Chapter 5

Looking at the centipede that had grown to over seventy centimeters, resembling a grass snake, Zhang Lisheng’s expression changed. He steadied his mind and began chanting the witchcraft incantation. The centipede, responding to the ‘sibilant and rustling’ sounds, moved as if controlled by his arm, obediently following his will, a sign that the witchcraft insect had taken form.

Transforming ordinary insects into witchcraft insects through incantations and witchcraft power is a technique exclusive to witches.

In Chinese mythology, the primordial god Pangu, holding a giant axe, split the chaos to create the heavens and the earth. Upon his death from exhaustion, his breath turned into the spring breeze and mist, his voice became thunder, his eyes formed the sun and moon, his hair became the stars, his body turned into mountains, his blood became rivers, his tendons became roads, his muscles became plains, his bones and marrow became underground minerals, and his skin and sweat became grass and trees.

After Pangu, the goddess Huaxu caught fish in a large lake and, stepping on the footprint of the thunder god from the heavens, conceived and gave birth to the brother and sister Fuxi and Nüwa, who had human heads and snake bodies.

Nüwa created humans from clay and, with her brother Fuxi, gave birth to the witches.

Later, the water god Gonggong and the fire spirit Zhuanxu fought for the throne. Gonggong, defeated, rammed his head into the mountain of Buzhou, causing the celestial pillar to collapse, the nine provinces to split, the sky to tilt northwest, the earth to sink southeast, floods to spread, and fires to rage.

To save the people, Nüwa traveled the four seas and climbed numerous mountains, borrowing the fire of the sun god to smelt five-colored stones from the Tiantai Mountain, using 36,501 stones to mend the sky.

Nüwa used 36,500 stones to mend the sky, then cut off the four legs of the divine tortoise that carried the Tiantai Mountain to support the four corners of the heavens and earth, finally resolving the disaster of the nine provinces, but she also exhausted her essence and turned to dust.

Thus, her descendants, the witches, took over the task of educating humans. In ancient times, witches were those who communicated with deities, controlled ghosts, divined good and bad fortune, and governed the world, the most powerful of all.

However, as the human race grew stronger, the Three Sovereigns Sui Ren, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor, and the Five Emperors Taihao, Yan Di, Shaohao, Yao, and Shun, all wise and powerful rulers, emerged, driving the witch descendants to the remote Nine Li region. This led to the gradual transformation of witchcraft into a unique culture of the barbarian regions in Chinese history.

Therefore, witchcraft can be said to be the way of the ancient divine bloodline of China, not the chaotic and evil minor arts imagined by the ignorant.

"It’s done, it’s done, it’s actually done, I, I am a witch!"

Although he had a premonition after regaining consciousness in the hospital, Zhang Lisheng was still overwhelmed with surprise and joy.

Unfortunately, his joy was short-lived. He blurted out, "Father, Father, I’ve done it, Fa, Fa..." instinctively wanting to share his success with Zhang Daowu, but then suddenly remembered that his father was already dead, and he was alone in the old house.

At that moment, a strange sense of sorrow gripped the young man’s heart, crushing it.

"Father, Father, Fa, Fa..." Zhang Lisheng felt as if he had been drained of all strength by countless venomous insects, collapsing to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, and eventually falling into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, it was already dawn. The sound of knocking on the door and anxious calls came from outside: "Shanchongzi, Zhang Lisheng, how are you? Open the door, open the door quickly!"

Zhang Lisheng, dazed, stood up from the ground in the courtyard, not forgetting to make a few ‘sibilant and rustling’ sounds to drive his witchcraft insect into hiding. He called out hoarsely, "Who is it, who is outside the door?"

"It’s me, Tao Lulu, open the door quickly," the person outside answered loudly.

Zhang Lisheng staggered to the door, unlocking the heavy bolt, and opened it. In the misty morning light of the mountains, he saw a girl about his age, with dark skin and exceptionally delicate features, and asked, "What’s up?"

"I heard about what happened at your place from my father, I came to see you," the girl, Tao Lulu, said sympathetically. "Are you okay? Why are you covered in mud?"

"I’m fine, I fell in the courtyard. Uncle Ah Lie helped me a lot yesterday, thank you."

"We’re all neighbors, no need to be polite," the dark and beautiful girl, Tao Lulu, shook her head and lifted a mud-yellow earthenware pot. "This is a stewed old hen with ginseng my mother made for you to nourish your body. Are you going to school today?"

"It’s not like I was hit by a car, why do I need to nourish my body? I won’t be going to school for a few days. My father said my mother is still alive, I need to find her first."

