On the mountain stream's edge, Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were staring at the porcelain fish sunk at the bottom, both looking serious.
They didn't have the powerful magic like Prince Xiao, and they didn't know that the porcelain fish transformation was likely caused by the evil bodhisattva from the kiln factory.
"Why did that evil bodhisattva suddenly act up?" Li Tianqing was puzzled.
Chen Shi was about to speak when a scream rang out. They quickly looked in the direction of the sound, seeing a merchant, who had been arguing with someone, suddenly being pulled into the sky by something!
Chen Shi looked up to see a strange insect in the air. It had a human-like body but was several times longer, like three or four human bodies put together, with seven or eight long legs like arms, and limbs like bamboo joints.
Its long legs resembled human hands, but the fingers were thin and long.
It spread its eight long legs in the air, crouching as if overseeing everyone below.
Its head was human-like but messy and dirty, with a mouth that opened wide, quickly pulling the captured merchant closer and stuffing him into its mouth.
The merchant's screams echoed from the sky, and from the sound, the insect seemed to be over a hundred feet high in the air—too far for them to do anything.
The insect's mouth opened, its jaws spreading in four directions, with sharp teeth under each lip, looking very strange.
When it ate the merchant, the sharp teeth around its mouth moved, gripping the merchant's body and sending him into its stomach without chewing, just swallowing whole.
Judging by the size of its mouth, its head was probably as big as an ox cart.
Li Tianqing said, "That's an evil creature, a Silk-Pulling Insect!"
Chen Shi was stunned. "How is an evil creature appearing in the daytime?"
It was still daylight, with the sun in the sky, though it seemed covered by a layer of red gauze.
Grandfather said that evil creatures couldn't appear in the daytime because they absorbed strange powers from moonlight to awaken and roam the human world.
But now, with no moon out, how did the evil creature appear?
Li Tianqing was excited, quickly saying, "So this is what the true form of a Silk-Pulling Insect looks like! The book's drawing was vague. These insects appear at night, and no one has seen their full form. People often get pulled into the air and eaten without seeing anything! Little Shi, we're the first to see the true form of a Silk-Pulling Insect!"
At night, with poor visibility, the Silk-Pulling Insect hides high in the sky, making it hard to see.
Some cultivators, straining their eyes in the moonlight, vaguely saw its insect form, hence the name Silk-Pulling Insect.
But the details were unclear.
Now, with daylight, they could see the true form of the Silk-Pulling Insect.
Li Tianqing was extremely excited, continuously observing the insect and muttering, "The book was wrong; it drew wings on the Silk-Pulling Insect, but it doesn't have wings! It's an evil creature, staying in the air without needing wings."
From its mouth came fine threads, invisible to the naked eye, hanging down. They were almost undetectable, only occasionally reflecting sunlight.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing saw these threads hanging near the merchant who had been arguing.
"Don't move!"
Chen Shi waved to the people, shouting loudly, "Don't move!"
But someone, already terrified, abandoned their goods and ran. As soon as they moved, they bumped into the threads hanging from the Silk-Pulling Insect.
The threads were extremely sticky, sticking to the person as soon as they touched them. The threads sensed the movement, and the next moment, the person was pulled into the air!
Li Tianqing also shouted, "Don't run, stay where you are!"
But the frightened people didn't listen.
The people who had been arguing scattered, each bumping into the invisible threads.
In the sky, the Silk-Pulling Insect immediately retracted its threads. The people stuck to them struggled, trying to tear them off, but the threads were incredibly sticky, sticking to hands and bodies, impossible to tear off.
More than twenty people from both merchant groups, along with the ox cart driver, his ox, and several horses, were all stuck and pulled into the air.
However, with so many people and animals stuck, the Silk-Pulling Insect struggled, and its retraction speed was much slower than before.
Chen Shi's eyes lit up, and he suddenly sprinted towards the bank, shouting, "Tianqing, get ready with the Six Yin Jade Wheel!"
Li Tianqing, though puzzled, immediately summoned the Divine Fetus behind him, activating the Six Yin Jade Wheel.
Chen Shi had already reached the mountain path, lifting a large stone weighing over a thousand pounds, spinning once, and hurling it into the air.
Li Tianqing immediately understood his intention, praising, "Smart!"
The large stone touched the invisible threads of the Silk-Pulling Insect and got stuck, hanging on the threads.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Chen Shi threw stone after stone into the air, aiming for the threads, quickly clearing the surrounding stones.
Some stones missed the threads, but most hung on them.
The Silk-Pulling Insect, already struggling with the people and animals, couldn't hold on with the added weight of the stones and was pulled down.
Chen Shi ran quickly, finding more large stones and throwing them onto the threads.
The Silk-Pulling Insect was being pulled closer to the ground!
The evil insect screeched in the air, and as people landed on the ground, they looked up, seeing the strange patterns on the Silk-Pulling Insect, yellow and white, resembling talisman designs.
The insect floated in the air, and just from the patterns, it looked like a giant talisman.
But the talisman's details were unknown.
In a short time, the Silk-Pulling Insect was pulled from over a hundred feet in the air to just over ten feet above the ground, within the attack range of Li Tianqing's Six Yin Jade Wheel!
