The King of Curses

Chapter 180 High-Level Meeting
October 10, 2010, daytime.

The warm autumn sun shines on the glass curtain walls between the high-rise buildings, making them sparkle; the city streets are busy and bustling, it's just another common day.

Tianhai Center Building.

The building is located in Tianhai's most prosperous downtown financial and trade zone. In addition to Tianhai's own prominent status as an economic center and an international metropolis, every inch of land is worth a lot of money.

This super-tall skyscraper has risen from the ground here. It was poured and topped off two years ago, and initially only a few floors of the museum were open. It was not until the project was announced to be completed this year that it began trial operation in steps.

A circular conference room on the 80th floor was temporarily rented by the Chao Working Committee. Dozens of people gathered here to discuss the specific matters of "cutting down mountains and destroying temples".

Participants in the meeting include heads of various departments within the Super Working Committee, representatives of related departments within the government, member representatives of various external cooperation organizations, and representatives of folk curse-master organizations. After the participants reach a consensus, they will convey their opinions and execute orders to various departments.

In other words, the dozens of people sitting here are the ones with the power to decide major supernatural events in Tianhai City. Once the results of this meeting are spread to the outside world, it will become major news that stirs up the city.

Jiang Zhifeng was fortunate to be one of them.

He is fifty years old and is the chairman of Jiang Group, a listed company; but this is only his superficial identity.

In addition to this identity, the Jiang family is also an ancient family of curse masters with a four-hundred-year-long heritage, and he is the current head of this ancient family line.

Since the Ming Dynasty, the Jiang family has moved around and branched out, experiencing many ups and downs. Fortunately, they finally retained some knowledge, abilities and wealth related to the curse, until today when spiritual energy has revived.

After the ancient times recorded in ancient books, the world was in a period of low spiritual energy for thousands of years. Therefore, there were very few sects or families like the Jiang family that were able to preserve certain traditions. They can be called "living fossils."

Most of the traditional spells and taboos are weak in power. After a few generations, their bloodline will be cut off and they will completely fall into the status of ordinary people. The occasional capable people in the folk are mostly regarded as wizards and alchemists, and are not taken seriously. They will eventually be lost in the long river of history, or only a signboard will remain.

It can be said that Jiang Zhifeng was able to sit in this position because he was regarded as a representative of the precious "traditional spell-binding master".

Because of their status in both ordinary people and curse masters, the Jiang family served as a "middleman" for a long time, and were one of the first to notice the great changes in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth;

After the establishment of the Super Working Committee, Jiang Zhifeng and the Jiang family actively responded to the official call and were not left behind by the tide of the times.

The reason why the Jiang family has been able to stand firm for hundreds of years is that they always make the right choice in every important decision, including the head of the Jiang family of this generation, who is also a man with a broad mind.

Now, he has face everywhere and is respected everywhere——

……

However, only Jiang Zhifeng himself knows that this alone is not enough.

God is unfair.

The so-called "four hundred years of continuous" accumulation has only added the name of the foundation to the family tree and some outdated knowledge and records to the warehouse. Before the surging arrival of the new era, this kind of accumulation and inheritance is nothing at all.

According to the current assessment standards of the Super Working Committee, Jiang Zhifeng's strength can barely reach Grade C; and in the entire Jiang family, most of the people who have the qualifications to practice Zhenqi have so far remained at the entry-level Grade D.

The innate talent is so cruel. Although he is known as the representative of the "Inherited Curse Master", the new blood is not enough to support this family.

If it was in the past, it would be fine. After all, there hadn't been any particularly powerful spell-forbidden masters in the past few hundred years. The whole country, even the whole world, was the same. They lived in a society dominated by ordinary people...

But it happened that spiritual energy was reviving, and Jiang Zhifeng was a far-sighted man. He had vaguely guessed that the next era would most likely be one of chaos.

Learn from history. In such an era, the law of the jungle prevails. Relationships and reputation are all empty. Only strength can guarantee the continuation of the family.

