I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 273 The Scarecrow Slaughter, Qing Army Shamans
After devouring the rat, the scarecrow's power instantly increased slightly.

At the same time, the rules governing puppets in the world also improved by an imperceptible amount, even approaching the rules governing life.

Next, this newly born scarecrow began to work quickly, appearing in front and disappearing behind, killing and devouring all birds, beasts, insects, and snakes.

In just one night, it had searched through dozens of acres of land, killing countless birds, beasts, insects, and snakes.

The dynasty wandered within the rules of puppetry, and was able to perceive a portion of these rules, which were subtly embedded within a portion of the rules of life, thus establishing a faint connection with some birds, beasts, insects, and snakes in the world.

Invisible, illusory threads extended from the puppet's rules, continuously reaching out towards the birds, beasts, insects, and snakes.

However, these invisible, illusory threads, seemingly disconnected yet connected, have not fully integrated into their bodies.

The dynasty had no way to control them; it could only vaguely sense their location and some of their inner psychological fluctuations.

Sensing this situation, the dynasty fell into deep thought.

If the scarecrow, or rather the many puppets in the world, kills and devours enough lives.

Could those invisible, illusory threads completely merge into those lives and then turn them into puppets under their control?
In this way, could he control all life in the world by relying on the puppet rules? Or even turn the rules of life into puppet rules?

At that time, he will be in harmony with the rules of puppetry and control the rules of puppetry, but at the same time he will also be the master of the rules of life, controlling all life behaviors in the world.

The thought of that situation filled Wang Chao with excitement, but also a chill ran down his spine.

Such a world is nothing more than a larger, grander stage.

All life in the world is a puppet on a string, and all developments in the world are nothing more than a pre-set script.

Comedy or tragedy, it's all just a matter of his whim.

What future is there for a world like this?

However, he will not use it to control life in the world.

However, he certainly wouldn't refuse to use it to comprehend the profound mysteries of the rules governing life.

In an instant, the dynasty was completely immersed in the profound mystery of the rules, no longer paying attention to the outside world.

The next day, as soon as it was light, the villagers of Xujiazhuangbao took advantage of the cool morning air to go to work early.

Xu Dashan hurried along, carrying a hoe, a smile on his face.

In a time when most places suffer from famine, their village has had a bumper harvest this year, which is naturally something to be happy about.

Xu Dashan arrived at the edge of the field and looked around, but he didn't find any sparrows or other birds. He couldn't help but think to himself, "It seems that this scarecrow is quite useful."

Without thinking, Xu Dashan looked toward where the scarecrow was.

Hmm. Something seems off.

However, Xu Dashan frowned and thought for a while, but he couldn't quite remember what was wrong.

Take two more steps forward and step into the world.

"Pfft!"

Xu Dashan felt his feet go soft, as if he had stepped on something.

He moved his foot away and looked down carefully. In the faint light of the east, he could see that what he had stepped on was a dead rat, and one that had been dead for a long time and had become a dried-up corpse.

Xu Dashan was slightly taken aback. Why hadn't he noticed the dead rat yesterday?
Could it be that I didn't notice?

Shaking his head, Xu Dashan gave up on investigating and kicked the object out of the field, then bent down to work.

During this process, Xu Dashan discovered many things about the animals and began to vaguely feel that something was wrong.

After walking a distance, when they were only about ten meters away from the scarecrow, the scarecrow suddenly turned around, looking in Xu Dashan's direction.

"Intruder!"

The scarecrow appeared in front of Xu Dashan in the next instant.

Seeing the scarecrow suddenly appear before him, Xu Dashan, who was bent over, was a little confused. Wasn't the scarecrow in front of him? How did it get here? Had he remembered wrong?
No, he was absolutely sure he wasn't mistaken. He had just glanced at it and was certain the scarecrow was still quite far away.

At this moment, he finally remembered what he had felt was wrong when he saw the scarecrow earlier.

The scarecrow he made wasn't there; it was in another direction.

Just as Xu Dashan froze, trying to slowly back away, he suddenly heard a hoarse and eerie voice coming from the scarecrow in front of him.

