Heiguo came running over, and during the chaos earlier, when Chen Shi told everyone not to move, no one listened except Heiguo, who stood still.
Everyone else got caught by the Silk-Pulling Insect, but Heiguo was unharmed.
Even Chen Shi's book box was still next to it, not lost in the chaos.
Chen Shi took out his writing tools and asked Li Tianqing to draw the patterns on the Silk-Pulling Insect. Meanwhile, he prepared some cinnabar mixed with black dog blood.
He picked up the brush, carefully observing the patterns Li Tianqing drew. Infusing True Qi into the brush, he smoothly painted the talisman pattern on yellow paper.
Chen Shi held the talisman between his fingers, gave it a slight shake, and the True Qi inside reacted with the cinnabar, causing the talisman to ignite.
Both Chen Shi and Li Tianqing stepped back, sensing an unknown force at work.
From the flames of the burning talisman, a strange squeaking sound emerged, and a small Silk-Pulling Insect crawled out from the ashes!
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were stunned. The insect landed, spat out silk, and tried to drag Heiguo into its mouth!
Though much smaller than Heiguo, it attempted to eat the large dog.
Heiguo stepped forward and bit the small Silk-Pulling Insect, causing it to burst into cinnabar and black dog blood.
Heiguo then ran to the mountain stream to clean its tongue and fur. Chen Shi and Li Tianqing remained in shock for a long time.
The merchants, having narrowly escaped, were grateful to Chen Shi and Li Tianqing, hurriedly expressing their thanks.
Chen Shi shook his head to clear his thoughts and said, "It's not even dark yet, and evil spirits are already appearing. The mountains are becoming extremely dangerous. Everyone, you should leave the mountains quickly and seek shelter with the village godmother."
Li Tianqing also shook his head, finding the situation unbelievable.
The merchants busied themselves, and Li Tianqing whispered, "Little Shi, the Silk-Pulling Insect seems to be a creation."
He hesitated, thinking it sounded absurd.
Chen Shi nodded, "It does seem like a creation. But can evil really be man-made?"
Li Tianqing added, "If we can create Silk-Pulling Insects, can we also create the Hundred Infant Demon or the Floating Skull?"
Chen Shi replied, "If we can make these evils, can we also make demons?"
The two young ones exchanged glances, their hearts pounding.
Just then, a red light shot up from the kiln factory, forming a continuous red curtain that covered Heavenly Yang Mountain.
The sky shook violently, becoming unstable.
"Something big must have happened at the kiln factory. Tianqing, let's not think about this now and head to the village quickly!"
Chen Shi called Heiguo, saying, "Evil spirits appearing during the day is a bad omen! Staying outside could mean death at any moment!"
At that moment, a merchant cried loudly, unwilling to leave his goods.
Chen Shi asked, and someone said, "His grain has all turned to porcelain, it's inedible. He's lost everything, so he's crying his heart out."
Chen Shi went over, picked up a handful of grain, and indeed, it was all porcelain rice.
Chen Shi looked up at the trees by the mountain path, jumped up to pluck a few leaves, and tapped them together, making a clinking sound.
The leaves had also turned into porcelain.
A gentle breeze stirred the branches, creating a pleasant tinkling sound throughout the hills and valleys.
Yet, this scene made his hair stand on end.
The trees had turned to porcelain, the grain had turned to porcelain.
What would they eat?
Li Tianqing realized this too, and with heavy hearts, the two and their dog followed the merchants out of the mountains.
As they left Heavenly Yang Mountain, they saw villagers leading cows, with carts behind carrying children and elders. Wives walked beside the carts, looking terrified as they moved along the mountain path.
They were villagers from Hillock Village, familiar to Chen Shi.
"Uncle Luan, where are you going?" Chen Shi asked.
The farmer replied, "Heading out, beyond the red curtain."
Chen Shi looked along the mountain path and saw many villagers with their families heading toward the edge of the red sky.
Li Tianqing suddenly remembered something, his face changing, "This scene reminds me of a book about a demon-level disaster... This is indeed a demon-level disaster, we're in a demon domain! Everyone, stop! Stop now!"
He shouted loudly, "You can't get out! The edge of the demon domain has a corridor, you'll be sent back, up in the air, and you'll fall to your death!"
Some people hesitated and stopped, while others looked at those ahead, saw them still moving, and continued on.
Chen Shi shouted, "It's almost dark! Evil spirits will come out and eat you! Hurry back to the village, there's no rush to leave until tomorrow!"
This threat worked, and many people stopped, discussing among themselves.
Chen Shi sighed in relief, "Tianqing, you know a lot. How can we leave this demon domain?"
Li Tianqing, pale, shook his head, "We can't leave. Everyone will die. Unless the demon dies, we can't escape the demon domain. At the rate this demon domain is turning things to porcelain, the village godmother can only keep ordinary people safe for five or six days. After that, they'll turn to porcelain, become porcelain people. Outside the village, it might only take two days for ordinary people to turn to porcelain, and in four days, no ordinary person will survive."
He paused, "Today is the first day."
"How long will the demon transformation last?" Chen Shi asked.
If the demon isn't stopped, it'll grow stronger, and the transformation will continue indefinitely.
Li Tianqing squatted, drawing a small circle around a porcelain blade of grass, then a larger circle outside it, "The demon will grow stronger, and when it reaches its peak, the demon domain will expand, swallowing more land."
He drew an even larger circle, "It'll keep expanding, and when it covers a thousand miles, it'll become a disaster."
