The King of Curses

Chapter 63: The key node that determines the future

Under the moonlight, among the ruins.

The demon, whose body was made up of wildly growing green vines, rolled on the ground, struggling and twisting. Some of the branches and vines on its body twisted as if they had lost control, winding like snakes and lashing everywhere like whips.

Rubble flew everywhere, smoke and dust rose up, and the entire ruins, which were already precarious and on the verge of collapse, were completely destroyed by the runaway vine monster.

Monsters are more like creatures in nature than ghosts. Their insides are more vulnerable than their surfaces, but before this, they could not imagine that humans could take advantage of this.

After being swallowed as prey, it was not minced or corroded into a pool of blood. It could even continue to struggle, and even...

That little thing is crawling inside its body little by little, approaching its real "core"...!
No matter how it struggled and tried, the true Qi burning in its body kept burning tenaciously, never extinguishing, becoming more and more intense, burning the vine monster from the inside out, and part of its body soon became charred from the inside out.

——Its vitality, which was so vigorous that it was almost crazy, was declining at a rate visible to the naked eye.

It felt fear, and the giant's face twisted.

"Roar--"

The vine monster roared silently at the overcast sky. It stood up, revealing a huge body that was more than three stories tall.

The Yin energy of the entire haunted house was directed towards it. With the monster as the center, the mass of the Yin energy continued to accumulate and pile up, forming a heavy vortex.

For a moment, the weather changed drastically, the wind rose and the clouds surged, and lightning surged in the dark sky. Under the dim sky, the demons roared to the sky, and the scene was like a still oil painting.

*
All the branches of the vine monster were retracting inward, and its body was constantly sinking inward, vowing to squeeze the person inside into a ball of rotten meat; the excessively secreted green corrosive liquid flowed down, corroding the nearby ground into potholes.

Inside the vine monster's body, Cen Dongsheng was crawling tenaciously in the ever-tightening body cavity; his entire body was soaked in corrosive liquid, his skin and flesh had fallen off beyond human form, and at first glance, he began to look like a skeleton.

Despite this, he still remembered to cover the girl in his arms and use his true energy to protect her from harm.

Yi Qingyan seemed to be saying something to him, but he could no longer hear it.

Not only his five senses such as hearing and vision, his energy and concentration began to wane, and even his thinking became slow.

Intense pain continued to assault his spirit, coming in waves without stopping; eventually, it broke through the limit of his endurance—or perhaps it was because his entire nervous system was burned out, so he could no longer feel pain since just now.

Every breath was torture. At first it was a burning pain, then a heavy feeling that weighed a thousand pounds. Later, he forgot to breathe...

The incomplete body, the dull senses, only the burning true Qi is so bright, as if it is fueled by flesh and blood, and is growing stronger and stronger.

Unsurprisingly.

Cen Dongsheng thought vaguely.

Only when one is on the verge of death will the "immortal bones" begin the process of activation.

In this process, human potential will explode under the drive of survival instinct, which is equivalent to entering a state similar to "over-development".

Therefore, the closer he is to death, the stronger he becomes.

If other spell-breakers were to go through this, even if they survived the incident and either died or became disabled, their potential would be completely consumed; but afterwards, the activated undead bones would have the effect of growing flesh on bones and reversing life and death, so their potential could be made up in the process of recovery.

The true Qi that erupted during this "death struggle" stage broke through the level gap between A and B, causing the demon at the owner's level to suffer heavy damage.

The long struggle has finally come to an end.

Not far ahead, he felt the most concentrated Yin Qi—that was the core organ in the vine monster's body, equivalent to its heart;

At the same time, the vine monster, which also entered the struggling stage and rolled all over the ground, burst out with unprecedented amazing strength.

Several of the vines were like the hands and feet of a giant, breaking his neck bones, and violently twisting his head several times, pulling out most of it.

Cen Dongsheng opened his eyes wide suddenly. This time the attack was so fierce and brutal that he died instantly while he was still struggling to survive.

This time he really died, gone forever.

He didn't know whether Yi Qingyan in his arms saw her head being torn off. If she had seen it, it might have become a psychological trauma for her.

However, because of this——

The undead bones were perfectly activated.

The vitality that had been weakened to almost nothing began to reverse.

The all-round revival brought about by the immortal power added fuel to the true Qi that was already burning to the peak.

The man's cloudy pupils gradually dimmed, staring into the void. After a few breaths, they suddenly became bright again.

