Chapter 59
Chapter 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Farewell to Huangpo Village
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Pretty women are so strange."
Chen Shi shook his head.
"Let her come up, and she insists on sweating all over and shivering, refusing to climb up. She just likes staying down there."
Li Tianqing nodded in deep agreement.
"That's why after living twelve years, I still don't understand what women think."
Chen Shi nodded along.
"I'm already eleven, and I don't understand women either."
The two let out long sighs, feeling this was a realm utterly foreign to them.
"You two little things haven't even held a woman's hand—what are you fantasizing about?" Jin Hongying's voice drifted up from the base of the earth slope.
Li Tianqing whispered,
"I've held my mom's hand. She washes clothes for the Li family—her hands are really rough."
Chen Shi said,
"I've touched Grandma Yuzhu's hand too. It doesn't have as much strength as mine."
They arrived beneath the crooked-neck old tree. Chen Shi lit incense for his godmother's stone tablet and murmured,
"Godmother, please bless us to safely survive this demonic transformation. Bless the villagers to all be safe and sound."
A wisp of green light drifted across the stone tablet, like clouds and mists, but there was nothing else unusual.
Li Tianqing was scrutinizing the crooked-neck old willow tree before them, quite surprised. He said,
"Little Ten, all the other trees outside the village have turned into porcelain trees. How come this old willow hasn't porcelainized?"
Chen Shi froze and couldn't help looking at the old tree.
He was too familiar with everything here, so he hadn't noticed the old willow hadn't porcelainized. Now observing closely, not only did the old willow show no signs of porcelainization, it was even lush and verdant, denser than before.
He was also baffled.
"Could it be that this willow tree has absorbed incense-fire qi and used extraordinary power to condense a manifestation? But why haven't I seen its divine manifestation these past two years?"
In the mountains and wilderness now, and within villages, there were many spirit objects that could resist porcelainization. So Chen Shi only felt mildly surprised and didn't dwell on it.
He also lit nine sticks of incense for Scholar Zhu. He used to light just one each time, but since they were leaving Huangpo Village and wouldn't be back for a while, he lit extra this time.
"Little Ten, you're leaving Huangpo Village?" Scholar Zhu asked as he inhaled the incense qi.
Chen Shi nodded.
"We have no choice but to leave. The Evil Bodhisattva is searching everywhere for living people. Staying in Huangpo Village, we might get swept up all at once. Only by heading out do we have a chance to survive."
He hesitated, then said,
"Scholar, do you want to go to the underworld? I can help untie your hanging rope so you don't have to stay strung up here."
Without the hanging rope, Scholar Zhu could break free of his bonds and regain his freedom.
Scholar Zhu's neck was looped in the rope, his head tilted downward as he sneered,
"I hanged myself here to go to the underworld? I hanged myself up high to see just how rotten this dogshit world can get! I hanged myself here to watch the Ming rivers and mountains rot away in the hands of that bunch of bastards! I hanged myself here precisely to watch those turtle bastards meet bad ends!"
He ranted on profanely, his mouth spewing classical phrases like "zhi hu zhe ye" and the like.
Chen Shi knew he had always been cynical about the world, so he didn't try to persuade him further. He left the earth slope with Li Tianqing.
This time going up and down the slope, when Jin Hongying looked at Chen Shi again, her gaze carried some evasion and reverence.
"Your godmother is up there?" she asked cautiously.
Chen Shi nodded.
"Yeah."
"Little Ten is so filial, haha, hahaha!"
Jin Hongying gave two dry laughs, then said,
"Could Little Ten's godmother introduce herself to me?"
Chen Shi was surprised, not understanding why she had gone from arrogant to deferential.
"Your godmother is right up there. If you want to meet her, just go on up," Chen Shi said.
But Jin Hongying didn't dare—not even daring to lift a foot onto the earth slope.
She seemed filled with fear toward this patch of slope.
"Little Ten's godmother is really impressive, haha, haha!" She laughed with some guilt.
Chen Shi had no idea what she was laughing at and ignored her.
After a moment, Jin Hongying gave up the idea of going up. Limping toward Qianyang Mountain, she barked ferociously,
"Hurry up and follow! We're leaving this place and heading into the mountains fast!"
Just as she said this, she suddenly spun around and without explanation tackled Chen Shi and Li Tianqing to the ground, lowering her voice.
"Don't move. The Evil Bodhisattva is here!"
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were pinned beneath her, catching a whiff of that unique feminine scent—like a light fragrance, but not quite.
The two boys' hearts pounded wildly, their faces flushing red. They felt like they were being pressed down by something soft and yielding.
So soft.
At that moment, faint tremors came through the ground. Black Pot had long since hidden itself, not daring to make a sound. The vibrations arrived quickly—from the mountains, pausing briefly at Huangpo Village before gradually receding.
Jin Hongying released the two boys and slowly stood, quietly peering out.
Suddenly, as if sensing her gaze, the Evil Bodhisattva's head turned. Its pair of eyes blazed fiercely, harboring raging flames, and looked this way.
