Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 41 Burning Incense and Opening the Altar, Beloved Relatives and Friends
This kind of evil object, which carries the curse of "greed for wealth causes all diseases and madness," is undoubtedly an offense and blasphemy against a deity who is worshipped ordained.

It is not necessary to have the ability to communicate with spirits and deities to trigger their instinctive stress response, and to reach the altar of the person performing the spell by following the aura left behind.

Let's give this reckless madman a taste of his own medicine!

Wang Cheng found the screams incredibly pleasant, like eating an ice-cold watermelon on a hot day, feeling completely refreshed.

"No matter how cunning and treacherous you are, in the end you still have to drink my Master Wang's foot bath water."

Enjoy it slowly.

To express his gratitude to the Heavenly Princess, he also threw in the five taels of silver he had earned from the fake Zhou Sanpao.

What does it mean to achieve great things with little money?

That’s it!

Watching the bubbling incense and prayers, Wang Cheng was even thinking about other good things.

After I take up the post of [Chaofeng Lang], could I try to open a money exchange in partnership with the Heavenly Princess? The Princess would provide incense offerings, and he would provide talismanic items [Jiangban Yin]. Together, we would make the Heavenly Money Exchange bigger and stronger!

but
Before he could turn away, feeling refreshed, he saw a somewhat withered hand holding a copper key and inserting it into the lock of the donation box.

He opened the box, and with a flick of his sleeve, all the money offered by the believers inside was swept away.

The "Nothing Happened" plaque, now with a faint yellowish-brown tinge on its surface, landed in his palm.

Turning his head, he saw that his master, Shen Yuting, had appeared behind him at some point, holding a peace token and smiling at him.
"Fourth brother, you've gotten yourself into trouble? Why didn't you come to your master for help?"

The old man was in charge of guarding the Baoshan beacon tower and also worked as a temple keeper. Theoretically, he could take back all the money that had been "washed" by the Heavenly Princess and put it in his own pocket.

Wang Cheng quickly bowed to Shen Yuting and offered a quick compliment:
“Master! They’re just petty thieves. Why would you need to personally intervene in such a trivial matter?”

He was the youngest of the four apprentices, and the habits he had developed since childhood made him less cautious than the others, and he was extremely natural at flattering and ingratiating himself.

Shen Yuting also enjoyed this way of getting along.

He casually tossed the "Nothing Happens" card in his palm, and could faintly hear suppressed screams coming from it.

Clearly, the burning incense just now had caused serious damage to the other party, but it had not yet cleansed the curse.

Looking at Wang Cheng, he criticized him with a hint of disappointment:

"Fourth brother, I'm not trying to criticize you, but you're just too kind-hearted!"
Just throw this thing into the donation box, and the assassination problem is temporarily solved.

But can you guarantee that divine retribution will definitely kill the mastermind behind the magic? Or will it ensure that he is childless and his entire family is wiped out?
I think that person will at most wail for three days, his mouth will be crooked and his eyes will be blind, he will suffer from hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body), his spiritual power will be greatly reduced, and at most he will suffer from five deficiencies and three lacks.

This craft requires absolutely no skill.

"Uh"

Wang Chengxin thought to himself, "Master, listen to this yourself, is this even human language?"
I put this thing in the donation box because I'm kind.
Every time I think my heart has turned black enough, you have to give me a wake-up call, making me realize that I am really too young!

But he said it perfectly from the bottom of his heart:

"This disciple has learned a lot; please continue to guide me, Master."

"Yes, when you're fighting desperately, use sleeping potion, quicklime, or a demon-killing pill; if you provoke a powerful evil spirit, hide in a martial temple or a shrine dedicated to the heroes who protected your home and country."
If you encounter amulets imbued with curse magic, throw them into the donation box of the Heavenly Princess or Bodhisattva. Open your mind to these options; none of these choices are wrong.

Your three senior brothers and sisters are not as quick-witted as you.

However, there is one thing you are inferior to them in.

Wang Cheng was taken aback:
"Which point are you referring to?"

Shen Yuting laughed heartily:
"Of course, you should shout: Master, save me!"

Today I'll show you my methods.

They led him to a small hut that served as a secondary hall.

A piece of silvery-white, unidentified fish skin was laid on the table. It was covered with stars, like a magnificent starry sky. If you looked closely, you could see various tiny star patterns.

Simply place an incense burner, light incense sticks, and add candles to create a small altar.

Place a blank yellow paper talisman in the center, and then place a white jade plaque on top of it.

Shen Yuting explained to Wang Cheng as she set up the altar:

"Fourth brother, only those officials of the third rank in the Divine Path are qualified to burn incense and open altars to enhance the power of their spells. The altars of each lineage are different."

There are countless altars such as the Five Thunder Altar, the Dragon and Tiger Altar, the Six Ding and Six Jia Altar, the Three Yuan General Altar, and the Lady of Linshui Altar.

My teacher uses the [Haotian Chengxiang Altar], a lineage passed down through the [Qianxingguan] school of water collection. Its main component is a celestial chart encompassing the Three Enclosures, Four Symbols, and Twenty-Eight Mansions.

