Chapter 19
Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Unknown]
Chapter Title: Clash with the Mysterious Talisman Master
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chen Shi bent his knees and leaped onto the beam, crawling along the thick rafter.
He held the ground cinnabar mixed with black dog blood in one hand and a brush in the other, carefully painting over the five massive talismans.
The beam was narrow, so he had to be cautious. Any carelessness would send him tumbling down.
These five talismans were clearly the work of a talisman master skilled in the art, transformed into evil spirits that followed the scent of children's urine to snatch kids.
Once caught, they were hung here.
Rushing in to save them would undoubtedly trigger the talismans' power. He might fail to rescue anyone and end up killing the survivors instead. So Chen Shi's plan was to destroy the five talismans first, then save the children.
Simply smashing them violently would still activate their power, though. That was why he used the prepared cinnabar to alter their structure, neutralizing their effects.
Soon, he had smeared the eyes of four talismans, turning their heads into a chaotic mess.
The mouth was the most critical part. The ghost heads' mouths connected to the chains. If triggered, the chains would tighten, yanking these children's tongues right out of their throats!
Chen Shi sealed the mouths of the four talismans with cinnabar. Even if they retained some power, they couldn't pull the chains anymore.
But the inkstone's cinnabar had run out, leaving nothing for the fifth talisman.
The fifth talisman didn't bind any child, so Chen Shi saw no need to paint over it. He headed straight for the frail boy hanging by a thread.
But at that moment, the ghost head in the fifth talisman slowly opened its eyes. The chain in its mouth rattled as it slid a segment.
Chen Shi's hand had just touched Liu Fugui's arm. He froze, holding his breath, motionless.
The fifth talisman's ghost head eyes widened gradually. The cinnabar-drawn pupils rolled once, glancing sideways at Chen Shi. The ghost's face seemed to grin, though twisted.
Rattle. Rattle.
The chain segments began to retract one by one. The dangling chain end lifted slowly, like a snake's head.
Chen Shi's heart sank. He'd been spotted after all!
The fifth talisman's ghost suddenly spoke, its voice booming like thunder:
"Who are you? Why sabotage my technique?"
The sound was deafening, shaking the dilapidated house. Dust showered down in clouds!
This wasn't the talisman ghost speaking. It was the talisman's master, observing Chen Shi through the ghost's eyes and speaking through its mouth!
Chen Shi was startled. This skill surpassed ordinary talisman masters!
"Why sabotage your technique? What evil art are you refining with the village kids? Four lives—what are they to you?"
As he spoke, Chen Shi grabbed the fishhook pinning Liu Fugui's eyelid. No time to remove it carefully—he yanked hard, trying to snap the thin chain behind it.
In the past ten-plus days cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, he'd gained immense strength, able to shatter stones with a casual strike. Yet this slender chain held firm against his first pull.
He tugged harder, and it finally broke!
He seized the next fishhook chain, pouring all his strength into snapping it.
Then the ones on the nose and mouth!
"Rural lives count as lives too?"
The ghost head let out a cold laugh.
"You're a talisman master yourself. Haven't you ever refined treasures with others' lives? I just want a Life-Extension Lamp, using the essence of five boys to condense the oil. You barge into my ritual site and ruin my work—no face given at all?"
The fifth talisman warped. Its strokes wriggled like vivid red snakes forming the ghost face.
"Swish—"
The chain dangling from its mouth whipped like a python toward Chen Shi!
Chen Shi gripped the hook in Fugui's tongue with one hand to remove it, reaching for the chain with the other.
He had to clear all the fishhooks from Fugui's face first—especially the big one on the tongue. Otherwise, untying the chains on his hands and feet would rip off Fugui's entire face and tear out his tongue!
That wouldn't be saving him—it would be killing him!
As he unhooked, the chain wrapped his arm like a giant serpent, spinning and coiling tighter and tighter!
Chen Shi surged his qi and blood, swelling his arm massively. He kicked off, flipping upward to grab the chain binding Fugui's hands and feet.
He swiftly wrapped it around his left leg for leverage, lest he fall.
Above his head, the fifth talisman's strokes solidified into a ten-foot red ghost head, its bloody maw gaping to bite down, reeking of rot!
This must be the giant ghost mouth the villagers saw—formed from such talismans.
Their long tongues dangling down were the chains from their mouths!
Chen Shi strained to swing the incoming ghost head aside, but it wouldn't budge. The thing was overwhelmingly powerful, stronger than him, and it floated—beyond human strength to fight!
Suspended in midair by one chain, Chen Shi stood no chance.
As the crimson ghost head loomed to swallow him, Chen Shi stomped down hard. The roof boomed and shook. The boarded chain groaned with cracks.
His power might not match the talisman beast's, but it was still tremendous. That stomp overwhelmed the roof—it collapsed!
Boards painted with talismans, along with tiles and straw, crashed down, smashing onto the talisman beast's huge head!
The chain on Chen Shi's foot slackened. Like a swimming fish, he scooped up Fugui and plummeted.
