The road is vague

Chapter 400 Unexplained Despair
The room was eerily quiet.

Liao Quzai was left with his back pressed against the deck in an odd posture, gritting his teeth and walking back and forth again and again, making a harsh friction sound between his back and the deck.

"elder brother!"

Liao Qunan, who was in quarantine, cried out in worry.

Through the doors and windows destroyed by the Five Thunderbolts, Li Mo looked out at the distant, dark, and unknown tranquil sea, as if he had returned to the time when he was serving as the inspector in Bai'an County, and tried to analyze the current situation.

First, when they had just escaped to the Forbidden Sea, they were attacked by the God of Time. The projection of the God of Time landed on the deck during this time. After a brief battle, the group killed him, but forgot the whole process. The divination master Mu Qianying was tainted by his ink and mysteriously disappeared.

Afterwards, the Liao brothers inspected the damage to the sails and stern, while Liao returned to his room. Through the Nian inside the Misty Box, he regained his lost memories. Upon returning to the deck of the Sun Boat, he learned that a strange thing had happened to the sails: Mu Qianying, stained with oil paint, appeared on the sails in the form of an oil painting.

He stopped Princess Dai from burning the oil painting, cut it off the sail, and took it to his room to study it carefully, hoping to decipher the order of the Year God's projection.

Liao Qunan, who had been monitoring the stern of the ship, was puzzled by the bloodstains on Li Mo after seeing him, but no one else could see them. So the Thousand-Faced King locked Liao Qunan up.

While he tirelessly studied oil paints in his room, the power of the projection of the God of Time clearly improved. This was a sign that the evil spirit was evolving into a great evil spirit after absorbing resentment. Ordinary evil spirits could not evolve so quickly, but this was the projection of the God of Time, which was far superior to ordinary evil spirits.

"There are only a few people on the ship. There's only one way it can absorb resentment: the vanished Mu Qianying!"

In other words.

Mu Qianying, who disappeared after being tainted by oil paint, may not have died initially, but rather died later due to her overwhelming resentment.

"Adding to Master Qiling Pang Yi, two people have already died on the ship. With the evolution of this projection of the Year God, although it has not yet shown any new abilities, if it absorbs resentment again, I'm afraid everyone here will be toyed with and killed by it. The current Order Curse only prevents others from seeing its back, so there is still room for it to move freely and break through. Who knows what kind of bizarre Order Curse will appear afterward."

Li Mo clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"Having endured so many hardships and dangers on the Lost Continent, we finally see hope of returning to the Great Qian Kingdom and confronting the King of Revenge Assassins. We absolutely cannot give up!!"

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Li Mo heard Liao Qu Nan banging on the doors and windows outside, calling for his brother. The clanging of the stone shackles made him even more agitated.

"shut up!"

He shouted at them.

Sudden.

Li Mo had a flash of inspiration, as if he had thought of something crucial.

"Perhaps what we see is all fake, while what he sees is the truth?"

Thinking of this, Li Mo asked loudly, "Master Wunan, did you hear the warning that your back should not be seen by others?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately fell silent.

"What hint? I don't know!"

Although the room walls blocked the view, Li Mo could still faintly hear the exclamations of others.

It's clear that some people have already guessed that it wasn't Liao Qunan who was corrupted by the curse, but everyone else.

Li Mo swallowed hard, his expression growing increasingly serious.

"Then would you be willing to prove it for us? If you can prove that you are not lying, I will persuade the Thousand-Faced King to regain his freedom. Thousand-Faced King, what do you say?"

"kindness!"

The Thousand-Faced King agreed.

"how to prove?"

"Let us see your back!"

Li Mo's words immediately brought the somewhat deranged Liao Quzai back to his senses.

He stopped moving forward, but still maintained the strange posture of his back pressed tightly against the deck.

With repeated rubbing, Liao Quzai had already worn a clear bloodstain on the deck, seemingly intending to end his life in this bizarre way.

"No!"

He wanted to stop his younger brother, but Liao Qunan gave a firm response.

"can!"

Upon hearing this, the Thousand-Faced King immediately manipulated the array plate and opened the door to the isolation room.

Although Liao Qunan was bound by the sea stone handcuffs and unable to control his magic, he was still able to move. He was heartbroken when he saw the dilapidated sun boat and his brother's miserable state.

Next, with his back to the room door, he walked past the doors of the Thousand-Faced King, Princess Dai, the weapon-refining master Zhao Ping'an, the Golden Turtle Master, and Li Mo, proving that he had indeed not encountered a curse.

Next, Liao Qunan quickly ran to his brother Liao Quzai's side. Seeing that his back was already bloodied and mangled from being rubbed against the deck, and his eyes were constantly shifting between madness and confusion, Liao Qunan felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

"Why wasn't he corrupted or cursed by evil spirits, or rather... how was he different from the others here?"

After a brief moment of thought, Li Mo seemed to have found a solution.

"Could it be those paint varnishes? He was the only one who went to the stern to inspect the damaged area and didn't see Mu Qianying's paint varnishes on the sails! Wait a minute!"

Li Mo recalled the other person saying that there was a lot of blood on his body.

His face immediately turned extremely ugly. He slowly turned his head and looked at the oil paints on the table that he had been studying for a long time, his eyes wavering.

Could it be... that I created this resentment myself?!
A chill ran through me.

