Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 270 [Soul-Suppressing Lamp]

Chapter 264 [Soul-Suppressing Lamp]

Chen Yan remained silent, only scrutinizing Shen Shiqi with a solemn gaze!

Did I... misjudge him?
No matter how he looked at it, this young man, Shen Shiqi, was just an ordinary mortal with no cultivation whatsoever! Yet, he addressed him as "fellow Daoist" right away!
Moreover, he even said he wanted to save Dean Shen's life?
After a few seconds of silence, Chen Yan slowly said, "Dean Shen, something happened?"

"Not yet, but..." Shen Shiqi's eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice, "With your abilities, you should be able to see the fate and fortune of the Dean's mother, right?"

Chen Yan fell silent again.

He had certainly seen it, otherwise he wouldn't have asked Lin Xianyu to arrange a physical examination for Dean Shen—Dean Shen was healthy, but his lifespan was only about three years.

“The Dean’s mother is facing a major tribulation. If she cannot overcome this tribulation, she may only have a few years left.” Shen Shiqi’s tone was very serious. “Over the past few years, I have tried many methods, but I am small and weak, and I am really powerless.”

I also considered seeking help from a skilled cultivator. But ninety-nine out of a hundred cultivators in the world are charlatans.

Given my status, position, and age—as a mere child, there's no way I could possibly meet a truly powerful cultivator, so I can't find anyone to help Headmistress overcome this calamity.

Chen Yan frowned: "First, tell me how you figured out I had the cultivation level to help you?"

As he spoke, Chen Yan said coldly, "You've met me these past two days..."

Shen Shiqi immediately shook his head and said seriously, "My meeting with you these past two days was purely accidental, and definitely not something I deliberately planned or orchestrated. The day before yesterday..."

He lowered his voice as he said this: "Before leaving, you secretly cast a spell on the two couples who bullied me in the restaurant. You must have used supernatural powers to steal a portion of their luck."

"Since they've been affected by this spell, these two will soon be plagued by misfortune and illness, right?"

Chen Yan's gaze sharpened: "You can see through my magic! But... what is your cultivation level? What method did you use to conceal your true power?"

Shen Shiqi smiled wryly and shook his head, saying, "Fellow Daoist, I am but a mortal with no cultivation. If I had my own cultivation, I wouldn't need to ask you for help."

Hmm...yes...right?

Chen Yan was making plans in his mind.

If Shen Shiqi had cultivation—if his cultivation was low, there would be no reason for him to use any strange methods to conceal his cultivation level. Such an ability to conceal one's cultivation level and block the Qi Observation Technique is already very advanced and is definitely not something a low-level cultivator could master.

If his cultivation level is high, then there is indeed no reason for him to ask me for help.

So...you're a mortal?

"A genuine mortal body!" Shen Shiqi replied sincerely.

"then you……"

"I was able to see through your cultivation level for a special reason," Shen Shiqi said in a low voice. "Not only you, but even Miss Lin, who was with you these past two days, actually carries demonic energy and is a demon cultivator, right?"

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat again.

This Shen Shiqi can not only see through my magic, but also see through Lin Xianyu's true identity!
"Fellow Daoist, I can see through these things because of a secret of mine. And because of some special reasons, I really can't tell you the details."

But! I swear to God, I had absolutely no evil intentions or purpose to harm my fellow cultivators. I only wanted to find an opportunity to save my mother, the headmistress. Such a good person shouldn't have died so young!

Chen Yan stared at Shen Shiqi for a long time. Shen Shiqi simply looked up and met Chen Yan's gaze, her eyes showing no guilt or unease, her expression calm.

Chen Yan used his Qi Observation Technique to carefully observe Shen Shiqi, and whispered, "Come here, put your hand out to me."

Shen Shiqi let out a breath, took two steps closer, and calmly extended his left hand.

Chen Yan grabbed Shen Shiqi's wrist, and a wisp of vital energy seeped into Shen Shiqi's body, flowing through his meridians.

