The King of Curses

Chapter 229: Shanyin Ghost Market
After the situation in Tianhai City stabilized, the order forged by the elder sister had a widely recognized foundation. With the initial success of the "cutting down mountains and destroying temples" movement, the expansion of the Super Working Committee developed like a snowball, and branches were established in several nearby cities, all of which were coastal cities with good economic development and large populations, and the radiation range gradually expanded.

But Cen Dongsheng knew very well that this change would sooner or later encounter strong resistance.

As a country that best fits the description of "vast territory and abundant resources", the number of special-class curse masters is also the best in the world. Even during the first wave, when the probability of a curse master of this level was as low as one in a billion, there were still multiple candidates.

And the spell-casters who can reach this stage are, without exception, ambitious and have lofty aspirations.

For example, Zhang Shidao, the future King of Spirits, has established the largest folk group of spell-casters second only to the official one, an organization called "The Meeting of Ten Thousand Immortals".

He once ordered his subordinates to invade Tianhai City, trying to plant a nail in this national economic center. But unfortunately, there was already a master here, and the Wanxian Dynasty suffered a loss and chose to give in temporarily. It can be regarded as a tacit understanding between the two sides. During the entire "cutting down mountains and destroying temples" campaign, Zhang Shidao chose to wait and see.

But no one can say when this tacit understanding will be broken, as for now there has not been a time when they need to confront each other.

During this period, ambitious people who hold power often choose to accumulate strength, annex territories, and expand their influence. The early "snowball" process will be smooth under the power of special spells; but when the "expansion" reaches a certain stage, border frictions will occur.

As long as there is a special-class spell-binding master present, both sides can be considered "equal"; these equal groups or forces may have more extensive and more intense collisions and conflicts tomorrow.

In this situation where tensions could escalate at any time, it was already December.

After being released from home by his elder sister with great difficulty, Cen Dongsheng prepared to go to Shanyin City. His destination was the largest underground black market among the people, known as the "Ghost Market". It was said that the entrance was in an abandoned subway station.

He planned to buy a forbidden item for protection for Jiang Yunmei, who had just developed the "clairvoyance" and did not yet have the ability to protect herself.

There are many similar ghost markets all over the country, with varying sizes. Some are just the level of a village market, while some are said to be able to open up a small city underground. The "Shanyin Ghost Market" is the largest one among them.

Originally, Cen Dongsheng had channels to obtain powerful forbidden items from Sister Zhizhen's Super Working Committee or Sister Qingyan's Yanluo Society. The reason why he made a special trip far away this time was also to gather intelligence. After all, his current power vision is limited to the Yangtze River Delta area.

Cen Dongsheng had never been to Shanyin City, either before or after his rebirth; but even eight years later, this place still remained vibrant, trying to survive in the cracks between the territories controlled by several ancestors.

Shanyin Ghost Market is not only a chaotic place where all kinds of people and forces gather, but also a free place without jurisdiction or restraint, and it has the support of a large number of independent curse masters.

An underground market that has survived three waves and has gained a reputation among the people as the "largest" and "longest-standing" must have some heritage.

He also heard that this place is usually jointly governed by several curse-forbidden organizations, and it is inevitable that there will be situations like the "World Forum" that appear to be neutral but are actually just the white gloves of a certain force behind the scenes, so "the flag on the city wall changes frequently" happens from time to time. In this early era, everything is possible.

After this trip to the ghost market is over, Cen Dongsheng will have a more important goal: in January next year, there will be a major gathering of spell masters. This is the first opportunity among the reborn to obtain new special spells according to the known information, and it should not be missed.

If he had not obtained "Transmutation and Freedom" in advance, that would have been Cen Dongsheng's first goal.

He and his sisters had both discussed this matter, but people have their own destiny and the world has its own opportunities. It is said that the thing has a certain degree of self-intelligence. It will avoid strong people and choose its favorite "destined" target. In its previous life, it chose a curse master who was once at the bottom.

Not to mention the Philosopher King and the Equality King, even a sorcerer like him might not be able to find them, so this matter cannot be achieved by just relying on others.

No matter whether it is a person or an object, it is not easy to escape from them, but the influence of special-grade curses will often draw the surroundings into a larger vortex. For example, other special-grade curse masters may suddenly appear in the middle of the journey to compete, causing the situation to take a path that is completely inconsistent with memory... All of these are possible.

