The King of Curses

Chapter 5 One step away

"Boy, you and I are from the same hometown."

"Uh, yes... I'm from Jinjiang City."

"Where do you live?"

"I was born in an orphanage, I have no home, and I usually stay in college. Later I went to Tianhai City, and during the "ghost soldiers passing through" one of the eight disasters, I escaped with a group of people from school..."

"Haida?"

"Correct."

"Haha, then we are not only from the same hometown, but also seniors and juniors. Don't worry, I will protect you in the future."

"……Thanks."

——When Cen Dongsheng first joined the Exorcism Department, he met a senior by chance after a general meeting. The above is a brief conversation that took place at that time.

Of course, the other party said this, but in fact, the two of them rarely saw each other afterwards, and they were not even acquaintances.

This senior is a top-class curse master. Unlike himself, he is an elite capable of conquering a haunted house on his own and holds the important position of team leader.

The other party was not a likable person in the Exorcism Department. Cen Dongsheng had heard from his colleagues that he had an arrogant personality and liked to brag about himself at the dinner table.

It is said that he even claimed that "I am only one step away from the special class", but in the ideal country with strict hierarchy, you are what you are, and such arrogant and unfounded statements will only make people look down on you.

"But no matter what, I still have to say 'thank you' for providing me with information."

Cen Dongsheng thought.

The information that "his own curse came from his time as a security guard in a haunted building" was mentioned by the man himself at the table after he got drunk.

In the world of forbidden masters, such honest people are rare. Most rational people will be very secretive about the source of their abilities, and such information is life-threatening.

"I heard it's a 'human immortal' curse. Maybe because of this, he doesn't pay much attention to his own intelligence management."

The human-immortal curse is good at tempering and strengthening the body and soul. Although it lacks the ability to call the wind and rain or return the wind and fire, it seems to be weaker in terms of momentum against the enemy; but its advantage lies in its "reliability", which allows the curse master to easily adapt to any environment and is difficult to restrain.

As for Cen Dongsheng himself, he didn't care what type of spell it was. Anyway, since that person could use it to become a top-class spell master, his ability must be hundreds of times stronger than what he had in the past.

Strictly speaking, he is still an ordinary person. He is full of confidence about the future, but he has no idea what to do and urgently needs to take the first step.

……

Cen Dongsheng walked forward in the darkness. The ground under his feet was uneven. Occasionally, he would kick messy construction materials or cans, which would roll far away with a "clang clang" sound.

The darker and quieter it is, the more frightening a sudden sound can make people feel, fearing that there is some danger lurking in an invisible place.

But Cen Dongsheng did not stop, taking bigger steps and walking faster and faster.

After catching the fleeting "Qi" just now, he walked in that direction without hesitation, until he was blocked by a wall and realized that he had reached the end.

"Snapped."

There is no road ahead.

Cen Dongsheng turned on the flashlight, and there was floating dust in the bright beam of light.

He slowly moved the position of the light beam and stretched out his hand to feel the wall bit by bit.

The young man's emotions were tense and excited, but they were effectively controlled through his deliberately controlled breathing, which allowed him to concentrate on looking for clues.

at last……

Cen Dongsheng, who was lying on the ground, suddenly noticed that the force in his hands was not right, so he grabbed a brick and broke it off with force.

This immediately caused a series of chain reactions, and the bricks nearby fell down one after another, causing a corner of the concrete wall to collapse.

When the smoke and dust cleared, a hidden space behind the wall was revealed.

"Has it been poured in there?"

The aperture moved toward the inside of the wall, illuminating a terrifying scene.

——It was a dead body.

To be more precise, it was a skeleton, with only tattered pieces of clothing on its body. The skeleton was curled up in this narrow corner.

Cen Dongsheng had reason to speculate that the skeleton was most likely dug out during the construction process, but it would be difficult to find clues with a corpse that was so severely decomposed; and the parties involved probably found it troublesome, so they simply pretended not to see it and sealed the corpse with thick cement.

