The King of Curses

Chapter 278 "Coward."

2011, the third day after New Year’s Day.

Research Institute No. 555, an underground experimental facility located in the suburbs of Tianhai City.

There was not a hint of New Year's festive atmosphere in the facility. Fully armed guards in blue uniforms stood guard conscientiously, and researchers in white coats came and went in a hurry, everyone was busy with their own affairs.

Today, the 555th Research Institute has become more and more complete in terms of facilities and personnel structure, meeting some requirements for opening to the outside world. In the two floors above ground, some people appeared with curious faces and looked around. Their temperament was obviously different from that of the people in the institute. They were the Curse Masters from the Super Working Committee.

……

Deep within the research facility.

The scope is wider, covering an area of ​​​​a platform as large as five football fields. The testing facilities and fortifications are more stringent, and the observatory is designed as a solid fortress to protect researchers from accidental harm from the subjects.

Even so, accidents still happen from time to time - because the subjects of the test here are spell-breakers who have reached the "A1" level (mastering one A-level spell).

And this is the upper limit of the entire research base. If you want to go higher, you have to get special approval and evacuate ordinary people to a distant place in advance, and have a spell master of the same level or higher level to wait on the side.

Today's test subjects are among them: Song Yutang, who has just been promoted from a first-class spell-binding master to a candidate for a special-class spell-binding master.

She spent some time getting the special forbidden item, Kunwu Sword, to recognize her master. Although she was not yet proficient in using the sword, if she used her full power, it would be easy to drive the entire undefended research base into the ground.

The audience was so luxurious that it was rare in the world.

The future Philosopher King, leader of the Super Working Committee An Zhizhen; the future Equality King, president of the Yama Society Yi Qingyan, and... Cen Dongsheng.

The elder sister stood on the edge of the railing, overlooking the training below with a smile, while the younger sister Qingyan folded her hands, leaning in the shadow of a corner not far away, with a cold expression.

Cen Dongsheng stood at the edge of the venue and nodded towards the girl who was standing in the center several dozen meters away, holding an ancient sword.

"let's start."

Song Yutang nodded slightly and took a deep breath.

Her gaze swept across Cen Dongsheng and the faces of the two women upstairs in turn, then she closed her eyes and calmed herself down.

At that moment, everything around her suddenly became dark; or in other words, everything in the world disappeared with her.

Sound, light, smell...all redundant and useless information was excluded.

Only breathing and heartbeats remained. True Qi rose from the lower Dantian, and spiritual awareness emerged from the purple palace, concentrating on guiding the mighty river to rush through the meridians.

This is the most common meditation method for spell-binding masters, but Song Yutang feels different now; the end of her meridian network does not stay on her limbs, but spreads along the palm of her hand to the sword in her hand.

In the darkness, not only she, but also the Kunwu Sword began to "light up", making a slight humming sound, like a bird before spreading its wings and flying high. To her, it was as if part of her body had been extended.

Every time this happened, Song Yutang would deeply understand why forbidden objects, like cursed forbidden objects, could become a component of human power and were also subject to the constraints of the "Three Talents Principle".

When she first heard this information from Cen Dongsheng, she still found it difficult to understand: Aren't forbidden objects simply dead objects? Can't we just use them as weapons?
After coming into contact with the Lianshan Liuyaojian and Kunwu Sword, Song Yutang finally understood that if he wanted to use the true power of the forbidden objects, he must establish a connection with them and allow them to become important internal organs in the body.

The advantage is that once the forbidden object has been recognized by the owner, no one else can take it away unless the owner's curse master dies; the disadvantage is that if the forbidden object is damaged, it will also hurt people. The cost of damage is no different from disability, and the most serious consequence may lead to death.

Of course, unless it is a human immortal, the forbidden object is generally stronger than the flesh and blood body, so it is not a defect for most spell-binding masters; if this forbidden object is of special nature, then it has nothing to do with the word "damaged".

When she immersed her mind in the sword, gradually, even her heartbeat - the last bit of "noise" - disappeared completely.

……

Within a few seconds after Song Yutang closed her eyes, the atmosphere around her changed quietly.