His words carried a hint of smugness:

"No matter which altar is being opened, it requires ritual implements such as a magic sword, a token, a wooden tablet for stabilizing the altar, five-colored command flags, a celestial ruler, an imperial bell, a bowl of sweet dew, and a magic whip."

Once you reach the level of a master, there's no need for such trouble.

If it weren't for demonstrating for you, I could easily create an altar out of thin air.

But you must remember, our altar for the thirty-six water-ranking officials can lack everything else, but it absolutely cannot lack this [Lord of Law and Martial Arts].

Then he pulled something out of his sleeve. It looked like a snake-shaped deity, divided into a snake head and a snake body. The snake head was carved from peach wood and served as a handle, while the snake body was woven from ramie and coiled up.

"The Dharma Warrior is also known as the Dharma Whip, the Cleansing Whip, the Dharma Rope, the Dharma Loop, the God-Slaying Whip, and has an even more imposing name: the Ten Thousand Dragons Army, which is used to summon soldiers and horses when opening an altar."

With his hands forming a sword-like finger, he pointed towards the altar and shouted:
"The heavens have formed a sign; erect the altar! Imperial decree!"

Wang Cheng, who had been standing obediently behind him listening to the lecture, saw something seem to emerge from his master's body and instantly fill the entire room.

As if an evil spirit had descended, a chilling aura seeped deep into his bones. Had he not already lit the lamp of his heart, he would have surely fallen seriously ill afterward.

Tears welled in his eyes, and he dared not look directly at the figure. He could only see out of the corner of his eye that the figure was about ten feet tall, wearing a golden-red official robe, riding a golden leopard, and holding a golden mace, a golden knife, a golden compass, and a golden sword in each of his four arms. The figure was very blurry.

A cold, emotionless gaze fell upon him, sending chills down his spine.

He quickly looked away, only daring to stare intently at the floor.

"Wan Longjun, arrest him!"

As a dignified voice, completely different from his master's, rang out, Wang Cheng's ears were filled with the clanging sound of iron chains sliding.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be two tall figures dressed in black robes who flashed by.

Click!

The next moment, with a crisp sound, all the strange phenomena disappeared.

Wang Cheng looked up and saw that his master was holding a hammer in one hand and a large, rusty coffin nail in the other, which he was driving hard into the plaque that read "Nothing Happens".

"what--!"

Another incredibly shrill scream rang out.

In the mind's vision, crimson blood slowly flowed from the crack in the peace tablet, automatically manifesting as a line of birth date and time, and a rune character on the talisman below.

Shen Yuting casually pulled out a talisman and stuck it on a small figure made of straw. He then handed it, along with seven sewing needles and a brazier, to Wang Cheng.

"Come on, fourth brother, do it yourself. Settle grudges and avenge wrongs."

Wang Cheng glanced at it and immediately understood what had just happened.

This time, the master took action personally, and the effect was completely different from throwing away the donation box before. He actually managed to capture the fate of that Lu Ban disciple by relying on the Haotian Chengxiang Altar and the Wanlong Army.

Without any hesitation, Wang Cheng took the little man and inserted seven sewing needles into its facial features, heart, and dantian.

With each prick, the scarecrow let out a hoarse, miserable scream.

Then it was thrown into the fire pit and burned completely.

The piercing screams in my ears also stopped abruptly.

As soon as the cold winter wind blew, the last trace of the burnt smell disappeared.

At the same time, somewhere in Moon Harbor.

Pu Shouying's eyes darkened as she looked at the life lamp that had suddenly gone out.

"That old geezer actually made a move?"

He was unaware of the details and could only attribute the failure to Shen Yuting, the "Director of the Imperial Household".

I just can't understand why someone would hand over a piece of precious mutton fat jade that they've picked up for free to a nominal master.
You want the local official to help you find the owner? How can there be such a person in the world?
After a moment of losing his composure, he quickly regained his composure.

"We need to deal with Han Zechang, the 'River Rat,' so let's take this kid with us."

I lit a green "Heavenly Auspicious Incense" and inserted it into the incense burner in front of me. The green smoke rose and disappeared into the three-foot space above my head, twisting and turning like a dragon and snake to form a blurry human face.

The face opened its eyes and said without any politeness:

"Pu Shouying, what brings you here?"

The latter, unconcerned by the other's tone, maintained his signature smile and said:
"You have a lot of power at sea, help me kill two people."

Blurry face, resolutely rejected:

"No interest! I'm about to gather all the ship captains under the Five Peaks Banner in the name of avenging Wang Zeng, and invade Minzhou at the beginning of next year."

They wiped out all his loyal followers in one fell swoop and completely seized control of the Five Peaks Banner.

"Does such a trivial matter require my intervention? You can't even kill someone; I seriously doubt your capabilities as a collaborator."

Pu Shouying wasn't angry; she simply uttered a sentence:
“Hey, if we can’t take Moon Harbor, we can’t do our best to search for the escaped ‘sacrifice’.”

"In order to complete the ritual, we do need to recover all the dragon energy, but the person in this world who most wants that Prince Jinghai dead is not us, but rather you, the Prince's beloved son."

Before I could finish speaking, I was coldly interrupted:

"time and location."

Pu Shouying's smile remained unchanged:
"Hehe, I've already planted an informant. Wait for my message."

(End of this chapter)