Scarecrow

Late at night, Wang Chen was making a scarecrow.

He broke branches for bones, tied rope for sinews, bound straw into a human shape, then finally inserted a bamboo pole to prop it up.

For someone who had once been a master craftsman, finishing this task was no challenge.

The scarecrow he made was certainly more exquisite than the one the original owner had made.

Making scarecrows was also a basic skill for spirit planters. Every year, they would make several and plant them in their own Spirit Fields during the summer and winter harvest seasons, using them to drive off birds that came to steal rice ears.

The effect was remarkably effective.

Among the common folk, the Grass Head Immortal, Yellow Great Immortal, and Coiled Beam Immortal were known together as the Three Immortals Who Guard the Home.

Of these, the Grass Head Immortal was the scarecrow.

After finishing the binding, Wang Chen took out a dagger, sliced open his middle finger, and smeared his blood over the scarecrow's forehead.

At the same time, he silently recited an incantation: "Heavens above, earth below, Grass Head of my home, show your divine power at once!"

The instant he finished the incantation, he raised a hand and pressed an Exorcism Talisman onto it!

Smearing blood and casting the spell was to grant the scarecrow spiritual nature.

The talisman prevented it from being invaded by evil spirits.

The Exorcism Talisman in Wang Chen's hand had, incidentally, been spoils from looting a corpse.

He carried the scarecrow out of his home and planted it in the Spirit Field.

Wang Chen only rented ten mu of land, so one scarecrow was more than enough.

When Wang Chen returned to the ridge between the fields, he suddenly felt as though something were staring at him.

He turned around and saw the scarecrow standing alone not far away beneath the bright moonlight, while the rice around it rustled in the night wind.

Wang Chen watched it for a moment, then returned home to rest.

Almost overnight, countless scarecrows appeared in the Spirit Fields throughout the Yunyang Spirit Land Region.

They were lonely yet loyal guardians, standing at their posts beneath the blazing sun.

Day after day.

Whenever birds from the mountains drew near, they immediately fled for their lives with a frantic flutter, as though they had encountered their natural enemy.

Never again did they dare set their sights on the rice ears.

At dusk, a group of children came running down a country path.

They were all children of nearby farming households, riding homemade bamboo horses as they chased one another, their clear laughter and shouts scattering along the road.

"Ah!"

One chubby three- or four-year-old child was careless enough to trip over a clod of dirt on the ground.

He nearly fell face-first into shit!

As he scrambled awkwardly back to his feet, he spotted a scarecrow standing beside the field ridge by the road.

This scarecrow was somewhat unusual. Its owner had woven it a straw hat to wear and draped it in a tattered old coat. From a distance, it looked very much like a real person.

Finding it interesting, the chubby child did not bother picking up his bamboo horse from the ground. He took two steps forward and came before the scarecrow.

Standing on tiptoe, he stretched out his plump little hand, smeared with mud.

He wanted to peel off the Talisman Paper stuck to the scarecrow's face.

Slap!

Just then, a hand suddenly swung over and struck the back of his hand hard.

The chubby child immediately burst into tears from the pain. "Waaah~"

His hand had been slapped red and swollen.

Yet the one who had hit him showed not the slightest pity or guilt. Instead, she said viciously, "That's the Grass Head Immortal. If you tear off its warding talisman, it'll come looking for you at night and eat your flesh, drink your blood!"

"Big Sis..."

The chubby child was so frightened that he stopped crying and choked out, "I'm scared."

"Now you know to be scared?"

The older girl who had hit him gave a snort. "I saved your life. From now on, you have to give all your Rice Candy to Big Sis to repay the grace of saving your life. Understand?"

The chubby child obediently nodded, snot running from his nose. "I understand."

"Good."

The older girl took his hand and picked up the bamboo horse from the ground. "Let's go home."

The scarecrow beside the field ridge silently watched the brother and sister walk away.

When night fell, a light rain began to drift from the sky.

Though the rain soon stopped, the dark clouds did not disperse. They covered the moon and plunged the land into darkness.

Then the wind began to rise.

The wind rustled through the rice stalks, stirring the Talisman Paper pasted to the scarecrow's face.

Rumble!

A Lightning Strike suddenly flashed across heaven and earth, its bursting radiance illuminating the scarecrow in an instant.

The shadow behind it twisted and rippled violently.

After a long while, the dark clouds in the night sky quietly dispersed, and the moon reclaimed the Sky Dome.

Treading along the muddy path, Chen Si hurried home.

It was already very late.

Normally, Chen Si would have long since been asleep at home by this hour.

But today, after going to Yunyang City to buy some things, he had passed by Liuchun Workshop, and his feet had somehow carried him into the Gathering of Beauties Pavilion. He had only managed to get away after emptying his Storage Bag.

Then he had failed to catch a carriage out of the city, so he returned very late.

He had even been caught in the rain along the way.

The frail Chen Si had nearly come down with a chill.

Yet when he recalled the taste of that female cultivator from the Joyous Union Sect, his heart still burned hot.

Those ten Lower Spirit Stones had been so worth it!

Chen Si felt as though he had lived the first half of his life for nothing.

He had toiled away in the fields like an old ox. Though he was a cultivator, there was hardly any difference between him and an ordinary farmer.

That half-evening of tender entanglement with the Joyous Union female cultivator—that had been true ascent to heaven and immortality!

Chen Si had already made up his mind. Once the Summer Harvest earned him some Spirit Stones, he would go to the Gathering of Beauties Pavilion again.

The Joyous Union Sect's female cultivators would not remain at the Gathering of Beauties Pavilion for long. If he missed this chance, it would be too late for regrets!

"Ah!"

Distracted for a moment, his foot suddenly caught on something, and he pitched forward onto the ground.

Chen Si hurriedly sprang back to his feet.

Fortunately, it was dark and no one saw him. Otherwise, a fourth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator tripping over a stone would surely become the joke of the year.

The moment he steadied himself, he saw a hat-wearing scarecrow standing several steps away!

Chen Si froze.

Why had a scarecrow wandered into the middle of the road?

And why was there no Evil-Quelling Talisman pasted to its face?

Chen Si instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

He took a step back, his right hand pressing against the Storage Bag at his waist.

Though the Spirit Stones inside had already been spent, he still had several talismans in reserve.

With a thought, Chen Si took out an Exorcism Talisman and clutched it in his hand.

Yet before he could do anything, a gust of yin wind swept past, and the scarecrow before him vanished in an instant.

Every hair on Chen Si's body stood on end.

Fear began to breed in his heart!

Chen Si looked left and right, but he could not find any trace of the hat-wearing scarecrow.

Still, he had no intention of continuing down this road.

It was far too sinister!

Licking his lips, Chen Si abruptly turned around, intending to return the way he had come and borrow a place to stay from a nearby friend for the night.

But at the instant he turned, he saw the scarecrow again.

It was right behind him!

Chen Si's eyes widened in disbelief, and he opened his mouth to cry out.

A straw rope shot into his mouth like lightning, piercing through the back of his head without the slightest resistance.

More straw ropes immediately stabbed into Chen Si's body.

Binding him tightly!

Dark-red blood wound its way along the straw ropes.

At this point, Chen Si was not yet dead.

But he could neither call for help nor muster the slightest strength to resist.

He could only watch helplessly as the scarecrow drained away his blood, before he was swallowed by boundless darkness.

After a long time, a hand woven from straw picked up the Exorcism Talisman that had fallen to the ground.

It pasted it onto its forehead.

Then the scarecrow, its form now even more robust, walked step by step into the rice field.

And stood there, motionless.

The second update is here. Please support with votes.