It’s just that in the past, the symbol of social power was power; but once the transition to a society of spell-breakers occurs, power will be directly presented in the form of the strength of the spell, and one strong person will be able to decide the outcome.

Jiang Zhifeng thought about it and was often distressed. He had long realized that the only thing he could do now was to find a backer first, which was the reason why the Jiang family actively participated in the Chao Working Committee.

He looked at the woman standing at the head seat with envy, respect, and even fear.

……

The woman had thick, smooth, long, straight black hair, a charming teardrop mole under her eyes, was wearing a women's suit, and was about twenty-five years old.

She is the host of the meeting. Even though she is dressed in formal attire, she still gives people a beautiful and charming impression.

But the people in the conference room did not dare to look at each other with the same eyes as they usually looked at the opposite sex. Some people did so simply out of respect, while a few others avoided them like the plague.

Jiang Zhifeng was well-informed and knew the capabilities of this "Consultant An".

Although her position may seem like an empty title of consultant within the organization, she actually holds great power. The members of the Super Working Committee follow her orders, including the theme of this meeting, which was promoted by her.

As a spellcaster, her abilities are unfathomable; no one has ever actually seen her take action, but those who dared to touch secrets and challenge authority have all disappeared.

It is said that the higher the level of the curse masters in the organization, the more they can feel the gap between each other. Advisor An is completely on a different level from other curse masters, like a flower blooming on the top of a lonely mountain.

No one can touch it.

"In order to better implement this plan, I decided to start in Tianhai City and summarize the experience so that it can be promoted nationwide."

An Zhizhen's clear voice echoed in the office.

"Everyone here is a related person, and I hope you will cooperate to the best of your ability in your respective areas."

During this era, the conflict between the old humans and the curse masters had begun to surface; and the people here, regardless of whether they were curse masters or not, were all people who tended to be curse masters, and they all nodded in agreement.

"No problem at all."

“We will definitely give our full support.”

But some people have raised doubts:

"If it's for a pilot project, should we choose another city? This is Tianhai after all..."

"It's because of Tianhai. The Chao Working Committee was established in this city, and various regulations were first implemented here. The support we can get in terms of investigation and action is the greatest. There is no more suitable place than here."

The woman's tone was gentle, but her words were unquestionable, and the questioner quickly shrank back under the gaze of others.

……

After the meeting, the attendees dispersed, but not everyone left.

In the end, nearly half of the people were left in the room.

If those who participated in the meeting just now were the leadership that had close ties with the Super Working Committee, then those who were left now were all An Zhizhen's confidants.

Almost all of them have a background as a spellcaster, or are trying to establish a relationship with a spellcaster.

They looked at each other, sizing each other up.

The Chaogong Committee was an organization that had just been formally established for less than a month. The relationship network behind it was mainly composed of emerging interest groups. Although they all obeyed the orders of one person at the moment, they were not familiar with each other. A woman who was originally guarding the door walked up to An Zhizhen and asked in a low voice:
"Can we let people in? They're waiting downstairs."

"Among these personnel, more than one has just joined in the past two weeks."

"Yes. Everyone is looking forward to...seeing you again."

An Zhizhen nodded slightly.

"In that case, bring them up."

……

After a while, another group of people took the elevator to this floor, walked into the office, and packed the room even more full than before.

Compared to people from government departments or large companies, they dress casually. There are both men and women, middle-aged and young people, and the youngest even looks like a high school student. They generally give people a free and easy impression.

But no matter who they were, they all showed respect to the woman sitting at the head of the meeting. Some were even fanatical and almost religious.

"Good morning, Counselor An."

"Miss An, we are here."

"Everyone, sit down and relax."

The smile on An Zhizhen's face was a little more intense than during the meeting just now, which seemed to explain the closeness of their relationship and made the trusted spell master feel close to him.

"Since you joined the Super Working Committee, I haven't asked you about your actual work experience. How do you feel? If you have any new ideas or opinions that you want to convey directly to me, please share them."

The spell-binding masters looked at each other.

