On the Path to the Great Dao

There were also many cultivators visiting the countryside in Luowei Town. A private school in the town housed many cultivating scholars. They all came out to the street, looking at this rare scene.

Under the bell tower of Luowei Town, those grey-clothed rats had already surrounded the structure like an impenetrable wall. The large flowered sedan chair stopped more than thirty meters in front of the bell tower.

On the bell tower, the Little Daoist stood under the bell. Several white-bearded old rats stepped forward. Behind the heads of these old rats, Divine Shrines appeared, with Divine Embryos sitting in the shrines, looking quite authentic.

Except for their appearance, they were not much different from human cultivators.

"Fellow Daoist, please leave Grandma's Dao Field!" one of the white-bearded old rats shouted.

The Little Daoist snorted coldly, not looking at them but at the black divine statue inside the sedan chair. "Granny Black Mountain, last time I went to your Dao Field, you occupied the favorable location, and I was defeated. But this time you came to my Dao Field, I occupy the favorable location. Victory or defeat is yet to be known."

The people in Luowei Town hid far away, watching. They could only hear the Little Daoist's voice but could not see his person, not knowing what the Godmother they worshiped on normal days actually looked like.

However, the Godmother they worshiped being driven away made them angry and uneasy.

Faced with such things, ordinary people could only accept, not resist.

An old cultivator visiting the countryside said to the young man beside him: "This counts as felling mountains and destroying temples. It is generally a struggle between Godmothers; mortals cannot interfere. Cultivators also rarely interfere in this matter. Let us just watch quietly." The old cultivator continued, "The so-called felling mountains and destroying temples originally came from a custom during the True King's era. It was when Daoists of high virtue attacked the temples and mountain tops of Evils, demons, and illicit cults, uprooting the opponent's foundation and slaying demons and devils. But today, it has evolved into attacks between worshiped Godmothers fighting for Dao Fields. People's hearts are not what they used to be!"

Such things happened from time to time in the countryside. Often, Godmothers of two villages would go to war for this, the two divine forms fighting to the death to eradicate the opponent and capture the villagers of the opponent's village to become their own subjects.

For example, the Little Daoist of Luowei Town attacking Black Mountain and attacking the Black Mountain Grandma Temple was felling mountains and destroying temples, trying to destroy Granny Black Mountain's true body.

Granny Black Mountain crossing the boundary to kill his subjects was a violation of taboo. As the Godmother of Luowei Town, he had to seek justice for these subjects; it wasn't purely because he was goaded by Chen Shi that he went to fell the mountain and destroy the temple.

"Master, what is Granny Black Mountain's background?" the young man asked.

The old cultivator said, "She seems to be the Godmother of the Black Mountain area in the neighboring county. Some also call her an Evil. Whoever passes through Black Mountain must offer a stick of incense at the Black Mountain Grandma Temple, otherwise they will encounter danger."

Just as he said this, the Little Daoist on the bell tower raised his hand. The thousand-jin large bronze bell hanging in the bell tower detached from its hook, whistling and rotating as it smashed towards the large flowered sedan chair!

This strike was majestic, making the crowd of cultivators watching under the bell tower secretly praise: "Worthy of being the Godmother of Luowei Town, the mana is extremely profound!"

At this moment, the few white-bearded old rats stepped forward in unison. The Divine Embryos in their respective Divine Shrines opened their mouths, and Golden Cores were spat out, spinning rapidly.

The Golden Cores carried dense demonic qi and evil qi. As soon as they appeared, the ground continuously exploded, and even the bell tower collapsed with a loud bang under the pressure!

"Clang—"

The Golden Cores collided with the large bronze bell. The bronze bell was burned red, and hundreds of characters faintly appeared beneath the bell wall.

The bell sound reverberated like a tsunami. The few white-bearded old rats grunted, but they still blocked the large bell.

Suddenly, the Little Daoist flew over and imprinted a palm on the bronze bell. The hundreds of characters beneath the bell wall buzzed and transformed into divine light shining out, forming golden characters as big as dou measures about three meters around the large bell, branding the air as if forming an article!

The white-bearded old rats were shaken into stumbling backward, their Golden Cores also knocked away.