The incandescent lights in the test field dimmed a few degrees. The air smelled damp and metallic, like a city before a rainstorm.

The silence was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Then, everyone could see clearly... the girl with the ponytail and the sword in her hand were burning together.

"boom!"

Her muscles and bones disintegrated before her consciousness, becoming a string of suspended phosphorescent flames. Her clothes and skin faded to transparency, but no trace of normal human structure could be seen, only the cobalt blue arcs surging in her body were exposed.

The girl's body began to vaporize from her fingertips, turning into a star-shaped plasma cloud; her hair was the first to break free from the shackles of gravity, turning into liquid light threads extending into the void. A brilliant halo burst out from the end of each hair.

Cen Dongsheng could see clearly that this scene was obviously different from the last time she demonstrated her ability of "complete elementalization".

At that time, Song Yutang simply transformed into lightning, and the color of the lightning flashing around him was also different. From a visual point of view, it became more... beautiful, like a dream.

——At the moment the transformation was completed, Song Yutang’s figure disappeared.

Cen Dongsheng's dynamic vision could no longer keep up with this speed, and even his spiritual perception could not capture it.

Her movements were silent, like a burnt dandelion falling quietly, leaving only a light trace; like the scene described in poetry, the quiet cobalt blue light, like fish swimming in a stream on a summer night, emerged in the air along with her movements, forming a winding trail of light.

"This is... 'amplification'."

Cen Dongsheng thought.

Song Yutang used the Kunwu Sword to amplify the effect of "Tianlei Wuwang", making it far surpass its original realm.

He tilted his head and asked softly.

"Can you measure her exact speed?"

Although the researchers retreated to a distant place, it was just to be on the safe side. They did not give up on detection and laid out a prism-type high-speed camera array and a Doppler radar array in the venue in advance to capture three-dimensional trajectories.

There was a noisy sound coming from Cen Dongsheng's communication headset, and the situation on the researchers' side seemed a little chaotic.

……

On the display screen of the Doppler radar array, the light points representing the subjects flickered like stars, appearing to appear at twelve different coordinates at the same time.

"The radar echo shows that the target moves within 4.3μs, and the interferometer measures a displacement difference of only 0.7pm...The thermal imaging shows that the body surface temperature drops sharply..."

Someone loudly reported the experimental results.

"There was a randomly generated plasma barrier in the subject's path, and a high-speed camera array showed that the subject had completed the crossing before the plasma formed..."

"Can you speak human language?"

Cen Dongsheng felt helpless.

After receiving the specific data, the elder sister chuckled and added:

"In human terms, Miss Song's movement speed in this state is comparable to lightning in nature, which is about one-third to one-fifth the speed of light."

Cen Dongsheng's eyes lit up.

The man remembered that he had discussed this matter with Song Yutang before obtaining the Kunwu Sword.

"This should be the limit that a curse-master in the material world can reach, right? No wonder I couldn't find any trace of him... Sister Zhizhen, how about you?"

"I can sense that her mind is still within this range, but if I only use my spiritual sense, I'll probably be thrown away quickly."

An Zhizhen said this, looking at the girl not far away.

"Sister Qingyan?"

The girl snorted and didn't answer.

"It seems to be the same over there."

The woman turned around and answered with a smile. "So I think that unless someone is a holder of a special spell who is particularly good at spiritual perception, others will not be able to capture her in this state with simple spiritual perception. Hehe, if we let Miss Jiang come, there may be a chance."

There is no doubt that Song Yutang is now the fastest life in the material universe.

If we ignore the special spell-binding masters who are involved in the speed of light and time and space, if we only consider the speed of maneuvering within a short distance, it may even exceed "space movement" because the speed of human nerve reflexes has a limit;
Song Yutang just happened to have an awakened superpower, which was "super reaction", which was a perfect match with "lightning transformation".

Of course, super reaction is a Class A ability after all, and it is still a stretch to control special forbidden objects. But if she had not awakened this ability before, she would probably not be able to control the sword now.

Cen Dongsheng waited quietly.

One minute, two minutes...Song Yutang maintained the lightning state for more than two minutes, which was an acceptable number.

……

Two and a half minutes later, Song Yutang, who had ended his lightning form, returned to his original position.

