"Pretty women are really strange," Chen Shi shook his head. "I asked her to come up, but she was sweating all over, shivering, and refused to come up. She just likes staying down there."
Li Tianqing nodded in agreement, "I've lived for twelve years and still don't understand what women think."
Chen Shi nodded, "I'm eleven and I don't understand them either."
The two sighed deeply, feeling like they were venturing into a completely unfamiliar territory.
"Two little guys who've never even held a girl's hand, what are you daydreaming about?" Jin Hongying's voice came from below the dirt slope.
Li Tianqing whispered, "I held my mom's hand. Her hands are rough from doing laundry for the Li family."
Chen Shi said, "I touched Granny Yuzhu's hand too, but it wasn't as strong as mine."
They arrived under the crooked old tree, and Chen Shi lit incense for the stone tablet dedicated to his godmother, whispering, "Godmother, please protect us and help us get through this disaster safely. Keep the villagers safe and sound."
A faint blue light shimmered on the stone tablet, like the glow of clouds, but nothing else was unusual.
Li Tianqing was looking at the crooked old willow tree in front of him, quite surprised, "Little Shi, why haven't the other trees outside the village turned into porcelain, but this old willow hasn't?"
Chen Shi was taken aback and looked at the old tree.
He was so familiar with everything here that he hadn't noticed the willow tree hadn't turned into porcelain. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it showed no signs of turning into porcelain and was even more lush and green than before.
He was puzzled, "Could this willow tree have absorbed the incense qi and gathered some extraordinary power? But why haven't I seen its divine form in the past two years?"
Nowadays, many spiritual beings in the wilderness and villages could resist turning into porcelain, so Chen Shi was only slightly surprised and didn't delve deeper.
He also lit nine sticks of incense for Scholar Zhu. Usually, it was just one stick, but since they were leaving Yellow Slope Village and couldn't return for a while, he lit a few more.
"Little Shi, are you leaving Yellow Slope Village?" Scholar Zhu asked as he smelled the incense.
Chen Shi nodded, "We have to leave. The Evil Bodhisattva is searching for living people everywhere. Staying in Yellow Slope Village, we might all be captured by the Evil Bodhisattva. Leaving is the only way to survive."
He hesitated for a moment and said, "Scholar, do you want to go to the underworld? I can help you take down the hanging rope so you don't have to hang here."
Without the rope, Scholar Zhu could be free.
Scholar Zhu, with his neck in the noose, looked down with a tilted head and sneered, "Did I hang myself here to go to the underworld? I hung myself high up to see how rotten this damn world can get! I hung myself here to see the Great Ming's rivers and mountains fall apart in the hands of those bastards! I hung myself here to see those scoundrels die miserably!"
He cursed, muttering strange words like "this and that."
Chen Shi knew he was always cynical, so he didn't persuade him further and left the Yellow Slope with Li Tianqing.
After going up and down the slope, Jin Hongying looked at Chen Shi with a bit of avoidance and respect.
"Your godmother is up there?" she asked cautiously.
Chen Shi nodded, "Yes."
"Little Shi is so filial, haha, hahaha!" Jin Hongying laughed awkwardly, "Can you introduce me to your godmother?"
Chen Shi was puzzled, not understanding why she was suddenly so respectful.
"My godmother is up there. If you want to see her, just go up," Chen Shi said.
Jin Hongying didn't dare, not even daring to set foot on the slope.
She seemed terrified of the slope.
"Little Shi's godmother is amazing, haha, haha!" she laughed nervously.
Chen Shi didn't know what she was laughing about and ignored her.
After a while, Jin Hongying gave up on going up and limped towards Heavenly Yang Mountain, fiercely saying, "Hurry up and follow me, let's leave here and get into the mountains quickly!"
As she said this, she suddenly turned around and, without warning, pushed Chen Shi and Li Tianqing to the ground, whispering, "Don't move. The Evil Bodhisattva is here!"
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were pinned down by her, smelling a unique scent of a woman, like a fragrance but not quite.
The two boys' hearts were pounding, their faces flushed, feeling as if they were being pressed down by something soft.
So soft.
At this moment, a slight tremor came from the ground. Heiguo had already hidden away, not daring to make a sound. The tremor came quickly, emerging from the mountains, pausing at Yellow Slope Village, and then gradually moving away. Jin Hongying released the two, slowly stood up, and quietly peeked outside.
Suddenly, the Evil Bodhisattva seemed to sense her gaze, turning its head slightly, its eyes blazing with fire, looking in their direction.
Jin Hongying quickly squatted down. The Evil Bodhisattva's gaze swept around, finding nothing unusual. Its footsteps made the ground tremble slightly as it gradually moved away. Once it was gone, they emerged, and Chen Shi rushed to Yellow Slope Village, only to find that all the villagers, young and old, had turned into porcelain, without exception.
