Several months later, Bai Suzhen became pregnant.

She truly transformed from a demon into a human.

We prayed at Jinshan Temple, thanking the Buddha for blessing us with a child.

Two strings of prayer beads, due to our prayers, became rich in luster, though their light was somewhat dim.

We eagerly awaited the birth of our child at home.

Bai Suzhen said that women are pregnant for ten months, so it's still too early to start nurturing the fetus.

But her belly grew day by day; within just a week, it looked as if she was six or seven months pregnant.

I cautiously asked her if this was how it was for demons to bear children.

But she didn't know the answer either; she was the first demon in the world to conceive a child.

Perhaps due to the prayer beads, Bai Suzhen's belly also began to emit a dim light.

Monk Fahai smiled and told us not to worry; perhaps it was the reincarnation of the Buddha.

But in the end, it didn't turn out as we had hoped.

In less than half a month, Bai Suzhen went into labor.

The child crawled out of Bai Suzhen's body by itself, terrifying everyone.

It looked like a snake yet completely different.

Seven or eight tentacles extended from its neck, each ending in a mouth with sharp teeth.

Its body was covered in snake-like scales, but no face could be found anywhere on it.

I drew my sword to kill this ugly monster, but Bai Suzhen blocked my way.

She pleaded with me, looking pitiful:

"Please, spare him; he is your child."

I stared at the monster behind her, not believing that it carried my blood.

But the next moment, it spoke; its voice was not something a human could produce, raspy and sharp:

"Mom, I'm hungry."

Bai Suzhen and I were both stunned, and in that moment, the monster completely left the room.

We searched the entire city but couldn't find any trace of it.

Only at night did many households find their chickens and ducks dead.

The deaths were horrifying, as if a giant leech had sucked all their blood.

I suddenly recalled the previous vision: Hangzhou was destroyed by leech-like monsters.

Could it be that the true disaster is our offspring?

When Bai Suzhen and I saw it again, it appeared at Jinshan Temple.

Monk Fahai called it the Buddha's child, meaning the reincarnation of the Buddha.

At this time, it had taken the form of a small monk, smiling sweetly.

But it sent chills down my spine because no human's smile ever looked like that.

Its mouth stretched, but none of its facial muscles moved, as if they weren't connected at all.

It was like a puppet that could be taken apart into countless pieces.

I smelled a strong scent of blood from it, as if it had waded through a mountain of corpses.

Bai Suzhen's remaining sanity suppressed her maternal instincts, and she didn't embrace the child.

But as the child kept tapping the wooden fish, our consciousness grew drowsy.

Monk Fahai's figure also gradually became ethereal, slowly merging with the child tapping the wooden fish.

At this moment, the child reverted to its monstrous form, but this time, it was even larger.

Its entire body nearly filled the whole hall, countless tentacles sprawling all over the room.

Monk Fahai became a half-face on its body, almost identical to the Buddha I had seen.

I rushed at it with my sword, and it roared in anger:

"Xu Xian, are you going to kill me again?"

I froze on the spot, gazing at it woodenly, not understanding what it meant by those words.

But the next second, a flood of memories surged from the depths of my mind.