But for some reason, the sealing process was not completed properly, and the shopping mall, which had not yet been completed, was hastily opened, leaving a loophole.

Cen Dongsheng closed his eyes.

The fleeting "Qi" symbolizes that the power of the curse rises and falls like the tide.

When he opened his eyes again, he was sure that what he wanted was here.

The young man raised his hand without hesitation, bit his fingertip with his teeth, held his breath, and forced a drop of blood to fall.

The blood that contained his personal life breath fell into the dust.

The space in front of him was like a stone falling into the water, creating invisible ripples, and the surrounding Yin Qi suddenly boiled up. Like cold water meeting hot oil, the "Yang Qi" in the living body and the "Yin Qi" in the world of the dead are two opposing but intertwined forces that can also transform into each other.

Just as after a master of forbidden arts eliminates ghosts and monsters, he can refine "yin qi" into "yang qi" and then further refine it into "true qi" to increase his strength; the same principle applies to ghosts and monsters, which is why they crave the flesh and blood of living things.

Cen Dongsheng followed the method to activate the forbidden spell, dripping his blood essence, and at the same time concentrating his attention, he saw countless tadpole-shaped characters trembling in front of him, slowly floating upwards, turning from virtual to real...

This is the curse.

Just as he was about to absorb these words into his body, he suddenly felt a chill on his back.

After the curse was activated, the surrounding Yin Qi began to surge violently like a tide, attracting all the demons and monsters inside the building. Cen Dongsheng was sure that he heard the restlessness coming from behind... It was like a giant lizard was crawling along the ground quickly, ready to bite off his head!
He turned his head and found that it was not an illusion. He saw a pale shadow approaching him rapidly.

"That is……"

Cen Dongsheng recognized her at a glance. She was the female ghost he saw in the bathroom mirror.

Her messy black hair covered her face, she was wearing an old white dress and had pale skin. She got on all fours like a monster, crawled on the wall like a gecko, and then jumped down and pounced on him.

"I clearly didn't want to take action until just now... Was I attracted by the Yin Qi surging around the curse?"

Judging from her appearance, she should be a Class C ghost, that is, a "lonely soul", which is also the type of ghost that people can understand most easily.

Ghosts at this level are already capable of torturing and killing people. They can still be hurt by Yang Qi, but can also erode life at the same time. They have a natural desire for living things, and ordinary people have no way to resist them. The best way is to stay away from them in time.

As he thought about it, the female ghost was already very close to him.

Cen Dongsheng finally saw the face hidden by the messy hair: it was a face that was half rotten, with the gums exposed, the ferocious mouth was opened with an alarming degree, a fishy smell rushed straight to the top of his head, and a row of dark yellow teeth were gnawing towards his neck.

On the other hand, Cen Dongsheng's reaction was...

Long before the ghost girl approached, he took a deep breath and held it, letting his chest swell up like a frog's vocal sac;

When the female ghost came close to him, there was no panic on his face, and he suddenly opened his mouth:
"Bah!"

A roar of astonishing volume came from deep within his lungs, accompanied by a sudden exhalation of air from Cen Dongsheng's mouth, exploding like thunder in this small, dark space.

The female ghost was hit right in the face by the breath.

It was clearly the air exhaled from a human mouth, but when it blew onto the ghost's face, it was like a ball of blazing flame, and the rotten face and messy hair actually caught fire together!
The lonely soul suddenly screamed violently, her whole body arched like a shrimp, and she struggled and twisted as if she was splashed with sulfuric acid. After a while, she turned around and crawled back in panic, fleeing away from Cen Dongsheng.

It was not until then that Cen Dongsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his face suddenly turned pale and his whole body looked dejected, as if he had lost his energy.

...Yes, he hasn't mastered any forbidden spells yet, but that doesn't mean he can't deal with low-level ghosts.

What Cen Dongsheng had just used was actually just the introduction to Qi body techniques, a most basic and most obvious Qi-training technique that everyone in the future world will be able to master: gathering the body's true Qi in the chest and roaring it out with a thunderous sound.

