227: Chapter 223: Curse 227: Chapter 223: Curse Those tender threads, as fine as a gossamer, seemed too frail to withstand a breeze, and were even difficult to notice without a careful look.
Yet, their tenacity had reached an extreme point, as Chen Hai’s leech-like Divine Soul latched onto one slender thread.
“Ah…” Buck Teeth Zhu, seated cross-legged on the ground, felt an excruciating pain originating from the depths of his soul, permeating throughout his body.
This person was inherently cruel.
Once upon a time, he’d been chopped multiple times yet still managed to smile and converse breezily, as if the collapse of Mount Tai would not change his expression.
But at this moment, facing the soul-deep torment, he simply couldn’t bear it and let out a wretched cry.
Upon witnessing this situation, Chen Hai merely paused slightly.
After a moment of hesitation, he did not stop the gnawing but instead continued to bite the fine thread entwined around Buck Teeth Zhu.
As seen through his ten fierce compound eyes, there were at least dozens, if not hundreds, of these threads wrapped around Buck Teeth Zhu.
Merely breaking one of these threads took Chen Hai several breaths’ worth of time.
At this point, Buck Teeth Zhu was drenched in cold sweat, looking as if he had just emerged from water.
His body shuddered incessantly, and blood began to seep from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and the seven orifices of his head.
With his ruthlessness, enduring the pain without fleeing the Small Gathering Yang Array was already remarkable.
But his wails couldn’t be controlled, erupting from his mouth like the howl of a pig being slaughtered for the New Year.
Among the onlookers of this scene, Hou Donggui remained rather composed.
Not far away, Buck Teeth Zhu’s subordinates had already changed their expressions, flustered and panicked.
Only because of Buck Teeth Zhu’s usual imposing nature, since he did not give the order, his men dared not act rashly; otherwise, they might have already rushed into the Small Gathering Yang Array.
Chen Hai, who had bitten off that thread, also paused for the moment.
The terrible state of Buck Teeth Zhu had fallen into his field of vision.
Just by severing one thread and already reducing him to such a state, if Chen Hai were to continue, Buck Teeth Zhu might perish before all the threads were removed.
Should this situation arise, what he was doing now would not be saving him but killing him!
The soul returned to the Physical Body, and Chen Hai, who had been sitting cross-legged, now stood up.
His eyebrows furrowed so tightly they nearly formed a single line as he circled around Buck Teeth Zhu several times.
Through the Divine Soul Eye, he could clearly see that the thread he had bitten off seemed to possess its independent sentience.
Just in the blink of an eye, the severed thread had already reconnected.
Seeing this, Chen Hai’s frown deepened even more.
“This thing, it’s definitely one of those extremely troublesome true curses…” Feeling a bit of a headache, he rubbed his temples.
He had never encountered such things before.
As to whether the threads entwined around the Soul Body of Buck Teeth Zhu were curses or some type of Evil Technique, he was unsure.
His conclusions were merely his own speculations.
But at this moment, he was at least eighty percent sure that this thing was undoubtedly a curse.
These so-called curses usually involve specific rituals, soliciting power from some enigmatic existence, and then using vile words to attack another.
For example, the folk practice of “beating the villain” is the simplest form of a curse.
The twenty-first day of the second lunar month is the Waking of Insects Day, also known as White Tiger Opening Day, traditionally considered the specific day for “beating the villain.”
The requisite items for the ritual include paper figurines, consisting of a pair of male and female effigies, a White Tiger, gold and silver, incense sticks, and sacrificial offerings.
Sacrificial offerings include pork to appease the White Tiger, along with peanuts, fruits, alcoholic beverages, eggs, and Five-color Beans.
Once the needed materials are prepared, they are placed by the roadside, incense sticks are lit, and the paper figurines for the male and female villains are taken out and cut into the shape of the person in one’s mind.
For those who are meticulous, eyes, noses, and mouths can also be cut and attached to the figurines’ faces.
Then, the names, horoscopes, or other personal details of the person meant to be cursed are written on the paper effigies, followed by removing one’s shoes to beat the effigies with the soles.
Additionally, paper scissors can be placed on the villain’s tongue to symbolize cutting it off, silencing their ability to spread rumors.
A paper knife placed on the villain’s stomach symbolizes cutting open the abdomen to extract the “black heart,” while paper chains can be used to lock the feet of the villain, preventing them from wandering around.
In terms of the ritual, minor differences in details can vastly impact the effect that is produced.
Such scenes of “beating the villain” often appear in movies shot in Xiangjiang.
However, without the specific spells required to commune with the unknown forces of the universe, success of the curse with a full sense of ritual is uncertain.
It’s not impossible, but the likelihood is extremely low.
