The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 105 A Suicide Surrender and a Battle of Wits Hundreds of Miles Apart (Part 1)
The initial stage of "hair-inducing curse" only causes an itchy sensation and does not kill directly.

Within the category of "death curses," this is considered a relatively mild form of curse.

What Li Zhen needs to do now is to use his own magic to directly activate the "Long-haired Curse" and fight against those who broke the curse on Wu Zhiling's body.

After blessing the coffin nails with a spell, Li Zhen temporarily placed them in front of the demon statue.

In addition to coffin nails, body fluids, flesh and blood, and other offerings are also required.

Corpse fluid can be obtained from vampires.

The blood doesn't have to be human blood; Li Zhen plans to use chicken blood directly.

After the blood is drained, the chicken meat can also be used as a sacrificial offering.

After resting for a while, Li Zhen first lured the vampire into the coffin and took some bodily fluid from the zombie's chin.

Then he went and killed two chickens.

After preparing the necessary items, Li Zhen returned to the altar and sat quietly.

Although the backlash from the broken spell wasn't severe, his chest still ached.

Besides his chest, the drowsiness in his consciousness also aggravated the swelling sensation caused by absorbing memories.

Li Zhen knew that he was not in the best condition right now and was not suitable to hold the ceremony.

It wasn't until the rooster crowed three times that Li Zhen, having regained his composure, opened his eyes and officially began casting the curse.

To unleash our full power, we'll need the help of the red-eyed bats.

Arrange all kinds of offerings properly.

Li Zhen then placed the red-eyed bat, along with the eagle owl corpse, in front of the bat-faced demon statue.

The red-eyed bats that used to eat as soon as they woke up now spend their days hanging on the eagle owl's carcass.

Unlike a normal corpse, the remaining half of the eagle owl's body, which had only been dead for a little over a day, already emitted a nauseating stench.

Perhaps it was because the body was small and the temperature was high that it decomposed faster?
Wearing gloves, Li Zhen scooped out the eagle owl's sticky internal organs and threw them all into a small iron basin that had been prepared.

The red-eyed bat opened its eyes and made a few strange noises at Li Zhen, seemingly protesting that Li Zhen had taken away its food.

Sitting cross-legged, Li Zhen poured some water onto the internal organs in the iron basin, along with a large amount of chicken blood that he had prepared.

Once stirred, the iron basin became a large basin of red flowers with both liquid and solid components.

"...By swearing an oath by the Lord of Corpses, and with the Nine Netherworlds as witness, I offer the rotting flesh of the eagle owl, the blood of the rooster, and the fluids of the zombie..."

Li Zhen picked up the corpse fluid from the altar and added it little by little into the iron basin.

The chanting echoed, making the basement even more eerie and terrifying.

The two skeletons that Li Zhen brought back began to tremble, as if they were shaking.

The red-eyed bats hanging on the eagle owl carcass slowly opened their eyes and looked at the iron basin in front of Li Zhen.

After pouring out half of the body fluid, Li Zhen placed the remaining half back on the altar.

Li Zhen picked up the photo with the birth date and time written on it from the altar, circled it three times over the iron basin, and his incantation became more rapid.

The eyes of the bat-faced demon enshrined on the altar flickered.

The liquid in the iron basin was like hot water about to boil, with a lot of small bubbles rising to the surface.

"...The first incantation binds the soul with countless threads, the second incantation causes the bones to sprout fuzz and break through the skin, the third incantation..."

The photo fell from Li Zhen's hand into the iron basin, rising and falling with the bubbles in the basin.

Using two fingers, Li Zhen carefully removed the photograph from the basin and placed it back on the altar.

"...the skin reveals sheep vortexes...the flesh surges like horse mane spots...scabs form cocoons and grow rabbit fur...thorns sprout from the marrow and grow ape manes..."

Picking up coffin nails and a hammer, Li Zhen nailed the first coffin to the center of the somewhat blurry photograph.

The hammer struck the coffin nail with a crisp sound, but the nail did not penetrate the photograph.

Li Zhen was not surprised.

Since the other party has already broken his curse once, they will definitely make some preparations to prevent his subsequent retaliation.

But that won't stop him.

After capturing a red-eyed bat, Li Zhen took a drop of its blood and dripped it onto the coffin nails.

When the coffin nails touched the photograph again, a wisp of white smoke appeared at the point of contact, as if the photograph had been corroded.

Concentrating his mind on the coffin nail, Li Zhen easily hammered the nail into the photograph this time.

Although the photo was enlarged several times when it was printed, a single coffin nail still took up half of the space on the photo.

The second coffin nail was driven into the throat of the photograph.

After the two coffin nails were driven in, the face in the photo was completely covered by the nails.

The last two coffin nails were symbolically driven into the temples of the photograph, but were actually about a finger's width away from the temples.

Putting down the hammer, Li Zhen sat cross-legged in front of the altar and mumbled incantations.

The eyes of the bat-faced demon statue grew brighter and brighter.

