The King of Curses

Chapter 32: Big Legs and Teammates

Tianhai City.

It was a hot summer day with clear blue skies. The sky was vast and high, clear and cloudless, and it was a good day to go out.

Cen Dongsheng got out of the taxi and glanced at the plaque hanging next to the automatic door in front of him.

Looking up, you can see several residential buildings standing side by side. The community is rich in green vegetation, with lush bushes and trees on both sides of the central avenue, and you can vaguely see several winding paths extending inward.

"Golden Sunshine Home... well, this is it."

He walked to the security room, registered as a visitor under the guard's gaze, then turned and walked along the road.

He met several residents of the community along the way. After noticing him approaching, they all reacted in the same way as the security guard at the door: they were wary but a little afraid. Among them was a woman with a child, who, upon seeing him, grabbed her child and walked around him.

Cen Dongsheng thought that it seemed that he was now too oppressive for ordinary people, a bit like "the ancient brave general trying to stop a child from crying."

He doesn't like dealing with people, so it doesn't matter.

In fact, compared to ordinary people, all spell-forbidden masters will have this feeling. Regardless of whether they have undergone physical changes, they have already transcended the mundane world at the soul level, and naturally have a distinctive temperament that is very different from that of ordinary people.

However, Cen Dongsheng, who possesses the power of the tiger demon, is more obvious in this regard... To some extent, he is even as eye-catching as Sister Zhizhen.

He looks good, but he is not that handsome and pretty type of boy. He is more like a cool guy with a cold temperament. In addition, he is tall and strong, has a buzz cut, and usually has a cold expression, which easily makes people think of the image of a dangerous person.

……

Cen Dongsheng walked into one of the residential buildings and took the elevator up.

In the narrow and enclosed space, the intimidation wielded by this man became increasingly compelling, pressing heavily upon the surroundings like a physical entity; causing a middle-aged man who was getting on the elevator midway to subconsciously stand in a corner with his shoulders hunched up, looking rather pitiful.

Finally, he arrived at the target's door and knocked.

The small window on the door opened, and a young woman in home clothes and glasses saw the visitor standing silently in front of the door. As expected, her expression became fearful and cautious. She looked at both sides of Cen Dongsheng warily and asked carefully:

"Excuse me, are you..."

"I'm 'Winter Life'."

His answer was crisp and powerful.

"We made an appointment to meet."

"Huh? So you are..."

The hostess was surprised, obviously not expecting this.

"Yes. I am the person who contacted you in the forum. You are 'Pearl Carrot', right?"

Cen Dongsheng came here this time to help people catch ghosts.

For a long time, the Youshan Ghost Stories section of the Tianxia Forum will become more and more lively with the rise of the "first wave".

Compared with fictional ghost stories, real supernatural experiences and help posts began to emerge in the section. Coupled with the deliberate guidance of the website itself, it soon became a communication center for ordinary people and curse masters.

Simply put, some people are powerless when they encounter ghosts; while some spell masters who need to cast spells and refine Yin Qi to become stronger are hunting ghosts everywhere, trying to improve their abilities.

The two naturally hit it off, and the spell-master can often get rewards from the secular world at the same time, which is like killing two birds with one stone.

In the early days, those curse masters in the order camp often had such a part-time job. This is the value of the existence of the Tianxia Forum, and quite a number of people cannot do without it.

Cen Dongsheng has now become one of them.

Sister Zhizhen hopes that he will become a celebrity and a well-known master in the group of curse masters as soon as possible. To achieve this, the forum is also the most convenient way.

Cen Dongsheng was not averse to becoming famous. It was not as if he had any unspeakable secrets. He had to wear fine clothes and travel at night. No matter how powerful he became, he would still be looked down upon wherever he went... That would be too embarrassing. He also did not like to use methods like fishing to prove his strength.

As for how to become famous, he only needs to prove himself with actions, and the rest will be left to Sister Zhizhen.

She is good at manipulating people's hearts and is the behind-the-scenes boss of the Tianxia Forum. It is easy for her to make someone stand out.

Closer to home——

Before the end of the summer vacation at university, Cen Dongsheng moved to a new home and came to Tianhai City. In the following weeks, he completed more than a dozen commissions related to supernatural events in the city.

In some cases, the parties involved had guilty consciences and reported them as false alarms; but the remaining ten cases, all of them were "genuine" hauntings.

The probability is higher than he expected. Although the commissions given to him by Sister Zhizhen were naturally specially selected, the frequency of occurrence is already very telling.

"There's an undercurrent."

