Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 698 Curse Killing!

Although this ghost story was unsuccessful, it wasn't a complete failure either. Xiao Ran guessed that this strange-haired guy might come looking for her again after he calmed down for a while.

But no matter what, Xiao Ran was in a pretty good mood overall.

Humming a little tune, carrying a shoulder pole on his shoulder, he swayed and walked home.

As the outline of the salt shop emerged into the night, Xiao Ran's footsteps suddenly stopped.

The door was open.

Over time, the embroiderer had figured out some patterns. If Xiao Ran came home late, she would close the door and sit behind the counter waiting for her until late at night before going to rest.

The door was wide open, like a gaping, dark mouth. There was no warm yellow light, no embroiderer leaning against the counter complaining, "You're out so late again," only deathly silence.

Xiao Ran frowned, and his spiritual power exploded like a spider web, instantly enveloping the entire salt shop.

Inside the shop, shelves were overturned, salt grains were scattered all over the floor, gleaming a ghastly white in the moonlight. All the drawers in the counter had been violently pulled out, the chair where the embroiderer often sat was lying on the floor, and the account books were torn to shreds.

"problem occurs?"

Xiao Ran quickly scanned the backyard with her mental energy, but found no trace of the embroiderer. Instead, she saw that the house in the backyard was also in a mess.

Xiao Ran's expression immediately turned ugly.

He put away the carrying pole on his shoulder and hurried to the door. Only then did he notice a notice posted next to the door, the paste on it not yet completely dry.

Xiao Ran ripped it off, and the vermilion seal on the paper stood out starkly red in the darkness.
"The convicted embroiderer, who poisoned her parents-in-law, sold toxic salt, and betrayed her master and ancestors, is to be immediately imprisoned pending trial. Neighbors are urged to provide evidence."

???

Even Xiao Ran was stunned for a few seconds upon seeing the contents.

"What kind of nonsense is this??"

But soon, Xiao Ran guessed the reason: the problem probably lay with Li Xiao's aunt.

It seems this group is still not giving up.

"I was too slow!!"

Xiao Ran felt somewhat guilty. She had promised the embroiderer to help her resolve the trouble with her aunt, but she hadn't really taken it seriously. She had only intended to teach her aunt a lesson before the imperial examination began, but she hadn't expected her aunt to make the first move.

Moreover, the way he acted was so ruthless, clearly indicating that he intended to take this opportunity to kill the embroiderer with one blow and solidify the case.

Xiao Ran clutched the notice in her hand, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. She turned and leaped onto the wall, heading straight for the government office.

The government office wasn't far away, and Xiao Ran arrived at the entrance in no time. However, standing outside the office, a strange look appeared in Xiao Ran's eyes.

"This thing again!"

Above the gate of the yamen, a plaque with the four large characters "The law is as firm as a prison" hung prominently, shining brightly even in the night.

As soon as Xiao Ran got close, she immediately felt as if she were bound by some kind of shackles, which were constantly suppressing her.

The further he went, the stronger the suppression became. Xiao Ran had no doubt that if he stepped into the gate of this government office, his strength would be suppressed by at least eight or nine tenths.

Clearly, behind this plaque is probably the same imperial seal bearing the inscription "Imperial Seal of the State," imbued with some kind of power of rules.

Therefore, it seems unlikely that I can force my way in.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran could only step forward, pick up the drumsticks at the door, and strike the grievance drum in front of her.

“Dun dun dun dun…”

As the sound of drums rang out, the gates of the yamen were soon pushed open.

A constable came over and stopped Xiao Ran: "What are you doing? Coming to beat the drum in the middle of the night, disturbing the master's rest. I'll skin you alive!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran hurriedly said to the constable, "Sir, I returned home today and learned that someone has wrongly accused my wife of poisoning her parents-in-law. The person has already been arrested, so I have come here specifically to plead my case. Sir, please be lenient with me."

"Oh, so that embroiderer is your wife. Hehe, let's go to the backyard, I'll bring your wife out in a bit."

"what?"

Even Xiao Ran was taken aback when he heard this, but he was not a fool. He immediately realized what was going on, and his face suddenly turned gloomy.

Xiao Ran grabbed the constable's arm, and the constable's expression changed. He tried to struggle, but the force from Xiao Ran's wrist made him unable to resist and he immediately knelt on the ground.

The money bag that had just been taken from Xiao Ran's hand also fell to the ground.

Tell me, how is my wife?

Xiao Ran squinted and stared intently at the constable. The constable was about to curse, but after noticing Xiao Ran's gaze, he panicked and hurriedly said, "She...she's dead. She...she couldn't take the torture...she ran herself to her death."

Upon hearing the constable's words, a ruthless killing intent flashed in Xiao Ran's eyes.

He stared intently at the constable in front of him, knowing that the man wasn't telling the truth, but he still let go of his hand in the end.

Seeing that Xiao Ran had let go, the constable quickly got up, staring at Xiao Ran warily, with one hand already on the hilt of his knife.

"Don't do anything reckless! This is a government office!"

Xiao Ran didn't speak, but picked up the money bag from the ground and handed it to the constable: "Take the money, I just want to ask one thing, what is your master's name?" The constable looked at the money bag Xiao Ran handed over and thought that this kid had already given in, so he unceremoniously snatched the money bag from his hand: "Telling you won't hurt, our master's name is Fang Yun Shen, Master Fang."

After saying this, the constable saw that Xiao Ran did not speak, so he put away the money bag and walked to Xiao Ran's side: "Brother, let me give you a piece of advice, let's leave it at that. It's just the death of a woman, it's nothing. Just live your life as it comes, there's no hurdle that can't be overcome."