Shen Shiqi showed no abnormalities whatsoever. His fate and destiny were just like those of an ordinary person, and there was absolutely nothing unusual about him. In fact, due to his childhood experiences, his physical constitution was even weaker than that of an ordinary person.

The body cannot store vital energy at all. It is the constitution of an ordinary person without any cultivation. The meridians are like a honeycomb, and the vital energy will seep away and dissipate rapidly.

Moreover, as Chen Yan continued to channel his vital energy, he could even sense that Shen Shiqi's meridians were weak, with many areas even showing signs of blockage. This was likely due to a difficult childhood or congenital deficiencies, resulting in some underlying health issues.

This child, with such a constitution, will be destined to be weak and sickly even when he grows up.

With such a physique, let alone concealing one's cultivation level, one is far from qualified to even cultivate.

Chen Yan has now reached the third stage of cultivation and has stabilized his cultivation at the third stage.

To evade his Qi-gazing technique, and to personally use one's own Qi to unblock the other's meridians—if this method can still conceal one's cultivation level and deceive oneself, then the other's cultivation level must be much higher than one's own!
But... I've already reached the Stage of Ascension!

If someone's cultivation level is much higher than yours, it's unless they are at the Celestial Realm or even higher!
However, the laws of this world dictate that the Celestial Realm is the ceiling of this world!
Chen Yan released Shen Shiqi's wrist and withdrew his energy.

It can be basically confirmed that Shen Shiqi was not lying; he truly had no cultivation level and no means of hiding or concealing it.

After a moment's thought, Chen Yan nodded: "No matter what, let's sit down and talk."

"it is good."

Since Shen Shiqi had come to Chen Yan's door, he was naturally prepared to have something to say to him.

·
"The Dean's life is actually too bitter." After sitting down, Shen Shiqi's first words were surprisingly this.

Chen Yan remained calm and showed no emotion.

He was naturally aloof, and it would be difficult for others to persuade him with pity or sympathy—Chen Yan always scoffed at the idea of ​​moral blackmail.

"The ordeal of the director's mother is closely related to the deceased director's father. The story begins when this couple founded the welfare home..."

Shen Shiqi's tone was very steady.

Subsequently, through Shen Shiqi's narration, Chen Yan heard a rather complicated and bizarre story.

·
Ms. Shen Aiping, the director of the welfare home, married a man who owned several factories; he was her deceased husband.

Her husband's surname is Sun, and his given name is Sun Changnian.

He was the only son of a wealthy family surnamed Sun. The Sun family was quite wealthy, and after inheriting several factories from his family, he was considered a rich man, and he had even built a considerable business.

But in fact, although he is the heir of the Sun family, he is not actually of the Sun family bloodline.

The elderly couple in the Sun family had no children, so they adopted him many years ago and named him Sun Changnian.

Sun Changnian himself was an orphan who was later adopted. After growing up and inheriting the family business, he married Shen Aiping. Unfortunately, the two were unable to have children due to health reasons.

After discussing it, the couple decided that since Sun Changnian himself was an adopted son of the Sun family and didn't have a strong desire for blood ties, they would adopt another child.

After a while, the two of them inspected the facilities and visited several children's welfare homes.

Both of them were kind-hearted people, and after visiting several welfare homes, they were moved to do good deeds.

The couple's decision changed from originally planning to adopt one child to adopting a whole group of children.

Both Sun Changnian and Zuo You had a large business and were quite wealthy. Neither of them had much material desire, and they both preferred to spend money on good deeds and blessings.

But later, Sun Changnian got into trouble.

The Sun family has a major rival.

To put it simply, it can be summed up in two words: sworn enemies.

That rival had a grudge against the Sun family since the old society. To be precise, this hatred had lasted for nearly a century.

It was probably a feud incurred by the Sun family's ancestors. It supposedly started as business competition, but later both sides used underhanded tactics, resulting in a back-and-forth struggle. Ultimately, the rival family was destroyed, their members wiped out, and they were utterly ruined. But, surprisingly, the rival family didn't die out entirely…

Our rivals have produced a cultivator!
·
That cultivator was the posthumous son of the rival family many years ago. After the family fell into ruin, he wandered to another place and went into hiding. No one knew how or where he was hiding, or what he had been doing all those years.

