Chapter 76: Someone in the Belly
Chen Shi didn't reply immediately. Instead, he raised his voice, shouting into the air: "The Evil is right nearby. How do you dare approach?"
As his words faded, the surrounding crowd scattered like birds startled by a bowstring.
"Move a bit further away."
The bystanders retreated even further, creating a wide berth.
Chen Shi took out a stick of incense, lit it, and stuck it into the earth at the feet of the grey-clothed rat. He asked calmly, "Your Excellency is from out of town, correct? May I ask which spiritual mountain claims your precious territory?"
The grey-clothed rat sniffed the curling smoke, revealing a look of intoxicated pleasure. It sneered, "How do you know I am not from Qianyang Mountain?"
Chen Shi smiled faintly. "I am most familiar with Qianyang Mountain. I have seen all kinds of Evils, but I have never laid eyes on you. Are you a rat that attained the Dao and cultivated into an Evil?"
The creature replied arrogantly, "I am a disciple of Granny Black Mountain, residing on Black Mountain. Today I am passing through your precious land to seek some petty gain. I heard there is a Demonic Transformation here. Grandma said that if too many fellow Daoists died, we should move in to fill the void."
Chen Shi frowned slightly. Black Mountain was located on the other side of the Dejiang River (Virtue River) and was much smaller in scale than Qianyang Mountain. The Evils of Black Mountain and Qianyang Mountain had always minded their own business, adhering to the principle of well water not violating river water. This grey-clothed rat coming to Qianyang Mountain to eat people suggested they believed many local Evils had perished during the Demonic Transformation and wanted to seize the opportunity to occupy the mountain.
"So you are a subordinate of Granny Black Mountain. I have long heard of her prestige." Chen Shi's expression softened, and he laughed warmly, "Could Your Excellency please pass a message to Granny Black Mountain for me? Just say..."
The grey-clothed rat was listening intently, leaning in, when Chen Shi stepped forward, closing the distance instantly. His fist blasted out like a cannonball. The rat couldn't dodge in time and, ignoring defense, immediately erected its tail. The tip of the tail struck like a viper toward the top of Chen Shi's head!
A clap of thunder rang in its ears. Before Chen Shi's fist even landed on its body, its soul shattered from the shockwave alone!
"Boom!"
Chen Shi's punch connected solidly with its chin. The rat's neck snapped at an unnatural angle, and its body spun violently as it flew upward, crashing down over ten meters away. It twitched a few times, then lay motionless.
However, before the fist even made contact, the creature had already been killed by the thunder sound produced by the punch.
This kind of low-level Evil feared thunder sounds the most. They had to hide deep underground during thunderstorms; otherwise, they would be shattered to death by the mere rolling of thunder.
Although Chen Shi had experienced the heart-rending pain of losing his grandfather, after walking out of the grief, he cultivated diligently day and night. The Big Dipper Refinement tempered his bones, heart, blood, flesh, skin, qi, and spirit. His strength grew daily, and the thunder sound produced by his fists and feet became deafening. Shattering souls and injuring spirits was now child's play.
Although the thunder sound produced by his fists and feet was not a spell, it was better than a spell.
"Just say, if you want to gain a foothold in my Qianyang Mountain, have you paid respects to the mountain head yet?"
Chen Shi shouted the sentence, then suddenly felt a massive wave of drowsiness wash over him. He couldn't help but close his eyes, a serene smile on his face, and fell asleep standing up.
He jolted awake a moment later, his hair standing on end.
He had struck first, yet he was still hit by the tip of the grey-clothed rat's tail. Just a casual touch on his head had sent him into a deep sleep!
This kind of strange art was something he had never encountered before!
"This Evil is strange! It knows spells!"
Chen Shi strode forward, arriving beside the corpse. A boom erupted from the corner of the rat's clothes, and a paper talisman tucked underneath ignited spontaneously.
In the fleeting firelight, Chen Shi saw clearly that the drawing on the paper was an Invisibility Talisman.
Drawing an Invisibility Talisman was extremely troublesome; it had to be drawn on clam paper.
Refining clam paper was also a tedious matter.
Clams are mirage-beasts (Shen). Shen are experts at concealment and can breathe out illusory qi like mirages to hide their true bodies.
A Shen that lives for a thousand years becomes a clam.
Collecting the shell of a clam, grinding it into fine powder, mixing it with paper pulp, and drying it into paper makes clam paper.
Then, using vermilion and black dog blood to grind ink, one writes the imperial edict at the top, the Three Pure Ones text below, then the three characters "Yu Cheng", "Yu Hu", and "Yu Qing" (characters unavailable in input method), referring to the three immortals Han Zhongli, Lu Dongbin, and Han Xiangzi. Below that is the Big Dipper hidden text, three types of hexagram hidden texts, and jade rings and jade pendants.
There were not many Talisman Masters who knew how to draw Invisibility Talismans. Chen Shi and Grandpa sold talismans around Qianyang Mountain for years and had never encountered this type of Talisman Master.
