, what they were worshipping should be..."

  Cha Wenbin didn't say, but everyone had already guessed that this was the altar. So, in the jade coffin behind him where Cha Wenbin slept earlier, he thought about it and indeed felt something on his back earlier, but now he had forgotten. Cha Wenbin quickly came to his senses, the jade coffin was still open, he ran over to take a look, and sure enough, there was something laid out underneath - it was a fishing net!

  Cha Wenbin couldn't help but be careful, and gently lifted the fishing net. The scene inside really gave him a fright - a desiccated human corpse was still hugging a huge flower eel fish, which had also long since become dried up, but its scales were still intact, shining with a silver glow under the light.

  Using the sun wheel as a burial object is understandable, but what's with this expensive jade coffin? The burial objects are a big fish? Cha Wenbin quickly called for Old Man Jiang: "Mr. Jiang, since you're a descendant of the people who lived here, do you know whose remains are in this coffin?"

  He didn't want to see the scene in the jade coffin, so he pulled Zhu Xiong and made him kneel down, knocking his head three times on the ground. Then he asked Cha Wenbin for the fishing net back and covered it up again. He said: "Mr. Cha, this is indeed hidden beyond Old Wang's expectations. It's Fish Fang Wang, also our ancestor! That fish can't be called a fish, she's Huayu Niangzi (Flower Carp Maiden). According to legend, she was ordered by Emperor Can Cong to marry Fish Fang Wang and on their wedding night, the queen transformed into a flower carp and fell into the water to multiply offspring, thus solving our people's food problem. This fish is the transformation of Queen Fish Fang, it's our goddess!"

  In Cha Wenbin's view, what kind of queen is this, it's clearly just a dried fish, but about the tribe's beliefs, as an outsider, he doesn't dare to say more, who knows if it's not Fish King making up this legend to rule, and after death, really getting a big fish buried with him to maintain his prestige in the hearts of his people?

  However, compared to the Shu king's burial with ten thousand people, this fish king only used animal sacrifice, which gave him a high score in Cha Wenbin's heart. With the floodwaters about to overflow the stone platform, Cha Wenbin had already instructed Chaozi to prepare for detonation. Whoever escaped would be considered lucky, and even Cha Wenbin couldn't change that many things. He stopped paying attention to the old man with the white beard who was still worshipping and informed Lao Wang and Zhuo Xiong of their next actions.

  When the soles of their shoes had already started to get wet, Zha Wenbin knew that time was running out. Several fish people were eager to try, and if not for Old Wang's gun muzzle still having deterrent power, they would have taken action long ago.

  Just as he was about to give the order, Chao Zi saw that three more stone men had appeared in the water at some unknown time. The shoulders and below of these stone men were all submerged in the water, leaving only a protruding eyeball head still on the surface of the water, so he called out to Cha Wenbin to come and take a look.

  Cha Wenbin took a glance at the position of the three stone men, and everyone was terrified, but he actually had a smile on his face!

  "I think we're saved! Superzi is ready with the dynamite, throw it at those three stone men in the middle!" Cha Wenbin said unexpectedly.

  Although Chao Zi had always been obedient to Cha Wenbin, now there was only one way out left in his hands, where could he throw it? Seeing Chaozi hesitating, Cha Wenbin immediately shouted: "I told you to throw it away quickly, no time to delay!"

  "Alright!" Chaozi responded with a loud voice, the dynamite in his hand forming an arc, and for someone who had thrown bombs with full marks, this accuracy was not to be doubted. With a loud "boom", the upper half of the three stone men were instantly blown to smithereens by modern explosives, accompanied by a massive explosion that set off a huge wave of river water, which was swept up into the air and then poured down like a deluge!

  Everyone raised their arms to resist, but they were still drenched to the bone! For a moment, the stone platform was like a torrential rain, and even the stone coffin was filled with half a coffin of water in just a few minutes!

  Those merfolk were indeed stunned by the explosion, and with the transmission of sound in water, several of them who were close by were knocked unconscious for a moment!

  Chaozi was wiping the water droplets on his face, preparing to lead the way by jumping into the water and swimming towards the rope. However, he was surprised to find that a small whirlpool had formed on the surface of the water, and several fish near the whirlpool were sucked in instantly. The water level under his feet began to recede! And the location of the whirlpool was exactly where the platform was just now, this is too incredible!

  Cha Wenbin saw the water level start to recede and said, "Just now, Lao Wang and Jiang brother's conversation reminded me that this kind of water burial, my master had told me before, in order for the soul-calling method to be successful, it is necessary to 'set up three stone men in the water, ask the river god, the water will not dry up, and the abundance will not overflow!' The Huayang Guo Zhi has records of this kind of water-based soul-calling method. These three stone men are the key to bringing in the water source. If we break these stone men, the water level will naturally recede, and then these Di people..."

  Old Wang saw that the river water was indeed dropping rapidly, and those Di people didn't even have time to cry out before being sucked into the giant whirlpool under the platform. He admired Cha Wenbin with all his might, and everyone else was marveling at their narrow escape, but Hua Baihuzi's face was full of terror, muttering nonstop: "Alive... alive..."

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