If Cen Dongsheng went himself, there was still a chance that he would be avoided—if the destined person that thing was looking for must be a weak person. After all, he was now the first tier of combat power under the special class.

But everything has to be tried. With the guarantee of "Hehua Zizai", he is not too anxious about the goals he set in the past.

By the way, the unfinished special forbidden spell was actually hidden in the downtown area, and he got it so easily. Cen Dongsheng still finds it incredible...

Thinking optimistically, perhaps as a reborn person, he could be immune to this influence that is closely related to fate to a certain extent?
"If I could meet the 'First Ancestor', I might get the answer."

His "Shengwangsijue" is known to be the most powerful force to interfere with fate. Maybe we can see the changes in him.

However, if I really meet the future King Ku Rong at this point in time, whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is still hard to say...

……

Time returns to the present.

While thinking about the complicated problem, Cen Dongsheng finished his midnight snack in two or three bites.

His teammates -

Song Yutang and Jiang Yunmei were sitting in the back seat of the car, holding oden in their hands, secretly looking at the man sitting in the front seat and looking at each other.

He saw this scene from the rearview mirror and asked in surprise.

"Aren't you going to eat? The food is getting cold. Or are you not hungry? Then why did you ask me to go to the convenience store just now..."

"Hungry, of course I'm hungry. My stomach is growling."

"So you're worried?"

Jiang Yunmei put down her chopsticks and cleared her throat.

"I'm not worried. I just want to express my concern for you. Teacher Cen, you seem to have changed in the past few days. Yutang really wants to know the reason..."

"Don't listen to her nonsense." Song Yutang nudged her companion's waist with her elbow and interrupted her firmly, "Master, I just want to confirm the purpose of coming here."

"We came to the ghost market to buy a forbidden item for self-defense."

"Do we need to go all the way to San'in City?"

"By the way, there is also the purpose of gathering intelligence. Sometimes you have to go out to understand the situation."

Cen Dongsheng said.

"In fact, Yunmei and I are enough. After all, this is just a short trip."

"…Since we are a team, we must act together."

"Oh, this is Teacher Cen, you don't understand women's hearts."

Jiang Yunmei smiled happily, and even though her schoolmate poked the soft flesh on her waist, it couldn't stop her from teasing her.

“People are worried that the progress will be delayed.”

"What progress..."

"It's nothing!"

Song Yutang's voice rose an octave.

"I just, I just have a feeling...if I let you go, you might not come back so soon."

"Oh? A premonition?"

Cen Dongsheng touched his chin thoughtfully.

The premonition of the curse master can sometimes be regarded as a clue, and it is not good to just ignore it.

Yu Tang, who possesses a Grade A life-imprisonment, is more qualified to be a curse-master than he is.

Of course, if it was "Miaoshenzi" who had a premonition, he would even take it as a serious research topic; and if it was the premonition of the elder sister or younger sister... in a sense, it can be regarded as a prediction of the future. "I feel that Master is still easy to get into trouble. Just now, I went to the convenience store to buy something and ran into someone else."

"It was just a pure coincidence, wasn't it?"

Although it was just a weak evil spirit that could be easily dealt with, after hearing what his apprentice said, he felt that it might not be a problem of this city - it was said that high-level spell-breakers were more likely to run into trouble than ordinary people, which could be considered a kind of happy trouble.

"Let's stop chatting here for now. After we finish our midnight snack, we will soon reach our destination."

……

After parking the car on the side of the road, the young men and women put on their coats and walked into the subway station.

The trains had stopped running at this point, and there were no passengers in the station. Cen Dongsheng took out a compass that he had prepared at some point, and turned in a zigzag manner according to the direction, passing the ticket office, the pedestrian bridge, the platform, and the fire escape, going further and further away, and finally entering the end of a deserted and dark tunnel.

There didn't look like there was a road ahead, but that was not a problem for the spell-binding master.

The man was taking out the talisman from his arms. Seeing the unusual light in the eyes of the girl beside him, he smiled and asked:

“Can you see the road ahead?”

"of course."

"Without the vouchers distributed by the ghost market, can you 'open the door'?"

"It's not difficult."

Jiang Yunmei's answer was full of confidence. She stretched out her slender hand and stirred it in the air, causing faint ripples.

"……sharp."

