Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Day Three of the Demonic Transformation
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Outside the Demon Domain, steeds galloped wildly as knights on horseback hurled out one great banner after another. The banners snapped sharply as they were planted into the ground, unfurling to reveal soaring dragon patterns. Strange characters surrounded the designs—fusions of talismanic script and seal script.
Every hundred paces, one such banner stood.
Once all the banners were planted, the knights wheeled their horses around and galloped toward the distant encampment.
The encampment was newly built, near the provincial highway. The Provincial Administration Commission, Judicial Commission, and Military Command of New Township Province, along with the New Township Governor, were all gathered there, gazing remotely at the Demon Domain.
With a single command, the banners were activated. Golden dragons emerged from the flags, extending their sharp claws and clawing at the red curtain as they strained to climb out, scaling upward.
Moments later, the golden dragons from all the banners had fully emerged, sprawling atop the red curtain.
The banners fluttered, shooting blazing golden light from within that poured into the dragons' bodies, sustaining their forms.
"The Heavenly Dragon Demon-Locking Formation will hold for a hundred days. After a hundred days, with the True God's watch, the Demon Domain will vanish without a trace, posing no threat to the people outside."
New Township Governor Zhao Tianbao let out a sigh.
"My nephew Zhao Yanlong heard of the demonic outbreak at Qianyang Mountain and led four thousand elites from Xuan Ying Mansion into the domain, even bringing his own heirs along in an attempt to halt the catastrophe. A child—he's just a child!"
He shook his head repeatedly, tears streaming down his aged face as he looked to the heavens.
"Worthily a scion of the Zhao family! He has not shamed our ancestors!"
Officials from the Provincial Administration, Judicial, and Military Commissions were profoundly moved, wiping away tears.
"The Lord of Xuan Ying Mansion embodies righteousness piercing the heavens—a model for us all, worthy of emulation."
"Knowing death was certain yet charging forward without hesitation—what spirit! This official will record the deed in the annals, to be sung through the ages, ensuring posterity never forgets the Lord of Xuan Ying Mansion's righteous act today!"
Someone wept.
"The entire Xuan Ying Mansion is loyal and heroic—"
Governor Zhao Tianbao also shed tears, struggling to compose himself before urging the crowd to restrain their grief.
"Yanlong is truly a son of the Zhao family. He bravely sacrificed himself and dared to give all, without tarnishing the Zhao name. I propose that after the hundred days, we hold a memorial rite here to honor Yanlong and the Zhao clansmen of Xuan Ying Mansion. What say you?"
"Governor, a wise proposal!"
"In my view, we must also petition the Cabinet, expounding the Zhao family's sacrificial stand against the demons as an exemplar for all civil and military officials. This official is a student of Grand Secretary Yan and will submit a memorial on the matter. The court will surely respond swiftly with commendations, perhaps even ennoblements."
With the matter decided, the crowd departed with clear consciences.
Day three of the demonic transformation.
Chen Shi gazed into the distance. Thunderous booms echoed from the mountains, with bursts of firelight erupting now and then.
In the forest, a massive porcelain Bodhisattva with eight arms flew about. Suddenly, it slammed a vajra demon-subduing pestle into the ground, and the entire mountaintop erupted in raging demonic flames, incinerating everything!
The demonic fire swirled with terrifying momentum. Even from afar, the crackling explosions could be heard—caused by air rapidly expanding.
That direction was the Kiln Works.
No one knew who was battling the Evil Bodhisattva there.
The one fighting the Evil Bodhisattva had held out for three days.
Li Tianqing's face was etched with worry as he said to Chen Shi,
"My grandpa and your grandpa are probably there. They're both advanced in years—who knows if they can hold on..."
"Do you think the authorities will send someone to rescue us?" Chen Shi, deeply anxious, asked.
Li Tianqing had never encountered anything like this before and could only speculate.
"New Township Province will probably send aid. After all, the people within a hundred li are all subjects of New Township Province. If they don't rescue us, the Cabinet grand secretaries will surely punish them."