More than a dozen people, almost all of whom were elites with the potential to become top-class curse masters, joined the Super Working Committee and became An Zhizhen's first batch of direct subordinates.

The eldest spoke, so they naturally responded. Most of them were sharing their recent experiences or simply expressing their joy, until a young man suddenly spoke up:
"Can you express any opinion?"

As soon as these words came out, the eyes of other people in the conference room couldn't help but focus on him.

He was a gentle-looking man wearing glasses. One could clearly feel his aura of superiority in his demeanor and manner, but he would deliberately restrain himself in front of others.

"of course."

An Zhizhen smiled slightly.

"We can talk about anything. There's nothing that can't be mentioned."

"Then I'll speak frankly."

The young man with glasses seemed to be encouraged and his voice became louder.

"Advisor An, I have some things that I have been holding in my stomach for a long time, and I have to speak them out. I have some small opinions on the current organizational structure of the Super Working Committee, especially in terms of personnel..."

"Oh, are you dissatisfied with my work assignment?"

Feeling the blaming, cold, or anticipatory looks from his seatmates, he quickly shook his head to deny it.

"You are our leader, I... of course I have no objection!"

Except for a very few people, few spell-forbidden masters knew An Zhizhen's ability. Even within the Super Working Committee, it was still a secret.
But everyone present here, as long as they tried to investigate, could feel the strong sense of oppression emanating from that woman, as deep as the ocean.

Even without using his supernatural powers, a special-class spell-binding master possesses an overwhelming amount of true energy.

What's more, some of these curse masters had been secretly influenced by her mental interference; the rest were slightly smarter and intimidated by her authority and were obedient, and only a very few arrogant people would think of challenging her majesty.

The fate of these idiots can be imagined. Their souls dissipated, and the remaining parts were not wasted. They were all sent to the laboratory.

“The problem is…those ordinary people…are still in positions that are not meant for them.”

The young man swallowed his saliva, feeling nervous about his "bold advice". But he believed that as a loyal subordinate, he should share the worries of the leader, think about what the leader needs and what the leader does not think.

His expression became firm and he turned his gaze towards others.

"Don't you think that this organization should be controlled by the Curse Master? But currently there are still quite a number of ordinary people occupying administrative positions, and they don't understand our affairs at all..."

Several spell-binding masters had thoughtful expressions on their faces, while others nodded in agreement unconsciously, which gave him confidence.

"Especially for all of you brothers and sisters who are doing field work, can you really accept ordinary people who stay in the safe rear area telling you what to do?"

This is a sensitive topic. The opinions of the young people will not be a problem in a few years, but now is the time when the contradictions between the group of spell-forbidden masters and ordinary people are gradually surfacing...

More importantly, there were still a few people present who were not spell-forbidden masters. The young man ignored this point, causing the expressions of these people to become ugly.

"Counselor An, what do you think about this? Will there be any adjustments in this regard in the future? I remember you always told us, 'The future belongs to the era of curse masters'..."

An Zhizhen nodded.

"Of course. I have no doubt about it. The future belongs to us and to everyone present here. As curse masters, we have the right to be proud of ourselves."

Her tone was naturally infectious, as if she agreed with the young man's suggestion, and all the curse masters present couldn't help but smile.

But the next second, she changed the subject.

"——And precisely because all this is destined, anyone who tries to hinder this change, whether they are ordinary people or spell-binding masters..."

There was still a gentle smile on An Zhizhen's face, but her tone gradually became lower.

“None of them can be let go.”

"Advisor An, what do you mean by this..."

The young man suddenly became panicked for no reason. Looking at the woman's eyes as deep as the sea, his heart began to ache as if it was under heavy pressure and he almost couldn't breathe.

"Once we try to intensify the conflict and create an open conflict with the current social order, the group of curse masters that are now thriving and accumulating strength will inevitably be damaged, and the time when we replace ordinary people will be delayed..."

An Zhizhen raised her finger towards the other party and said with a smile.

"That's called 'holding back', you see?"

(End of this chapter)