The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 195 Aftereffects and Meeting Master Aqing
Upon hearing about the aftereffects mentioned by Li Zhen, Xie Qiming wasn't too alarmed. He simply asked, "What kind of aftereffects could there be? As long as the consequences of the curse aren't severe, then I've come out ahead."

Li Zhen looked Xie Qiming up and down and said bluntly, "The spell I used is a kind of evil corpse control method. In theory, it should be used on rotting corpses so that I can control the corpses and also make the rotting flesh of the corpses regenerate."

"This technique can counteract the curse on you and temporarily increase your power, giving you superhuman strength. However, you will be under my control, just like a corpse."

"Moreover, your normal state can only be maintained for seven days. If I do not remove this spell from you within those seven days, your skin will gradually rot and you will become a half-human, half-corpse."

"At this point, even I can't save you."

Xie Qiming examined his bloodless arms and asked in a deep voice, "This spell didn't completely remove the curse?"

He didn't know if it was a hallucination caused by what he heard, or if it was real, but he felt a slight itch in his mouth, as if some rotten flesh was regenerating.

“As long as that evil spirit isn’t dead, the curse will continue,” Li Zhen said. “After I’m ready, I’ll go to Chenjia Village and resolve this matter once and for all.”

Xie Qiming said, "Even if we don't get rid of that evil spirit, I feel like I've come out ahead in this situation. I'll go to Chenjia Village with you then."

Li Zhen remained noncommittal: "Do you know where the sorcerer who cast the spell on Li Ruonan lives? Contact Li Ruonan tomorrow morning and arrange to meet her there."

Xie Qiming is still safe and sound. According to Xie Qiming, Li Ruonan took Chen Letong to Master Aqing yesterday, which means that Master Aqing is still safe and sound.

Xie Qiming nodded: "I went with her when she took Duoduo to see Master Aqing. What kind of problem might have occurred with Master Aqing?"

Hearing Li Zhen mention Master Qing, he became a little worried about Chen Letong.

Li Zhen shook his head: "The master she invited, Master Aqing, is a highly skilled person who can save Chen Letong with the help of the gods. The biggest uncertainty now is actually Li Ruonan."

"What does 'Master' mean?" Xie Qiming asked nervously, clearly worried about Chen Letong. "Although Duoduo's mother's conditions are not very suitable for raising Duoduo, she definitely loves Duoduo and would not do anything to harm her."

Li Zhen sneered, "If she really loved her daughter, she shouldn't have shown up. If she hadn't shown up, her daughter might not have suffered from the curse at all."

“She has personality problems, and I’m worried that the sorcerer she hires might be implicated by her.”

Xie Qiming shook his head instinctively: "How could this be?"

“Why not?” Li Zhen said. “That evil spirit is so terrifying. If Li Ruonan doesn’t listen to the sorcerer, the sorcerer who angered the evil spirit will be the first to die.”

"If she had listened to the monk, the sealed camera would never have been able to reappear in the world, and you wouldn't have been able to see it, so it wouldn't have implicated you."

He paused, then continued, "As I said, the handprints of the Chen family represent the sharing of the curse with others in order to survive."

"If things reach their most desperate moment, what do you think Li Ruonan will think after learning about this? Will he make a video and share his curse with the whole world?"

The thought of this possibility made Xie Qiming freeze.

After a moment, he said absentmindedly, "She shouldn't have gone this far, she loves Duoduo..."

Li Zhen said meaningfully, "What if it's for her daughter, Chen Letong?"

Xie Qiming remained silent.

He knew that Li Ruonan must love her daughter Duoduo, otherwise she wouldn't have come back to find Duoduo after six years.

But this love can also be the reason that drives Li Ruonan to madness.

If, as Li Zhen said, that gesture is a gesture to share the curse, then Li Ruonan, in her moment of despair, is very likely to do the thing Li Zhen described.

"What should we do about Duoduo?"

“You are calmer than Li Ruonan. It’s better to entrust the person to your care than to her.”

After processing Li Zhen's words, Xie Qiming nodded and said, "After I see Duoduo's mother, I'll try to persuade her."

He moved his stiff arms and slowly got up from the ground.

Just as Li Zhen said, he found that his whole body had become very stiff, like a rusty machine, which made him feel uncomfortable.

However, Xie Qiming, whose mind was preoccupied with Chen Letong, didn't pay much attention to the changes in his body.