He stood there, stunned, for a long time, recalling how he had repeatedly experimented with these canvases to study the properties of oil paint, and the immense resentment he had gained from the projection of the God of Year.

"Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Li?"

Princess Dai's call brought Li Mo back to his senses.

"Sorry, I just got distracted."

After receiving Li Mo's response, Princess Dai finally breathed a sigh of relief. She also knew very little about evil spirits and quickly expressed her opinion.

"From now on, Your Majesty and I will fully support your actions. Please feel free to act decisively and give us your orders at any time. We will overcome this challenge together!" "Thank you."

After thinking for a moment, Li Mo suddenly said, "Friend Wu Nan, we all sincerely apologize for our previous misjudgment. Please forgive us."

Upon hearing this, King Thousand Faces, Princess Dai, Zhao Ping'an, and Venerable Golden Turtle all expressed their apologies.

Although Liao Qunan did not respond, Li Mo knew that this belated attempt to mend the fence could at least reduce his resentment to some extent, thereby slowing down the growth rate of the Year God projection.

Then Li Mo found an empty storage bag and put the painted sails on the table into it.

However, in just a moment, the storage bag also began to display constantly changing colors, faintly revealing the facial makeup of various characters.

So Li Mo found a large wooden box and put it inside.

This time, the oil paint did not cause further pollution.

However, at this moment, the dragon-man phantom in the room, who had been merely observing with a cold smile, suddenly moved. He pointed lightly at the wooden box, and strange paint reappeared on his body, forming the facial makeup of various characters.

Snap!
The bizarre dragon-man materialized from the void, exuding an eerie, slippery, and evil aura, just like before, like a dead fish that had fallen onto the deck of the sun ship.

"Be careful!!"

Li Mo let out a loud shout and summoned the Heavenly Mystic Needle.

The dazzling light of the flying needles briefly overshadowed the light of the sun ship, bursting out in all directions on the forbidden sea. However, it was only after penetrating a dozen feet of black mist that it was completely swallowed up by the overwhelming dark aura.

The others also sensed the extra dragon-man through their divine senses and took action.

Despite everyone's considerable caution and efforts to avoid damaging the ship, some damage was still unavoidable during the intense battle as they had to protect their backs.

Finally, Liao Qunan, whose back was covered in wounds from constant rubbing against the deck, was sprayed with ink and dissolved into the deck under the watchful eyes of his younger brother, Liao Qunan.

"Do not!!"

Liao Qunan shouted.

But the cry only lasted for a moment before it quickly disappeared. Except for Li Mo, everyone else came out of the room and looked up at the sky.

The forbidden sea was dark and still, with wisps of dark energy constantly creeping over the edges of the deck, like claws from hell, filling one with a sense of oppression.

"Check everyone thoroughly, is everything alright?"

The Thousand-Faced King addressed the crowd.

"I am fine."

"I'm fine too..."

Everyone's memories seemed to return to the moment when the divine spell ended. After confirming that the divine spell would not strike again, they all breathed a sigh of relief and began to worry about the current crisis in the Forbidden Sea.

"The ship's hull has been damaged to this extent!"

Liao Qunan had completely forgotten his brother. Looking at the damaged hull, he was heartbroken and immediately began to repair it.

Li Mo let out a low, panting breath, looking at everyone's backs, no longer carrying any curses.

"Reincarnation? Domain? This feeling... is like the world is getting smaller and smaller."

Li Mo vaguely felt that his memories were being pulled away by something, but because of the Misty Box, he successfully preserved his memories this time. Looking at the people around him who had forgotten their memories and were now seamlessly connected, he tried to look beyond the black mist.

"If this sun ship represents the realm of mountains and seas, and the crew represents the people within that realm, then the God of Year is an existence outside the world that the crew alone cannot defeat. Only through other external means can they have a chance of survival, such as the special rules and order of the forbidden sea, or the human hiding in the mirage in the revelation."

at this time.

Liao Qunan, who was inspecting the solar boat, let out a gasp.

"What's this!"

Everyone else looked over with curiosity, as if there was something below deck, but Li Mo alone did not go to investigate.

Immediately, everyone gasped in surprise.

Princess Dai decisively said, "Whatever this is, it gives me a very bad feeling. Why don't we burn it?"

"As my beloved consort wishes."

The Thousand-Faced King, wearing a silver mask, immediately shot out a ball of spiritual fire.

The familiar scene reappeared, but this time, Li Mo did not stop it; he simply stayed quietly in place.

"what……"

"Little brother, what's wrong with you? Stop them! Help me!!"

"I hate you, I curse you..."

He heard painful screams, curses, and wails from the flames—Liao Quzai's weak voice—which quickly faded into silence, while the others remained completely unmoved.

He could sense that the resentment on the ship had increased significantly, much like the dark emotions that had been brewing in the despair of the homeless people when Hua'an Town was hit by a flood.

He then glanced at the paper crane bearing the message in his hand.

"Thousand-Faced King, the ship is in such bad shape that we must hurry. Only by heading in this direction can we reach the land as soon as possible."

"Strange, did I forget to bring a spirit medium with me?"

The Thousand-Faced King frowned, vaguely sensing an incongruity in his surroundings, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

After the solar boat sailed in the direction of the paper crane, Li Mo returned to his room and looked at the huge wooden box in the corner.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened the wooden box.

Inside was the mangled corpse of the fortune teller Mu Qianying.

(End of this chapter)