The sinister aura emanating from Li Zhen was growing stronger.

The liquid in the iron basin seemed to be boiling, gradually emitting a "gurgling" sound.

Tiny maggots could already be seen wriggling on the internal organs of the eagle owls floating on the water.

……

Inside the Taoist temple, Wu Zhiling, who was dozing off with his head tilted to one side, suddenly woke up with a start.

He looked around and, not seeing the two young Taoist boys who were supervising him, breathed a sigh of relief.

He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, picked up the scriptures that had fallen to the ground, and used them to fan himself.

He was the only one sitting in the hall, but with the golden statue of the patriarch in front of him and rows of bright candles on both sides, he did not feel afraid.

Yawning, Wu Zhiling, feeling bored, subconsciously reached for his phone in his pocket, only to find it empty. The emptiness that washed over him made him very uncomfortable.

After the evil spell he had been under was broken, he thought he could go back down the mountain and enjoy himself. But then his senior brother Mingzhen said that the evil energy on his body had not been completely removed and that he should stay there and chant scriptures for a whole night before making any decisions.

This really cost him his life.

Having lived in the vibrant world down in the mountains for so long, how could he possibly bear being suddenly left up on the mountain to chant sutras and not even allowed to play on his phone?
To be honest, he wasn't worried at all about the evil spell he was under, nor did he care who had cast it on him.

He has offended many people, and countless people curse him behind his back.

However, due to his special status, even if the Changshan disciples disliked him, they would not stand idly by and watch him be harmed.

Just like this time, as long as he begs Changshan to come back, Changshan will definitely save him.

Wu Zhiling had his own sense of proportion; he knew what Changshan could cover for him and what couldn't.

He has never made a mistake that Changshan couldn't cover up.

He was very confident in his sense of propriety.

Bored, Wu Zhiling opened the scriptures and became increasingly dazed as he read.

"This can't go on..."

Setting aside the scriptures, Wu Zhiling stood up and tiptoed to the entrance of the main hall, his eyes, surrounded by dark circles, darting around as he looked in all directions. Just as he was contemplating whether to slip away down the mountain, a crisp cracking sound suddenly reached his ears.

Wu Zhiling looked around curiously, but saw nothing.

He felt a slight itch on his arm and reached out to scratch it.

My arms are no longer itchy, but my back is a little itchy now.

Wu Zhiling put his hands behind his back.

But as he kept scratching, he realized he couldn't reach the itchy spot no matter what he did.

It seems the itching is coming from under the skin, and no matter how much he scratches, it doesn't help...

This familiar itching sensation terrified Wu Zhiling.

On the head, shoulders, stomach, thighs...

It felt like a swarm of ants crawling all over him, quickly spreading the itch throughout his body.

This time the itching was much more intense.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Zhiling felt an itch all over his body.

This time it wasn't just an itch; it seemed like something was growing inside his flesh and bones.

The faint sound of something piercing flesh and bone echoed directly in Wu Zhiling's mind, sending chills down his spine.

A mournful scream, inhuman and agonizing, shattered the tranquility of Changshan.

When the middle-aged Taoist priest with a short beard and an upright posture hurriedly entered the main hall, he saw two helpless Taoist boys and Wu Zhiling, who was wailing and rolling on the ground, his body torn and bleeding from scratches.

Without saying a word, the middle-aged Taoist priest, whose expression changed slightly, squatted down in front of Wu Zhiling and quickly examined Wu Zhiling's eyes.

When he saw that Wu Zhiling's eyelids were covered with hairs that looked like worms wriggling, his expression changed again.

One of the young Taoist disciples, pale with fright, said, "I don't know what happened, we...we heard our martial uncle's voice..."

The middle-aged Taoist priest bit his middle finger and used the blood to draw talismans on Wu Zhiling's face.

"By the decree of the Supreme Lord Laozi, the righteous law of Changshan vanquishes the evil spirits. The divine light of the Three Pure Ones illuminates the netherworld, the five thunderbolts shake and shatter the evil souls. By the decree of the Heavenly Emperor, the Earthly Emperor brings peace, the Human Emperor drives away ghosts, and evil spirits swiftly disperse..."

After the incantation was finished, the last stroke of the talisman was also completed.

Wu Zhiling immediately improved; his body twisted less violently than before, and his screams subsided considerably.

Just as the middle-aged Taoist priest breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt as if his finger, which was pointing at Wu Zhiling's face, had been pricked by a needle, and a sharp pain shot through him.

He pulled his hand back and found that his fingers were stained with a strange black color, and he also felt an indescribable itching sensation.

Wu Zhiling, lying on the ground, began to wail again.

"Save me! Senior brother, save me... I'm dying! Save me..."

The younger Taoist priest rushed in from outside the main hall. Upon seeing Wu Zhiling's appearance, he flew into a rage and shouted, "Do you think Changshan has no one to rely on? How dare you use evil magic to harm Junior Brother Zhiling?!"