The two left the village to continue hunting. Passing a village, they saw a caravan halted on the road—thirty or forty people, along with oxen and horses, the old and children seated on the carts.
They had tried to flee the Demon Domain but turned to porcelain not far from the village. The pair moved them to the roadside to avoid damage.
If the demon was slain someday, they might yet recover.
A few scattered survivors were still on the road—likely those who had hidden in their villages under godmothers' protection, never venturing out, thus spared porcelainization. But after three days of hunger, surviving only on water, they had no choice but to emerge in search of food.
Common game like rabbits, wild boars, and pheasants had all turned to porcelain. New Township rats were among the few edible things left.
New Township rats were exotic beasts, taking longer to porcelainize. Though affected, their movements were sluggish, making them easier to catch.
But these people were sluggish too—whether they could catch any rats remained uncertain.
"If you can't be sure of surviving, find a safe spot to lie down and wait for someone to kill the demon. You might live then." Chen Shi called out to them.
He was kindhearted.
After all, these were the local villagers he usually bullied. If they all died, who would he bully after passing the imperial exams and becoming an official?
Seeing this, Li Tianqing followed suit, advising them to find safe spots to lie down and await death.
The two returned from hunting with far better haul than yesterday. The New Township rats couldn't run; they caught over a dozen. These alone could feed Huangpo Village for more than ten days.
Dragging the rats by their long tails, Li Tianqing watched Blackie Pot bounding happily ahead. A thought stirred in him, and he whispered,
"Little Ten, all the wild beasts outside have porcelainized into wares—even exotic beasts like New Township rats can barely move. Why is Blackie Pot completely unaffected?"
Chen Shi's heart stirred as he eyed the dog ahead, lowering his voice.
"You suspect something's off with it too?"
Li Tianqing nodded.
"Exotic beasts are affected—it's impossible for an ordinary black dog to be fine. My grandpa and I suspect it too!"
Chen Shi whispered,
"But we can't catch it in the act."
The dog ahead suddenly wilted, shuffling along sluggishly, much like the immobile New Township rats.
"It heard us and is pretending!"
Li Tianqing said in shock.
"It definitely has issues!"
Blackie Pot turned, wagging its tail furiously with panting huffs, trotting up to Li Tianqing with a fawning grin and nuzzling his leg affectionately with its head.
The two boys burst into laughter.
At that moment, a thought struck Chen Shi.
"It's been days since I last saw Grandpa. He's been missing these past few days—what if something happened to him, old as he is?" Then, a voice called from behind—Grandpa's voice.
"Little Ten."
"Grandpa!"
Chen Shi whipped around in shock and joy.
The instant his head turned, it felt as if a pair of invisible giant hands gripped his neck.
Evil—Neck-Breaking Weed!
It specialized in snapping the heads of those who turned back.
Chen Shi's mind blanked. He hadn't anticipated an evil one trailing them.
This kind of evil followed strict rules.
Obey the rules, and you could swagger past it—even slap it twice—with no issue.
Break the rules, and death was gruesome!
Chen Shi knew he was in trouble and immediately surged his qi and blood. Having refined a sacred embryo body, his vitality was extraordinarily vigorous—even Golden Core Realm experts paled in comparison!
His qi and blood rushed to his neck, swelling it to match his head's girth.
The neck kept expanding, soon several times thicker than his head!
The evil gripped his neck, about to twist... but the next instant, it was too thick to hold. Li Tianqing and Blackie Pot noticed something wrong—Chen Shi's neck ballooned like an inflating balloon, then something yanked him off the ground by the neck, hoisting him a dozen feet into the air!
"Don't turn back!"
"There's an evil trailing us—turning will kill you!" Chen Shi bellowed.
Horrified, Li Tianqing activated his Divine Shrine Divine Embryo. Six Yin Jade Wheels shot out, slicing toward Chen Shi's rear.
But the evil was formless and insubstantial, as if nonexistent. The wheels passed through harmlessly, like slicing air.
