Chapter 118: Clay Vessels
She was currently tied to a thick wooden post, surrounded by a group of Hsu family cult members. Some held whips woven from vines, others carried bowls of insects.
The bodies and faces of the Hsu family members were covered in dense, eerie symbols.
They were no longer just drawing symbols; they were tattoos, completely etched into their bodies.
"Dodo…is…lost…save…me,"
Li Ronan said with difficulty. The Hsu family elder struggled to hear her.
"Save you! It's all your fault for destroying the cave and taking the recording."
"Who will save us?"
"Yes, this woman is here. She must have attracted the Mother Buddha. We're going to be killed."
"Burn her! Burn her!"
Hearing Li Ronan's words, the Hsu family members became agitated.
A terrifying aura seemed to suddenly surge around them.
All sound abruptly ceased.
The Hsu family members, as if choked, huddled together in panic, nervously watching their surroundings.
Some people's bowls were filled with swarms of insects, all standing upright in a worshipful posture.
The surrounding trees cracked and snapped, branches tied with red cloth breaking and falling.
"Mother Buddha... Mother Buddha is here!"
All the Hsu family members quickly bowed their heads, their hands forming the inverted hand gesture, and whispered the cursed incantation.
Li Ronan also tried to chant, but with her damaged tongue, she couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time; the more anxious she became, the less she could speak.
Marcus was listening through his phone.
In the video, a hand hurriedly picked up the phone on the table, then the image shook, passing through layers of trees and running outside.
From the figure captured on the phone, Marcus could roughly identify it as Li Ronan.
She, though bound, had actually escaped again; clearly, the Mother Buddha had helped her.
Marcus noted down the Hsu family's address and disconnected the video call.
Since the Mother Buddha had entangled the Hsu family again, the family would definitely try to restrain some of the deity's power.
Two days passed quickly.
For the past two days, Marcus had been observing the temple entrance and Li Ronan's situation.
He also made sure Ronan Chen had no opportunity to feed Dodo.
For the past two days, he had made Ronan Chen eat fast food outside, and before each meal, he would check Ronan to make sure there was no food on him.
The key to Dodo's room was also in Marcus's possession, and he had added an extra lock.
All of this was to ensure the smooth progress of the seven-day ritual.
The brush outside the courtyard had been completely flattened,
as if a herd of animals had trampled it dozens of times around the house.
This was all due to the Mother Buddha's influence.
It couldn't break through Master Yuan's protections, but it could sense that something was wrong with Dodo.
Dodo had been unconscious for a day; after all, without food and water, her body was extremely weak, and her brain was subconsciously putting her into a deep sleep.
As her body weakened, the deity's curse within her also began to weaken, which was the reason the Mother Buddha Deity was so anxious.
This "Mother Buddha," despite her grand name, has a really petty mindset, fixating on one child for so many years.
She's practically on par with Freddy Krueger from Elm Street—both are twisted entities who relentlessly pursue children.
As darkness fell, the third day was drawing to a close.
Thud! Bang!
Three black objects were thrown into the courtyard from outside the wall.
Marcus glanced down and saw three black crow carcasses on the ground, blood dripping from their beaks, their eyes rolled back.
A stench of decay filled the air.
"Marcus!"
Ronan Chen had just come out of the house.
"Go back and watch over Dodo!"
"Marcus, I..."
"Go back immediately, don't come out, we have visitors!"
Ronan Chen was about to say something more when Marcus interrupted him, pushing him back into the house. Marcus locked the door from the outside.
Ronan Chen opened his mouth, hesitated, and helplessly sat back down on the chair, continuing to care for the unconscious Dodo.
He had only gone out to use the restroom, but was forcibly pushed back.
The situation outside was clearly dangerous, so he had to hold it in for now.
The sound of increasingly hurried movement echoed from outside the wall.
Marcus's expression turned serious.
Thud thud thud!
Clumps of dark figures were thrown into the courtyard, crashing to the ground with a sickening sound.
Some of the figures struck the blessed papers, staining them with dark blood.
An even stronger stench filled the air.
The ground was littered with the rotting corpses of toads, rabbits, birds, and the like, piled high.
If this continued, the courtyard would become a dumping ground before the protections were broken.
Marcus was almost amused by his anger.
"You think you can play like this?"
The true form of the Mother Buddha Deity was still inside the cave; Marcus believed the forces outside couldn't be too strong.
With a thought, tactical armor appeared on the ground.
Marcus donned the gear, and a figure resembling an armored warrior appeared on the spot. He recited a prayer:
"Conceal your form and hide your presence, move with divine speed, I see the enemy, the enemy knows nothing of me, move as I please, strike and demons flee, swift as lightning, swift as commanded!"
After the invocation, accompanied by the sound of metal moving, Marcus stepped out of the courtyard.
It was pitch black outside. Across the path, there seemed to be a figure standing silently, but upon closer inspection, it was just a small tree, and upon further inspection, it didn't resemble a person at all.
It was as if everything before had been a hallucination.
"Waaaaah!"
A child's crying and laughing sounded from the empty, overgrown brush.
Marcus followed the sound and chased after it.
A girl carrying a skinless, dead toad blocked the way.
The little girl's hair covered her eyes, and she held the toad corpse in her hands, putting it into her mouth to bite, seemingly using this gesture to frighten Marcus.
Marcus's steps didn't falter for a moment; he continued his charge, smashing through the little girl's figure until it dissipated into smoke.
He had already realized that these children's true forms were clay vessels, and those illusory shapes were completely harmless.
A strand of hair seemed to brush past Marcus's shoulder; he swung his right hand and struck his shoulder, producing a metallic clang, but caught nothing.
"Where is it?"
Marcus carefully surveyed his surroundings. The figures of children were trying to distract him, while simultaneously throwing animal carcasses into the yard.
He chased after them again, dispelling three dark figures that couldn't dodge in time.
"Found it!"
Marcus whirled around, kicking a nearby tree. Dry bark splintered, creating a large hole, revealing a clay vessel less than two feet long curled up inside.
Upon being discovered, the clay vessel cried out from within, its outer layer crumbling and rustling as it tried to crawl away like a caterpillar.
Marcus took out a blessed paper and affixed it to the clay vessel's head.
The surrounding noise subsided, and the vessel seemed to have completely transformed into an ordinary clay figure.
Marcus stored it away; this was a child harmed by the Mother Buddha and turned into a bound spirit.
He continued searching the surrounding area.
Until all the strange phenomena nearby disappeared, Marcus had caught seven clay vessels.
These vessels were all considered cursed objects, but not very powerful.
Looking at the vessels in his possession, Marcus was reminded of the 'Seven Souls Transformation' ritual he had obtained from the Soul Collector in the previous world.
This ritual required seven entities formed from tragic deaths, and these clay vessels should meet this requirement.
The Soul Collector lacked true demons, so it used seven hanged corpses as a substitute.
However, the reliability of that ritual still needed to be tested.
After temporarily clearing away the surrounding supernatural phenomena and disposing of the animal carcasses outside, Marcus opened Dodo's room.
This was considered one wave repelled, but the Mother Buddha would certainly not let it go easily, watching helplessly as Dodo survived seven days and completed the ritual.
(End of this chapter)
Author's Note
Chapter Goals:
500 Power Stones unlock a chapter
10 Reviews unlock a chapter
20+ advanced chapters on P*treon – DarkFoxx