He'd just hit the ground when the rafters, unable to bear the weight, snapped. Tons of heavy beams collapsed the house with a roar.
No time to untie Fugui's hand-and-foot chains—Chen Shi hugged him and bolted out. He'd just cleared the main hall when a thunderous crash erupted behind. The hall and two side rooms collapsed together, walls and beams burying all three!
The shockwave from the collapse staggered Chen Shi and Blackie Pot amid billowing dust. Blackie Pot hacked and coughed nonstop.
Chen Shi held his breath, swiftly untying Fugui's limb chains. Before he could stand, a massive beam from the rubble shot up with a whoosh—like a weightless stick. Chen Shi and Blackie Pot gaped in shock at the thousand-plus-pound timber.
"Rural little talisman master—you've enraged me!"
The talisman beast roared from under the ruins. Stones flew, dust erupted. Unscathed, the ghost head rose, shoving aside dirt, rocks, and beams to float overhead, glaring down at Chen Shi.
A chain linked its mouth to a palm-sized bronze tripod at the other end. Inside was the Life-Extension Lamp oil refined from four children's lives!
When the house fell, it had ignored Chen Shi to snatch the tripod first, saving the oil.
But in doing so, it gave Chen Shi the chance to rescue Fugui, ruining its oil-refining plan.
The oil was saved, but its quality plummeted, crippling the lamp's effect.
The talisman beast's other end was controlled by its master—the mysterious talisman master refining the Life-Extension Lamp. Enraged, he prepared to devour Chen Shi in fury. Then he spotted the vermilion talisman on the locust tree, hesitating before sneering:
"Little talisman master, you've made an enemy. You can't run! I'll catch you and refine you into lamp oil!"
Under the mysterious talisman master's control, the beast floated up to flee with the oil. Suddenly, Chen Shi in the yard dropped his pants, whipped out his little bird, and pissed on the rubble.
The master, overlooking from afar, paused:
"Could this kid have pissed himself in fear?"
But then the beast broke free of his control, howling down at Chen Shi!
The master blanked, then realized.
"My talisman beast strikes at boys' urine scent, snatching them. This rural kid's a boy himself—he used his own piss to lure it!"
Too late to alter it—the beast lunged at Chen Shi.
At the same instant, on the old locust tree, Chen Shi's Five Mountains Home-Warding Talisman activated. It blazed with light, forming five radiant mountains that slammed onto the beast, crushing it to the ground immobile!
The tripod tumbled from its mouth, oil spilling everywhere.
Chen Shi shook off, pulled up his pants, and approached. He stomped the bronze tripod flat, then crouched to lock eyes with the ten-foot talisman beast.
The furious master was pinned under the mountains, helpless.
"We are enemies now. Don't let me find you."
Chen Shi stared into the beast's eyes, as if peering through to the master's true face.
"Find you, and I'll beat you to death!"
Chen Shi stood, raised his foot, and stomped the beast's huge head.
Boom! It exploded into scarlet blood and cinnabar, splattering to the ground and soaking into the soil.
Some splashed onto Chen Shi's feet.
Though he'd destroyed the beast, saved Liu Fugui, and solved the bed-wetting child-eating case, a furious rage still burned in him, with nowhere to vent.
This mysterious talisman master was truly powerful—far beyond the Embroidered Uniform Guards he'd faced. He shouldn't clash with such an expert, yet he burned to track him down, beat him senseless, and kill him!
"Come in."
Chen Shi suppressed his anger, waving to the stunned villagers outside.
"The evil's exorcised. Fugui's saved."
The villagers hesitated.
Three Prosperity was boldest, stepping in first. The others followed into the Tian family ruins.
Fugui's parents rushed over, scooping him up, calling his name frantically.
Fugui's eyes fluttered open groggily.
"Dad, Mom." Then he closed them again.
"His essence is too depleted. Let him sleep. No supplements—just rice soup."
Chen Shi instructed. Fugui's parents carried him home.
The villagers cleared the rubble, finding the other three children. Sadly, they'd been dead too long to save.
Soft sobs rose, building to wails.
Chen Shi's heart twisted. He led Blackie Pot out, then turned to Three Prosperity:
"Get people to bury the Tian family's eight coffins too."
Three Prosperity paled.
"They offended Godmother—punished by her. Who dares bury them?"
Chen Shi's face darkened. He sneered:
"Not bury them? Leaving eight unburied will deepen their resentment into evil! Then they'll devour your whole village! Up to you!"
Terrified, the villagers hurried to prepare.
They'd doubted the young Chen Shi at first, but seeing him slay that mountain-sized "evil," they believed.
The village elder had tables and chairs brought for Chen Shi to rest, with fruits. Seeing him young, he summoned two girls to massage his shoulders and legs.
"Three Prosperity, come here!"
Chen Shi beckoned him, asking:
"Any strangers in the village lately?"
"Strangers?"
Three Prosperity thought.
"Yeah. From the provincial city—an old talisman master. Said Second Miss Zhao from the provincial Zhao family went missing; he was inquiring. Stayed overnight since it was late, left at dawn. Nice guy—drew us some talismans."