Jin Hongying hurriedly squatted down. The Evil Bodhisattva's gaze swept around once, finding nothing unusual. Its footsteps caused the ground to tremble slightly as it gradually moved away. Only after it was far gone did they emerge. Chen Shi dashed to Huangpo Village, only to see men, women, elderly, and children—all turned to porcelain, none spared.
If not for Jin Hongying forcing them to leave this time, Chen Shi, Li Tianqing, and Black Pot would likely have shared the same fate, with no escape.
"Chen Shi, let's go!"
Jin Hongying called out.
"We're going to find Young Master Xiao. To deal with the Evil Bodhisattva, we need that treasure in his hands. That bastard stole my God Machine Camp's treasure—damn him!"
Chen Shi walked out of the village, then looked back.
"Sister Jin, wait a bit! Black Pot, Black Pot, lend me some of your blood!"
He set down his book chest. Black Pot came over and had half a bowl of black dog blood taken from it.
Chen Shi ground cinnabar and drew talismans right at the village entrance. He drew Peach Talismans, Evil-Expelling Talismans, and Five Sacred Peaks Home-Guarding Talismans. It took half an hour to use up the cinnabar, producing dozens of talismans in total.
He pasted these talismans at the village mouth, on the lintels of every household, and even one Evil-Expelling Talisman on the godmother in the village.
Li Tianqing came to help. The two worked quickly and soon finished pasting them all.
"Even if we're gone for a while, evils and spirits won't dare enter the village to disturb it," Chen Shi breathed a sigh of relief.
He feared some evil might intrude and smash the porcelainized villagers—they wouldn't survive that. Jin Hongying laughed.
"You're quite the sentimental one. Let's hurry on."
Chen Shi asked,
"Sister Jin, you've seen much of the world. Do you think they can come back to life after we eliminate the Evil Bodhisattva?"
Limping into the mountains, Jin Hongying said,
"Maybe. I've only been through one demonic transformation event, so I don't know much about this."
Chen Shi perked up and kept pace, asking,
"What was the demonic transformation event Sister Jin went through?"
Jin Hongying said,
"I was little then—just heard people talk about the Ancient Pagoda Demonic Transformation. It lasted a long time. I don't remember the details."
She seemed somewhat depressed and unwilling to talk more.
Li Tianqing's expression shifted slightly.
"I've read about the Ancient Pagoda Demonic Transformation in books. Records say twenty-three years ago, Monta City had an earthquake. An ancient pagoda emerged from underground. Some treasure-hunting cultivators entered it, but it turned out to be a Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. They damaged it, triggering the demonic transformation. It was extremely brutal—Monta City was almost wiped out. Later, some strange figures entered the demonic domain and resolved it. Legend has it only one person from Monta City survived."
His voice grew quieter and quieter as he spoke.
The books recorded only one survivor.
Jin Hongying claimed to be a firsthand witness.
So that survivor was...
Jin Hongying broke into a smile.
"I survived the Ancient Pagoda Demonic Transformation, so naturally I can survive this Evil Bodhisattva one too! I'm a heaven-born child of destiny!"
Chen Shi laughed.
"Sister Jin has good luck—we can bask in it too."
The three chatted and laughed.
Black Pot watched coldly from the side, seeing through Jin Hongying's forced smile. Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were just diverting her attention, pulling her out of her grief over her camp's destruction.
Chen Shi changed the subject again.
"Sister Jin, what thing did Young Master Xiao pick up from your God Machine Camp?"
"Pick up?!"
Jin Hongying ground her teeth in fury and snapped,
"It was steal! Robbery! Not afraid to tell you—the thing he stole is the Western King's Jade Seal, a crime punishable by extermination of nine clans! If I can't take it back, I'll be hauled to the execution ground and beheaded. The God Machine Camp soldiers will all be replaced—die once over!"
Hearing this, Li Tianqing's heart stirred.
"The Western King's Jade Seal—is it the one imprinted on the Fifty Provinces Mountains-and-Rivers Chart?"
Jin Hongying glanced at him.
"Little brother Tianqing knows quite a bit. This seal was kept in my God Machine Camp. Young Master Xiao was originally from the God Machine Camp too—a senior of mine. I always admired him. Not long ago, who knows what madness seized him—he stole the Western King's Jade Seal. If it weren't so crucial, I wouldn't have mobilized the God Machine Camp to lay an ambush for him at Qianyang Mountain.
Her "ambush" referred to luring Young Master Xiao to Thunderstrike Peak and unleashing nearly a hundred Red Barbarian Cannons to bombard the mountain, nearly killing him.
If not for Jin Hongying being startled away by Young Master Xiao's final sword, he would likely have perished at her hands.
However, the God Machine Camp had suffered heavy casualties because of it.
Li Tianqing speculated,
"Young Master Xiao took the Western King's Jade Seal—does he intend to use it to unseal the True King Tomb? No! His goal with the seal isn't the tomb—it's the Fifty Provinces Mountains-and-Rivers Chart! The chart was drawn by the True King, mapping the geography of the Western Ox New Continent, enfeoffing the great mountains and rivers, mobilizing the power of city gods, village gods, river-lake gods, and the deities of great peaks and seas everywhere!