If it weren't for Jin Hongying forcing them to leave with her, Chen Shi, Li Tianqing, and Heiguo would have met the same fate, unable to escape.
"Chen Shi, let's go!" Jin Hongying called, "We need to find Prince Xiao. To deal with the Evil Bodhisattva, we need the treasure in Prince Xiao's hands. That scoundrel took the treasure from my Divine Mechanism Battalion; he deserves to die!"
Chen Shi walked out of the village, looked back, and said, "Sister Jin, wait a moment! Heiguo, Heiguo, I need a bit of your blood!"
He put down his book box, and Heiguo came over, letting him take a small bowl of black dog blood.
Chen Shi ground cinnabar and drew talismans at the village entrance. He drew Peachwood Talismans, Evil-Repelling Talismans, and Five Mountains House-Sealing Talismans. It took him half an hour to use up the cinnabar, drawing dozens of talismans.
He pasted these talismans at the village entrance, on the door frames of every house, and even put an Evil-Repelling Talisman on his godmother's shrine.
Li Tianqing came to help, and the two of them quickly finished.
"Even if we leave for a while, no evil spirits will dare enter the village and disturb it," Chen Shi sighed with relief.
He was worried that evil spirits might enter the village and break the porcelain villagers, making it impossible for them to come back to life. Jin Hongying laughed, "You're really kind-hearted. Let's hurry up and go."
Chen Shi asked, "Sister Jin, you're knowledgeable. Do you think they can come back to life after we get rid of the Evil Bodhisattva?"
Jin Hongying limped towards the mountains, "Maybe. I've only experienced one magical disaster, so I don't know much about this."
Chen Shi was excited, following her steps, asking, "What happened in the magical disaster you experienced, Sister Jin?"
Jin Hongying said, "I was young then, only heard people talking about the Ancient Tower Catastrophe, which lasted a long time. I don't remember the details."
She seemed a bit gloomy, not wanting to talk about it much.
Li Tianqing's expression changed slightly, "The Ancient Tower Catastrophe? I read about it in a book. It was recorded as happening twenty-three years ago. A tower emerged from the ground after an earthquake in Monta City. Some treasure-seeking cultivators entered the tower, but it turned out to be a Demon-Suppressing Tower. They damaged it, causing a magical disaster. It was a terrible disaster, and almost everyone in Monta City died. Later, some strange people entered the demon domain and resolved the disaster. It's said that only one person survived in Monta City."
As he spoke, his voice grew quieter.
The book recorded only one survivor.
Jin Hongying claimed she was there.
So, the survivor is...
Jin Hongying smiled brightly, "If I could survive the Ancient Tower Catastrophe, I can survive this Evil Bodhisattva disaster too! I'm naturally lucky!"
Chen Shi laughed, "Sister Jin is lucky, so we can benefit from it too."
The three of them laughed and joked.
Heiguo watched coldly, noticing that Jin Hongying was forcing a smile, while Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were just trying to distract her from her sorrow over losing her home and family.
Chen Shi changed the topic, "Sister Jin, what did Prince Xiao take from your Divine Mechanism Battalion?"
"Take?" Jin Hongying gritted her teeth, "He stole it! He robbed it! I'll tell you, he stole the Western King Imperial Seal, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations! If I can't get it back, I'll be executed, and the entire Divine Mechanism Battalion will be replaced and killed!"
Li Tianqing was surprised, "The Western King Imperial Seal? Could it be the one imprinted on the Map of the Fifty Provinces' Mountains and Rivers?"
Jin Hongying glanced at him, "You know quite a bit, Little Brother Tianqing. The seal has always been kept by my Divine Mechanism Battalion. Prince Xiao used to be one of us, my senior. I admired him. But recently, he went crazy and took the Western King Imperial Seal. If it weren't so important, I wouldn't have mobilized the Divine Mechanism Battalion to ambush him at Heavenly Yang Mountain."
Her ambush involved luring Prince Xiao to Thunderstrike Mountain and firing nearly a hundred Red Barbarian Cannons at him, almost killing him.
If Jin Hongying hadn't been scared off by Prince Xiao's last sword, she might have perished at his hands.
However, the Divine Mechanism Battalion suffered heavy casualties because of it.
Li Tianqing speculated, "Did Prince Xiao take the Western King Imperial Seal to open the True King's Tomb? No, his goal wasn't the True King's Tomb but the Map of the Fifty Provinces' Mountains and Rivers! The map is a treasure that the True King used to record the geography of the Western New Bull Continent, seal and worship famous mountains and rivers, and mobilize the power of local deities!"