Li Zhen observed Xie Qiming's condition.

This was the first time Detective Li had ever used the evil art of controlling corpses on a living person.

If any problems arise, he can promptly patch things up for Xie Qiming.

The next morning, after having breakfast, the two arrived at Master Aqing's residence.

On the way, Xie Qiming, who was driving, told Li Zhen about the process of Master Aqing performing the spell.

Upon hearing Xie Qiming say that Sister-in-law Aqing instructed Li Ruonan not to give Chen Letong anything to eat or drink for seven days, otherwise it would implicate Master Aqing and his wife, Li Zhen, who knew what would happen next, said, "Li Ruonan definitely won't be able to do that, and in the end she will harm herself and others."

Xie Qiming didn't know why Li Zhen was so certain that Li Ruonan would disobey this instruction, but he could also tell that Li Zhen had a very bad impression of Li Ruonan.

He speculated that this might be related to the events in Chenjia Village.

If the evil spirit in Chenjia Village was sealed by Li Zhen's ancestors, then Li Ruonan, who sealed away the destructive power and caused such serious consequences, would naturally not have a good impression of it.

Xie Qiming's home is quite far from the temple where Master Aqing lives.

An hour and a half later, the two arrived at the temple where Master Aqing was.

After getting off the car, Li Zhen saw the temple not far away.

This temple is not large, just like an ordinary house. You can see two huge door god images pasted on the open gate from afar.

“That’s where Master Qing lives,” Xie Qiming said to Li Zhen as he got out of the driver’s seat.

The weather is nice today; we can already see the sun.

Although the morning sun wasn't hot, Xie Qiming still felt very uncomfortable being exposed to it.

The sunlight seemed exceptionally bright, causing him to tear up constantly, and it also greatly stimulated his body, making his body subconsciously tense.

Seeing Xie Qiming rubbing his eyes, Li Zhen knew what was wrong and reminded him, "You have a lot of yin energy on you and are very sensitive to sunlight. Just go to a shady place."

"I feel like a ghost that can't be seen by anyone right now," Xie Qiming said self-deprecatingly.

The two walked toward Master Aqing's temple.

Upon arriving at the temple gate, the inscriptions on the two doors were now more clearly displayed in front of Li Zhen.

The two door gods each hold a weapon, their postures imposing, and even without anything particularly special about them, they are extremely intimidating.

The layout inside the gate was exactly the same as the temples Li Zhen remembered, with various ritual implements everywhere. However, unlike what Li Zhen remembered, the altar here enshrined three black-faced deities. He had visited some Taoist temples before, but he had never seen three deities enshrined here.

In front of the altar, an elderly man with gray hair was offering incense.

Xie Qiming stepped across the threshold first.

Li Zhen also stepped out and placed one foot inside the threshold.

Suddenly, the eyes of the three black-faced gods flashed with an unusual light.

Feeling dizzy, Li Zhen groaned and left the temple.

Looking up, Li Zhen looked at the three statues with some surprise.

In his memory, when the Great Black Buddha Mother killed people here, these three guys didn't react much, but now they're trying to stop him from entering the temple.

He's really not well-liked...

Hearing the noise from Li Zhen, Xie Qiming turned to look at Li Zhen.

Upon noticing that Li Zhen was looking at the three statues, he also looked at the three statues.

As the distance closed, he felt that the golden bodies of the three statues were somewhat dazzling, causing him to shed even more tears.

The old man offering incense before the statue, also known as Master Aqing, noticed the unusual figure and turned to look at the newcomer.

His gaze swept over Xie Qiming, who had been here just two days ago. He had some recollection of Xie Qiming.

Xie Qiming greeted Master Aqing.

Noticing the change in Xie Qiming, Master Aqing frowned and nodded to Xie Qiming.

Then, his gaze shifted to Li Zhen outside the door.

Although Li Zhen no longer possessed much yin energy, his sinister aura was still immediately apparent.

Xie Qiming introduced, "Master Qing, this is Master Li, who came to curse the evil spirit that is cursing Duoduo."

"An evil spirit?" Master Aqing slowly walked towards Li Zhen.

Li Zhen repeated to Master A Qing the story he had previously fabricated about the evil spirit of Chenjia Village sealed by his sect.

With a solemn expression, Master Aqing said, "I see. That evil spirit is extremely terrifying. It is truly admirable that your sect has been able to seal the evil spirit for so many years. May I ask where your sect comes from?"