"Father said he will help you find your mother. You should still go to school. Going to university and leaving this mountain village is the way to success. Rest for a couple of days and then go back to school."

"My mother, I will find her myself, and I will go to school in a few days."

"Alright, eat the chicken, get a good night’s sleep, and don’t lie in the courtyard anymore, you’ll get sick. I’m going to school now." The girl nodded, feeling there was nothing more to say, and with the sky already bright, she turned and left.

Zhang Lisheng waited until the girl’s figure disappeared on the village path, then dazedly closed the wooden door, holding the pot to his chest and opening it. A hot, rich aroma rushed to his nose.

The method of stewing ginseng chicken in Miaowei is very simple: a free-range chicken is force-fed liquor to clear its intestines, then suffocated, and stewed with old ginseng roots, lard, water, and various seasonings over a low fire. The taste is incredibly fragrant and nourishing.

Zhang Lisheng had not eaten or drunk anything for most of the day, only having two tea eggs, and had fed the venomous insect twice, already feeling very hungry. When he smelled the aroma from the pot, he could no longer resist.

He wiped his hands on his school uniform, endured the heat, and grabbed the plump hen from the pot, putting it in his mouth and chewing vigorously. After a few bites, he suddenly thought of Tao Lulu’s words, "Don’t lie in the courtyard anymore, you’ll get sick," and tears welled up, dripping into the pot.

However, since Zhang Lisheng had become a witch, his nature had naturally become much stronger. He quickly stopped wallowing in self-pity and freed himself from his sorrow.

With the salty tears, Zhang Lisheng finished the entire pot of ginseng chicken, feeling his spirit, which had been lethargic, improve significantly. The mysterious witchcraft power in his blood and flesh also naturally grew as the nutritious food in his stomach was digested.

Calmly, he walked into the old house, put down the pot, and took out over two hundred yuan in saved pocket money and a few sets of clean clothes from his room.

Back in the courtyard, he took off his dirty school uniform, drew two buckets of well water from the ancient well, and washed the mud off his body with cold water and soap, then changed into clean clothes, planning to go to the county town.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered that he had transformed the centipede Qinghong into a witchcraft insect, which, according to ancient legends, should be carried and nourished. He made a few sibilant sounds, driving Qinghong out, and let it climb up his body along his trouser leg, hiding it inside his clothes, coiling around his waist.

Although to prevent excessive blood loss and death, the centipede Qinghong that Zhang Lisheng fed was not a special breed but an ordinary insect, and even if an ordinary venomous insect is transformed into a witchcraft insect by a new witch, it does not have much power.

However, as the witchcraft insect coiled around his waist, and the witchcraft power naturally seeped from the pores of his abdomen to nourish the insect, Zhang Lisheng suddenly felt a surge of energy and a sense of well-being, a feeling of everything being under control.

This feeling was actually a false sense of strength, but like a drug, it made one addicted and immersed in it. Zhang Lisheng immediately changed his mind, thinking that finding his mother, who had been missing for over a decade, would not be easy, and the most important thing for him was to thoroughly understand the changes after becoming a witch.

With this in mind, he walked out of the old house, closed the door, and thoughtfully headed out of the village.

Stepping onto the cool stone path, many villagers who had just left their homes to work sympathetically sighed, "Shanchongzi... oh, what a tragedy..." without saying more.

Some early backpackers or tour groups from bustling cities, coming out of the villagers' homestays, breathed the cool air of the mountain village and called out excitedly.

Seeing the simply dressed mountain village boy pass by, some even took him as part of the scenery, posing and taking photos.

But whether it was the villagers or the travelers from outside the mountain village, Zhang Lisheng paid no attention to them. He quickly left the village, came to the rural road, and, seeing no one around, quietly turned into the forest beside the road.

During the special historical period of the early success of the Red Revolution, when human ambition determined the yield of the land, many mountain villages in western Sichuan burned the mountains to create farmland, driving large animals into the deep mountains. Guawo Village was no exception.

However, with the rise of environmental awareness over the past decade, reforestation has become one of the basic policies of the Sichuan government. Most mountain villages have gradually returned to their former appearance. Although the original forests that were destroyed could not be restored in a short time, entering the forests outside the mountain villages had become an extremely dangerous act, except for specific scenic spots.

As Zhang Lisheng entered the forest, it suddenly turned dark. He felt his way for a few steps, and his eyes gradually adapted to the dim light of the forest. A world completely different from the civilized world unfolded before him.

It is hard for those who have not experienced it to imagine how everything could change so thoroughly in just a few dozen meters. This wonder might be the reason why adventure-seeking travelers continue to take risks.

; {Piaotian Literature}