Evil, curse, demon, disaster, calamity.
The demon ranks third.
When it becomes a disaster, it's a natural catastrophe, a thousand miles of barren land, no life.
"But no demon transformation has ever lasted a hundred days."
Li Tianqing stood up, "Recorded demon transformations stop within a hundred days because the Heavenly True God intervenes."
Chen Shi breathed a sigh of relief, "Then we just have to last a hundred days!"
Li Tianqing shook his head, "The True God destroys demons by focusing their gaze. Under the True God's watch, a hundred-mile radius will turn into a molten world, and nothing will survive."
There's only one way to survive.
"Before the hundred-day mark, eliminate the demon, stop the transformation!..."
Demon Transformation, Day One.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing returned to Yellow Slope Village, but their grandfathers were not home.
Chen Shi planned to cook, but found the rice and flour had all turned to porcelain.
"Now, the only things we can eat are probably chickens, ducks, and other livestock."
Chen Shi suggested, "I'll borrow a duck from Granny Yuzhu to get by for now, and we'll hunt exotic beasts tomorrow to repay her."
Li Tianqing nodded.
After a while, the sound of chickens and dogs erupted outside. Granny Yuzhu chased the duck thief with a knife, and Chen Shi ran with the duck, slamming the door shut behind him.
Li Tianqing's heart raced, listening to Granny Yuzhu's scolding outside. He felt embarrassed, having never done something so shameful.
"We'll hunt tomorrow and repay her, no need to feel ashamed."
Chen Shi said nonchalantly, "Tianqing, help me boil water to pluck the feathers."
Li Tianqing quickly went to start a fire.
Heiguo barked a few times, and Chen Shi said, "It's already late at night."
That night was relatively peaceful, though there were occasional noises and cries from the village. Some villagers wanted to leave with their families during the night, but their families disagreed, leading to arguments and tears.
Chen Shi didn't interfere, and the two went to sleep.
He didn't know how long he slept before waking up with chest pain and violent convulsions.
He immediately activated the Seven Northern Dipper Refinement. Although the attack came suddenly, it was mild and he quickly suppressed it.
He sighed in relief, lay back down, but couldn't fall asleep.
He decided to go outside, and looking up, saw the sky was red, indistinguishable between day and night.
Before, sunlight and moonlight made it easy to tell day from night, but now the red curtain covered the sky like a pale red pot, hiding whether it was the sun or moon outside.
Heiguo barked again.
"It's morning," Chen Shi thought.
But it still didn't look like daytime.
Demon Transformation, Day Two.
Their grandfathers were still not back.
From the direction of the kiln factory, there were sounds of thunder, deep and shocking.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing went hunting, and on the way saw a hunter from Yellow Slope Village named Liu Tianzhu, often hunting in the mountains, a strong middle-aged man who moved through the mountains with ease.
Now, Liu Tianzhu moved slowly, sluggishly, and when he saw Chen Shi, he tried to greet him, but his voice was also slow.
His voice had a sharp sound, like birdsong, caused by his vocal cords turning to porcelain.
His vocal cords were like porcelain whistles, hence the birdsong sound. "Tianzhu, it's too dangerous outside, go back to the village. I'll bring you the game we catch!" Chen Shi said. Liu Tianzhu was grateful, realizing his body had problems, and turned back, still moving slowly.
On the road, in the fields, many people moved like this.
By noon, Chen Shi and Li Tianqing returned, having caught three wild boars, four New Township Rats, some wild rabbits, and a llama.
Fortunately, Chen Shi was strong and didn't find it hard to drag the wild and exotic beasts.
Near Yellow Slope Village, they saw people on the road.
They approached, finding they were porcelain people.
Staying in the village could delay the porcelain transformation, but hunting outside sped it up.
Chen Shi continued to the village entrance, seeing hunter Liu Tianzhu, smiling, in a walking pose, but already turned to porcelain.
"Tianqing, if we kill that Evil Bodhisattva, will they return to normal?" Chen Shi suddenly asked.
"They should," Li Tianqing said uncertainly. "Books record demon transformations and ways to handle them, but never how ordinary people survive them. I don't know if ordinary people can survive."
He paused, "History books are the same. I've read many, but they barely mention ordinary people, mostly emperors and famous figures. Ordinary people are like livestock for emperors and officials, not worth recording."
Chen Shi entered the village, put down the game, and headed back out.
"But we're not livestock!"
He picked up Liu Tianzhu, carrying the porcelain Liu Tianzhu back to the village, placing him in his own home.
He made trips, carrying the porcelain people back to the village, placing them properly.
"We're humans, never livestock!" he said angrily.
Li Tianqing saw this, stepped forward to help, and they spent half the day moving the porcelain people nearby.
They then skinned and divided the game, delivering it to each household. At Granny Yuzhu's, Chen Shi gave extra wild rabbits.
Though New Township Rats were pests, they were a type of exotic beast, and their meat contained spiritual energy. Ordinary people could use this energy to delay the porcelain transformation. Chen Shi gave some to each household.
"This child..." Granny Yuzhu, holding the meat and rabbits, felt ashamed remembering her morning scolding. She returned home, thought for a while, and told Yuzhu, "Don't call Chen Shi a dead child anymore."
"But didn't you tell me to call him that?" Yuzhu asked, confused.
Granny Yuzhu felt deeply ashamed, "If I say it again, slap my mouth with your shoe."
The chapter ends here, with a note about updates and asking for votes.