Several years ago, when he was sealing the cursed camera for Li Ruonan, he heard Li Ruonan talk about Chenjia Village, knew about the evil spirit's strangeness, and also knew about the bizarre method of sealing the evil spirit.

Now that Li Zhen looks so sinister, it matches the style of sealing, so some people who believe in sealing evil spirits are related to Li Zhen.

But he had worked in the temple since he was a child and knew many colleagues, but he had never heard of any sect whose people had such a strong evil aura.

The evil aura emanating from the person before me was so strong that it had even caused the gods to react. This was not a common occurrence, and the person before me was no ordinary person either.

It should be understood that gods are high above and rarely concern themselves with mortal affairs. For a god to react, the evil must have reached a certain level.

So far, Master Aqing has only witnessed a few instances of deities reacting, and those instances were all caused by evil spirits; only this time was it a human.

This made Master Aqing even more wary.

It is absolutely terrifying when the evil spirit within a person is stronger than that of a demon.

Fortunately, the statue of the deity kept Li Zhen outside the temple; otherwise, Master Aqing would have been even more nervous.

"It's just a small, secluded sect. Its founder came from the mainland to Taiwan and has been in power for three generations. They rarely come out of the mountains, so their reputation is not well-known." Li Zhen casually made up an origin story, speaking very vaguely.

Before Master Aqing could speak, he steered the conversation to his own concerns: "I heard that when you were casting the spell to remove the curse from Chen Letong, you linked your own life with that of Chen Letong?"

"If Chen Letong eats anything, or even just drinks a little water, and goes against your instructions, then you'll be in trouble too?"

Master Aqing nodded and said, "My skills are meager; I can only save the child by tying my own life to that child's."

Li Zhen frowned: "The child's mother may not be reliable. If she goes against your instructions and feeds the child, you'll be dead. This matter has nothing to do with you, so why bother?"

Aqing calmly said, "Then this is fate, something that cannot be avoided, something that is destined to happen."

“I have been worshipping the gods for many years. If the gods no longer protect me, and I escape this time, then something bad will happen next time.”

Li Zhen was speechless as he looked at the three black-faced deity statues.

After a moment, he said to Master Qing, “That woman is the child’s mother. She will definitely soften when she sees the child suffering. Besides, she will have to watch the child suffer for seven days. If she feeds the child, it will not only harm the child but also you and your husband. It would be better to entrust the child to Mr. Xie Qiming to take care of.”

"For several years after the child was born, it was Mr. Xie who took care of him..."

He briefly explained Xie Qiming's situation.

Master Aqing did not object: "Mr. Li is right. It is inhumane to let the mother watch her child suffer. It would be good to let Mr. Xie take care of the child. I will help persuade the child's mother."

He paused, then said, "Since that evil spirit was sealed by Mr. Li's sect, I wonder if there's any way to seal it back in now, to prevent it from continuing to do evil?"

Li Zhen said, "I will go to Chenjia Village right away to see if I can deal with that evil spirit. Even if I can't completely kill it, I will try to seal it and bring it back to my sect to suppress it for eternity."

"However, this evil spirit is very terrifying. I don't know if I can successfully suppress it. If I can't suppress it and instead anger it, it may cause very serious consequences. So I need Master Qing's help."

Master Aqing hesitated and said, "I would like to help, but my abilities are limited and I may not be able to help."

Li Zhen simply said, "It's not that I need you to do anything too difficult, Master Qing. All I need to do is, after I go to Chenjia Village, Master Qing, activate the curse on that little girl within the agreed time and cooperate with my actions."

At this point, he looked at the three black-faced statues again: "Secondly, I don't have any magical artifacts on me. I wonder if Master Aqing has any magical artifacts that have been enshrined for many years and can harm evil spirits? If so, I hope Master Aqing can lend them to me."

Li Zhen came to see Master Qing for three reasons.

First, I want to remind Master Qing, and also ask Li Ruonan to hand Chen Letong over to Xie Qiming, so that Li Ruonan won't hold me back.

The second was to have Master Aqing cooperate with him in performing magic after he entered Chenjia Village.

Finally, we need to borrow a usable magical artifact.

As the saying goes, every creature has its counter, and if he could borrow such a magical artifact, his journey to Chenjia Village would be much easier.

(End of this chapter)