But this rat-turned-Evil was actually carrying an Invisibility Talisman to harm people. It was bizarre.
"What is the background of this Granny Black Mountain? Why can the rats under her command wear such precious Invisibility Talismans? Why do Evils also know spells?"
Chen Shi was greatly puzzled.
At this moment, the man whose forearm had been eaten woke up. Clutching his mangled hand, he howled in pain, then passed out again from the shock.
Chen Shi told the bystanders to quickly carry him to a doctor, as his life could still be saved.
As for the grey-clothed rat, it did not turn into bloody water and disappear after death. The corpse remained solid, which made Chen Shi very curious.
After the Thread-Pulling Worm was killed by him and Li Tianqing, it dissolved into foul-smelling bloody water, but this creature was obviously different.
"Too strange. Are there different species of Evils?"
Chen Shi took out paper and brush and sketched the appearance of the rat, drawing its tail in great detail.
Next to the drawing, he noted the characteristics of this Evil and its weakness: fear of thunder sounds.
"It can be executed with Thunder Talismans."
Chen Shi put away the pen, blew on the wet ink to dry it, stowed it in his book basket, then took out a small knife. He stepped forward, severed the rat's tail, and examined it carefully.
The tip of this tail seemed to have been tempered, or perhaps it was natural. It looked like red jade, translucent and soft to the touch.
Chen Shi pressed the tail tip against his own head a few times, then collapsed, falling asleep immediately with a strange smile on his face.
After a while, he woke up and looked at the rat tail tip in horror.
Black Pot rolled his eyes nearby. The little master was acting silly again, actually using himself as a test subject.
Chen Shi thought that he shouldn't use himself, so he used the rat tail tip to massage the dog's head twice. Black Pot stuck out his tongue, his limbs went stiff, and he fell straight down, sleeping soundly.
"This thing is a treasure!"
Chen Shi was pleasantly surprised. He pocketed the tail tip and thought, "I can sell it to city people with insomnia. Someone will definitely be willing to pay a high price! I wonder if there are similar Evils over at Black Mountain? I can get some more."
Black Pot woke up and hurriedly moved far away from him.
Chen Shi returned to the village to continue selling talismans. Towards evening, just as he was about to pack up his stall, someone rushed over, shouting: "Talisman Master Chen, Talisman Master Chen! We are also having trouble with Evils, please Talisman Master Chen go there quickly!"
Chen Shi asked calmly, "What happened? Don't panic, speak slowly."
The newcomer gasped for breath. Someone beside him handed him water. He drank two mouthfuls and said: "Cui E from our village is heavily pregnant. Calculating the days, she should be giving birth soon. Originally everyone was happy, but her man insisted on putting his ear to her belly to listen. As a result, he heard two people talking inside Cui E's belly."
Chen Shi was startled. People talking inside a pregnant woman's belly?
"They are two adult voices. One is older, sounding forty or fifty years old. One is younger, a woman, but sounds twenty or thirty years old," the villager explained, eyes wide with fear. "How could there be such voices in a pregnant woman's belly? Clearly, she has encountered an Evil!"
Chen Shi immediately jumped onto the wooden cart and pulled the man aboard, saying, "Sit tight. Black Pot, you come up too!"
Black Pot hopped onto the wooden cart. Chen Shi activated the Armored Horse Talisman on the wheels. The wooden cart, which originally moved unsteadily, now had its wheels spinning fast, whistling out of the village like a galloping horse.
"Which village?" Chen Shi shouted over the wind.
The man hurriedly replied: "Luowei Town!"
Chen Shi held the compass in his hand to steer. The small cart sped along, hurtling toward Luowei Town.
Luowei Town was very far from Huangpo Village, over 35 km away. It also belonged to the villages and towns near Qianyang Mountain, built at the foot of a branch of Qianyang Mountain. That mountain branch looked like a deer's buttocks from a distance, and Luowei Town was right on the deer's tail.
Chen Shi went out to sell talismans during this Monthly Sacrifice festival without a fixed location. He had arrived at a village near Luowei Town, which was only about 10 km away, so he arrived before dark.
Ever since Grandpa went to the Underworld, his courage had grown. In the past, he would never have dared to travel this far.
Chen Shi stopped the cart and looked towards the Godmother of Luowei Town.
Luowei Town's Godmother was an ancient bell tower. The first floor was a stone structure with stone steps leading up. The second floor was a pavilion with doors and windows sealed on all four sides. An old large bell hung in the tower, bronze in some places and showing green rust in others.
The villagers worshiped the bell tower. Over time, the bell tower developed spirituality. Combining unearthly power to condense a divine form, it transformed into a handsome Little Daoist sitting under the bell.
What Chen Shi saw was exactly this Little Daoist.
The Little Daoist sat upright, with his palms, soles, and crown facing upwards, five centers facing heaven.
He was extremely powerful, far superior to the Godmothers in villages. His power covered an area more than half a kilometer wide.
"With such a tyrannical Godmother here, how could an Evil still enter the town and possess a pregnant woman?" Chen Shi was puzzled.