In the process of completing the commission, Cen Dongsheng gained a clearer and deeper understanding of the current development situation in the world.

Before this, although he had the ability to "foresee the future", most of the knowledge was hearsay after he became a curse master, and some things can only be understood in full by participating in them personally.

After all, at this time in his previous life, he was really just an ordinary college student.

"There were a few times when people happened to see a large number of floating spirits passing by places where Yin Qi gathers, such as cemeteries and unfinished buildings; the rest were lonely souls living in people's houses."

"Although I haven't encountered a real haunted house, nor have I found any signs of a 'haunted house', the souls of the dead are still there, and they can transform into ghosts if they are not in a place where Yin Qi gathers. This abnormality happens so frequently, which further proves that the balance of Yin and Yang Qi between heaven and earth has changed. It is a change in the world that has not been seen for a thousand years..."

This is the so-called "first wave".

Fortunately, Cen Dongsheng is no longer the same person as before. Since his rebirth, he has followed the plan and gained far more than he expected - putting this aside, the fact that he has successfully clung to the Philosopher King is enough to make people feel at ease.

Is this enough?

Cen Dongsheng thinks so.

In the future, An Zhizhen will already be one of the most powerful people in the world. Although there are indeed a few people with the same status as her, those people are either difficult to get along with or their ideas do not match hers...

Of course, if he had the chance to become someone's disciple in his previous life, he would never miss it, but that was because he had no choice.

Moreover, even if he was someone's subordinate, as the saying goes "a minister cannot serve two masters", he could only have one choice, otherwise he would be a traitor.

The same is true now.

Although he and Sister Zhizhen were not superiors and subordinates but partners of equal status, he also did not think that he had the ability to balance the relationship between the two "ancestor" level curse masters with ease.

This is because there are often fierce conflicts of interest and contradictions between the "ancestors". No one likes a person who jumps back and forth, and the closer they are, the more unacceptable it is. He knows this very well.

"But generally speaking, I won't meet other 'ancestors', right? They all have their own spheres of influence. I'll be staying in Tianhai City for the time being, so I'm sure I won't meet them..."

Cen Dongsheng thought.

"If it's not someone of this level, it's still possible. I know a few people who, although they can't reach the level of 'ancestor', have the potential to become special-class forbidden spell masters in the future. Such people can still be won over, whether as teammates or friends, you can get to know them in advance... So, if there is a chance, I still have to travel around the country."

He felt that he was still better at handling specific tasks. Whether it was traveling and adventuring, or exorcising ghosts and demons, he had rich on-the-spot combat experience and knowledge that could be called a dimensional strike in this era - Cen Dongsheng had already planned to summarize this part and share it with Sister Zhizhen.

However, at this stage, he still needs teammates.

In the previous battle in the haunted house of Xiaokang Building, Cen Dongsheng had already discovered the disadvantages of acting alone. For example, in order to find the hidden core, he could only use the clumsy method of carpet search...

If he had a teammate who was good at perception, he wouldn't have to work so hard.

I can't ask Sister Zhizhen to accompany me when I exorcise the haunted house in the future, right?
He believed An Zhizhen wouldn't mind calling for some off-field support occasionally, but he would feel it was a waste if this woman really followed him to fight and adventure together every day.

She is destined to become a person standing above hundreds of millions of people, and should focus her time and energy on how to manage and develop her own power.

So, after finding a strong partner, Cen Dongsheng felt that he still had to find suitable teammates.

However, he now has higher standards and feels that his teammates must be future powerful people, and preferably even future special spell-binding masters.

As long as one possesses a supreme curse, one will have a certain resistance to other special curses, and will not be helpless even against the "ancestor" -

Although they would certainly be crushed if a fight really broke out, at least they would not be killed instantly without even a chance to struggle. Since the existence of the "ancestors" was too radical and did not abide by the rules of the world, strictly speaking, they were the strongest ones standing at the top of the system of curse masters.

The most important thing is, although there is indeed a saying that "the more extreme a person's personality is, the more powerful he is", which was very popular in the past, it was mainly because several "ancestors" were of this character. In fact, not all special-class curse masters are mentally ill or paranoid.

Some people say that the reason why the ideological battles among the "ancestors" are so fierce is because they are practicing their own great ways, with the goal of glimpsing the ultimate realm that has never been seen before...

This is unknown. Perhaps he will have to wait until Sister Zhizhen truly becomes the "ancestor" before he has the chance to find out the truth.

"This way, Sister Zhizhen won't have any objections, right... probably?"

Of course, he knew that, regardless of other people's opinions, the real difficulty was how to find suitable teammates. Even if he had access to future intelligence, it would not be an easy task.