Xiao Ran nodded without saying anything.

Seeing this, the constable stopped trying to persuade her and told Xiao Ran to wait at the back door.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the back door was opened, and several servants carried out a corpse, casually dumped it in front of Xiao Ran's door, and closed the door without saying a word.

Looking at the embroiderer's corpse on the ground, Xiao Ran remained expressionless, silently picked up the body, and walked back.

The cold moonlight shone on the bluestone pavement, illuminating the gradually cooling body in Xiao Ran's arms. The clothes on the body were torn to shreds, seemingly telling the story of the embroiderer's suffering. Disheveled hair obscured her pale face, and a ring of gruesome purplish-blue marks marked her neck.

Xiao Ran's face was as calm as still water, a calmness that was almost terrifying.

With each step on the silent street, the bluestone slabs beneath my feet seemed to groan and crack under the weight.

Back at the salt shop, Xiao Ran carefully laid the embroiderer's body flat beside the chair she often sat in, now overturned on the floor. He reached out, his movements incredibly gentle, and brushed the disheveled hair from her face, revealing her lifeless features.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to turn out this way."

Xiao Ran said to the embroiderer, regardless of whether this world was created by Huang Chao or whether the embroiderer in front of her was a real person.

At this moment, Xiao Ran's heart was filled with murderous intent.

Because of the previous experience with Gu Xintang, Xiao Ran deliberately avoided contact with the embroiderer every day. The two made a three-point agreement that they would not interfere with each other.

But clearly, he breached the contract and failed to deal with the consequences in a timely manner, which led to the young woman suffering this fatal tragedy.

As night fell, Xiao Ran's eyes grew cold.

A fluorescent light flickered in his eyes, and through the Eyes of Retrospection, he saw many scenes on the embroiderer's body.

"Fang Yunshen!" He murmured the name, each syllable seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, imbued with a deep-seated killing intent.

The bailiff who took the money and delivered the message, and that vicious aunt of the Li family...

"Don't worry! None of them will escape."

Xiao Ran withdrew her gaze and looked at the embroiderer's hand. She carefully lifted the embroiderer's palm and found a clump of blood under the embroiderer's fingernails.

This is a piece of skin that the embroiderer tore off from Fang Yunshen's body during her desperate struggle.

The quantity wasn't large, but it was enough for Xiao Ran.

He carefully used a toothpick to peel away the tiny bits of skin and dried blood belonging to Fang Yunshen from under the embroiderer's fingernails.

This small thing might be insignificant to others, but it's a completely different story in Xiao Ran's hands.

Don't forget, he comes from the underworld. When it comes to killing, he has countless ways to bypass all the rules and eliminate his opponent silently.

With a thought flashing through Xiao Ran's mind, rolling corpse energy surged from his body. The next second, the corpse pool unfolded, merging with the curse spell [Water Ink Shadow Suppression] that Xiao Ran had set up earlier.

Instantly, a chilling wind howled throughout the salt shop, and even the malevolent thoughts lurking in the salt vats along the corridor trembled in this cold wind.

Xiao Ran pulled over a table and poured out white money as a guide into the air.

Immediately, he brought his right index and middle fingers together, and the stitches of fate on his fingertips suddenly lit up, no longer gray and white, but a deep dark red like congealed scabs!
"Initiated by grievances, with blood as the proof, let it begin!!"

"Dingling, ringing, ringing..."

The sound of chains turning could be heard coming from the pool of corpses, but no chains could be seen emerging from it.

On the contrary, the pool of corpses in front of Xiao Ran was bubbling and gurgling, as if something was being dragged up.

Sure enough, a moment later, a small, pitch-black bone tower was pulled up from the dark pool of corpses. The bone tower was grotesque, made up of countless bones, and there was an open, empty coffin at the bottom of the bone tower.

This is precisely the last of the eight techniques in the Corpse-Sewing lineage: [Sinking the Coffin].

All you need to do is write the target's name, date of birth, or even their hair, skin, severed limbs, or blood on it as a medium.

Once activated, this technique can cause the opponent's luck to decline to its lowest point within three hours. After that, every hour thereafter, the opponent will experience an extremely unfavorable condition.

The longer it goes on, the worse the condition becomes. Theoretically, even celestial beings cannot escape death, because it will eventually lead to the five signs of decay for celestial beings.

Once it reaches that point, not even gods or immortals can save you, let alone celestial beings.

However, Xiao Ran couldn't wait that long. Before scattering a large amount of paper to guide the way again, a chilling wind rose around him. He then used the Zhou family's paper-making technique, throwing a paper figure from his spatial storage into the coffin.

The blood, flesh, and skin fragments collected from between the embroiderer's fingers were mixed with the corpse fluid in the pool of corpses, turning into a blob of ink.

Xiao Ran picked up a calligraphy brush from the table beside her, dipped it in the ink, and quickly sketched three twisted, ferocious characters on the paper figure's body, as if written in blood:
House! Clouds! Deep!
The moment the last stroke is completed.

Boom!

The entire pool of corpses seemed to have been plunged into a red-hot iron, boiling violently! The pitch-black water churned wildly, bubbling up thick, bloody bubbles! At the top of the towering bone tower, two crimson lights suddenly shone from the empty eye sockets of the skull, as if a demon from hell had opened its eyes!
Inside the coffin, the paper figure with the name on it suddenly sat up, transforming into a wisp of pitch-black, cursed smoke that coiled upwards along the bone tower, heading straight for the top! At the top, the skull's mouth snapped open, emitting a silent yet soul-shaking shriek…

(End of this chapter)