The middle-aged Taoist priest flicked his right hand, stood up, and said, "Open the altar."

A simple altar was quickly set up outside the main hall.

On the altar, all the necessary ritual implements, such as incense burners, the Seven-Star Sword, and exorcising talismans, are readily available.

Wu Zhiling, writhing and groaning, was placed directly in front of the altar, his feet facing the altar and pointing north.

His hands and feet were already tied.

The two young Taoist priests did their best to restrain Wu Zhiling to prevent him from harming himself.

The young Taoist priest took a straw mat and spread it under the altar.

A middle-aged Taoist priest, dressed in a Taoist robe, walked out of the main hall. He glanced at the altar and said in a deep voice, "Offer sacrifices to the Seven Star Lamps."

"Senior brother, are you going to use the Seven Stars Sacrifice Method?" the young Taoist asked in astonishment.

"Offering to the Seven Stars" refers to "worshipping the Big Dipper," which uses the power of the Big Dipper to forcibly elevate one's primordial spirit. It is a desperate method used by the Changshan Sect and is not used lightly.

It is very rare for a middle-aged Taoist priest to use the "Seven Stars Sacrifice Method" right from the start.

Hearing the young Taoist's words, the middle-aged Taoist said in a deep voice, "That person cast a spell from an unknown distance from Changshan, yet easily broke through the protective spells we set up, causing our junior brother in the main hall to become like this..."

The young Taoist priest realized what was happening and felt a chill run down his spine.

Upon seeing Wu Zhiling's appearance, his first reaction was anger, but he overlooked something important.

The main hall is where the Changshan School worships its founder.

Wu Zhiling fell victim to the other party's evil magic in this place, and the hidden message behind it is unsettling.

The Taoist priest suddenly realized that his previous support for Wu Zhiling in breaking the evil spell had been somewhat rash.

He had initially thought that Wu Zhiling wouldn't offend anyone too powerful, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

The notes left by the ancestors of the Changshan School have always taught them to be cautious when fighting with others, and not to act rashly before knowing the other party's background.

Now they have become a negative example in the eyes of our ancestors.

Now we're in a bind. If we don't fight desperately, we might not only fail to save Wu Zhiling, but also get ourselves and the others caught in the crossfire...

Feeling deeply that the evil man was terrifying, the young Taoist hurriedly ran into the main hall and took out seven small oil lamps, placing them on the straw mat in front of the altar according to the positions of the Big Dipper.

Seeing that Wu Zhiling had been tortured to the point of banging his head on the ground in an attempt to commit suicide, the middle-aged Taoist knew that he could not waste a single moment.

He quickly recited the Purification Mantra once and then picked up the Seven Star Sword from the altar.

"...Nine luminaries hang like pearls, three platforms protect life, twenty-eight constellations form the compass, and the twelve earthly branches determine brightness and darkness..."

"...Now I burn incense and offer prayers to the Dipper Realm, wishing for your divine light to forge the Holy Infant..."

In the middle-aged Taoist's hands, the Seven Star Sword moved like a nimble snake among the candlelight on the altar, and with each step he took, it brought the flames to the small oil lamps on the corresponding straw mats.

With each incantation he recited, one more of the seven oil lamps would light up.

After all seven oil lamps were lit, the Big Dipper in the sky seemed to become brighter.

A mysterious aura descended upon the altar.

The middle-aged Taoist's eyes became brighter and deeper.

After setting down the Seven Star Sword, the middle-aged Taoist lit an incense stick and devoutly inserted it into the incense burner on the altar.

"I humbly beseech the Changshan Spirit Envoy to reveal his true form before the altar... The Six Ding and Six Jia accompany me, and the Merit Officers bestow upon the left and right soldiers... This disciple wholeheartedly prays for the arrival of the Changshan Patriarch! Divine soldiers, act swiftly as commanded!"

After reciting the incantation, the middle-aged Taoist priest grabbed the rice from the altar and sprinkled it forward, as if it were oil, and a large ball of flame flashed and disappeared.

This is a sign that the patriarch's will has been responded to.

In the split second before the flames ignited, the middle-aged Taoist priest picked up the Seven Star Sword again, and with a flick of his arm, the blade of the Seven Star Sword slammed onto the altar.

A yellow talisman stuck to the sword and didn't fall off no matter how the Seven Star Sword moved.

“Now, Wu Zhiling, a disciple of Changshan, has been harmed by evil magic. I have already performed an altar to break the evil magic for Wu Zhiling once, but who knew that the evil person would use evil magic on Wu Zhiling in the Ancestral Hall again, offending the dignity of the Ancestral Master. I, Mingzhen, earnestly request the Ancestral Master's help to break the evil spirit!”

The middle-aged Taoist priest's aura surged, and he stepped forward with powerful strides to stand before the wailing Wu Zhiling.

He brandished the Seven Star Sword a few times over Wu Zhiling's body, and finally pressed it down, placing the talisman on the Seven Star Sword onto Wu Zhiling's forehead.

(End of this chapter)