The wheels spun around Chen Shi, yet failed to touch the evil at all.
Li Tianqing grew more frantic. Chen Shi sensed the Neck-Breaking Weed straining—its brute strength monstrous, throttling his neck and yanking upward!
Like pulling dough, trying to stretch his neck out!
"You want my life...? In your dreams! I have no neck!"
Chen Shi ignored all else, pouring every ounce of strength into surging qi and blood to his neck.
The Neck-Breaking Weed tugged for a moment but couldn't stretch it, dropping him to the ground and fleeing as a howling yin wind.
In the wind came muffled curses in unintelligible filth. Chen Shi gasped for air, clutching his neck in lingering terror. Li Tianqing was stunned and awed—the Neck-Breaking Weed couldn't snap Chen Shi's neck!
"I heard Grandpa calling my name!" Li Tianqing suddenly said.
"Don't turn back—it's definitely that evil again! Turn, and your head snaps off! It reads your thoughts, mimicking loved ones' voices in your mind! Let's go—fast!"
Man and dog dragged their dozen New Township rats and hurried forward, soon cresting a hill and vanishing from Li Jindou's sight.
Li Jindou coughed up blood, propping himself on his arms to crawl forward. His voice hoarse, he called to Li Tianqing a few more times.
"Damned brat."
His arms gave out, and he tumbled into a ditch, lying supine, heaving ragged breaths, immobile.
Defeated.
He thought weakly.
After three days of brutal fighting—Granny Sha, Young Master Xiao, Jin Hongying, and him—they were still defeated!
The four had besieged the Evil Bodhisattva, slaying two Kiln Workers before it realized their aim and swallowed the last into its hollow belly.
The Kiln Worker crawled inside, patching its cracks.
Though they cracked the Evil Bodhisattva's body multiple times, that Kiln Worker prevented victory.
The eight-armed Evil Bodhisattva wielded eight weapons: sun and moon pearls, golden brick, soul-shaking bell, demon-subduing pestle, banana fan, bow, and arrow. Though porcelain, refined into arms with talismans and incantations, their power was immense.
Thankfully, Granny Sha wielded the Sheep Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, countering the soul-shaking bell and demon-subduing pestle, suppressing the demonic soul—and so they endured this long.
But with three injured—including Li Jindou's porcelainized legs—their formation collapsed on day three as old wounds reopened.
The four were gravely wounded by the Evil Bodhisattva, nearly spent.
Granny Sha and Young Master Xiao covered the retreat as Li Jindou and Jin Hongying fled first. Reaching here, Li Jindou spotted his grandson and Chen Shi ahead, joyfully calling out—only for them to run faster.
"The Evil Bodhisattva is too ferocious—even uninjured, I'd be no match."
Li Jindou coughed blood, lying in the ditch, his gaze dimming as he murmured,
"Man of Qianyang Mountain, where are you? Why haven't you acted? If you don't soon, everyone in the Demon Domain will perish..."
Then came the clip-clop of hooves. Four exotic steeds pulled a carriage speeding toward him.
The carriage halted. Young Master Xiao lifted the beaded curtain, glancing sideways into the ditch.
"Still breathing? If so, get up."
Light returned to Li Jindou's eyes. His battered arms propped him as he clawed upward, yanking grass when he couldn't climb.
Moments later, he reached the road, then laboriously crawled into the carriage.
The carriage rolled onward.
Li Jindou eyed Young Master Xiao. His battle-torn clothes were gone, replaced by a fresh, fitting set—likely changed before coming.
"You're uninjured?" Li Jindou asked, indignant.
Young Master Xiao remained composed and elegant.
"I am injured."
Li Jindou was even more dissatisfied.
"Then why aren't you as ragged as me? Your wounds can't be worse!"
Young Master Xiao was his usual dignified self, taking a white handkerchief to cover his mouth as he coughed lightly.
"I was raised with rigorous etiquette training. Even injured, I show none of it. Even in death, I'd go with grace and propriety—not like you. No more talk—rest and recover. I'm taking you to see Chen Shi."