Cen Dongsheng praised, at least he couldn't enter without arousing vigilance. He and Yutang could only use the most brutal force to destroy the barrier, while Jiang Yunmei could see through and exploit the weaknesses of the barrier.

After a few breaths, a different world appeared before my eyes. In the empty square, cold incandescent lights lit up, dispelling the darkness and spreading into the distance.

The girls looked around in amazement.

"here it is……"

“It’s the old Yongning Station.”

Cen Dongsheng answered.

He looked at the ticket office in the distance, where a ticket seller in a navy blue uniform was sleeping.

The young man strode closer and knocked on the glass.

"Hey, wake up, we need to get in the car."

The conductor raised his head, but the face he revealed was not that of a living person.

"The living are kept away, but ghost money is allowed."

The pale face was painted with exaggerated blush, and half of the bamboo frame was exposed under the paper hat. It mechanically turned its neck and aimed its empty eye sockets at them.

The way this thing moves is extremely strange. If ordinary people see it, they would probably be scared to death.

"What is this..."

Along the way, the girls were always curious when they saw the methods used by other spell-binding masters.

Although their strength increased rapidly, the two of them had only been official curse masters for a month. Cen Dongsheng brought his teammates out with the idea of ​​letting them see the world.

"It's a paper figure made by a paper craftsman."

Cen Dongsheng replied.

In the old days, people believed that after death, people entered the underworld, and needed burial objects for the deceased to use in the world, so the concept of underworld (ming) objects came into being. Among them, paper-made objects were the most common, and naturally the more lifelike the effect, the better.

Paper figures, paper horses, mountains of gold and silver, and even birds and beasts have developed into an art.

Paper-making craftsmen are a branch of folk craftsmen, belonging to one of the three religions and nine classes. There is also a system of curses and a group of curse masters born from them, which are said to have the ability to give life to dead objects.

However, the whereabouts of this group of people are quite mysterious, and Shanyin Ghost Market is one of the few places where outsiders can see them.

Cen Dongsheng pulled out a stack of specially made paper money for the dead and stuffed it into the gap on the chest of the paper-figure ticket inspector. Sticky black blood flowed out of it, staining the yellow paper.

The corners of the paper man's mouth were torn to the roots of his ears, revealing the dense copper wires inside, and he made a strange hoarse sound again:

"First-class compartment, three people."

……

The hem of his windbreaker swept across the broken cordon. The man stood at the edge of the platform, with the girls flanking him on either side.

The cold moonlight fell like a rusty knife upon the three peeling gold-plated characters "Yongning Station" not far above their heads; each of the three persons held a piece of paper in his hand, and the cinnabar talisman on it glowed an eerie scarlet in the moonlight.

Modern people are used to using transportation cards when taking the subway. In fact, early subway tickets were paper vouchers, just like train tickets.

"Born in the year of Ji Mao, the underworld is accessible."

He whispered a few words of small seal script on the edge, his fingertips brushing over the concave and convex engraved lines.

“…It’s done with great care.”

The old Yongning Station still retains its abandoned appearance.

The sensing area of ​​the gate was covered with a layer of sticky dirt. The moment the ticket was pasted on, the shrill cry of a baby suddenly sounded in the darkness. The cry came and went, mixed with the piercing sound of nails scratching metal, as if it came from inside the machine; the cinnabar spell on it began to wriggle, and the words drilled into the cracks of the screen like countless red snakes, then burned and turned into ashes.

“Click.”

The rusty gears groaned like a dying man, the gate opened, and a cold wind wrapped in paper ashes blew in our faces.

Deep in the tunnel, the sound of railroad tracks could be heard.

It was not the roar of a modern subway, but the wheezing of an old steam locomotive, mixed with the clatter of dragging chains. Cen Dongsheng's pupils reflected the shadows in the distance - he saw two green lights at the end of the track, like the eyes of a giant beast slowly opening.

The train slowly approached them.

The moment the door of the carriage opened, they smelled a strong scent of sandalwood. Twelve white paper lanterns were hung on the roof of the carriage, and the flickering candlelight was a strange green color. The windows were covered with faded paper-cuts, and the auspicious patterns of dragons and phoenixes were distorted in the green light, like hideous ghost faces. A hoarse chant came from the carriage...

"Come on, let's get in the car."

(End of this chapter)