Even eight years later, the association still had records of only twenty-five special-class curse masters alive. Trying to find them among over one billion people was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Overseas? He was even less familiar with it.

Cen Dongsheng was thinking about all these things, while the hostess inside was still hesitating whether to open the door to welcome the guests.

"So you are the Dongsheng."

The hostess looked at him, and in addition to fear, there was also curiosity in her eyes.

By the way, Cen Dongsheng’s user name on the forum is “Dongsheng” - yes, he is the kind of person who uses his real name on the Internet.

"I see. I..."

She was obviously still hesitating.

"Do you want to solve the problem? If you don't want to let me in, I'm leaving now."

Cen Dongsheng's attitude is cold. He doesn't have the good temper to come to help others and have to consider other people's faces.

"I, I understand! Please come in!"

Upon hearing that he was leaving, the other party quickly opened the door and respectfully handed him a pair of slippers.

……

Cen Dongsheng walked into the room and asked casually while observing the environment inside.

"What do you call it?"

"My last name is Chen, just call me Xiao Chen."

Miss Chen did not close the door. She followed him at a certain distance, with a somewhat timid attitude.

Cen Dongsheng glanced at her face. She had dark circles under her eyes and an indescribable sense of fatigue on her face, as if she hadn't rested for some time.

"Ms. Chen, have you not slept well recently?"

"...Yeah, ever since...this house started being haunted, I can't sleep at night."

The other party replied with a wry smile.

……

According to Ms. Chen, she rented this house. The landlord was nice, the location was close to her company, and the supporting facilities near the community were also very complete. She thought she had found a place she liked, but she didn't expect that this incident would happen after she had only moved in for two months.

"I signed the contract, but within three months of renting the apartment, I couldn't get my deposit back. I told the landlord about the haunted house, but he refused to believe me and thought I was a liar. He almost called the police."

Miss Chen talked in a rambling manner.

"I had originally planned to move out immediately after these two weeks, but things have been so chaotic lately that I couldn't even attend work properly..."

Cen Dongsheng seemed to be thinking about something.

It was not surprising that Miss Chen's words were fragmentary, after all, she was an ordinary person who knew nothing, but an experienced veteran like him could quickly grasp the key information.

for example--

The menace of ghosts.

I can actually think of "moving out in two weeks" instead of running away immediately. The biggest problem is that "it's too noisy"...

On the one hand, this Miss Chen is a bit thick-skinned, but on the other hand, it also shows that the ghost lurking in this house has no intention of killing anyone.

Moreover, he could see that apart from the lack of Yang Qi, there was nothing abnormal about the other person - this could be due to the influence of ghosts, or it could simply be due to lack of rest and deteriorating physical condition.

"So, you went to the forum for help?"

"Well, I heard from a former classmate of mine that he was saved by someone he met on this forum... When I really encountered such a thing, I couldn't help but believe it."

"I thought you said it was in the bathroom?"

"Yes, yes, sometimes I see it when I'm taking a shower. And one time when I was cooking in the kitchen, I saw a pair of eyes that looked like human eyes staring at me from under the sink."

At this point, fear appeared on Miss Chen's face. It seemed that the scene had left a deep psychological trauma on her.

"You can insist on not moving away?"

"I can't help it. I'm alone outside, I don't have any money, and my family can't help me..."

Miss Chen smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"I'm still thinking about whether I can get my deposit back..."

"understood."

Cen Dongsheng nodded.

"Then let's get started."

“Start? Is it about to start?”

"Of course. I'm just going to go to the bathroom first."

Miss Chen couldn't help but widen her eyes.

"Don't you need to prepare anything?"

She found it very strange when she saw that the other person came alone and brought nothing with him.

According to her idea, Taoist priests carry talismans, monks carry wooden fish, and they also set up altars to perform rituals.

She had seen witches and wizards in the village call back ghosts before, and exorcising ghosts always requires a lot of fanfare. Even if it was a foreign monk, he would have to carry a cross or something, right?
But the other party really came empty-handed and was dressed quite casually.

And now, the only preparation for the man who announced that he was about to start exorcising ghosts was...

He stretched his body, rubbed his fists, and pressed his finger bones until they cracked.

Is this...really here to catch ghosts, instead of beating people up? !
Although the temperament of this young man in front of me is more like a killer or retired soldier in a gangster movie than an exorcist...

Miss Chen swallowed her saliva, and this time she really began to consider whether to escape from the room.

"Prepare? No need."

The young man replied coldly.

"It's just a small fish."

(End of this chapter)