In short, he suddenly appeared many years ago and was already a highly skilled cultivator with ruthless methods.

This man returned to seek revenge on the Sun family, but so many years have passed, and only Sun Changnian remains of the Sun family.

This cultivator was cunning and used many underhanded methods. He first sabotaged Sun Changnian's business and then created an accident that burned down Sun Changnian's factory.

He put Sun Changnian in a difficult situation, while he watched from the shadows.

It wasn't until Sun Changnian had a strange encounter that he accidentally discovered someone was plotting against him.

·
"When the Dean was alive, he was a kind and charitable man. He also gave alms in some temples and Taoist monasteries and befriended some people outside the secular world. Among them was a highly accomplished person who saw through the events that the Dean had experienced during that period. He believed that they were not natural disasters, but man-made calamities!"

·
There used to be a Taoist temple about 100 miles away from Hengdian.

The Taoist temple was quite dilapidated, but Sun Changnian had made donations there several times when he was young and had gotten to know the people in the temple.

Later, the Taoist temple was demolished, and the two Taoist priests in the temple, one old and one young, were dismissed.

The old Taoist priest was alright, but when the Taoist temple was being disbanded, the young Taoist priest was only a teenager. The old Taoist priest had raised him from childhood, and he couldn't bear to let the child have no future, so he asked Sun Changnian for help.

Sun Changnian also helped by finding a school near his hometown and arranging for the young Taoist to return to secular life and attend school. He continued to support the young Taoist through his studies, including university, and even helped him find a good job in a big city—a job at a company owned by one of Sun Changnian's business partners.

Because of this kindness, the old Taoist priest always remembered Sun Changnian's favor.

After the old Taoist priest was dismissed due to the demolition of the Taoist temple, his Taoist registration was retained, but he wandered around and rarely returned. He would only come once every year or two to visit his old friends.

That time, something happened at Sun Changnian's factory. The factory building burned down, and people were killed or injured. He faced huge problems in his business and also had to bear a large amount of compensation...

Just then, the old Taoist priest returned from his travels and met Sun Changnian.

At that time, Sun Changnian was already seriously ill and unable to get out of bed.

The old Taoist priest looked at Sun Changnian, did some calculations with his fingers, and told Sun Changnian that he had an enemy coming to seek revenge!

The enemy is a cultivator with profound spiritual power, and judging from his methods, he is most likely a heretical cultivator.

The old Taoist priest was quite capable. He told Sun Changnian that not only was the burning of his factory the work of the other party, but he, his family, and his wife were also bound by the other party's curse. If they did not find a way to break the curse, they would die a miserable death in ten days to several months.

Sun Changnian was terrified and asked the old Taoist priest for help to rescue him.

The old Taoist priest already owed Sun Changnian a great debt of gratitude, and since this had happened, he was willing to lend a hand, so...

·
"That old Taoist priest was a highly skilled cultivator. Now that I think about it, he must have been a lineage of cultivators from that Taoist temple. It's just that in this day and age, this kind of secluded cultivation path is gradually becoming rarer."

In addition, the old Taoist priest only took one disciple in his entire life, and that disciple probably did not have the talent for cultivation, so he asked Sun Changnian to help arrange for him to return to secular life.

The old Taoist priest was already quite old at the time, and although he possessed some skill, after that attack…

Shen Shiqi spoke in a childish voice, but his tone was mature beyond his years. He sighed slightly as he finished speaking.

·
The old Taoist priest, together with Sun Changnian, used the curse placed on Sun Changnian to find the hiding place of their enemy.

After the two sides met, they engaged in a battle of wits.

The old Taoist priest was a truly accomplished cultivator, but his nemesis had been lying low for many years, possessing extraordinary cultivation skills and employing many insidious and vicious methods of evil cultivation.

After that battle, both sides suffered heavy losses.

Unable to kill his opponent, the old Taoist priest could only use every means to severely injure him and make him escape. The evil cultivator fell into a deep sleep and sealed himself away in a secret place.