This bell, capable of surviving thousands of years without decay and gaining spirituality under the villagers' sacrifice, was naturally extraordinary.

The Little Daoist shouted loudly and rushed towards the flowered sedan chair.

His unearthly power was extremely vigorous. These few old rats learned human cultivation methods, absorbing moonlight, cultivating into Evils, and refining Evil Pills. Although their strength was not bad, they were still far inferior to him.

The large bell rotated. Outside the bell wall, the article formed by hundreds of characters was also rotating, forming a bell-shaped structure made of characters, carrying great power as it smashed towards the flowered sedan!

This scene made the cultivators from the city stare in goggle-eyed wonder.

"The countryside really has good stuff!"

The old cultivator couldn't help exclaiming, "This bell is definitely a magic treasure left over from ancient times. Durable and extraordinary in power! It's a pity that the ignorant villagers in the countryside worshiped it into having a spirit!"

Other cultivators also saw the clue.

The reason this large bronze bell could repel those white-bearded old rats was not entirely due to the unearthly power from years of sacrifice; another reason was its own extraordinary power!

If the large bronze bell had no spirit and hadn't formed a divine form, it would absolutely be an extraordinary treasure. No wonder they were envious.

Behind the crowd of rats, the curtain of the large flowered sedan chair was lifted by the air wave raised by the bronze bell, revealing the true body of the black divine statue inside.

The black divine statue was a female statue. It should have been a kind old lady, amiable and smiling, fingers pinching a flower.

But in the next moment, the face of the divine statue caved inward, like a black hole, bottomless. At the edge of the black hole were layers upon layers of gums, growing rice-sized teeth, spinning and paving towards the depths of the black hole!

The large bell smashed towards the sedan chair, but the closer the large bell got to the black divine statue, the smaller it became. Together with the Little Daoist, it was sucked into the black hole of the black divine statue's face.

The black divine statue in the sedan swallowed the Little Daoist and the large bell. Countless spinning teeth bulged outward, and then the face returned to normal, still a kind old lady.

The cultivators in Luowei Town were dumbstruck, the hair on their necks standing on end.

This Granny Black Mountain was truly too powerful.

The crowd of grey-clothed rat-men put down the flowered sedan chair. A rat shouted: "Everyone listen to the order. Starting today, work day and night to build a temporary palace for Grandma!"

Many rats held long whips, driving people to build the temple.

A grey-clothed rat bowed in front of the sedan chair and said: "Grandma, we have already issued an ultimatum to that kid named Chen Shi, wanting him to die tomorrow."

A kind and gentle voice came from the sedan, saying: "A Godmother cannot break her word. Since we want him to die tomorrow, then he must die tomorrow. After midnight tonight, Grandma will go and kill him."

Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village. It was getting late. Black Pot was already full. When he arrived home, he saw Black Pot washing dishes, with firewood still burning under the pot.

Chen Shi was already accustomed to this and said, "Black Pot, leave it there, I'll wash it. I have to boil medicine later."

Black Pot came to him, looking serious: "Bark, bark bark!"

Chen Shi put down the book box, went to scrub the pot and wash the dishes, and said, "You cooked dishes? Even three dishes... Of course I'm confident. Now that I've cultivated the Golden Core, if that Granny Black Mountain dares to come, I'll make sure she never returns!"

Black Pot said: "Bark!"

"Don't worry, I won't underestimate the enemy."

"Bark..."

"Alright, alright! You act more like my Grandpa than my Grandpa!"

...

That night, in the deep silence, unknowingly past midnight, under the moonlight, darkness gradually invaded, quickly arriving outside Huangpo Village. In the center of the village, on the ancient tree, the maiden of sixteen years instantly became alert. Without explanation, she urged the branches of the ancient tree to whip towards the darkness.

In an instant, the branches withered rapidly. In the blink of an eye, all branches of the ancient tree decayed and fell.

The maiden was startled. Raising her hand to look, her two arms also withered, snapping off at the shoulders with two cracks.

She hurriedly jumped down from the ancient tree and rushed into Chen Shi's house to hide.

This was a habit.

For a long time, Chen Shi's home had been a mysterious domain to her. Her power could not intrude into it. Now encountering danger, she hid in Chen Shi's home without thinking.

