Above the Great Dao

Ghost God Domain, a term used by cultivators to describe incomprehensible and mysterious zones.

Such places often came with strange rules, like Huixing Town just outside the provincial capital of Xinxiang Province, a notorious Ghost God Domain.

Anyone who entered Huixing Town would be trapped in an endless cycle, repeating the same day's events, unable to escape until death.

Moreover, in Nanmen County, there was a Ghost God Domain that transformed people into paper figures, rendering their divine skills utterly futile.

These places, however, were already world-renowned, territories of danger known to all.

How could Huangpo Village, a mere village under Xinxiang County of Xinxiang Province, harbor such peril without being known?

"Xinxiang's biggest scoundrel, a shameless little rat!"

Just as the purple-robed woman came to this realization, the brocade-clad guards following her panicked. Some triggered spells, trying to revert their bodies back to normal; others ran back, thinking they could restore themselves by leaving the Ghost God Domain. And in their haste, some stumbled and shattered into pieces on the ground.

The purple-robed woman shouted, "Don't run around! Follow my command!"

Gradually, the people calmed down and gathered together again, all eyes falling upon her.

Stabilizing her emotions, she said, "Since this place is indeed a Ghost God Domain, it means we have come to the right place. This is the rumored True King's Tomb..."

At that moment, Chen Shi's voice came from ahead: "Big sister, why haven't you followed? The porcelain dolls' lair is right here!"

The purple-robed woman's eyes flashed as she looked in the direction of the voice and saw a small head poking out from behind a large dirt mound— it was Chen Shi, with an innocent face and clear, albeit foolish eyes, clearly not the cunning figure she had pictured.

"He's just a child; I might have overthought this."

She felt a pang of guilt—she had imagined Chen Shi as someone calculating and had forgotten that he was just a child in his teens.

The purple-robed woman studied Chen Shi with a flicker of realization in her thoughts; like them, he too had turned into a porcelain doll!

"This boy obviously isn't here for the first time; he must know how to turn from a porcelain doll back into a human!"

Her eyes lit up, and she immediately gave the order: "Follow him, and seize the chance to capture him!"

The crowd rushed forward, the forested mountains gradually spreading out with fewer dense trees and, instead, numerous tall mounds of earth.

The mounds were hollow, marked with burn scars that resembled the openings of kilns.

Beyond that, there were several giant ceramic pots, some shattered, others intact, towering four or five times their height, oppressive like monstrous figures.

Chasing Chen Shi, they darted through the pots and kiln openings, with the purple-robed woman trailing behind, surveying her surroundings in astonishment—she suddenly realized, "No, this isn't the True King's Tomb! This is... a kiln factory for producing ceramics!"

Ideas exploded in her mind. How could a rural kiln factory become a Ghost God Domain?

And from where did the ceramics of the kiln factory originate?

Why did Chen Shi bring them to the kiln factory?

As she pondered, Fang He's voice suddenly came from ahead: "We've lost him... there's someone over there! It's those porcelain dolls!"

The purple-robed woman hurried to catch up and saw the porcelain dolls that had previously been frolicking by the creek now hiding in the shadows of a still broken kiln, looking at them in terror.

One of the porcelain dolls frantically waved at them.

One of the guards chuckled, "These little things are afraid of us..."

The purple-robed woman had a realization and her expression turned grave as she quickly said, "It's not us they're afraid of, but something else! Retreat—"

Abruptly, the ground thundered and trembled, the world around them darkening as a fierce wind blew. Three giants in grayish-green clothes took strides towards them.

These giants were tall and skinny, standing one to two zhang high, dwarfing them, especially now that they had become porcelain dolls barely a foot tall.

The giants had long limbs and faces as if moulded from clay, devoid of expression, like kiln workers sculpting ceramics, stirring up gusts of chilling wind, reaching out to grab them as they saw them.

The people scattered and ran; suddenly, one was captured by a kiln worker who snapped their neck with a crack, crushing the porcelain head into pieces that trickled down through the giant's fingers.

Seeing this, the others ran faster; however, with each step the kiln workers easily made up dozens of their steps, quickly catching another person in their hand.

The purple-robed woman was struck with horror. Though she was a cultivator with a cultivated Divine Embryo, once trapped within the Ghost God Domain, her Taoist skills were greatly diminished, useless against these kiln workers.

A mere step from the kiln worker would surely crush her into powder!

She ran desperately, weaving through the kiln factory, evading the kiln workers' pursuit, yet the number of people around her dwindled until she was left alone.

The others had all been caught by the three kiln workers.

The purple-robed woman suddenly thought of the porcelain dolls hiding in the kilns. With a flash of insight, she hurriedly sought refuge in a derelict kiln.

To her surprise, there were also porcelain dolls inside, and upon seeing her hide, they all waved frantically, signaling her to be quiet.

The kiln workers bent down and looked around, one of them sticking its huge face into the kiln entrance, blocking it.

The purple-robed woman held her breath and dared not make a sound.

The kiln worker moved stiffly, its eyes lifeless and doll-like; it made a grinding noise as it scanned the inside of the kiln, then stood up and walked away with long strides.

The other kiln workers ceased their search as well.

After a while, the porcelain dolls stealthily peeked out, looked around, exhaled in relief, and gestured to her.

The purple-robed woman approached, crouching down to follow the porcelain dolls as they moved quietly away.

Not far away, a huge kiln blasted with roaring flames, and the charcoal burned fiercely as the three kiln workers tossed the porcelain dolls they had captured into the relentless fire.