The old Taoist priest died from exhaustion, which could be considered as repaying Sun Changnian's kindness.

·
After hearing this, Chen Yan frowned and said, "Since there is such a past event... then, the evil cultivator who is the enemy of the Sun family has been seriously injured and is hiding. Once such a cultivator is seriously injured, it is unknown how many years he will have to sleep to recover."

Where does your claim that Dean Shen's life is in danger come from?

Shen Shiqi slowly said, "Back then, that evil cultivator secretly used methods in the dark to cast a curse on the Dean and his wife with the blood curse technique."

That evil cultivator had a grudge against the Sun family and wished the entire Sun family would be wiped out, so when he cast the curse, he not only cursed Sun Changnian, but also Dean Shen.

That curse was no ordinary curse; it was a blood curse. The man was ruthless, actually binding the curse to his own life.

As long as he lives, he can curse the other person to death; to break the curse, he must be killed.

Unfortunately, the old Taoist priest failed in his attempt. He only managed to severely injure the evil cultivator before fleeing. After being severely injured, the cultivator must have used a method of feigning death to hide somewhere and fall into a deep sleep.

After he fell into a deep sleep, his father, the dean, Sun Changnian, died unexpectedly not long afterward—actually, it was the curse that took effect, and that evil cultivator had cast the curse!

But for some reason, the evil cultivator, probably due to severe injuries and weakened cultivation, stopped after cursing the dean's father to death.

They no longer had the strength to curse the headmistress to death. That's why the headmistress has lived for so many years.

But... once he wakes up, he can reactivate the spell and kill Headmistress Mama!

Chen Yan sighed, his tone strange, and said, "Since you put it that way... are you going to tell me that the evil cultivator is about to awaken?"

"Yes!"

Shen Shiqi's expression was solemn as he said in a deep voice, "If nothing unexpected happens, that evil cultivator will awaken in two or three years at most. The old Taoist's sword strike back then damaged his very foundation, almost shattering his dantian, which is why he has been asleep for several years. However, the old Taoist's cultivation was insufficient, and he was too old. When he fought, he was not strong enough and was actually no match for that evil cultivator."

They fought with a life-or-death mentality, making a desperate attack, and only then did they achieve this result.

Once that evil cultivator wakes up, he can unleash a spell to kill the headmistress—and he is certain he will!
It is absolutely impossible to let the headmistress go just because the Sun family is all dead.

Because he had bound himself to that blood curse with his life, and once the curse was cast, it could not be broken. Even if he wanted to give it up, he couldn't.

That kind of curse is very evil; it follows the path of "either you die or I die."

Once a curse is cast, it must be carried out. If the victim is spared and the curse is withdrawn, the person who cast it will suffer a severe backlash.

"So, if you want to save your mother, the dean, your only option is to find a master to kill that evil cultivator?"

Chen Yan seemed to smile, but suddenly his smile vanished, and he said coldly, "Shen Shiqi! You just told me so much, and you spoke so eloquently, as if it were all right before my eyes."

So many details, so many secrets, only those involved could possibly know!
But how do you know all this so clearly, and explain it in such detail?!

Shen Shiqi was silent for a moment, and his expression became strange. After lowering his head and smiling bitterly, he slowly said, "These things... were told to me by that old Taoist priest himself."

Chen Yan: ? ? ?
Shen Shiqi sighed, took off a canvas backpack from his body, rummaged through it, and pulled out something wrapped in layers of towels.

In front of Chen Yan, Shen Shiqi peeled off the outer towel layer by layer, revealing something inside.

It was a copper-rusted oil lamp!

This oil lamp must be quite old; although it's made of copper, the patina on it has turned a faint green.

The design is simple and archaic. Chen Yan is not an expert in this field and does not know which dynasty it comes from.

However, as soon as this thing was taken out, Chen Yan subconsciously sniffed, as if he smelled a very faint but somewhat familiar scent!

"This item is called the Soul-Suppressing Lamp."

After staring at the bronze oil lamp for a couple of seconds, Chen Yan suddenly raised an eyebrow!
Fire-retarded copper!
(End of this chapter)