She was panting but seemed to be in a relatively stable condition, so she quickly entered the second test phase.

The girl raised the Kunwu Sword towards the sky. The cobalt blue electric light condensed and compressed, and in an instant it burst out with light comparable to the sun, illuminating the entire test site as bright as day, but it was fleeting.

Balls of lightning appeared on the tip of the sword. One, two, three... colorful, suspended in the air, quietly spinning around her, emitting heat that could melt gold and molten iron.

"This move is..."

Cen Dongsheng blinked.

Was the inspiration found from the battle between Zhang Shidao and the Dragon Slayer?
Although the power seems to be a little lacking, there will be a chance to improve it in the future——

At this moment, he suddenly saw one of the ball lightning flash unsteadily.

"…Sorry, I can't control myself…"

Song Yutang's struggling voice came from not far away.

Ah this...

The next second, dazzling electric light raged in the air. The man's headphones were filled with noise, overloaded by the chaotic eruption of electromagnetic waves, and then fell into silence.

Yi Qingyan waved her hand, and a black hole-like crack appeared in the center of the venue. Seeing this, Song Yutang knew who had made the move, and breathed a sigh of relief. The ball-shaped lightning on the sword rushed in and disappeared into the other dimension.

"Your ability will affect the precision instruments around you. There are ways to protect against electromagnetic interference, but the impact of the other dimension on the stable space-time axis..."

The elder sister sighed, which was rare.

"To be honest, it would be better to let Miss Song throw the things she can't control upwards."

"I don't care."

Yi Qingyan curled her lips. She put down her hands, seemed to feel bored, and planned to go back.

"I've finished reading it."

"How does it feel?"

"Not bad. Good enough for my brother."

The high school girl waved at him.

"Then, I'm going home first."

……

Not long after, An Zhizhen also left the scene.

Cen Dongsheng walked into the lounge and saw Song Yutang sitting on the bench as usual.

"How did I perform?"

"Not bad." The man nodded, "Those two are very optimistic about you."

"Haha, I can't be happy about being targeted by them."

"By the way, you are..."

Cen Dongsheng's eyes fell on the girl's curvy figure wrapped in a gray sports vest, which was obviously different from the original loose white sportswear.

"Ah, this."

Song Yutang pulled her collar, revealing her snow-white cleavage as if inadvertently, and replied with a smile.

"It's made of 'elementalization', so you don't have to worry about exposing yourself. How about it, aren't you envious? A thought will disappear, and a thought will reappear..."

“I’m really envious.”

After all, he would have to run naked if he died once.

But to be honest, the emotion occupying Cen Dongsheng's mind at this moment is definitely not the so-called "envy".

Normally, she wouldn't wear clothes that highlight her figure, even if it's for exercise...

More importantly, he can no longer look at this female college student of the same age as a simple friend or partner.

"But I'd better go change my clothes first. It would be bad if I lose my concentration and can't maintain it later~"

The corners of Song Yutang's mouth remained upturned. She stood up, stretched lazily, and left with brisk steps.

Cen Dongsheng looked at her from behind, and felt that her every word and action seemed to have a deeper meaning. He wondered if it was because of the change brought about by that day...

……

The man soon realized that this was not his illusion.

When Song Yutang stood in front of him again, she had changed into a jacket and trousers for easy movement.

She stared at Cen Dongsheng who was sitting on the chair waiting for her to come back, and said softly:
"……coward."

After saying this, she immediately turned and left, leaving Cen Dongsheng with a confused look on his face.

Song Yutang knew that her behavior just now was undoubtedly a tease. The girl, who had never done such a thing, felt her face burning as if she had a fever. She could only pretend to be calm and walk past the man.

Then--

Her wrist was grabbed by a large hand from behind, and then lifted up uncontrollably.

The force was steady yet fierce, causing slight pain, as if one was suddenly put in shackles.

"Who are you talking about?"

The man's voice was condescending and sounded a little gnashed.

The distance between the two became very close, their hot breath blowing on their faces, and they could clearly hear each other's heartbeats.

“——I’m talking about you.”

After the subconscious nervousness, Song Yutang answered bravely, with a smile in his pupils.

(End of this chapter)