The porcelain dolls struggled and screamed in the blazing fire, melting and distorting.

The woman in purple felt a surge of heartache, those porcelain dolls were the brocaded guards of the Xinxiang Zhao family, and now they had met their end in such a desolate rural place!

She followed a few porcelain dolls and secretly left the kiln factory.

"Miss, were you also deceived into coming here by the little beasts of Huangpo Village?" one of the porcelain dolls asked.

The woman in purple answered, "I don't understand your language... Huh?"

She was surprised to find that after she had become a porcelain doll, she had inexplicably gained the ability to understand their bird-like language without a teacher!

The woman in purple didn't hide anything and recounted her experience, saying, "He said his name was Cheng Shi, but his belly is full of mischief! You... "

One of the porcelain dolls sighed and said, "We too came here in search of treasure, but were deceived and ended up in this predicament."

"And us too." A few more porcelain dolls approached.

"As well as us."

Outside the kiln factory, groups of porcelain dolls walked over one by one, each with a gloomy expression.

"We heard that the True King's Tomb was nearby, so we came searching for this great tomb, hoping for some fortuitous encounter. Little did we expect that the simplicity of the past is gone; who would have thought that such a little demon would exist in the countryside, supposedly unsophisticated!"

An old-looking porcelain doll, brimming with grief and indignation, paused with his walking stick and said furiously, "That little demon deceived us here and turned us into pottery! Over the past two years, more and more people have fallen for his trick, all victims of his maliciousness!"

Someone was filled with righteous indignation, "We won't be puppets!"

The crowd echoed in unison, "That's right! We won't be puppets!"

The woman in purple joined in the chorus, but in her heart, she thought, "These people also came in search of the True King's Tomb, and clearly, just like me, they have resorted to extreme measures. Little Cheng Shi must have perceived this, which is why he lured them here. This kid..."

She remembered Chen Shi and couldn't help but itch with hatred, "That stinking brat, is he really just around ten years old? And how does he transform from a piece of porcelain back to human form?"

"Miss, you are..."

A porcelain doll with the appearance of a middle-aged man stepped forward, scrutinizing the woman in purple, and suddenly blurted out in shock, "You are Zhao family of Xinxiang Province's Second Miss Zhao?"

The woman in purple, taken aback, nodded and said, "May I know who...?"

The porcelain doll answered, "I am Quanzhou Li Xian, Miss Zhao, we met once before, earlier this year!"

The woman in purple felt a shock to her heart. Li Xian from Quanzhou hailed from a prestigious family and had a well-established reputation. There were rumors of fierce bandits entrenched in Longyuan, unbeatable by anyone, yet Quanzhou Li Xian ventured alone into Longyuan, in and out seven times, unstoppable!

When he had visited Xinxiang Province, her father had even instructed her to greet Uncle Li, never expecting him to be trapped in this backwater area!

"I am Danjiang He Qinghe, I have seen Miss Zhao," another voice introduced.

The woman in purple was startled once more; this Danjiang He Qinghe was also a renowned figure, having formed a Golden Core, a formidable young master of his generation!

And he too had fallen into this trap!

A porcelain doll that looked like a young woman spoke, "I am Lin Feishuang, I have met Miss Zhao and everybody else here."

"I am Xinxiang Long Gang, I have met Miss Zhao and everybody else here!"

"I, from Yudou's Hua Qingchi, have met Miss Zhao."

...

These porcelain dolls, one after another, revealed their identities; all of them were significant figures, including even an old predecessor who had attained a Nascent Soul!

The woman in purple was both astonished and horrified; these powerful characters, some of whom even the Xinxiang Zhao family would treat with great respect, had all fallen for that youngster's tricks and turned into porcelain dolls, left at the mercy of others!

"However, my status in the Zhao family is not low, and if I don't return home for a few days, my father will surely send people to search for me. As long as they find Huangpo Village, they will trace our whereabouts and rescue me!" she thought to herself.

In the kiln factory, the flames surged to the sky.

Chen Shi quietly retreated to the dark corner of the wall, avoiding the three kiln workers who were like wooden sculptures.

In the corner, there were several large urn-shaped jars which hurriedly retracted their hands and feet, squeezing tighter to prevent the porcelain doll from joining them.

However, there was enough space between them, and Chen Shi managed to squeeze in.

The three long-limbed kiln workers passed by, and one of them glanced at the jars in the corner. Startled, one jar suddenly grew a leg with a pop.

The other two kiln workers immediately turned their heads to look, and the jar, sensing danger, quickly grew two arms and another leg and bolted, clanging as it went.

The three kiln workers promptly gave chase, and after a short while, two of them returned, bending down with expressionless faces to inspect the other jars to see if any of them had come to life.

Chen Shi, hiding in the corner among the jars, stole a glance; the kiln workers' eyes were ashen and white, like faulty porcelain that had failed to fire correctly.

After inspecting for a while and finding no anomalies among the jars, the workers left.

A bit later, the remaining kiln worker returned, dragging the escaped jar and tossed it back into the kiln to be melted down.

In the shadow of the corner, Chen Shi and the few surviving jars moved stealthily and quietly left.

It seemed the surviving jars did not get along with Chen Shi either. Once they were out of sight of the three kiln workers, they turned around to settle the score with him. But when they looked behind, Chen Shi had already slipped away without a trace.

————Tomorrow's update will be around 11 a.m. Everyone is welcome to collect, read, and vote!