--It's now!
The true Qi that erupted when he made a desperate effort, plus the energy brought by the activation of the immortal bone, under the double superposition, Cen Dongsheng is now in the strongest state that he can theoretically reach.

He instantly broke free from the heavy restraints on his body, stretched out his skeletal hands, and grabbed the vine monster's heart.

The monster obviously couldn't imagine that at this time when both sides were struggling, the opponent could actually become stronger. The "heart" in his body was directly grasped, and he immediately let out a wail.

That huge body finally collapsed.

The binding force disappeared instantly, and the surrounding enclosed space suddenly became wide and bright. As the world spun, Cen Dongsheng was thrown out of the vine monster's body.

His arms remained motionless, holding her tightly.

*
The dark clouds above my head dissipated, and a faint moonlight was shining.

After the core ghost suffered severe damage, the flow of Yin Qi in the haunted house also changed. The sky was no longer overcast, as if an impending rainstorm disappeared halfway.

"Cough...cough..."

Cen Dongsheng lay on the ground in a big character, unconsciously squinting his eyes, feeling the moonlight falling on his face. Then, he spat out a ball of blood with charred internal organs in it.

The rapidly growing bones, internal organs, flesh and blood in the body are squeezing out the parts that have been squeezed and corroded into a mass of rotten meat.

He held Yi Qingyan in one hand, and tightly grasped his "trophy" with the other hand -

Most of the vine monster's heart.

Around him, the vines that made up the demon's body were scattered all over the ground and scattered on the ruins.

After losing the control of the monsters, they, which were originally as agile as living pythons, turned back into ordinary plants, lying motionless on the ground, becoming dead branches and leaves without vitality.

Cen Dongsheng let go of his arms.

Yi Qingyan broke free from his arms, quickly got up and knelt beside him.

The girl's soft fingertips touched his face, and she stroked from his forehead to his mouth with trembling hands.

Like the gentle peck of a bird.

He felt a little itchy, and without opening his eyes, he held her hand.

"Don't make trouble, I'm not dead yet."

He clearly heard Yi Qingyan let out a long sigh of relief, but her next words were:

"Ok, I know."

"What do you know?"

Cen Dongsheng laughed.

"I just know it."

"...It's up to you. Help me up."

With the support of Yi Qingyan, Cen Dongsheng leaned against a large piece of stone that fell from the ruins.

He looked around. The battlefield was quite tragic, with traces of collapse everywhere left by the monsters' mischief.

The vine monster is huge, and most of its body is made up of disposable plants. It is difficult to really hurt this monster without touching its core.

At least with his current effort, it's difficult.

Thinking about it this way, he accidentally entered the vine monster's body and destroyed its core. It seemed that he really found the fastest way to defeat it...

It's just very risky.

At this level, except for freaks like him, for ordinary curse-binding masters, competing in vitality with a monster at the owner's level is simply a fantasy.

Under Yi Qingyan's surprised gaze, he stuffed the heart in his hand directly into his mouth, and seemed to chew it and swallow it in big mouthfuls.

"No, don't you need to cook it? It seems a bit unhygienic..."

"You must be scared."

Cen Dongsheng smiled. He spread out his palm, which was empty. In fact, the heart of the vine monster did not really exist, but was also a collection of high-purity Yin Qi, which he took into his body and refined.

The flow of true Qi accelerated on its own, improving his abilities while making up for the energy consumed in the recovery of his physical body.

"..."

He looked up to the sky.

The storm had dissipated and it was now a clear night.

But they are still in a haunted house.

"There's no sign of a complete collapse. It seems my feeling was right."

The vine monster did not die. At the last moment, it tried its best to spit itself out.

However, he still couldn't escape the result that most of his roots were torn off by Cen Dongsheng. After suffering such severe damage, he might not even be able to maintain the level of the owner.

The vine monster escaped with a small portion of the remaining origin; and Cen Dongsheng was temporarily unable to use the "Immortal Bone".

However, he was not without gain...

Cen Dongsheng took a deep breath and closed his eyes to meditate.

The outline of the black and white tiger in my mind, flying in the clouds and mist like an ink painting, became clearer and clearer.

Especially its pupils.

Just like "the finishing touch", with this pair of bright pupils, the tiger in my heart suddenly became more powerful and majestic;
When he opened his eyes, the room suddenly became white, as if there was a flash of lightning, and his eyes had turned into bright yellow tiger pupils.

