Chapter 18: Subdued

The small skeleton steered the strange fish, swiftly closing in on Li Yan. Then, the fish opened its maw, attempting to swallow him whole. Li Yan frowned, rapidly brainstorming how to deal with this bizarre creature and the small skeleton. He launched a barrage of energy attacks at them, but it felt as if his strikes were landing against cotton—they were entirely ineffective.

Desperation began to set in. With his brow furrowed, Li Yan realized he could not chant spells while submerged, so he focused on wielding his blade to hack at the fish and the skeleton. To improve his odds, he tried applying water-resistant talismans to the steel. Uncertain if they would work, he struck. The blade connected with the fish and the skeleton, and even caught the water monkeys in the fray. The water monkeys shrieked, while the fish and the small skeleton let out pained howls.

Just as Li Yan thought he might be victorious, the sound of rushing water intensified. He realized the old skeleton he had encountered earlier must be approaching. Li Yan quietly surfaced for a quick look and was nearly petrified. On the water's surface, ten corpses were swimming toward him, accompanied by the old skeleton. The eyes of these corpses glowed with a ghastly green light. Li Yan felt a chill run down his spine; he had never seen a swimming corpse before, let alone ten of them.

His eyes darted around as he scrambled for a solution. After a moment, he decided to switch to his "Half-Infected" persona, the only state that would allow him to push past his current limits and access more effective ways to deal with them. Li Yan closed his eyes and awakened the infection. Soon, one of his eyes turned a deep crimson, while the other remained normal. The shift was complete.

Li Yan vaulted out of the water and into the air. The fish and the small skeleton surfaced as well. Channeling his eerie power, Li Yan summoned a swarm of clones to engage them, intending to sit back and reap the rewards. However, to his dismay, the clones only managed to dispose of the corpses; the fish, the small skeleton, and the old skeleton remained unscathed. Left with no choice, Li Yan cast a binding formation to trap them.

With the formation holding them in place, Li Yan smeared some of his own blood onto his blade and sent it flying into the trap to engage them. The blade sliced through their skin, drawing agonized cries. Half an hour passed, and the strange fish was the first to falter. Deprived of oxygen from being out of the water for so long, it desperately wanted to dive back in but was held fast by the binding formation. The old and small skeletons searched for a way to break the seal, but to no avail.

As time dragged on, stars began to dance before Li Yan’s eyes. This was bad—his eerie power was reaching its limit. He had to act faster. Frowning, he addressed them sternly: "I will give you one chance. If you are willing to tell me exactly what is going on and why you are harming people, I will consider letting you go after you have been punished."

He waited for a response, but they remained silent. Li Yan grew irritated; it seemed they preferred the hard way. A ball of black fire ignited in his palm. This fire was condensed from his eerie power; wherever it touched, nothing could survive. Even in the middle of an ocean, this flame would burn, let alone in a small pond.

As Li Yan slowly lowered the fire toward the water, the old skeleton finally spoke up. "Young man, let’s discuss this reasonably. Surely you don’t need to be so ruthless? If you unleash that fire, all the other living creatures in this pond will perish as well."

Li Yan was pleased to hear this, as it confirmed the creature understood the nature of his power. Yet, he did not stop. Frowning, he replied, "That won't do. If I stop, what’s to stop you from using your energy to control me again? You nearly drowned me before."

Li Yan was genuinely furious. The old skeleton fell silent, seemingly weighing his options. After a pause, he said, "If you are worried, you can place your own restriction inside us. If we ever attempt to attack you, you can use that seal to kill us."

Li Yan nodded in satisfaction and used his eerie power to plant the restrictions within them. However, just as he was about to interrogate them, the world went black, and he lost consciousness.

When Li Yan opened his eyes again, he found himself underwater, slowly sinking. Panic surged through him, and he swam toward the surface as fast as he could. Fortunately, this time the path was clear, and there were no other entities interfering. The strange fish was gone.

He reached the shore and assumed the old and small skeletons had fled. To his surprise, he found them sitting by the pond, fishing. Irritated by their nonchalance—especially given they hadn't saved him—he kicked both of them over as soon as he climbed out, berating them loudly. The skeletons grew angry, a murderous glint in their eyes, but the internal restrictions prevented them from striking back.

Choosing to endure, they scrambled to their feet. They then helped Li Yan into a chair and began to knead his shoulders and hammer his legs. The sight was surreal and deeply unsettling; after all, it is not every day one has two skeletons massaging one's limbs. Their touch was ice-cold.

Li Yan coughed, signaling them to stop and stand back. He stared at them sternly and demanded, "Whatever I ask, you must tell me the truth. If you lie, the restriction will punish you for me."

The skeletons nodded. Li Yan pondered for a moment and then asked, "Why are you luring people into this pond? What good does it do you?"

The skeletons hesitated, looking troubled. Seeing their reluctance, Li Yan quietly activated the restrictions within them. They were forced to their knees, clutching their heads and wailing in agony. Li Yan ignored their cries, waiting for them to break. Finally, they begged for mercy, admitting in unison, "It really wasn't us! We have never done such a thing!"

Hearing this, Li Yan grew even more incensed and intensified the punishment of the restriction.