"Beautiful women really are strange."
Chen Shi shook his head, "Let her come up, she insists on sweating all over, trembling, not willing to come up, just likes to stay down there."
Li Tianqing agreed profoundly, "That’s why I’ve lived for twelve years, and I still don’t understand women’s thoughts."
Chen Shi nodded, "I’m already eleven, and I don’t understand women either."
The two sighed, feeling that this was a completely unfamiliar territory to them.
"You two little things, who have never even held a woman’s hand, what are you daydreaming about?" Jin Hongying’s voice came from beneath the mound.
Li Tianqing whispered, "I’ve held my mother’s hand. She does the laundry at the Li Family, and her hands are very rough."
Chen Shi said, "I’ve also touched Yu Zhu’s hand, it’s not as strong as mine."
They arrived under the crooked old tree, and Chen Shi offered incense to his stele godmother, whispering, "Godmother, bless us, let us safely get through this Demon Transformation, and keep the villagers safe and sound."
A blue light floated on the stele, like the aura of clouds and mists, but besides that, there was nothing unusual.
Li Tianqing was instead examining the crooked old willow tree in front of him, quite surprised, "Little Ten, all the other trees outside the village have turned into porcelain trees, why hasn’t this old willow tree porcelainized?"
Chen Shi paused, turning his gaze to the old tree.
He was too familiar with everything here, so he hadn’t noticed that the old willow tree hadn’t porcelainized, but now upon careful observation, he saw that not only was there no sign of porcelainization on the old willow, it was even more luxuriant and dense than before.
He was also greatly puzzled, "Could it be that this willow tree has also absorbed the Incense Fire Qi, using extraordinary power to form a spirit? But why haven’t I seen its divine semblance in the past two years?"
These days in the mountains and within the village, many spirit objects could resist porcelainization, so Chen Shi only felt slightly surprised and did not delve further.
He offered nine sticks of incense to Zhu Xiucai, while before it had always been just one, but this time, because he had to leave Huangpo Village and could not come back for a while, he offered more.
"Little Ten, are you leaving Huangpo Village?" Zhu Xiucai asked while sniffing the incense.
Chen Shi nodded, "We have no choice but to leave. The Evil Bodhisattva is searching for living people everywhere; staying in Huangpo Village, we might very likely be completely destroyed by the Evil Bodhisattva. Only by leaving might we have a chance to survive."
He hesitated, then said, "Xiucai, do you want to go to the underworld? I can help you untie the noose so you don’t have to hang here."
Without the noose, Zhu Xiucai would be able to get rid of his restraints and regain his freedom.
Zhu Xiucai, his neck hanging in the rope, looked down with a tilted head, laughing coldly, "Do you think I hanged myself here to go to the underworld? I hung high to see how rotten this damned world could get! I hung myself here to watch Great Ming’s mountains and rivers rot in the hands of those bastards! My hanging here is to see those sons of bitches die a terrible death!"
He cursed, speaking some unintelligible and bizarre words.
Knowing his habitual disdain for the world, Chen Shi didn’t try to persuade him further and, along with Li Tianqing, walked down the yellow earthen mound.
This time, after going up and down the slope, Jin Hongying’s gaze at Chen Shi was filled with some evasion and awe.
"Your godmother is up there?" she asked cautiously.
Chen Shi nodded, "Yes."
"Little Ten is very filial, haha, hahaha!"
Jin Hongying laughed dryly twice and said, "Could you introduce me to Little Ten’s godmother?"
Chen Shi was surprised, not understanding why her manner had shifted from presumptuous to respectful?
"My godmother is up there; if you want to meet my godmother, just go up," Chen Shi said.
But Jin Hongying did not dare, she even did not dare to step up the mound.
She seemed to be filled with fear at the very sight of this earthen mound.
"Little Ten’s godmother is very impressive, huh. Haha, hahaha!" She laughed somewhat nervously.
Chen Shi did not understand why she was laughing and paid no attention to her.
After a while, Jin Hongying gave up the idea of going up and limped towards Qianyang Mountain, saying fiercely, "Hurry up and follow me, let’s leave this place and get into the mountain quickly!"
She had just said this when suddenly she turned around and without explanation knocked Chen Shi and Li Tianqing to the ground, whispering in a low voice, "Don’t move. The Evil Bodhisattva is here!"
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing were pinned down by her, smelling a woman’s unique scent, somewhat fragrant but not entirely.
The two teenagers’ hearts pounded violently, their faces reddened and ears turned hot, feeling as though they were being pressed by soft flesh.
At that moment, a slight tremor came from the ground, and Black Pot had already hidden, not daring to make a sound.
This vibration came swiftly, walking out from the mountains to Huangpo Village where it paused momentarily, then gradually faded away.
Jin Hongying released the two boys and slowly stood up, cautiously peeking outside.
Suddenly, the Evil Bodhisattva, as if sensing her gaze, turned its head and a pair of eyes blazed intensely, filled with roaring flames, looked their way.
Jin Hongying hastily crouched down.
The gaze of the Evil Bodhisattva swept the area, noticing nothing unusual; its footsteps shook the ground slightly as it walked away.
Once it was far enough away, they came out; Chen Shi sprinted to Huangpo Village, only to find that the men and women, old and young of Huangpo Village, had all turned into porcelain, without exception.
Had it not been for Jin Hongying forcing them, pushing them to leave with her, Chen Shi, Li Tianqing, and Black Pot might have faced the same fate, with no means of escape.
"Chen Shi, let’s go!"
Jin Hongying called out, "We need to find Xiao Wangsun; to confront the Evil Bodhisattva, we must have the artifact that Xiao Wangsun holds in his hand. That bastard took the treasure of the Divine Mechanism Camp; he really deserves to die!"
Chen Shi walked out of the village, looked back, and said, "Wait for me a minute, Sister Jin! Black Pot, Black Pot, I need to borrow some of your blood."
He set down his bookcase, Black Pot came over, and Chen Shi took half a bowl of Black Dog Blood.