Chen Shi had not slept the entire night, steadfastly cultivating the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, stepping through the Big Dipper constellation and refining it with the Seven Stars.
Li Tianqing, seeing how hard he worked, couldn’t help but admire him greatly. He decided to cultivate as well but soon became too exhausted and went back to bed to sleep.
Although Chen Shi cultivated without stopping for even a moment, the ghastly green hand still acted up again, squeezing his heart tighter and tighter. Fortunately, he had realized that after having killed twelve people, the ghostly hand would act up at night; therefore, he had made preparations well in advance.
Enduring the severe pain, Chen Shi continued his uninterrupted cultivation and finally managed to survive this bout of affliction.
Only then did he dare to go to sleep.
When the dogs started barking, it was already the morning of the fifth day since the Demon Transformation had begun.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing went out to hunt spiritual beasts; they needed to gather as much food as possible in the early stages of the Demon Transformation. Otherwise, as the transformation intensified, even the spiritual beasts wouldn’t survive and would turn into porcelain.
If they failed to collect food early on, they would starve to death later.
Today’s hunt was still meager. Chen Shi spotted a Feng Xi as big as the one he had caught before; unfortunately, the Feng Xi had learned its lesson and bolted at the sight of them, outpacing both the men and the dog.
Their only catch was a Spiritual Camel, a small spiritual beast only the size of a regular sika deer, weighing a bit over a hundred pounds.
On their way back to the village, passing through several others, they saw that the people in these villages had all turned into porcelain, including a wet nurse. It seemed that the Evil Bodhisattva had passed through here.
"If this goes on, Huangpo Village won’t last much longer either."
Both felt a heaviness in their hearts.
Upon arriving at Huangpo Village, Grandma Yu Zhu quickly approached Chen Shi and whispered, "Someone from your family has come!"
Chen Shi’s heart leapt with joy: "Has my grandfather returned?"
Grandma Yu Zhu shook her head, her tone mysterious: "It’s a young lady, and she’s very pretty."
Chen Shi was confused. A young lady?
Could it be that his grandfather had saved enough money for him and bought him a bride?
He couldn’t help but get excited: "Have I finally grown up? Why didn’t I know about this?"
Li Tianqing hurriedly followed him, quite curious to see this beautiful young lady.
The young lady did not enter the Chen Family home; instead, she sat under the ancient tree at the doorstep, donned in a light red coat printed with green flowers, wearing trousers of the same color, with two large braids wrapped from behind her ears to rest on her chest.
She had something bulging against her chest, as if she hid some treasure there.
The young lady looked weak and ill, and the sympathetic villagers had even given her a bowl of meaty broth.
Upon seeing this beautiful young lady, Chen Shi turned without a word and walked away.
Li Tianqing asked in confusion, "Xiao Shi, aren’t you going home?"
"Home? What home? This isn’t my home!"
Chen Shi blinked, "I’ve mistaken the way; my home is at the other end of the village."
Black Pot barked twice, its expression quite serious as if to confirm that Chen Shi had indeed taken the wrong path.
It ran ahead, intending to lead its lost young master to the other side of the village.
The young lady watched them with an amused smile and suddenly said, "Keep walking then, but if you do, you’ll all die."
Chen Shi turned back with a bright smile, slightly surprised, and chuckled, "Ah, isn’t this my home? Look at my memory; I’m getting muddled at such a young age. Black Pot, how could you also get confused?"
Black Pot sat down on the ground, head hanging in remorse, as if bemoaning its forgetfulness about the right house.
The young lady watched them with a smug smile, sipping her meat broth while glancing sideways at their act.
Chen Shi walked toward his own gate, and as if seeing her for the first time, he exclaimed with surprise, "Divine Machine Camp Officer Jin? Is that you, Officer Jin? You’ve forgotten me, Chen Shi! We met in Wuwang City!"
He was excited beyond measure, laughing, "Officer Jin, remember we even shared a table for tea! Tianqing, come quick, this is Officer Jin Hongying from the Divine Mechanism Camp! Black Pot, come and greet Officer Jin! Officer Jin, you look even more radiant today!"
While talking, he slowly backed into his yard, pushing Li Tianqing and Black Pot inside and closed the door, gasping for breath. His smiling face instantly vanished, replaced by fear.
Li Tianqing too wore a look of fear, not glancing at the door but at a corner of the room.
In the corner stood a cannon, a Red Barbarian cannon!
Black Pot also ran around, frantically searching for something to cover its kennel with.
Its doghouse was filled with black iron bullets.
The door burst open under a forceful blow. Jin Hongying entered with a poor complexion, bowl in hand, hobbling forward with uneven steps and an unpleasant look on her face. She sneered at the sight of the Red Barbarian cannon in the corner and the iron bullets in the doghouse.
Chen Shi, pale-faced, whispered to Li Tianqing, "What is the punishment for stealing a Red Barbarian cannon and hoarding ammunition?"
Jin Hongying did not wait for Li Tianqing to answer, but declared, "Your entire nine generations will be exterminated! Plus, you’ll have the additional crime of making gunpowder privately; the whole village will be executed. By this time next year, all of you in the village can reincarnate and start over as human beings!"
Her eyes shifted quickly, and the gloom on her face vanished, replaced by a smile as she said, "However, I’m not heartless. Everything is negotiable. If you can spare some meat for me to eat, we can forget this ever happened. I’m starving to death!"
She gulped down the meat broth voraciously, finishing the bowl quickly and showing her hunger plainly.
After the battle with the Evil Bodhisattva, she had retreated into Fangdian Village to recover from her severe injuries.
Unlike Chen Shi and Li Tianqing, there were no cultivators in Fangdian Village who could go hunting every day; the common people there struggled with their subsistence, so Jin Hongying had been starving.
To her dismay, just as she had stabilized her condition, the Evil Bodhisattva came looking, turning everyone in Fangdian Village, even the little girls and wet nurses, into porcelain.
Fortunately, she had escaped quickly, narrowly averting disaster.