"Intruders, leave the farmland!"

In an instant, Xu Dashan froze on the spot, his lips trembling as he was unable to utter a word.

After a while, Xu Dashan gradually regained control of his body.

"How strange! How strange!"

With a deafening shout, Xu Dashan turned around abruptly and scrambled outwards.

However, his desperate escape immediately destroyed countless crops.

But at this moment, how could he care about any of that?
However, he couldn't care less, but the scarecrow wouldn't allow it, and two red lights instantly appeared in its eyes.

"Destroy the crops! Kill them! Drive them out!"

Although, after being affected by the eerie energy, the scarecrows in this world also possess a murderous intent towards humans who destroy crops.

However, it ultimately did not violate the core rules that Lu Jun inscribed when the Scarecrow was created.

Humans who trespass into farmland can only be driven away, not killed.

The purpose is to prevent scarecrows from killing innocent people who accidentally wander into the farmland.

After the puppet rules are projected into this world, the corresponding rules still exist.

However, due to the distortion caused by the eerie energy, the constraints of those rules have weakened considerably.

Even with the intervention of the dynasty, the wooden dummy puppets of the Huashan Sect could not escape the erosion of eerie energy and rules.

The scarecrows of today are the same; scarecrows infused with eeriness possess a spirituality that is a combination of negative consciousness, with an extreme craving for killing, flesh, and spirit.

There is even a trend of forcibly distorting the core rules.

As the scarecrow grows stronger, it may very well distort the core rules in the future and kill any life that ventures into the farmland.

However, even if it doesn't kill the intruders now, it will still violently expel them.

In an instant, the scarecrow arrived behind Xu Dashan, and countless straws shot out, instantly wrapping around Xu Dashan and dragging him out of the farmland.

However, this may not cause much harm to humanity in the Celestial Empire; at most, it may only result in some illusionary interference.

As for ordinary citizens of the Celestial Empire, they possess a divine status and can even block out illusions and interference; they would simply be bound and thrown out of the fields.

However, what was not very harmful to the people of the Celestial Empire was fatal to the people of the late Ming Dynasty.

In an instant, a large amount of eerie energy invaded Xu Dashan's body. Xu Dashan felt a chill all over his body, as if he had fallen into an ancient ice cave, and his flesh and blood were frozen stiff.

At the same time, countless bizarre illusions instantly overwhelmed his mind.

"Ah~! Hehe, hehe"

Xu Dashan opened his mouth in pain, wanting to ask for help, but could only let out a soft hoarse sound, his breathing and heartbeat gradually weakening.

Finally, as they were almost at the edge of the field, Xu Dashan's breathing and heartbeat stopped.

The scarecrow dragging Xu Dashan suddenly stopped, and red light began to flash continuously in the area where its eyes were.

Finally, the straw binding Xu Dashan instantly grew and extended, like iron wires, piercing into Xu Dashan's body.

Well, before he died, he was a human being who needed to be expelled.

However, after it dies, it is just a corpse, no longer protected or expelled by the core rules, and can be completely devoured to enhance its power.

"Gu Gu."

With a series of sucking and swallowing sounds, Xu Dashan's body quickly withered and eventually turned into a skin-and-bones mummy.

Meanwhile, the power emanating from the scarecrow was rapidly increasing.

In the end, Xu Dashan's body was covered with straw and filled with an extremely dense and eerie power.

Finally, after extracting all of Xu Dashan's essence and spirit, the scarecrow was about to take back the straw from Xu Dashan's body.

However, at that moment, the straws actually showed a slight resistance, or rather, a rejection.

As it absorbed Xu Dashan's essence and spirit, the straw inserted into its body was also constantly being washed by Xu Dashan's essence and spirit, carrying some of his spiritual imprints, and thus becoming somewhat different from the scarecrow.

It was precisely this difference that caused a slight sense of repulsion between the two sides.

The scarecrow tilted its head and stared intently at Xu Dashan in front of it.

After a long while, the scarecrow's eyes suddenly lit up, the blood-red light dazzling.