They arrived at the pregnant woman's home. Outside, a crowd craned their necks to look into the courtyard, but none dared to enter.
Chen Shi walked into Cui E's house. His ears and eyes were sharp, and from a distance, he heard two voices whispering inside.
"What should we do, Master? We can't go back!" It was a woman's voice, laced with panic.
"Don't rush, don't rush, Master will think of a way!" A man replied, trying to sound calm but failing.
Chen Shi stepped forward and saw a pregnant woman with a large belly sitting on a reclining chair, looking terrified. Her husband stood aside, uneasy.
Chen Shi signaled them to be silent and sat down in front of Cui E. He heard voices coming from her belly: "We've been out for two days, Master. If we don't go back, I'm worried my body won't be able to hold on!"
"It's fine, it's fine. The body can persist for seven days without eating or drinking. Let me think about how to get out... Damn it, my teacher didn't teach this! If there's really no way, at worst we'll kill this woman, break out of the belly, and return to our original bodies!"
With a smile on his face, Chen Shi said to Cui E's husband: "Five taels of silver."
The man looked troubled.
Chen Shi said, "Go find the clan elders to gather the money. Just say that if your wife isn't cured, everyone else in the town will also be plagued by Evils."
Cui E's husband hurried off.
Chen Shi relaxed. Exorcising evil made money much faster than selling talismans.
The woman's voice came from the belly again: "Another swindler has come."
"Just scare him away, don't disturb me."
Chen Shi laughed: "Could it be that the two Senior Brothers projected their Nascent Souls and ended up trapped in a pregnant woman's belly?"
As soon as he said this, deathly silence fell inside Cui E's womb.
"How do you know we are trapped while projecting Nascent Souls?" the man's voice demanded sharply.
Chen Shi smiled faintly. He had heard Grandpa talk about similar things.
When cultivators refined a Nascent Soul, they couldn't help but want to project the Nascent Soul out of the body to travel the beautiful rivers and mountains, play in the mortal world, and increase their perception. However, projecting the Nascent Soul was also extremely dangerous. Not only did one have to avoid wind and thunder, but one also had to avoid pregnant women or pregnant livestock.
If blown by the wind, the Nascent Soul would gradually dissipate. If struck by lightning, the soul would be shattered.
And pregnant women or pregnant livestock were even more dangerous.
The belly of a human or animal about to give birth is a natural place of reincarnation, a Gate of the Mysterious Female. If a Nascent Soul comes near, it will be sucked in without even a chance to resist. Upon opening their eyes, they will find themselves turned into a baby in the womb or a domestic animal like a cat, dog, cow, or sheep.
What's more terrifying is that the placenta in the womb is a congenital prayer mat for the infant; once seated on it, one cannot get up. The amniotic fluid is natural Soup of Forgetfulness. After entering the womb, the Nascent Soul can resist at first, but soaking in the amniotic fluid, it will gradually lose its memory and become an ignorant infant.
Grandpa once told him about such a case. He said there was an old woman's crying sound coming from the belly of a maiden. He went to inquire and found out that the old woman had refined a Nascent Soul and projected it to visit a friend. She accidentally entered a household that was giving birth, stopped to take a look, and upon waking up, she had entered the womb.
That maiden was also long since not a maiden; she was having an affair with the boy next door and had conceived a fetus in secret.
"Does Little Brother have a way to rescue us?" the man asked, his tone shifting to begging.
The woman was also extremely anxious and said: "If you can save us master and disciple, we will never forget Your Excellency's great kindness and virtue, and will definitely repay it with a springing well!"
"Repay with our lives!" the man added.
Chen Shi said, "Two of you, calm down. I do have a way to let you leave and return to your own bodies. As for repayment, we can talk about it later."
Cui E's husband returned, bringing five taels of silver gathered from the village.
Chen Shi took a brush and wrote a line of words on paper, signaling the man to prepare.
Cui E's husband was illiterate and hurriedly took it out. Someone in the village was literate and said: "The Talisman Master wants us to invite a midwife and prepare for delivery. By the way, tell the midwife not to speak."
After a while, the midwife arrived and let Cui E lie down in the room, avoiding drafts. She also asked the husband to boil water.
While grinding cinnabar, Chen Shi addressed the master and disciple inside the belly: "I will draw two talismans. One will be pasted on this woman's navel, and one on her lower back. Then I will perform a spell to open a path for you two to return to your physical bodies. If you see light coming through, rush out immediately, do not delay. Otherwise, if the light is gone, you will never go back."
The man and woman hastily assented.
Chen Shi drew the talismans. One was a Fetus Stabilizing Talisman, and the other was a Labor Inducing Talisman. The Fetus Stabilizing Talisman was pasted on the navel, and the Labor Inducing Talisman was pasted on Cui E's lower back.
Cui E went into labor but dared not make a sound. The midwife busied herself but also dared not make any noise.
Chen Shi walked out of the room and waited. A moment later, the midwife's startled cry came from the room: "Born! Born! One boy and one girl, two chubby babies!"
(End of this chapter)