First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 135: River Wraith, Name-Calling Soul Drop, Acquired Stillwater Lotus Mist Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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As soon as the words left its mouth, Lu Ding's fists moved faster than his brain.

His fist, the size of a sandbag, smashed forward directly.

BOOM!!!

It landed squarely on the smiling face.

Sensing the terrifying power in that punch, the smile panicked.

Seeing that its soul-reaping trick didn’t work and this guy could still fight back, the grinning figure floated backward.

But it had barely moved—

A ripping pain came from its scalp.

Lu Ding had grabbed a handful of its hair, yanking it back by the clumps with an excited grin on his face.

Lu Ding: You called my name, didn’t you?

You just now called for me, right?

The monster shook its head desperately at Lu Ding.

It was just short of dropping to its knees and begging.

When pleading didn’t work, it used its hair to attack Lu Ding. But no matter how it struck, Lu Ding remained completely unscathed.

The hair that reached out got shredded by his slash attacks before even wrapping around him.

Finally.

The monster got dragged right up to him by the hair.

Lu Ding gripped its scalp and hammered away with his fists like a power drill—thud thud thud thud—into its face.

As each strike sent bubbles rippling through the water—

The monster’s head floated off.

【Contained Creature: River Wraith】

【Containment Reward: Name-Calling Soul Drop】

【Name-Calling Soul Drop: Speak someone’s full name to cause a brief dazed state, their soul loosening from their body】

So it was this thing.

No wonder Lu Ding asked why it called his name.

It probably overheard them chatting on shore earlier.

【As recorded in ancient texts like Bei Meng Suo Yan】

【Wraiths often linger near rivers, calling out people’s names. Those who respond are doomed to drown—enticed by the dead themselves. Li Dairen once moored his boat in Qupu of Zhijiang County, under bright moonlight, and saw an old woman and a man...】

The gist is—river wraiths call people’s names. If you answer, you’re done.

As for the rest of the story, Lu Ding couldn’t remember clearly.

Something about a guy admiring the moon over the river, then an old lady and a man emerged, walking on water like it was flat ground.

Some people confuse River Wraiths with Drowned Ghosts.

But they’re actually as different as bananas and plantains.

A Drowned Ghost grabs you after you enter the water, pulls you under, and uses your death to find a body to reincarnate.

But River Wraiths? They’re just pure evil. They died, and they want to drag you with them.

They don’t wait for you to enter the water. If you’re the right target, they can shout your name from far away.

‘Oi, you there.’

And boom—you’re lured right in and drown.

As wicked as they are, the spell “Name-Calling Soul Drop” is actually a pretty nice little control skill.

In The Investiture of the Gods, there was a character named Zhang Guifang who had a spell quite like this one.

It was called Name-Calling Dismount.

Even the War God Huang Feihu couldn’t beat him—Jiang Ziya had to put up a no-duel sign and wouldn’t even come out.

Too bad Zhang eventually ran into Nezha in lotus form—a natural counter.

Still, losing to one of the Three Altar Sea Society Deities was nothing to be ashamed of.

Lu Ding’s Name-Calling Soul Drop might not compare to Zhang Guifang’s Dismount, but it was more than enough to catch people off guard.

And besides—Lu Ding wasn’t Zhang Guifang. This was just one of many tricks up his sleeve.

He hadn’t even found the treasure yet and already got a new skill.

Lu Ding thought to himself: I already made my money back!

Then he kept swimming, diving another dozen meters down—

Finally, he saw it. A person-tall little tree, its whole body jade-colored, bearing four crystal-clear fruits—

One large, three small.

Lu Ding circled around the jade tree.

In his mind, he sorted through relevant info.

“This should be the Stillwater Lotus Mist.”

At last, he’d found a wild Rare Spiritual Treasure!

Stillwater Lotus Mist—wood attribute, water-born treasure.

It relaxes muscles, unblocks meridians, and boosts cultivation. It has a mild effect, non-irritating—ranked upper-mid among Rare Spiritual Treasures.