In the next instant, the straws that were wrapped around Xu Dashan broke off their connection with the scarecrow and instead disappeared into Xu Dashan's body.

Immediately afterwards, countless strange energies and the power of the puppet rules began to converge on Xu Dashan.

Gradually, Xu Dashan's body began to transform into wood and straw.

Meanwhile, the straw grew rapidly, intertwining and weaving, and soon transformed into a new scarecrow dressed in Xu Dashan's clothes.

Xu Dashan's remaining remnant soul merged into the scarecrow at this moment, giving it extremely strong spirituality, but also extremely strong resentment.

Why was I the one who was killed? Why didn't anyone come to save me?
I'm in so much pain.
Since I'm dying, then all of you may come and join me.
Die! Die! Die!
At this moment, the scarecrow that Xu Dashan had transformed into was filled with hatred for life and for humanity.

Around noon, Xu Dashan's family realized something was wrong; Xu Dashan had not returned.

When they came to the field to search, the final result was self-evident: more scarecrows appeared in the field.

Furthermore, the extra scarecrows began to spread to the surrounding fields, occupying one plot after another.

As a result, more and more people began to suffer.

Eventually, the scarecrow's behavior was discovered.

In an instant, everyone panicked and fled, and reported the incident to the authorities.

However, the government was helpless in the face of the bizarre scarecrow.

It is said that in the direction of Shanhaiguan, there is a being capable of suppressing or even killing strange beings.

Unfortunately, they don't have anyone like that here.

In the end, all they could do was seal off the area; the people who lost their land were no longer a concern for them.

Until June of 1632, the seventh year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Huang Taiji launched his second campaign against Ligdan Khan, and while attacking Datong and Xuanfu, an army of nearly a thousand men arrived in the vicinity.

Looking at the golden rice paddies in the distance, where the heavy ears of rice bent the stalks, the Qing army leader was overjoyed.

Judging from the appearance of that rice field in the distance, it should be able to yield at least 10,000 bushels of grain.
As for why no one was harvesting these crops, they didn't think much about it.

Who cares why the crops weren't harvested? Anyway, the crops here now belong to them.

Of course, they couldn't possibly harvest it themselves.

Immediately, they sent men to arrest many people and drive them to harvest the grain.

Although some local residents knew about the strange scarecrow in the fields and reported it to the Qing army.

But how could the proud Qing army care about their words?

It should be noted that by the late Ming Dynasty, the underworld had already enveloped a large area outside the Great Wall.

The eerie power of the underworld, while possessing a strong corrosive and destructive effect on life, is equally potent.

However, at the same time, it can also truly harm the supernatural.

Therefore, they are not without resistance when faced with the bizarre.

However, once inside the pass and away from the shroud of the underworld, this ability will be greatly reduced.

Even so, it is still possible to resist or even suppress some strange phenomena.

Therefore, after hearing the villagers' story, they disdainfully led their troops to the rice paddies, intending to strangle the scarecrows.

The moment they stepped into the field, a nearby scarecrow locked onto them, turned around instantly, its eerie eyes glowing crimson, and a hoarse, eerie voice reached their ears.

"Intruder, die!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the scarecrow appeared in front of the Qing soldiers, and straws shot out rapidly, instantly piercing through the leading Qing soldiers.

Clearly, as they continue to devour humans and distort the core rules with their sinister energy and a large amount of negative consciousness, these scarecrows no longer fully follow the rules, except for guarding the farmland.

Now, any life that enters the farmland will be hunted down by them.

"Ah~! Help!"

As soon as the scarecrow appeared and instantly killed several Qing soldiers, the Qing troops who had stormed into the farmland were thrown into chaos.

However, they were well-trained and quickly calmed down, rapidly forming a battle formation.

"Supreme gods, you are our protectors. Please protect us from evil and grant us the power to vanquish it."

A shaman at the back of the group quickly raised his hands and began chanting prayers.

In the next instant, wisps of eerie gray-black energy emanated from his body and instantly enveloped the soldiers in front of him.

(End of this chapter)