The Map of the Fifty Provinces' Mountains and Rivers has the imprint of the Western King Imperial Seal. So, by obtaining the Western King Imperial Seal, one can claim the map!
Even though there are no more city gods, village gods, mountain gods, or water gods in the famous mountains and rivers today, the Map of the Fifty Provinces' Mountains and Rivers still holds great power.
Chen Shi was clueless about all this, listening with great interest.
"Prince Xiao is either hiding at Mirror Lake Manor to heal or hiding in Reckless City."
Jin Hongying gritted her teeth, "Let's go to Mirror Lake Manor first. If we can't find him there, we'll go to Reckless City! We'll force him to hand over the Western King Imperial Seal, then kill the old thief. You guys can eat meat, and I'll drink blood and devour him! Then we'll use this treasure to open the True King's Tomb, take out the Map of the Mountains and Rivers, and defeating the Evil Bodhisattva will be easy!"
Chen Shi asked, "What if opening the True King's Tomb releases something even stronger than the Evil Bodhisattva?"
Jin Hongying was stumped, hesitating, "That shouldn't be possible, right?"
Li Tianqing said, "The kiln factory was just a place to make porcelain for the True King's Tomb, and it had an Evil Bodhisattva. The True King's Tomb must be even more extreme. If the kiln factory had a Demon Level, the True King's Tomb is at least a Disaster Level."
Jin Hongying was dejected, muttering, "What should I do? Am I really going to die in this wretched place? I'm still in the prime of my life. Am I going to die in the demon domain with these two little brats?"
Li Tianqing said, "Aunt Hongying..."
Jin Hongying's face changed, grabbing his neck. She went from looking sickly to showing a murderous intent, "What did you say, Li Tianqing? Say it again if you dare!"
Li Tianqing, facing death, suddenly had a moment of clarity, "Sister Hongying."
Jin Hongying let him go, but her injuries flared up, making her tremble with pain, "I call you brother, so you should call me sister. If you call me wrong, I'll kill you! Anyway, let's head to Mirror Lake Manor. There's an old monster there. I got injured there last time, and I doubt the Evil Bodhisattva would dare go there. We'll hide for a couple of days and avoid the Evil Bodhisattva's search."
The three of them entered the mountains. Jin Hongying was severely injured, limping and moving slowly.
Laughter echoed from the sky, and several floating skulls dangled their long, red tongues, with people hanging from them, dancing in the air.
The floating skulls saw them, laughed, and retracted their tongues, swallowing the people. Then their long tongues stretched towards them.
Jin Hongying couldn't move anymore and stopped to rest. Chen Shi and Li Tianqing saw the floating skulls approaching and were very nervous.
Suddenly, they saw several paper figures climbing up the floating skulls' tongues. The paper figures had noses and eyes, and they held knives and swords in their mouths, moving swiftly. In no time, they reached the floating skulls' faces and began chopping them with their blades.
The floating skulls deflated like balloons and fell into the forest.
The paper figures put away their weapons, jumped off the floating skulls, and quickly came to Chen Shi and the others, slipping into Jin Hongying's sleeves.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing exchanged a glance. Even though Jin Hongying was heavily injured and had difficulty walking, her magic was still incredibly skilled. What they couldn't handle was easy for her.
They continued on their way. The mountain path was rugged and difficult. Chen Shi saw Jin Hongying soon sweating profusely, likely from her wounds hurting with every step.
This woman didn't utter a complaint, enduring the pain, which made Chen Shi admire her.
They trudged on for two hours. Jin Hongying looked around and said, "There's a mountain village ahead. Let's rest there, eat something, and then continue."
They approached the village, built on the side of a mountain slope with a small river in front. Judging by the riverbed, it would flood during heavy rains, so the village wasn't built in the valley but on the slope.
There were many people in the village, but as they got closer, they realized they were all porcelain figures.
However, there should still be pots and pans in the village to cook some food.
These porcelain figures stood in the streets, arranged in an orderly fashion. The three of them and a dog walked through them carefully, avoiding touching them. If they knocked them over, they might shatter into pieces.
"Wait a minute!" Li Tianqing said, puzzled, "Did you notice that there are way too many porcelain figures here? This village must have over a thousand! How could a mountain village have so many people?"
Chen Shi suddenly realized, "Someone moved them here! But who could have done it?"
A thought flashed through his mind, and his face changed. He quickly said, "We need to leave now!"
At that moment, the ground trembled slightly, and the enormous figure of the Evil Bodhisattva appeared before them.
"Don't move!" Chen Shi said softly, one word at a time.
He stood stiffly among the porcelain figures, barely breathing.