Black Pot lay in the corner, avoiding the moonlight, quietly watching this maiden pass through Chen Shi's room door and burrow into Chen Shi's room.

Chen Shi was still asleep. The blanket bulged; it was the maiden burrowing into his blanket.

Black Pot wagged his tail, pretending not to see.

At this moment, the door bolt was snapped by an invisible great force. The courtyard gate opened. A pitch-black figure slowly walked into the courtyard, darkness like a long skirt spreading behind her.

The black shadow glanced at the dog sleeping soundly in the shadows, withdrew her gaze, and walked straight towards Chen Shi's direction in the main hall.

Black Pot secretly raised his head, but suddenly the black shadow abruptly turned back.

The dog was still sleeping soundly in the shadows.

The black shadow turned her head back, flowing into Chen Shi's room like formless and substanceless darkness.

Chen Shi was in deep sleep, having a pleasant dream. In the dream, Grandpa Chen Yindu came back to life, saying King Yama said his lifespan hadn't ended and let him return to the world of the living to take care of his grandson.

He passed the exam to become a Juren and returned to the village. Granny Yuzhu and Granny Wuzhu in the village were scared out of their wits, kneeling on the ground to kowtow to Master Juren. Granny Wuzhu even proactively picked watermelons for him to eat.

Yuzhu had grown up at some point, looking about as big as Jin Hongying, twisting and squeezing into Master Juren's arms, saying coyly: "Master Juren, you... killed my obedient grandson. It's past midnight, pay with your life!"

Chen Shi's pleasant dream instantly became incomparably dark. In the black dream, only he was in the light. All around was darkness, but in the darkness, there seemed to be grains of glowing little things, like rice grains.

"Granny Black Mountain?"

Chen Shi was startled and shouted, "Granny Black Mountain, you condoned the rat-men under your command to wreak havoc, that's why I killed them. You can't blame me! You barging into my dream, when I wake up you can do nothing to me!"

"You can't wake up!"

In the darkness, light spots like rice grains trembled as if laughing. Those were rice-grain-shaped teeth, which had already surrounded Chen Shi on all sides.

Granny Black Mountain's voice was extremely triumphant. "You have already fallen into Grandma's mouth, and you still want to wake up... What is this? What is this thing? What did you hide in your dream?"

Her voice became incomparably terrified, as if encountering something incredibly terrible. Just now she was like a triumphant Demon God, but now she was like a little girl scared to tears by a lecherous old man.

"What exactly did you hide in the dream? Save me, save me quickly—"

She let out a blood-curdling scream. Then, the darkness in Chen Shi's dream retreated rapidly. Chen Shi could only see what looked like a human figure being dragged into the darkness, with a slender scarlet tongue wrapped around its neck.

"Save me!"

Miserable screams came from the darkness. Pairs of bony, withered black hands reached out from the void, scratching wildly.

Chen Shi was uncertain and suspicious, jolting awake from the nightmare, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

He panted heavily. Only then did he feel something was wrong. He hurriedly lifted the blanket and looked down, only to see a maiden hiding in his blanket, lying obediently against his body, motionless.

Seeing him look over, the maiden blinked her dark, bright eyes, only she had no arms. It was exactly the village's Godmother.

"Why did you run into my blanket?" Chen Shi asked in confusion.

"Why do you sleep without clothes?" the maiden asked.

"I always sleep without clothes... Wait, why did you run into my blanket? Out, get out quickly!"

Chen Shi chased the maiden away and sat by the window, still recalling that dream, thinking: "Could it be that what one thinks about during the day, one dreams about at night? I must be too afraid of Granny Black Mountain, that's why I had such a dream."

Outside Huangpo Village, Madam Sha carried the Sheep Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, looking at Chen Shi's house in the center of the village from a distance.

The Green Sheep paced out from behind her, shaking his head. "Old woman, it's useless. Granny Black Mountain is just a weak Evil; she can't test Chen Shi's level."

A burly bearded man walked over from the other side and said, "Granny Black Mountain is already the strongest Evil nearby. That Evil inside Chen Shi, exactly what level is it?"

(End of this chapter)