Li Tianqing immediately activated the Jade Ring Step, his hands forming seals, sending out invisible jade wheels to slash at the Silk-Pulling Insect in the air!
At the same time, Chen Shi threw more stones, pulling the Silk-Pulling Insect even lower.
The Six Yin Jade Wheel slashed at the Silk-Pulling Insect, sparks flying, the wheels shattering, with sharp fragments flying everywhere!
Li Tianqing used various techniques, sending out more jade wheels, some repeatedly hitting the same spot, cutting through the hard shell of the evil creature, with green liquid oozing from the cuts!
The Silk-Pulling Insect finally landed, revealing its massive size, its long body stretching over ten feet, its seemingly thin legs thicker than the nearby trees!
It thrashed its body, knocking down trees around it!
The Silk-Pulling Insect was furious, pulling hard on the threads.
The threads helped it catch "food," but also restricted it.
Fortunately, the evil creature's brute strength was astonishing, tearing three or four threads in a short time. At this moment, Chen Shi lifted a large stone, jumped high, and smashed it down on its head!
"Boom!"
The Silk-Pulling Insect's head cracked, dazed, and the stone shattered into pieces.
"Little Shi is so fierce in a fight!"
Li Tianqing was startled, waving his hands, changing seals, sending jade wheels slashing at the Silk-Pulling Insect, cutting it in many places.
The Silk-Pulling Insect screeched in pain, tearing another thread.
Chen Shi lifted a thousand-pound stone, using it as a hammer, smashing one of its legs, quickly breaking it.
He was about to smash another leg when the Silk-Pulling Insect kicked hard, hitting Chen Shi in the chest, sending him flying, crashing into a cliff with a loud thud.
"Little Shi!"
Li Tianqing shouted in alarm.
From the dust, Chen Shi's voice came, "I'm fine, finish it off first!"
Li Tianqing focused entirely on attacking the Silk-Pulling Insect, but the evil creature was too large. Even the damage from the Six Yin Jade Wheel wasn't fatal.
The Silk-Pulling Insect, enraged, opened its mouth and sprayed white gas. Li Tianqing couldn't dodge in time, getting hit by the sticky white threads.
"Oh no!"
He couldn't stand his ground, being pulled towards the Silk-Pulling Insect's mouth!
Li Tianqing frantically activated the jade wheels, sending them whistling into the Silk-Pulling Insect's mouth!
Meanwhile, Chen Shi rushed back, grabbing a large rock by the stream, leaping high, and smashing it down on the Silk-Pulling Insect's head.
The head, as big as an ox cart, was covered in tangled hair, which up close looked like thick, steel-hard strands.
The rock Chen Shi smashed down was large, but only made the Silk-Pulling Insect stagger.
The rock split in two, and Chen Shi dropped it, raining down punches furiously!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A series of heavy thuds sounded as he punched through the Silk-Pulling Insect's skull, his arms sinking deep into its brain!
The Silk-Pulling Insect thrashed its head wildly, with Li Tianqing being tossed around, unable to stabilize himself, but still desperately sending jade wheels spinning, slicing into its mouth!
Suddenly, a jade wheel pierced through the back of the Silk-Pulling Insect's head, finally breaking through its skull!
Chen Shi's body was already buried in the Silk-Pulling Insect's head, still punching down madly.
Finally, the evil creature collapsed with a thud, struggling a few times before stopping.
Chen Shi snapped out of his frenzy, panting heavily, while Li Tianqing, wrapped in threads, rolled on the ground, still in shock, his eyes wide, the madness not fully gone from them.
Chen Shi crawled out of the Silk-Pulling Insect's head, rolling onto the ground, not wanting to move at all.
He felt a strong hunger, as if he'd just had a taste but wasn't full, wanting to eat more.
The Silk-Pulling Insect quickly rotted, its body bubbling with a foul stench. Chen Shi quickly got up, moving aside, watching as the massive evil creature rotted away in moments, leaving only a puddle of water, nothing else.
"What exactly is an evil creature?"
Chen Shi was puzzled, asking, "A ghost, a spirit, or something else?"
"Evil is just evil, not in any of those categories you mentioned."
Li Tianqing, who read a lot, said, "Evil creatures are incomprehensible and irrational, no one knows where they come from or where they go after death. Perhaps from the moment we set foot on the Western New Bull Continent, evil appeared."
Chen Shi thought of the patterns on the Silk-Pulling Insect, finding them increasingly strange.
The patterns were similar to talisman designs.
"This evil creature rotted quickly, leaving no bones or shell, just some foul water. Speaking of which, the talisman creature from Iron Brush Elder turned into red cinnabar blood when I smashed it, splattering everywhere. It's somewhat similar to this scene."
He sighed, "It's a pity this evil creature rotted too fast, I couldn't record the talisman patterns on it."
"I remember them."
"Little Shi, what do you want the patterns for?" Li Tianqing asked, puzzled.
"For an experiment! Heiguo, Heiguo!——
Fourth update! Four chapters today, sixteen thousand words! Please subscribe, vote! Next chapter at eleven tonight! Thanks to the alliance leader Huafen Catalyst for the support.