Lu Ding really needed it right now.

He had just reached Divine Palace Realm and barely formed a shadow projection. No walls, no pillars, no tiles, let alone carved dragons or painted talismans.

The Dragon-Locking Well and Dragon Gate hadn’t even been built yet.

There was a massive to-do list waiting!

With Rare Spiritual Treasures, the more the better.

Most importantly—he found this one himself!

With his own hands!

It was gonna taste even better!

After picking the fruit, he could even bring the tree back to the Bureau and exchange it for Contribution Points—bonus value.

And there were still monsters left to fight later.

What kind of blessed day was this? Stuff Lu Ding never even dared dream of before.

He swam to the base of the Stillwater Lotus Mist.

Locked both arms around its tree-trunk-thick stem, gathered spiritual energy throughout his body and channeled his physical strength.

PULL!!!!

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!

The lakebed trembled.

The previously calm water erupted into crashing waves. In the sky, dark clouds swirled, and roaring winds swept through the hills.

Stillwater Lotus Mist—emphasis on “Still.”

Without it, there was no “still” in the water, and Feng Shui became chaos.

Once water turns chaotic, the Five Elements follow.

Water carries corpse Qi—it also tempers fire energy.

Now that water was out of balance but the fire remained—

Whatever was buried beneath the Kou Family’s ancestral grave was definitely having a bad time.

Beneath the surface—

As Lu Ding poured on the strength, the lakebed trembled even more violently.

Just as he yanked the Stillwater Lotus Mist out—

The place where the treasure tree had been planted was now nothing but a pitch-black void.

Murky yellow sludge gushed out violently.

A pair of venomous eyes surfaced from within.

This Dragon Raising the Coffin Formation had been deliberately nurtured by the Kou family for centuries—it had developed a faint awareness of its own.

Now that the formation’s core had been destroyed, hundreds of years of cultivation were wasted in an instant.

It was seething with hatred for Lu Ding!

“ROAR！！！！”

A deafening howl exploded.

Water currents twisted as the sludge surged upward like a pillar.

BOOM!!!!!!!

From the surging surface of the water, burst forth a massive sludge dragon—so huge that even three people together couldn’t wrap their arms around it.

It shot straight up into the sky, charging toward Lu Ding a hundred meters above.

Li Kai cursed inwardly: “Crap!!!”

This much noise—how many people were gonna see it?

He whipped out his phone and made a call: “Where are you guys? Where? Why aren’t you here yet? Get that network blocker online now—don’t let this go viral with photos and all!”

High above the sky—

Lu Ding had the treasure tree slung over one shoulder.

His right hand pressed forward, palm open, to block the mud dragon.

His gaze locked with those venomous eyes.

“You glaring at me?”

Lu Ding suddenly reversed, gathering Qi, lifting a leg, spinning, twisting his waist, snapping his hips—kick unleashed in one fluid motion.

Whip kick tore through the air.

In that moment, Lu Ding employed a “technique” he’d learned from Shangguan Qing—softness overcomes hardness, converting brute force into venomous tenacity.

His leg arced through the air with a crisp snap—

Just like the sonic crack of a whip breaking the sound barrier.

BANG!!!

Leg as whip—one strike landed, and mud exploded in every direction.

“ROAR!!!”

The mud dragon let out a pained shriek, reeling as it crashed to the ground, its head torn open hideously.

Starting from that wound, its solid form began to break apart.

It slammed into the earth.

Sludge splashed wide, staining green grass and leaves.

On the ground, the gathered Qi briefly held dragon form—visibly shaped like a beast.

With a flick of Lu Ding’s hand, a purple-skinned gourd appeared. He tipped it slightly.

The dragon vein was drawn in, shrinking as it was sucked into the gourd.

As the dragon vein was absorbed—

Three of the Five Elements were now gone.

Only metal and fire remained.

Without the balance of the other three attributes, their true power erupted—

And the monster buried beneath the Kou family ancestral grounds was now suffering absolute torment.