However, although his skills were not advanced, it took him a full two months just to cultivate this little bit of true Qi; and now, as he exhaled these two months of hard work in one breath, Cen Dongsheng felt dizzy and his limbs weak.

This is why the forbidden masters could only pretend to be gods for a long time in history. Even if someone could practice from the age of eight to eighty, making progress every day without slacking off for a moment, the amount of true qi that could be refined in a lifetime would probably not be as much as that of the most ordinary modern forbidden master.

It was not until the beginning of the first wave that a large number of new curses appeared in this world along with the activeness of ghosts and monsters. Curses are the foundation of the power of the curse master. High-level curses are not only powerful, but can also greatly expand the individual's true energy.

"It's now……"

As the true Qi in his body was exhaled, he felt dizzy. Cen Dongsheng immediately bit his lip, using the pain to stimulate his mind, trying to stay conscious and focus on the present.

Only after all the words floating in the air were absorbed into his body did Cen Dongsheng stand up shakily and immediately return along the way he came.

……

"Huh...huh..."

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any other ghosts along the way. When Cen Dongsheng stumbled back to the sentry post, he was covered in cold sweat, gasping for breath, and could faint at any time.

It was not only because of the consumption of true Qi, but also because the tadpole-shaped words that had just been absorbed into the body were bumping around in the brain, causing waves of pain in the head.

What he had to do next was to solve these two problems at once.

Cen Dongsheng did not dare to relax for a moment. He returned to the house and immediately immersed his mind, sitting cross-legged and entering a meditative state.

This is a wonderful state that allows the mind to be in a half-asleep and half-awake state. It does not lose vigilance to the outside world, but is conducive to cultivation and rest. It is also a basic skill that will be known to everyone in the future.

The tadpole words that were floating around in his mind began to take shape as his attention continued to focus.

Wonderful knowledge poured into the spirit like the sea.

"...This is...a Grade A forbidden spell...wait, this is——"

Cen Dongsheng realized some incredible secret. When he suddenly opened his eyes, he saw a tiger appearing in front of him!
Its hide was pitch black, like an ink painting, and its dense hair was dotted with silvery white spots. Its outline seemed illusory, and its pupils were filled with black and white. However, the viciousness in its gaze was so real, as if it had the aspiration to swallow the whole world in one gulp.

The tiger's body almost filled the entire room. It lowered its head, bared its fangs slightly, as if mocking, and then pounced towards Cen Dongsheng, crashing straight into the young man's chest and disappeared.

At that moment, an astonishing scene emerged in his mind:

A giant tiger as big as a mountain, with a body as dark blue as a lily, was standing proudly between heaven and earth. Around it, sand and rocks were flying, and violent gale winds were swirling. The terrifying storm blurred the colors of the world. It was roaring at the sun and moon above its head.

——But above this evil tiger, there was clearly an even larger figure, stepping on its head. It was a dark shadow that blocked out the sky and the sun, with a pair of wings extending from behind, stretching endlessly like the night sky...

Cen Dongsheng's face was as pale as paper and he was sweating profusely. It took him a long time to regain control of his body.

"it turns out……"

He held his forehead, his eyes filled with astonishment, surprise and disbelief.

As the saying goes, one must plan carefully before taking action. When making plans, he tried his best to consider all possible changes. But no matter what, his purpose was always simple:

Master a high-level spell to lay the foundation for your future; after officially embarking on the path of a spell master, use foresight to sprint towards the ultimate goal.

So... he really didn't expect "this kind of accident" to happen.

Cen Dongsheng lowered his eyes and saw that his hands were still shaking.

——"That person wasn't just bragging..."

The senior in the previous life once boasted in front of others, "I am only one step away from the top grade."

Everyone thought that this person was just arrogant, but it was not until Cen Dongsheng, who had lived a new life, got the curse first that they realized that the other party's words did not seem to be just nonsense...

(End of this chapter)