"The second level of supernatural power... has finally awakened."

It's called "Tiger Soul". In addition to enhancing the resistance of mental will, it can also be used actively to release awe-inspiring majesty.

He has become feared by everyone recently. Most people would even find it difficult to breathe if they stayed around him for a long time, and would try to avoid him as much as possible. This is the consequence of being unable to control this potential ability.

Now he can finally take the initiative to control this fascinating aura and release it in a concentrated manner when necessary, causing a strong mental shock to the target.

And, this ability can also work on ghosts.

Through the intimidation of the power of tiger soul, he can transform low-level ghosts into "accomplices" under his control, the so-called "accomplices of the tiger."

"Finally, I have an ability other than punching..."

Cen Dongsheng was quite satisfied. Although if he fought against high-level ghosts, the main use of this ability might still be to use mental shocks to control the enemy and provide opportunities to escape; but the ability to create minions and intimidate others would provide convenience at other times.

It was precisely because he had awakened his new superpowers that Cen Dongsheng could sit back and rest with peace of mind.

As one gains strength while the other loses strength, the strength contrast between him and the vine monster has been completely reversed. As long as some time passes and he recovers some mobility, he will be able to set out and catch this guy.

The haunted house is so small that it can’t escape.

Then, Cen Dongsheng turned his gaze to Yi Qingyan, who was kneeling beside him and had remained silent since just now.

"You have something to say to me, right?"

Seeing that she always seemed to be hesitant to speak, Cen Dongsheng said this.

*
"……Um!"

The little girl straightened her back subconsciously, sat upright and spoke seriously.

"I have a secret that I want to tell Brother Dongsheng."

"Go ahead."

"Actually, I might be a...person like my brother."

"Same as me? Ah, I mean the curse."

Cen Dongsheng answered.

"Brother Dongsheng, aren't you surprised at all?"

...I was actually quite surprised.

But after all, there is the example of Sister Zhizhen, Cen Dongsheng thought.

To be honest, he was already mentally prepared that this girl had actually awakened her abilities a long time ago and was just acting like a show.

Although this doesn't seem to be in line with King Pingdeng's character.

"How should I put it? This is an ability that can be awakened naturally."

Cen Dongsheng briefly introduced to her the relationship between life ban, spell ban and ban master.

"Especially in an environment like a haunted house, once people are stimulated by the outside world, they are more likely to wake up."

"...That's right."

"So, have you awakened the curse now?"

Cen Dongsheng stared at her closely.

If she had mastered "Infernal Hell" now, then he could put his worries to rest...partly, at least her mental state seemed normal now, not like she was going crazy.

"Not yet...Originally, I didn't want it to awaken."

But Yi Qingyan shook her head.

"why?"

"because……"

The little girl put her hands on her chest, her tone and expression very serious.

In the eyes of others, this behavior was like a child pretending to speak like an adult, which was particularly cute; but because it was Cen Dongsheng, he understood that her words were not a joke, but were very important.

"I have a feeling that once I accept this power, something terrible will happen."

"..."

It really is.

"Wait, you had a premonition yourself? When did it start?"

"Since I can remember."

Yi Qingyan replied.

incredible.

He had never heard of such a precedent.

But if you think about it carefully, there are people in this world who are born with knowledge, and since this happened to King Pingdeng, it doesn’t seem so strange.

The little girl continued to express her inner thoughts in a serious and heavy manner.

"...I thought I would continue to endure like this...But now I feel more and more that this may not be right. This premonition may just be my illusion. I shouldn't listen to it. If I had accepted this power earlier, I would have been able to help Brother Dongsheng before, and you wouldn't..."

She clenched her hands suddenly on her knees.

"Maybe you wouldn't be injured so badly..."

"I regret it now."

The little girl raised her head. She seemed to have completely forgotten to cover her face. Her messy hair spread out, revealing a small face as white as jade. The faint moonlight sprinkled in her bright pupils. She pursed her lips and looked extremely serious.

"I was thinking, if it was Brother Dongsheng who knew the answer to something I couldn't figure out, maybe he would know it... Do you think, should I accept it?"

Cen Dongsheng stared at Yi Qingyan's face.

At a young age, she was already beautiful. The girl's facial features were still immature, but it still reminded him of the face he had seen by chance and still remembered vividly.

Listening to her question, the young man was in a trance for a moment.

Have I come to a critical choice point?

Not only to her, not only to me, but also... to the world.

(End of this chapter)