The Fifty Provinces Mountains-and-Rivers Chart bears the mark of the Western King's Jade Seal, so with the seal, one can claim the chart!
Though the great mountains and rivers no longer have city gods, village gods, mountain gods, or water gods these days, the Fifty Provinces Mountains-and-Rivers Chart still holds immense power.
Chen Shi knew nothing of this and listened with keen interest.
"Young Master Xiao is either healing at Mirror Lake Manor or hiding in Wuwang City."
Mentioning Young Master Xiao made Jin Hongying grit her teeth, itching with hate. She said,
"We'll go to Mirror Lake Manor first. If we don't find him, then Wuwang City! Force him to hand over the Western King's Jade Seal, then kill the old thief—you guys eat the meat, I'll drink the blood and devour him raw! Then we use this treasure to open the True King Tomb, retrieve the Mountains-and-Rivers Chart—dealing with the Evil Bodhisattva will be a piece of cake."
Chen Shi asked,
"What if opening the True King Tomb releases something even stronger than the Evil Bodhisattva?"
Jin Hongying was stumped and hesitated.
"Not likely, right?"
Li Tianqing said,
"The Kiln Works was merely the place firing porcelain for the True King Tomb, yet it produced an Evil Bodhisattva. The tomb itself must be even more extreme. If the Kiln Works birthed a magic-level being, then the True King Tomb is at minimum disaster-level."
Jin Hongying deflated, murmuring,
"What to do then? Am I really going to die in this forsaken place? I'm still in the flower of youth—do I have to die in this demonic domain alongside these two little brats?"
Li Tianqing said,
"Auntie Hongying."
Jin Hongying's face changed instantly. She reached out and grabbed his neck by the throat. Moments ago she'd looked sickly and half-dead; now she was radiating killing intent, coldly saying:
"What did you say, Li Tianqing? Say it again if you dare!"
Li Tianqing, facing death, suddenly had a flash of insight.
"Sister Hongying."
Jin Hongying released him, but the motion tugged at her wounds, making her tremble in pain. She said,
"I call you little brother, so you call me big sister. Get it wrong, and I'll kill you! Regardless, we head to Mirror Lake Manor first. There's an old monster there. Last time, that's where I got injured—the Evil Bodhisattva probably won't dare go there either. We'll hide for a couple days and evade its search."
The three entered the mountains. Jin Hongying's injuries were severe, so she limped along slowly.
Giggling laughter echoed from the sky. Several floating heads dangled scarlet, slender tongues, with a few people hanging from the tongues' tips, flailing about as if dancing in the air.
The floating heads spotted them and giggled again. The tongues retracted, pulling those people into their mouths to devour. Then the long tongues dangled down once more, drifting toward them.
Jin Hongying couldn't walk anymore and stopped to rest. Chen Shi and Li Tianqing tensed as the floating heads approached.
Suddenly, several paper figures climbed up along the floating heads' tongues. The paper figures had noses and eyes, swords in their mouths, nimble and swift. In no time, they reached the floating heads' faces and raised their blades, hacking away with clanging sounds.
The floating heads deflated like punctured balloons and plummeted into the forest.
The paper figures sheathed their swords, leaped down from the massive heads, and hurried to Chen Shi and the others,钻ing into Jin Hongying's sleeve.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing exchanged a glance. Even a skinny camel is bigger than a horse—Jin Hongying was gravely wounded and struggled to walk, but her spells were still exquisitely masterful. Evils they couldn't handle were effortless for her.
They pressed on. The mountain path was rugged and hard to traverse. Chen Shi saw Jin Hongying soon drenched in sweat—likely the walking tugged at her wounds, causing unbearable pain.
Yet this woman didn't utter a sound, enduring it stoically, which earned his deep admiration.
They trudged on for a full two hours. Jin Hongying looked ahead and said,
"There's a mountain village up front. Let's rest our feet there, grab some food, and continue."
They approached. The village was built along one side of a valley slope, with a small river before it. But judging by the riverbed, flash floods would hit in heavy rain, so the village wasn't in the valley bottom but up on the slope.
There were many people in the village. Only up close did they realize they were all porcelain figures.
The village should still have pots and such—they could cook some food.
These porcelain figures stood along the streets in orderly fashion. The three humans and one dog wove carefully between them, not daring to touch any, lest they topple and shatter everywhere.
"Wait!"
Li Tianqing said puzzled,
"Have you noticed? There seem to be way too many porcelain figures here!" He looked around.
"This village has probably over a thousand porcelain figures! Would a mountain village have this many people?"
Chen Shi suddenly realized.
"Someone moved them here! So who moved them?" A thought flashed through his mind like lightning. His face changed drastically as he urgently said,
"We need to leave—now!"
At that very moment, the ground trembled faintly. The Evil Bodhisattva's enormous body came into view.
"Do... not... move!"
Chen Shi said softly, word by word.
His body went rigid amid the porcelain figures, his breathing made exceedingly light.