The curse on Buck Teeth Zhu, which involved using his own blood as a medium and sacrificing his life to invoke, is malicious and troublesome beyond compare.
Chen Hai, a cultivator like this, had a powerful Divine Soul, capable of soul departure, traversing between heaven and earth.
Ordinary people’s souls, however, were extremely fragile, only able to hide within the protection of the Physical Body, nestled within its vessel.
Those thin strands, one end piercing into the void, extended into the unknown depths of emptiness.
And the other end, was entwined around Buck Teeth Zhu’s soul, burrowing into his Soul Body.
Because the strands were like living things, they had spirituality in and of themselves.
Chen Hai’s leech-like Divine Soul, while gnawing at those thin strands, caused the end that was embedded in Buck Teeth Zhu’s Soul Body to frantically dart about within Zhu’s soul in hysterical desperation.
It was precisely for this reason that Zhu experienced such immense pain, blood beginning to seep continuously from his seven orifices.
“Young Master Chen, how’s the situation?
Is the curse on me resolved?”
Once the strands were reconnected, the situation on Buck Teeth Zhu’s body slightly alleviated.
He looked towards Chen Hai, who paced around him with a worried frown, tentatively speaking and inquiring.
“The curse on you is too troublesome, thinking it could be resolved so easily?”
Sighing, Chen Hai replied with a bitter smile.
“Then what should we do?
Otherwise, let’s just leave this curse be on me and forget about it…”
Buck Teeth Zhu’s expression turned dim, the recent endless agony had left him quite traumatized.
At this moment, him saying such words indicated that he probably had already considered giving up deep down.
“Wait a moment, let me think it through first.
If I really can’t figure out a way, then as you said, we’ll have to leave it for now!” Frowning, Chen Hai responded.
Refusing to help Buck Teeth Zhu with the curse was one thing, but once he had agreed to try and resolve it, it was an entirely different matter.
Giving up halfway was not Chen Hai’s style.
If he could successfully resolve a curse originating from demon spirits of the totems in the Black State, it would be a rare experience for him.
Not far away, Buck Teeth Zhu’s subordinates stood near the villa’s front gate area.
Seeing Zhu’s condition had significantly improved, they too breathed a sigh of relief.
Hou Donggui stood outside the Small Gathering Yang Array, staying closer to Chen Hai and Zhu but merely watched silently, offering no additional comments.
In matters he didn’t understand, rashly stepping in to help would only make things worse.
This principle, he naturally understood.
Curses, something he knew absolutely nothing about, and Chen Hai had him hold the fort merely as a precaution.
So until a major incident occurred, his best course of action was simply to wait silently.
“Do we have to continue?
Young Master Chen, it won’t be like just now, right?” Buck Teeth Zhu clearly resisted the idea.
The curse afflicting him only harmed the women around him and wouldn’t endanger his life even if not removed.
However, with Chen Hai’s help in resolving his curse, the short effort of one or two breaths’ time had nearly cost Zhu half his life.
Faced with such a situation, his current reluctance and thoughts of retreat were more than understandable.
“Don’t worry, Brother Zhu, what happened just now was just an accident.”
“Knowing that method won’t work, I naturally won’t keep forcing it.”
“To resolve the curse on you, I can only try bit by bit.
A minor setback, as long as it’s still within a tolerable range, is considered normal.”
Flashing a grin, Chen Hai explained.
“Well… okay…” Hesitant and struggling internally for quite some time, Buck Teeth Zhu finally gritted his teeth and nodded his head.
“It’s okay, Brother Zhu, just relax, don’t be tense.”
“I’ve thought of another method that I believe is worth trying.
You just need to stay calm at the center of the Small Gathering Yang Array.”
“If you really can’t overcome the fear in your heart, just close your eyes!”
Expressionless, Chen Hai commanded Buck Teeth Zhu and then sat down cross-legged once more.
Seeing this, Zhu, after a moment’s hesitation, obediently followed Chen Hai’s instructions and sat down on the ground, closing his eyes.
A giant leech as tall as a person spiraled in the void—this time, Chen Hai did not continue to force the issue, attempting to sever those strands.
His Divine Soul form gave a slight shudder, and the person-tall leech immediately transformed into a mass of dark clouds.
If someone were to sense its presence and look closely,
They would realize that it wasn’t any dark cloud, but rather a mass of countless tiny leeches, each as thick as chopsticks.
Leeches in the real world secrete an anesthetic when sucking human blood.
If not seen with the naked eye, but only felt, people generally would not notice a leech’s bloodsucking activity.
Allowing his Divine Soul to transform into thousands of tiny leeches, Chen Hai’s plan was to have these tiny leeches latch onto those strands and feed on the power within.
As for whether this idea was viable, only actually trying it out would reveal the truth.